Okay, Mr. Chair, we have a Mr. Pascual Colavito whose hand is raised. I will
promote him to panelists right now.
Colavito, when you get on, please identify yourself with the records by your last name
and I'll swear you in.
Warning. Good morning, Mr. Colavito. Please identify yourself.
Pasquale Colavita on behalf of the applicant for 329 North 11th Street.
Please spell your first and last name for this scenario, please.
P-A-S-Q-U-A-L-E-C-O-L-A-V-I-T-A.
We're going to affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Please proceed.
And this is our request for a continuance.
It's the first listing.
We also represent the applicant for 327.
327 what we're trying to do is consolidate to two because 327 is a corner property
we had way back in march had placed um had forwarded to the planning commission for their
review dealing with eclipse we finally were able to upload the documents so basically what we're
trying to do is for judicial economy present both of them in front of the community the rco as well
as yourself because they're basically uh mirror images of each other or two three unit um requests
we've but we only have we only have i understand i understand so so all i'm saying is i'm just
giving you a background saying that we need a we we have yet to meet with the rco instead of meeting
with garcio twice and with you twice we want to meet with each of you once understood thank you uh
am I 20 probably at least 90 days is going to be well they'll work that out for you so
MI 2020-001432 329 North 11th Street is continued thank you chair if I could make the request
that the attorney of Rucker contact me
for the request to consolidate
or any other requests.
Of course.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
I shall.
May I be excused?
Yes, you may.
Have a good day.
Thanks.
Me too.
Hey, Mr. Chair.
The next person is someone
with the number ending in 9484.
Again, this person's phone number
ends in 9484.
I will promote him to panelists right now and to the individual on this line, please wait to be sworn in.
If I could, Jason, I mentioned that it should be audio, open up their audio.
As a phone caller, they cannot be promoted.
Do I allow them to talk?
Yes, you can unmute them.
Whoever it is, male, female, ma'am, or sir, please identify yourself with the record,
spell your first and last name, and give us your address.
My name is Mary Catherine Bauer.
I'm the attorney for the petition for 1665 Harrison Street.
Hold on, please.
Hold on, hold on, hold on.
Please spell your last name for the stenographer.
Bauer is B as in boy, A as in apple, U as in umbrella, R as in rabbit.
Do you swear in the firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
Ms. Bauer, excuse me, this is Sharon Stiletta.
Before you proceed, we did receive a letter from you withdrawing the appeal.
All right.
But your hearing just said anybody who wanted to withdraw or continue, and I just wanted
to make sure thank you i just wanted to confirm that we did receive the request in writing prior
to the hearing thank you okay thank you so am i am i 2020 that's 000220 1665 harrison street is
withdrawn. Thank you. I see no more hands, Mr. Chair. Okay. MI 2020-000263-1383 Sanger,
S-A-N-G-E-R Street.
Averna Souza has her hand up.
Averna Souza has her hand up. I will raise, I will promote them to, promote them to panelists right now, sir.
I will raise, I will promote him.
Please wait to be sworn in, Ms. Souza.
Hello, could you hear and see me?
Yes, please identify yourself, spell your first and last name, and provide us with your address.
okay my name is verna soza v-i-r-n-a and soza s-o-z-a we're in the firm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do uh your address 1383 east sanger street
you are the owner correct yes along with my mother delma soza you can see oh well i'm not
sure if you could see me let me start the video it's all right you can proceed thank you excuse
me this is sharon saleta i have no record of having received exhibits for this case we do
have a letter of non-opposition from councilwoman sanchez that she um and her acknowledgement that
the rco also submitted a letter of support ma'am um we never received their exhibit
could you please explain exactly what the exhibit is because we have someone
um oh they okay so i just got a message from the person who speaks on my behalf
um they said that we sent it on the 27th um and she said if she could please talk
to further explain that because she's the person that deals with all of that
she isn't her name is b is spelled yeah it's spelled as b-e-d-i-t-z-a and she said she is
sorry about the confusion um but yeah she did say she was on the call
is she your attorney um yeah she is no she's not cheers this is not an attorney
oh she's actually calling me so i guess i'll just let her speak through that
give me one second
okay hello i'm gonna put you on speaker so you could clarify you heard me
she can't speak i think because she's an expediter
right she's she's um excuse me this is sharon she if she can speak as far as um
letting us know if and when she submitted exhibits
i'm sorry so she's saying that she has the expedited the package to show like of the
plans and like the information we've sent you never sent but she needs to share and i don't
have access to it only she does and it had to have been submitted five days in advance and
my email address was one of those that it should have been copied to did she do that
hold on i'm gonna put on the speaker um she's saying she did send it go ahead you could talk
to them we can't hear her we're having a problem um we did send it what hold on what is the email
that you sent i'm sorry ma'am ma'am yes i'm gonna promote her i'm gonna allow her to speak
okay thank you i'm sorry about the inconvenience to you so the phone can you turn the phone off
because it's causing feedback okay yeah yeah of course i'll turn it off is that mr pt to uh
we're promoting i'm not promoting if you can just open up her audio okay audio's open
thank you guys so much i'm i'm having a heart attack here but it's your expediter for the
case on sanger street man man slow down slow down please would you please spell your first and last
name vedita cadillo b-e-d-i-t-z-a c-a-d-i-l-l-o we're in a firm to tell the truth the whole truth
and nothing but the truth yes sir please proceed um we have forward the letter of uh support on
the 6th of November. If they gave me, let me share, I could share the package. She could speak
and I just share the package of the support, the application. It was emailed on the 11th or the 6th
of November. We forwarded the letter of support also for the case. Okay, so Bedita, when was your
package emailed to the ZBA and sharing the letter? We forwarded on the 6th, we forwarded the letter
of support. And on the 13th, we also send the continuance, but we also send the packages to
the continuous but we also send the packages to jason on october 13 when the so unfortunately
Jason on October 13.
i'm sorry you sent the continuance no no on on october 13 when we requested that continues we
send the package and on 11th we send the letter of support from christine the neck frank for neck
supporting the duplex but I did I hear you correctly that on I think you said the 13th
you sent a letter of continuance no on October we had sent a letter to request a continuance
attached to the letter of continuance we also submitted the packages that we had
for the hearing because we know we had to submit it ahead of time
and who was it sent to jason on the 10th 13th right but do you understand the requirements
are zba rco at phila.gov sharon saletta
those are the individuals who should have received the exhibit that's why sharon's saying she doesn't
have it that's required before you can be heard by the board okay you're absolutely correct okay
I just want to make sure we're clear yes so we're gonna have to continue this
all right and those exhibits have to be sent as Tanya just described as we
speak I'm forwarding all right MI 2020-000263 1383 Sanger Street is
continued we know that it will be published on the calendar next week okay thank you i apologize
about the inconvenience no worries no worries i apologize for the inconvenience too thank you
okay calendar number mi 2020 000 370 1541 adams avenue the attorney is john sabatina
this is sharon sletta on this one we have a letter from councilwoman sanchez in non-support
based on the rco opposition letter thanks sharon
okay i have a miss tina marie russell on um with her hand up i can promote it to a
panelists if that's okay? No, Jason, that would not be necessary because the attorney of record
is John Sabatina. I don't know if he's available or if there's another attorney or the applicant
owner available, but Ms. Russell, I believe, is the RCO. Okay.
I'm looking for him right now.
I do not see Mr. Sabatina
in the attendees list.
Unfortunately.
All right. We'll continue this case.
MI 2020-000370
1541 Adams Avenues
continue.
carol yep calendar number mi 2020-000699 2143 titan street
this is an appeal for the demolition or an application for the demolition of existing
building and for the erection of an attached building with a roof deck and roof deck access
structure and rear deck at the second floor for use as a single-family household living and to
include two off-street parking spaces. Jason, we have an attorney for that, if you can promote her.
Come on to Amazon. All right. Okay, we'll promote her right now. Ms. Amazon, I'm promoting you to
panelists please wait to be sworn in she's been promoted
hi miss amazon can you put your name and address on the record please of course good afternoon
chairman and members of the board my name is clementa amazon c l e m e n t a last name is a
Last name is A-M-A-Z-A-N.
M-A-Z-A-N
That's at Nackamson, PC, 123 South Broad Street, Suite 1600, Villa, PA, 19109.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
And do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
You may proceed.
May I share my screen?
Thank you.
Okay, so can everyone see that?
Perfect.
So again, my name is Clemente Amazon, and I will be presenting 2143 Titan Street.
So here I have a packet of exhibits.
And the first exhibit is the deed to the property.
and the tax clearance and here we have the notice of refusal so we have four refusals for this
property the first being for the accessory parking is a single family home and there is
currently accessory parking there we are seeking to demolish it and rebuild a single family home
and include that single family will include the parking so that's the first refusal the second is
stating that if it's attached on both sides there should be a setback for the third floor
We are actually not attached on both sides, which I'll show on the photographs.
And the third is for the open area, and the last is for the rear yard.
So here I have the revised proviso plans. Originally, we intended to include a rear deck on the second floor.
We spoke to the community and they requested that we do not include that rear deck, so we've included a proviso to that effect.
and we also agreed that we would include mounted lights as well as security cameras because we
have that alleyway alongside the property and here are the plans as you can see we are not
attached on both sides you can zoom in a little bit for you guys so this is the property currently
there is parking there again we're just seeking to build a single family home and rebuild that
parking space and we do have that nine foot rear yard depth that's requested this is our
application for appeal another copy of the refusal again is for the parking the attachment on both
sides as well as the open area and the rear yard which has been resolved as a result of us getting
rid of that second floor deck zoning map again we are building a single family home it's a single
family area google map showing the location and here are the photographs this is our property
currently as i mentioned prior we are not attached on both sides as you can see there is an alley
running alongside the property.
The view to the right of the property,
to the left of the property.
And here are the plans and drawings.
So again, we would maintain the parking that we have
and build a single-family home.
And instead of having that second-floor deck,
we're just going to have a Juliet guardrail balcony instead.
And these were the original plans
that we initially showed to the community,
which included that deck. But again, we will not be doing that.
And we did receive a letter of support from the RCO, Point Brace CDC.
And we also have the support of the immediate nearby neighbor at 2141 Titan Street,
as well as other neighbors within this block. And this is just our proof of mailing.
so with that i'd be happy to answer any questions that the board may have
questions from the board
no no would anyone else like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
and miss pietra gamble has raised her hand do i uh make her a panelist or allow her to speak
allow her to speak okay good deal I want to talk right now Mr. Chair
Ms. Gamble yes good morning Ms. Gamble please identify yourself with the record I'll swear
you in good morning my name is Petra Gamble I'm part of the coordinating RCL
from to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes I do thank you please proceed
Yes, I'm from Point Breeze, CDC, and I just wanted to go on record saying that we do approve, we do, we are
Point Bree CDC, and I just wanted to go on record saying that we are in support of this property, I'm sorry, with the provisals as mentioned.
And what are the provisors?
The provisals are to remove the second floor deck and add cameras to the front, side, and rear of the property.
Ms. Amazon, are those reflected in the plan?
Yes, I have them on the screen right here, and they are reflected on the plan as well.
It's not a revised plan, is it?
It is.
It is?
I'm sorry.
So how many pages?
It's just one page.
One page.
Thank you, Ms. Gamble.
You're welcome.
Thank you.
Planning Commission?
Oh, I believe my client's also on the line, if I could just have him.
Sorry about that.
Thank you.
Sean McLaughlin, if he's on the line.
CMI, we'll go home to talk right now.
Mr. McLaughlin, are you present?
ms amazon as a officer of the court will uh stipulate that your client would adopt your
testimony thank you thank you planning commission good morning david effecto f e c t e a u with the
philadelphia city planning commission and do you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes sir i do thank you mr chairman and members of the board this property
is indicated for single-family use in the city's comprehensive plan this is a primarily single
family block we have no objection to granting these variances thank you very much mi2020-000699
2143 titan street my vote is yes with the proviso revised plan one page approved today
yes with proviso yes with proviso yes with proviso
thank you excuse me this is sharon salata can i ask that we take a um
one to two minute break in order for me to speak with the board
we'll be back in five minutes
calendar number mi 2020 000233 2241 north 15th street
um this is sharon saletta i do not have exhibits for this and we have a um
we have a letter from the rco requesting that it be continued or dismissed or denied
because there has been no meeting
right and no hands were raised for that madam chair so perhaps announce it is continued
as opposed to dismissed yes calendar number mi 2020 000233 2241 north 15th street this case is
continued. Calendar number MI2020-001590. Strike that. These cases are being held to the end.
and we are at case number 10 calendar number mi 2020 001 092 1931 south broad street
i believe the attorney is michael molloy
Mr. Michael Molloy, he is present, his hand is raised, and I will promote him to our panelists immediately.
Thank you.
Please wait to be sworn in, Mr. Molloy.
Good morning, Mr. Malloy. Are you present?
Good morning, Mr. Mangoy, are you present?
Good morning. I'm sorry. I had to unmute myself. Good morning. Mike Malloy with Obermeyer,
Redmond Maxwell, Hipple for the applicant, TrueMark Financial Federal Credit Union.
Okay. Sir, do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
And do you also agree to waive and stip?
I do. Thank you.
Did you put the address on the record of Obermeyer?
the address of Obermeyer? Yeah. No, but I can. It's 1-4 Falls. I'm sorry. I'm giving you my
Concha Hocken address. Hold on. Let me get the Philadelphia. Just get the Philadelphia address.
Sorry. I'll just give it. It's 1-4 Falls Road, Suite 625, Concha Hocken, Pennsylvania. I'll just
give you that. Thank you. Thank you. You may proceed. And if I could just say, I don't see
him on the list, but I believe my witness, Kevin Murphy, the Vice President of Facilities for
True Mark Financial, should be on the line. And if he's not, I'll text him during my presentation
and see what's going on. If I could share my screen, please. Okay.
And before he speaks, he'll have to be sworn in. Yes, thank you.
so uh true mark uh is is at the corner essentially of broad and east past yonk avenue and
at 1931 um they've experienced a high volume of homelessness and um drug use that they've
observed on their property um and so they have sought uh to install a security fence around the
property. The use itself of a fence is actually permitted up to four feet. So what's before the
board is a variance from section 147044A.1 to allow for the additional height of now what is
proposed at six feet, seven inches. And basically the fence would extend around the perimeter of
the parking lot at True Mark and would, you know, provide them the security that they need.
And what I'm showing you has been marked as exhibit C in the exhibit packet. And it's
basically showing the height of the fence relative to, you know, a five foot eight person there. And
And the community, the South Broad Street Neighborhood Association and the applicant
met several times about the design of the fence.
The fence has gone from being eight foot high with a curvature to a six foot high fence
with a straight fence.
And as you see on the renderings, they're still attached as exhibit C in the packet.
we've also incorporated as the community group wanted some philadelphia themes um into uh the
fence and they'll be affixed to the fence uh you see the city the liberty bell uh that sort of
thing so the need is there i think this is kind of categorized as a dimensional variance um true
mark has by the way worked with both city council and worked with uh the area police district
uh endlessly and they they you know if kevin were to testify he would testify that they have
you know tried every every avenue except the fence and if the need for the fence ever went away they
would certainly uh not need it um part of the conditions and the provisors is as you're seeing
there's a uh an old mural that sits on east pass yonk and true mark has agreed to um to restore
that mural and maintain that mural for the duration of the time certainly that they own
the property and accepts it as a proviso to the zoning application you can see the mural
it's in pretty good shape and the community group gave us some ideas of who was responsible for
installing it there's also a proviso in in the and I'll go back to exhibit a which is the letter
from support from the RCO, sorry, that we restore the mural, replant, and maintain an existing tree
pit at the sidewalk, and the proposed height and lack of curvature, and that we agreed to repair
and maintain the fence, including the removal of graffiti. So that's all the testimony that we
would offer in support of it. You know, it's a dimensional variance. I'm not here to make
you know necessarily make new law today but i believe that you know what we're seeing is a
I believe that, you know, what we're seeing is a financial hardship.
financial hardship it's a
It's a hardship for TrueMark to continue to have security and remove people every day.
It's a hardship for their customers.
It's a hardship for their employees who are scared and, you know, want to work with the
community and want to interact with the community, but at the same time need the security, you
know uh during the day you know to keep people out and congregating at night so it's a dimensional
variance for the additional two feet seven inches and uh um with that i i did not text kevin i'm not
sure if he's on if he could raise his hand um if not i just asked the zba to um uh indulge me and
that the testimony that I gave is true and accurate.
And you do have support from Anthony Brutiniti
with, I think, South Broad Street.
That's right.
And that's exhibit A under the proviso list.
Anthony is supportive of the zoning variance for the FAS.
Under the proviso that I explained.
Sorry, I'm sorry.
Ms. Lelettic, can we accept all four of those provisos?
You can't. I believe is the height of the fence actually being revised or is it proposed at six feet, seven inches proposed at six feet, seven inches.
But I mean, I believe that's a revision from the original height of eight feet, which we which we asked for originally, maybe.
So they could provide it could be added stating maximum height, six feet, seven inches.
And that's all. That's it.
and that would be on Pashonk Avenue and Broad Street
we show the different elevations
it's Broad Street
corner
East Passium
does the board have any questions
no planning commission good morning david fecto city planning commission
madam vice chair and members of the board this property is indicated for commercial and
residential mixed use on the comprehensive plan we have no objection to granting this variance
thank you i'm sorry madam chair yes i'm not sure if you were going to but um the community
um might want to weigh in okay great is that the rco or individual community members
um i was just thinking if we can request anyone who wishes to um put testimony on about this case
they'd be allowed to raise their hand it sounds good i have a kevin murphy whose um hand is raised
if you want me to go home to talk yes and kevin is our witness he's the vice president of
facilities for truemark good morning can you hear me yes mr murphy do you swear or affirm to tell
the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do can you put your name and address on the record
please yes kevin murphy uh 72 28 charles street philadelphia pa 19152
okay you may proceed yes kevin if i could just ask you some questions i did you hear
the testimony that i gave today yes and was it accurate yes it was then would you adopt it as
your own yes thank you I mean I'll let Kevin add whatever he wants but I think that's that's all
we have to offer right now including our exhibits which we'd ask to move into to the record okay
Ms. Sunkett is there anyone else who would like to weigh in on this I see Ms. Amy Boyd with her
hand raised. I can let her speak. Great. Miss Boyd. Hi, can everyone hear me? Yes. Can you put your name and address on the record, please? Amy Boyd, A-M-Y-B-O-Y-D. My address is 832 South Street, 3R19147. I'm an intern at the
passion avenue realization corporation okay do you spare a firm to tell the whole truth and
nothing but the truth i do okay you may continue um my boss submitted a written testimony
I'm Brian Fenstermaker, and I'm just making sure that that was received on behalf of the RCO.
um brian fenstermaker and i'm just making sure that that was received
Do we have that?
We did receive a letter from the RCO.
Is that what you're referring to?
Yeah, it's from Passchunk Avenue Revitalization Corporation.
It wasn't the hearing RCO, but it is a public space organization that has jurisdiction over
this neighborhood.
So we submitted our testimony written.
Was that received?
Does that RCO support this?
We submitted that the zoning board should not approve.
Do you want to summarize your position, please?
yeah sure may i read the letter it's only a few paragraphs that would be fine thank you
um please find this letter regarding true mark's zoning appeal for the erection of offense
at 1931 south broad street passion avenue revitalization corporation hereby submits
our opinion that the zoning board should not approve the variance request as a non-profit
real development and public space maintenance and enhancement organization park has a responsibility
to encourage that the public realm serves the community in the best way possible. Such offense
would damage this mission. We are submitting our opinion at this stage because we were not
notified of the zoning appeal through the mail, nor were aware that the RCO meeting was taking
place and its subsequent negotiations. As owners of the adjoining property at 1934 East Pashank
Avenue, it was Trumark's responsibility under the city code to have done so. We would have also
hope that the applicant had reached out to us as a community organization serving the neighborhood
and one that cleans their sidewalks six days a week and removes weeds from their tree pits.
Over the last decade, our organization has worked to create a neighborhood that residents and
businesses enjoy and want to invest in. Despite our long history of managing commercial property
in the neighborhood, no other property owner has made such a request, erecting a large fence,
especially on such a visible property on South Broad Street, sends a message to the community
and visitors that there are safety concerns on East Pashyunk Avenue. Maintaining the property's
visual harmony with the neighborhood would send a message of inclusiveness and worthiness of
investment. The true marked property is key in the vibrance of East Pashyunk. It sits across from
a public plaza which was renovated to support public life. The plaza draws pedestrians who
relax and utilize the indigo bike chair while serving as eyes on the street and activate our
public space creating a vibrant neighborhood this activity is much more comprehensive
equitable productive way to promote security that true mark seeks if true mark were able to
separate themselves from the neighborhood it would spark fear and property owners to do the same
further walling off for community we therefore ask that the zoning board deny true mark's
Request to Erected Fence at 1934 South Broad Street and signed Brian Fenstermaker, who is the Executive Director of PARC.
Hey, Mike.
Hold on, Kevin. I'm sorry. So could I just hear the name of the RCO again?
Passion Capital Revitalization Corporation.
okay okay and i'm sorry that so leon malloy is the contact for that organization i'm sorry i
i wasn't very clear so this was not the hearing rco it is a non-profit that has jurisdiction it's
a public space maintenance organization um we basically do street cleaning including um the
block where this property is and we and own the um the singing fountain
okay well we we met with the coordinating rco several times and and worked with them you know
and i'm sure kevin will will will chime in i mean this is the last thing that
we want to do but we feel it's out of bare necessity and kevin kevin can speak to it um i
I don't understand why, you know, all of the notices are for the application.
We know we're sent to all neighboring property owners and we have affidavits of service stamped
and they're included in the record as Exhibit K.
This is the first we've heard of this organization's opinion or authority on this, and I'm just
a little surprised that they didn't participate in the several, especially if they knew about
surprised that they didn't participate in the several, you know, especially if they knew about
it, the several RCO meetings that we did have where we discussed, you know, the fence application
in detail and at length. And Kevin may want to add some things. Kevin? Excuse me, Mr. Malloy,
before Kevin begins, just to be clear, the space that is being enclosed by the fence is not public
space. It is privately owned space. Is that correct? That is correct. Yes. Thank you.
Okay. This is Kevin Murphy, the vice president of facilities for True Mark.
You know, we, we don't want to have to put a fence up, but unfortunately it's gotten to the
point where we have homeless people sleeping at our door and our employees and our members have
to get into the branch in the morning to open up and at night and with daylight savings time it's
an issue it's a security issue um and true mark feels very strongly that in order to better secure
the property to make it safe for both employees and members that we need to install a fence now
the fence will be open during the hours that the branch is open you know 8 30 to 5 30
with access being able to get through the parking lot and everything.
The only time it would be closed would be at night.
Again, I can't stress enough that, you know, this fence is needed for security purposes.
And we've worked with the ARCU.
Unfortunately, we didn't know about this ARCU and are willing to work with them a little bit.
But we really need to get this fence installed.
what's going to prevent the homeless people from coming in when the fence is open
well hopefully they won't stay there we we do work with the police uh in making sure that they move
along as well as ticketing some of the cars of the neighbors that park in the lot i think the
point is too and them congregating in in the evening and then having to clear people out in
the morning, which is the biggest issue. And why six feet seven? That's a little bit high.
Well, so they can't climb over it.
I mean, I think we've done a really good job in putting some silhouettes on there. Welcome to East
pass young the liberty bell um you know skyline of philadelphia the love sign so i think it's not
it's not an ugly looking fortified looking fence it's something that is inviting well it is a
little fortified looking that that's my opinion though i don't know we hit a wall you know with
the RCO as well. We worked with them on the hike. It went down from eight to the six and a little
over six and a half to try to curb some of that institutionalized look to add some of the features
that they wanted. The fact of the matter is that there's not many ways that you can design a
security fence that will prevent people from calming over it or getting through and
have it look um as attractive basically you know if there's not many ways to make a fence
designed for security um also look nice and that's where true mark has i think come
uh you know taking taking the time to and is spending the money to try to make it
look as best as it as they possibly can
the board have any thoughts or questions
no no no excuse me madam chairman i believe uh mr leon malloy is uh is he with his hand raised
if he'd like to uh have him be allowed to speak i can do that sure that's great
Good morning, Mr. Chairman, as well as the board.
Can everyone hear me?
Hello, can everyone hear me?
Yes, sir.
Good morning, everyone.
My name is Leon Malloy.
I am the president of the East Passione Crossing Civic Association, which is an overlapping RCO.
our boundaries are from Broad Street to Sixth Street, from Tasker to Snyder. So this is right
within our boundaries for the Civic Association. I believe Brian Fenstermaker, the executive director
boundaries for the civic association i believe brian fenstermaker the executive director of park
is also maybe in the waiting room or trying to get into the meeting as well um so we are an rco
in this area we are um can you email um so on behalf of the board of directors of the east
passing crossing civic association we are opposing this fence um it is at the gateway of east passing
avenue um a lot of resources and and time and development have have taken place right at this
area right directly across just south of this fence is a public triangle and and park that is
you know the gateway to the to the avenue um we are not in support of putting up fences it's
um discouraging for um visitors of of the area who you know will get a sense that this area is
not safe which it is um we are a little bit concerned about you know the the current condition
of the the mural um you know it's the tiles are falling off so adding another fence to maintain
is an issue for us um as well as the tree pits um which are you know typically overgrown
um so adding a fence where you know trash can get trapped and um
you know just kind of shutting off the neighbors um you know the neighborhood
is is against with what we want to do do do you swear and affirm that everything you've said was
the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do thank you
has anybody considered a lower fence
well i think we if you just uh this is uh because it's really not inviting
i think we need to um i just think that if the board could um uh just give me a few
minutes to maybe contact my client um by phone and just speak with him for a few seconds um
uh this is we we've not we had not heard previously and i thought that the coordinating
that the um south broad street was coordinating with the other rcos in the area so this is the
first time we're hearing mr malloy's objection and his action to to that we had not heard of
that prior to to that so I had asked for meeting minutes and South Rock Street neighbors said that
they are not public so I was unable to get the meeting minutes for that well that's unfortunate
that we just hear about it now as to some of the issues that you talked about the trees the tree
pits the maintenance of the mural you know the the applicant has agreed to do whatever it necessary
to restore the mural and to, you know, maintain the tree pits and the area.
So, but as to the fence, let me, if you just, could the board maybe give me two minutes to
contact my client here and just go off the record quickly? Sure. Thank you.
um madam chair or yes but um vice chair um if it's okay could we move this to maybe a later
um time in the session oh sure and then we can move on thank you so kindly thank you so kindly
we will move on to number 12 calendar number mi-2020-001124 the address is 40 55 richmond
street and the law firm is archer and griner this is sharon saleta i do not have any record
of having received exhibits for this case.
So do we just continue this Sharon?
So I see your hands raised
for this particular case Madam Chair.
Yes, if there is no one here for it, then yes, continue.
Okay, the chairman is back.
Chair, we need to maybe have you go out and come back in.
We're not getting any volume at all.
hear me now yes okay thank you sorry about that mi 2020-001124 4055 richmond street is continued
This is Sharon Saleta again. I'm not sure if you called number 11, but I also have no record of having received exhibits for that one.
So if I could interject, this here was continued by the Attorney of Record, I believe it's Zin Jin.
Thank you.
calendar number mi 2020 001122 5328 vine street
the attorney is verne anastasio okay great
morning mr anastasio to proud to panelists now
jason you're breaking up burn are you there uh name and address for the record please
we can't hear him i'll meet yourself mr anastasio
good morning madam vice chair members of the board verne anastasio 1315 walnut street suite
1006 philadelphia pennsylvania 19107 thank you do you agree to um no strike that do you swear
affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do and then do you agree to waive
reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy. I do. Thank you. You may proceed.
First, I want to start with the sharing the rendering. Can everyone see this?
Yeah. Okay. Can we see the rendering? No. Can't see the rendering. Okay.
Give me one second. If you don't mind.
this is the proposed structure it's a three-story residential structure three separate entrances
two on this on the side street one on the main and we have two window wells as well
on the ground here this is
okay one second
and do you see what's up there now yes we do okay thank you very much uh this is the vacant lot
in question, and the application was initially for, let me pull that up for you, initially
the application was for the construction of an attached structure with vacant commercial
space on the ground floor and a two-family dwelling above. After meeting with the RCO,
they requested that we eliminate the commercial space and add additional residential units.
As a result, on the 23rd of October, Ms. Sunkit allowed Mr. Curtis to permit me to resubmit.
And as a result, there was a new refusal issued 30th of October 2020.
20 and the application was for a semi-detached structure for use as a four-family dwelling
and that's what we're here today to discuss and with that
let's see this is the proof of posting our property is on the corner of north ruby and vine
right here. Right next to it is a 22 unit single-room residence. It's on the same block with
another four-family dwelling and five-family dwelling. And again, what we're seeking is a
four-family here. With that, here are elevations. And we also have interior layout.
elevations. And we also have interior layout with two bi-level units. I already spoke about
the window wells at the lower level. And then we have the second floor being one large unit
and the third floor being one large unit. There's additional photos of the subject property.
Again, it's on a block with a 22 unit right next door, another four and five family dwelling.
There is the flyer that was mailed and our proof that went out to 128 households.
We also have the deed, the tax certification, and unanimous support from the RCO with two in non-opposition and seven in full support.
With that, I'd like to have my client identify himself so that he can be recognized.
I'm not sure if Kelvin, or Mr. Hand, I'm not sure if...
Wait, I'm looking for a Kelvin right now.
Kelvin Quick.
Kelvin Quick.
no i do not see a mr quick and the attendees uh room sir i'm sorry that's quite all right
uh then i'm going to ask as a member of the of the court uh in good standing uh that the board
accept uh that my client would in fact adopt this presentation as his own testimony and with that
i rest my case and good to see you again miss vice chair good to be here and it's good to be seen
does the board have any questions oh wait i'm not doing this frank you are
is there anyone else tanya who would like to speak on this i see no one else madam chair
Thank you, Jason. Planning Commission.
Good morning, David Fecto, City Planning Commission, Mr. Chairman and members of the board.
This property is indicated for single family residential use on the comprehensive plan.
We believe that this proposal is out of character with the block.
Accordingly, we recommend against granting these variances.
Point of note, it's adjacent to a 22 unit single room residence.
after that there's a vacant lot and then on the same block another four family dwelling
and a five family dwelling there's not one single family property on this particular block
again does the board have any questions no no no calendar number mi 2020-001122
53 28 vine street my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes thank you all
you're welcome calendar number mi 2020-000059 5627-41 hegerman street
Madam Chair, we have received a request to continue from the Attorney of Record, Sean Ward.
Okay, this case MI-2020-000059 is continued.
And if I could request, Madam Chair, this application begin in July of 2019,
if we could request that this be labeled as a must-be-heard.
okay this case mi 2020-000059 is continued but it's also a must be heard
thank you thank you
where are we now calendar number mi 2020-000718 6066 vine street
Carol I'm doing a voice check can you hear me yes I can I can it's twice so far I kind of lose the
vibe I have to go out and come back in and come back in Mr. no hands Mr. Chairman uh Miss Vice
Chairman this on Vine Street yeah this is for um
This is on Vine Street?
Yeah, this is for
Vine Street.
I've seen
no hands from anyone.
Number 15?
This is Sharon Saleta. I have no record of having
received exhibits.
Okay, so it's
MI2020-000718
Vine Street
is continued.
I was at
frank you're muted
i i was out for a while so i apologize what happened to case uh 13 page 13 and 14
this one we just continued was number 15 on our list that's right vine street was voted it was
yes all um and hegerman street was continued must be heard you do have to go back to mr
malloy's case he was he asked for a few moments to talk with his client number 10 that's number 10 yes
is mr malloy ready
if not we'll go to aromingo avenue and i think sharon i apologize well i was off uh you we have
some add-ons i believe we do have add-ons um so let's get a broad 1931 broad in aromingo then
we'll go to the add-ons okay um i'm sorry if i could make a special request sure could we do
uh the add-on first we had a request from the attorney because her one of her um
one of her um people have to leave soon okay all right this is sharon i believe um he may have
already gone so if that's the case you can uh perhaps the attorney can request a specific time
this afternoon or tomorrow to resume this hearing sounds good is that number 10 no that is do you
it's one of the cases that i emailed you would you like me just to read out the mi number and
address yeah that would be helpful thanks okay actually it's calendar number 37967
1501 north 33rd street the attorney is rachel pritzker and
This was a follow-up hearing.
I believe she is in attendance.
Ms. Pritzker has just been promoted to panelists.
Please wait to be sworn in, Ms. Pritzker.
Morning.
Good morning.
Please identify yourself with the records by your full name.
Rachel, R-A-C-H-A-E-L, Pritzker, P-R-I-T-Z-K-E-R, 1635 Market Street, Suite 1600, Philadelphia, PA, 19103.
Time to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Before you begin, are you related to the governor of Illinois?
My last name is a very unique last name, so related enough, yes, but not close enough.
okay i'm just curious i noticed that the other day yeah all right thank you please proceed
um so this is for 1501 north 33rd um we just got new information this morning about 12 minutes
before the hearing from the council office in addition to the fact that we would like to have
our um traffic engineer uh on the call as well um and he had to jump off about 20 minutes ago
so um i asked uh sharon if it would be okay if we come back at two o'clock so because i the board
has heard my testimony the client's testimony community's testimony and i think it would be
beneficial to have the experts um discuss sort of the last bits of this matter
tanya's at work works for me chair okay thank you very much
the second follow-up hearing is mi 2020 000 297 it's 2212 north marshall street the attorney is
and this is a follow-up for feedback from councilman clark's office i believe that
ms jones mary jones is participating this morning
i'll propose mr uh jen to panelists right now
Mr. Jin, please wait to be sworn in, sir.
Xen, hi. Can you please put your name and address on the record?
Absolutely. Xen Jin, Z-H-Y-N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 1838, Philadelphia PA 19103.
here on behalf. Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
I do. And do you also agree to wave and step? I do. You may continue. Thank you. This is a
follow-up hearing. We did the presentation to the board at the last hearing about a week ago
or two weeks ago. And at that hearing, the council office indicated they want to do a little further
due diligence before making a final recommendation. I believe we're just here for that update for this
particular address it's jones on
yeah miss jones is one i won't allow her to speak right now good morning miss jones please
identify yourself with a record and i'll swear your win
good morning my name is mary jones i'm representing uh council president daryl clark city hall
you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do thank you please proceed yes um good morning so yes on this particular case we did
um because there were no attendees to the meeting um we did want to check with the community
to um see if there was any opposition and at this time we did not find any uh therefore we are not
opposed to the granting of the variance however there will be further conversation that i'll get
in touch with mr zen about and just with the there are several um several cases with similar uh
ass and but for this one we are not opposed thank you thank you uh anything else to add mr jen
we gave full testimony at the prior hearing uh so i don't know if the board would want to go
over this case in any format i don't think we do but i just want to make sure there was nothing
left did we have any revised plans or anything no there are no revised this is okay all right
uh mi 2020-000297-2212 north marshall street my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes
my vote is yes thank you thank you
we're going on to aramingo uh yeah i guess so calendar number mi2020-001589 2308 aramingo avenue
calendar number mi2020-001588-2306 Aramingo Avenue
and calendar number mi2020-001591-2312 Aramingo Avenue
one more mi2020-001590-2310 Aramingo Avenue
there's four in aramingo so jason this should be uh mr egger einhorn and mr lynn reuter that should
be promoted what happened was it's it's page eight seven eight nine and six yeah i just saw that okay
all right this should be promoted uh mr ironhorn and
Leonard Reuter, the attorney for the city.
Okay, I'm promoting the panelists right now.
I don't see a Mr.
Okay, both these gentlemen have been promoted.
Please wait to be sworn in.
Good morning, members of the board.
Leonard F. Reuter, R-E-U-T-E-R, for the city of Philadelphia.
Leonard, you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Thank you.
Mr. Einhorn.
Mr. Einhorn, you have to press your mute button or the microphone.
Mr. Einhorn, you have to pressure me.
There we go.
Hello.
Good morning, Mr. Einhorn.
Please identify yourself with the record, spell your first and last name, and then I'll
swear you in.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the board.
Edgar R. Einhorn.
I'm presently working from at home at 7 North Columbus Boulevard, Unit 243, Philadelphia
PA 19106. My office address is 255 South 17th Street, Philadelphia PA 19103. I represent
the appellants, the applicants in this matter, Haas and George Shafir. Mr. Reinhardt, I'm sorry
for the interruption. Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth? All truth, nothing but the truth?
I do, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, sir. Please proceed.
Mr. Reuter and I have entered into an agreement on this matter to give you just a little general background what it concerns is an appeal from four violation notices that the Department of Licenses and Inspection issued as the applicant has a private parking lot,
which is made up of the four addresses of 2306, 08, 010, and 12 Aramingo Avenue.
The reason why the city has agreed to dismiss the violations is this parking lot is a non-conforming use since 1957.
The board has affidavits that I submitted from the applicant, Georgia Shafia, who purchased a lot in 2003 that she had her company City Cleaning, which she owns, has been using this lot continuously for the parking of automobiles.
More important, however, I presented as an exhibit which you should have an affidavit from Edward Weiss Jr., who, along with his father, owned this lot since 1957.
And in his affidavit, he states that from 1957 up to 2003, when they sold the property to Mrs. Shafia and her husband Haas, the property was used for parking of motor vehicles and trucks in connection with what was known as Eddie's Crab House,
which was up the block at, I believe, 2318 to 2326 Aramingo Avenue.
So we have a non-conforming use by affidavit.
In addition, I submitted exhibits showing photographs going back to 2008 and I believe 2011
and a photograph from the city showing in 2012 vehicles parked on this lot.
One of the reasons why we need approved non-conforming use is when the lot was originally purchased by the Weissers in 1957, the area was zoned G to industrial and the parking lot was allowed as a matter of right.
However, when the new zoning code was put in in 2012, they rezoned half of the block and they rezoned this lot as RSA 5, the northern part of the lot remained an industrial zoning.
So I believe, Mr. Reiter, you have agreed that we should have the violations dismissed.
There was a little problem, so to speak, that I wrote to you about this morning, and I hope that Ms. Salido received a copy of my email.
What we have requested is that we be allowed to file one application for one use permit, which would cover all.
Excuse me, Mr. Einhorn, before you go forward with that, the only issue before the board is whether L&I erred in issuing the violations.
Mr. Reuter is acknowledging that these are non-conforming uses.
Any other matters raised for administrative issues that have to be resolved with L&I, the board cannot add any conditions to its decision.
Well, the only thing I would say, Ms. Salido, is I believe, and Len, you can tell me if I'm wrong,
that the city wants a proviso that we apply for.
The city wants a proviso that we apply for.
Excuse me, this is Sharon Saleta again.
I don't think we can add provisos to an appeal against L&I.
It's either it's a straight up or down vote.
All right.
The other issue you'll have to resolve with L&I.
Well, that's been resolved already.
They've denied it.
i've written commissioner and i'm waiting to hear but um i i i don't want to hold up a decision on
this i take your um advice and uh i believe leonard tell the board if we have an agreement
that the violations should be dismissed the writer uh thank you again leonard reuter for
the city of philadelphia um yes i mean we have reviewed the materials that have been provided
by the applicant the affidavits and gone through the records um and based upon our review of that
we've determined that it has been used uh for and i just want to clarify this because i think
there's some confusion in the documents this is by definition non-accessory parking the fact that
it may be currently or may in the past have been dedicated to use by specific property like whether
it was eddie's crab house or the cleaning service now doesn't make it accessory it's because these
are single use lots that are dedicated to parking they're by definition non-accessory parking so i
just want to make that clear because i think one of the affidavits says it was accessory to eddie's
crab house and that's i think that's just a misunderstanding of the distinction between
accessory and non-accessory for parking lots but leaving that aside um it it's my opinion based
upon the review of the materials that these uh lots have been used as parking non-conforming
going back probably to the late 1950s and while there may have been an intervening uh
question a question of whether uh they had been listed as vacant lots for a period um there
doesn't appear to be any evidence in the record that the prior nonconformity was intentionally
abandoned. So the violations that were in question were for not having the use permit. I think there
was actually a cease issued, although the cease itself was stayed because the appeal was taken
in a timely manner originally to the board of L&I review, which I believe then referred the matter
to the zoning board, but Ms. Aletta can clarify that if there's any reason to. It's kind of
moved anyway, but the point is that it's now before you. So we agree to stipulate to a decision
that would affirm these appeals. And as far as what I have asked Mr. Einhorn to do is that we
do want them to document the nonconformity by obtaining the use permits, because if they don't
do that we'll be back here in three years when somebody goes back doesn't see the permit and
issues another violation so we that it's for his client's own sake that they get the new use
permits it is up to the department not the not me not the law department uh how they're going to
handle the fees but once this decision is um issued here they will then take that decision
uploaded along with the application or applications on Eclipse and then at that point if there's a
dispute about still a dispute about the fees then again you know Mr. Einhorn or his clients can raise
that directly with with L&I. Mr. Reuter this is Sharon Saleta again if you're withdrawing the
violations do you have any preference for whether the vote would be appeal granted or dismissed as
moot uh it probably just because of um you know issues
where if we withdraw then i have to go back to l and i and request that the violations be
withdrawn and everything i think it's probably easier and cleaner for the board to just simply
grant the appeals that way there won't be any dispute in the record um and we don't have to
wait for l and i or anybody else to take an action the board's decision will um
will be final and that'll take care of it thank you i would like one request
pardon me i would like one request that when the board
is going to affirm the appeal is that correct Ms. Salita that's right Mr. Reinhorn okay i would
like if possible that the board in their decision affirms the appeal on the basis of the fact that
these four lots are non-conforming uses for the parking of automobiles since that was the only
Since that was the only issue before the board, that's what the affirming the or granting the appeal would mean.
issue before the board that's what the
I don't think it's necessary to further.
Right.
My reason for requesting it is I would like something in the zoning records that when somebody looks at this, they'll see that it was before this decision was based on a non-conforming use.
So my face is in here.
all through non-conforming use again i don't know if i'll be alive by then but if it were to come up
in the next four or five years is there any objection to the board just including the fact
that the decisions are non-conforming use yes again these are up or down votes your request
was entirely based on these being non-conforming uses there's no other reading of this
then that is what they are um i i would also just add that the appeal itself which has the
reasoning that was given for the appeals uh is and will remain part of the permanent record
uh for the properties so you know again affirming the decision is in effect affirming the decision
on the basis of the reasoning that was placed in the notice of appeal in the first place so
i i wouldn't worry about it mr ironhorn okay let's uh move on um any questions from the board
no no and anyone else would like to testify in this case please raise your hand
one last thing i would like to say i want to express my appreciation to you mr chairman
Ms. Solito and Ms. Sunket in helping me to get this hearing scheduled. As you know, I had
quite a bit of difficulty because our original appeal was lost in the mail and we had problems
with getting it processed. So again, I want to thank everybody for their help in getting this
listed. You're welcome. That's why we get paid the big bucks to do what we do. Okay.
Okay. Sharon, do I need Planning Commission to weigh in? They don't weigh in on this, correct?
No, they don't.
An appeal, right. Okay. MI 2020-001588, MI 2020-001589, MI 2020-001590, MI 2020-001591, 2312 Aramingo through
frank you're muted my vote is do you hear me now yes yes my vote is to grant the appeal on all four
my vote is to grant the appeal on all four appeal granted on all four appeal granted on all four
appeal granted on all four thank you ladies and gentlemen aboard thank you very much may i be
excused as you may mr mine have a good day thank you i believe that thank you i believe that also
concludes my business may it be excused yes thank you leonard appreciate it thank you so we go we
going back to 1931 south broad yes mr malloy are you present i am thank you very much
frank do you want me to continue or do you want to pick up yeah yeah i think we'd prefer i i did
have i appreciate the board's time and the uh the time to to confer with my client and we conferred
with their their in-house counsel and um i just would appeal to the board that um the we would
like to continue we would unless the the board um feels that it is absolutely essential to go back
to address the other RCO's plans, we have worked with the main RCO for months to rectify problems.
We understand that there is an issue with a fence in that location on Broad Street. However,
the request is, we believe, A, dimensional in nature. And while this may not be the kind of
economic hardship that is typically before the board, we have that kind of hardship in place.
It is an economic hardship faced by the bank. It is a safety concern not created by the bank.
They have worked with counsel. They have worked with the neighborhood police and the problems
persist. And to rectify that concern and rectify that problem, this is the only option that the
bank has. And that, I believe, justifies the hardship here for the additional
I believe justifies the hardship here for the, you know, the additional two feet, seven inches
on the perimeter fence around the bank. They feel like they've worked with the RCO and the
community on the design and tried their best to make this fence look as inviting as possible,
given the purpose for security of the site. So, you know, I'd ask for the board's guidance on
East Pass Young's concerns. Some of them were already addressed by South Broad Street's RCO.
Things like the height of the fence and things are fairly set by, you know, our facilities people
who believe that that is the minimum height that they can achieve the security with. And we've
also backed down on other design issues that the RCO had about the original height of the
application you know the application uh asked for and the design of the fence with a curvature which
was um not inviting at all so we've really come a long way to work with them and um we'd ask for
the board's vote on this i mean in my opinion i just feel that a fence is not inviting and that's
the gateway to pass yonk avenue
does the board have any questions yes i think that a landscaping plan would be more helpful
than a fence if you want to prevent people from sleeping there they won't sleep on bushes
so if you try a landscape plan it may solve your problem it's it's it's more than the
So it's them actually sleeping in the doors and in the vestibule and the area around the bank building itself.
It's where the employees and the customers come in and out on a daily basis.
Where is the vestibule? Will that be behind the fence or is that on Broad Street?
No, the entrances will be behind. If Kevin's still around, he can explain, but the entrances will be behind the fence.
does anybody else have any questions
no no planning commission
i think i already asked i i think you already did too
i wasn't on what was the planning commission's recommendation no
okay thank you i think there might be another way but uh mr malloy i apologize because i got on
a little bit late during the discussion and i i think that there may be someone from uh
passing square uh on the line is there any uh any uh
ability to have further conversation do you think anything might be able to change
and i guess maybe that might be more for the rcos than than the applicant
further discussion do you think will will could potentially lead to some agreement if not you
know that's fine i just trying to clear it up in my mind and we would work continue to work with
the rco on issues like design and the aesthetics trees you know we the the problem is that the
delay is is is costing them safety concerns at the bank and that's that's the thing they've
been anticipating building the fence you know i get that i'm very familiar with the area i mean
we have unfortunately we got the problem exist in many places even across the street the old
belt bell telephone building that's become an encampment of some of sorts for for homeless
folks i i respect that i sympathize with it but i think there might be i don't have it in my mind
i'm not an architect but there might be better ways and tom just talked a little bit about
landscaping there may be a way of doing a little bit of both again i don't know but if you'd like
to have more time i think the board would be willing to allow that to happen well i think we
we let's to be very clear we we don't uh want a denial today the board is you know
leaning towards that way we would like to take more time and see if we can
can work some things out um but you know we we stress that things like height are at a sort of
minimum that we feel that we can achieve the safety um so i would invite further conversation
though just so you know uh they'll climb anybody would climb if you want to get into any place
you'll climb an eight-foot fence.
Marvin, is there anyone on from the RCO?
is there anyone on from the RCO
Mr. Chair it was the East Pashon
Crossing and then it was the Pashon
Avenue Revitalization Corp and it was
South Broad Street Neighbors
also Mr. Chair
sorry to interrupt Mr. Chair
that's okay
there's at least four people with their
hands raised
so those four folks
what I would suggest
that you go back to the drawing board, work with the applicant to see if you can come up with
something that may address the applicant's concerns and the RCA and the community's
concerns as well. As I said, you know, I'm very familiar with that area. And I think there might
be. Again, I don't have any ideas or thoughts in my mind, but better minds than me, I'm sure,
may be able to come up with something that is accommodating to all sides. So with that,
i'd like to say we can we'll continue this hearing uh mi 2020 that's zero zero one zero nine two
one nine three one south broad would be continued uh mr malloy you can work that out with the rcos
and then let miss sunkett know when tanya will we give them a date or should we let them get back to
us um so i just need clarity is this a continuance or resumption um i you're right i apologize
we'll let we'll put this in as a resumption okay we have a specific date now we got a holiday
coming up right yes let's try for
december the 8th
december 8th december 8th tuesday at 9 30 okay thank you i apologize for that
Mr. Chairman, the general counsel for Trumark, who's texting me, is in the audience somewhere, and she just wanted to say some things on the record.
I'm not sure if she's still available and if you'll indulge her for a few minutes.
Kelly Boyd.
Body, sorry. Kelly Body, sorry.
all right miss body are you available
there she is please identify yourself first and last name and i'll swear you in sure kelly body
oh your last name b as in boy o t as in tom t as in tom i we're in firm to tell the truth the
whole truth nothing but the truth i i do um recognizing your time is short i do just want to
discuss this matter in a little bit more detail and provide some perspective because this isn't
just the opinion of Trumark Financial. It's also the opinion of our members. It is really deterred
members from using our facility. There's been hypodermic needles outside. There have been
homeless encampments in our parking lot. It's presented significant liability to the point
where we may have to consider leaving the premises. And that is the last resort because we do provide
financial services to an already impacted community. I know there's been some discussion
about landscaping. We have tried that. We have tried that several times. Our landscaping has
been destroyed. It's been urinated on. And I am not sure what other solution we could present that
would balance community safety, community aesthetic concerns with our member safety. So I'm open to
hearing some of that perspective but i do just want to address it from from that perspective
because it's an increasing um liability for us obviously understood and we respect that but
again we'll give it a couple more weeks uh and hopefully we can come to some resolution
mr chairman yes sir i agree that they have tried some landscaping but it was really insufficient
landscaping. They have to use an abundance of landscaping. Thank you. All right. Thank you,
Tom. Okay. MI 2020-001092, 1931 South Broad Street. This hearing will be resumed on December
the 8th at 9 30 a.m., at which time we will consider any feedback related to the RCO's
position. Thank you. And if I could, Chair, just mention to Mr. Malloy that no requirement for
posting for this case. It would just be a resumption hearing. Thank you very much. I
appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Any more cases? That's it. That's all, Chair. That's it.
Okay. Thank you all. Stay safe. See you at two o'clock. Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone.
Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Frank DiCicco. I'm the chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustment. I'll be participating in today's hearing along with our Vice Chair, Ms. Carol Tenere, Board Secretary, Confessor Plaza, and Board Members, Mr. Thomas Holloman and Mr. James Snow.
My name is Frank DiCicco.
I'm the chair of the Zoning Board.
Board Administrator Ms. Tanya Sunkett and Board Attorney Sharon Saleta are also in attendance.
For those of you who haven't yet participated in one of our virtual hearings,
I'll go through some of the basics of what you can expect. First, we will be administering
oaths to individual participants prior to their testimony. Second, for the benefit of anyone
participating by phone, we ask that attorneys and witnesses identify themselves prior to speaking
or testifying. Third, we'd like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded
and that by participating you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded. Fourth, for anyone
participating by phone, if you wish to testify you must raise your hand by hitting star nine
and then star six to unmute yourself. Repeat, for anyone participating by phone,
if you wish to testify you must raise your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute
yourself finally to enter an appearance statement call google 267-270-5548 and leave your email
address and the address of the property at issue i'll repeat that to enter an appearance statement
call google 267-270-5548 and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue
with that said we can begin but before miss our vice chair miss denari calls our first case
we'd like to ask if anyone is requesting a continuance or an appeal for this
afternoon's two o'clock session if so please raise your hand
And we'd also like to advise everyone, please do not attempt to testify in the chat.
Any comments should be directed to the board.
Okay, Mr. Chair, we have a Ms. Sarah Alderfer, who has her hand raised.
We'll go ahead and allow her to talk right now.
Good afternoon, ma'am.
When you get on, please identify yourself, first and last name, your address, and I'll
swear you in.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Sarah Aldefer, S-A-R-A-H-A-L-D-E-R-F-E-R, 1500 JFK Boulevard, Suite 800, Philadelphia.
Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth? The whole truth is nothing but the truth.
Please proceed.
I'm here today on behalf of the owner and applicant of 2538 South 15th Street, MI 2020-000-445.
We're requesting a continuance so that we can address community concerns raised at the RCO meeting
and also because the property was not continuously posted with the notice for the time required by the code.
Thank you. That's number seven on our sheet to the rest of the board members.
MI 2020-000445-2538 South 15th Street is continued unless there's any objections.
If not, that case is continued.
Okay, we have a Ms. Tina Marie Russell, a long hour to talk. Ms. Russell, please wait
to be sworn in. Good afternoon, Ms. Russell. Please identify yourself for the record, first
and last name, and your address, and spell your name, please.
Tina Marie Russell
North Central Philadelphia CDC
We're in the firm to tell the truth
the whole truth, nothing but the truth
And you're here on what case?
So we're here on
Ontario
and that is
permit number
You need me to give the permit number?
You're breaking up a little bit.
If you can get closer to the phone, that would be helpful, or your speaker.
Okay, hold on one second.
Let me see.
Can you hear me better now?
A little better, thank you.
And what case are you here on?
Okay, so I was saying, do you need me to give you the number?
I was saying, do you need me to give you the number?
Just give us the address.
Just give me.
Right.
The address is 1806 West Ontario Street.
That's a 330 case.
Yeah, you have to come back on at 330.
Okay, I got you.
Okay, thank you.
You're welcome.
Thank you.
Any other requests for continuances or withdrawals on the two o'clock list?
Chair, I have a Mr. Sloan Foulkes. I will allow him to talk at this time. Mr. Foulkes, please wait to be sworn in, sir.
Good afternoon, Mr. Foulkes. Please identify yourself for the record.
Good afternoon, Chairman DiCicco and ZBA Board. My name is Sloan Foulkes, S-L-O-A-N-E, F-S in Fire, O-L-K-S.
office of councilwoman maria cannes sanchez room 508 city hall i'm here uh we swear to the firm to
tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes sir i do thank you thank you i am here
on case number mi-2020-000710 uh 2843 water street i don't have excuse me number eight on
our list to the board. Yes, I'm sorry. Continue. I'm sorry, sir. We have a request for continue
because they haven't met with the coordinating RCO, which is Hase RCO. But Hase RCO has also
reached out to us to ask the ZBA to entertain a request for dismissal. This case has been
under review for one year plus, and they have not had any contact since the initial ZBA variance
request with the applicants at all. Sharon and or Tanya, could we dismiss without the applicant?
um how's my audio better yes yes okay so no we um have agreed that we would not do dismissals
until the end of the year based on the covet and what's going on my suggestion to the board
is if we could continue this and mark it as must be heard must be heard okay wanted to double check
thank you uh mr folks so we're going to continue it must be heard if they don't show up on that
date then we'll dismiss thank you very much chairman okay so mi 2020-000-710-2843 north
water street is continued to the date that must be heard
any other requests
no further hands at this time mr chair okay so miss uh vice chair please begin calling
yep okay calendar number mi 2020-000835 the address is 621-25 reed street and the attorney
is michael phillips
i'm now go ahead and promote mr phillips to
panelists mr phillips please wait to be sworn in sir
hi mr phillips name and address for the record please michael phillips 1500 market street suite
3400 philadelphia pa 19102 here on behalf of 21 partners do you swear or affirm to tell the whole
truth and nothing but the truth? I do. And do you agree to waive and stip? I do. Have you also
emailed the exhibit packet with all the required documents? I have. Thank you. You may proceed.
Okay. And I am going to share my screen. I'm sorry. Oh, can I not? No, it's okay. I was just
going to ask madam vice chair um could we make sure we find out if they have a letter from the
rco and met with them okay so you want me to read everything okay no if so mr phillips yes no just
ask to that we usually require that just ask that they have met with the rco because we're no longer
doing okay resumption hearings okay so have you met with the rco and do you also have a letter
Okay, so have you met with the RCO and do you also have a letter?
Yes, we did meet with Pass Young Square Civic Association.
There is a letter in the exhibits.
Okay, Ms. Sunkit, that eliminates proof of ownership, tax compliance,
refusal referral, photos.
I just asked for the RCO and the letter, right?
That's in addition to?
oh so next next time i'll ask the entire thing okay okay thanks okay first day back
welcome back so uh i'm here on behalf of 621 partners llc uh they're the owner of 621 to 25
reed street uh this is a large uh commercial uh building that was previously a furniture warehouse
located on the 600 block of Reed. It is zoned CMX2, and you'll see that it's really in a sea of
RSA5. This property is mid-block. There is CMX2 here along Reed Street, but primarily this is
a residential block. The property right next door is actually a six-family condominium. There is some
multifamily in the surrounding vicinity. We are seeking to convert the first floor of the existing
building from a vacant commercial use to four residential units. Now, last year, my client
obtained a permit by right for a vacant commercial on the first floor with 12 units on floors two
through four. This was an existing three-story building. The permit involved the removal of the
roof and an addition of a fourth story. At the time, it was my client's intention to rent out
the first floor to a commercial use and proceed by right. They also obtained the permit by
utilizing the affordable housing bonus. And in connection with that bonus is actually paid
$120,000 into the city's affordable housing trust, which I believe is also evidence that they always
intended to proceed by right. It was never the intention to seek a variance to convert that
first floor use. You'll notice at the property, there were leasing signs. Right here, commercial
space for rent. And this is how the property looked in around February of this, February,
March of this year. Then COVID happened. The pandemic hit and any interest that my client
had in this ground floor commercial use quickly dried up. My client went to the neighborhood
and the surrounding area and spoke to neighbors about what they would like and if they had any
opposition to converting the first floor to residential use. Overwhelmingly, the near
neighbors supported the conversion to four residential units on the first floor,
particularly the neighboring condominium owners next door. Again, there are six
condos at 617 Reed Street were all in favor of this conversion as opposed to a commercial use
at this location. And here at Exhibit A is a neighborhood petition of support
that was signed by approximately a dozen of the near owners, including at 615 Reed, 612, 641
Reed and 623 Sears Street. We met with Pass Yonge Square after obtaining all of these
petitions and support and presented our plans to them and I will quickly go through those plans
which show the conversion again of just the first floor to four units. There would be two units
fronting Reed Street and two units that are fronting Earp Street, which is the rear street.
We have proposed bicycle parking spaces for four bicycles, trash that exits directly onto
Earp Street where the trash collection would be, and here is the corridor that leads.
and here is the corridor that leads both there's an entrance off of Earp and there will be an
entrance off of Reed. Just to again show you a little context, this is the rear Earp Street
elevation and this would also be changed in that now we would have windows on that first floor
of Earp Street. Here's a little bit of a different perspective of Earp. It's a narrow
street. This is the neighboring condo at 615. Just a few other photos showing Earp. Here is
Reed Street. Again, despite the CMX2 classification, these are all primarily residential
uses. It's another perspective in view of Reed Street. The commercial there is, you know,
once you get to the corner, there is one, you know, commercial use there. But again,
mid-block, we're looking at pretty much all residential. So we went to and presented before
passion square and unfortunately at that meeting many of the near neighbors who had signed the
letters of support actually weren't in attendance it was held via zoom and i had emails from some
of those neighbors noting that they had thought that you know they they're signing the petition
was sufficient to show their support but nonetheless without those neighbors in support
Pascheon Square felt that this could be used for commercial or for some sort of industrial use
and voted in opposition. After that initial meeting with Pascheon Square, we went back
to the neighbors again. This here is an email from William Fury, who is the president of the
neighboring condo association at 617 reed street noting their unanimous support for the zoning
application despite past young squares opposition and noting that they did actually were not aware
of the meeting because the notice of mailing had gone to unit 100 which is a rental unit
and unit 100 trashed, trashed the notice. So they again say that they support the request
for former units and are solidly at this is a typo, I believe, but it says against a commercial
enterprise, particularly one we have no say in. Also received an email from an individual,
Shane Jackman, who lives on Earp Street, who says they weren't able to join the Zoom call
and could they show support because they want to show support we went after that meeting we went
back out to the community again and with a different petition of support and this one again
now focused on passion squares vote where they did not support the four additional residential units
which again would either lead to a commercial or an industrial use on that first floor
And, again, we believe that that would actually increase density, foot traffic, and it doesn't complement the residential nature of the block.
We received a number of signatures, even more so than the first time.
And, again, we have 617 Reed, 606 Earp, 607 Earp, 1338 South 6th, 610 Earp, 608 Earp, 612 Earp.
You know, all of these Earp Street properties, which, you know, are at the rear.
um and in addition to 602 read 626 read if you add up all of the signatures because i admit there
is a little overlap but um take setting aside the overlap you have 32 signatures in support
of the proposal just to convert the first floor use from ground floor uh commercial to residential
use. Again, here's the floor plan, and I will go back to, you know, this is what the property
looks like, and we believe that in addition to any of the concerns that might have been raised
about density, again, the 12 units are already going to be there, paid into the Affordable
Housing Trust. This is just for the ground floor use, and we'll actually be adding two parking
spaces back onto the street with this roll up gate on Reed Street and the one on Earp will
be eliminated. So there is a benefit in that regard. So I would state that due to
the difficulty we've had now finding a commercial tenant and not wanting the
the difficulty we've had now finding a commercial tenant and not wanting this to remain a vacant
first floor use that a hardship does exist and that converting this property to residential
fits with the characteristic and residential nature of the surrounding community. I would
like to ask my client Yoav Shiffman, who's a member of 621 Partners, if he is here just to
testify briefly.
if your client isn't there we'll stipulate you as being an officer in court that your client
would adopt your testimony uh yes as a officer of the court and i apologize i believe my client
was in the waiting room no problem no problem you can hear me please raise your hand but otherwise
uh and i there might be members of the community uh to speak we'll get we'll get to them any
questions from the board no no no anyone else like to testify in this case if so please raise your
All right, Mr. Chair.
okay we have at least four people who have their hands raised the first one is a miss
phyllis fox i will go ahead and allow her to speak right now good afternoon miss fox please
identify yourself with a record spell your your name and address please and i'll swear you in
um my name is phyllis fox i'm a member of the passion square civic association
do you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes i do thank you please proceed um one of the things uh that the passion square civic
association felt that wasn't mentioned uh is that uh we asked if there was a possibility
of parking rather than the four apartments which would be uh well less expensive for them to
incorporate into their building, but would not give them as much money as four rentals would.
But we feel that there is enough room. If they have over 30 feet in the width of the building,
and if you look on 11th Street, that's approximately the turning radius that all the cars have.
they have 10 feet going in each 10 feet for each lane plus the 10 feet for the car so that's 30
feet so there would be and then we felt that they could fit probably approximately 10 cars in that
area and rather than the four apartments and considering the parking problems in the area
and considering the density in the area, it would be better, we felt, to have the parking
than having the apartments.
Mr. Phillips, the two units that are front Earp Street, how do they get into the building?
Is there ingress and egress from Reed or from Earp?
There's actually both ingress and egress off of Reed and Earp.
And what's the size of those units, the average size of the units?
I believe they are a bit over, I think they're close to 900 square feet or so.
I know about maybe a shade under.
I think maybe those are actually 700 to 800 square feet each.
Okay, thank you.
Anyone else want to testify on this case?
Please raise your hand.
If I could add one thing.
um they do have building next door uh the condos they do have parking in that building
yes i'm familiar with that building yep yeah thank you
All right, Mr. Chair, the next person on my list is Ann Dinehart.
I will allow her to speak right now.
Good afternoon, ma'am.
Please identify yourself for the record, spell your last name, give us your address, please.
it appears that she's having audio problems okay anyone else
I'm going to go to the next person.
We have a Yoav Schiffman.
I will allow him to talk now.
Good afternoon, Mr. Schiffman.
Please identify yourself with a record,
spell your first and last name,
and provide us with your address.
I'm Yoav Schiffman.
I'm actually the owner of 621 Ridge Street.
I tried raising my hand earlier,
but I guess we had some technical.
You're swearing for him to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
mr phillips uh yo uh you heard everything i stated earlier uh correct correct okay and
do you agree with everything i stated as uh truthful and accurate i do okay uh and can you
just briefly uh without you know uh repeating what i said just explain to the board uh the
process that you went through in speaking to the near neighbors and trying to find a viable
commercial tenant for this uh property sure so before uh the pandemic we've had the uh the
commercial space advertised in uh different commercial space platforms um we have received
a handful of inquiries none of which were complimentary for hours of operation
amount of traffic or something that would supplement a residential use, we still continue
to advertising. And as Mr. Phillips specified, after the pandemic, everything basically stopped
and we started looking into other options and by discussing it with different neighbors everyone
supported us and tried to come up with a solution that would complement everyone's residential
nature of that block to address some of the concerns of the association of the neighborhood
association we did look into uh alternatives uh and converting a portion of the commercial
space into parking but um unfortunately due to the design of how we have egress and egress
and uh the configuration of the building we could not get uh parking configuration that would work
with uh with what we need in there so unfortunately i have to disagree with the statement that we can
have 10 parking spots in there so so let me ask a question on that yeah how many spaces do you think
you could fit in there i don't think i think your building and let me finish up here i apologize i
think your building the configuration of your building is not unlike the building directly
next door which are condos and have provide off-street parking on the ground floor
if i can briefly just address the building next door um that was approved i believe about 10 years
ago um for their parking configuration um here when you when you look at what we would have to
do under the the code um to create a sufficient drive aisle also if we're going to have a you
know one way in and out we'd have to create a different curb cut on erp street and have then
a means of egress on earth which doesn't exist right now otherwise uh it would be a much you
know wider uh cut here to allow uh the circulation patterns ingress and egress on the ground floor
does the building next door have ingress and egress off of herb street
uh no it no everything comes in off a reed correct everything comes off of of reed uh for
them, but again, they were approved prior to this iteration of the zone.
they have a single the single lane that goes in and out i know that's why i'm asking
They have a single lane that goes in and out.
your so your configuration of your building is pretty much mirrors the configuration of
the building next door correct but we would not i mean ours is uh i guess in in right it can be
similar configuration but we would not have uh enough width of our building because of how
our ingress or egress is configured to have enough space for a length of a car plus at least one or
two driving lanes in and out of the building to meet the current building code um and if we are
going to have a single lane to go into erp erp is a very narrow street we would not be able to make
just using for putting herbicide just doing mirror do the same thing that they did it i don't love
at 627 or is it 617 617 next story right the grayish building with the maroon garage door it
looks like to the right well i'm trying to figure out why they it it works there but it wouldn't
work in your building because in today's building standards we cannot i mean we probably would have
to go to the board of building standards and try and make uh an application to get to get those
waived well i mean i'm i'm just passing that on because as you know that's a very congested
neighborhood parking is at a premium people will pay two three hundred dollars a month just to park
their car in the garage we looked into that option we did not find it as a feasible option
with the configuration of the building and and again our our objective is to try and
and complement the orientation of the neighborhood and not to we would love to eliminate the
roll-up gate and the in and out of cars from the building but have something that would be a little
bit more uh pleasant to the eye and and have a continuous uh sidewalk appearance i don't think
anybody will object to the gate or a different garage door being placed in they've been living
with that for 70 years around there so uh i i don't buy that argument but i would also note
that just the next neighboring building it's a bit different in that it's six condominium units
so you know as opposed to where we have 12 right now residential units that are approved from from
the third to fourth um and again the con with the the configuration in today's standards i mean it
would require uh it would require a variance nonetheless because uh we would have a parking
other than we'd have a use other than commercial or industrial on the first floor and so you know
we feel especially speaking with the near neighbors they were not opposed to the conversion
to residential notwithstanding any concerns about density this would add eyes on the street and it
would you know we would have those windows and you know the rear windows on or we feel that it
would be beneficial. I agree. I just think it's an overview. That's just my opinion. I thought
there might be a way of which it can provide some off-street parking for the tenants or anyone else
in the community because there is no place to park around there anymore. Yeah, it just, I mean,
it was just, it came down to a feasibility matter. And quite frankly, I mean, you know,
my client was looking at this, you know, they were looking at it as commercial or residential. And
with the current climate with commercial uh agree and and to avoid a vacant uh a long-term vacancy
this was i agree that commercial probably wouldn't work there that those days are gone i just think
that 16 units is a little bit too much but that's my opinion at the moment anyone else would like
to testify in this case if so please raise your hand identify yourself for the record and if you
can give us something new and different no hands mr chair thank you questions from the board no
no no no planning commission
good afternoon chairman and members of the board brian winrick
City Planning.
Please spell your name and I'll swear you in.
B-R-I-A-N-W-E-N-R-I-C-H.
You swear and affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Thank you, please proceed.
This property is indicated
This property is indicated for commercial residential
for commercial residential mixed use
mixed use in the comprehensive plan.
in the comprehensive.
This block is residential in character
and we support the reuse of the existing building
for residential only.
Therefore, we have no objection to the granting
of the variances or a compromise
which would include both residential and parking.
Thank you.
mr phillips i'm not sure by looking at this diagram if there was a way in which
at least the put the two units on erp street and the rest of it would be for off street parking
or for reed you'd like to have some time a couple of weeks to talk to your client about that
i i just i i just i just think that 16 units is just way too much on that block understood and
we will um i will talk to my client and take time to to actually um present the supplemental
evidence showing what the parking configuration would have to be um to make it work and again by
I know it doesn't sound like much, but by at least eliminating, you know, the garage, we are going to be adding some more, you know, another parking space on the street, as opposed to whatever we could fit in here.
We will look at that, and I will be happy to provide an updated letter.
I hear what you're saying.
You provide one more parking space, but you're creating four units, and even if only two of those units have a car, you're minus one.
you're not picking up anything you're adding you're adding another car to the
parking lot street uh so if you want i mean it's up to you uh i'll put them i i'll vote it now or
we can give you some time i think we'll i think it will be uh good to to at least show the board
what the parking configuration would entail um and why that's you know we believe that's not
feasible um and then you know we can we can go from there and i don't believe we need to do we
have a date fair enough we can resume this um we can do december 16th two o'clock yes thank you
mi2020-000835621-25 reed street this hearing will be resumed on december the 16th at two o'clock
p.m at which time the board will consider any feedback from the rco at that time thank you
thank you
calendar number mi2020-002123 5918 mcmahon avenue
is that right
yeah you have to wait they're getting her wrong okay
I'm sorry. Mr. Chair, Yvonne Haskins, I will allow her to talk right now, sir.
Good morning, Ms. Haskins. Good afternoon, Ms. Haskins. Please identify yourself with the
record. Spell your first and last name, and I'll swear you in. I'm sorry, Jason. She's the attorney,
so she should be promoted.
Right.
Jason, did you get that?
Yes, I did.
I just promoted her to a panelist, ma'am.
Thank you.
And somebody, I'm sorry,
but I'm hearing like kitchen noise.
Can somebody mute themselves?
Yeah, I'm going to have to, but I have to speak.
So, confessor, can you speak on my behalf?
Uh-oh.
And say whatever I have to say?
Thank you.
I don't see myself, Tanya.
I see a Facebook post.
I don't know why that's happening like that.
That's okay.
We can hear you.
Oh, okay.
Oh, I have to start my video.
There I am.
Good afternoon, ma'am.
Please identify yourself with a record, spell your name.
Yvonne, Y-V-O-N-N-E, Haskins, H-A-S-K-I-N-S.
Yvonne, Y-V-O-N-N-E, Haskins, H-A-S-K-I-N-E.
And do you swear to the firm, ma'am, to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
Have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copies of refusal, photos and plans five days prior to this hearing?
All of the above.
Have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
Yes, a letter is in the package.
Please proceed.
I would like very much before proceeding to ask if we can group two other properties that are on the list so that we can handle all three during this presentation, this part of the hearing.
The other two properties are 109 West Rittenhouse Street and 216 West Rittenhouse Street. The 109 is under M1 MI 2020-002119 and 216 is MMI.
all right for the purpose of the board it's uh number 13 and number five
number 13 and five on our shoots
any where can you do it that way no chair they're not related um miss haskins yeah they're not
they're not related um so that they would have to go in order if they were related cases a same
project then we could allow it but okay no but i'm saying i can do them one after another
no they would have to wait called on the list yes yeah i'll have to wait on the list yep
yes unfortunately okay i i've never done the zoom before mr chairman if you will bear with you
i'm i'm trying to uh make certain i can share um on the screen but before i start 59 18
McMahon was heard in 2017. It received a unanimous approval from the community of 30 people at a
meeting. The board approved it in 2017 and granted the variance. Unfortunately, the owner's property
manager failed to pick up the zoning permit and therefore it it it lapsed and we're here today
to reinstate hopefully reinstate the zoning variance that you had already approved okay so
why don't you give us an overview of what it is and then we'll proceed from there okay i wish i
could figure out how to share um i'm trying to walk you through it i'm trying to i have it
I have it right I have it right here I think so go ahead and double click on those files that you
wish to open okay I wanted to give you pictures and um I'm looking I have it here we go
this is the inside I don't want the inside I want to let me get rid of that
i wanted to give you the the pictures of the carriage house there's a let me give you the
overview this property has a main building and had a carriage house that had been occupied for
years as an apartment the owner applied in 217 to legalize the carriage house because it wasn't
really useful as a garage. And I'm going to find that picture that will show you how it looks like
two houses side by side. And in that regard, it is clearly, this is the front of the carriage house
that I'm, I hope I can pull up. We're not seeing any photos. Oh, you're not seeing it. So if I,
if I, what do I do now? Did the photos come up on your screen? I have to say share. No,
you're already sharing, but did the photos come up on your screen? Yeah, it came up on my screen.
Okay. So unshare, hit the share button again. Okay. And it'll go away. And then
here, I'll unshare you. Is it sharing? I unshared you, right? You practiced this beforehand.
So now, Ms. Haskin, hit share screen again.
And after you hit share screen, go to the photos, not to your files.
All right.
Here's the photo.
And then hit share again.
Yes, hit share screen.
Yes, share a screen and then go to your photo.
And then go to your photo.
I see a picture of the carriage house.
Okay, it looks like it's coming out.
Here we go.
Here we go.
We got some.
Here you go.
Okay, this is the front door, but it's not showing me all of the photos.
Here we go.
That's the photo I want you to see.
You can see on the left side is the main house.
and this on the right side with the lighter color is the carriage house and it looks like two houses
side by side but it actually is a carriage house I mean it is a building that has been occupied
forever as as a residential unit the board approved this is the side of the carriage
house that has a small yard here's the rear of it
and on the inside you can see it has a living room and a second floor that goes up the kitchen
goes up to a bedroom
and that pretty much is the the reason for this application i vaguely remember this case all right
uh that you've got a great memory i don't know about that maybe but i remember i've
vaguely remember it um any questions from the board no no anyone else would like to testify
in this case if so please raise your hand mr chair i think there's a mr charles richardson
his hand is raised i will go ahead and allow him to talk okay good afternoon mr richardson
identify yourself and we'll swear you in good afternoon mr chair charles richardson from the
office of councilwoman cindy bass room 312 city hall you swear and affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth i do please proceed uh i was just uh calling in to let you guys know that the
councilwoman has no opposition to granting this variance uh it was heard before three rcos and
everybody agreed. Thank you very much. Anyone else would like to testify
in this case?
Excuse me, Mr. Chair. Hold on. I'm just making sure.
No, sir. I see no other hands.
Thank you. Planning Commission.
Brian Wenrick, City Planning.
This property is indicated for residential use on the comprehensive plan.
Accordingly, we have no objection to granting of the variances.
Thank you very much. MI 2020-002123. 5918 McMahon Avenue. My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes see you in a few minutes miss hanskin okay sir thank you
number three on our list mi2020-001716 6738 pitching street or pechin p-e-c-h-i-n street
no hands mr chair no hands mr o'brien are you here for this okay he's right here for mr o'brien
he's to be panelist correct yes mr hand okay thank you mr o'brien you have been promoted to
panelists please wait to be sworn in sir good afternoon mr o'brien please identify yourself
with a record spell your last name and i'll swear you in
mr o'brien you have to unmute yourself
good afternoon good afternoon mr o'brien please spell your last name
William O'Brien OBR, IEN, Manioc Law Office, 4322 Main Street, Philadelphia, 19127, on behalf of Baker Street Partners.
Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do, and I do the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy.
Confessor.
have you met uh have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents proof of
ownership proof of task compliant copy of the refusal photos and plans five days prior to this
hearing yes the materials have been forwarded and we have met with the rcf great thank you
please proceed
um so the uh revenue clearance certificate is a page 14 of the package the deed is
the refusal is page two uh it's an unusual lot it's uh well over 12 000 square feet
it's zoned rsa2 and just based on the area alone it would accommodate more than five building lots
But because of its shape, that's not possible.
The variances for the width of the proposed lots, 33 feet is what is provided, 35 feet is what is required.
And if I can go down and see the subdivision plan.
So the lot's 66 feet wide, and it's 187 feet deep.
so as a result of its shape it's just really difficult we can't accommodate we can't meet the
code and the shape presents the hardship we have met with the civic group they have issued a letter
in support of the proposed variants the requested variants we're requesting it's almost a de minimis
variance is about 5% less than the required width. So the proposal is to subdivide the existing 12,153
square foot lot into two lots. The minimum lot size is 2,250 square feet. We're proposing two
lots each over 6,000 square feet. Once subdivided, the proposal is to build a semi-detached structure
with two single-family homes, with a driveway for each house that has rear-loaded parking
that meets the requirements of the overlay in the district. It's three stories from the front,
four stories from the rear. There is a roof deck, but the roof deck is tucked in behind the
building, so it's not visible from the front. The elevations are on page six. Again, it has a front
porch, as is required by the overlay, and floor plans are on pages eight through ten. You see the
rear-loaded driveway, and the driveway provides parking from the rear. The first floor has the
covered porch in the front living space kitchen and then a rear deck and then the roof deck as
I said is tucked in behind the peak of the roof in the rear. With me is Steve Aschewski who is a
partner of Baker Street Partners. Mr. Aschewski would you be sworn in please? Good afternoon sir
please identify yourself spell your full first and last name sure uh steve oszewski first name
is s-t-e-v-e last name is o-l-s-z-e-w-s-k-i and i am the managing partner for uh baker street
partners thank you swearing the firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
thank you mr o'brien mr shesky did you hear my testimony yes uh was it truthful yes you
adopt it as your own i do thank you questions from the board no
anyone else would like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
at this time Mr. Chair thank you planning commission good afternoon Brian Wendrick city
planning staff this property is indicated for single-family residential use
This property is indicated for single-family residential use on the comprehensive plan.
Accordingly, we have no objection to the granting of these variances.
Thank you.
MI 2020-0017166738 Pitchin Street, my vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
Thank you. MI 2020, that's 001863, 300 Rouse Boulevard.
Okay, Mr. Chair, I have Mr. Ronald Patterson.
I will promote him to the panelist.
Thank you.
I'm sorry.
Good afternoon, Mr. Patterson.
Please identify yourself with a record, and I'll swear you in.
okay i think i'm in good yep patterson clare harrison law firm 1835 market street
pa 1913 and patterson p-a-t-t-e-r-s-o-n thank you you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth yes i do so patterson you agree to waive the reading of its refusal and
stipulate to its accuracy? I do. Also, have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required
documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral
photos and plans five days prior to this hearing? I did. Thank you. Thank you. Have you met with the
RCO and have a letter? We have, yes. Thank you. Please proceed. Thank you. If I could share my
screen. So this application regards Iovance. It's a new building that's under construction
in the Navy Yard. It's accessed by coming off of Broad Street South, making a left,
turning down on Ralph's Boulevard. It's a late stage oncology company that focuses to bring
T-cell therapy and manufacturing at this location. This application regards their building
identification sign here noted along the top of that upper floor. As you drive through,
this is on your way down here to the property it's down located here you'll see that it's
flanked by buildings all around and every one of these buildings has similar type of sign it's just
the nature of how large the navy yard is uh vast and expansive and uh makes it easier to identify
these buildings there's a building on the right here's it we're moving towards the eye advance
building and here it is you can see that it kind of matches it does match this rendering
so we apply for the sign it's a flat wall sign it complies with the provisions for size
and dimensions it's 150 square feet total about 28 feet by five feet of course as we know citywide
there's a prohibition on any signs are located above the bottom of the second floor windowsill
which this is and again as I explained earlier I believe the hardship lies based on the property's
location the surrounding uses its use and just the nature of of that area that it really needs
to identify the buildings so it can easily be found as you traverse through the Navy Yard.
We did meet with the Veterans Stadium Neighbors Association, and yes, that's still the name,
and they provided us with a letter of non-opposition. I'm not sure if you have it,
but I will pull it up. But their jurisdiction goes all the way into the Navy Yard?
yes um so the other side of west side of broad street would be packer park civic which is
i know i think they went into the navy or yeah there's no other group that's uh closer yeah
yeah all right all right ron if you don't mind you can summarize and we'll sure so uh i would
like to allow mr stan newman uh to be accessed to the the hearing you can allow him to enter
good afternoon mr newman when you get on please identify yourself with a record spell your last
name and I'll square you in.
yes thank you uh stan newman s-t-a-n last name newman n-e-w-m-a-n director of facilities
thank you you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
All right, Ron, please proceed.
Thank you.
Hi, Stan.
You've heard my testimony, correct?
Correct.
And would you agree that it's true and accurate and you would adopt it as if you were your own?
Yes, I would.
Is there anything you'd like to add to what I've said about the need for the sign?
um nothing more than just bringing um this life science that's uh much much needed in the world
um to philadelphia and to make it prominent uh to hopefully help cure some cure a horrible disease
that's it but you actually have patients that would drive there or no sir we we do solid tumor
remediation so in late basically uh someone will get an operation their cancerous tumor
will be cut out there's a piece of it it will be frozen sent to my facility there in the navy yard
where we conduct our our process refreeze it send it back to the hospital to be put in back into the
patient's body and and at that point it shrinks the tumor beautiful great thank you thank you
thank you thank you very good work any questions from the board no
Planning Commission and excuse me anyone else have anything that would like to speak on this
there's a copy of these the VSN letter here you can see okay Planning Commission
good afternoon Brian Winrich Planning Commission staff this property is indicated for commercial
mixed use on the comprehensive plan therefore we have no objection to the granting of the
variances as long as the sign does not extend above the parapet wall that's accurate thank you
thank you mi 2020 that's zero zero one eight six three three hundred rouse boulevard my vote is yes
my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes thank you mr thank you mr newman for
choosing philadelphia and all the best of luck thank you very much i appreciate your consideration
and you're accepting. Excuse me. This is Sharon Saleta. We had a case this morning. There was,
it was an add-on case, Rachel Pritzker's, that you delayed until two o'clock. She has a witness here
who would, who cannot. We lost you, Sharon. What? I'm sorry. It's a follow-up hearing from this
morning. I can pull up the MI number if you could call that next, please. Yes, please.
The case is calendar 37967, 1501 North 33rd Street.
Okay, Ms. Pritzker.
Ms. Pritzker, you are now a panelist.
Please wait to be sworn in.
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon.
You're still under oath from this morning.
So this, I'm going to share my screen.
You've seen this.
rachel just identify yourself oh sorry rachel r-a-c-h-a-e-l pritzker p-r-i-t-z-k-e-r
1635 market street suite 1600 philadelphia pa 19103 thank you please proceed so this is the
case you've seen before 1501 north 33rd street um where we are proposing 17 uh multi-family
dwelling units on an rm1 lot with 13 accessory off-street parking spaces accessed by a front
street on 33rd street here in strawberry mansion the last we discussed with the board there were
concerns from the community about putting a curb cut here even though there's an existing curb cut
and existing curb cuts on the block and we basically went back and had another rco meeting
We basically went back and had another RCO meeting in which kind of yielded the same result of not wanting parking.
And we wanted to get our traffic engineer on to review his report and his findings.
And then 12 minutes before the hearing this morning, I was provided with another report from OTIS.
um and I just wanted to have the our engineer speak to that report as I had not had a chance
to review it and I'm not an expert in uh traffic planning so um I wanted to have um I think David
Horner's on the line to be able to discuss his findings and then also to kind of uh share about
the report that we obtained that I believe is uh from the city um as well so people had
concerned about traffic coming down 33rd through over the park. Okay. Yes. All right.
Jason, do you see David Horner? Yes, I do. We just raised his hand. I'll allow him to speak
right now. Thank you very much. Welcome. Mr. Horner, you're allowed to speak. Please wait to be sworn in to
Good afternoon, Mr. Horner. Please identify yourself with the record, spell your last name, and I'll swear you in.
Hello, my name is David Horner. It's H-O-R-N-E-R.
We're in a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
And your involvement in this case?
I was a traffic consultant retained by the applicant to look at the driveway proposal.
Good. Thank you, Ms. Pritzker.
thanks uh mr horner can you just quickly um state a little bit about your experience so that we can
qualify you as an expert and then go into your report please for sure i think in the interest of
time we'll stipulate that your client meets all the specifications okay thank you thank you yeah
so um david i just want to have you um kind of go into what you looked at and what your findings were
and then share that with the board the issue really at hand is whether the access provided
from this curb cut to provide for 13 accessory on off-street parking spaces is dangerous in this
location if it makes it more dangerous than having nothing there and sort of what requirements you
looked into to be able to determine that and then I know that you were also provided kind of last
minute with the city's report and just wanted to have you weigh in on that as well so that
we could help the board come to a consensus around this project. Sure, be happy to. So we looked at
the proposed driveway location and the very first thing we look at is whether there is appropriate
site distance for vehicles coming in or exiting the driveway to see down 33rd Street to make the
turns. We looked at that, and those familiar with the site would understand that if you're looking
to the right exiting the driveway, there's really no issue at all in terms of sight lines.
The question would be looking to the left towards the bridge, the overpass, and then the road also
bends beyond that. What we found was that there is well in excess of the appropriate distance needed
to pull out safely. There's over 470 feet of sight distance where about 280 feet would be
required. So we felt very comfortable that that is a safe exit. We also looked at the driveway
itself in terms of the width and the configuration. It's at a 90 degree angle. It's 24 feet in width
providing for two-way traffic and given the fact also that it's a very it's a low
low volume driveway in terms of its classification with PennDOT given that it's serving 17 dwelling
units we feel that the driveway with an orientation is appropriate and safe.
um were you able to review the report um that was provided to us this morning by
the office of transportation infrastructure and sustainability i did did you provide comments
about their report i know that there's uh some of it that kind of just pertains to zoning but
at least if you could address sort of the um comments that were made about um high high
vehicular traffic and sort of their assessment that, you know, which is kind of the opposite
of what you've suggested. Sure. Yeah. I mean, without obviously reading through the whole report.
Or, yeah, I mean, without obviously reading through the whole report or without presenting the whole report, basically, their recommendation, their conclusion was that given that 33rd Street has high traffic volumes.
Their opinion was that to provide a curb cut to allow off street parking is not advisable.
So my opinion is actually the opposite. My opinion is that providing a curb cut to allow for off-street parking provides a concentrated point of activity where it's consolidated and the traffic is coming in and out at one point.
The opposite you would have if you did not have these additional 13 off-street spaces is, number one, you'd have a parking demand on street, and the fact that then traffic would be looking for parking, pulling in and out of parallel parking spaces when they find them, I think that's actually a worse situation in terms of safety on 33rd Street.
I think we're better off having the additional parking and having it at a one specific location that we that is safe to pull in and out.
I disagree with their conclusion.
Excuse me. I have two questions.
What is the speed of the car entering the driveway and what is the speed of the car exiting the speed of the driveway?
way? Well, the posted speed limit is 25 miles per hour. Of course, you're slowing down to enter
and exit. So when you're entering and exit, you're probably 10 miles per hour as you make the turn.
I believe that answers your question. What is the speed on 33rd Street? It's 25 miles per hour.
so they have to slow down
approximately 5-10 miles
per hour
yeah I mean you don't come to a complete stop
as you're turning in but you certainly slow down
to make the turn
is there two lanes one pass
and one entered the site
no there's one lane in each direction
so that will slow the traffic
all the way down to Gerard Avenue
It doesn't take very long to make the turn, and it would slow it down less than someone that's trying to pull off the highway or pull off the roadway for a parallel parking spot or the like.
So I don't see that as an issue.
I think pulling into a driveway, as there are other driveways along this segment, doesn't create an issue for the through traffic on 33rd Street.
Thank you.
Are there any other questions at the point we're just trying to make is that
as far as the city's report is concerned and as far as the research that we've done is concerned
that we do believe that it would be um short-sighted to not provide parking accessory
off-street parking while we're trying to add 17 additional units and I know that the board has
heard that there's 40 some odd units with no parking being added to this block as well um that
people who live on this block um had testified before that there's a lot of parking on the
sidewalks um and other areas um which you know theoretically could continue obviously if we
don't provide accessory off-street parking although we did you know acknowledge the
community's concern as well and tried to work through that um over a few meetings so um i don't
other that will get a consensus there but we appreciated the opportunity to continue to engage
with them so um i don't want to um spend any more time on this unless the board thinks it's valuable
um and again we've heard this you've now heard this case a few times
okay we're going to move on uh any questions from the board no no
anyone else would like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
and if you do yes sorry mr chair i have a tyrone phil with his hand raised i will
um to speak right now good afternoon sir please identify yourself with the record
spell your name and provide us with your address
Mr. Williams, please unmute yourself.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Am I unmuted now?
Yes. Am I unmuted now? Yes. My name is Tyrone, T-Y-R-O-N-E, Williams, W-I-L-L-I-A-M-S.
Am I unmuted now?
My name is...
And your address? 2531 North Neutrona Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19132.
We're in the firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Yes, sir. Please proceed.
is it possible that I can address
the expert that just testified
I don't have a problem with that
okay my first question
no sorry
no I cannot
you address your questions
to the board
what I need to know
what did the city say
number one
concerning the zoning that he didn't
get into. My second is where he agreed that it's difficult for traffic and parking on that
particular parcel, not the entire 33rd Street, but that particular parcel. And we see the barriers
being the train tracks right there. It ain't much room. And the traffic alone, them happen to slow
up at that curve to get to the zoo to get to 33rd near popular you know all of that is some issues
that we have addressed and um i could appreciate this experience but um i need to know some answers
to the questions i uh posed thank you thank you anyone else like to testify in this case if so
please raise your hand am I able to address his comments or no if you think it's necessary sure
I just wanted to point out because I'm not trying to hide the ball from from Tyrone he's been
involved with those meetings basically this analysis from the city said that there's no
indication that on street parking is limited in the vicinity of the development which is actually
the opposite that we've heard from a lot of people which I think is what Tyrone's point was so I just
one that's on the screen for the board um in addition to i just wanted to be clear that tyrone
lives on the 2500 block of natrona uh this is the 1500 block of north 33rd so just um far away
just a little distant um and as far as the zoning was concerned there's been a lot of comments
but i don't know that the city's office of transportation and infrastructure and
sustainability should be weighing in on the zoning consideration basically
they just wrote that rm1 doesn't allow for parking but as we know based on hardship and
this whole process that if that were the case we'd probably not have a lot of parking that we
are currently trying to have so i'll leave that there all right anyone else have anything new
and different to add we've heard this case in the past something new and different
Mr. Chair, and Ms. Tonetta Graham will now be allowed to speak.
Good afternoon, Ms. Graham.
Please identify yourself with the record.
Provide us with your address.
Good afternoon.
My name is Tonetta Graham, 2234 North 30th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19132.
And I am, with the strawberry mentioned, CDC, the coordinating RCO.
You're going to affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes I do. Please proceed. Good afternoon. So yes this case has been heard several times and each
time the community has come before zoning asking you guys not to approve of any parking for this
particular area. We talked about the issues of safety. We talked about the issues of 33rd Street
being a high vehicular traffic. It's comparable to the bridge on Grace Ferry Avenue. If Ms.
Princess wouldn't mind putting up her first slide of the actual, in your actual presentation, the very first slide with the picture of the triangle lot.
And you will, it has the picture of the triangle lot, the actual picture.
There you go.
I want you, we asked that the zoning board, look at this picture carefully and notice that this is a bridge.
It looks like it's a flat surface, but it is not.
It is a bridge.
The infrastructure does not support parking or driveway on this area.
You would not put a driveway at the foot or at the descending path of a bridge.
You wouldn't do it on the Bracery Bridge.
We don't think it should be done here.
Also, the infrastructure, there's a water pipeline there.
So this actual infrastructure that was in place before our developer came up with this idea of putting it there,
that simply does not support parking in this particular parcel.
We also, at our meeting, we appreciated his coming to the meeting with an open mind, although he ended up at the same result.
We also, at our meeting, we appreciated his coming to the meeting.
There is the issue that we talked about this being marketed as a transit-oriented development without parking.
Because at 33rd Street, although there are several entry points for major traffic thoroughfares, we have bus routes that are running on 33rd Street.
And I showed you guys a video last time about the traffic that's on there, but there's a lot of, there's a bus route.
It's accessible to anywhere. You can get anywhere from this place.
So we suggested that without the parking, that this be a by right project and it'd be marketed as like a transit oriented development.
So that's our stance, and with the city supporting our stance in terms of Vision Zero and just the safety issues with the pedestrians, all of this comes into play, and we feel as though parking here, although we appreciate the notion of putting it there at this particular location, is not comparable to the other areas along 33rd Street.
The other areas along 33rd Street is not at the foot of a descent of a bridge path.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I've asked if we can have anyone else please something new and different.
We've heard this before.
And I just want to take note again that there are numerous, a number of garages on that street.
On 33rd, there's got to be at least a half a dozen.
And close to the corner, as you can see.
All right. Anyone else?
Mr. Chair, I have Mary Jones. I will allow her to speak right now.
Thank you. Ms. Jones, please identify yourself. You're under oath from this morning, I believe.
Were you on this morning?
hi this is chris pocholsky from otis yeah maybe i was marked as mary jones in the yes you must
have been yes please identify spell your name please first and last name and provide us with
the address thank you chair the chico uh christopher pocholsky c-h-r-i-s-t-o-p-h-e-r
last name Puchalsky, P-U-C-H-A-L-S-K-Y
from the city's Office of Transportation,
Infrastructure and Sustainability
calling in from us.
Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I affirm that I will.
Please proceed.
Yeah, just a few comments on the memo that I wrote
when we have a complete streets handbook
to help us make decisions on these types of situations.
And it is a high volume street.
I know there are already garages
on here um we do not think it's advantageous to add more garages um i think there'll be more
conflict points um this is a fast roadway in addition to being um a a relatively high volume
street the um the volumes here uh or the the speeds here are high especially since they're
a long distance between control points between signalized intersections the traffic is very fast
I would be, you know, I was trying to quick look for a speed study. I couldn't find one,
but my experience in this area, I'd be utterly shocked if the speeds were close to the speed
limit. I'd expect them to be significantly above the speed limit here. You know, respect Mr. Horner's
opinion, of course. I couldn't quite, I'd be curious about how the site distance calculations,
um i thought a clear sight distance was probably less than than he uh recommend what would then he
saw from his study of the 470 feet um you know i think there's a few other points in the memo
that we make um but i just wanted to summarize it and be available for any questions that the
board might have about why we're recommending that this um driveway not be put in thank you
miss pritzker do you have any comments um i don't know how to calculate site distance either so if
mr horner wants to explain that um i would just state that uh again i think that uh
as far as some of the issues that are being addressed that maybe the city's transportation
office and pendat need to get together to work through some of those issues but again we're
trying to think about long term as far as putting 17 new units here with no parking on a street
that again has approved parking and curb cuts many times and as you can see if you hold that
not one second just hold that finish speaking but hold that frame right there that large one i want
to go to that in a minute this one yeah but further down go keep going left yeah just right there just
yeah but further down go keep going left yeah just right there just hold that no mind thank
you go ahead finish yep so i was going to point this out that there's just going to be what's
going to happen is that there's going to be more cars parking on the street you can't park on the
other side of 33rd street where the park is so this is what's going to happen and i cannot imagine
that the city would think that this is safer especially when they talk about wanting to have
bicycle uh add bicycle lanes here as part of the otis report that having more cars parking like
this or congesting the rest of the neighborhood is safer than having a place for accessory off
street parking and again we have said and i know that um i i'm sorry if i mispronounce your last
name mr polchaski has mentioned here that he would work with us to find safe ways and with
the streets department um if the board approved it or if this was something required that he would
work with us to make sure it was safe which we've offered you know a number of times any way that we
can make it safe in addition to working with the city on this but not providing parking when you
see what's currently going on there we'll just add to that i think i think it's again short-sighted
so and as you can see it's all down here as well okay go back that shot you have there the large
one just keep going down i want to get to the end of the block there's an intersection i believe
is there right there all right so go there's a traffic light so if you have a green light and
you're heading i guess that's north or whatever on 33rd go to tom's question someone would be
slowing down to negotiate a right hand turn and or a left hand turn correct so i don't see what
the difference is in going into your project slowing down going in to the garage as it would
be i don't see any difference okay i just want to make sure i had i saw that intersection
all right all right um anyone else yeah has the city considered putting in speed humps or doing
anything about that was my next comment that's not something that any individual developed
this is um this is a pendot facility i believe pendot does not allow traffic calming on their
arterials we're working to change those rules but i don't think we could currently put in a speed
cushion um i'm not arguing that it couldn't be helpful but you know currently we couldn't put
it in understood thank you and again i point out all those garages all right uh anyone else
something new and different please
okay we have someone else named mary jones i will allow her oh ms jones yeah
ms jones i believe you're sworn in from this morning
yes um yes good afternoon um mary jones council president daryl clark's office
um uh yes this afternoon um we just want to um reiterate our support of the community
and their concerns about adding a parking garage
at this location, it is possible to do it.
I think that if we have other alternatives
and options to make this a transit-oriented development
and the community had wanted those options explored,
in the meantime we just we um we support their position and ask that the bearings be denied
thank you thank you understood planning commission
hi this is paula brumbelow burns b-u-r-n-s with the city planning commission we've given our
position and do you swear in a firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes i forgot that part i'm sorry no problem please proceed we've given our recommendation
previously because they're using the existing curb cut we are not taking a different position
and that position was uh the fact we asked that if they were going to use the curb cut not to have
any reverse motions out of the curb cut or onto the street so that they would have to pull in and
pull out directly and that was what we said because it was an existing curb cut we were
not weighing in on that and we agreed to that uh consideration the last time that it was mentioned
thank you all right mi 2020 dash three i'm sorry it's not am i it's a calendar number three seven
nine six seven one five oh one dash oh five north 33rd street my vote is yes
my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is no
my vote is yes my vote is no
you thank you um just while i'm here because i have another case i didn't see on the list
i wanted to just double check with tanya that she was able to locate it
that's okay um nope you can check uh q a me and i can look into it okay thank you so much
You're welcome. Thank you. MI 2020-000863, 2063 Dickinson Street.
Mr. Chair, I have Mr. Henry Clinton. I will promote him to panelist immediately.
Good afternoon, Mr. Clinton.
Please identify yourself with the record and I'll swear you in.
Good afternoon, Mr. Clinton.
Good afternoon, Mr. Clinton.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I just wanted to ask a question, if I could, Chair.
Did we miss number five?
I don't know.
Did we?
carol i can't hear you uh you know you're right i'm sorry i was using that for the comments on
the prior case i apologize mr clinton just hang in there we'll get right back to you
sorry about that thank you tanya mi 2020-002127 216 west rittenhouse street miss haskins
this is Yvonne Haskins again hi Yvonne uh you're sworn in earlier so you're still under oath
thank you please proceed with your case oh I'm sorry confessor
we got some questions for you um
okay um miss haskins did you um do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes ma'am i swore that before is that where we are frank yeah and have you emailed an exhibit
packet with the required documents including proof of ownership tax compliance everything
i still have to say hold on hold on ladies hold on hold on everybody miss haskins need the week
let Ms. Tenere finish and then you can respond. And then I say yes. Okay. Okay. Have you emailed
the entire exhibit packet with the required documents? Proof of ownership, tax compliance,
refusal referral, photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing
and have you also met with the RCO and do you have a letter? Yes ma'am. All in the packet.
and do you agree to wave and stipulate to its accuracy in the reading i do it's unbelievable
okay and i'm not going to swear i ask you to swear or affirm
okay miss has haskins please proceed okay this is the second of the trilogy that i
have talked about before. This one, I want to share first. Let me do my share screen. Am I
permitted to share? Yes, you are. Okay. Now, what I'm going to do is find, I found it while I was
practicing and go um 216 pictures this is a very large building at a corner
um i'd like to show the very end of this series of pictures so you can
get a sense of the size of the building first partner interruption you might just call it
so what you have to do is before you have to open the picture file before you share the scroll
so now you have to go back out his share screen again here i'll take i have to hit share screen
again no i took you out okay now his share screen and then go to the pictures and now i hit share
okay it should come up now i think yes it's up you have it yes but could you make it so that it's
um visible right perfect you can go down a little more
is it visible yes miss haskins okay this this is the side of the building this is marion street
And I'll show you the front of the building in a moment, but I wanted you to just get the size of the building from seeing it on the side, because the rear part of the building is a long garage, and there are two Bay areas, there's an apartment back here, and I just wanted you to get that perspective.
and i'll show you the front of the building in a moment but i wanted you to just get the size of
the building
Now I'll take you to the front of the building.
This building is a single family.
um it has been operating with a commercial unit on the first floor last time when we were here in
2017 you had approved um there was a bmw repair plate um operation going on in the first floor
this is the front of the building that um that shows an entrance to the apartment
here that goes to the second floor of the building and the entrance to the commercial space
is here. This takes you up the stairs to the second floor. It's a very nice apartment on
the second floor. There is some confusion that I want to bring your attention to. This
now is not a BMW operation. It's a personal service. It's a salon, a hair salon that I'm
sorry. I'm not showing you the hair salon. Where's the hair salon? That's the garage.
please bear with me um
well i guess that's in another set of pictures that i have to share reshare i have two sets of
pictures for this building because of the size but let me explain um the refusal says that
multiple uses are not permitted in the zoning district and that the proposed personal service
use is also not permitted. I would like to know, and I guess I need to have the board
rule on whether or not we can correct a mistake that I found on the refusal
after it was issued. I did not want to stop the process of appealing this as soon as we could.
However, there's a mistake in the description of what the uses are in this building today.
Today, there are two apartments in the building, not one apartment.
There's a personal service use on the first floor, and there's an apartment behind that.
And then on the other, I'll find the side, and I will show you where those entrances are.
The entrance to the apartment is here, and then you have a garage, and that apartment
is in this section of the building.
It's a mezzanine, one bedroom, it's actually a loft, it's just a very small apartment.
here is storage space it's a garage that has been there you can see the two bay
entrances so this garage has been here for years i think in 1934 it was a garage
the front of the building is the entrance to the second floor apartment that you see here
You can see it better on this picture. The personal service is here.
We're asking for approval of multiple uses to include both apartments, if that is possible.
If it's not, we understand and we'll have to just start all over again and come back and you'll be very familiar with this property.
If that's possible, that is the request today, that it be approved as the same variance that, and I recall asking you in 2017 to approve two apartments and the BMW use, which was using pretty much the garage back here and the front space as an office space, and the apartment was here.
So I'm asking today that you approve the two apartments and the personal service use.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
Which has been approved by the community as well as your approval.
No questions.
anyone else like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
Anyone else like to testify in this case?
If so, please raise your hand.
mr chair i have it charles richardson i won't allow him to speak right now thank you
good afternoon mr richardson you're still under oath please identify yourself with a record
good afternoon mr chair uh charles richardson from the office of councilwoman cindy bass
room 312 city hall uh i am under oath okay uh the councilwoman has no objection to granting
the variance for this property. Thank you very much. Anyone else?
Planning Commission?
Good afternoon. Brian Winrich, City Planning.
This property has a history of ground floor commercial use, which is documented in the
zoning file. Therefore, we have no objection to the granting of the variances.
Thank you very much. MI 2020-002127216 West Rittenhouse Street. My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. Go back to Mr. Clinton. MI 2020-000863-2063 Dickinson Street.
Mr. Clinton, were you sworn in?
Okay, name and address for the record, please.
Henry Clinton, 1313 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia PA, 19146.
And do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Do you also agree to waive and step?
Yes I do. One last thing. Have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents
including proof of ownership, tax compliance, copy of the refusal and referral, photos and
plans of the property five days in advance of the hearing and have you met with the RCO and do you
have a letter? Yes Mr. Neri I have. Thank you. You may proceed. Can the host permit me to be on
video, too, because right now I'm being stopped.
Not that you need to see me.
I want to see you, Mr. Clinton.
I changed it.
You're the only one. Thank you, Ms. Hunkett.
You heard that, Confessor?
Boy, I'm telling you.
I wanted to see you, too, but I also
like seeing Confessor.
All right. The love fest is over.
Business time.
Can I share my screen?
No, sure.
Welcome back, Mr. Nairi.
Thank you.
It's good to be back.
Is that big enough for everyone to see or should I enlarge it?
That's good.
All right.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Henry Clinton for the applicant, which is JRG Properties, LLC, the principal of which
is Jerry Gio Loretta, and he's on the call with us today.
This is my exhibit package containing exhibits AA through A10, appearance statement.
I'll just run through the preliminary stuff quickly.
This is the refusal.
This is a CMX1 zone, 2063 Dickinson Street, right at the corner of 21st and Dickinson Street,
about a half block or so from Point Bees Avenue.
So it's on CMX1 and what we're asking to switch out the commercial use on the first floor to a residential.
So instead of having a commercial and one, as this district permits, we're asking to have two residential.
And I'll explain that why as we move through this.
We did meet with the Point Breeze Community Development Coalition, and they did issue a letter of support for this project.
with certain provisos which we agreed to we're going to remove the trees in the alleyway
the sidewalks on both 21st street and dickinson street will be replaced with ada ramps
we will have exterior lighting and the units will not be rented for short-term use such as airbnb
we also have petitions signed by a number of neighbors near neighbors on dickinson street
all in the 20 hundred block. These are photos for the board's perspective. This
is looking north on 21st Street. Went the wrong way. This is looking east. Here's
the lot right here on the corner. The other perspective looking north. Again
looking north at the lot.
north at the lot, another shot of the lot right on the corner. Here's the photograph I wanted to
get to, and this is the reason behind requesting that this become too residential rather than a
commercial. This is Point Breeze Avenue. This is the commercial corridor in the neighborhood,
and on Point Breeze Avenue right now, there's a number of vacancies of commercial spaces,
and with what's going on, it sounds like additional vacancies will occur.
So Mr. G. Loretta looked into whether or not he should commit to commercial on this first floor of this building when there's numerous vacancies within a half a block away.
And he opted that the best use for this property would be two residential units because it didn't make any sense to have a commercial unit on the first floor and then have it dark.
That would not benefit the neighborhood.
Again, just another perspective of the lot.
These are the plans for the building.
it's a corner property there's going to be an entrance on dickinson street as well as an
entrance on 21st street these are the floor plans i can go through them if the board wants me to
a brief summation that would be helpful
basically uh there's going to be a bedroom on the first floor for the for the one unit
on the second unit there are three bedrooms one on the second two on the third it's going to be
a three-story property. We're not asking for any relief with regard to the height or the open space
or the rear yard. The following exhibits are the deed, tax certifications,
and our applications and all the accompanying information that one would normally see
in an application like this. So in summation, we're basically asking to switch out a commercial
unit for a residential unit because we're so close to the Point Breeze corridor and having
commercial space on the first floor that would be dark is really not a benefit to the neighborhood.
We believe the project's in harmony with the code. It's in harmony with what the community
group asked for and we're willing to undertake all the provisors as requested in that letter.
Mr. Clinton, as it relates to the, I think you said the ADA was a requirement
on behalf of the community yes and is that reflected in the plan so does that does that
create a revised plan it does not it does not anyway but the community group i think just
wanted to double down on that and we certainly agree because we're required thank you mr chairman
can i uh have mr g loretta yes please good afternoon mr g loretta please identify yourself
for the record spell your last name and I'll swear you in. Jerry, maybe maybe he's not been unmuted I
believe it's Regina. Wait a minute, Jerry Gerardo he just raised his hand I won't
allowed to speak now, sir. Mr. Gio Loretto, Mr. Gio Loretto, this is referring. Is this the one to whom you were referring? Yes. Yes. Thank you. Mr. Gio Loretto, you're now allowed to speak. Mr. Gio Loretto, you have to be sworn in first.
Okay, Jerry Gialloretto, J-E-R-R-Y-G-I-A-L-L-O-R-E-T-O, 3210 South 17th Street.
Swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, Mr. Clinton.
Jerry, you were on the entire Zoom call when I presented the project?
And did you hear my testimony?
And if you had the opportunity to testify, would you adopt my testimony as your own and as true and correct?
yes thank you thank you any questions from the board no no anyone else anyone else would like
to testify in this case please raise your hand no hands mr chair thank you planning commission
good afternoon brian winrick city planning commission staff this property is indicated
for commercial residential mixed use in the comprehensive plan we are not opposed to the
conversion or swapping of the commercial unit to residential due to its proximity to point breeze
avenue thank you very much mi 2020 that's 000 863 2063 dickinson street my vote is yes
my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes uh thank you very much thank you do we
my vote is yes my vote is yes
go which case is next number nine is it tasker street tasker street right
20 mi 2020-001181 2844-48 tasker street
mr bertill
mr bertill's hand is raised i will promote him to panels right now sir
Thank you, Mr. Bertil. Please identify yourself for the record, spell your name, and I'll swear you in.
Good afternoon, members of the board.
Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Bertil?
Yes, do you hear me?
Yeah, barely. Speak a little bit more loudly and clearly into your microphone.
All right, so identify yourself, please, by your last name, and I'll swear you in.
Steve Bertil, B-E-R-T-I-L, Claire Harrison Harvey in Bransburg, 1835 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19103.
Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Thank you, sir.
Please proceed.
Confessor or read?
Carol, I'm sorry.
Frank, it's hard for me to speak.
There's rackets going on in the house.
Have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents,
proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance,
copy of the refusal or referral,
photos and plans five days prior to this hearing?
Yes to all of the above.
Also, have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
Do you agree with the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
I'm going to go ahead and share my screen now.
As stated, I'm here for 2844 to 48 Hasker Street.
I represent owners with me. I have a member of the ownership group, Mr. Vacario, while asked to raise his hand at the end of my presentation.
We're here requesting a variance for approval of lot line locations to create 22 lots from one large lot and for the construction of 22 homes, 18 of which are attached and four of which are semi-detached because they would end up on the corners.
Just so you get an understanding of the current lot, it's situated on the address is Tasker Street,
but the main frontage is actually on Dover Street, with Tasker Street to the north,
and Morris Street to the south. Well, I'm sorry.
The lot is zoned as CA1, an auto-oriented commercial, and it currently sits on the vacant
lot. This is the parcel here that's highlighted in the reverse L shape. So you get a sense of the
zoning of the entire area. This is the Grace Ferry neighborhood. This CA1 designation here
is where our lot sits. And as we stated, we're proposing residential single-family
use, which we believe is more appropriate for this current parcel. As you can see,
there's only three well I'm sorry I'm circling the wrong parcel this is the correct parcel my
apologies as you can see there are only three other CA1 lots in the area one of which is along
the industrial corridor here the other is along the edge of the neighborhood on 34th street which
is I believe a car wash and a Dunkin Donuts and the only one that's in the middle of a residential
neighborhood is a community health center so outside of the community health center there
are no commercial audio oriented lots outside of this cluster that is within a residential
neighborhood. So just so you get a sense, this is just a photo of the lot from an aerial view.
Again, we come, our parcel comes all the way down Dover and kind of reverse L shape towards 29th
Street. It's another area of view here. This is a street view from the corner of Dover and Taster.
This is a street view from the corner of Dover and Tasker.
Our parcel is about 20,000 square feet.
Here's a view on 29th, and this is on Dover.
So what are we proposing?
We are proposing, as I stated, the relocation of the lot lines to create 22 individual parcels
for the construction of single family homes amongst or on top of these parcels.
Most of which will be facing on Dover Street, but four of the 22 will be facing on 29th Street.
Each, there's a subdivision, let me go to the floorplanes and elevations.
Each home will be designed, we've designed as close to RCA5 as possible, which we believe
is more appropriate for this area. And for this parcel, as I'll get to in a second,
each home will have four bedrooms, four baths, 18 of which, like I said, is attached. And the
homes will come with a rear yard and a roof deck and roof access structure.
Here is a shot of the elevations of the homes and here is sort of a rendering of what we
are envisioning for this project. So as I stated earlier, we believe that the single
family homes is more appropriate for this neighborhood. We took a look at the 2035
district plan for this area and the city's actually intentions with this parcel was to
actually change, proposing a change of zoning, as you can see here, to change, this is our parcel
here, to change this lot from CA1 to RSA5, which was in line with what we're trying to do here
now and therefore we think we support the city's sort of position that this is the more
appropriate use for this position we did meet with the community group they submitted a letter of
support this morning but I've also attached it I don't know if it was received by the board but
I forwarded a subsequent email with it attached stating their support we met with the Grays Ferry
Community Council. We met with them on November 12th but earlier we had a, this was our second
meeting, we had an earlier meeting on October 13th with the zoning committee. At the meeting on
November 12th there were 23 attendees and there was only one vote for no and thus we received this
letter of support. In terms of the refusals that we have, all of our refusals basically stem from
the fact that this is currently zoned CA-1. We have some dimensional refusals, but also
we have a refusal for the proposed use of single family, which obviously would be by
right if this was zoned as RSA-5 as intended by the city. And also we have a refusal regarding
the parking, which would not be required if it was zoned as RSA-5. I won't get into,
unless the board has questions,
I won't get into the specific dimensional variances,
but just know that all of the dimensional variances
stem from the fact that this is intended
for auto-oriented use such as, you know,
like a shopping center or strip mall
or something of that nature.
And once we design residential homes for that,
it'll generate basically every dimensional variance
you can get.
As such, because we believe this is,
this use is in line with the 2035 plan we believe is in line with the neighborhood across the street
as row homes our dimensions are as close to the neighboring properties as we can get we're asking
the board for variance approval for our project i have with me on the line mr vicario from the
ownership group who can adopt and affirm my testimony mr vicario can you raise your hand
to be recognized please and mr vicario when you get on please identify yourself with the record
spell your first and last name and then i'll swear you in mr vicario to talk right now sir
hello there you go hi yes please identify yourself with the record spell your first and last name
Fred, F-R-E-D, Vicario, V like Victor, I-C-A-R-I-O.
Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
We're going to affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Yes, I do.
Please proceed, Mr. Bertil.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Vicario, did you hear the testimony that I provided to the board this afternoon in its entirety?
Do you confirm the truth of my testimony and adopt it as your own?
Absolutely.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Any questions from the board?
no anyone else would like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
mr chairman this is henry clinton i i don't have a raise my hand on the bottom of the screen but i
i have a comment or two proceed mr bertell how are you i'm doing well mr clinton good to see you
again good same here could you go back to the aerial photograph i just want to explain something
to the board and then you'll understand my question the aerial photograph you said please
does that one work or do you want to further this is great steve thank you so mr chairman
the the large white building in the forefront of this uh photograph is my client's building
i'm going to be presenting a similar residential project to the board tomorrow so i'm calling i'm
weighing in that my client supports
this project. And I also just want
confirmation from Steve.
Steve, if you could go to the zoning plan
that you had.
So at one of the community meetings
I had just asked Steve
that the alleyway that
is shown
behind the single
family homes and that are
against my client's property that that alleyway is going to be a dedicated public alleyway for use
by my client if that need arises as well as you know use for any of the homes on task retreat
i just wanted to confirm see that's still the case uh so that alleyway i just want to make sure
because i don't my recollection of your framing um was a little bit different what i can confirm
is that this alleyway will be is a required alleyway under the building code for ingress
and egress to all the adjacent homes and that'll that'll be reflected in the deed and material
if this board approves that and upon subdivision that this will maintain an alleyway by building
code for ingress and egress so it's I don't know I don't know in terms of because mainly because
I don't know what kind of homes your client intends to construct here.
But I would imagine if it's just a rear yard, if that's what you're referring to, then yes, that would be an alleyway that can be utilized for ingress and egress from all the homes that are adjacent to it.
And that alleyway will run from Tasker Street all the way down to the end of your development?
Yes, to the end of our property line, correct.
And yeah, that's what we agreed to before.
I wanted to confirm it on the record, and I appreciate it.
Thank you, Steve.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else?
Mr. Chair, I have someone with the phone number ending in 9213. Their hand is up.
I will allow them to speak right now.
The person is now allowed to speak, sir.
yeah hi this is steve vicario fred's brother i'm partners in the project so we were both
on the phone at the same time okay anyone else
there's no one else uh mr chair thank you planning commission
brian wenrick city planning commission staff
although this property is indicated for commercial use on the city plan or uh sorry let me start
over uh although this property is indicated for commercial commercial auto use on the city plan
it is recommended to be rezoned to rsa5 residential in the south district plan accordingly we have no
objection to the granting of these variances thank you mi 2020 that's zero zero one one eight one
two eight four four dash four eight tasker street my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my
vote is yes my vote is yes okay before we go to the next case i'd like to ask if the court reporter
needs a break we still have five more cases on the two o'clock list i can't see her if i can just
take uh two minutes three minutes take take five okay thanks okay
three minutes take take five okay thanks okay
2020 dash zero zero one eight six eight one seven one eight arlington street
mr notkinson
hello we hear voices out there it's probably the people here all right Mr. Notkinson are you around
why don't we go to we'll go to the next case
anybody see mr knockinson around
12th street is sean ward yeah let's go to that one and we'll come back to arlington street if
if if uh alan shows up okay calendar number mi 2020 000 738 1501 south 12th street
carol is that you yeah just mute yourself we'll handle it don't worry just stay on i believe um
i don't see first of all mr knockerson is here jason will promote him
okay thank you and then i believe sean ward continued this
um i can look it up and see because i'm not sure if i know he's not here and i'm not sure if
this is the week he was on vacation i believe so this is the week he was on vacation
so i'll check and see if he requests this is sharon he is on vacation this week
I thought so, because we heard all about it. So if we could, if we could request a continuance on this, I would be ever so grateful.
Frank, are you talking?
MI 2020-000738-1501 South 12th Street is continued.
Now we'll go to Arlington MI 2020-001868, 1718 Arlington Street.
so i think chair um jason might have got um locked out for some reason so i have promoted
mr mackamson i'm sorry i'm sorry miss sunken i was scared i just had to run off for a briefly
i'm sorry no worries uh good morning good morning good afternoon mr chair members of the board
alan knockamson of knockamson pc 123 south broad street suite 1600 philadelphia pa 19109
and mr knockamson do you swear to affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do you agree to read the reading of his refusal and stipulate to attack your seat
I do. Also, have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents,
proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal,
photos, and plans five days prior to this hearing? I have.
Have you met with the RCO and have a letter? We did, and I have
a letter. Thank you. Please proceed. I'm going to share my
screen.
Full screen mode.
And by the way, with me from the owners group is Steven Stafford.
But I'm here today for 1718 Arlington Street. This is in the Temple area of Philadelphia.
And we're looking to put a two unit building on this RM1 property.
We're not seeking any dimensional variances. We're here merely because we're in an overlay district
where if we were allowed without the overlay,
we would be allowed as of right.
So the first exhibit's the deed to the property
showing that Mask Investment Group LLC
owns a property at 1718 Arlington.
Second exhibit is showing proof that they owe no taxes,
real estate taxes on this property at 1718 Arlington.
After that, if my computer unfreezes, let's see, or not,
If my computer unfreezes, let's see, or not.
Oh, there it goes.
Oh, there it goes.
After that is the notice of refusal.
Again, we're an RM1 property.
All we're trying to do is build a two-unit building.
We have no dimensional variances.
Our lot size is 798 square feet.
Alan, could you increase that a little bit, please?
Make it a little bit larger.
You know what?
Let me show it a different way.
This would probably be more helpful.
hold on let me stop sharing and let me share again let me if i can hold on let me get all
right let me share that again and there's a different way of showing it that's actually
easier for you to see so let me just
having computer issues today
okay is that big enough or do you need a bigger mr chair a little larger please sure
what about uh does that work yeah that's good okay yeah so we're an rm1 property
um and all we're trying to do is build a two-family household living so a duplex um
our lot size is 798 square feet again if we were um just a typical rm1 property we'd be we wouldn't
and be here today, but we're required to have 850 square feet of lot size. So we did meet with the
community. Their issues were a couple fold. The first is that, you know, we did discuss,
they asked us, we're in a temple area of Philadelphia, they asked us if we're providing
student housing. And we indicated likely, but no guarantee, like, you know, we're going to market
the property, we think it's a beautiful property, where it can either be like just people,
generally from the neighborhood, young professionals, or student housing. So that was
their initial objection. The secondary objection was there's a front setback on the roof of the
fourth level where they were concerned about having outdoor living. So we had our meeting
last night with them. So we revised our drawings to account for the elimination of the roof deck
access because there have been issues in the temple area with outdoor living like that on
the roof so that was the first thing uh the second thing was there was four bedrooms in the second
unit they were concerned that we were trying to get some type of like group housing by having
selling renting by the bedroom that was not our intention but just to alleviate the situation
we we actually are eliminating the fourth bedroom in on the second level i mean the second unit
so there's not even an issue in terms of that as well for illustrative purposes. By doing that,
there was a fourth story that was half of the building structure. We completely eliminated
that by way of this revised proviso plan that we're submitting along with the revised Z1,
which is zoning planning one.
And I provided that to Ms. Saleta prior to the hearing.
And then after that,
we have the application for appeal
that we filed with the zoning board of adjustment,
along with the notice of refusal,
and then the project information form
we submitted to the city as well.
And then after that, I'm trying to get through this.
We have the zoning map for the area.
As you can see, we're all orange, it's all RM1, right?
So if this board did not grant a variance
by allowing a duplex to be here,
it would be out of character
for this section of the neighborhood.
and then you can see we're between 17th and 18th and Norris and Burks
and then there's a photograph of the property as well as properties to write as you can see
there's three story structures which and it's a mix of two story structures but you can see
there's new construction which is what we're offering is not out of character from the
neighborhood. And then here are our plans and drawings. So if I could just decrease it a little
bit because it's a little large. You'll see that what we're proposing is to have a brick facade
on the first two stories to kind of match the roof line of the different structures on our block
and then to have a more composite metal material on the third story. This was what the neighborhood
on the third story this was what the neighborhood was concerned about was this first fourth story
was concerned about was this
fourth
with an additional bedroom as well as the the deck in the front we have eliminated both by way of the
revised proviso plan form that we submitted then let me just decrease the size a little bit
that's 75 all right and then we have the floor plans here these are more pictures of the
surrounding neighborhood. Let's just go over the floor plans. So we'll start it with the first
floor. First floor, you walk into a vestibule area. You can go right into unit number one or
up the steps to unit number two. This is at the unit number one, which is unit A or the first
floor unit is a three-bedroom, two-bath. There's a bedroom here, a bathroom, an area for laundry
and utilities, as well as a bedroom over here. If you go to the lower level,
we do have a living area in the kitchen and the bedroom, and we do have secondary steps,
so like, you know, for access to the rear of the property. Now, if you go up a flight of steps,
you get in there and it's an open floor plan of a kitchen and a living room with a bedroom and
one bath and then the second floor or the third floor it's just two bedrooms one on each side
and then two baths and then each unit has its own washer and dryer
and then here's just another illustration of what the property looks like
just ignore we had our meeting last night so we submitted you know we had the architect
update the drawings to this morning so this does not exist anymore but you can see that our
building structure is actually less in height than the surrounding building structures in the area
we're going to go down to 35 feet or some of them so we did meet with the community and this is the
letter they they sent to us again it was not a highly attended meeting there were two board
members they were evenly split one of support one opposed and then the two members of the community
opposed it and if you look at the letter it really was the community opposition was focused on the
issue of student housing would you enlarge that oh yeah sure
can you see it now mr chair yes thank you okay uh yeah so the opposition was the community
opposition was focused on the issue of student housing this community has been oversaturated
with student housing as we indicated to them it's not our business business model to merely
rent to student housing. Is that one avenue? Yes. But we are also looking at young professionals,
potentially even condoing this sometime in the future as well, depending on how the neighborhood
turns out and how the economy turns out. The second issue was the fact that the second unit
had four bedrooms versus three. And that's why we eliminated the one bedroom. And then they also
wanted us actually just to reduce the deck on that fourth floor that front deck we decided to
eliminate it completely so that wouldn't even be an issue but during the meeting they did you know
when i spoke when we spoke to the community at large as well as the representative from the
courting rco they understood that this is something that's not out of character with
the neighborhood in terms of asking for two units so they didn't really focus on the zoning related
issue. You know, is this out of character for the neighborhood? I mean, because having a single
family home would be out of character for the neighborhood, as opposed to a two unit for an
RM1 structure or property. Here's just the notice that we sent to the community. As you can see,
we had our meeting yesterday at 530, you know, at Cecil B. Moore Avenue, you know, at 1510 Cecil
be more avenue so and then just here's you know the addresses the number of addresses we sent it
to proof of mailing and then the addresses we actually mailed it to um i do have steve stafford
the owner's representative on the uh online so steve can you virtually raise your hand
and while steve is getting online i will say that this property is going to be self-managed
by steve and the ownership group as well and steve is a is a licensed broker real estate broker in
real estate broker in the city of philadelphia
in the city of Philadelphia.
steve have you are you i i know he's online because when they were calling the list
and my name he was like where are you okay cool all right sir good afternoon please spell your
name for the record and uh hello yep can you hear me now i can yep sorry i'll get closer to the
to the mic here what name uh steven stafford and spelled s-t-e-p-h-e-n-s-t-a-f-f-o-r-d
we're infirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do please proceed mr notkinson yes mr stafford uh you heard everything i stated today
correct and is it true and correct it is yes and do you adopt it as your own testimony
Yes, I do.
I have no further questions.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
Anyone else would like to testify in this matter?
If so, please raise your hand.
Mr. Chair, I have a Craig Dwyer whose hand is raised.
I will allow him to speak so he can be sworn in now.
Good afternoon, sir. Please identify yourself with the record, spell your first and last name, and provide us with your address.
My name is Craig Dwyer. My address is 1957 North 24th Street in Philadelphia, PA, 19121.
And you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth.
do you i think your address your live beyond about 200 you live beyond 250 feet
um i yes exactly um i'm i'm the owner of um 1955 as well and then that's also the variance for
duplex so i'm on i'm the owner of 1957 and i'm requesting a duplex as well what happened i
I met with the RCO board.
I'm sorry.
Sorry, so you're in the wrong.
We're asking about 1718 Arlington Street.
So you'll have to wait till we get to you, okay?
All right, anyone else?
Planning Commission?
I'm sorry, Mr. Chair.
I have Ms. Mary Jones here.
Oh, sorry about that.
I figured. Good afternoon again, Ms. Jones. You're still under oath. Please identify yourself for the record.
Yes. Good afternoon, Mary Jones, Council President Daryl Clark's office.
Yes. Our office is in receipt of the RCO's letter in opposition.
And we do support their concerns about the oversaturation of student housing in the area.
We just ask that there's some kind of proviso added that there will be three bedrooms in the lower unit, not four, as they requested, as well as the removal of the roof deck.
So noted. Thank you.
and i believe mr notkinson your plan the revised plan will show that there is no fourth floor no
upper floor correct that's correct mr chair so that's actually we address both concerns of the
community as well as the councilman by eliminating the front rear uh the front roof deck as well as
that floor which would account for the fourth unit i mean the fourth uh bedroom okay all right uh
planning commission good afternoon brian one rick planning commission staff this property is
indicated for residential multi-family use on the comprehensive plan with the removal of the four
story fourth bedroom and roof deck we have no objection to the granting of this variance
thank you and al it's one page it's one page mr chair thank you mi 2020-001868
1718 arlington street my vote is yes with the following proviso
revised plan one page approved today maximum three units in the second third floor
excuse me maximum three bedrooms in the upper floor unit the second and third floor will have
a maximum of three bedrooms my vote is yes with proviso yes for proviso yes for proviso yes with
Supervisor. Thank you. Thank you. MI 2020-000664.
MI 2020-000664, 1000 East Erie Avenue.
1000 East Erie Avenue.
No hands, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. MI 2020-000664 1000 East Erie Avenue is continued. MI 2020.
I'm sorry, Chair.
Oh, sorry.
If I could make a request that this application be a must be heard since it was since November 2019.
Okay. All right. Go back to MI 2020-000664. 1000 East Erie Avenue is continued. Must be heard. MI 2020-002-119-109 West Rittenhouse Street.
i am back on mr chairman good afternoon again ma'am you are still under oath but please
identify yourself with the record yvonne b haskins attorney for the owner okay and please
proceed ms haskins ma'am you agree to waive the reading of its refusal and stipulate to attack
accuracy yes also have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents proof of
ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal, photos and plans five days prior to this
hearing? Yes. Have you met with the RCO and have a letter? Yes. It was sent in the package.
Okay, please proceed. Okay, I'm going to try to quickly share the screen. I'm hoping I'm getting
a little better at this. This is a long-standing two-unit building. In 2003, the board had approved
it to have a commercial unit on the first floor. Ms. Haskins. Yes. I'm sorry, it's Tanya. If I could
ask that you um unshare your screen and then first open up the file and then share so I'm
going to take your screen down now and if you could go to the actual file double click and open
it then share your screen oh unfortunately I think um I think I have it up there if you could just
let me find the file I think that's the only unfortunately it went on to the share I'm not
trying to share this with you, but it's the, it's, it's the, it's where I find the file.
Can I do that real quickly? Sure. Okay. Um, I just want to define the pictures
real quickly. All right. 109 photos. Um, now I will, now I could, I do a new share.
and then share this if the picture have the pictures come up for you
uh-huh and i think i've got it coming for you okay first let me unshare you and then you're
going to share again and you're going to click directly on the picture file the actual pictures
here we are
is it there do you have it did you click on the pictures okay there we go miss haskins okay
all right good this is the front door of the file but before i start to show you the picture i wanted
to explain that this this this is one that you approved also in 2017 for two commercial two
residential units. And what you did in 2017 was to approve the first floor as a residential unit
because you had approved it in 2003 as a commercial unit. Unfortunately, this too lapsed. And
And we are here to try to reinstate what you approved in 2017.
This is the front door to the second floor unit, but now I have to rotate this.
This is the building. The refusal indicates that it is attached when it is not. On this side is the neighboring property's yard. On the left side facing the building is a small alleyway that goes between our building and the adjacent building.
This is the building.
the refusal indicates that it is a
the first floor
this is the entrance
to the building and I think
I believe this is the
where am I
this is the living and dining area
of the first floor
and the kitchen for the first floor
first floor bedroom
first floor bathroom
and I believe I have to bring up another file unfortunately but if I can just explain if you
don't have to see the interior this time around the second floor is two-story as you can see
with a deck on the on the side it is completely it has no side area rear area or frontage it is
right on the street. Surrounding this, across the street from this property, is a huge parking lot
adjacent to a church that allows, and before COVID, before we had the pandemic,
the church was allowing the neighbors to park on that lot. Because the church is not having
services, they close the lot as well. We expect that when that opens back, we will have parking
available again for all the units on the block. Across the street are multiple, you have multi-family
dwellings as well. This is a real mixed eclectic block of properties. Most residential on this
side of the block and the other side is the church, the parking lot, and you have a huge
senior citizen's facility.
We are asking nearly that you legalize what was approved, that you reinstate what was
approved back in 2017, that the first floor be a residential unit and that the second
floor also continue to be a residential unit.
And that is really the gist of the request.
Okay, thank you.
Do you have any witnesses?
I have, standing by is the owner for the property
if you needed to have heard.
We'll stipulate you as a officer of the court
that your client would adopt your testimony.
Going forward, any questions from the board?
no anyone else would anyone like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
mr chair i have a charles richardson with his hand up i will allow him to speak
so he can be good afternoon mr richardson you're still under oath from earlier
please identify yourself for the record good afternoon mr chair charles richardson
office of councilwoman cindy bass room 312 city hall councilwoman has no objection to
granting the variance thank you planning commission
good afternoon brian wenrich city planning commission staff this property has a documented
history of two units accordingly we do not object to the granting of this variance thank you mi 2020
that's zero zero two one one nine one oh nine west rittenhouse street my vote is yes
my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes okay miss haskins you
had a you had a good day three for three thank you very much you got a hat trick okay am i excuse
me. I'm sorry. This is Sharon Saleta. Could we call Rachel Pritzker is waiting for a case that
is not included on your list? I believe you received a text message 327 North Front Street.
Yeah, I need the MI number or the appeal number. Okay, but are we going to hear that last?
I thought we were going to hear it last. Yes. Sharon, is that okay? It's fine. I'm sorry. I
misunderstood tanya i thought that sorry no because unfortunately i misput this on the list
so i'm trying to get planning commission a weigh-in at that time so this will give them a few
minutes to get that done okay i misunderstood i apologize no worries no worries we're gonna go
Okay, I misunderstood. I apologize.
No worries. Thank you.
We're going to go to the next case, MI2020-000973-1121-33 North Front Street.
Okay, Mr. Chair, I have a Mr. Brandon Okus.
Is he being promoted to a panelist or just allowed to speak?
Mr. Okus, are you the owner?
He's the owner, yes.
Or it looks like he's the applicant at least.
So you can promote him, Jason, so the board can question him.
Understood.
good afternoon mr chairman members of the board hi please identify yourself with the records by
your first and last name my name is brendan olkus b-r-e-n-d-a-n last name's olkus o-l-k-u-s
and you swear to the firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do are you the after have you uh emailed professor i have yes are you the are you the
applicant i i'm the applicant okay but i'm sorry what's your relationship yep do you own the
property oh no at least the property okay mr okus i'm not seeing a deed or a lease in your exhibit
packet. Did you submit them once? I thought I did. I'm sorry. I'll check again. Let me be sure. Okay.
If not, I have it here. I maybe just didn't wind up enough. Okay.
I'm sorry about that. That's fine. I have everything else, so you can go ahead. Professor,
Sir, have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
I have, yes.
And the documents that you emailed, you emailed them five days prior to this hearing?
Yes, sir.
Thank you.
Please proceed.
um i'm asking for um a non-accessory off-street parking um rezone for the for a lot at 11 21 to
11 29 north front street uh the lot is um across the street from my my business which is a bar
restaurant at front and gerard um and i want you the lot i need to i need to interrupt you said
yeah 11 21 through 11 29 yeah but it's at it's listed as 11 21 because it's one lot
okay because it says a lot to through to 11 11 33 i that's a mistake that's 11 29 okay yeah thank
you um we uh i i wanted to um just use it for uh off street parking for my employees and
my staff and myself we've been closed since march um and i have no idea when we'll open again
but if and when we do survive if we survive the pandemic uh i want to have uh i wanted to have
parking for my uh my staff to relieve the neighborhood of the parking congestion um we
were given the support of the fna um zoning committee uh rco and also the uh the fishtown
bid RCO. And yeah, any photographs you can share with us? Yes. Yeah, let me. Yeah, we'll move quickly. I just want to see some of the photographs.
This is, well, here's the floor plan. Let me pull that up and then share. All right. Share screen. Okay. This is the floor plan.
Okay, if you can see on the left-hand side of the floor plan, you have the view looking south.
There's already a curb cut that's existed there for a long time.
It's pretty cut and dry.
We agreed to to landscape it according to city planning standards using using the shrubs that city planning suggested.
Anything that needed to be done in terms of their standards, we agreed to it.
It's it's it's pretty cut and dry.
It was a blight lot. It was filled with trash. I cleaned it out. I dug it out. I put gravel down. It'll be cleaned three times a day. We'll have it monitored by our security through the course of the day to make sure that nothing's going on and no one's illegally there.
It was it was a blight lot. It was filled with trash. I cleaned it out. I dug it out.
and um yeah okay all right um excuse me this is sharon again um i was unable to find the lease
in the packet so once this presentation is done if you could just hold the vote while miss britzker
presents her case and mr okus if you could email it to me then the board could vote
thank you very much okay all right uh let's go forward any questions from the board
anyone else like to testify in this case please raise your hand
so chair there's a kevin eisenberg who i will allow to speak now
thank you mr eisenberg please identify yourself with the records by your last name and provide
us with your address hi my name is kevin eisenberg i-s-e-n-b-e-r-g
and i'm the owner of 1121 north lee street okay you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth yes please proceed um i just wanted to note several things um
on this drawing lee street is only six feet six inches wide
also there's there's no entrance or exit on lee street it's it's going to be it's going to be
closed off the only entrance or exit is on north front so at least also that these pictures are
very old um there's a six-story condo um unit that is next door to it and he has it listed as
a vacant lot uh no that's not true the adjacent the lot next to it is actually a vacant lot
the lot the second lot over is there's a six-story condo being built so that's that's not true
yes and also that this lot has been used over the past what year two years um three years
and it's been used as a parking lot and storage for his trash and it's
you guys are talking over each other hold on mr holkus that it is used by the nuisance bar
down the block it is usually unregulated there is um constantly drinking going on
and parties going on in the lot by the uh customers of the said saint bar which is
almost a half a block away um there were several other residents how do you know they're coming
from this okay so are you are you sworn in because mr okis mr okis so yeah sorry how do
you know they're coming from mr olcus establishment i'm not sure but the sign is for um for the lot
that's usually posted out front is saint parking only and you're suggesting that people leave mr
olcus establishment and walk a block or two to go drink outside it is not a block it is a half a
block oh so i thought i heard you say a block no if it was two blocks away i don't know why would
they would want to use it and store their trash i i understand i misspoke i thought i heard you
say two blocks okay um yeah and anything else that um they keep a dumpster there and the dumpster is
usually emptied around three to four in the morning and it's full of glass and it wakes up
the whole block there were several other people logged in waiting for the meeting it looks like
i was the only one that uh stayed on mr olcus do you have a trash of container there
you have to unmute yourself
unmute yourself
yes we we had we had trash removal there when we were open i can't afford it anymore because
well i mean that's however we do have a permit and a tag on it um and that's the first thing
the second thing is is that um this gentleman referred to us as a nuisance bar uh first firstly
let me say that you can, I'm on the PDAC board. I mean, I'm on, I'm a member of the PDAC at the
26th. We have seven or eight yearly letters or certificates of thank you from, from the, the
26th for community participation. We have support from Councilman Spill's office. We're not a
nuisance board. I don't know where that would come from. So if you were under oath and accused
me of that. I mean, I think that you should probably check that out before you make a statement like that.
All right. I mean, I think that you should probably check that out before you make a statement like that, because that's an actual thing.
All right. Thank you.
We are we are we have we had our RCO meeting. We had people speak on our behalf, our behalf.
The police department would speak on our behalf. We're OK.
We are. I don't know what's going on over there for the past nine months because I've not been there and I can't use it.
so and and and i can't stop people from you know they took they took my barriers down
and park in there i can't stop anyone from doing that because i'm not there
um and i don't have access to it so okay understood thank you anyone else wish to
testify in this case if so please raise your hand
there are no hands thank you planning commission
good afternoon brian wendrick city planning commission staff this property is indicated
for commercial residential mixed use on the comprehensive plan therefore we have no objection
to the granting of these variances to support the neighboring businesses so long as the parking lot
landscaping requirements are met. Thank you. MI 2020-000973. 1121-29 North Front Street. My vote
is yes. Excuse me, Chair. You were going to hold this until after Rachel's case. Oh, I'm sorry.
Okay. Thank you. All right. Mr. Alkus, you have to unmute yourself.
I'm going to email the lease over to you. Okay. Then we'll vote it once we get that. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. Thank you. All right. We're going to go to the add-on. I don't have a calendar number
for 327 North Front. Tanya.
um hi chair um yeah we have a calendar um yes sorry i'm doing 20 things
um calendar number mi 2020 002263 327 north front street thank you and jason you can promote
ms pritzker and good afternoon ms pritzker you're still under oath from earlier today
for this afternoon or whenever it was
good afternoon please identify yourself with the record and as i said you're still under oath
okay rachel r-a-c-h-a-e-l pritzker p-r-i-t-z-k-e-r 1635 market street suite 1600 philadelphia pa
19103 thank you please uh confessor
is this an atom was this her before um no this is a case that i i missed putting on the list for
today so she's going to go forward as a regular case okay great uh you agree to waive the reading
of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy yes also have you emailed an exhibit packet with the
required documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral
folders and plans five days prior to this hearing? Yes. Also, have you met with the RCO and have a
letter? Yes. Thank you. Please proceed. Can you promote Rustin Oler? He is the architect for this
matter and he'll be providing the plans. While he does that, while you promote him, I'll just
share my screen and go through the refusal. This is 327 North Front Street. We are asking to build
a single family dwelling with two interior parking spaces covered balconies at the second
through fourth floors and a roof deck access by a pilot house. We are providing a solar structure
on this building. It will be completely solar powered as the owner of the property. That's
the line of business he's in. We were refused for open area, although I do believe this was
an error. The lot is shorter than 45 feet in depth, so lots that are shorter than 45 feet
in depth as per RM1, which this lot is zoned, are not subject to the same open area requirements.
We do agree to the refusal as far as the maximum height is concerned. We have a refusal. RM1 allows
for 38 feet and we're providing 51 feet 10 inches so um again that's to uh utilize the
solar structure and i'll have roll um rust and oler go in and share the plans
hi everybody hi please identify yourself with the record spell your name and i'll swear you in
yeah rustin oler last name o-h-l-e-r uh harman deutsch oler architecture address is 1225 north
7th street philadelphia pa thank you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
about the truth i do thank you please proceed yeah i'm going to share my screen
um so yes can everybody see that before yes yes so as rachel mentioned uh we're 327 and 29 north
front street um this is a unique uh block of philadelphia between front street and water street
um as you'll see what i go through here uh every building on the entire
block face here goes from street to street, occupies 100% of the property,
and is a series of single-family homes and mixed-use multi-family properties.
We are proposing a single-family dwelling. It's about 3,800 square feet.
You can look at the, we did two context plans, so if you can look at the top of the page,
you can see basically highlighted in yellow all the properties that are occupying 100% a lot
the entire block from vine street through to callahill street here and then we did a height
comparison because we are asking for height variance there is about a story difference
between front street and water street water street is lower as we're on a hill here you
the one water street apartments which is like 175 feet which is an extreme case and then the rest of
the block um are over 35 feet and as you can see we are either in line um or lower than the other
properties here on on that block uh you can see the height difference here uh in yellow as well
um so it's basically just a single family home it's about 3 800 square feet um there's a series
of garages on water street um which are in the pictures on the first page um almost all the
properties have a garage accessed off of water street um which is the kind of the rear and then
front street is the primary entrance for the majority of the buildings on this block so we
have a two car garage access through one curb cut off water street um living room at the second floor
i'm sorry we're actually we're calling the first floor which you enter on front street
bedrooms on the second floor master on the third floor and then a multi-purpose room on the fourth
floor with roof decks and here you can see the facades we have front street on the left and
water street on the right and there is a story difference between the two streets as I mentioned
and then the height refusal and you can see here the solar panels which we're proposing over the
roof deck that's essentially it unless you have questions thank you do you have anyone else rachel
you have to unmute thank you uh thank you rustin i just wanted to um have joe the owner um sign on
and just uh corroborate our testimony and also share with the board um our letter of support
from CDAG as well. We did submit it as well, but just happy to put it on the screen to the board.
Joe, the owner, please identify yourself for the record.
Is this a Joseph Gitterman to whom you're referring?
No, Joe Scorzon.
John Scorzon yeah sorry John not Joe my apologies it's been a long day I'm sorry
I will allow Mr. Scorzon to speak now Mr. Chair thank you Mr. Scorzon please identify
yourself for the records by your last name and I'll swear you in
uh yes hi it's john scorzone s-c-o-r s-o-n-e we're in the firm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth i do you can please proceed rachel uh john have you heard my testimony
today um regarding your project and you've heard and everything you've heard has been accurate and
true to your knowledge? Yes. Do you adopt this testimony as your own? I do. I just would like
you to share with the board just very briefly about the solar component. I just think it's
worth mentioning because I think it's something that I wish other more people would do. I'd be
glad to and thanks for the opportunity and thanks to the board for the opportunity. As Rachel has
As Rachel has said, I own a solar company, Solaire America. We actually have the corporate solar projects for Wawa Incorporated. And I'm a city resident, 341 North Front Street is my current home.
said, I own a solar company, Solaire America.
So we would like to obviously see more solar and renewable energy in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania.
And the reason why, the main reason we are looking to do what we're doing on this project is to supply the entire electricity use for this single home with solar energy.
which is why we're asking for again what we're asking for in the design to be able to apply
enough power to offset the home 100 percent. Wonderful. Russin do you mind just letting
stopping the share your sharing of your screen so that I can just there we go thank you just
want to show just our letter of support from the RCO. We met with CDAG and basically they are in
support and does not oppose the grading of the variance for this application. With that,
I've concluded and happy to take any questions. Thank you. Mr. Scarzone, your company, do you
retrofit existing homes with solar in Philadelphia? We can. We have. We have,
but we mostly do commercial, but we do have a residential unit. Mostly Pennsylvania hasn't
been very active unfortunately because of the um unfortunate uh economics for and politics in our
state um but yes we do to answer your question long-windedly yes we can all right and what's
the name of your company solare america s-o-l-a-r-e america thank you any questions for the board
no no anyone else would like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
no hands mr chair thank you planning commission
follow up from below burns at the city planning commission i was sworn in earlier
yes i can swear it again no no no just okay i can we ask two questions to be clarified because
we didn't get a packet to see the site plan beforehand the first one is what is the height
of the roof deck itself and not just from front street but from water street so
because it's on a slope there's an average grade
yeah I have that answer for you hang on thank you I couldn't read it on the screen for Austin
uh so we are
46 feet on water street and 56 feet on front street
there's a great change well yes it's the great change so that russ we would agree that 56 and
46 equals 51 yep that's before we actually get to the solar panels so the height variance is just
because of the height of the building and the solar panel should have been included
as a permitted height per the zoning code that was approved last december
would have been nice to know no i think that your roof where the people stand where their feet
radar on the roof deck is at 51 feet that's why I'm asking Rustin to confirm yes yes our average
above grade to the roof deck is 51 feet 10 inches per so the solar panels are not triggering your
height variance it's actually the height of the building well I think what was we looked at the
code I think for solar panels are required a seven foot setback um and we didn't get refused for that
though I know but we got refused for open space which was incorrect so I think that maybe they're
you know just depending on the reviewer could have been no i'm i think the architect's agreeing that
where the feet go on the roof deck is 51 feet got it as designed yes so i just wanted to clarify
that in the code so we can give our recommendation chairman and members of the board this property
is indicated for residential use on the comprehensive plan we have no objection to
the proposed building and want to note that the water street already has an existing curb
cut and has been used for parking in the past accordingly we have no objection thank you
mi 2020-002263 327 north front street my vote is yes my vote is yes
front street my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes thank you i believe that concludes
the two o'clock excuse me this is sharon saletta i did receive the lease from mr okus so you can
vote that case now if you'd like okay so mi 2020 dash zero zero zero nine seven three
1121-29
North Front Street. My vote is
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
Thank you all. Again, that
concludes the two o'clock list.
It is now
five after five.
You want to take a ten minute break?
Be back at 515?
Yes, Chair.
All right, 515.
Thank you. Good evening, everyone. My name is Frank DiCicco. I'm the chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
I'll be participating in tomorrow's hearing along with our vice chair, Ms. Carol Tineri,
Board Secretary, Confessor Plaza, and board members, Mr. Thomas Holloman and Mr. James Snell.
Board Administrator, Ms. Tanya Sunken, and Board Attorney, Ms. Sharon Saleta, are also in attendance.
For those of you who haven't yet participated in one of our virtual hearings,
I'll go through some of the basics of what you can expect.
First, we will be administering oaths to individual participants prior to their testimony.
Second, for the benefit of anyone participating by phone,
we ask that attorneys and witnesses identify themselves prior to speaking or testifying.
Third, we'd like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded
and that by participating you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded.
Fourth, for anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute yourself.
I'll repeat. For anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute yourself.
Finally, to enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548 and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue. I will repeat. To enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548 and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue.
Before we begin, before our vice chair calls our first case, we'd like to ask if anyone
is requesting a continuance or an appeal for this afternoon's hearing. If so, please raise your hand
and we'd also like to advise everyone that please do not attempt to testify in the chat.
Any comments should be directed to the board. Anyone requesting a continuance or withdrawal,
please raise your hand okay mr chair i have a craig dwyer i will allow him to speak right now
please wait to be sworn in mr dwyer good evening mr dwyer please identify yourself for the record
spell your first and last name and provide us with your address i'm sorry chair can i interject please
Sure, please.
Mr. Dwyer, you were sworn in already, right?
No, I was not.
I'm still here waiting.
I thought he came more early.
There was another Craig earlier.
So should I go?
Yeah, my name is Craig Dwyer, C-R-E-I-G-D-W-Y-E-R.
i'm the property owner for 1957 north 24th street in um philadelphia pa 19121 and you
swear and you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth and for the purposes of the board that's
not case number four 1957 north 25th are you requesting 24th street 24th street i apologize
Are you requesting a continuance?
Well, no, I would like to proceed on
because I've met with the RCO.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
Well, sir, wait for your case to be called then.
This is the same guy, Chair.
That's what I'm just trying to get across.
Oh, you're right.
Please wait until your case is called,
regardless of how late it is.
You're right.
I apologize, Tanya.
You're right.
Yeah, I'm studying this board, Chair.
Good God, okay.
Oh, my God.
This will get me too, Ms. Duncan.
anyone else wish to test that excuse me if anyone else is requesting a continuance or withdrawal
please raise your hand i have mr charles richardson who is also waiting now thank you
mr richardson you were sworn in earlier you're still under oath just identify yourself for the
record please charles richardson from the office of councilwoman cindy bass room 312 city hall
Charles Richardson from the Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass, Room 312, City Hall.
I have two requests.
One is ZP2020-001788, 1806 West Ontario Street.
Number one on our list, yes.
I spoke with the RCO, and they have a RCO meeting scheduled for November the 23rd.
uh to hear this case i think they already had one meeting that uh where they the uh applicant
agreed to come back and to meet with the community i guess based on their concerns and to
you know having hopefully addressed whatever their issues might have been but so i'm requesting a
continuance uh until the after the 23rd november the 23rd okay so mi 2020-001528
1806 west ontario is continued um excuse me chair this is a third party request the attorney is ole
saklove can we please see if he is present before continuing thank you okay mr saklove
I checked for him earlier. He's not here for this.
That case is continued. Thank you, Tanya.
No, that's okay. I'm sorry.
Second case?
Second case is HA2020-000068, address is 4534 Old York Road.
Just give me a second, sir.
That is number six on our list.
Request for continuance?
Yes, sir.
We have no information, have had no contact with the applicant.
check back through all emails and have not received anything with regard to this case
within the last six months. Okay, is there anyone else here on this case? 4534 Old York Road?
it appears to be no one thank you um mi 2020-000-439-4534 old york road is continued must be
heard. Thank you. Any other requests for continuances or withdrawals?
Mr. Chair, there is a John Griffin with his hand raised. I will allow him to speak right now.
Thank you, Mr. Griffin. Commissioner, can you hear me? Yes. Okay. Commissioner,
I represent 6915.
John, excuse me, just identify yourself with a record and I'll swear you in.
John Griffin, attorney, counsel on 6915 Caster Avenue.
We're in the firm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
What case are you speaking on?
6915 Caster Avenue.
We had received word. I think Tanya was copied on this email continuance request by the RCO requesting an additional inspection at the premises.
We understand their concerns. We respect it. Simply ask for a must be heard. This goes back to December.
Mr. Griffin, can I ask you represent the applicant?
Yes, I represent the applicant.
Okay, thank you.
Okay, MI 2020-001121 6915 Caster Avenue is continued, must be heard.
Commissioner, may I respectfully leave this Zoom meeting?
Yes, you may.
Thank you, sir.
I'm sorry, if I could just ask Mr. Counsel for the applicant.
I had Stephen Murphy, who was the attorney for this.
So could you submit something to me in writing stating you're the attorney for this applicant?
I thought we had done that a while ago, Tanya.
But to the extent that we haven't, I will certainly get that to you tomorrow.
I really appreciate that.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Have a good evening.
Anyone else?
You too, sir.
Bye-bye.
Anyone else?
Continuance or withdrawal?
Mr. Chair, I see Mr. Zhen Jin's hand up. I will promote him to a panelist.
Do I promote him to a panelist?
Thank you. Good evening, Mr.
Thank you. Good evening, Mr. Jinn.
Please identify yourself with a record and I'll swear you're in.
I see you have two cases.
You're promoted to panelist, Mr. Jinn.
Yes, thank you. Good evening.
Since I am present for another hearing, I wanted to just verbally request a continuance for one of the matters before the board tonight.
we're in a firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
I do please proceed I'm here requesting
a continuance on MI 2020
000 450
2128 South 15th Street we still need to
meet with the RCO okay
MI 2020 dash
000 450
2128 South 15th Street is continued
thank you we'll get
back to you on your next case shortly thank you
any other requests no mr. chair that seems to be all for right now thank you
I believe we go to number two on our list is that correct Tanya Amber Street
yes that's what i have to hear okay thank you mi 2020 that's zero zero zero zero five eight
three oh two one amber street
The attorney is Christopher Dean.
Hold on one second, everyone.
I'm sorry, Mr. Chair, but I do not see Mr. Dean here, present.
Is there anyone here for 3021 Amber Street?
Seeing none, MI 2020-0000583021 Amber Street is continued.
Can this be a must be heard?
And must be heard.
Thank you.
calendar number mi 2020 000 348 1957 north 24th street mr dwyer i'm finally here my name is craig
dwyer um c-r-i-g-d-w-y-e-r i'm at nine i'm the owner of 1957 north 24th street in philadelphia
PA 19121, swear to tell the truth.
And you do swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I swear to tell the truth, yes.
You also agree to waive and nothing but the truth?
I also agree to waive about nothing but the truth.
You agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
He's not an attorney.
I'm not an attorney.
This is an application for a permit for a two-family household living.
in an existing attached structure you may perceive yes so i'm the owner also for 1955
i have a variance for two families which is approved and granted am i allowed to share my screen
i don't know how to do that okay yes so i'm the owner of both properties so i met with the rco
board and they didn't see a need for me to put another duplex there um so i'm just basically
You know, asking for you guys to see if I could get the permission to do that.
Let me ask you, sir.
Excuse me.
Did you submit all your required documents five days prior to this hearing?
Yes, I want to.
Have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
No, they didn't give me a letter.
I met with them over and over and the letter has not been granted as yet.
and what is 1955 north 24th street that is my property as well it was granted a variant which
is a new place so right now we're going to focus on 1957 north 24th yes we do not have a letter
from the rco is that correct that's correct i go in there call they met with me you have plans
yes i have plans um how do i share my screen
um hello what kind of device are you working with i'm on a computer
i'm on a computer um so you're going to look at the bottom of your zoom and you're going to see
um so you're going to look at the bottom of your zoom
a share screen you're going to open up your file first once you have your file open and on your
desktop then you'll hit share screen at the bottom of the zoom excuse me this is sharon saleta i just
checked and i don't have a record of having received the exhibits can we confirm that they
were sent to me and to the RCO mailbox? Yes, I sent it to Tanya. No, that's not the
requirement. It's supposed to go to the email boxes that's on the documents that
was sent to you, Sharon Soletta, the attorney who's now speaking, as well as
the RCO ZBA mailbox. That's where they're supposed to go. Okay, so should I request
a continuous? That sounds likely. This case will be continued. MI 2020-0003481957 North 24th Street
is continued. Okay, calendar number MI 2020-000451-2204 North Marshall Street. The attorney is
Zen Jin. Good evening. Hi. Name and address for the record, please. Sure. Zen Jin, Z-H-E-N-J-I-N,
1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 1838, Philadelphia, PA 19103, here on the behalf of
the applicant. Thank you. Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
I do. You also agree to wait the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
I do. You may proceed.
Thank you. We have submitted the evidence according to the requirements of the zoning board five days ahead to Ms. Saleta.
I am going to share my screen. Let me make sure I'm permitted to do so.
So I'm going to share with the board the evidence that was submitted.
We submitted a copy of the refusal, the letter from APM, and we also submitted the proof of notification and mailing, photographs, plans,
The certificate tax clearance is not an actual certificate. It shows that there's zero taxes,
real estate taxes, owed on the property. However, we don't have the actual certificate, a deed,
the application, project information sheet, and this hearing's calendar. The community met with
us on this case, along with two other lots on the block. The primary issue with this
particular case, in which case it is simply a CMX2 property that we're seeking to build
100% residential. This is actually a vacant block. And my client does not happen to own
contiguous lots. So he has one lot, and then another lot, and then one all the way down the
block. The issue with doing commercial at this point without any of the residential being put
in place yet is that it's really difficult to support any kind of a commercial use on this
particular block at the time. At this time, I should say, I spoke with Ms. Jones also from the
council president's office. And we discussed that in the future, as more of these multifamilies are
permitted and allowed to build, there would be enough support for future commercial. And certainly
my client would look at that as he further develops in the area. But for this particular
property, we believe a full residential use at this time would be the only viable use.
The community also did not take a position because essentially because there are really
no neighbors. I mean, there are a few buildings in the area, but they're mostly rental properties
and none of the residents actually came out to the meeting. So they issued a non-opposition
because they don't really want to take a position
since there was no real feedback.
I do want...
Jen, do you have any photographs of that?
That'd be helpful.
So this is the lots on North Marshall Street.
And this is the current conditions of the lots.
So this entire block,
but back here on 7th Street,
you have two multifamily buildings.
On the further end, across the street, this is across North Marshall. It's the back of,
I believe, a church-type structure. And let me go ahead and also share the plans with the board.
As you can see, it's a narrow, long lot, but we are leaving the open space as required. We're
not trying to go too high on the height. I will zoom in to make sure that it's easier to see.
We're not trying to go over the height. It's a fair height for the area because other buildings are about this height, but they're actually a block away.
we're not trying to go
over the height
it's a
Each floor would be its own unit according to the design. This one I will zoom back out so we can better see the floor layout.
each floor would be its own unit first floor and basement is one unit second floor is a unit
and third floor is a unit we I do want to point out the second and third floor would have been a
by right residential use even with the commercial so we're really focusing on just the first floor
also being used as a residential again the area is basically all vacant lots on this whole entire
block and at this time we believe there's a hardship to put in a small commercial space
that would likely not be supported by enough residents in the area. This is subject to change
in the future I'm sure but for this particular case at this time I think it is a fair request
to ask for a variance in this case. I'm happy to entertain any questions or show other exhibits to
the board. Do you have a client? Do you need to swear in? My client should be here with us,
Mr. Joseph Gitterman. Mr. Gitterman, if you're there, please identify yourself,
spell your first and last name, and I'll swear you in. I won't let Mr. Gitterman speak now, sir.
Mr. Gitterman? Yes, how are you? Good evening, everybody. Thank you very much. My name is
Joseph Gitterman and I'm the owner of the property 2204. Mr. Gitterman, please spell your last
name. G-I-T-E-R-M-A-N. You swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the
truth? Yes, I do. Mr. Jen? Thank you. Mr. Gitterman, I am present to the zoning board regarding this
matter. Can you verify that it is true and correct and adopted? Yes, I do. Thank you. Thank you.
questions from the board no no somebody has their uh needs to mute we hear a lot of background noise
um and excuse me anyone else like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
no hands mr chair okay mi 2020 dash zero zero zero four five
here planning commission oh i forgot i'm sorry i i didn't hear from miss jones i got ahead of
myself okay planning commission thank you uh hi mr chairman this is mason austin representing the
planning commission i swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do please proceed sure um so the property is designated for single family residential
uh sorry got lost there uh the i'm very very sorry no worries no worries um
well so well the property is zoned for commercial mixed use is designated in the comprehensive plan
for multi-family residential because the proposed use would be uh by right under this recommendation
staff supports the granting of the requested variance thank you MI 2020-000451-2204 North
Marshall Street my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes thank you MI 2020-000337-7332
north 20th street
okay chair i have a mr patrick myers i will
allow him to speak you can promote he can be promoted okay
you are now promoted as a panelist mr myers please wait to be sworn in good evening mr
myers please identify yourself for the record spell your last name and provide us with your
address yes hello my name is patrick myers p-a-t-r-i-c-k-m-y-e-r-s address 7332 north
20th street philadelphia pa 19138 you swear in the firm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes are you the owner yes i am the owner
whoever. Carol? Mr. Chair, this is an LLC. Doesn't he require an attorney?
whoever carol mr chair this is an llc
No, I do not. I owned the property before I started my LLC.
And I also have the deed to prove that. I checked the deed and he is listed as an individual.
Okay. Sir, can you put your name and address on the record?
you already patrick myers okay we got his name already carol just to go through the
do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes
okay have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents including proof of ownership
tax compliance refusal referral photos and plans of the property five days in advance of this
hearing and have you also met with the RCO and have a letter? Yes, I did. I'm also at the moment
right now I'm on my cell phone because I'm having a little difficulty with my laptop. So I had to
restart the laptop so I could be able to share my screen with the presentation. Mr. Myers, when did
you submit your exhibit package on Monday but uh yesterday let me check no on no not on Monday
um let me check the email this is Sharon I checked I received it on Thursday
okay Sharon can you send it to me and then I can go ahead and share the screen I can the only
problem is that it is um it is broken up it's not a pdf it's a powerpoint never mind that's okay
So, Mr. Myers, you're going to have to mute one of your devices, probably your computer,
and then just speak to your cell phone if you want to do that.
are you there you have to unmute
yeah so i logged off um i logged off the cell phone i'm on the laptop now uh my screen now
correct? Okay, yes.
it's not letting me i don't know why it's not letting me open the powerpoint
Can I log out in and log back in so I can open up the presentation?
I don't understand what do you mean you're already logged in to sign out of the zoom
meeting open up the presentation log log back into the meeting and then open up the to share
the presentation because it's not letting me open up the powerpoint while i'm on the meeting
that's the chair's call but this is like the last case and it's up to the chair
how quickly can we get this done less than one minute okay please okay please proceed
okay um chair i would like to if i could let me just see
I would like to, if I could. Let me just see. There are a couple of people who were questioning a case that we heard earlier.
And they stated that they were waiting and had their hand up. At the time we called the case, there were no hands up. That's why Jason didn't recognize them.
is it um okay to inform them that the case was heard and decided to confirm and this was the
one where we had to get the um d sharon had to get the deed emailed to her yes
yes absolutely this was case number 14 on a two o'clock list 11 21 to 33 north front street
i just wanted to state to um helen cooper who is on the line i'm going to just open your
who was that asshole this case was heard and decided
i'm sorry is somebody their voices in the background yeah profanity and all yep i heard
that. Sorry. Wasn't
me, but whoever it is.
Ms. Cooper?
You can unmute yourself.
Okay. There seems to be
no response, Chair, but it was a lot of back
and forth in the Q&A.
um regarding this case and i wanted to put on record so that she could understand the process
if you're called witness uh testifying was allowed you did not have your hand up to be called on
we move forward so i just wanted to make sure it's on the record that the case was heard and
the board made a decision on the case if you wish you can actually appeal the case to the court of
comment please please if you're unhappy with the decision made by the board thank you so much
cheer for your indulgence and if i could i just have one other matter
we continued the case and i see that fontanelle philagine is here and mr richardson is he going
um fontanelle you would have to reach out to the council person's office as well as the rco
they spoke today that they're trying endlessly to reach out to you and the next hearing for this
case is a must be heard so if you wish you can contact me um or either the zoning board email
for any other information again i thank you chair um i also i did email you the exhibit packet for
this case um we're waiting on okay seems like we up okay good yes so can you guys see it now
yes okay so um my name again for the record is patrick myers on property 7332 north 20th street
philadelphia pa 19138 um i am the owner i'm currently still the owner and i'm seeking a
variant to convert my single family into a duplex. So the first unit will be in the basement
apartment, which is currently a one-bedroom, one-bath, kitchen, bathroom, and the utility
room, and also a laundry room. Could you share those photographs or drawings with us, please?
Yes, I will. So the second slide now is the, okay, so let me go to this now. So this is a
drawing this is a proposed plan could you make could you make that a little bit yeah that's it
yes so this is currently the basement plan now so where the bedroom is currently in the back
which is the rear of the property is where the one bedroom is the closet off the bedroom um that's
where the garage was and now it's a bedroom the entrance to this um to this apartment unit is in
the rear of the house, which is right here is the back door. You come into the apartment. To the
right is the laundry room. This common is the living room area. The utility room is also here.
Coming down is the kitchen. And then off right in the front of the property is the bathroom. And
then there's a storage area right off the bathroom. The first floor now, which is the
the apartment for the the unit the kitchen the living room is going to be an open concept
stairs and this is the entry the front door entry to the property and
stairs and this is the entry the front door entry to the property and on the second floor are the
bedrooms so there's three bedrooms two bathrooms so there's a bathroom bedroom in the back closet
middle bedroom a common bathroom and then there's a massive bedroom in the front with also its own
bathroom and then off where these stairs is here there's a laundry laundry area
So if you had a property, this is currently the front of the house, make it smaller so
you can see, oh, and then this is the rear of the property.
So here is the entry to the basement apartment here, as you can see, and that's the deck
that was also proposed.
We also had the text-
And that was proposed, that's already been built, correct?
That's correct, yes, that is correct.
Because I currently live at the property.
So this is my unit where I currently live.
That's the entry door to where I currently stay.
and that is the deed that you guys had requested.
2017, April of, April, 24 date of April, 2017.
Patrick Myers, as we see here.
And tax clearance, no tax, no tax owed.
and this is a refusal letter.
And here is the, for the RCO meeting.
So the concern with the,
they had gave a refusal for the property.
And when I spoke with Isabella to clarify
why there was a refusal, she had stated
because she thought there was only one entry
to the property um let's see on the um there was um no entry so basically i had um explained to her
and let her know that there was two entry one entry for mine currently which is in the back
and then there was one in the front so i clarified that and i asked her if she could have done
another rca meeting where um i could have got an acceptance but she said that i would basically have
to um plead my key um case to you guys so just um clarify that with you guys so the position of the
rco was still in opposition yes it was in opposition because there wasn't clarity um she
but after after you made that clear they are still opposed um i asked for she said um i couldn't get
a second meeting so she it wasn't opposing but they said once they given um decision um that
was just a final decision they couldn't like go and change the decision that's what she had told
me okay all right um questions from the board uh yes how many meters is in the building currently
there are two meters so there's one meter for my basement and then there's a second meter for the
um the other unit and also two guest meters what about heating units
um there's one which i supply the heat so there's hvac that runs on throughout the house
and it's connected to my gas meter which i pay the gas for that so there's one heater meter
one heater one heater that controls the house yes thank you
any other questions from the board no
no anyone else would like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
mr chair i see a hillary emerson emerson i will allow her to speak right now yep
good evening hillary please identify yourself for the record and i'll swear you in
good morning mr chair members of the board hillary emerson on behalf of councilwoman
sherelle parker where the firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do
We're in the firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Thank you.
Mr. Chair, the Councilwoman is opposed to the proposed conversion of the single family home into a duplex.
This property is a row house in the middle of a block.
We feel that having a basement unit with an exit into the common driveway where there's purely parking and other obstructions would be a safety hazard and would also add congestion.
We also wish to note for the record that this property was already converted or at least partially converted without permits.
stop work order was issued in February to the owner for the work that he did. And the owner
himself is a contractor. So that was rather frustrating to the community because they felt
that he should have known that he needed permits in order to convert the basement.
Finally, we feel that there is no hardship as the property was clearly purchased as a single
family dwelling um and that a duplex um would be an overuse of the property um and as finally i do
want to note as um which previously stated the community um is in opposition to this request
thank you thank you very much anyone else would like to testify in this case if so please raise
your hand hello yes
anyone else who wishes to testify please raise your hand
can i say something on behalf of what she just said i think we we got all your information okay
all right mr chair i do not see any more hands okay thank you planning commission
mr chairman and members of the board the property is designated for single
family and the comprehensive plan and a zone for that use. There are no unique physical
circumstances or conditions particular to the property. For the reasons
staff opposes the granting of this variance. Thank you very much.
MI 2020
dash 000337
7332 North 20th Street. My vote is no.
My vote is no. My vote is no. My vote is no.
My vote is no. My vote is no.
okay um any other unfinished business
no that's all chair no we're all good okay thank you again everyone for your
support today be stay safe see you all tomorrow morning nine o'clock executive session sounds good