Thank you.
Thank you.
Good morning, everyone. My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this meeting of the Philadelphia Zoning Mortar of Adjustment.
With me is our vice chair, Danetta Graham.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our board secretary, Cheryl Gaston.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Board member, Michael Johns.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Board member, Taya Nguyen. I believe she'll be here any minute.
And our board member, Ryan McAdams.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also, here is our attorney, Hilary Emerson, our executive director, Ian Haggerty, and our board administrator, Lakeisha Dandy.
This hearing is to be recorded and will be posted on the ZBA website.
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After that, every time you are called to testify, you will state your name before testifying.
To enter an appearance statement.
Indicate on the Zoom webinar your address.
Speak with the staff.
beforehand call the zba office by the end of business tomorrow call 215-686-2429
and please add your your name your email and the address of the case in question
Remote participation, raise your virtual hand before testifying.
When you are called, you must click the join as a panelist button, use your Q&A for procedural
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Let's look at our schedule for today.
number one mi 2025 002 821 2226 west tayoga street this case will be rescheduled to wednesday
june 10th at 2 p.m um mr chair just wanted to clarify for the record that we are reopening
the record in this case and having a resumption hearing okay next week at two so okay so number two
mi2025-002-824-2224 west tayoga street will be reopening this case and the hearing will be
Wednesday, June 10th at 2 p.m. Number three, MI 2026, 2002-2973-4723 West Sheldon Street.
sheldon street this case is continued to 6 10 26 at 9 30 a.m
This case is continued to 610-26.
number four get us here
number four mi20260029754726 sheldon street that case has continued until
8 26 at 2 p.m number five mi 2025 007019 432 east gerrard avenue
i vote yes with proviso amended refusal dated 5 20 26.
michael johns and my vote is yes with proviso
cheryl gaston my booty chefs with proviso
netta graham my vote is yes with proviso
okay thank you so let's let's look at our the rest of our schedule for today
Number one, MI-2025-004-426-2243 East Venango Street, Angel Padre or Investment Limited applicant.
We have no exhibits. This is the second listing from that case.
Good morning, Chair. This is Jasmine and I will be your co-host for this morning's session.
I see no hands up at this time.
Thank you. MI 2025 004 426 2243 East Vidango Street.
I vote to dismiss.
Michael Johns, my vote is to dismiss.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is to dismiss.
Tenetta Graham, my vote is to dismiss.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is to dismiss.
Number two, MI 2022-000456-2927-North 12th Street, Gary Peterson is the listed owner.
Mr. Peterson, this is the second listing.
We have no exhibits.
chair i see no one in the audience with that name thank you mi2025 000456 this case i vote
to dismiss michael johns my vote is to dismiss cheryl gaston my vote is to dismiss tenetta
graham my vote is to dismiss ryan mcadams my vote is to dismiss number four mi 2025
004 799 2425 west norris street this case this case has continued to 8 26 26 at 2 p.m
must mark must be heard
Number five, MI2025-004807-6227 Catherine Street, owner is Companion to Compassionate
senior living um question question pierce um no exhibits this is the second listing
chair i see no one in the audience with that name nor do i see any hands up at this time
thank you mi2025-004-807-6227 katherine street i vote to dismiss michael johns my vote is to
dismiss cheryl gaston my vote is to dismiss tenetogram my vote is to dismiss ryan mcadams my
vote is to dismiss number eight number eight mi 2025 007 519 11 080 knight's road this case is
continued until 9 to 26 at 2 p.m
Until 9-2-26 at 2 p.m.
Number 11.
Number 11 is here.
Number 11, MI 2025-007-539-5619, Lansden Street, 56, this case is continued until 9-26-26 at 2 p.m.
Just to clarify for the record, that's 5610 Lancaster Avenue?
that's continued to you said 2 p.m chair it it says here 2 p.m okay thank you
so we're going to do 12 13 and 14 together right all right number 12 mi 2025 002 007 539 56 10 um
Lancaster, right? Lancaster Avenue? Oh, I'm below that. Okay. Number 12, MI 2025-007-573-1547
Franklin Street. Number 13, MI 2023-007-577-1543 Franklin Street.
and number 14 mi 2025 007 578 1537 west franklin street all these cases are scheduled
or continued to 9 23 26 at 2 p.m
number 15 right number 15 mi 2025 007 631 7635 roosevelt boulevard this case is continuing
until 9 30 26 at 2 p.m we're going to go to our first case um mr chair we do have uh requests
for continuance on number three um i did it earlier no no no no so we have to we have to
discuss that matter because uh not it was someone other than the applicant who requested the
continuance page nine page nine okay i have a hand up by strawberry maintained community concern
I'm going to allow them to speak.
I don't believe that's not the RCO for this case.
This is 5830 Whitby Avenue.
The applicant is Henry Dorval and the continuance was from Mariko Worth.
Okay, I have a hand up by Mariko Worth.
I'm going to allow them to speak.
hi um i'm a nearby resident okay excuse me excuse me we need to we swear you in we also
need the applicant is mr durval in the audience henry durval for whitby avenue
so mi 2025 004 680 5830 whitby avenue
i see no other hands up at this time um i do not see a hand up from henry henry henry dorval
nor do i see them in the audience chair
so the exhibits were submitted by kenneth johnson i don't know if mr
dorval is under i see a couple of kenneth johnson's in the audience i don't know if
if Mr. Durval is in one of those.
Do not.
All right.
Henry Durval, if you are in the virtual audience,
please raise your virtual hand.
Okay, I have a hand up by the name of Kenneth Johnson.
I'm going to allow them to speak.
Thank you.
And then we have someone else too, right there.
hello mr johnson yes mr johnson could you please state your name mr johnson is mr dorval with you
Could you please state your name? Mr. Johnson is mr. Dorval with you
He's trying to log in right now, okay, we need him to get on because he's there he is the property owner
No, he stays in front of the computer he's trying to log in okay
We can swear in Mariko worth while we're waiting what's his name Mariko worth
hi yes i'm here hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
uh my name is mariko worth m-a-r-i-k-o worth w-i-r-t-h do you swear or affirm to tell the
truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do thank you
we'll wait for the other person to get on so he can hear at least what the issues are
We see the appellant on.
He's trying to come.
He's trying to come on, apparently.
I see no one in the audience with that name as of yet.
Oh, no.
Actually, I see him on now.
Mr. Dorval?
I'm allowing him to speak.
good morning sir
henry durval you have been allowed to speak please unmute your mic
mr durbell yes can you hear me now yes i can sir could you please state your name
and spell for the sonographer henry durval h-e-n-r-y-d-o-r-v-a-l
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Sir, could you please turn on your video if you can?
It's on.
All right.
And we have someone who wants to, they're requesting a contingent for your case.
So we're going to bring them on and let them testify what their issues are, okay?
Maurice, is that, what's your name?
mariko yes mariko could you please give us your issues why you want this case to be continued
yes um i was on the original um notification list as a nearby neighbor for this case and
i went to the first rco meeting and there was a continuance because we didn't get our
notifications in time so a second meeting was scheduled um i tried to attend that meeting the
The developer sent me their plans, which I requested, so that was great.
And then I went to the second RCO meeting, and it just was never held.
The Zoom link was broken.
I had also reached out to all those RCOs, which I have the emails for.
I sent in the documents of the exhibits of the screenshots for the missed meeting,
But no one responded to me except for a rep, Andrew, from Jamie Gautier's office, to even let me know the meeting was happening.
And then they told me that it was the RCO's fault or something.
I mean, not the RCO's fault, but the RCO was responsible.
But I'm requesting a continuance because we didn't get to have the meeting.
We never got to have the RCO meeting.
So let me tell you where we are with this.
We're going to go on with the case today.
Respond to the request for continuance?
Mr. Deval.
Yes, I'm here, sir.
Could you respond to the comments we just made?
There's nothing to respond to.
I mean, I was here waiting for the meeting.
The last meeting on May the 21st.
It was canceled without even me knowing it was canceled.
i understand the gentleman case because uh that thing was scheduled on may the 21st
and then uh the architect had to call me he had to call somebody to find out what was going on
then we found out that there was some uh all right so mr deval listen are you ready to go on today
oh yes that's why i'm here all right so sir what we're going to do is we're going to hear this case
We're going to hold the vote on it.
we're going to hold the vote on it we're going to hold the vote and then we'll bring this back
We're going to hold the vote, and then we'll bring this back on July 8th, where we will vote on it.
There will be time in between to go back to the RCO and see if we can't have a meeting between now and then, okay?
So why don't we start this, Mr. DeVal, why don't we start your case?
Number one, could you please turn on your video?
uh it's already on because i can see you can you see me um no
uh uh i can hear you but i i don't see any manual where i should turn it i mean
it's about it should be on automatically you have to accept the request to become a penalist
oh okay okay where that request let's see okay okay all right i see
is it better now
um i i don't see anything
let's see everybody uh okay hold on a second
um no hold on hold on no it looks like you've been promoted to a panelist um but i i don't
know if there's something covering your camera you need to activate your camera because we don't we
don't see you um so everything is clear in front of me there's nothing cover anything uh let me
see all right so so here mr val let me tell you what we're going to do we're going to come back
to you in about 20 minutes and by that time see if you can get your computer working the proper way
okay i can see you you can you can hear me um but i can't we have to see your documents right you're
have to put them up on a computer we cannot see you sir oh the architect has all my uh all the
documents who's who's the architect uh mr johnson yeah mr johnson he can he can come on and show
the doc mr johnson you can show the documents johnson has been promoted to panelists thank you
mr johnson could you please come on
I'm on. I'm about to share the screen.
Okay. Thank you, Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson, you won't be testifying.
He'll be the one testifying.
You'll just show the screen.
I have a case just wanted me to see it.
Yes, sir, can you see the documents before you start our vice chair has just a few questions for you.
Good morning. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
yes ma'am okay and um do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy
yes ma'am okay all right thank you you can proceed with your case
okay as you can see uh this this lot's been vacant for over 10 years i bought the lot uh
uh so i had a plan to build on it so i finally decided to put something in there
and then it's a white uh it used to be like a two uh a two-story building and then i i i i want to
get i want to build it higher make it a three-story with uh uh uh two apartments on the first floor
for my kids and two apartments one on the second floor one on the third floor so it's gonna be
like a four four units uh two first bedroom on the first floor and one two bedroom on the second floor
uh two first bedroom on the first floor and one two bedroom on the second floor
one two bedroom on uh on the third floor as you can see on the floor plan
and that building will be about like uh uh five foot taller than uh then the rest of
the building on the block as far as the height of the building and uh and that's the plan
what what's in the basement the basement is going to be like be like uh like the utility
room here in the basement the laundries uh things like that the furnace and there'll be uh there'll
be uh storage and stuff like that do you have any other photos of the property of the area
uh i believe there was a photo in there that there it is that was showing uh-huh
that's a vacant lot there oh yeah it's been vacant for over like 12 years or so
and then that's the only vacant lot on the block
questions from the board
are there any other uh multi-family on that block it looks like they're all two-story houses
yeah they're all two stories some duplexes and on the block and then if you go like one block
further there are some three stories there if you go like uh around 57 and whitby 56 and whitby
there are some uh some taller buildings up there if you go around the corner if you turn uh if you
turn white on 58th street you'll see it's not a tree story and there's a tree story at the corner
of that block it's it's a funeral home it used to be a funeral home it's a tree story there
so question for you it's kind of hard to uh kind of see the context uh this this this house in
context with the neighbors I mean I see this the picture but there's not an
elevation that sort of shows the the buildings next to it so it's kind of
difficult to see what the scale is next to those properties I see you do have a
porch which is consistent or it's going to close but it's rather consistent with
it with the neighbor what's the is the is the face of the plane of the main
facade uh the same as the facade the same plane as the facade of the adjacent property
uh as you can see the white building to your white that's the adjacent property that's 5830
it also has an enclosed porch with the white siding on it it's gonna be right so my right so
my question is are you at the same plane as that like i said it's kind of difficult to see
you know how this fits in context without additional information can we swear the architect
in uh if mr dorval wants to call his architect as a witness he may mr dorval do you want to have your
architect answer some questions well definitely yeah but uh like i was saying it's going to be
the same as the font for days there's existing phone post next door the same building line
is going to be the same all right we'll go back to this do you want your architect to come on
and answer some questions yes sir sir could you please an architect could you please state your
name and spell for the sonographer kenneth johnson k-e-n-n-e-t-h all right do you swear
all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes did you hear the questions about
the front facade yes yeah could you please help answer that question yes the um front of the
covered porch will be in the same plane as the neighbor because they twins sort of and uh setback
will be the same plane as the setback of the rest of the buildings on the street
with a bay sir could you do you have any other more photos or any other drawings that would be
helpful to explain that no i i mean if you look at the picture you can see that the red outline
is the front facade of the proposed building and if you look at the site part at the top of the
page because they twins. The distance between a property line and the side yard is five feet.
Bring that up. So there's plenty of room to walk around the building and of course
um the neighboring property also has to set back so there's plenty of space between the buildings
the neighboring property also has to set back.
other questions um yeah i have a question so um this house is a twin do you have the support uh
from 58 32 were they at the meeting um the rco meeting or have you have reached out to the neighbor
i think that's the honest question oh yes i mean i talk to that neighbor all the time uh the next
door neighbor i talk to both of them all the time in fact they want to start building put up because
it's a vacant lot they don't they don't really want that vacant lot uh be there for a long time
so i mean there are some trees there i mean i cut the trees last year because i was anticipating
started building last year so i had four trees down there in the back i spent like six thousand
dollars remove all the trees all the tree branches so in anticipation for foundation work but it has
never worked so right now you know people are putting trash there every now and then
and then it's a concern okay so you have the support you said you have their support oh yeah
i spoke to both neighbors all the time okay all right my next question is what is your trash plan
for these four units my trash plan yes where is the trash going to be stored and put out
In the backyard. I believe the backyard is going to be like about 18 by 30, 30 feet long.
There'll be plenty of room in the backyard for trash cans.
Okay. And everyone will have access to the yard, correct?
Yeah, I think. What is it? It's about, what, 150? Yeah. Oh, yes. Yes, ma'am. Yes, definitely.
Okay. And is there a particular reason why four units is proposed here?
Yeah, because...
For multifamily?
Yeah, because I got a big family.
I got like four kids on their own apartments.
You know what I mean?
They want to move here close to me.
Because I live in Aiden, so I'm not too far from the apartment.
So I'm like a few blocks away from them.
So as I get older, I want to get something for my kids, things like that.
Okay, so I see you just flashed your plans.
So just real quick, could you just tell me on the first floor,
how many units and how many bedrooms?
On the first floor, we got two one-bedroom units.
okay and then the second floor is one unit and a third floor is one unit exactly okay and for
is there a roof deck plan for this no not all that okay all right thank you any other questions
i do have i do have one other question all of the um houses that are adjacent to you are brick
have brick fronts why have you chosen not to do brick well definitely it's a money issue because
those those buildings they were built when everything was cheap like 80 80 90 years ago
nowadays i mean you know uh i make the front uh break leg just the front but the size not
be siding uh it's it's a it's a financial issue all right okay any other questions
questions from our attorney not at this time mr chair questions or comments from
people in the virtual audience. Chair, I have a hand up from the name of Mariko Worth.
Sure, sure. Allow them to speak. Sure. Hi, yeah. Mariko, could you do me a favor? We've already
sworn you in. Just for the record, state your name before you start your testimony.
My name is Mariko Worth. I'm a neighbor across the back. So there's two neighbors.
please why don't you um give us your testimony about this project sure uh well one of my concerns
that i was going to bring up at the rco meeting is the architect was kind enough to share the
plans with me but i'm not clear about how far back this building is going to go it's already
going to be quite a bit higher so like whitby is up and then behind it i'm behind it on hadfield
so it's like maybe 40 feet into my backyard so if this building extends further back than the
houses on the block it's going to extend quite a bit into like it's going to be almost level with
my back windows and taller so they'd be able to kind of like look i'm just that was one of my
questions for clarification of the architect is this building going to be at the same level in
the rear yard as the other buildings because if it extends beyond that it's really going to affect
um us neighbors on hadfield street so i wasn't clear i he sent me the plans but i couldn't
figure it out by myself like how much is it going to be yeah basically is it going to be in line
with the rest of the buildings in the backyard or is the building going to extend pretty far into
pretty far into the rear yard especially if the trash is going to be in the back you know okay
the rear yard. Especially if
the trash is going to be in the back.
it's them respond Hillary the architect or the plaintiff could give us their comments on that
but the um building is going to be the rail building will be uh deeper than the neighbors
this is the line of the the uh adjacent building right and but i think i think there's no
variance for the rear yard so i think by right we can go back that far
okay so my question is so you're saying that it will like
go quite a bit further into the backyard so like kind of cover the other side neighbors
do you know how much
how much further how many feet further uh i would have to guess i don't know exactly
or 12 feet it will just be 12 feet yeah 12 feet a little longer
okay so extend 12 feet past the bag that you just pass the line
and then with the rear um how close to the property line are you going to build the
back fence because one of the problems we've been having is people are bringing that fence right up
against the property line and it's a slope and then like it's eroding out from underneath it
like that happened across the street they they built that fence right on the the property line
or past it actually and then it's eroding out from underneath so there's like a problem where
that actual concrete might just like fall so that's been another issue yeah we'll do it like
three feet before the poverty line three feet yeah okay all right sir do you have any other
questions remember we're not voting on this today we're going to recommend that because
listen to me we're going to recommend that this go back to the uh potential to have another meeting
at the rco okay that's fine i just figure close here all right sure is there anyone else in the
audience relative to this case no chair i see no hands at this time planning commission
good morning chair david effecto f-e-c-t-e-a-u with the city planning do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth told truth nothing but truth yes sir i do please proceed thank you sir chairman
and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa3 residential
single-family attached zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 2019
and a council supported map change there is no unique physical condition or circumstance that
would prevent this property from being used in strict conformity with the zoning code
this is a primarily single-family block face front-loaded parking is not a common condition
on this block face uh the city planning commission recommends that the board deny the proposed use
dimensional and parking variances all right so uh sarah we're going to bring this case back on july
8th at 9 30 a.m we vote on this we're going to close the record except for we would recommend
that you have contact with the rco and the only thing that will leave this open for am i correct
is contact from the RCO and a chance to respond to that, is it correct?
Correct. Yeah, a letter from the RCO and a chance to respond.
Okay. Do you understand, sir?
Yes, I do.
You do?
Yes, sir.
All right. Thank you very much.
Number six.
MI-2025-006-651-2031-Moore Street.
Snada Davis is the owner.
Oh, there you go.
Oh, thank you.
Good morning.
Good morning.
okay yeah good morning all right good morning could you state your name and spell for the
stenographer yes rasheen davis r-a-h-s-h-e-n-e-d-a-v-i-s right um do you swear or firm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes this application is for uh for a multi-use
family right living three dwelling units two or me two two yes oh they changed that hillary
morning two two yes oh they changed that hillary okay all right our place chair has a few questions
Okay, all right.
for you sure good morning morning have you submitted your documents and exhibits uh five
days in advance of this hearing yes okay and um so your refusal is that uh the multi-family
is prohibited in the rsa 5 zoning district so do you agree with that and do you waive the reading
of it yes okay all right you can show your screen and proceed with the key
uh i see it yes
so I'll start with all of this I uploaded the only thing um to the calendar only thing
new was to this morning an email came to you guys and I was cc'd on it from the RCO with
the letter of support yeah the letter of support but it's not free anymore it's two yes and they
said to all right so why don't you start your presentation sure so this is the front of the
property um I own the home and my um request is to make it a duplex and the plans that are provided
are for two bedroom one bathroom one on the first floor one on the second floor and the basement
would just be uh used for storage it didn't have the height to do anything with the basement okay
uh and so if you I have I have hard copies too I don't know if you want them no this is fine okay
should see if we can't get a little look at it yes so um and i attach photos of to my um to the
calendar of the current inside and outside as well but uh it would be two bedrooms one bath
with the kitchen on the first floor this is the first floor here um the same on the second floor
and this is just talking about the the studs and the walls and things like that and then the
basement would just be uh for storage and they have a washer and dryer and utility
functions down there um i think the only thing um
i guess different that i i don't really know plans that well but when talking with the architect was a
firewall that had to go up on the first floor when they built the hallway as part of it
have you talked to the neighbors on both sides here yes i have and they agree yes and how about
the rest of their block was there other multiple family uses on the block there are at each corner
they are multifamily the only one in the middle of the block that i know of
questions from the board
can you go back to your plans again the first floor plan
yep I think that is that it is that it yes here's the first floor yep so this
is a two-bedroom unit with that kitchen and living room layout yes that's the
that's done it not enough room that's that's just not enough room for two
bedroom and so so so you're showing I don't know who did your plans but this
is horrible I don't know that you so you're entering your house through a
bedroom the end of the first floor through no you would you want to come in
and it's delivered oh so you exit to the rear yard through a bedroom yes which is
it just as bad for a two-bedroom unit there's not enough living space there so
what then what is the second floor look like same thing same this is the second
floor and so you have though two bedrooms on the second floor bedroom in
the front bathroom in the back across the kitchen all right thank you my
question is about trash um so where did that would you intend to store trash for both units
yes i was going to purchase and have installed one of these units in the front yes can i bring it up
okay now that are you trash going to be stored inside well they'll have both will have cans
with the lids but then they'll also have this on the outside it's on the front of your yes
okay is there any place that um besides there's a yard for the first floor so they could put theirs
okay is there any place um besides there's a yard for the first floor so they could put theirs in
the yard okay uh because do i mean the block seems like it's a well-kept block so do folks
normally store their trash uh in the front all all week um not wait some trash towards the corner
yes but they wait till trash day and bring it down so would you would you be amenable to have
an interior trash storage for the second level yeah i was going to get both of them the um
containers with the attached lid so that it could store it inside yes okay yeah and and my last
question is is there any particular like hardship or reason why you want to convert this single
families because most of the houses on the block are already single family yes um so this would
change the you know direction of the block if you have a duplex there so yeah particular hardship
that we have so my mom suffered an aneurysm two years ago and she currently i was born and raised
in south philly in this neighborhood she lives in the neighborhood she's in a two-story home right
now so i would like to put her on the front the first floor where everything is on one level and
so that's my so she would be on the first floor and then i will rent the second floor
any other questions but your first floor is a two bedroom not a one bedroom right yes yep and she
well my mom has uh like caregivers since her aneurysm she lost her short-term memory and so
the second bedroom could be for family who come you know and help her and who may stay with her
as well and she's in a three-bedroom house right now so she'll be moving from three-bedroom house
to the two-bedroom apartment all the questions second floor right i'm sorry what michael no i
was going to ask them the second floor is for who is that i will rent the second floor are you going
rent out the second floor and the first floor for my mom okay
other questions
so so wait a minute so so board member johns you were saying that the
first floor is not the livables the space wasn't adequate for
you know for it's not right i mean they don't you you know you don't show
for anytime you don't show furniture in these plans it's you have to kind of you know if you
don't read plans all the time you know you can't really put a sofa in there you can't put a chair
where's the where's the where's the table you sit at for it for to eat it to eat a meal right
it's just and for two bedrooms it's just it's just too small right for one bedroom it's probably
adequate but for two bedrooms you know it's just it's just could you respond i was going to say
when i spoke to the architect um who did the plans she explained to me that this was by code
and the that there is room in the living room to have a living room set in the area for a small
dinette in the in the kitchen area but he didn't show it right i understand i understand what he
said right or they said but they didn't show it then and then you have then you have to force
you know if your trash is in the backyard they have to come through the bed the bedroom
to get the trash out to the front or if there's anything happening in the backyard i just said
that was a possibility if they wanted to put it there but i was going to buy for both units a can
with a lid so they could keep the trash inside and then take it out on trash day from the second
floor and the first floor yeah but you don't show that a place in your plan for that unfortunately
a place for what a trash can where you where you just what you just described right it would just
be a trash can inside the house typically those are in a ventilated trash closet it's like a it's
a thing so typically there's a specialized closet that's ventilated yeah it is can you hear me all
right yeah all right there's typically a ventilated trash storage closet in like in in the house
somewhere sometimes it's you know but it's a separated closet that allows for that okay
because i live in the area right now i just have a can in my kitchen and my trash goes there and i
have a garbage disposal which these will have and if i have other trash i put it in the freezer
until a trash day and then i take my trash out front but typically that's what that's the sort
of the modern styling of how people handle these to deal with smell deal with pest control deal
with all sorts of other things to make it not unpleasant for the others that live in the
building and i think you know yes while it might be to code code is the bare minimum living standard
right so it's not necessarily like industry standard at any point so i think that's a lot
of the comments you're hearing are related to that all the questions not a question but a comment
and also since this is you're saying this is the space that's going to be for your mom
yes right so then I would think that you might want to make sure that your mom will
So then I would think that you might want to make sure that your mom will really be comfortable there, considering that she also has other, you know, like issues in terms of, you know.
So if she's going to be, in effect, downsizing, right, and she's going into another space, that space should be, I would think, something that she would be comfortable like being in.
Yeah. Right now, she's primarily on the first floor of the home that she's in now. She doesn't even use the second floor. So it would be, you know, storage for her stuff, her things in the basement. So she'd have that and then the first floor for a living space.
Questions from our attorney?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission.
thank you chair and good morning David Vecto with the city planning commission
chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA 5 residential
single-family zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood uh North the neighborhood
North of Moore Street sorry in 1985 and a council supported map change there are you there are no
unique physical conditions or circumstances of this property that would prevent it from being
used in conformance with the zoning code this is a primarily single family block face the city
planning commission recommends the board deny the requested use variants for two dwelling units
thank you we're going to hold the vote on this until next uh wednesday okay we're going to vote
at 9 30 a.m and we're going to weigh everything that's been raised okay do i need to be here you
don't have to be here you can listen in okay all right thank you very much thank you coming in all
worry. Have a good day. Number seven, MI 2025, 007184, 7350 to 52 Wissahickon Street. Isaac
isaac slepner is the attorney
isaac slepner will be coming in as a panelist
good morning chair and members of the board good morning council could you please state
your name and spell before the stenographer.
Isaac Slepner, first name I as in India, S as in Sam, AA as in Alpha, C as in Charlie,
last name Slepner, S as in Sam, L as in Larry, E as in Elvis, P as in Peter, N as in Norman,
E as in Elvis, R as in Robert.
I am counsel to 7000 Wissanoming, LLC, which is the owner of the property and for the record
The property is 7350-52, Wissan-Oming.
Right, right.
So do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
And I see there's a letter of non-opposition from Holmesburg Civic Association.
Is that right?
There is, correct.
Right, thank you.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you, sir.
Good morning.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
I have, except for two single-page things that I actually just sent through about two hours ago
that were just recently handed to me. But otherwise, yes.
Okay. Thank you. And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
All right. Thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with the case.
All right. Share. All right. Let's just get my PDFs up here. Okay.
All right. Is everybody able to see that?
It's coming up right now. It should be up any minute.
Yeah, it's up now.
All right, great.
So this initial one here is...
Sorry, bear with me.
What's happening?
Sorry.
The initial one here is our application for appeal,
And this is actually our application today is for a special exception, not for a variance.
The property, 7350 to 52, Wissan Oming, is zone I2.
And my client owns and operates an auto body and auto repair shop.
he's a he's a mechanic and he operates a mechanic shop in there and is now
seeking the special exception for an additional use as a body shop but
for an additional use as a body shop, body shop, repair shop with a paint booth.
So this is our initial application for appeal from the notice of referral.
The project information, notice of referral, which we just stipulated to tax clearance,
which was generated on 526.
And it says that the owner is 537 Market Associates.
The owner is not 537 Market Associates.
The owner is my client, 7000 Wissan-Oming Street, LLC, and this deed that was recorded on 2-4-22 indicates my client's ownership.
We held the RCO meeting on April 14th of this year.
This was the letter to all the near neighbors that I sent out from my office on 4-3 of this year.
This is the letter of non-opposition, which the board has already read from the
Homsburg Civic Association.
And this is the cert of mailing to all the near neighbors.
There are not a whole lot of near neighbors because I will show you the maps,
but also the photos, you can see the orange posters, which were not printed in
orange, they were printed in white, on both doors.
This is 7350 right here, 7352.
This is a close-up on 7350, close-up of 7352. These are a couple of maps that will help
understand the context. This is Wissenoming Street right here, this long diagonal, and this
highlighted blue, these are our properties right here. As you can see, it's blocks and blocks and
blocks of I2, ICM exit over here, and the nearest residence is up here at Cotman and Keystone,
which is a good half mile away then down here this is kind of giving a little bit
more context this is our property here O'Hara and Sons auto body and towing
down here and this is literally a half block kind of below the berm of I-95
there's really no residences in the immediate area these are some photos of
the properties this is you can see both garage bays here 50 and 52 this is
standing at our property looking across the street up this grassy berm here this
I downloaded from Google Maps and it looks a bit different these days
there's more of a wall a sound wall here but this berm and up on top of this
berm is I 95 this is a photo of part of the interior you can see that's a
mechanic shop. He's got a couple lifts in there. Another photo of the interior with some cars
undergoing various states of mechanical repair. That's the paint booth back here that has not
been used since they were sited and have gone on to seek the board's approval for use of the paint
booth, but the paint booth has not been in use since that time. This is yet another photo of
the interior. They are already permitted for by right for storage and mechanical work. This is
another close-up of the garage bay, another close-up of the other garage bay. This is looking
I believe this is northbound over here. This is northbound on Wissenoming and this is southbound
As you can see, it's all industrial use on this portion of Wissan-Oming Street.
This is a close-up of the paint booth, and this is a copy of the approval, the
license that my client obtained from the City Department of Public Health for the
use of the paint booth. I would call my client Elon Levy, who's a principal of
7 000 was an omic street llc
and elon if you're out there go ahead and raise your hand and you'll be uh called
elon has been promoted to penis okay all right good morning good morning elon could you please
state your name and spell for the stenographer yep it's elon e-l-a-n levy l-e-v as in victor
why do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do counsel
uh sure elon uh you are a member of 7000 wisdom street llc correct that's correct and did you hear
all of my testimony and see all of the exhibits that i just presented to the board yes and was
And was all of that testimony and all of those exhibits correct to the best of your knowledge?
all of that testimony and all of those exhibits correct to the best of your knowledge
And would you adopt my testimony as though you had given it yourself?
Thank you.
Counsel, was the license obtained after the shutdown?
That would be a question for my client, Elon.
Was the license obtained after the shutdown?
So the license has been in place for years.
So we bought the building with the booth in place, and we assumed that the licenses were all up to date.
But when we spoke to the previous owner, when we got the violation, he had sent me the license for the air pollution.
And then I asked where the other documents were for the paint booth.
And again, he had retired, so he really didn't have anything.
And he didn't have anything in place.
so he had the air pollution license which we took over and switched into our name
but he didn't have a permit for the booth from what okay yeah okay all right all right um
questions from the board
okay questions and comments um i don't know what this is but i mean you need um
the licensing from their state agencies that deal with this, not just the city. So, you're
going to have to have hazardous waste disposal. And with respect to a paint booth, there are
fire readings that you have to meet. So, there's a whole process for applying for use of a paint
booth yes so we did have the fire marshal come by and we did uh correct a bunch of violations
regarding sprinkler and the hazardous material there and we are getting our hazardous material
license as well for the hazardous paint and anything flammable inside exactly because the
big problem with paint booths is about fire definitely yeah so there's a sprinkler already
in place on the booth that gets certified every year and then we do have to itemize all of our
barrels and our paint room with labels to and then there's also on the outside of the building
uh we have like a little chart to tell the fire department what is inside the building so that
they're aware before they enter the building exactly and there has to be like a fire rating
for the booth itself yeah and so if you don't meet that then you're gonna have to you know make some
other kind of arrangements to boost the fire rating yep all all in place with the fire marshal
and l and i is also on top of that as well all right um and so this this expansion of the use
is going to be for a body fender and spray painting is that what you're going to be doing
that's correct okay all right and uh i didn't see in the pictures there i mean i saw
i didn't see that many lifts but so what are you doing there now so there's two lifts in there for
now um again we kind of they really just do it's mainly a storage facility we use it for
and then they also work on cars as well um but they want to get into more body work so they did
get the auto license i mean the auto repair license uh all done by from the city and we have
the light for that so they're just starting the business up and then they wanted to expand
into getting the paint booth up and running to paint but l and i came and said we didn't have
a specific permit for that so that's why we're doing this to kind of expand the business
so this does this include uh because i'm not seeing anything here either do you do oil changes
Do you do a change in transmission fluid?
Do you do, I mean, what kind of things are you doing there now?
Because I'm not seeing any kind of, and maybe I'm missing it in the picture, but I'm not
seeing how you're disposing of any waste products now.
Are you talking about like the oil?
So we have oil bins.
Again, we get it regularly picked up on the block.
So there's oil bins that have been labeled oil that have to get picked up by a service and then get taken out
And then we get new ones back in. All right, because it's not it's not shown in the pictures
So again when we got the violations we pretty much cleared everything out in order to get
We wanted to make sure we were good with all of the departments before we got up and running again with anything hazardous
So we're kind of in the lull right now
okay and so how many how many cars do you think you're going to be um servicing at a time yeah
uh i mean you've got a pretty big space there yeah it's about 5 500 square feet
um i would say at a time they're probably working on 10 cars total okay all right thank you
okay all right thank you all the questions questions from our attorney
Other questions?
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience i don't see any hints
at this time chair planning commission thank you chairman and good morning david effecto with the
city planning commission chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the
i2 medium industrial zoning at this location the appellant has shown that the proposed personal
vehicle repair and maintenance facility and vehicle paint finishing shop will have no
detrimental impacts beyond what might reasonably be expected this is an industrial section of the
city with no adjacent residential development the city planning commission recommends the board
grant or propose special exceptions for personal vehicle repair and maintenance facility and a
vehicle paint finishing shop thank you mi 2025 007 184 73 50 to 52 wesson noeming street i vote yes
michael johns my vote is yes cheryl gaston my vote is yes tennetta graham my vote is yes ryan mcadams
my vote is yes taiwan my vote is yes thank you council thank you board i have nothing further to
Sure. Thank you very much. So number nine, MI2025-007-524-31-North 50th Street. Merthe Ferliger is the attorney. Good morning, counsel.
Good morning.
Could you please, when you get a chance, state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Meredith Ferliger, F-E-R-L-E-G-E-R.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
I sure can. My client is Serge Maslenikov, and he is sitting right next to me.
I do see a letter of unanimous support with several provisors listed.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good morning. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I did.
Okay, and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? Yes, I do. All right. Thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with the case. Great.
All right. Again, good morning, members of the board. The request before you today concerns 31 North 50th Street.
As always, you do have an exhibit packet in front of you that contains 17 exhibits.
Just to briefly summarize the basis of today's request, this application requests several variances to permit the reconstruction of a previously occupied four-unit dwelling on this lot, where the current zoning classification would only permit two units.
There are several dimensional variances requested, as well as a parking refusal.
we do understand that the community sent a letter of support with a few conditions
some of which my client accepts some of which he does not and we'll address that during the
presentation sarge recently purchased this property uh at sheriff sale uh up on the screen
you can see exhibit three which is the evidence of his purchase and then we do also have tax
clearance shown at exhibit two as the board likely knows the sheriff's office has seen significant
delays so my client does not yet have his deed back but we did confirm with the zba administration
that this document was sufficient to establish serge's standing for this case
as you can see up on the screen here at exhibit nine
the property sits on north 50th street which is just about seven lots south from arch street
this block in general just in terms of overall context sits right in between market street and
arch street as you can see this is a traditional twin style block with a mostly uniform aesthetic
character if i flip down to exhibit 17 first this first photograph here that you'll see is
a historical photograph of the structure that used to sit on this lot as you can unfortunately see
a fire destroyed the structure back in 2018 2017 and was eventually demolished by the city however
you can see that when the structure was still standing it was an equal twin which is one of
the driving motivations for my client's proposal to return the structure to as close to the previous
character as possible now flipping through the way this touch screen is great
flipping through the way this touch screen is great now you can see that the lot sits uh as a
vacant lot from the photograph here i will also call to the board's attention the very mature
probably 100 year old sycamore tree that does sit directly in front of this lot flipping to
the next photograph that I have here. This is looking in the direction of Market Street. And
again, you'll see that this block here is relatively uniform. But I would highlight that from what you
can see in this photograph, that there are a complete lack of any curb cuts or any driveways
providing off-street parking to any of the existing structures that are on this block.
that condition as you can see here is replicated if you look in the opposite direction towards
arch street and then again just looking directly across the street from the property
so again this block itself is generally a mirror with front porches and bays and then we do also
I also have photographs of the zoning posters if I flip through a couple other goodness gracious there we go I did also include photographs of the zoning posters that Serge timely posted on this property.
If I flip now to the zoning map at Exhibit 8, you'll see that the property is zoned RTA 1, which is residential two-family attached one.
The proposal for 31 North 50th Street is shown on the zoning site plans at Exhibit 5.
This is the original plan that I have up now.
I'm going to flip to the updated plan, which has one very minor change that I will mention.
But as you can see here, this includes one new three-story structure on the lot.
The lot itself is just over 2,500 square feet.
The building itself will contain four bi-level, four dwelling units in total.
And in response to the RCO meeting, the proposal was updated to remove the roof deck,
and that is what generated the proviso plan that I have up on the screen here.
So the roof deck was removed. That was a disfavored aspect of the project. So Sarge was happy to remove that. So we did include a revised plan as well as a revised plan proviso form that I submitted to the board yesterday.
As I alluded to earlier, the overall goal with this proposal was to build a structure that would, to the maximum extent possible, harmonize with the character of this block and fill in the void that was left by the previous fire.
Let me zoom in on the site plan itself here.
There we go.
For example, you can see here that this proposed structure does meet the front setback of the
adjoining structures and does also include the front porch. There are a few dimensional variances
that this proposal triggered, all of which we do submit are de minimis in light of the lot and the
proposed design. First, RTA1 would limit occupied area to 50% of this lot, where this structure
occupies just about 53 percent second the required rear yard is 20 feet for a multi-family structure
where this proposal leaves a rear yard of 15 feet however you can see here that the total width of
the rear yard extends to just over 17 feet at certain points and then is further buffered by
an additional four foot wide rear alley so we do submit that that proposed 15 foot rear yard
meets the intent of the code in terms of separation from adjoining structures
i would also note that the rta1 code unusually has a different rear yard requirement for
single-family homes which would be allowed at the proposed 15 feet if this were a proposed
single family dwelling the rear yard will be fenced in with an enclosed trash storage
area in the back that can be easily accessed for disposal by all of the proposed tenants
finally a variance is also requested for the insufficient side yard which measures six feet
instead of the required eight feet however in this case a six foot wide side yard is entirely
However, in this case, a six foot wide side yard is entirely characteristic of the side yard measurements for the block, which generally speaking on this block have side yards of between four and six feet.
characteristic
In my rudimentary review just looking on Atlas, I was not able to find a single side yard on the
block that measures that full eight foot in width, with these structures all having been built
likely long before the inception of the modern zoning code. In terms of the lot itself, a side
yard of eight feet would leave only 15 feet of width available, creating an unnaturally narrow
condition in the interior of the units themselves as you can also see here from the site plan there
are a multitude of egress points from the front front porch side on the side here and then in the
rear as well as well as traditional egress wells from the lower level I will also note that there
is an error on these plans in terms of context as the two adjoining structures are not in single
FAMILY USE BUT ARE BOTH TRIPLEXES ACCORDING TO CITY RECORDS AND THERE ARE RENTAL LICENSES ESTABLISHING THAT
FROM THE SIDE ELEVATION START ON THIS ONE YOU CAN SEE THAT THE REAR STEPS EGRESS DIRECTLY FROM
THE LOWER LEVEL WHICH IS PREDOMINANTLY FIVE FEET ABOVE GRADE WITH EIGHT FOOT CEILING HEIGHTS
I DO WANT TO SKIP THE FLOOR PLANS FOR JUST A MOMENT AND BRING UP THE RENDERING AT EXHIBIT
7. ZOOM OUT A LITTLE BIT. AS YOU CAN SEE HERE, MY CLIENT HAS TRULY STRIVED TO MATCH THE
HISTORICAL CHARACTER OF THIS BLOCK, WHICH THE RCO DID APPRECIATE, BUT MY CLIENT DID ALSO
share that a design such as this one does have added costs that would not be imposed by a buy
right less historically sensitive option on this lot just by way of example the architect did render
what a buy right option could look like here with just two units and the required garage space
now obviously this is a completely rudimentary rendering but the point is just that with only
two units there would be no realistic justification to incur the cost of that third story which is a
critical aesthetic consideration to ensure that the character of the block can be maintained
turning back to the floor plans zoom out a little bit here
So the floor plans themselves are shown here at Exhibit 6, and as I mentioned, all of these units are bi-level.
So Unit 1 is a 1,078 square foot, one-bedroom, two-bath unit with office.
The front entrance, which is not in view here, the front entrance is a private entrance to this unit from the front, from that front porch area.
And then unit two is a 1,138 square foot unit that is in the back that has a private stair
entrance from the lower level that egresses directly into the rear yard. And you can see
that indicated here. At the first floor rear, there is a large window that will overlook the
back this unit also has a private entrance from the side which you can see here there is a private
door entrance to unit two also from the side here is the entrance to the two upper level units and
you can see the stairs that go up and then if i flip to the next page here you can see the layout
of units three and four three and four these are also bi-level units unit three is a two bedroom
one and a half bath unit of 971 square feet and unit four is just over 1300 square feet
all of the units that you've seen have have interior washer dryers ventilated trash storage
areas and ample living space a secured package storage area will also be added to the front porch
storage for common storage by the tenants.
As you can also glean from the floor plans, the requested dimensional variances are not
relative to the density that's proposed, but is truly de minimis in nature to facilitate
a less narrow layout.
For example, with an eight-foot side yard, the interior of these units would only be
For example, with an eight-foot side yard, the interior of these units would only be around 13 feet wide instead of the more standard 15 feet in width.
around
Adding an additional five feet in the rear yard would foreclose the possibility of second bedrooms for those upper-level units and would shrink critical living space.
Now, having addressed the dimensional variances, I can briefly address the remaining two variances.
I do believe that some additional context will be helpful here if I bring up exhibit 10
you can see that this lot dating all the way back to the 1950s has no known
recent history of either single family or two family use having been used first as a three
family dwelling back in the 50s and then at some point although i wasn't able to find a date on
these permits at some point uh at least before 1972 was converted into a four dwelling unit
i believe that was probably done sometime around the 60s just based on this permit
and then as you can see from the rental licenses at exhibit 11
it was maintained as a four unit dwelling from essentially that point up until the fire that
occurred in 2017 or 18. With the rental licenses having evidence of being active all the way back
to 1998. As a point of interest and relevant to the hardship here, the zoning code would actually
have allowed the reconstruction and recommencement of that four unit use had it been done within
three years of the 2018 demolition. Of course, my client just purchased the property at Sheriff's
Sale last year, so he was certainly not in a position to control that fateful lack of action.
Furthermore, although this block is zoned RTA1, much of the block is not used in accordance with
that zoning classification, with the use of structures fairly evenly split on the block
between duplexes single family and triplexes as well as a few uh higher density uh examples that
you can see here indicated with the blue dots that are four units and then the green dot which is a
six unit these all exist within the older existing structures where this proposal contemplates large
large, high-quality units that directly contribute to the maintenance of the character of this
block in supporting a more traditional design.
The property itself is bordered on both sides by a triplex, so the proposed density here
is entirely consistent with the block, immediate neighbors, and most importantly, the historical
use of this lot.
Now aside from the density, the RTA1 zoning district requires parking at the rate of one
per unit not only is there no precedent of any off-street parking on this block but this structure
never had any off-street parking to support the historical four units that existed in this location
most critically providing parking in this location would require the tragic destruction of that
100 plus year old native tree that is in a uniform line up and down this block
unfortunately there is no feasible way to provide parking here and not result in the destruction of
the tree i would also point out that adding a garage in front would foreclose the front porch
design and would be impossible on a 20 foot 23 foot wide lot to have space for a driveway leading
to the rear this if if parking were provided here it would be the only curb cut on the block
creating hazardous and unexpected condition for pedestrians granting this
particular relief would continue the status quo condition of the lot in
direct relation to the density that historically existed here finally we
propose we we submit that the proposed density is the least minimum as it has
been shown to be consistent with the density of surrounding structures as the
evidence has shown today four units are most appropriate for the interior layout and is not
overbuilt from a dimensional perspective to accommodate the proposed density the units
themselves are varied in size to accommodate a wide range of rental price points and tenant
preferences just by way of comparison on a lot of this size in a traditional multi-family district
five units would be permitted even before consideration of any bonuses.
Although we did conceptually discuss the possibility of a three-unit design
Although we did conceptually discuss the possibility of a three-unit design with the community, we would ask the board to exercise your discretion in considering that request in light of the respectful historical design, the history of this property, the comparable density on the block, as well as the proposed layouts, which more than adequately justify the proposed density at four units instead of three.
this is the only new construction on this block in many many decades and my client's main goal
is to be respectful of the unique and historical character of this block that does have the reality
of additional investment that is just not supported by a buy rate density as always a
more detailed analysis is provided in the exhibits in the memo of law at exhibit 13
and of course we're happy to touch on any point in additional detail
uh serge if you could just uh could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
morning my name is serge moslenikov s-r-g-e-m-a-s-l-e-n-n-i-k-o-e do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth please proceed counsel thank you serge just
in your own word if you could just give the board you know a 60 second uh sort of explanation of uh
after you purchased the property how you sort of came to this particular uh design and proposal
well you tell everything uh was your mic once oh okay you told a lot of information i wanted to
tell but like yeah this as you can see i tried to uh create something that's gonna stay here
for another 50 60 can you speak up a little louder oh yeah i'm sorry to the mic so by designing this
building i i didn't want to just put the regular cookie cutter square box on the block that's going
to survive for another 50 60 years so i wanted to respect the architecture of the block and i
honestly spent a lot of evenings just to come up with the plans with the uh with the with the
layouts and and so it's going to be useful uh in terms of quality of living i watched a lot
ZBA's meetings and I try to address as many concerns usually happen on during the meetings
I try to match the front porch uh corny's line make the height basement ceiling indoor trash
uh no exit to the backyard through the back bedroom like staircase on about uh from the
basement bedroom directly outside and uh yeah so it's it's not only about density it's also about
like make it economical to build something nice that's gonna stay there for for a very long time
and to basically so it's economically feasible at the same time to build something nice that's
that's what it thank you serge and did you hear all of the other testimony and evidence that was
offered in front of the board today yes and do you adopt that testimony as if it were your own
so council um
RCO is at two you're at four either side of you is three and you did have conversations about three
we did okay both questions from the board
i have a question so um this again is like the other uh case this is a twin um and so you have
uh the support of the home uh the property owner next immediately next to you adjacent to i don't
believe they attended uh so and is that those that's that's a multi-family it's a multi-family
yeah and in fact uh board member the one immediately attached to this i believe is still
owned by the person that formerly owned this one so but they are they are multifamily and and so
in the rear of your proposed property um does it extend how far beyond the adjacent property does
the rear extend uh its extent i'm not gonna sell exactly but based on the uh zoning plans it's
probably like 15 15 feet something like that about about that yeah
okay so so this is the um the the one property next door the vacant one it's actually a vacant
property directly to the right okay all right so the um and this is the one of the referrals is the
rear yard so your rear yard would extend far beyond this rear yard it about
proximal how many feet so it it would extend beyond by about 15 feet so you
can see the the line of the rear yards of the two adjacent structures here these
These structures do not extend as far as current code would allow. So the argument here is simply that the rear yard itself is materially consistent with the rear yard that the code would allow.
structures do not extend as far as
the code does not in in the case of a rear yard have a contextual requirement that's obviously
done in the front whereas in the back here um it's it's 15 feet at the the steps it's just
over 17 feet to the actual building itself and then there's an additional four foot wide alley
so um by by shrinking the rear yard you're you're not necessarily gaining a lot in terms of that
context um you're essentially at that point just eliminating some of the the really really really
critical living space that's uh designed in these units my last question is um the rco did also
uh say they wanted no uh basement living um any question uh if i look at the plants the basement
i'm can i i'm sorry yeah go ahead basically uh like that's was my very big concern about the
basement because i know the lack of daylight and stuff like that but in this particular case i try
to incorporate as many windows as possible as you can see some of the rooms even have two points of
daylight and the depth of the basement as well as you can see on the side elevation i created like
split level design so the most of the basement is above the ground so it's like only four feet below
the ground and the rest of it above so all the windows technically will bring a lot of daylight
because there's side of the building is open you can all this daylight will will go in the basement
i have one more question so this this side entrance uh what units would use this side entrance so the
The one to the left here is the private entrance to unit two.
Two, three, and four.
The left door, and then the right door is the one that goes...
So the right door is the one that would go immediately upstairs to those two units,
and then the one on the left is a private entrance.
So unit two has a private entrance, unit one has a private entrance,
and then, of course, unit three and four that are upstairs have a private entrance.
but the mailboxes and stuff and this board member wins the mailboxes will be centralized in one area
that was that was what we talked about about the mailman is not going to have a front porch we can
incorporate something on the front porch like i'm i'm gonna guess that in this case because there's
a front porch the post office will probably require the mailboxes in the front and then there would
also be a secure surgeon i actually talked about this there would be a secure you can get these
awesome amazon secure boxes so that so that everybody would have access to a secure package
area and what's in what part of the um units are in the basement so it's yeah it's uh i didn't see
that yeah it's just some living space so there's no bedrooms in the basement it's just some living
space office space uh you know with with a lot of a lot of people working from home these days
uh serge has has really tried to design things to try and accommodate some additional space for
people to be able to work so we're talking about over here to the left to the left yeah sorry yeah
so to the left is that lower level the the one in the back has a direct stair access out to the rear
yard so again it's it's five feet above grade which is entirely consistent with the conditions
that this board tends to like to see in terms of that lower level living so it's not uh it's
not below grade we we did share these plans uh with the rco from the photographs it looks like
the adjoining properties also do have below grade living so you know i'm not entirely sure
what that particular objection was based in since it is fairly consistent with at least the
immediately adjacent structures um yeah so you can see here there's okay yeah and again these
these structures are all pretty old so other questions thank you yeah yeah i think of course
yeah sure sorry i was trying to go on mic thank you it's having mic issues
you're muted mike can't hear you
how about now yes yep okay can you go back to the floor plans again yep
when you were showing them you were you kind of zoom out can we so we can see the whole floor
when you were showing them you were you kind of zoom out can we so we can see the
makes it makes it easier
okay so this so the basement so so the basement has basically two partial units in the basement
is that when i'm so yeah correct i mean it's they're bi-level units so each of these has
use of the lower level as well as the first floor. So they're designed to be bi-level
living. All of the units in the building are designed that way.
Okay. And the basement, so the basis of the bi-level unit on the first and basement,
they're both one bedroom units with a living space in the basement and then office, right?
and the depth below the grade is you said four foot six it is okay it's four feet here you can
and uh so now the second and third floor what does that look like
it's the living space and kitchen on the second floor and two bedrooms upstairs for privacy so
the bedrooms are separated from the living area yeah so you can see i think you got to get closer
to the moment so you can see here on the left is the second floor layout so you have kitchens
living space dining room space and then on the second on the third floor the second floor of
these units you have two bedrooms each and then you have powder rooms on that first level of living
and you have full bathrooms between the bedrooms so the second and third floor two two bedroom
units and the first floor and basement are one bedroom units. And what was the request of the
community? Was it two units? Yeah, their request was for two, which is essentially what the zoning
district would allow here. And is not, you know, again, obviously, as the board has seen,
is not consistent with what was here historically either action all right any other questions
questions from our attorney not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual
audience yes chair i have a few hands up the first hand is orlando last name starting with m
I'm going to allow them to speak. Sure.
Can you hear me? I can. Could you please state your name and spell it for the sonographer?
Sure. It's Orlando Moncrief. Orlando is in Orlando, Florida. O-R-L-A-N-D-O. Last name M-O-N-C-R-I-E-F-F-E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do. Sir, are you a neighbor?
I am. Please proceed with your testimony.
So not just the neighbor, but I've been living on this block since 1988 or family owned before that.
So I'm I knew the family that was next door.
So I'm 27, where I hope that Surge builds, as I'm in favor of filling that lot, is right next to that neighbors in between Surge and I. Think of it that way.
So I'm in favor of building something. There are a couple of things I just want to share that we heard from our RCO meeting, and I think there might be some other people here who can comment on this as well.
A, it is not a fact that there is no other cutaway for parking on this block.
Across the street of the proposed property, between 20 and 22, there is a cutaway for parking for a driveway that's there.
That exists right now.
So it's not factually accurate what was stated earlier.
The second thing is the biggest issue that the block had in the meeting around this was parking.
We do not have enough parking right now for all of the residents on the street.
Adding a four unit is going to provide even more congestion where parking is concerned.
That was our number one issue.
The second issue is if any of us on the block were to try to do anything else, we would need to abide by this.
So if any of us on the block were to try to do anything else, we would need to abide by the zoning guidelines.
And if someone wants to come in and Serge doesn't live in our block, he's not from our area.
If he wants to come in and build, we applaud that.
But you have to go by what everyone else on our block has to apply to.
And I think it actually a little comical that in the back, you're going to say that because the four foot alley is back there, that gives you more.
that alley is not your property at all that's community property so that doesn't apply it's
just a little minor things like that that actually pretty annoying for me to hear
and we were told by the attorney and surge emphatically when we met with them that the
small variances were small and they would take care of them now in this meeting we're hearing
the opposite that these are and i forget the word she used but it was suggest that this would not
be an issue at all. So going backwards on what they had suggested in the meeting to now what
they're saying is problematic. And I would ask that this board would abide by the zoning guidelines.
Again, Serge, I want you on the block. I just, you know, two unit is better for us based on what
we're facing. And I hear from your attorney that you want to honor the tradition of the buildings
on the block. I'm going to ask that you would honor the folk on the block as well with what
we're asking you to do. Thanks for your time, board. Counsel, do you have any questions?
No questions, but I would like to respond at some point. Why don't we see how many else
of people are there? Thank you for your testimony. Other questions or comments from the
uh virtual audience yes chair i have a hand up by the name of yasmin kenya i'm going to allow them to
speak sure uh good morning everyone good morning could you please hi could you please state your
name is spelled for the stenographer sure my name is yasmin that's y a s and mary m is in i'm sorry
s is in sam m is in mary e e n is a nancy and the last name is kenya k e n is in nancy y a
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes are you a neighbor yes please proceed um yeah so i wanted to speak today i'm not only
a neighbor but i'm also um the block captain of north 50th street um i did also attend the
the uh meeting with the ward and um i just wanted to share that you know every not only do we have
um but basically an overflow as far as you know attendance went um to you know discuss their
concerns with this proposed four-unit, but we unanimously voted no as far as a four-unit
being placed on North 50th. And again, just to piggyback on what my neighbor just mentioned,
you know, the density of the block, you know, adding the four-unit would definitely be problematic
um and the attorney and um the owner did um agree to you know make changes and i also you know heard
the opposite um which is unfortunate but again you know we shared that you know we appreciated the
um the aesthetic you know on the external but you know um turning it into four units would
be problematic all the way around. I would also just like to share that the same sentiments were
voiced for other neighbors who were unable to attend the zoning meeting. I'm sorry, the meeting
with the RCO and also who couldn't attend today. So if you need anything in writing,
you know, we're more than happy to submit that from about eight other neighbors.
all right thank you very much for taking the time do you have any questions i do i just have one
question um miss kenya you mentioned you mentioned your concern about a four unit on this block
do you have any any evidence of any um historical impact that was caused by a four
unit in this location which existed for over 50 years um i think also there was an issue with you
PRESENTING THE PROPERTY AS, YOU KNOW, A FOUR-UNIT IN THE RCO MEETING.
THERE WAS AN ISSUE WITH, I BELIEVE, THE RENTAL, LIKE THE NAMES
I believe the the the rental like the the the names on the the rental agreement, because not only that and they'll they'll speak very soon, but we have another neighbor who spoke directly to the owner of 31 North and they can confirm what it was actually historically, you know, there as you know, it was it was a three unit.
it wasn't a four unit so um and this was dated back to when unfortunately you know um with city
guidelines it wasn't uh mandatory to have um such you know i guess documentation in place so that's
another thing we would appreciate it if you would stop presenting it as if this was a historically
four unit property on north 50th street that is that is totally false thank you okay thank you
Okay. Is there anyone else in the audience?
Yes, Chair.
How many more hands do you have?
Three.
Okay. Thank you.
No problem. I have a hand up by the name of Bernadine Howes.
I'm going to allow them to speak.
Right.
Hi. Could you please state your name as spelled for the sonographer?
Good morning, everyone.
My name is Bernadine Howes, B-E-R-N-A-D as in dog.
i-n-e last name is spelled h-a-w-e-s do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i affirm okay are you in favor of this project or against i am against
this project hold on and the question would be could you tell me anything other than what's
been heard so far? So let me add a little texture to this block. We advocated long and hard
to reduce the density because there were so many properties that almost were three units,
as the lawyer has spoken about, but they were never licensed for such. And we still have them.
so some are legal some are probably not okay but the basement issue and most of us on this block
know that we have water we sit right on top of mill creek okay the basements are not used for
living quarters they're used for storing things you you won't be concerned with if they get wet
so we have a water issue and the water department knows that and you can look at the water the
floodplains, et cetera. So that's a big issue on this block when it comes to anyone thinking
of having living quarters in that block. So that is my contribution.
All right. Well, thank you very much for your time. Next person, please. Do you have
any questions about that? No, next person. Bruce, who has been allowed to speak?
next question next person hi uh robert bruce hill first name r-o-b-e-r-t middle name bruce b-r-u-c-e
last name h-i-l-l all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth sir nothing but the truth
yes i affirm are you a neighbor uh i am a neighbor and i'm also the war leader and rco coordinator
are you um are you in favor of this or against uh so uh based on the results of the vote of the
community um we were in favor only with the modifications that were also submitted in the
meeting summary the provisos that you sent us yes and that would be only with the two unit maximum
um there would be no living space in the basement as well as there would be no roof access or roof
structure that would be added to the property. We have your document here, sir. Okay. All right.
And I just also just want to, you know, to just note one of the things that the community has
been very emphatic about, you know, not being opposed to development, but density is a problem.
If you ride through the neighborhood after 6 p.m., there's essentially no parking for neighbors
anywhere. That was also thoroughly discussed with the developer. And, you know, while we understand
with you want to go and get the maximum for your investment however ultimately it is you know should
be for the benefit of the community and nothing beyond two units um you know uh would be appropriate
based on the community thank you very much for taking the calls do you have any questions
next hand please sure i currently have two hands remaining stephen fields has been allowed sure
good morning everyone good morning could you please state your name is bell for the stenographer
good morning could you please state your name is bell for this stenographer my name is steven s-t-e-p-h-e-n
my name is steven s
last name fields f as in frank i-e-l-d-s do you swear or affirm to tell the truth told truth
nothing but the truth i do um are you a neighbor yes all right are you for this or against against
all right uh we've had a great deal of testimony so far uh is there anything at all you can think
of that was not been brought up um i don't know if we discussed uh the actual occupancy rate
at that unit across the street from me it's directly across the street from me i'm at 32
north 50th street that number is 31. right that unit had has always had uh three units in it
never four okay all right and i don't know i think there was an illegally
uh marketed as a uh a four unit it was never a four unit all right thank you do you have any
questions next hand please last hand dion walton has been allowed to speak hi sir could you please
state your name is spelled for the stenographer d-i-o-n-n-e
last name w-a-l-t-o-n right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do are you and i'm not i am not i'm the owner of 29 north the former owner
of 31 okay so hold on hold on hold on hold on one minute are you in favor of this project or against
i oppose i'm against all right is there anything you could tell us and we've heard
from at least four or five people is there anything different you can tell us
i concur with all of my neighbors well thank you very much for doing that we appreciate that
is that the last hand yes chair hillary you want to make a quick no not hillary i'm sorry hillary
Let me go here. You want to make a quick comment? Yeah, just I apologize to the first gentleman if there was some misunderstanding. During the RCO meeting, we discussed that Sarge would be more than happy to remove a roof deck, and that was what was presented in front of the board today.
In terms of the history of the property, I mean, this is not a case where there's some ambiguity. Not only do the zoning permits establish that it was four units, but there were rental licenses from 1998 maintained all the way up to at least 2012 for four units.
so i mean listen i i can't i i wasn't there i can't confirm i don't know that serge could confirm
what was physically in the property but based on the actual documented history here it's it by no
means are we misrepresenting what was at the property um and then serge i think you wanted to
to address one quick thing uh quick remarks i mean like if it's two units it would make sense
want to get closer yeah yeah but the two units it would make sense to build a two-story building
because the layout of the building so big and we're going to be able to fit to a nice apartment
size in a two-story building there is no economical sense to build three-story building this way it
will kind of not going to match and not respect the neighbor building uh plus by right we we we
need to build a garage which technically will fulfill uh the request of the neighbors but
at the end of the day it's going to destroy the block itself it's not going to look nice
what i'm trying to say and if the garage will not be built the so from the market marketability
a two unit with a garage is always better than two units without the garage so if we
needs to build two units it's going to be two units with a garage if it makes sense
thank you um Hillary comments wait a minute was it was 29 to the right or to the left on that
elevation 29 would be is that to the right or was it the attached house or was it to the left
to the left so it's the one to the right so it's the attached problem correct which is a which is
a is a legal three unit and just another quick note for the board just so you understand how
i prepare these maps i do not indicate any density for multi-family unless it has a documented zoning
history or rental license so i do not go based on mailboxes where it might be an illegal unit i go
based on what can actually be verified okay so just for a note hillary i'm gonna get nothing
nothing more from you okay leaning
thank you chair and good morning David Fecto with the city planning commission
thank you chair and good morning david fechter with the city
chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rta2 residential
two-family semi-detached zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 1976
in a council supported map change this is a 2500 square foot lot no different in size with their
depth than any of the other lots on this block face this block face has a mix of single family
homes duplexes and triplexes and front-loaded parking is not a common condition the city
planning commission recommends that the board grant the proposed use variance for multi-family
dwellings but limit the unit count to three and grant the requested parking and dimensional
variances um so we appreciate your presentation uh we also appreciate the uh the wide interest
from the community on this what we want to do is take this back to executive session next wednesday
and we will vote at 9 30 a.m and really thank you for your presentation and thank you for the
community okay of course thank you very much
number 10
mi 2025 007 527 9708 del queda street
Joseph Vaccaro is the attorney.
Mr. Vaccaro.
Joseph Vaccaro has been aided as a penalist.
Good morning.
Good morning, counsel.
Could you please state your name as spelled for the stenographer?
Good morning.
My name is Joseph Vaccaro, V-A-C-C-A-R-O.
On behalf of the applicant, I do swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth
and nothing but the truth yes i do mr vicario could you identify your client in the relationship
to this property certainly my client is a limited liability company named cocar properties llc
and we have wasin cocar who is on the zoom okay our vice chair has a few questions
good morning have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing
Yes, I did, and they were supplemented this morning. This morning I had supplemented
four letters from near neighbors, which I'm going to be addressing during my presentation. These are
four additional letters of support. And then I noticed that my plans were cut off in the original
exhibit packet, so I re-uploaded the plans. Okay, all right, thank you for that. And you have
several refusals, so do you waive the reading of these refusals and stipulate to their accuracy?
Yes, I do.
All right.
Thank you.
You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
Thank you very much.
If I may share my screen.
okay can you see what appears to be a google map screen we do sir okay very good so i may begin
then. If I just may expand this, 9708 is a single family home. Although Wasim and his wife, Nancy,
they own it through their corporation, Co-Car Properties, this is their home. Wasim, who is in
on the Zoom, as well as his wife, Nancy, have owned the property together for many, many years.
although back in April 2nd of 2024 Nancy, his wife, who owned the property in her
individual capacity, she had placed the property into their LLC. They live on the
property with Wasim's mother, who is an elderly lady, as well as their two
children who are teenagers. The property is located in the far Northeast of Philadelphia
and I'm showing you on page 34 of my exhibit packet the pinpoint of where the home is on
Dedeker Street. It's one of those loop blocks so you have Dedeker Street on the front, the
home and the area in question, my cursor is floating through.
And the area in question, my cursor, is floating through that area on the rear.
If you see the pool, the pool has been removed.
There is a shed on the rear left corner of the property.
That shed was already there.
And we're here to legalize the gazebo and another shed, which is over the area where my cursor is floating.
Here's a view of the property from the City's Atlas site, and I can start showing you the photographs of the property with the gazebo and shed in question that we're trying to legalize, and then I'll go to the plans.
See over here, these are the plans that I initially uploaded here, but then they got cut off on the left side, so I'll be showing you the plans shortly.
Here are some photographs of the home. This is the
front of the home, and these are the two sheds. As I stated,
this is where the pool is, where the grass is bald,
so the pool's been removed. This shed was originally there, the gazebo,
as well as the shed that we're trying to legalize.
showing you some this is the shed that was already there another view of the
gazebo with the shed and the shed that we're trying to legalize does sit on a
concrete pad it has a door so that you may enter storage that that would be
the purpose of the shed that is the purpose of the shed it's just it's the
store household items that they're not using. Over here it's mostly Christmas
decorations at this point. Other views of the inside.
This is the rear of the shed abutting the property line. So this home would be on
Fulmer Street which is the the property to the rear of my client's property. I
believe that home is owned by Salvatore Donio at 9715 Fulmer and we have a
letter of support from him which I could show you shortly. Here's another view of
the rear. This is the existing shed or the original shed that was on the
property. Another view of the rear of the shed that we're trying to legalize.
This is a photo of the rear of the house.
I believe that's the garage on the right side with the brick,
the main part of the house, and then he has a patio on the side.
Counsel, was this an L&I issue?
There was an L&I issue, yes. My client, by way of background, my client,
And he didn't know, he didn't realize that he needed to get permits and to get the permits to build this shed. The shed was built in the middle, spring, summer of 2025. And then El and I found out about it and were trying to legalize it.
The city also, through LNI and through the solicitor's office, they sent my client to a municipal court.
We've had one meeting, I've spoken with counsel for the city, and we've relisted that matter until next week.
Pending further consultations after what happens after these proceedings in front of the zoning board today.
Again, here's the view from the city's Atlas website. And there are some other properties
with respect to the two foot eight inch setback and the city's requirement for a 25 foot setback
from the rear property line. We note that 97.11 Fulmer, 9709 Fulmer, as well as 9704 Dedeker
and 9702 Dedeker, I'm showing you on the Google map, you know, they all have sheds that are a lot
closer than the 25 feet from their rear property line. With respect to the balance of the
exhibit packet, we had a meeting with the RCO last week. Mr. O'Hara of Greater Busselton,
He was able to send me an email. I still don't have a formal letter or formal meeting summary, but it's 22 support.
letter or formal meeting summary, but it's 22 support and three opposed.
And let's see here, photos of the posting. Here you go. The property was posted and zero tax
balance if i could stop sharing this
i'll go to the four letters of support from the immediate neighbors
i also just have a curiosity the first shed wasn't enough
well he also has a mother uh he also has a mother-in-law that comes up from virginia
and she stays for extended periods of time.
So there's also stuff for his mother-in-law.
You can't use the shed for that, right?
No, you would use her equipment you'd want to put in the shed or?
Well, that other shed is full.
There's a lot of gardening equipment and other equipment.
All right, okay.
He needs to expand.
He needs to expand.
I have four letters from Salvatore Donia at 9715 Fulmer.
That's the property right behind.
9710 Tina Cavallaro.
Kelly Kernicki
I made it out as
Parveen Sardar
Parveen Sardar at 9712
and those have also been shared
and if I could stop sharing that and I could show you
better
versions of the
okay uh do you see the plans yes sir okay wonderful so we have the property
the the original shed the patio and the proposed shed that we're trying to legalize if i could make
this bigger proposed gazebo and the shed which is 313 square feet
the existing shed the concrete pad i'll scroll over here it's 16 by 16 feet 3 inches by
16 by 6 313 square feet yep oh i'm sorry uh did you have a question no no i'm i'm nodding my head
with your room okay your presentation um and then the elevation it's 10 feet 11 inches high okay
now wasim and his family they made a mistake um he thought that because this is his own personal
private home, no commercial activity going on. He didn't think he needed to go through the
process of getting permits. He didn't realize that there were size and dimension requirements
and setback requirements. So he's sorry. He thought that unless it was commercial, he didn't
need it. So here we are just trying to make good that which he needed to do initially.
Why don't you bring him on, Joe, and adopt your testimony?
Waseem, can you come on to the Zoom?
Waseem, are you there?
Or maybe you need to raise your virtual hand so they could find you.
Do we see him?
And what's your client's name again?
Waseem, W-A-S-E-E-M, Kokar.
Okay, yes.
and he's being promoted now to panel thank you okay thank you
and sir you will have to okay he did accept it he's coming back in now chair
sure thank you very much
sir can you please unmute yourself
it's already unmute wasim can you hear us can you say something
yes good morning can you hear me sir yes could you please state your name
and then spell for the stenographer. Wasim Khoekar, W-A-S-E-E-M-K-H-O-K-H-A-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do. Counsel?
Thank you. Wasim, have you heard my presentation to the Zoning Board?
yes I did and do you agree with it yes I do and would you adopt it as your own
Yes, I did. And do you agree with that?
Yes, I do.
And what you were doing,
testimony if you were testifying yes do you have anything to correct me on no
anything else that you'd like to add no all right questions from the board so
So, the other shed has been legalized? Is that what you're saying? And now you want legalization for this one, is that?
That's correct. That first shed was always there. It was always there. It was always a part of the property.
And I believe at 130 square feet, I think that was already legal by right.
Let me just confirm, 160 square feet.
And then this shed is going to be how big?
313 square feet.
So it's 16 feet 3 inches by 16 feet 6 inches.
And I'll give you the height again.
10 feet 11 inches and okay and and you need oh he needs all of this extra storage for just some
Christmas well more it's it's more than Christmas his mother uh he also lives with with his mother
um as well as his wife and his two children uh who are teenagers um young teens um and also
and also his mother-in-law who lives in Virginia, she comes up to stay with the family in Philadelphia
for extended periods of time. So the mother-in-law, she has her stuff in Virginia as well as
her stuff here in Philadelphia. Okay. And how many people did you say lived here?
It's him and his wife, Nancy, his mom, and their two children. And then for extended periods of
time there would be his mother-in-law so we're counting between five people minimum for six
people maximum okay and well and then i guess maybe this doesn't have anything to do with this
but what is this about the pool that was removed what what was that yeah uh he had a pool at at
that at that location and it was removed uh yeah i'll show you voluntarily or was this something
else where no it was there no it was voluntary it was just a um you know just a just a simple
uh above ground pool that you put together and you take apart ah okay all right um thank you
One other thing that I needed to mention, when we had our RCO meeting, it was discussed and it was agreed that this structure would not be connected to any utilities.
No water, no sewer, no electric, and no gas.
It was mentioned, it was discussed, and we agreed to it.
So even though Mr. O'Hara didn't put it in his email to us, we are not having any plans to connect the structure to any utilities.
And it was also discussed that nobody would be sleeping in there. Of course, nobody would be sleeping.
Of course. Thank you. You kind of answered one of my questions.
so my oh sorry got it i'm sorry yeah my question is um yeah my question is
my question is um who built the shed and was like the shed ever like inspected by
any professional wasim uh could you answer that question who built it
uh it was a contractor and we had the architecture mr ray white they did everything
so you had a contractor do it yes okay
all right other questions
questions from our attorney
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
planning commission thank you chairman and good afternoon
good afternoon David Fecto with the City Planning Commission chairman and board members the
comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsd3 residential single-family detached zoning
at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 1991 in a council-supported map change the
the appellant requests dimensional relief for building two accessory structures in their rear
appellant requests dimensional relief for building two accessory structures in the array yard
yard without the benefit of permits the city planning commission recommends the board deny
the proposed dimensional variances thank you um mr vicaro i just want to sit next week and talk to
the the board a little bit about where we stand with this um but we'll make sure that we vote on
this at 9 30 a.m for you okay i appreciate it thank you very much thank you very much is there
anyone in the audience who's 9 30 cases not been called i see no hands chair thanks everybody see
everybody 2 p.m good afternoon everyone my name is bill bergman and i will
be chairing this meeting of the philadelphia zaudi board with me is our vice chair tenetta graham
present mr chairman our board secretary cheryl l gaston present mr chairman or board members
michael johns uh present mr chairman taiya wynn present mr chairman and ryan mcadams president
mr chairman also present is our attorney hillary emerson our zba director ian haggerty our board
administrator lakeisha dandy this hearing is being recorded and will be available on the zba website
by participating you agree to be recorded this is an in-person meeting with remote participation
whether in person or on zoom if you're called to speak please state and speak and stake state your
name and spell it and wait to be sworn in after that state your name each time before you testify
to get to enter your participation
the the property address where you are recorded and the zoom put it on the zoom webinar
speak with a staff member or call the zba office
call before the close of business tomorrow call 215-286-2429
and provide your name email and the address of the property involved remote participation
raise your virtual hand when directed to speak while you speak click before you start speaking
click your button to join the panel
use your q a for procedural issues only not case information
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in person p in person participation if testimony if testifying get closer to the mic so that all
attendees and also the court reporter can hear you no talking eating or drinking before in the room
aggressive behavior will not be tolerated in case of emergency follow the directions
given by the staff the main exit through the doors in the rear and the stairs are to the left
if if we evacuate go to love park which is in right across our street please wait
there so that we can account for you let's look at our schedule for this afternoon
Number 9, MI 2026, 000551, 3024 West Dauphin Street.
That case is continued until 9-26-26 at 2 p.m.
Are there any other requests for continuances?
Good afternoon, Chair.
This is Jason Handel.
I will be your co-host for the session.
i see a hand up from a lisa coker i will allow them to speak at this time sure
hello hi good morning could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
lisa coker k-o-l-k-e-r right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i swear what what case are you talking about um do i
what what case are you talking about um do i i'm a concerned resident so i have an application number
Thank you.
um do i well tell me what case you're talking about oh it's about 49 31 wissahick and avenue
Council District 8 Zoning RSA 5. I was scheduled for two o'clock today.
Okay, so we're not to that point yet. We're just calling cases. So you're on the word that
third one yeah you're just going to be uh about an hour or so we'll call for you
all right thank you so much sure any other requests for continuance
i do not see any further answer mr chair so we have several add-ons here so number one
mi2025 004 571 1401 66th avenue
i vote yes with proviso temporary variance for 24 operation of drive-through lane
that exits that starts extends june 4th 2028 expires june 4th 2028 temporary variance second
Again, interior access to the restaurant is prohibited after 10 p.m. and before 5 a.m., on Monday through Thursday, and 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
michael johns my vote is yes with proviso
charl gaston my vote is yes with proviso tenetta graham my vote is yes with proviso
william mcadams my vote is yes with proviso
number two mi 2020 5006 073 1700 spring garden street i vote yes with proviso revives planned
18 pages stamped by CBA, June 3rd, 2026. No illumination between midnight and 6 a.m.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Number three, MI 2026-000-350-5912 Ridge Avenue.
Hold on one minute.
I vote yes with provisos.
Revised plans, two pages, stamped by ZBA, June 3rd, 2026.
interior trash storage michael johns my vote is yes with proviso
cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso
number four ryan mcadams my vote is just with proviso another gram my vote is just with proviso
I will tie it in. My vote is yes with Proviso.
Number 4. MI 2026-000574-5112 Willows Avenue.
I vote yes with Proviso. Revised plans, one page, stamped by ZBA, June 3, 2026. No roof deck or roof deck access.
Yes, approve you, approve use is single single family household only.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is no.
and ryan mcadams my little just with proviso
okay we're going to start our regular list
that was four okay yeah we're good
okay yeah we're good
all right okay okay number 12
number 12
and my 2026 000809 4112 peachen street alan knockamson is the attorney we also have um
um danielle mcelhatten is involved in the case too with with yep
yep okay why don't you sit down and we'll put the mic on for you and the number of the papers
all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do sir okay mr knockamson are the both of you doing this we are your honor oh my goodness
it's going to be a long presentation so i figured no it's not it won't be a long presentation it
It will be a short presentation today, but a long presentation.
Mr. Nockamson, please state your name and spell for Mr. Nockamson.
Alan Nockamson, A-L-A-N, last name Nockamson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Mr. Goldberg?
A-L-E-X-G-O-L-D-B-E-R-G.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Mr. Nachumson, could you identify your client and their relationship to this property?
Yes, Mr. Chair.
My client is Pine Manionk Development, LLC.
And in the audience is Tim Townhill, its member.
Right.
And Mr. McElhain, I think you've already...
I have.
But if I could, Mr. Chair, yesterday in communication with the zoning board staff, we were made aware of some time limitations.
I'm about to tell you. Oh, fine. I just wanted to make sure you understood. Our folks did not come in. I got it. I got it. I think that was a good move on your part.
Our vice chair has a few questions from both of you. Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing? Yes, we have. And do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy? Yes, we do. Okay. All right. Thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
So, Mr. McLaughlin, did you give this to Mr. Nockam? I did. All right. So just so everybody knows, we're going to tight schedule. 35 minutes. Yes. Mr. Nockamson. Yes. Well, good afternoon, members of the board. My name is Alan Nockamson. I represent the owner of 4112 Petchen Street. We're just going to go quickly through the table.
can you get can you get a little closer to the mic he is he i'm right here um sorry uh we're
going to quickly go through the exhibit list and then we're going to kind of streamline this
process as much as possible uh so we have 14 exhibits here the notice of refusal uh correspondence
from the central roxborough civic association uh we have elected to remove one of our refusals for
height uh we'll look over quickly the notice of refusal uh but we have revised plans where we're
now closer in conformance with the code uh area views of the property maps of the area and uh
photographs of the surrounding area our plans and drawings which will be the subject of today's
presentation um our urban forest review and investigation we're dealing with the removal
of a heritage tree or trees so that will also be in play for today's hearing we have some expert
reports which will probably be presented more thoroughly at the next session our rco meeting
notice we have met with the neighbors a number of times our application for zoning variance the deed
to the property showing that my client's the owner of the property and our certificate of tax
clearance as you can see we have a number of witnesses mr townhill who's the owner's
representative will probably go last. We have Mr. Woodruff, Scott Woodruff from Design Blends. He'll
primarily be the one testifying today, along with Shannon Heibach-Park, who's our civil engineer.
We have Michelle Cooley, who's a licensed realtor, and Mike Gorello, who is a contractor
who will provide expert testimony. Why don't we just show the notice of refusal? So there's a
little history here uh my client has been trying to develop something here for some time on this
lot it's an over 15,000 square foot lot the issue with the lot is only 75 feet wide it goes street
to street from pet petchen street to loriston and um originally we tried uh to have a 35 unit
uh or 30 36 unit apartment building with 25 parking spots we were told by the community
parking spots we were told by the community that was way too much um and um i don't disagree with
that was way too much um and um
that um we're here to show the least modification possible under the philadelphia zoning code
we went down further not through separate council um my client went down further for 26
unit apartment building with 26 parking spots again the community was not interested in that
i believe that's not the least modification possible under the philadelphia zoning code
this is the least modification possible under the philadelphia zoning code and we embrace that
burden of undue hardship and that's why we're making the presentation we're making today and
over the course of a few sessions with this board we're proposing to have a 10 unit pudd with 20
essentially 20 parking spots like two car garages and you know we have a very challenging site
you'll see we have a steep slope protection refusal can't change that
right we're on a steep slope we have a heritage tree removal refusal which is a
special exception right not the variance and we can't change the fact that there
are trees there and I think we we definitely met the burden for a special
exception there we have van accessible parking space refusal again form over
substance these are 10 single family homes it's a pod but because from a zoning perspective it's
on one lot which will eventually be converted into a pod it's considered multi-family because we're
offering more than six parking spaces we're required to have at least one of them as van
accessible that's not something that would make sense for a planned community um i don't think
anyone would want that um and it would just not it would be difficult to comply with that provision
the the next refusal has to do with multi-family household living uh again it's form over substance
these are really 10 single-family homes this is a 1500 15 000 square foot lot based on the the 1440
lot uh size requirement we would have 10.8 uh units allowed as of right we're asking for 10.
That's exactly what would be allowed under the Philadelphia zoning code.
And then finally, the last refusal, which we have now complied with, originally we're seeking, because we're on a steep slope, to have an average grade of 39 feet and one inch, where 38 feet is required.
You know, I spoke to my client. I believe that that was the one refusal, which was not the least modification possible under Philadelphia zoning code, and we have removed it. And you'll see from just the elevations, we're now in conformance with even our next door neighbors to the right of us, who are a little above us on the top of the hill.
um so what i would like to do is you know start with the testimony of scott woodruff so if he
could be sworn in uh no i mean we we have the proviso for him but he can walk us through that
too mr woodruff they will be coming back in as a panel shortly appreciate it thank you
good afternoon board hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
absolutely scott woodruff s-c-o-t-t-w-o-o-d-r-u-f-f uh i'm the principal here at design
once architecture is the architecture record right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth i do counsel all right um scott um first of all uh
you know, given the fact that we're part, and we're going to address first the steep slope
protection refusal, that's a refusal that can never be complied with given the site conditions,
right? That is correct, based on the locations of the steep slope. All right, so we can never
have a buy right option just simply because of the steep slope issues we have. That is correct.
Okay. All right. So let's go first. And again, we have the, again, the steep slope protection
refusal says on, it's basically on those portions of the lot where the slope of the land is 25%
or greater. And let's go over to the site plan for that. Oh, yes. Steep slope plan.
and that's within our exhibit six
all right so uh why don't you explain what we're looking at here scott
sure so all the areas highlighted in deep router the areas over 25 percent grade the areas in the
slightly later shedder atter 15 percent grade um the code stipulates if you are uh doing any
the code stipulates if you are doing any earth disturbance within those areas it would generate
earth disturbance within those areas.
a refusal as you can see along each property line along peachen street and larson street
we are pretty much completely locked with deep red at various points which would prohibit us from
trenching in utility lines bringing in any sort of earth moving equipment or development potential
on the site as well as we have a kind of a spine that runs directly through the the middle of the
site there which you can see yeah so in summary we have issues with uh steep slope uh in the
middle of the property and along its front and back edges did you hear me yes oh is that correct
Yes, correct.
Okay. All right. Great. Now, how did this, the issue with the steep slope affect your design of this property?
So the design of the property was done to try and minimize impacts in site developments along the street frontages as well as the neighbors.
um we tried to create a condition um that limited some of the disturbances at these areas while
placing uh the buildings kind of in the center and then just also minimizing kind of earth moving
activities to kind of get into the site uh into the development okay uh let's go to the
second refusal regarding the heritage trees and that's a special exception
so you we have a report that uh you relied on from rockwell associates that's correct okay um and
that's uh the urban forest review and investigation report it's a 15 page report
um is it true that there are 28 trees on the site and 21 in poor condition according to the report
correct all right and then two of those trees within those report are designated as heritage
trees is that right that is correct all right well let's go to the boundary and uh topographic
survey all right and then just so the board understands just to make it easier for everyone
our firm circled and read where those two heritage trees are. That was not in the original
survey, but we just figured, you know, to illustrative purposes only, it would be helpful
for everyone. So there's two circles. There's one to the upper right-hand portion of that survey.
Can you explain what that is? Sure. That is one of the heritage trees that was designated by
Rockwell and Associates. Okay, and the one that's in the middle portion? That was also another tree
designated as a heritage tree. You can kind of see it's 32 inches of diameter. All right, and then
in terms of the condition of the heritage tree, the middle one, I believe that's a reference as
a cherry tree. What's the condition of that? That condition was in poor condition and not able to be
saved or not recommended um to be saved based on the condition of the treaty and and let the board
for record keeping purposes see that we're pointing to the observations of that report um
the findings of of that report um i want to now kind of go into and and let scott take a break um
we have a a civil engineer uh shannon i would like her to be sworn in she's going to talk about
oh so a little cross yeah yeah that's fine i mean yeah i was trying to make it one across
or how do you want to do this i'll cross this witness and then if necessary the next sure oh
well i'm not done with him i'm this is only a small portion i wanted to go i figured just to
keep his streamline kind of focused on then they'll have an opportunity yeah sure that's fine
right yeah absolutely yeah so um if shannon can virtually raise her hand shannon
oh yes they will be coming back in shortly as a pen thank you
hey can everyone hear me hi hi could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer
hi hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer yep so my name is shannon
Sorry.
park s-h-a-n-n-o-n-p-a-r-k right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth i do counsel uh yes um miss park um your your firm provided this landscape
plan which is you know in front of the board uh today is that correct that's correct okay um why
don't you explain you know in lieu of these 28 trees that are currently on the site that we're
asking to remove why don't you explain uh uh generally the the landscape plan how many trees
yeah so the the landscape plan um is providing uh the street trees
so it's um the two along pechin and then
all right and then they're going to be you know according to this plan you're including uh 16 new
healthy trees, right? Four American hornbeam canopy trees, 10 serviceberry ornamental trees,
and two eastern redbud ornamental trees. Is that correct? That's correct. And then you're doing
four different shrub species with a total of 112 plantings? That's correct. And then you have 14
grass plantings as well. Is that correct? Yes. All right. And then there's 118 ground covering
plantings as well right that's correct and 42 perennial plantings as well yes all right and
and i did mention with uh during mr or mr woodruff uh mentioned during his testimony that there are
28 trees 21 are in poor condition is that correct yes that's correct all right and two of them one
one of the two heritage trees is is one of those in poor condition is that right
yes all right um just again to keep it you know focused on yeah um i would like to now
point the board's direction and miss park's direction to the soil erosion plan
so whenever you're dealing with a site of this size especially with this a steep slope where
were on the, you know, where there were people below us, you know, stormwater always comes
into play. Can you explain the efforts that you've designed to responsibly deal with the
storm, any stormwater for this property? Yes. So in the proposed condition, we have
a proposed inlet within the drive aisle, as well as a trench drain at the entrance from
and then yard drains for the walkway on the left-hand side of the plan.
The walkway is also permeable pavers, which helps with the infiltration of the water
and to decrease some of the impervious space.
As far as dooring construction, for the E&S plan here,
we're also showing filter socks to help with any sediment runoff,
um a rock construction entrance uh as well as inlet protection for the inlets both on the site
and uh downstream in both streets all right um and you this was reviewed and approved by the
philadelphia water department yes we have irsa approval for this and i believe we have a letter
in our presentation materials dated january 26 2026 where they reviewed your plans and approved them
Yes, that's correct. All right. Well, thank you so much for your time. Um, we may ask for you to come back. I just wanted to have Mr. Yeah. Uh, yeah. Uh, Mr. Woodruff. Yes.
Yeah. Um, all right. So Hillary's trying to say, if, if she's not necessarily, if you're done with her testimony, then she's let Mr. McElhatton.
Well, she's she will probably testify later on about there are some questions about the driveway that you may enter.
So just so we know, you'll have to be able to produce if we don't get to them today with Mr. McElhant, you have to bring them.
Of course. Yes, of course. That's fine. I'll defer any questioning. Sure.
So the witnesses are finished. OK, thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that.
All right. So, Mr. Woodruff, let's go over the remaining and refusal.
So let's go over the the your architectural plans and drawings.
So, yeah, start with the rendering.
All right. So can you explain what we're seeing here right now in front of us?
I so can you explain what we're seeing here, right?
Sure. So this is a front rendering shown from Peach and Street looking up at the proposed structure, which is a 10 unit single family home or PUD structure, as you described.
We went through a few iterations to match the character of the surrounding neighborhood and worked with the neighborhood to aesthetically address some of their concerns and desires to make sure that the building facade fit into some of the surrounding contexts, including, you know, brickwork, cornice, as well as porch kind of along the front face.
yeah so can you explain to the board the materials that you envision the property owner would use as
part of this project sure so we we have a standard red brick which is very common throughout the
neighborhood we also have a limestone water table that kind of runs along that first floor in the
garages uh we also uh have a with second stone shifts retaining wall that's along the street
which is um there's a wall there currently in a little bit poor repair but that was something
important uh to the neighborhood that we do keep that element along the pedestrian areas which we
did do um as we go back uh through the property we have a mix of fiber cement siding um as well as
uh board mat and vinyl siding that kind of stretches back down some of the interior uh
areas in the rear facades yeah and and we'll go over the obviously the site plan and the floor
plans but each you know this this property goes street to street from petchen and loriston right
correct and as part of your design and we'll see it also let's go to the next rendering
you purposefully have a a single family structure facing each public street with a porch is that
correct that is correct and again we we worked with the neighborhood um to make sure that these
uh facades that were very street facing um fit with the character and kind of desires um
um of the surrounding contexts that were applicable all right and then you have eight
single-family homes sandwiched in between those two single-family homes one facing
Petchen and once the one facing Larson is that correct that is correct all right well let's go
to the site plan all right so let's just look at the numbers on the site plan because I did
you know kind of give a general you know synopsis so according to your site plan uh the site is
15,570 uh square feet or so is that right that is correct all right and you know based on the rsa5
zoning you know if if if we had this refrontage that would be math would be 10.8 units is that
correct that is accurate yes all right and then the width of of the property facing both public
streets is 75 feet wide is that right that is right and that's up there the second right there
all right and then um we do have now uh a height of 38 feet is that right a maximum height yes we
did uh revise that um taking down some floor levels and making some adjustments uh to have the
uh height at 38 feet as measured from average grade planes um on the structure all right great
and we you did provide us with the revised plans which which we submitted to the zba is that right
that's correct so the board feels so inclined to grant this variance we would respectfully request
that they granted with the with those revised plans removing that one refusal all right let's
go over the actual uh plans themselves um you know i guess this is just the the the elevations
up to the top left is that right yes correct okay and then the bottom left as well
yep okay let's go over the site plan so can you ex uh kind of walk us through this site plan
yeah sure so if you want to center it on the screen that would be perfect all right great
so on the right side is uh peachen street on the left side is loriston um again as you mentioned
a through lot uh we've got a 17 foot and change front setback um that's along the peachen street
facade and a 21 change foot setback along the Lauriston Street side.
Majority of these homes are all set back with I would suspect because of sloping
i would suspect because of sloping and other other factors so it was important to maintain that
and other other factors so it was important to maintain that.
a lot of care and effort went into placement of the drive aisle and vehicular access into the site
based on the steep slopes and sloping of the site it was placed on the southern side
as it's the least amount of slope coming into the site it ramps up a bit on the northern side
So, coming in on the southern side of the site, we have a 9% slope, a 15% slope, and then a 1% to allow access to the garages, which really limited the amount of earth moving as much as possible to provide that vehicular access.
on the northern side of the site would be the front door access we have stairs that come into
a common kind of sidewalk entryway and then there'll be front door access to all the homes
that also wraps around two stairs to provide consistent access from Larson and through the
site to peach and street so that there's pedestrian access that can be done
street to street front to back on the site those stairs connects also down to
the drive aisle so there's consistent pedestrian access throughout the site
one thing to know based on the site that is also fairly important is there
currently is between a 16 to 18 foot retaining wall that's failing currently along the large
thin street side so to address that we have a very large slope change there so we're proposing to
develop this in a manner so that we create some cascading retaining walls that kind of
cascade cascade down to the street frontage um with stairs and kind of entry up into the drive
aisle and that top sidewalk access um the majority of the buildings being built up on the site
uh and not pushing down this really steep kind of uh retaining wall embankment yeah we we changed
our screen i don't know if you noticed that to show the picture of the retaining wall that you
were talking about is that the retaining wall it is correct okay all right well let's go back to the
uh the site plan uh so specifically just as an observation you separated the pedestrian and the
vehicular traffic and access that is correct correct they are they are separated um for safety
reasons um and just logistically um for the members of community and the obviously the homeowners
Yeah. And again, just to reiterate, the bookends of this 10-unit plan community, they're facing the public street to provide eyes on the street.
Correct.
All right. With porches as well.
Yes. Both have porches.
All right. Is there anything else? Oh, how wide is the drive aisle?
So the drive aisle is, I believe, 20 feet.
We have some pinch points due to bollards.
you can see 18-5 drive aisle is the one dimension there that's to the the actual bollard um which
protects some of the utility accesses um and some of the stuff coming into the houses um and then
there are some small uh balconies um that kind of come over the drive aisle uh which are those little
rectangles you see um for each house yeah and it's your understanding that the streets department
it reviewed and approved the dry vial drawings yes that is correct all right uh and then you
know as you can see there's landscaping that's kind of bookending the entire lot as well right
to provide a buffer yeah we have bookends of the landscape and as presented earlier on that
southern side is entirely um landscapes with new plantings all right well let's go through the uh
uh the rest of the drawings
all right is uh is there anything in particular that's noteworthy in in in these elevations
so the top elevation there is the the drive aisle elevation um again looking over kind of the things
i described there we have enlarged garage doors uh you can see utility meters which are bollard
at each garage door, as mentioned in those small balconies that are kind of above the drive aisle
locations. If you go to the more pedestrian sidewalk side, you can see the front door entries with
More pedestrian sidewalk side, you can see the front door entries with canopies and also bricked faces.
This would be essentially the front doors of each house with exception to the 2 facing the street, which would have front door accesses that that face the street.
All right, well, let's go to next drawing.
this is sd03 uh what is this showing yeah so we provided some aerial views just to give
um some idea of context around uh great change and kind of how the buildings work together
um the one thing i will note here is we did revise the pilot houses um and meeting with
neighborhood to minimize height and visibility of those so those have been minimized to provide
sloping roofs only for what's needed to provide that roof deck access yes and then there the roof
deck access portion of uh is also kind of squeezed in so again less visible to everyone is that
correct that that is correct all right all right next so this is sd 404 uh what is this showing
yeah so the top image here um southwest perspective to the left hand side is the
larston street facade um and as you can see that the grade change there between kind of drive aisle
and top sidewalk is fairly large so we have those cascading kind of retaining walls and planting
beds that uh allow us to get up to the the elevation that's um kind of existing on the site
above that uh failing retaining wall and then the north perspective on the bottom yeah north
perspective just showing uh exactly that um kind of sidewalk front entry um and how that kind of
looks as you go down um in unison again just always good to see perspective views all right next
and this is SD05. So in this perspective, it's actually showing a portion of our elevation in
comparison to 4114 and 4116. Is that correct? That is correct. All right. And then in terms
of the roof lines for 4114 compared to 4112, are they mimicking our roof line?
yeah so the the height of the building is fairly consistent with uh 41 14 um 41 14 has a mansard
style roof um sits up a little bit higher than ours uh but as you can see they're pretty much
consistent um with the adjacent yeah and and actually this drawing has not been updated with
the 38 feet of height is that right that is that is correct we don't have time to do that
yeah but you know just to put that in perspective we would be you know even lower than that from
our perspective um if you change that drawing is that right yeah be another uh foot and change
Laura okay I see you have about five minutes all right I'm gonna what why don't you just try to use
the time the best you can as you want to yeah let's try to get through the rest of these drawings
all right this is uh what is we ever is that did we go through that
all right all right well let's go through the floor plans why don't you walk us through the
floor plans sure so on the bottom of the page that would be the drive aisle elevation
on the southern side of the property starting the garage we have a double loaded tandem style
parking space um again this was something that when meeting with the neighborhood parking was
adamantly important uh so we had originally um some basement living space auxiliary space down
there uh we then have changed that to have two parking spaces um for each home uh with wider
garage access so we've got 12 foot garage door 16 foot clear so we have extra space for storage in
there along with um parking two cars very comfortably and then as we go up well and maybe
this is not noted in here is there an expectation that this would also be designed where there would
be adequate uh trash storage uh yeah correct yeah yeah the intention is um you know trash
recycling cans would be um within this garage uh visually you can see there's there's more than
enough space um around these these vehicular cars yeah i didn't mean to interrupt well no i'll go
um going up level one floor plan this is directly accessed from the northern side of the site
front door to be the main living level with the living room primary living room
uh towards the the southern side dining room and kitchen in the middle um open concepts as we go up
towards the the southern side dining room and kitchen in the middle open
we have the master bedroom on the second level um with the bedroom being on that southern side the
northern side uh would be a master bathroom um with closets kind of in the middle and then the
upper floor on the third floor are two additional sleeping areas uh with two bathrooms and laundry
up there and then uh on the top here is the the roof deck um and a little easier to see here that
we're 10 foot set off that northern face um and then the pilot house door and railing kind of
wraps around so that uh the primary roof deck access is towards that southern side and roof
deck living is towards that southern side yeah and then what's the other side in terms of the setback
uh so we're up so that's 10 feet up there so we have five and another five so we have a five
foot parapet and then uh so it's 10 total on that northern side all right um trying to think oh
what what's the size what's the approximate size of each single family structure including and
excluding the uh garage level if you know uh top of my head i don't have the excluded
this does 2250 yeah we're 2200 without the garage and then 28 with all right
okay why don't we start let's stop you stop this yeah all right uh you want us to stop
Yeah, if you want to say something real quick. I mean, no, I mean, can I just see if there's any other drawing so we can at least finish the drawing? We do that. You get two minutes. All right. Let me see. Are there any other drawing? Oh, let's stop. Okay. That'll be a good stop. All right. So, um, uh, we're going to continue this until we'll, we'll resumptive here. And we'll be 8, 1826 at 930 AM. And I want to thank the both of you, Mr. McElhatton. I want to thank you for working with, um,
Our staff, Ian Haggerty and Hillary and Lakeisha Dandy in the back here have really been working on finding ways to streamline the work in here that, like, for instance, you didn't have all your witnesses sit here and we wind up canceling. Everybody goes away mad.
And we blame you.
Well, we try to get to Clayton Hillary, but that's besides the point.
But, no, we want to thank you with that.
9.30, yep.
Thank you.
I'm going to complete my business before this board, may I be so sure.
You most certainly can.
Thank you.
Good to see you.
Thank you.
Alan, I think you're going to be with us a little bit.
Which one is the next one, Mr. Chair?
You have so many.
Well, he may do the one.
How about number five?
MI 2026-000-481-1400 South 23rd Street.
Mr. Goldberg, you've already been sworn, but just for the record, could you please state your name?
Sure. My name is Alex Goldberg, A-L-E-X-G-O-L-D-B-E-R-G.
Right. And could you identify your client in a relationship to this property?
My client is Calvin Ho, and he's the owner of the property.
And I see there's unanimous support from Point Breeze, the CDC.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
I have.
and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
I do all right thank you you can share your screen and proceed with the case
I think I need to jump back into the zoom I think I got bumped out one second
okay um so my client is calvin ho he's in the virtual audience um the property is 1400 south
23rd street it's at the corner of 23rd and reed in the point breeze neighborhood of philadelphia
this property has a long history of two unit use it was a funeral home plus one residential
dwelling unit above there's a entirely separated ground floor what was previously commercial unit
existing on the property um that you'll see photos of that has appears to just sort of accumulated
a lot of junk over the course of time and i'm not sure was ever uh recently renovate rented
Recently renovate rented as a residential dwelling unit. My client has a 1 unit rental license to be able to legally rent the unit above, which he has since he purchased the property in December of 2025 and we're going through the variance process to to attempt to legalize that 1st floor space, which was previously a funeral home into a residential dwelling unit.
as a residential dwelling unit, my client has
here is the notice of refusal we're not proposing any sort of construction so this is solely a use
application the benefit of being on the corner is that we have separate residential entry points for
each unit and there's also an existing storage garage on the reed street side which was never
large enough to fit a car but is perfect for trash storage so we also have a nice enclosed
trash storage area built into the building structure here's the letter of support from
point breeze cdc we met with them earlier this year you can see that there was unanimous approval
four to zero and two of those yeses were within two blocks of the project and then some commentary
here from some from one near neighbor and one beyond two blocks that people are in support and
that it's been to owner two units and the owners is looking to make it legal here's a petition from
some nearby neighbors that signed in support of the proposal some of which were at the virtual
meeting with the with the coordinating rco property history this is a a document referencing zoning
permit applications for an interior alteration of a funeral parlor plus one family so you you know
there's documentation that there were two separate spaces here and that is still the case
and without the granting of this variance because this is rsa5 we would be in a position where
either that front space wouldn't have to be used or we would need to seek a variance for some sort
of commercial use perhaps which i don't think would be supported by the neighbors because that
would be out of character there are several duplexes in close proximity to here including
the other three corners on our block um so that is 1401 south 23rd 1412 south 23rd and 1413
south 23rd and the zba approved that a duplex duplex at 1412 south 23rd in 2021 which is is
one of those corners i've been referencing and i have a map to show you what that looks like so
here's the zoning map we're directly across from a commercially zoned property and rm1 as well as
park to our left and then here is a diagram showing that the other four corners of sort of this um 1400
block of south 23rd street are all duplexes so it would be in character for us to sort of be the
book into that and be approved for that as well and and i imagine that's why there was a history
of that from some time ago here's some photographs so this is the front of the property um one
residential entry point is here and the other one is on Reed Street right here
I referenced that there's a small little storage garage on the Reed Street side
that's where we will have our trash storage accessible to both units here's
the notice postings on both street frontages to the right of the property
on South 23rd to the left and then to the right of the property on Reed and to
the left there's a deck at the rear interior photographs this is the upper unit you can see
it's in much better shape and there's a tenant there now with an active rental license and then
you'll see what the downstairs area looks like and it's sort of a bi-level you'll see that on
the plans but this is what the front of the property looks this was the looks like this was
the funeral parlor these are the listing photos it's basically just sitting in there empty now
until we're hopefully able to get through this process successfully it has access to a basement
but the basement is an unfinished basement that i imagine will be laundry and utilities only which
is what's just utilities now in a dark space you can see that staircase going downward
and then the plans and drawings going to the floor plans
first floor is on the bottom here so you can see that um you enter on the 23rd street side
to the left of the property off of the porch and that gives you access to apartment one
um or sorry that gives you access to apartment two it goes directly up a staircase my apologies
and then you have a staircase coming off a reed street here where you get direct access to unit
one and then that trash storage area you can see is directly adjacent to the kitchen there
in unit one and this is full lot coverage and existing an existing structure
unit one. And this is full lot coverage and existing structure in that way. Two bedrooms,
two bathrooms, and then upstairs you have two bedrooms, two bathrooms, fairly spacious. They're
both about a thousand square feet. My client is going to self-manage them. And obviously,
you know, that downstairs unit needs a lot of TLC.
I would say with that, I would ask my client to come on and adopt my testimony.
The client's name, please.
Calvin Ho.
They'll be back in as a panel shortly.
hello hi sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
my name is calvin ho c-a-l-v-i-n last name is ho h-o do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
told truth nothing but the truth i do please proceed sir hey calvin did you hear my testimony
today i did was it true and correct yes and do you adopt it as your own yes thank you questions
from the board and mr chairman i forgot to mention that we have submitted tax clearance and proof of
mailing okay sure thank you questions from the board
trash which the which your plan for trash trash storage will be in this storage area which is
that existing i would call it a half garage it's six and a half feet wide that's existing on the
side of the property so both both tenants would have access to store their trash there
questions from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes mr chair i have a hand up from a call-in user i will allow them to speak
hi good day this is uh tiffany rain from concern to the point for you
hello hello hello yeah hi can you hear me yeah could you please state your name and
spell for the stenographer uh t-i-f-f-a-n-y g-r-e-e-n concerns is a point brief rco right do
you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do please
proceed well i'm going to oppose the project okay because i uh our who feel that there is no real
hardship here uh regarding the uh pride the actual uh property um in the meeting with discussion the
boat was was moved forward the vote was moved forward with the uh the understanding that we
that the uh we would argue would continue have a conversation with the developer i mean with
the owner and the lawyer and about having a affordable housing unit and you know
articles come up by point B yesterday and inquire and we're saying that at
this point that there's no real hardship at this point it's or anything is
self-imposed hardship because you're supposed to do your due diligence before
you purchase the property so we understand he's trying to legalize it
and he wants to you know also redo the first floor but we're saying at this
point that that you know we need some type of benefit if you know to give back to the community
variance can't be based on profit or just expansion it has to be an actual hardship
and I don't think that this hardship has been we don't think this hardship has been proven
and so we've at this point because we can't continue to have conversions into multi-family
units and not at least have some kind of benefit for the community because this is leading to more
displacement in our community and they state you might say well this doesn't have anything to do
with zoning it has a lot to do with zoning because of the fact at this point that if if they're not
showing any true hardship then at that point then why should the variance be granted so uh in this
right he after having a conversation with uh mr knockerson or at the time i think his assistant
his other staffer, they stated that they didn't want to do a binding agreement. They were not
interested. They want to do $1,600 for the unit and then they said they might do low-cost housing
but then I said we said to him well you know low-cost housing is a different type of language
than $1,600 and so we just I just want to put that on the record and we're going to be firm going
I just want to put that on the record, and we're going to be firm going forward that variant conversions cannot be just based on expansion or profit, or it needs to come with a benefit back to the community, and we're asking for the HUD recommendation of 1250 for a two-bedroom, and we feel as though with that support.
for it
now in turn we didn't know anything about no petition because rco is supposed to be fully
informed we did not know anything about that we don't know what was said on the petition and number
two the people at like i said at the meeting went forth with the vote so to be cut back on time and
people having to come back and you know and all that because you're not going to re-mail again
you know and that with the hopes of having still having this conversation but the cdc did vote in
favor of this am i correct we're saying the vote went through with the understanding that our
conversation was going to take place after the even though the vote was taken our parents thank
you very much for calling is there anyone else in the audience thank you i could just quickly
respond to that to see if there's anyone else is anyone else in the audience all right chair i do
not see i do not see any further hands at this time okay so as as you mentioned we have unanimous
support from the rco including two near neighbors i do believe we've met our burden given the two
unit structure and i have i did have communications over email with miss green over the past week
about affordable housing and i was honest with her i said listen we're going to do our best to
keep it at 1600 my client's not interested in signing some sort of deed restriction but we're
also not interested in doing anything super crazy high-end and and unaffordable so that's kind of
where we love things with her okay um planning commission amy boyd with the planning commission
amy boyd do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do please proceed the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location
from the current rsi 5 residential single family this property has a documented history of being
split into two spaces the conversion of the previous commercial space into residential
brings the property more into the spirit of the residential nature of the zoning district the
The Planning Commission recommends that the board grant their requested variance for two family.
MI 2026, 000, 481, 1400 South 23rd Street, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tinetto Graham, my vote is yes.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes.
Tywin, my vote is yes.
Alex, are you doing 10?
I'm doing all.
Which is, what's the Hicken?
All right. Could you ask your associate? Sure.
So, MI 2026-000-553-4931 Wissahickon Avenue. Alex Nockamson is the attorney. I mean,
Alan Nockamson is the attorney. Could you please state your name? No, you don't have to. You've
already been sworn. Just state your name for the record. Alan Nockamson. Could you identify your
client or relationship to this property? Yes, my client is Jomo LLC and in the virtual audience
is one of its members, Anthony Gray. And I see there's a letter of non-opposition
from Solo Germantown? We have several letters. Unlimited, non-opposition. Yeah, we have,
i believe several letters one from the 13th democratic board one from solo okay and one
from swamp poodle either in non-opposition or in support i don't know which one so but they're all
positive yeah no swamp poodle they sent um a letter right before um hearings this afternoon
they indicated they were in support with um two provisos um one being no drug consumption
administration or distribution and trash and recycling stored indoors except on collection
days and then they noted that they agree with adding landscaping increasing sidewalk trees as
well as other permissible provisos requested by affected rcos but our vice chair has a few
questions good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of
this hearing yes we have and do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to the
accuracy. I do. All right. Thank you. You can show your screen and proceed with your case.
Hi. So I'm here to present 4931 Wissahickon Avenue. As you can see, it's a corner property.
A little interesting tidbit. There's an Isaiah Zagar mural right here, which is a pretty famous
artists and in the philadelphia region uh so this property has been a multi
in the philadelphia region uh so this property has been a multi-unit structure for some time
um but we'll go over that uh we'll review the the 12 exhibits and again at the conclusion
my presentation i would ask that anthony gray virtually raise his hand and be sworn in sure
so this is an rsa5 property i would say it's an rsa5 property in name only given its history
It's a lot size of almost 2,300 square feet.
My client purchased the property from the chiropractor who's currently on the first floor.
So we're just trying to clean up some things here.
There's a chiropractor on the first floor, history of that.
There was a dentist on the second floor.
There's a history of that.
And then there was a therapist on the third floor.
I don't know if there was a history for that.
The dentist left on the second floor, and the therapist now wants to go on the second floor, and we want to convert the third floor into a single-family residence.
And so that's our refusal for uses as business and professional, medical, dental, health practitioner, sole practitioner, and single-family household living.
And we have two refusals.
First is about the business and professionals not allowed.
And then the second refusal is about the medical, dental, and health practitioner.
So we did meet with the community.
It was a very positive meeting, and I think we helped it along by agreeing to do trash storage inside.
I would disagree with the proviso.
No drugs administered.
While no one administers drugs, I think the therapist is a psychologist, not a psychiatrist.
There has been drugs administered on this property.
I would assume of some sort with the dentist on it previously.
So I would just say we want to keep this open.
There's a history of having someone who has had access to drugs, to administer drugs legally,
but right now there's not.
We just don't want to have to come through this process.
It's expensive.
It's time-consuming, and we would hope the board would consider that strongly.
Again, unanimous support based on the 13th award RCO letter.
and again this kind of summarizes what i just stated uh the really their their concern was
about trash maintenance and storage uh we also another and they were the coordinating rco you
know obviously all rcos should be considered equally solo you know was also a participant
uh participant during the meeting they were also in non-opposition um they had uh a request uh for
ventilated trash closet we don't think that's necessary for the third floor because we're going
to have a common storage area for trash we'll see and we would request that would be the case
rather than that they also had a request for no rooftop decks you know if we were providing we're
not having them um if we did we would have to obviously seek you know another zoning permit
and that's up to the board whether or not they want to you know put that proviso on there we
would ask for that not to happen. They also stated to have no exterior mailboxes. You'll
see from the pictures, there's already exterior mailboxes there. I think there's a long documented
history of that. Again, that's not an enforceable proviso anyway. And then the swamp poodle
letter um i guess kind of they have two provisos about trash storage um so uh and they asked for
commercial trash i guess commercial trash pickup we would respectfully say please do not put that
requirement on us it's only one residential unit above there's two light uses of of a business
there neither of which is going to have much trash you know for it so i think that would be overkill
to require commercial trash storage and then they say no parking in front of addresses i don't know
what that means this is public parking we're not going to be accommodating any parking from anyone
so i would leave it up to the board to i'm sure the representative from swan poodle will explain
that we have a petition well documented of people in support property history which shows again a
significant multi-use history for this property uh you can see from what's it we're in the corner
of what's the hicken and clapier street photographs of the property you get to see from here this
looks nothing like an rsa5 property and you can also see from the signage the chiropractic
office the former dental office there and you can see here here in the mailboxes um but you
know they have double doors here um long documented non-rsa5 history
long documented non-RSA-5 history. Proof of posting for today's hearing.
Wissahickon Avenue to the right of the property, to the left of the property. West Clapier
Street to the right of the property, to the left of the property. Tour of photos. So again,
this has been an active chiropractic office for as long as anyone can remember. The chiropractors
very well liked in the community there was a lot of positive discussion about him and making sure
they kept this use legal for him and his use is in the first floor in the lower level
which you can see from the pictures here
and then you can see this is the former dentist office on the second floor
and then i believe this is the therapist although i've been told there's a psychologist but it could
be a like a physical therapist but i was told it was a you know so we can flesh it out too
uh our plans very straightforward um like you know these are just you know simple cutouts
the spaces are existing really the only difference that i wanted to show the board was the
residential component that's being added on here so you can see there's two bedrooms there's a
living room there's a kitchen there's a bathroom the washer dryer is right here you can see that
the bedrooms have you know ample windows again no basement living this is our rco meeting notice
WE MET WITH THE COMMUNITY ON APRIL 28TH, WE SENT THE NOTICE OUT TO 65 PEOPLE.
THERE WERE AT LEAST 10 TO 15 PEOPLE IN THE AUDIENCE, I THINK THE VOTE SHOWS THAT.
PROOF OF MAILING, APPLICATIONS FOR ZONING VARIANTS,
OR DEED TO PROPERTY SHOWING THAT JOE MOE, LLC, IS THE OWNER,
AND THEIR CERTIFICATE OF TAX CLARANCE. WITH THAT BEING SAID,
I WOULD ASK THAT MR. GRAY VIRTUALLY RAISE HIS HAND AND BE SWORINED.
Mr. Gray, I'll be coming back in as a panel shortly, thank you.
okay can you hear me now and sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
sure it's daryl anthony gray d-a-r-r-y-l anthony a-n-t-h-o-n-y last name gray g-r-a-y
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes i do would you please turn your video on please
okay i'm trying to find that let me see if i can if you can yeah i can it was on and uh hang on a
second yeah boy it's my video here we go i think i got it okay yeah you you you have it sir all right
yeah mr gray you heard everything i had to state today about your zoning matter
that is correct is it true and correct yes it is and do you adopt as your own testimony yes
i do specifically you're in agreement to a proviso where you would store the trash inside
the building structure yes i am all right board i did omit uh when i was going quickly through
the drawings i just wanted to make sure that the board sees this um this is where the trash will
be stored so just give me a second uh the trash room is right here if you remember these are the
double doors that lead into the common vestibule area there's a secondary access here too but
there's a significant room here that all residents well the one resident and the two businesses would
have as access for trash storage thank you questions for the board i just need clarity
so the second floor because it seems like you showed us the former dentist office yeah and
then the therapist office are there two separate businesses on the second floor no there would just
be one the dentist left the dentist that's an older an old photo but there is no dentist there
right mr gray i just want to make sure i'm accurate mr gray is has the dentist left the
premises yes the dentist is vacated in the therapist on that floor so okay yeah so it's
just the updated photo of the interior conditions that's right got it and then do you know how many
um patients each of the businesses on the first and the second floor typically see um in a day
in a day uh i cannot speak to that um trying to get a sense of volume of people right because i
uh i cannot speak to
think uh specifically as you guys asked to not have commercial tracks pick up it did look like
the business on the first floor has like at least four could have up to four to five people
on premises at a time because you had three seats in the waiting room there was a
receptionist desk there's a office desk in the back and i'm assuming there's an exam room
um and so just trying to get a sense of like how many people are going to be on premises kind of
typically to justify because while i understand you saying these are minimal use businesses now
these are pretty general categories that are getting approved and that this would stay with
the property so like commercial trash pickup could mean something different if a different
business came behind it that happened to generate more trash yeah and that's fair and let me just
of the hours of operation for the chiropractor. He's at the tail end of his career. He's an older
gentleman, but according to my notes, Monday from 3.30 p.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday 8 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.,
Wednesday 3.30 p.m. to 7 p.m., Thursday 9 a.m. to 12.30 p.m., Friday noon to 6, and then just walk-ins
are welcome, but appointments are encouraged. So it stands for HIT, right? But like once it's
approved another person could come in behind him and they could be running a very different medical
practice that has more trash and more more patients we always defer to the board if it
makes sense to have commercial trash pickup to protect the community then you know that's
something that we obviously we would abide by as a provider so other questions yes yes my question
um what was this with the room that seemed to have a bedroom or something i think i would um
mr gray yes therapist is is that a psychologist or physical therapist she's a mental health
provider on that on the second level mental health okay and by counseling okay and there
was like a like a almost like a table like a table of some sort do you know what that's for
i'm sorry the table on the third floor yeah i'll show you the table um when i looked at my when i
looked at the drawings or the pictures too i was like is the therapist like mental or physical right
so um let me just take a look right here okay those pictures are antiquated that is no longer
exist when i bought the property the chiropractor indicated to me who was the owner of the property
previous to me buying he's my tenant now there used to be a massage therapist on that floor
that floor was just rated as storage and there's nobody up there and i didn't uh inherit anything
i apologize we took this from the zillow listing um but that must be an older photograph but there
was but wasn't there another picture where it looked like it was like a bed or something yeah
yeah so that was a massage therapist but that's no longer there what do you know what floor that
is yes that is the third floor it is totally vacant and again when i bought the property
it was vacant at that time and used just for storage from the chiropractor the owner who was
the owner at the time and and this is the floor where you're going to put in a single family
that's correct two bedrooms yes so is there already a kitchen and things like that there
or I don't Mr. Gray is there a kitchen there or you know there's just a bathroom there and that's
why we're asking for this uh you know the permit to be able to build what you saw in the architectural
plant okay and then how many bedrooms I believe I believe it's two but we can I can show that is
correct it's right here yeah okay okay all right okay all the questions
questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson um just one comment that i mean this
refusal could have been on a past approval but i don't know if this is missing a refusal for
multiple principal uses on a lot because it's rsa5 so i just want to put that on the record
in case it was missing and that if this is approved that's included yeah i actually when i
was reading i was expecting to read about multiple principal uses yeah yeah so but just just no thank
you thank you questions or comments from the virtual audience yes uh mr chair i have a hand
up from allison weiss sure vote her loud to speak
Yeah, I know.
hello am i heard twice how are you could you please yes good thank you yes alison weiss aim
and spell for the stenographer a double l i s o n weiss w e i s s do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes and um if uh lisa cocker the near neighbor
is in attendance i would defer to let her speak first before i um expanded on what we had submitted
and uh the concerns of the board member are you still there
do we see miss coker
back in she's coming back in yes okay can you hear me i can miss cooker i think we always swore
swore you in why don't you just state your name for the record lisa coker okay please proceed
with your testimony okay i want to just say that i live right next door on my 578 west clapier and
been here um 36 years okay so a few of the testimony that the lawyer gave was incorrect
because i have been here and he made a lot of assumptions um the property when i came just
had the dentist office the whole thing was vacant except for and he had very few clients okay um
Ten years later, the chiropractor came and he was a sole practice and only had like one client at a time.
He was a he's a very good neighbor. But my concern is he's going to retire and to change this is going to cause overuse of the property.
and it seems like it will increase the density. I'm very concerned because 36 years, really,
there hasn't been that much. We're mainly single-family homes on both sides of the street,
and this will cause a lot of density for us.
I would like to see the limit if this does get approved, which I'm hoping not. I would like to see at least the occupancy be limited to two people, patients on each floor.
The other day I was coming in at 7 o'clock and there was three therapists leaving the building.
So he says there's one therapist, but there was three leaving the building all at the same time.
So I'm concerned about the occupancy of how many therapists will be on there.
It appears to be four different rooms on the second floor from the blueprints.
um and i don't know if they say sole proprietor on the first floor but i don't know that doesn't
negate having the the chiropractor have another chiropractor come in and work for him as a sole
practitioner and having more because for for as long as i've known there's only been one
patient at a time for the chiropractor.
Ms. Koker asked me, did you go to the RCO meetings?
I did not get it in the mail.
I saw it.
Allison sent me it later and I saw it.
So I would have loved to go.
It seems as though quite a few of the RCOs have voted in favor of this.
Yes, I did not know about the meeting beforehand.
All right. All right. Well, thank you for your input. We appreciate it. Do you have any questions?
No, I would just say.
I want to see if there's anybody else. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, I wanted to further explain some of the provisos that we requested.
We requested one chiropractor, one therapist, and a maximum of two persons renting the third floor.
So for the reasons that were just expressed and that were expressed by board member concerning expansion in the future of this particular business at its location, which had been used by sole people instead of multiple practitioners.
So if that could be limited and that was, we were not opposed.
uh limited and that was uh we were not opposed on the condition that there were provisos
so it's not like we were in support of this we were trying to address some of the community
concerns that were expressed by way of the provisos so can i just miss weiss i appreciate
your information and we're going to check with our attorney thank you i was going to say um
So they are asking for a sole medical, dental, and health practitioner use, and the definition of that in the code is an office exclusively operated by one medical, dental, or health practitioner and having no more than one assistant regularly employed therein.
So by definition, this is limited to one practitioner.
If additional practitioners wanted to operate, they would have to seek a variance for a group medical practice.
I would also like to add that the attorney said something to the extent of parking. There is
currently three parking spaces for one hour only in front on the on Clappierre Street,
and he mentioned that he didn't know of any variance there. He also made an assumption
about the drugs that the dentist probably did do that but i can tell you i knew the dentist and he
was not prescribing drugs okay all right thank you but that really doesn't oh and one other thing
about the roof deck there is currently a roof deck on off the second floor all right all right
thank you very much for your you're welcome you wanted to make a short statement we have one more
hand chair if you want it okay sure why don't we do the one more hand hi hi yes uh my name is
kenwin breaking rich i'm hearing my mom but it has nothing to do with this case we just wanted
to make sure you guys can hear us hold on hold up one minute could you please state your name
and spell for the stenographer you can move on chair they wasn't for this case all right
all i'm going to say is what i made the representations this was what other neighbors
in that community meeting stated about the chiropractor and i'm looking at google street
view right now in front of me and there's a 2012 photo the one that we showed the board so when the
you know residents stated that the chiropractor was only in business since for 10 years that's
at least from google street view it's as far back as 2012 documented um so we were told it was that
he was in business much longer thank you okay um planning commission amy ward with the planning
commission the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from the current
rsa5 residential single family to cmx commercial mixed use the proposed business and professional
office and sole practitioner office would be allowed under cmx2 which is the nearest commercial
district the planning commission recommends that the board grant their requested variances for
business and professional office and sole practitioner office mi 2026 000 553 4931
wissahickon avenue i vote yes with proviso commercial trash pickup michael johns my vote
is yes with proviso cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso timetta graham my vote is yes
proviso ryan mcadams my vote is yes with proviso my vote is yes with proviso thank you
i think we have a break from you all right good what do you mean good
Okay, so number one, MI-2025-004-069, 5424 Valley Street.
This is a resumptive hearing.
Attorney is either Vern Anastasio or Harry Cook.
and he's coming in now as a panelist verne oh verne's coming okay
good afternoon mr chair good afternoon sir could you please state your name is spelled
for the stenographer yeah it's verne anastasio a-n-a-s-t-a-s-i-o on behalf of mr uh farouk
al-hadi right and i understand um this is a presumptive hearing we'll have an update from
you right and there'll be questions from the board uh public testimony and then we'll um
check on planning okay yes sir our vice chair has just a few questions to start just a few
okay never mind okay go ahead we'll go learn right away sounds good we're here because there were uh
Sounds good. We're here because there were, Mr. Cook was filling in in my absence when the hearing was held back in the fall, but there were three questions that needed to be addressed in this resumptive hearing.
First, Attorney Emerson had asked if we needed to revise our refusal.
I did speak to L&I because there is no parking requirement here.
There was no reason to revise the refusal, according to L&I.
The issues that the board had were concern about how the lower level occupant would get their mail.
Now, if there was going to be a mail slot, as you can see here on the plan, the architect was able to put a mail slot in at the front of the property.
These plans have already been sent over previously.
It's right below the upper unit door right there.
And also, we've also included in it the contract.
By the way, this is a letter from the immediate neighbor in support of the appeal, but there's also a contract for commercial trash pickup, not only for trash, but for recycling for the lower level unit.
as i believe mr cook put on the record previously we have the support of the rco you have a letter
of non-opposition from council member of the district council office and also the letter from
the adjacent neighbor these units are going to be affordable although i understand that you know that
may or may not be relevant. And my client purchased the property with these units already
in place, either through a sheriff's sale or foreclosure. But I believe the questions were
about trash. We have, in fact, for a monthly rate of $156.11, have contracted for commercial
trash pickup that they would be able to take them from the rear. And the mail slot was
also an issue that we wanted to make sure that uh the board question about how that would look and
where it would be uh was also uh taken into consideration the entrance is in the rear it is
mid-block uh but that's not unusual uh you know in the city as you know uh for folks to have to walk
a half a block to get you know get to their unit it is going to be well lit back there security
cameras of course both in front and back and i believe that's that was the uh the three issues
that were requested of us and we were able to provide this to you previous to this hearing
but i put it up here again with that i if mr farouk al-hadi is here i'd like him to adopt this
additional uh presentation
And what's your client's name?
Farouk El-Hadi.
If you're in the audience, can you please raise your virtual hand?
I see no hands, Chair.
Hey, Vern, you're an officer of the court. We'll take your testimony.
Yes, sir.
Questions from the board.
so i so how are they going to convince the mailman to put the mail in that slot in that slot
you've got access but you know the mailman is going to put it in it where the you know all
mail goes well it'll be a mail slot on the front of the property right so um and where's the where's
the mail for the first floor for the main unit at the front at the front door so you're expecting
the mailman to do both our mail person i'm sorry no mail carrier right mr johnson okay that's right
carrier right exactly well when they approach that's okay when they approach the uh when they
approach the property they're going to see the lower level slot first before they ascend the stair
and as far as uh you know ups and fedex is concerned that we actually can direct them to
bring to the rear but even if they don't they'll put them on the front step like they do with all
all multi-families uh and then of course the the tenant would have to go around and pick it up
yeah i guess the other issue that i have and i probably raised this the last meeting uh was
the fact that it is mid-block and you have to walk down an alleyway to get to a unit or a driveway
to get to a, you know, a driveway to get to a unit that's in the back.
way to get to a unit that's
So that's, that's just problematic for us at the end of the block.
I know it was at the end of the block. That's something different. Cause you're,
you know, you're kind of close to sort of a pedestrian way, but you know,
you're, you're literally in, you know, a driveway.
Yeah. That I can't, we can't change that. Unfortunately, that's, it's,
it's the way it was upon purchase,
but we can make sure that it's well lit and that there's security.
And it's not necessarily unusual for people to use the rear, especially when it's a driveway.
I know oftentimes I go through my garage back instead of using the front door, especially on inclement weather days.
But the two major issues of trash, commercial trash pickup, and the dedicated mail slot for the lower level tenant, I believe we've adequately addressed.
questions from our attorney um just to clarify mr anastasia um is is there any parking on the
property now or the parking was just eliminated with the enclosure of the garage the parking has
been eliminated but again there there is no parking requirement so it's not relevant that
that's why i was just clarifying whether so oftentimes what happens is when the garage is
into habitable space interior parking becomes surface parking but that's not what happened no
that's not that's not what's happened yeah so that's why i was just clarifying that thank you
well i mean i hate that i hate to hate to you know put this out there but i'm looking at the google
and although people aren't parking in their garages everybody seems to be parking in front
of their houses in the back right a lot of folks do but this in this particular case
that that would not be the case because these units are going to be for relatively low income
folks and it's it's not likely ever everyone's going to have a car so all right questions or
comments for virtual audience i see no hands chair planning commission planning commission has
i'd like to add mi 2025 004069 5424 valley street i vote no michael johns my vote is no
cheryl gaston my vote is no tonetta graham my vote is no ryan mcadams my vote is no
tywin my vote is no thank you thank you council yeah number number two mi 2025
5-0-0-6-8-8-9-30-0-1 hellerman street raymond de rizzo is the attorney
and he's coming back in as a panel
good afternoon uh council could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes good afternoon uh mr chairman and members of the board my name is raymond dorizio r-a-y-m-o-n-d
Last name Dorizio, D-O-R-I-Z-I-O.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
Yes, my client is Jan L-I-N.
She is the owner of the property.
And then during your testimony, could you give us an update what the RCO is, okay?
but our our yes vice chair has a few questions for you now good afternoon okay documents and
exhibits uh for this case five days in advance of the hearing uh yes okay and do you waive the
read no the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy yes okay all right thank you you can
screen and proceed with your case okay
okay so
okay so this is the 3001 hellerman street um my client i have an exhibit list here with
about 11 exhibits to show um basically what my client is seeking to do is have a
Um, basically what my client is seeking to do is have a office on the first floor, um, with a residence on the second and third floor, one unit residence.
Um, and it's an RSA five district.
So she was denied that, um, the plan is to have an insurance office on the first floor.
She is a licensed insurance agent.
um here's my appeal application project information form the deed my client acquired
the property september of 2023 um this is her deed
so i have plans here um
that if i could turn basically it's a three-story property it's a corner property
that's the inside photo i'm sorry that i'm on my phone and i want to try to flip it here
um it's a corner property um the two the second and third floor is a living
a dwelling unit there's three bedrooms on the third floor with kitchen uh living room
etc on the second the first floor is an empty basically an empty space i'll go to some of those
interior photos um this is what the interior looks like tile floor a couple uh tables um
A little kitchenette there. I'll get to that there on the right. Not that big of a space, but there is a photo of the property at this point, side view of where the office is.
it has its own separate entrance that is the back of the building
that is the corner of where the residence or where the property is
just going around basically this is across the street residences
looking in each direction that's the property from the front
hellerman street
Across directly across the street from the property, the opposite way of Hellerman Street, Battersby Street, which is the side street where the office entrance is.
And this is the back of the property.
That's the notices posted in the front of the office, proposed office.
There's the front of the proposed office as well.
Tax certificate.
and you know this this case was filed the permit back in 2024 um we've made numerous attempts to
contact mayfair rco numerous emails um you know we had to continue this hearing a couple times
um we directly sent mailings out to the community to notify them these are my mailings with proof of
mailing uh attached and stamped and we've gotten sorry we've gotten no response but we did send
notices to the community about this uh project and plan that we had and again there's been no
uh response um i haven't been contacted regarding this since the notices went out
um so i'm really unsure what position the community have if any objection to this but
essentially you know it's a low volume business my client plans to be open from 10 a.m to 5 p.m
monday through friday um rarely would clients come to the office it's mostly phone email contact
um but occasionally she'd have some clients there but she doesn't expect that to be a high volume
um i don't think there's really any issue with trash i mean it's basically electronic records
mostly in the insurance agency maybe some paper but you know beyond that i don't think it's a very
you know large footprint that it would be to the community um as far as activity around it
um but that is basically what she is seeking to do today so could you explain where the office
is i mean i'm having a hard time is this like a first floor where there was a garage or something
yes well and then yeah let me get the picture back up that's the ground it's kind of like the
first floor of the property there yeah it's kind of the first floor i guess you would walk in
correct correct and then when i sorry when i scroll over that's the back right
sorry when i scroll over that's the back right um i want to get to the front
those are just the surround so this is the front basically of the property and what the
front wouldn't be used for any business entry but that's where the basically the floors are
so you i guess you could call it a basement or first floor sort of because it's on this hill
there with the right yeah because it's on that first floor and the second floor is a private home
right correct all right questions from the board yeah i just want clarity because it says two
family but it looks like from the four plans there's a two is it a two-story single or
two-story apartment and then a office on the first floor yeah i yeah i might have put them all
it would be a one it's one unit basically
the second and third there's three three bedrooms yes I believe that's how my
client purchased it she hasn't done any activity in there and you know as the
pictures are it's kind of it's empty at this point but I believe there are there
is a family on the second and third floor occupant just because the
previous businesses many of them look like they don't match it would be insurance
agency other questions yes yeah just I'm sorry is that a is that a sign there that is a
insurance yes there I could I'm guessing my clients when my client is a Chinese origin so
So I believe she'll be servicing, I guess, mostly the Chinese community, Chinese American
community, which is why she also has it written in two languages there.
But is that part of this application?
There weren't any signage that we asked for, I believe, on our refusal or application.
so she may have to come back for that yeah so she's going to have to come back for that and
um is that is that also um some kind of advertisement or signs or something in the
window it's hard to leave well yeah i'm sorry that i'm going to get yes i'm going to scroll
over from the tree or whether that's something in the window i'm going to scroll over to one
my last photos and one is the the two zoning notices i believe that she posted um but i'm
not exactly sure what the ones on the right are okay i'm not sure if i can go back maybe and see
other questions no I think it's it's a clear that this kind of space has been
always used as a sort of a separate business on the ground floor yeah it's
just it's just really unfortunate that you have bad photos right yeah yeah I
think you know the color is much better and so it's just it would made it your
presentation much easier and clearer so but yeah it's clear from yeah it's just
it's clear from Google that it was a it was a it was always a commercial space
yeah any other questions questions from our attorney I'm just just two brief
notes and mr. chair one I think this one is also missing a refusal for multiple
principal uses on a lot right um and secondly if the board decides to approve this request i
recommend including a proviso that specifies the approved use is business and professional
office and single family household living say that one more time so that uh the approved or
say approved uses um are business and professional office and single family household living
okay thank you questions or comments from the virtual audience
thank you questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no handshare
boy with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa5 residential
single-family zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 1982 and a council
supported map change the property has a documented history of commercial use in one family
The Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant their requested variance for business and professional office.
MI 2025-006-889-3001 Hellerman Street.
I vote yes with proviso.
Prove uses business and professional offices and single-family household living.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Tyia Nguyen, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Thank you, counsel.
Try to get a little better camera there, okay?
Sorry.
Thank you.
Have a good afternoon.
Appreciate it.
Bye-bye.
Thank you.
Number three, 2026-000188-555-57 North Fish Street.
Zen Jin is the attorney.
letter of support from the northern liberties
good afternoon good afternoon counsel could you please state your name and spell for the
sonographer yes my name is zenjin z-h-e-n j-i-n here on behalf of the apts do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth. I do. Could you identify your client
and the relationship to this property? Yes, my clients are Mr. Ke Zhang, K-E-H-A-I-C-H-E-N-G
for H-N-Y 555. I'll see they're the owner of the property. Our vice chair has a few questions
for you, sir. Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance
this hearing uh the only uh item is that the exhibits were submitted i believe three days
before due to some outstanding documentation that came in late okay and do you waive the
read and other issues on simply to its accuracy i do all right thank you can share your screen
and proceed with the case thank you i'm going to share with the board what was submitted as exhibits
so this is an application for 555 to 57 north 5th street this is refused for the request to
use this property as a visitor accommodation in an RSA 5 district what is primarily the reason
that led to this application is that when this property was purchased back in 2021
one, the owners who do live in the property applied for limited lodging use. In conjunction
to that limited lodging use, they also applied for renovations to the property, which I will
show the board the plans in a few minutes. They have operated this particular location
under that limited lodging license without any knowledge of any issues for quite a few years
until last year when license inspections came and ceased their operations stating that a limited
lodging is limited to accessory use of a single family, but that while they are a single family
house, the way they have everything structured, there's just too many units or bedrooms available
in the building for it to fall under limited lodging. This was never raised with my clients
before for many years they've renewed their limited lodging license and their renovations
were done with permits all these were facts made available to northern liberty neighbors association
who reviewed it and ultimately decided to support us with the request that the units be limited to
four units at the site which we can discuss with the board we're certainly happy to try to
accommodate that request and a temporary variance of three years so to better understand uh the
issue with this property this is a i'm sorry i don't know why it's not moving to the photos
directly i'm going to scroll down to the phone so this the location of this property as you can see
from this overhead map we're right here right near actually Spring Garden Street and between
We're right here, right near actually Spring Garden Street and between Green Street and Spring Garden Street.
Here, right across from us is a large apartment building.
So while there are other residential single family houses, it's also been in a location very close to a large commercial thoroughfare as well as a large building across with very dense use.
the building itself is also part of two addresses 555 to 57 and it's actually a large building
covering a double lot with an interesting design inside which is better shown through the plants
but i'm going to show the photos first to show the board the current conditions of the interior
after they purchased the property my clients applied for permits had stem plants and fully
fitted out the space as you see in these photos again their intent from the beginning was to do
airbnb style use of the property that's why they applied for the limited lodging and was granted
that permit they applied for the renovations and again was granted that permit they haven't had any
real issues with their use for all these years nobody's really complained trash is actually
stored within a court that is inside the property until pickup and at which point it is brought out
so to better see what we're talking about with regard to this particular property we need to
look closely at the floor plans however i want to point out to the board here if you look right here
these plans were originally approved back in 2021 by the city so these this renovation was not done
uh without the city's knowledge it was actually done openly with their approval
for the basis of limited lodging and this kind of a use and the plans basically lays out
there are three floors to the property and there's there's an open court as well but the floor plans
layout as follows the basement is set up as essentially storage utility storage spaces but
it is open and there are storage spaces and again stairs leading up for this area then once you get
the first floor it's a double width uh type uh building so it's a very wide building when you
enter you have the visitor units set up they have one two here an office here but really that's
also essentially a unit so one two you have another unit here which is a third unit they
were using this particular unit the only one with the kitchen as their living accommodations within
And here is actually glass sliding patio doors leading out to an open courtyard that is within
the property itself. Once you move upstairs, there are additional units that is accessed
by a central stairway. So you have additional units here, here, and also a unit in the back.
And again, that is replicated also on the upper floors all the way to, I'm sorry,
all the way to the fourth floor, which is a shorter floor.
And again, these were all set up as lodging units, individual lodging units.
So they all come with a bathroom and a bedroom.
It's essentially how they're set up.
They are, in fact, already set up in a way that would allow visitor accommodation as
the alternative.
My clients intend to continue to reside here.
So they manage this directly.
They are the ones that use the platform to get the people to come in.
They're the ones that manage the trash.
They want to make sure that they have good occupants, that they don't party, make noise,
and destroy the properties.
And again, they've been doing this since actually 2022.
So this is not new to them.
Sam, by the way, how many kitchens altogether?
One kitchen.
And how many units?
Uh, total there's 10, um, 10 bed.
I believe there's 10 bedrooms.
Well, if I, if I may, like units, 10 bedrooms, right.
10 bedroom, you have one bathroom.
I'm one, one, uh, only one kitchen.
The kitchen is also occupied by the owners themselves.
So nobody has access to the kitchen.
No, they don't cook.
Um, there's no cooking.
They just rent out for the rooms for, yeah.
Now, we understand the situation is that the city has come back to my client primarily
forcing them to do this visitor accommodation because of the number of bedrooms.
forcing them to do this visitor accommodation because of the number of bedrooms. They said that
even though it's a single family house set up, due to the number of bedrooms and the structure
that is there, visitor accommodation is the only permit they would accept to allow them to continue
to operate. So they were ceased operation back in 2025 after they were operating under the limited
lodging for many years with renewals. When the city inspector came in, they said, no,
you need visitor accommodation that is why we're before the board today with regard to the history
again if the board wants to see the permits from prior applications I'm happy to show them they're
not included in this particular exhibit but they they have from the beginning when they purchased
property acquired every permit needed both for renovation and also for their operations
to the best of their knowledge, staying legal in their operation.
And unfortunately, because of the way they renovated, what the city should have done
at the time was to advise them to give visitor accommodation, but that didn't happen until
just last year.
So that is why we're before the board with this particular layout, seeking visitor accommodation
units.
With regard to the RCO's request to keep it as no more than four rented units, we propose
that we certainly can revise the way the rooms are laid out to kind of make them into suites
so there will be only four rental suites at a time we don't have an issue of managing that property
in that format so and that is essentially the application uh before the board i would argue
there is a hardship not created by my client but rather by the city allowing my client from the
beginning uh to have the renovations done they have invested a substantial amount of money into
this property they're carrying uh financing costs ongoing uh and basically this is their primary
source of income so with that i do believe my client should be here to verify my testimony
thank you why don't we call it your client sure uh mr jung can you uh raise your hand to be identified
it's the um do we see him
he has a hand up from alicia but that might be his wife
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you.
Hey, hello.
Hi, could you please state your name is spelled for the sonographer?
My name is K-E-H-A-I-J-H-E-N-G.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you turn your video on? Is that possible?
I tried it.
okay all right well thank you okay great all right counsel thank you uh mr jones did you
see my presentation and hear my representation to the zoning board yes and do you verify what
i have represented to be true and correct and adopt it as your own testimony yes thank you
questions from the board. I have a question. So currently there are 10 bedrooms or 10 spaces
that you're leasing out as the Airbnb or whatever, the limited lodging. But you said that you would
not have a problem with converting them down to four suites. We would probably just combine
certain the bedrooms into one unit i discussed this with my clients when we received the rco's
request to limit it to the rco's main concern is they don't want 10 units rented out all at once
it might be too many people for the area uh and produce noise we in reality we have always had
more or less uh partial rental of the space in that building and my client has verified that
during his uh meeting with the rco as well i think all that influenced uh part of the influence the
all that influenced uh part of the influence rco limiting uh the number of units to four
rco limiting uh the number
and so if you reduced it to four or would you be um making it bedroom living room space that
type of thing would you be adding kitchens to it do these i don't know kitchens but we will
probably add like a living space living room type space or office space connected with the bedroom
for use by the occupants so it'd be like a almost like a you know in helton they have larger suites
with a living area right but no cooking in the units no cooking no cooking in okay no um would
it be like a another like extra sink or something like that like a little kitchenette if not a full
kitchen like possibly like a kitchenette for these folks to um they don't really want something off
have to go into the restroom to do it yes they could they'll probably ask something along those
lines but not a kitchen they don't want real cooking being done in their space and it has
never been an issue yet with uh because the the people have been using the bathroom sink without
really requesting and there's a bathroom within each unit so that they have direct access to that
other questions questions from our attorney
um uh mr jen did you you said l and i directed your clients to seek a visitor accommodations
permit okay because i just this doesn't necessarily well i have two issues one that
this looks more like a group living arrangement um not visitor accommodations um and secondly
If this was to be made into four units, this would probably need to be an application for multifamily household living for dwelling units and visitor accommodations.
I don't think we could make we could put that into what's currently before us.
So I'm just I'm a little uncertain with with kind of what I mean, we are our primary use has always been Airbnb.
be where you know that has not changed um I'm certainly I'll defer to the board what makes the
most sense here the when we when my client received the cease operation I had a lot of
back and forth with the LNI and inspectors regarding the use and ultimately they their
position is that the only way a setup like this can be legal for them in their view is that it
has to be a visitor accommodation for for airbnb purposes right i mean group living can be short
term or long-term rental um or at least a single room residence part of it can be um so yeah i'm
just we've we've just had a few of those i'm not sure before you spoke what we're not going to vote
on this we'll take it back yeah and then and actually we'll we'll spend some time with our
attorney and try to figure out where we want to be with this that's that's where i think we have
to be i mean i don't there's no way we're going to vote today understood okay so why don't we see
if there's anyone in the virtual audience and from larry friedman okay welcome i should be back in
Thank you.
Thank you.
Hello.
uh hi how are you can you hear me now yeah i can could you please state your name is spelled yeah
my name is larry friedman i'm the uh chair of northern liberties uh zoning committee how are
you do you swear or affirm to tell the truth told truth nothing but the truth yes please proceed sir
Yeah, I just wanted to say that, obviously, this is tricky for us, as are all legalizations. This is tricky because we didn't see this back in, I think it was 2021. And so the renovations were done under the limited lodging, which doesn't allow for renovation. So it was very confusing when it got to us.
uh and then we were instructed to just make an assessment so what we did just so you all
And then we were instructed to just make an assessment.
understand is that we had to make an assessment as if we were back in 2021 and somebody from a
single family dwelling came in and said they want to do visitor accommodations so we had to look at
it that way which is kind of was kind of crazy but we did it and the reason we came up with four
is because it was a single family dwelling
and I believe it had five bedrooms at the time.
So we went back and forth and neighbors,
you know, we all discussed this
and we came up with four
based on the fact that
there's not unlimited parking in that area.
And also in a single family dwelling,
four kind of made more sense to us
than the small hotel which it appears to be at this point um and i i just wanted you guys to
all understand how we came up with that okay all right okay thank you very much we appreciate your
input thank you um is there anyone else in the audience do we see anybody jace no sir no further
hands planning do you want to take a position yes we can sure amy boyd with the planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location to the existing rsa 5
residential single family the appellant has not shown that there are any physical conditions or
circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformity with the zoning
code the planning commission recommends that the board deny the requested variance for visitor
accommodation thank you um sin like like i said we're going to spend some time in executive session
and um we'll we'll sit and talk with hillary and try to get as much information as we can we won't
take long we'll make a decision on this next week at uh two o'clock and if if uh there's
certain changes that would be needed legally to make sure it fits the proposed use i'm happy to
work with Hillary. I understand. I understand. Take care of that. Yep. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Thank you, sir.
uh mi 2026 000 731 8550 old line road i have well we either have alan or alex and i think we have alex
alex you've already been sworn just for the record please state your name alex goldberg
could you identify your client a relationship to the property sure my clients are uh stephen
zachary martin and jeffrey todd waldman um and and jt jeffrey todd is sitting to my left
vice chair has a few questions good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits
five days in advance of this hearing I have and do you waive the reading of
the refusals and simply to the accuracy I waive the reading but I believe it's
not correct I reached out to the planned examiner regarding the wording I can get
into that now or later but I believe the refusals are correct just the
description of the the application I don't think is fully accurate all right
hello do i want to go ahead it's okay yeah so yeah so sure yeah i'll do it while i'm sharing
my screen so and this is a textbook hardship case um we are they bought the property in 2018
at some point i think between 1990 and 1996 a deck and an enclosed screened in porch were built
on the rear of the property actually crossing into the lot line behind them i don't think that they
were permitted at the time. So this application is, in reality, what we're trying to do is replace
the porch with a new porch in the same location, but on our lot and legalize the deck. And the
language of the application says that we're legalizing both of them. I really think we're
erecting a porch and we're legalizing a deck. I know it's just semantics, but I think you're
because i did i did look at this and the it's um the porch is mainly enclosed now already yeah
yeah so i think i know that you're not you're you may i wondered it based on the condition if it was
being um reconstructed uh did you have to show plans ride lands okay yeah you should you should
be fine but i'll put it on the record that we're understanding that you are replacing
the existing porch with a new porch and the prior one was not legal
most likely. And then is the deck being replaced as well?
IS THE DECK BEING REPLACED AS WELL?
THE DECK IS ESSENTIALLY BEING LEGALIZED.
WE'LL PUT THAT ON THE RECORD AND IF YOU HAVE ANY ISSUES LATER, WE'LL COME BACK.
THANK YOU.
AS THE BOARD JUST HEARD, THE SCREENED IN PORCH IS A SAFETY HAZARD.
IT'S FALLING APART.
THEY HAVE A SMALL CHILD.
and because of where the building structure is there is nothing we can do not only to the rear
of the property but to the property at all without having to find having to get some version of these
variances we are zoned rsd1 that requires a 30 yard a 30 foot rear yard currently the building
structure if we're not including the deck in the porch is 12 feet 12 feet from the rear lot line
so again any modification would would cause this this variance right now the porch and the rear
deck are over the porch specifically is over the lot line we're just bringing it back up to the
lot line so that's why you see that we have zero feet as a rear yard it's not registering that
there's a rear a porch or a deck there because it's not legal the second refusal is with regard
to the proximity to a stream i believe based on my measurement that we're about 130 feet away the
building structure is so again even even though this is already here we're actually bringing it
further away from the the creek um we have to deal with that refusal at the at the rco meeting where
we got unanimous non-opposition there was actually a member of the whistahick and watershed group
there was probably flagged just because of this refusal and their position was essentially yeah
we can't really support it because of what the refusal is but we recommend that you implement
x y and z you know ideas and concepts to make sure that we are as friendly to the
Wissahickon watershed as possible and we believe it's actually going to be an improvement because
the construction is going to be done right and it's going to be wrought further away from the
creek. Here are the aerial views. So this is what the site, this is the big lot. It's 17,000 square
and change, 17,000 square feet. We're talking about this building structure right here.
You can kind of see the porch there. You can see it again in this aerial view from Atlas on 1996,
where again, you see the deck, you see the porch with the skylights and it's,
Atlas isn't perfect, but we know it's over the lot line based off of the surveys that we've seen.
Here's a zoning map.
You can see this is the creek that we're within 200 feet of.
Single-family zoning.
This is their residence.
They own this property.
They live there.
JT lives there with his family.
Here's the photos of the structure we're talking about.
So the deck is in fair condition. We are not doing anything about it right now, just legalizing it.
You can see there's a ton of overgrowth covering this screened-in porch.
It gets worse. The inside is falling apart. The footings are not great. It's not completely watertight.
There is an exit point from the house directly onto the screened-in porch and directly onto the deck.
um they try to use the exit from the house onto the deck more more often but sometimes out of
convenience they walk out this way and it's going to be built essentially the same way that it is
currently except a little bit smaller it's going to be brought onto our lot so you can see very
basic drawing we have from the rear wall of our house to the lot line it's 12 feet um and we you
You know, this screened-in porch is 12 by 15.
You can see there's an elevation.
There's an elevation right here.
There will be electricity run to this screened-in porch
for, you know, some outlets and a fan
and maybe a TV or something like that,
but no other utilities, no water or gas,
and it's essentially the same height,
which is 11 feet, 8 inches, as the one that's currently there.
just a little bit smaller to bring it back onto the lot line we have the rco meeting notice we
met with them on april 8th the application for the variance the deed to the property
and the tax clearance so with that i'd like to ask jt to adopt my testimony
sir could you get closer to the mic and turn it on make sure it's there could you please state
your name and spell it for the stenographer sure it's stephen martin s-t-e-p-h-e-n m-a-r-t-i-n
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes counsel did you hear my testimony today was it true and correct
Council did you hear my testimony today was it true and correct and do you adopt it as your own yes questions from the board questions from our attorney not at this time. Mr. chair questions or comments from the virtual audience.
see any hands mr chair planning commission amy boyd with the planning commission the
comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsd1 residential single family detached zoning
at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 1978 and council supported map change
the appellant has not shown the compliance with the zoning code would cause significant financial
burden the setback required by the wissahickon watershed overlay is in place to reduce
erosion siltation and channel enlargement in the stream wise mills run and the downstream larger
wissahick and creek the planning commission recommends the board deny the proposed dimensional
variance from the rear yard depth requirement in the zoning code and the requested variance
of the stream setback requirements in the wissack and watershed overlay district yeah so you know i
understand with regard to the watershed but we literally cannot do anything here including
fixing a serious safety hazard without coming into these variances and as i showed the board
we're technically bringing the screen in porch further away from the creek than where it currently
is mi2026 000731 8550 old york road number a i vote yes michael johns my vote is yes
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
My name is McAdams, my vote is yes.
Hi, Owen, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Number 13, MI 2026-001-478-3430 North Bodine Street.
so you were here earlier right thank you just for the record could you please state your name
Alan Ockamson right and can you identify your client a relationship to the property yeah my
client is Sarah Fernandez the owner of the property vice chair has a few questions good
afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing
yes we have and do you waive the reading of the results and stipulate to the accuracy i do all
right thank you you can share your screen and proceed with the case mr chair members of the
board you remember may remember this case um this is based on a motion for reconsideration right
uh so we you know we thank you so much for agreeing to grant that motion for reconsideration
giving my client the opportunity to represent this matter um am i i need to be promoted to
as a panelist okay okay that should be an opportunity thank you for this case
so this board already heard uh the majority of this um matter it's in a in a legal addition
or improper addition of of to this two-story structure where my client put 100% law coverage
she did not do this purposefully she hired a contractor and this is a story that happens
over and over again where someone relies on the contractor to do the right things get permits did
not happen um and you know i'm just not that this should come into consideration english is her
second language um and she she really did get taken advantage of and just to add to it the the
major issue that the board had if you look at the video was the fact that there were openings on the
party wall. There's a, there's a baking lot to the right of us. My client had windows installed
on the party wall. The board was not happy about that. And given the a hundred percent lock
coverage, there was concerns about safety of how someone would get out of that property.
She thought she purchased the property next door to her. So she's had a series of unfortunate
events where she thought she was buying this baking lot to the right of her where she was
going to combine it that's why we had the you know the openings of the party wall regard irregardless
we are submitting and again just to give the board some refreshing of this matter
originally we had 100 law coverage we now have revised plans where we have now a five
foot rear yard setback so we're decreasing all the variance requests for the occupied area
So we're decreasing all the variance requests for the occupied area, rear yard depth, and rear yard depth area.
So now we have a five foot rear yard setback, which would create an open area of approximately 70 feet and an occupied area of 90% of the lot size.
Again, it's a reminder to, and we have revised plans as well.
As a reminder, as you can see, the community group that we presented to supported this project as is, 100% law coverage.
When we were, and it was unanimous, when we were unsuccessful in front of this board, we asked that, you know, that the council member issue a letter supporting our request for a motion of reconsideration, and that letter is there as well.
and you know actually i think in the previous and maybe it's an exhibit but we have a petition too
and the person to the left of us who would be most directly impacted by our extension of our
building structure is in support of this as well my clients lived in this property for 20 years
or since 2007 20 years will be next year she has a family she just wanted to extend her out her
building structure she thought she was doing everything legally but if the board feels so
inclined to grant this this motion for now this new matter um we would ask that it would be with
revised plans uh where it would be a five foot uh rear yard setback on the first and second floors
yeah well i mean we have the plans right here sure so like let's just go to the floor plans
let's go to right straight to the floor plans so this sliding glass door is actually on the
party wall and that was i think disturbing to the board how we're changing things now
you'll see we have a five foot proposed setback here in the rear yard and how is that going to
affect the floor plans well now instead of this sliding glass door here now we have a normal door
that would go outside of a kitchen area and and it's a five foot rear yard setback which would
be more appropriate under circumstances we also did that in the second floor we shortened the
second bedroom but in addition we created a window here for that second bedroom as well
everything else is existing or will be existing you know hopefully existing but that's that's
the basically the two rooms that would be most directly impacted again I could give a full
presentation this presentation was given to the board previously I would ask that maybe Dan
Addis who's the architect can kind of walk us through about he yeah Dan can you virtually raise
your hand
can everyone hear me yes could you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer
my name is dan addis d-a-n-a-d-d-i-s right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth and nothing but the truth i do council all right so i made some representations to the board
about the change in plan specifically um that we will have now a five foot rear yard setback
that that's reflected in your drawings right yep that's correct and how we're removing the openings
for the party wall as well and redirecting that openings to the rear of of the building structure
now right correct all right and and you've been actually in the property recently is that correct
uh that is not correct um i were i wrote i worked with um the proposed contractor to do the to do
the renovations uh after uh if the variance request is uh granted um and worked kind of hand in hand
with them to do field measurements and coordinate okay so you're working with the contract in terms
of field measurements yeah but you also are you hired to make sure that things are going to be
done correctly absolutely yeah so the way that this the way that we work this out is that obviously
the first step is to go before the board get to present our case um come up with whatever is going
to be permissible and then at that point there's a whole second effort where we've got to go do
field verification to make sure that um past zoning that everything is is done as above board
uh field verify existing conditions and identify that all like fire rated uh partitions and
necessary party while conditions are satisfied for uh the irc yeah and and when you say the
yeah and and when you say the past zoning you mean applying for the building applying for a
past zoning you mean applying for the building
building permit yes so if we're granted a zoning approval or variance here the next step would be
obviously that gets a chase back to the zoning um review that variance gets requested we get
a zoning permit then we have to go in for a residential building permit to do the corrective
action and um and do field verification and you've been engaged to represent this client through this
this until a co is issued yes all right thank you that's it um you want to bring your client
on or no um i i don't think so all right well you're an officer of the court we'll take your
testimony questions from the board so this this work isn't already done yet correct no it is
that's the issue and so what we're going to have to do is chop off oh we're going to have to chop
off a portion of the building structure as part of this process and then you know obviously get
you know all permits and approvals and and inspections done until we have a co
and like i said she did not know yeah other questions
questions from our attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr chair questions or comments
from the virtual audience
planning commission planning commission has nothing to add from our further from our previous
testimony okay so mi2026 001 478 3438 north bodine street i vote yes with proviso
revised plans one page stamp by zba on january 3rd 2026.
michael johns my vote is a yes with proviso
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Ian McAdams, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Taya Nguyen, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Ron, could you come up and start setting up and we're going to take a quick five-minute break, okay?
you ready okay so okay here we go mi2026 000 450 1435 east oxford avenue ron patterson is the
attorney mr patterson could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
sure uh good afternoon ronald patterson p-a-t-t-e-r-s-o-n 1835 market street philadelphia
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Mr. Patterson, could you identify your client or relationship to the property?
Sure. My client is the owner and developer of the property developing Oxford LLC.
The principals are Natalie Cohen and her brother, Adam Cohen.
I see there's a letter of non-opposition from Fishtown Neighbors
and a letter of non-opposition from Councilman Young.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing
yes i have okay and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
yes i do all right thank you you can show your screen and proceed with your case beautiful thank
so thank you this application regards 1435 east oxford avenue you see in the picture here
It's an intermediate lot on that block. The lot is 1,188 square feet. The proposal here, and I'll show you some context here.
so property lies within an immediate area on the block and it's over here
make sure of it here
and the proposal is to demolish it and rebuild a compliant rsa5 house
currently it's abandoned it was abused by squatters it's partially demolished it's missing
portions of its roof we were required to get to make safe permit for now to make it safe
so the application as i mentioned is rsa5 but what we're proposing is a front garage
access from the front and because of that it's triggering the variance here since parking is
scarce and desirable we're proposing that front garage for one car it's a 12 foot wide curb cut
wide curb cut uh proposed three stories four bedrooms and five bathrooms and i'll just
proposed three stories, four bedrooms, and five.
show you some contextual pictures here
the property i denoted here in red red dot
there are many many other uh properties on the block that have curb cuts for parking
As I'll go through these photographs, and this is on the same exact block, both across the street and on the same side.
On this exhibit, I can enlarge it.
I've noted where the other properties are with the blue lines, where they have curb cuts for front parking access.
Refusal.
Go through the site plan briefly.
you'll see here this is our curb cut this is where the garage would be
the plans were reviewed and approved by streets department here's a basic floor plan
so in the garage location here um bedrooms and bathrooms the the uh this is a a basement seller
just for use for like an office area not a bedroom
and here is a rendering
so as i mentioned we're proposing a front garage with this construction having a garage makes the
house and its use viable avoiding unnecessary hardship due to the fact that we have to
reconstruct the property. Yet we believe the garage and the curb cut is consistent with the character and in context with that immediate area of the media block as I've shown on the photographs, thus creating no detrimental impacts to the public health, safety, welfare, or traffic. Um, the photographs, I think, are pro pro to show that there are numerous curb cuts for these houses on the block already, including one right across the street, which appears to be, uh, large enough to accommodate
date, four curb cuts, four cars, sorry. Get back to that photograph.
this is 1435
this is the one I'm speaking to
I don't have a ground level photograph
we did meet with the
Fishtown Neighborhood Association on April 7th, they voted their support, which I believe
evidenced the fact that it would cause no detrimental impacts. With that said,
if Natalie Cohen is available, I'd like to vote her.
Ms. Cohen?
I'll be back in English.
Thank you very much.
hello good evening could you hi could you please state your name and spell before the stenographer
yes natalie cohen it's spelled n-a-t-a-l-y-e cohen is c-o-h-e-n do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes counsel hi natalie how are you
I'm good.
You've heard my presentation.
Would you agree it's true and accurate?
And would you adopt it as if it were your own?
Would you like to comment on the condition of the house when you first obtained it?
So the previous owner had purchased the property with the intent to renovate it.
So they began starting the process of renovation, which was only in one portion of the home.
So they began starting the process of renovation, which was only in one portion of the home.
They abandoned that for at least two to three years and left it where part of the house was basically demolished with some new framing.
And the rest of it with old framing that's been decaying in terrible condition.
They also left a hole on the roof.
So when we purchased the property, our first thing was, of course, to make it a make safe and also more importantly, to ensure that the home was properly closed because there had been problems on the block with squatters in the home.
So when we got in there, we cleaned everything out.
There was a lot of like belongings of people that was just kind of left trashed in there.
So we made sure to clean all of that out and we properly boarded up the back doors and locked in the front doors as well.
OK, so as to the parking, when you presented to the Fishtown Neighborhood Association, what was their position on providing a parking space?
The majority were very in favor. As I'm sure you know, Fishtown is incredibly challenging to find parking in.
The side of the street that the house is on, there is no parking on that street on that side. It's only on the side across. So it wasn't taking a space. It was instead adding a space because instead of that person who will purchase the property using a street parking space, they'll have their own space. So the Neighborhood Association was very in favor. They were also very happy that we are going to be redoing this home because it's been an issue and an eyesore for them for several years.
very good thank you if the board has any questions about the floor plan or the construction
adams here to answer that um ron did you go to the rco meeting uh i did not but my associate did
okay so the vote was 19 am i right correct and four against correct okay all right questions
from the board do you know what the issues were or the folks that were opposed
we didn't get to actually hear the deliberation so we didn't get to see like what exactly
uh specifically they didn't like about it but we spoke with a bunch of the neighbors everyone that
we spoke to was in favor hold on hold on hold on could you please state your name uh adam cohen
right and uh firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
All right.
Go ahead.
So my question is, I'm not seeing any rendering.
Oh, okay.
Is there a rendering?
If, if Ron, if you can scroll down until I say stop.
Before I do that, by the way, this is the, this is the property across the street with the three or four curb.
Yeah. So that's directly across the street.
And if you want the, the colored rendering on them.
Yeah. So this was the rendering that we came up with.
Did you want to see the floor plan or just the facade?
I was looking at the facade. Like, where is this? It says a garage.
is there yeah it's gonna be like a wood paneling look to it ah okay yeah so it's gonna be gonna
yeah because i was very well camouflaged oh okay yeah yeah because the other thing you can do is
you can do the plexiglass kind of look so that it's not um it's not closed off it's not yeah
but that's that's even nicer okay all right yeah thank you okay thank you other questions
questions from our attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr chair questions or comments
from the virtual audience yes chair i have a hand up from wasin amash on danny okay
Welcome to our speaker.
Welcome.
Hello.
Could you please state your name and spell it for the
stenographer hi yeah my heart just dropped um because it said call ended when i tried to join
my name is wasim al-mashadani that's spelled w-a-s-i-m get ready stenographer i'm about to
test you a-l-m-a-s-h-h-a-d-a-n-i all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do uh please proceed sir all right good evening mr and madams of the board
All right. Good evening, Mr. and madams of the board. First, I'd like to make a point of personal privilege. I am sitting about a foot and a half away from my air conditioner. Are you guys experiencing any issues hearing me? If so, I can turn off the AC.
first I'd like to make a point of personal
We're hearing you, sir.
Okay, great. I'd like to ask for unanimous consent to make a brief general statement.
Go ahead.
um i just wanted to commend you guys for serving the community because this is like extremely
boring i've actually been sitting here since uh 2 2 p.m when this started um i want to tell you
that the people have given their whole life to this a little depressed right now but that that's
okay i mean i see at least four lawyers in the room shaking their heads like so i just you you
they got the whole legal community depressed right now but go ahead yeah well i mean i commend you
guys for like showing concern for things like quality of life,
parking, concern for parking, and especially I was impressed
with the first case about you guys being concerned about
heritage trees and that they were planning on planting trees
that were considered local to the area, like the service
berries and things like that. So why don't you tell us what
you think about this case? Okay, yeah, I appreciate
everything you said okay well um i have no issue with um the case first of all i'm the son
of the people who live in 1437 uh right next door and so um they they told me that the um
that uh mr and mrs cohen that they met them and they thought they were very nice
and everything my parents are kind of aging and they like to you know keep to themselves and not
bother anybody and stuff. So my concerns are I'd like to commend them for have for thinking about
parking and everything they said was accurate as to not having parking on that side and that it
would be saving a space for them doing it. And I like that they have a tree right there to keep
anybody from turning too close to the curb. And so that is my first concern is that that block has
a lot of issues with major sinkholes. It's right next to the river. There was a large sinkhole in
the middle of the block for like way, way, way too long with a lot, way too many 311 calls to
get to it. And it's not something that is like. Yeah, I understand the sinkholes, but I think
what we ought to do is concentrate on are you okay with this garage i'm okay with it but what
i'm trying to get to is that if you look at the curb going up 1437 1439 1440 that entire curb is
already like kind of collapsed and when you guys start doing that construction um they're
they're the pipes and the things like all that that has to be um that it has to be reassured
and it has to be taken into consideration that they're going to do that sidewalk all the way up
to there and provide the proper support once they dig that up to responsibly create that.
Otherwise, I have no problem with the actual building and I'm also happy that it's going to
be a single family dwelling instead of multiple apartments. My second issue that I'd like to raise
is the fact that that apartment I moved back from Pittsburgh roughly two years ago and I noticed in
the backyard there was a huge issue with highly invasive Japanese knotweed and I'm not sure if
you guys know much about Japanese knotweed but the reason it's so highly invasive is because
even the smallest little bit of the root when you're trying to pull it out and get rid of it
can create a whole new colony of this knotweed. And the way that the knotweed propagates is by
sending runners all over the place. And so these runners have enveloped their entire property
and have enveloped most of my parents' property, including the front and all the way into the next
door neighbor at 1439 and going out in the other direction and so anything that gets done when
they're digging this out and replacing all this has to take into consideration that this Japanese
knotweed has to be professionally destroyed by somebody and I have no problem with anything
except that as long as they you know that they take care of noise try to keep the dust down as
try to keep the dust down as much as possible and just you know give do their due diligence and like
much as possible and just you know give do their due
informing everyone when um utilities might be turned off and try their best to you know
minimize that amount all right all right thank you very much for calling we appreciate your
input ron do you have any questions for uh no i don't okay is there anyone else in the virtual
audience planning commission amy boy with the planning commission am i still on the mic
no you would know we're one of something else sir i moved to postpone what's that
i moved to
we're fine thank you sir please proceed planning amy boy with the planning commission the
comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning to the existing rsa 5 residential single family
The appellant has not shown that there are unique physical conditions or circumstances of the property
that would prevent it from being used in conformity with the zoning code.
The Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny the requested variance for parking.
Thank you.
MI 2026-000450-1435 East Oxford Street, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes.
Tywin, my vote is yes.
Great. Thank you.
Thank you, Kim.
Have a good afternoon.
Thank you, everyone. Have a good evening.
All right. Thank you.
Number six.
Number six.
MI 2026-000-492-4055 West Gerrard Avenue.
Henry Clinton is the attorney.
mr clinton
what what time was he supposed to be on
you know what we did give him a later time um
who's uh
why don't you why don't somebody give him your call i'm sure he'll answer right away
yeah we're we're a little bit ahead of where we thought we would be
about that being ahead that's great
we're a little ahead
Thank you.
I think, I think I actually remember that's the health place they wanted to put up.
How about if we go to Jennifer's case, all right, we'll go to Jennifer and we'll come
back for Henry. And then I think you're the last case, right? Okay. So MI 2026 000 494 1122 Walnut
street jennifer bazillo was the attorney thank you
oops let's see let's get the light better there okay hi guys how are you could you please state
your name and spell it for the stenographer sure it's jennifer bazillo b-a-z-y d as in dog
L's in Larry, O's in Oscar.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I did. I do. You did. Well, that's okay if you did. That's right. Could you identify your client,
I did.
You did?
Well, that's okay if you did.
That's right.
their relationship to the property? Sure. My client is Yummy Picks, Inc., who is a tenant
of the property. Okay. Our vice chair has a few questions for you. And I do notice that
there's a letter of non-opposition from a council member and also from Center,
is it walnut street washington square one square west okay yep good um evening have you submitted
your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes most of them were um i
supplemented with a few later okay thank you and do you waive the reading of the referral i think
this is okay yep um and simply to its accuracy i do okay all right thank you you can share your
screen to proceed with the case okay okay so I submitted the just a list of the
exhibits that I submitted was the referral a copy of our lease it is a
ten-year lease so it's a substantially with renewal option so it's a
substantial lease tax compliance there's lease we have property taxes
being paid, the unanimous letter of support from Washington Square West Civic, and then we're going
to go through the rest of these exhibits. So I'm going to try to keep this simple because it is a
referral and not a refusal, and it is unopposed, I believe. So right now, let's just go here.
Here we have Yummy Picks is a store that's operating, it has a permit right now for the
retail sale of food and beverages and groceries.
And we're looking to expand the use to having a small sit down portion and take out restaurants.
So these are photos of the inside of the store right now.
the proposal would be that you would order right here at this counter that you can see on the
right hand side it would be prepared over here there's a you know there's actually all of the
equipment's been installed with proper permits I have a I submitted a copy of all the electrical
mechanical that sort of thing permits and then this little front area of the store is going to
used as the seating area. There would be about 14 seats there. The sit-down portion would be open
from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. The rest of the store is a 24-hour operation but that's due to the location.
It is about a block away from Jefferson Hospital and it is looking to be able to service
the workers and visitors to that hospital so that they could get sandwiches and things like that.
That was presented to the RCO, just to be clear.
So I can show you there is a bathroom at the rear of the store for public use.
And we will just go to the floor plans just so you get a little bit better idea here.
Let me zoom in.
So this is the front area.
This is where you would come in off of Walnut Street.
This is where we have a few places to sit.
and the food prep area back here and then the other areas are retail sales
uh we have the coolers the bathroom and then all the way to the back is uh the offices um
there is a dumpster in the rear of this property and there's commercial trash pickup three times
week on monday thursday and saturday um and like i said uh while the area is already constructed
they did obtain permits. So there is the use permit for the retail sales. There is, I just
want to show you this, mechanical permits in place for the hood, interior plumbing permits,
and also the necessary fire permits and food prep license. So the business is trying to do
everything right. They've been operating since last fall. And the RCO in particular noted that
there has been no issues with the business since that time. So let's just go here. Like I said,
so this is only a referral, right? So we have to show that this use would be no more detrimental
than you would expect it to be and in fact it's a referral not because it
wouldn't be allowed in the CMX4 zoning but because of the overlay for Center
City so I guess in argument of that it wouldn't be any more detrimental we this
Um, we, this is a relatively small operation. The whole store is 1800 square feet. The sit-down portion is only 14 seats. Um, it is on a main commercial corridor, um, of Walnut Street with many other businesses, um, that are restaurants and takeout.
is a relatively small operation the whole stores
So just on this block alone, just on the 1100 block, we have a Starbucks, we have a Dunkin' Donuts, we have the Caribou Cafe, we have Morty Arty's, Scoop DeVille.
So this is, there's a juice store right next to it.
So this is a very inline use for this block and this neighborhood.
It's serviced by public transportation.
It's really for, like I said, the local people, so it shouldn't add any traffic or congestion.
And, yeah, I think that's basically it.
like I said, we met with the community group. I'll show you their letter.
We had a good conversation. They asked questions. We had a full discussion
and they voted to unanimously support
the granting of the referral.
Sure. I know they were trying to log on when I started this.
So it should be maybe Malik
is the owner of the business. And if not, maybe Charlie
is there, who's our expediter.
Do you see any hands council? You're an officer of the court. We will take your testimony. Great. I appreciate it. Questions from the board.
Yes, what are the hours going to be for the sit down and take down the sit down portion is 6am to 9pm and the takeout portion is 24 hours.
and that's to service the hospital staff in the area
other questions and you said there would be what 14 seats 14 seats yeah okay so the majority of this
is really going to be takeout and the retail sales the retail sales are going to continue so
it's it's really like kind of like a deli type situation um it's a deli is really what it is in
its most common term but you know it's having some falafels and work maybe some it has your
typical sandwiches and things like that but it also has you know some wraps and things like that
some juices okay um and any kind of real cooking or is this mainly there is cooking um you know
there'll be cheese steaks and things like that um they were issued a permit for their fire
suppression systems and the hoods have been installed let's see here we go there's plumbing
one let's see the mechanical um the gas lines um and it is vented to the the roof okay that was my
question about the venting all right thank you i have a question i know you guys are planning to do
24 hours for uh take out are there any other places that are 24 hours in in that surrounding block
I am not 100% sure.
I know that, you know, the hospital is definitely open 24 hours a day.
So that's why they were looking to have food service for the staff.
And have they had any issues with neighbors or anybody in the neighborhood?
Not at all.
They're operating 24 hours right now and they've had no issues since September of last year.
okay great thank you questions from our attorney hillary emerson um just a quick question um you
had mentioned that there's there's a significant like retail sales component like presumably of
food beverages and groceries do you already have a permit for that i realize it is yes yes and i
and just so you know i submitted those permits earlier today so you probably don't see them yet
but there is a zoning permit in place from 2024 for um although where is it for the retail sales
of food beverages okay thank you questions or comments from the virtual audience
all hands mr chair planning commission may be boy with the planning commission the comprehensive
plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the current cmx for commercial
mixed use the appellant has demonstrated that the proposed use will not cause detrimental impact
beyond what would reasonably be expected the planning commission recommends that the board
grant the requested special exception for takeout restaurant and sit down restaurant thank you mi
2026 000 494 1122 walnut street i vote yes michael johns my vote is yes cheryl gaston my vote is yes
is that a graham my vote is yes my mcadams my vote is yes i win my vote is yes thank you
hi mcadams my vote is yes hi i win my vote is yes thank you thank you council i'll see you later
today uh yes mr clinton is on the line thank you mr clinton please
so just to be sure it's this case next case will be mi 2026 000 492 40 55 west gerard avenue
MR. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
MR. Hi, Mr. Henry. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
MR. My name is Henry Clinton, H-E-N-R-Y, Clinton, C-L-I-N-T-O-N.
MR. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
MR. I know.
MR. Could you identify your client and the relationship to this property?
MR. Sure. My client is Nevin Abadenju. That's A-B-E-D-I-N-A-T.
jay and he's here with me he's to my right your left right um our vice chair has a few questions
good evening um have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing
we have okay and do you weigh the reading of the accuracy i do all right thank you
see your screen and proceed and there's a um a letter of support from east parkside avenue cdc
i think it's coming up
is that visible mr chairman now sir all right uh good afternoon again mr chairman members of the
board, Henry Clinton, on behalf of Nevin, who is to my right. This concerns a long vacant property
at 4055 West Gerrard Avenue. It's an existing building. My client's bringing it back to life
to the joy of the neighborhood and the community group. This is the table of contents A1 through
A10, and I'll walk through these documents in order. The key thing is what the prior use was.
This building at one time was a grocery store and had two retail uses on this on the side, on the 41st Street side and above it had two apartments on the second floor and two apartments on the third floor.
So basically had seven uses. Tonight or this evening, we're asking for seven uses, but six apartments and one smaller commercial space just because a commercial space on the first floor is gigantic.
Then across the street, I'll show you aerial photographs, is a church in kind of two storefronts.
The refusal, this is a CMX2 zoning district.
Request six units within an existing structure, and the first floor remain commercial.
We don't know what the commercial tenant will be at.
It just depends as we move through renovation, and we're looking for the input from the RCO for that.
And this is the RCO letter from East Parkside Residence Association, the chairman referenced. It was unanimous in support of the project. And this is the supporting letter.
we have some signatures of support we're only able to get a few from the 40 hundred block of
gerard avenue because as as you'll see when i show you the photographs there's a lot of vacancies on
this side of the of the gerard avenue it really didn't make any sense to get support signatures
from the other side of gerard avenue because it's basically two lanes in either direction
and there's a a trolley stop in the middle of the block so we try to concentrate on the north side
of gerard avenue photographs here's the property right here on the corner 41st and gerard this is
parkside avenue which leads you know to the police touch museum and the man music center at the far
end we're looking west here's the trolley stop in the middle two lanes of traffic in either
direction this is the property right here you can see the vacant two or three to the east parcels
this is the church across the street just a closer view this is now looking north
the church is is two fronts right here on the west side of 41st street our property is to the east
looking south in the other direction.
Again, a huge spance across
Gerard Avenue.
Some more photographs just to give you context.
This was purchased by my property
in April of 2023.
And he's been doing a lot of outside work, as you can
see when I progressed through the photographs.
And he's also had to stabilize
some of the inside because it was in really, really
bad shape.
This is looking at the rear
This is looking at the rear of the property.
of the property. Again, there's vacant parcels.
Again, there's vacant parcels even on the north side of the building.
This is the side of the building.
You can see he's repainted, put some windows in.
Interior, he's had to stabilize some of the joists.
You can even see there's some support right here where he had to cut some stairs in to get upstairs and do some of the repairs.
this is a side entrance uh this is one of the egress steps from the basement leading
down into the commercial area in front of the building again and now you can see
he is now restored painted patched uh the the tin bays on this the west side as well as the the
front of the building, trying to bring it back to life.
Here are the plans. It's a rather large lot. It's over
99 feet long. There is a rear yard.
We don't have any issues with height, open space, rear yard, because as I said,
it's an existing building. He's not changing the footprint in any way. He's just
reconfiguring the inside. Here's a side view. That's large enough
for the board to see. But basically commercial on the first floor and basement, there's going to be
one residential unit in the basement and studio, another residential unit on the first floor behind
the commercial space. Because as I said at the outset, the commercial space, if you took up the
whole first floor, it would just be too, too big. Because back in the day, there actually were three
commercial uses on that first floor. And then we'll have a residential two apartments on the
third, excuse me, on the second, and two apartments on the third.
Here's the floor plans. I don't know if they're visible enough, but I'll work from the left to
the right, starting in the lower level. It's commercial space. These are the Bilko doors
I showed you earlier. In the rear of the commercial space, in the basement, will be the one-bedroom
studio with an egress well, bathroom, and a small kitchen area. This is 394 square feet,
and that door I showed you on the side, it's a series of switchback steps, so the building is
almost cut in half, so that you would enter on the side, and then you'd go downstairs to the studio,
and then the first floor apartment is right behind the commercial space, unit two. This bedroom is
almost 700 square feet. Commercial space is almost 900 square feet on the first floor,
and that's mirrored in the basement. Then you continue up the switchback steps,
and you would go to the apartment on the front. Let's start the rear. That's unit three,
two bedrooms, bath, kitchen, and then in the front of the building, again, two bedrooms
bedrooms on unit number four. And then continuing up the steps, it's a mirror image of the layout
of the bedrooms below. Now, the trash issue, my client is doing all the work on the property,
and he's also going to self-manage the property. So this is his bread and butter.
We do know that we have space in the yard to store the trash, and we have asked the architect to fit in a trash closet in each of the apartments on the second and third floor.
He has not done that.
I believe what we talked about was putting a closet right along the bathroom wall on all four apartments on the second and third floor.
These are some renderings, what it's going to look like when it's done.
The building, again, pretty attractive.
The neighbors certainly were happy with the presentation.
Some interior views, again, of some exposed brick.
Kitchens, this would be the one bedroom.
Units four and six, two bedrooms.
There's a balance here, not of taxes, but there's a commercial trash fee that's owed.
The building has been vacant since my client purchased it and for at least a decade before, according to the neighbors at the meeting.
And so he's been charged commercial trash fees that we are contesting because, again, it's been vacant and he's not really using any of the trash services.
Zoning map, again, the corner of 41st and Gerrard, CMX2.
This is the deed indicating ownership in April of 2023.
This is the notice letter that we sent.
This is the notice letter that we sent out advising the community of the meeting that we had, as well as today's meeting, 2 o'clock, mailed out 110 pieces of mail.
This is our certificate of bulk mailing.
And these are the zoning records, so I'll try to blow these up to just give you some context.
So this is 4055 West Gerard.
This is from 2003.
uh grocery store and it needed an establishment converted to two side real retail shops that were
vacant uh second floor two apartments third floor two apartments this is 1982 just um
boy god what 20 years 30 years before um this property so in 1982 across the street 4101 and
4103 Girard. It's a meeting hall with three apartments on the second floor and two apartments
on the third floor. But in 1970, prior to that, it was also a church with two apartments on the
second and four apartments on the third floor. So that's a testimony. We basically have a long
vacant building that my client has partially restored and will continue to restore. He's
looking for six apartments and one commercial. Prior, there were four apartments and three
retail. So we're kind of matching the uses in terms of numbers. That's the way we kind of looked
at it. And that's my summary. We're not really affecting the light and air of any adjacent
properties. We're not looking for any relief with regard to open space, height, or rear yard.
And so I guess I'll have my client adopt my testimony and open it up for questions.
Henry, just do me a favor.
Count the apartments again for us.
I have six apartments.
I mean, sure.
But let me go back.
Right.
So one in the basement, right?
One in the basement, one on the first floor, two on the second, and two on the third.
um I'm gonna well put bring on your client first let's adopt your test okay um Nevin you were here
when I presented your project yes uh if you had the chance to testify would you adopt I could I
could we state his name first thank you with the chairman can you state can you state your
full name and spell it? Nevin Abedini. Can you spell it? N-E-V-I-N. A-B-E-I-N. Right. And your last
name? Abedini. A-B-E-D-E-I-A-J. Okay. All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth? Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
the truth yes okay so you were here when i presented your project yes did i present it
properly yes and do you agree with everything i said yes and if you had a chance to testify
yes you adopt what i said yes okay thank you um henry i i'm i'm going to open it up to everybody
but i i i think a couple of the the units are a little small with with the second bedroom and
that's just just my point of view so why don't i open it up to everybody else and see where
everybody else is uh i would agree with you yep i would agree with you 100 on that uh so
so on the rear of this building you're now removing that addition or that first floor
addition because originally there were porches on the second and third floor correct there were yes
these outdoor porches so you're taking you're taking those off and you're building and you're
and but you're taking the the first floor out are you are you extending the first floor i'm
just trying to figure out what's going on right uh no so basically those porches are not there
they've been enclosed the porches where the back end and that stucco right it basically enclosed
them so right so okay all right so so so that's cool now now you when you mention your sort of
rationale for six units in this commercial space you talked about what was the commercial before
and the number of units previously but the fact of the matter is there was no commercial space on
the bait in the basement right correct correct right so but now you're you're wanting to put a
unit in the basement that literally is 100 percent below grade which is in my
below grade um which is in my opinion just not a good thing to do um so that's problematic
okay uh i mean if you hear you you've got like you've got like one step or two steps up to the
first floor which means that that basement apartment is going to be literally completely
below the grade, completely below grade. And then you're using the commercial space in the
basement. Is that for storage for the commercial space or is that going to be a usable commercial
space? We foresee it as just storage because I don't think you're going to be able to use a
basement for any type of commercial use other than storage. Now, I don't know what kind of
businesses are going to come in there, but we're not suggesting and renting it on a square foot
basis, including the basement. Our square foot rental price will be based on the first floor
only. Right. So just sort of on that same line, if it's not a good thing to have commercial use
in the basement other than storage, why would somebody want to live in a condition like that?
so that's you know so i hear i hear what you're saying you want to think that you want to so
yes johns i hear what you're saying um i think my client will be um adaptable with regard to that
unit in the basement based on based on the feedback from the board um
we'll probably withdraw that then if that's what i'm hearing
Yeah, I guess the other thing, too, our board chair's comment initially is, again, I always say this on almost every plan, when you don't show furniture, you don't convince us that it's really a livable unit, right?
So you show bids, but you don't show, you know, you show it in your rendering, which is you can fake a rendering, right?
um so it's kind of hard to fake a floor plan with furniture so right so that's that's i think adds
to the issues but those those are my comments any other points i just want to second everything that
mike said and uh i think my question is about the second egress well that you have going to unit one
is that existing already no this one that's being proposed only that's going to be proposed the only
existing access into the basement is currently the bill code door correct okay yeah i think that
i mean the reality and the expense of building that second one at this point in an existing
structure seems uh egregious for it to be a studio right like you're that's very deep you're
gonna have to very deep egress well in a public sidewalk the logistics around that are a lot and
i think it's a shame that the porches were filled in given that that is the only outdoor space this
is an incredibly incredibly crowded corner in the evenings because of the trolley stop because of the
the grocery store takeout place across the street there's a lot of congestion right here almost all
the time and to put six units on the opposite corner is just going to add to the congestion
And while Parkside does not have a lot of, you know, infill housing, but this would be great for that.
It's putting it all in one location.
And so I am concerned about the need for six units in this building, considering an addition was built where there had not been insulated building before.
And the units, as has already been stated, are pretty tight.
So, Henry, why don't we do this?
why don't we consider a resumptive hearing right and come back and make some changes
i think you've heard what everybody said and uh uh was that okay with you yeah certainly i mean
i hear the board and you know i always advise clients prior to hearing that the board may
have comments that would require him on the spot to agree to a change so but i i think you need to
to look at a couple other things, like
a couple of places are a little tight, do you really need
two bedrooms? I'm just, you know,
I think you sit with your client and figured it out,
right? Yes.
Hillary, what I'd like to do is stop here,
give it a resumptive date of
8-18-26
at 9-30 a.m.
Mr. Chairman, is there anything earlier?
Like, per chance?
I will
check.
Call the office.
All right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
said call the office always appreciate it thank you very much all right thank you all right bye now
so just to clarify so we'll have the applicant come back and give a supplemental presentation
will do public testimony and the planning committee.
yep we'll do um public testimony and the planning commission recommendation all right thank you okay
thank you ms emerson
come on
oh no what do you mean come on now okay
So, and my 2026, 0, 0, 0, 4, 9, 5, 20, 48 Rittenhouse Square.
Stephanie Boggs Magna is the attorney.
Counsel, could you please state your name and spell it for the court stenographer?
Stephanie Magana, S-T-E-P-H-A-N-I-E.
Last name is M-A-G-A-G-N-A.
all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes i do could you um identify your client and the relationship to this property
sure my client is 261 south 21st street partners llc uh represented today by chad williams okay
and uh i know we have letters of support here for the the project and our vice chair has a few
questions for you yes good evening um have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days
in advance of this hearing? Yes, I have. And do you waive the refusal and stipulate
to its accuracy? Yes, I do. Thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
Thank you. So this application is about
two properties, 2048 Rittenhouse and 2046. They abut
each other and they're immediately adjacent to the existing Friday,
Saturday, Sunday restaurant at the corner of 21st and Rittenhouse Square.
It may sound familiar to you because you saw a very similar version of this project
in September of last year for 2048 Rittenhouse Square specifically. This is a copy of the permit
just for the record. This application is very similar in the sense that we are trying to expand
upon that. So after our hearing in September, the opportunity came up for Chad and Hannah to
purchase the property next to 2048 and improve upon the concept that had been presented to the
board back in September. We are CMX one so the use as a sit down restaurant for 2046 written house square does require a variance you approved the that use at 2048.
This application proposes that those two properties be used pursuant to a unity of use, so they would be used as one lot for purposes of zoning.
um but more interestingly this allows them to improve upon the idea of bringing a new concept
to their existing facility so this these two properties will be connected to friday saturday
sunday internally and share back of house operations and 2046 and 2048 will also be
connected and function as one space that they'll be renovated um with as much of the existing
character maintained as possible but to function as one open space for seating we did present this
and i want to let chad explain this because he'll do a much better job at explaining his vision than
i will but we did present this new iteration of the idea to ccra and their letter of non-opposition
is included in the packet with the same provisos that we agreed to previously which we have no
problem with i'll say that it's very rare that a meeting that results in a non-opposition letter
ccrd doesn't give support but it's very rare that an rco meeting is quite as glowing as this one was
so that was it was very nice to hear the support that they have and we have several letters to
support from their adjacent neighbors as well specific to this application and the expanded
concept but the block in general is mixed use the restaurant has been at the corner for a while
so having another restaurant use particularly one where it's piggybacking off of the existing
deliveries trash facilities and trash pickup hours of operation employees staff kitchen exhaust
facilities there's there's a piggyback there so that this additional use is not only complementary
to the neighborhood but has less of an impact than what you would expect if you had a new
restaurant concept come here whole cloth the this is renderings of what this concept is going to be
and again it is a different concept in connection that chad and hannah will his wife will own and
operate as a complement to their existing business and the whole facility together will function as
one so there are going to be some some shared resources there but the key difference is really
that they were able to expand kitchen facilities and some back of house operations and not
seating. So there's very minimal change to the total seating capacity of the space. I
think it's two or three additional seats. So the change from what was previously presented
So the change from what was previously presented in terms of its impact and the number of people and traffic is non existent.
in terms of its impact and.
There's a very nominal change in the number of total people. This will accommodate. It simply allowed them to improve upon the design of this concept within the space.
The renovations, like I said, will mostly be interior with exterior renovations comp being complimentary to the existing character of those buildings.
I do have floor plans that show the existing restaurant and its connection.
The connection between the existing restaurant and this facility will be at the second and third floor, I believe.
So they will be open and be able to share resources there.
And then these two properties, again, will function differently in the different seating areas.
With that, I'd like to have Chad sworn in.
Sir, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Chad Williams, C-H-A-D-W-I-L-L-I-A-M-S.
Do you swear or affirm the tell the truth,
told truth, nothing but the truth?
Counsel?
Chad, did you hear the statements I made
to the board this afternoon?
Yes, I did.
Are they true and accurate?
Okay, would you adopt them?
I'd take close to the mic so we could say it.
Could you please explain to the board
your vision for this concept?
You'll do a much better job than I would
if I even try it.
Yeah, so we've been operating
Friday, Saturday, Sunday for about 10 years now.
We've been very fortunate to have a busy restaurant.
Again, we were fortunate to have a building adjacent to us come up for sale, and then
the second building come up for sale.
So what we're able to do is build what is essentially our dream restaurant.
With the addition of the first building, with the second building, we decided to do a tasting
menu restaurant.
Really high-end dining experience.
we were tight on back of house space with the addition of the first building.
Lucky enough to have the second building come up for sale.
That allowed us to add a few more seats, but more importantly, a larger back of house
and operational space for us to work in.
With that, we're able to piggyback off the infrastructure at Friday, Saturday, Sunday,
including the some of the storage the trash and other shared efficiencies and
we're really lucky to have this space next to us and very briefly could you
just explain the flow of diners through the space because yes so you have a
three-story dining space but you know what seems to be enough room for 60
people it's basically 18 to 20 for dinner and then the private dining room
What happens is you enter through the front. You're welcomed on the first floor with snacks and beverages, and then you move throughout the space. So after you've done your drinks, you move to the second floor where you have two separate dining experiences, one a little more casual, then you move for the sit-down savory portion of the menu.
once you're done there you'll move to the third floor for pastry and after dinner drinks um so
what that gives the neighborhood and we're not adding you know 100 more guests tonight it's more
of a high and fine dining experience where it's a little risky on the business side for us but
i think it provides something the city doesn't have and we're also able to minimize the impact
on the neighborhood which we live in we work in we really have a great group of neighbors who
who've been supportive, and we want to do well by them.
And the last thing I want to note is the entrance to this facility is on Rittenhouse Square,
but in terms of drop-offs, where are those going to be directed?
Yeah, the new restaurant will share the drop-off with Friday, Saturday, Sunday, which is on 21st Street.
If there's any other questions, we'd be happy to answer them.
Questions from the board.
A few. So I know when we looked at the last concept,
But there was the idea of having a bunch of people that sat at the bar, and then there
was that private dining area that you plan to rent out at the rear.
Is the idea that in this new expanded concept, you'd still have sort of that private dining
event space, or is this going to convert now to this new sort of, I don't know, sequential
dining?
It was always sequential, but now we have a larger kind of welcome area for them on
the first floor.
And there is a small private dining room to the rear of the first floor.
Yeah, because I think it was, what, 49 or 54 seats?
Yeah, now it is not.
We were able to kind of shrink the number of people we have
and hopefully charge a little bit more for the experience
because of the architecture and what the space is.
So there's a small private dining room at the rear,
but that front portion where you see folks walk in where it says bar,
it's essentially a welcome area.
it's not a bar in the traditional sense where people come in and have drinks and sit for two
hours you enjoy your welcome beverage it's going to be like if you have a reservation you can come
in to the second half otherwise everybody else is still going to be the existing restaurant and bar
yeah and then i think the second question is like these are obviously two completely separate
and then i think the second question is
buildings now with the unity of use are you going to be knocking through walls
and does this give you any type of ability to sort of streamline things like trash exhaust and all
of the other parts because i know you had to have the outside exhaust for the first restaurant because
you didn't have the space like is it allowing you to address any of that technical the technical
pieces um the trash we have a an outdoor shed which currently houses um our trash and then our
um refrigeration the compressors and condensers um we're going to move those to the roof and then
that that outdoor space will be trash for both spaces uh trash enclosure for both spaces um
the new restaurant the um ventilation will go uh through the building out through the roof
it will have a separate system and then for the new concept how many seatings
or how many customers are you anticipating a night?
We hope we plan on 40, you know, 40.
So, they're going to be like one seating.
It's two, so they would kind of rotate through.
And it's about a two-and-a-half-hour experience,
so we usually have a 530 like we do it Friday, Saturday, Sunday,
at 530 and then an 830.
Other questions?
Questions or comments from our attorney?
Not at this time, Mr. Sharon.
questions or comments from the virtual audience
you're not seeing the answer with the chair planning commission amy board with the planning
not a question but a comment i keep reading about you guys so you know you're doing something we're
trying so i don't have yeah all right so i have one question before we vote why don't you have
awards when you're on my jack yeah it's a good idea you know what next time you see me though
there is an article in the record about that but i do want to be quite so blunt right
that's a really good idea and i think i'll get them sold on
leaning commission amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends
no change in zoning to the existing cmx one commercial mixed use the proposed expansion of
use on an adjoining property is in harmony with the citywide vision recommendation 2.1.1 to
support and promote center city and as a primary economic center of the region the planning
commission recommends that the board grant the requested variance for sit-down restaurant
mi 2026 000 495 2048 written house square i vote yes with proviso trash stored in existing
exterior trash container for the attached restaurant and collected by a licensed
trash hauler after 7 a.m. weekdays and after 8 a.m. on weekend. Deliveries to be to occur
on Rittenhouse Square side after 8 a.m. and venting through to the roof.
okay thank you michael johns my vote is yes with proviso
cheryl gaston my boot is yes with proviso tenetta graham my vote is yes with proviso
hi mcadams my vote is yes with proviso tyo win my vote is yes with proviso
by the way congratulations thank you you guys do great thank you
i get a little nervous when you say you gotta raise the rates a little bit
so do i
take a five minute break and then we're going to come back in and thank you so much thank you guys
anytime
good afternoon everyone my name is bill bergen and i will be sharing the zoning board hearing
with me is our vice chair todetta graham president mr chairman our uh secretary
cheryl l gaston president mr chairman board members michael johns
present mr chairman hiya winn president mr jane president mr chairman you didn't let me say it
if i did that once before you don't want i should have said mick sherry
this hearing is is being recorded and uh the the will be posted on the zba website
by participating you agree to be recorded this is an in-person meeting with remote participation
Whether in person or on Zoom, if you're are called to speak, please state and spell your name and then wait to.
are called to speak please state and spell your name and then wait to be sworn in after that
state your name each time you're called to testify
to enter your appearance enter your appearance on the zoom webinar speak with a staff member
call the zba office at the close of business tomorrow call 215-686-2429 and provide your name
email and the address of the case remote participation raise your virtual hand
when directed to speak when you're called upon you must click the join as a panelist button
use the q a questions for procedural issues and not cases themselves and if you are joining
as a panelist press star nine to raise your hand and star six to unmute let's look at our schedule
Of course, there's no one here.
Number one, MI 2025-002-467-5861 Willows Avenue.
That case is continued to 923-26 at 3.30 p.m.
number
number five mi 2025
007 615 3612 north 5th street michael and g cho are the listed owners um we have no exhibit no
exhibits this is the first listing mr chair the applicant was on earlier and we advised him that
we would be continuing this matter and ask him to contact the office for the full assistance
this case is going to be continued to 9 23 26 at 3 30 pm are there any other requests for
continuances uh mr chair me again um we did get a request actually for number three the attorney
is not available to proceed this late in the day so um he he sent a request for continuance right
and that's that's i guess nice news mi 2025 005 346 58 south second street that case is continued
to 9 23 26 at 3 30 pm over here we'll go to
we'll go to number two
number two
MI 2025
005 341
West Thompson Street
Rachel Pritzker is the attorney
good evening i counsel could you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer
sure rachel r-a-c-h-a-e-l pritzker p-r-i-t-z-k-e-r do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes could you identify your client the relationship
to this property yes my client is tamad holdings 2 llc who is the owner of the property i see a
letter of support from beach and also a letter of non-opposition from council member young
our vice chair has a few questions good evening have you submitted your documents and exhibits
five days in advance of this hearing yes and do you wait to read and know the refusal and
stipulate to its accuracy yes all right thank you you can show your screen and proceed with the case
Thank you.
Okay. Can you see my screen?
We can.
Make sure it's the right screen. Hold on.
I have two screens up. Sorry.
So this is 1507 West Thompson Street.
This is the application for appeal, just go through the refusal.
This property is Zone RSA 5.
We have one use refusal for visitor accommodations.
We are seeking relief for a variance to permit limited lodging, also known as visitor accommodations
at the property.
There's no physical changes to the property, no additions, expansions, exterior alterations.
there's no physical changes to the property no additions expansions exterior alterations
increased density or dimensional relief being proposed so just this refusal this was the
application for appeal project information form property cert for taxes the deed
this is a zoning map of the property as mentioned it's rsa5 the property is a single family home
where we're requesting use variants for visitor accommodation but it's worth noting that
the property does have a history of commercial mixed use used to have a food mart on the ground
floor and two units this is an aerial of the property a little bit of vacancy on the block
and the property is this mid one right here these were the zoning posters on the property
just some interior photos
and then we can go through floor plans again no alterations but given the need to make sure we go
through the building code considerations if we're granted a variance we had floor plans drawn up
this is the portion of the code it doesn't allow for visitor accommodations this property is
located in close proximity to temple university nearby medical institutions neighborhood businesses
and residential communities that regularly attract visitors a lot of individuals visiting students
family members local institutions or neighborhood events frequently seek accommodations close to the
places and people are visiting um this is really just not uh speculative this was actually in
operation for i think about six months and had no issues with any of the neighbors no violations on
the property. The zoning code and the hardship here arises from the matter that the zoning code
really restricts visitor accommodations in most zoning classifications unless it's a high density
CMX 3, 4, 5 zoning classification. So as a practical matter, opportunities for visitor
accommodations in many neighborhoods are not possible and they tend to be concentrated in
areas where those building classifications exist as mentioned so this property again was previously
used for about six months for this use had no issues with it and it does allow for people in
in more close proximity to this area visiting family friends or going to the hospital another
place to stay that is not a center city or more cmx 345 related use that allows for this
by right um we did have a community meeting notice was sent to 138 nearby neighbors and
the registered community organization sent a letter of support in their letter they stated
that the purpose is to provide quality accommodations for guests visiting
philadelphia for business family visits cultural events and tourism and it will be managed to
for compliance with the city regulations and they issued us a letter of non-opposition or support
and as mentioned we did have a letter of non-opposition from the councilman's office as well
this is their letter so so council just for a point of information um
tonight is going to handle this i try not to handle things that were around temple okay no problem
chairman this is our memo of law that we include in all of our packets
and as mentioned this just allows for an opportunity for visitor accommodations in
the temple area and again the hardship is really imposed by the zoning classification you can't do
any short-term rentals without relief from this board unless you're in one of the higher density
areas which leaves some challenges for those who don't want to be in center city to visit family
friends and again there has been no issues with the community around this property and we'll be
making no modifications to the property as well if i can bring on the owner danielle jefferson
yep thank you you can bring your client on thank you
I'll be coming back in as a panelist.
Hello, Chair, what's your name?
What's your client's name again?
Danielle Jefferson. She's on. Okay. Danielle? Yes. Can you hear us? Yeah. Can you hear me?
Danielle Jefferson. She's on.
Danielle?
Yes, we can see you and see you. Can you state your name and spell it for the record, please?
Sure. Danielle, D-A-N-I-E-L-L-E, Jefferson, J-E-F-F-E-R-S-O-N. Okay. And do you swear
or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
i do okay all right uh rachel yes um danielle have you heard my testimony today do you believe
it to be true and accurate and do you adopt it as your own yes thank you okay uh questions from the
board is this just one unit is that what i was seeing and yes pictures yes okay and how many
bedrooms? Danielle, do you know how many bedrooms? Yes. There's five bedrooms. It's a three-story home
with five bedrooms and three and a half baths. So the house itself with the five bedrooms and
the three and a half bath, that's what you're using for the Airbnb? Yes. For the visitor
accommodation yes okay the entire program yes yeah okay all right thank you
other questions from the board i didn't send them an invoice on
okay questions from our attorney not at this time madam chair
and do we have questions from the virtual audience
no hands no okay all right planning commission amy boy with the planning commission the
comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing zoning of rsa 5 residential single
family the appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique physical conditions or
circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning
code the planning commission recommends that the board deny the requested variance for visitor
accommodation i can just um respond briefly to one sure thing yeah just as mentioned the code
presents a hardship as it doesn't allow for any visitor accommodations except in like the high
density areas of the city which makes it difficult for anybody outside of that those areas to be able
to have a short-term rental use it's also worth mentioning as i'm sure the board is uh well aware
that there's public benefits to this as it's a it stands with a significantly increased tax
which contributes to the visitors and convention bureau which supports the city as a whole so there
there is an upside to this as well okay thank you mi-2025-005341 1507 west thompson street
i vote yes with proviso uh temporary variance uh to aspire for three-year temporary variance
spires six four 2029 michael johns my vote is yes with proviso
cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso i am mcadams my vote is yes with proviso
my vote is yes with proviso thank you thank you council number four mi 2025 007 576 918
North 20A Street.
Zen Jin is the attorney.
There's a letter of support
from Fairmount
Civic Association.
then yes oh then you've already been sworn just state your name please yes zenjin z-h-e-n-j-i-n
could you identify your client a relationship to this property yes uh it's uh though i can't
pronounce it well steel fan is llc um mr mateo maltape is representing dlc is my client okay
our vice chair has a few questions good evening um have you submitted your documents and exhibits
five days in advance of this hearing yes okay and this is a referral so do you waive the reading of
the referral and stipulate to its accuracy i do all right thank you you can show your screen and
proceed thank you i'm going to share with the board what was previously submitted
can the board see my exhibit on their screen we can thank you so good evening uh this is an
application for use of this location at 918 north 28th street as a coffee shop slash ice cream shop
coffee shop slash ice cream shop which is essentially falls under the prepared food shop use
which is
within the zoning code because it is a cmx one zone district this is a special exception in that
area we actually met with the rco and obtained support with the condition that they have stated
in their letter they are concerned with prior operators and also the property being vacant for
some time. There were some trash issues in that area, and the neighbors particularly wanted to
make sure that trash would be stored indoors, particularly overnight, and would be picked up
in the morning when the commercial pickup happens. We have no problem with that. That's not an issue
for this property as there are actually, if you look at the photographs, this is a corner property
that has a commercial style space already in the first floor which will be converted to the coffee
ice cream shop there there are access to the basement which is through uh what is essentially
belco doors that allows the the owner to utilize the basement to store trash overnight there's
nothing related to the shop itself that's going to be in the basement so it's essentially going
be storage so trash storage there would not impact the uh health health code requirements
of the business itself currently the space is vacant it was used as a some sort of an office
space before we intend to renovate this space into a just a simple shop it'll have ice cream
a prep area for coffee espresso machines a little bit of pre-packaged pastries to go with the
coffees. And that's essentially it. There'll be a standing counter as well as some seating,
the bathroom and storage. So it's a very small shop with a small operation. And I believe
for that reason, we submitted to the board that it would not cause any impact, negative impact,
greater than what's normally expected of this kind of use. And being that it's a relatively
light use, it really would not cause negative impacts to the neighborhood. So that is essentially
I'll request before the board for a special exception to permit the use of this CMX1 location
as a coffee shop. My client is here to verify my testimony, and I'm happy to answer any questions.
What's your client's name?
Mateo Maltepez.
Dr. Malteppes, can you raise your hand virtually so you can be identified?
Dr. Malteppes, can you raise your hand virtually so you can be identified?
Thank you.
Can you guys hear me?
Could you please state your name as spelled for the stenographer?
Mattheo Maltepes, M-A-T-T-H-E-O, last name Maltepes, M-A-L-T-E-P-E-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Counsel.
Thank you.
Mattheo, did you hear my representation before the board and see the presentation on your screen?
I did.
Can you verify what I have represented to the zoning board to be true and correct and adopt it as your own testimony?
thank you um questions from the board
yeah what are your hours i was about to ask that yes so the hours of operation it's uh anticipated
to be from the hours operation it's uh sunday through thursday anticipated to be a.m to 9 p.m
and then Friday and Saturday a.m. to 10 30 p.m. they will not be up so it's essentially a full
seven days operation what's the plan for the use in the basement I know you mentioned the
bilko door and storage but yeah so it's basically storage there's no or refrigerated no not
refrigerated just dry items and uh actually you know they were thinking that would be a good for
trash storage indoors overnight as well so they're actually not going to put because it's a coffee
shop and ice cream has to stay in the fridge in the ice cream freezer they're not going to put
any real food items in the basement it's not really set up for true storage in that sense okay
is the ice cream freezer and whatever is sort of in the kitchen area is that the only refrigeration
on site yes i believe that is matthew is that correct yes it is okay and then is there any
just because i've worked at ice cream place and we had a pretty sizable
kitchen area i think are there any toppings are you doing any like fruit prep
kitchen area i think are there any toppings are you doing any like fruit prep or any other types of
things going on the ice cream that looks like a really small kitchen for this setup
so the ice cream is delivered to me and uh i just put it in the 12 tub machine i have
uh it's a 12 tub ice cream dipping cabinet a vanco and that's about it
it so it's off serve no you're him dipping yeah yes so are you are you done oh okay so I guess
I'm still confused about this whole idea of using the basement for the trash because you say you
don't really have any food storage but don't you have cones don't you have cups don't you have
utensils. I mean, the space looks a little small to have all those kinds of things sort of stored
in there. I mean, I'm not sure about how many customers you have and what have you, but
you're not going to have any. You're not showing on this that there's.
may i uh speak yes yes so i do have uh some you see where it says the sink and everything
espresso machine to the left of that before the uh as you can see storage there's a storage room
uh in the closet so i had storage there in which i keep a lot of items and then i also have some
cabinets uh across that i keep some uh cups and and stuff of the matter just a general note it
be helpful if the plan was to scale because i think right now i'm assuming that your uh your
tiles are one by twos but they're like things are not all the same size it also looks like the pan
the plan has been manipulated it's so it's also it looks misleading um and in the hand wash station
being behind the ice cream freesia makes it seem unlikely that a person's going to wash their hands
yeah i mean the the plans were uh not architecturally prepared so we we do understand that
it's a little a little bit uh confusing on some of the items uh mateo more that it's misleading
understood it's just misleading each of those tables are shown right now with like less than
six inches between them no chairs and they're only like depicted at about a foot and a half wide so
So, like, that's not what it would be in real space.
So it does make me wonder about egress, access to doorways, access to bathroom, access to the stairwell, the basement, to have, like, clear circulation path through here as well.
Both ice cream and coffee are things that tend to have long lines.
So I just question the flow, the way it's drawn.
Hey, and you guys thought I was rough.
uh mathel do you uh so so uh zen why don't yeah why don't we consider doing this why don't you
you know go back and relook at it figure out listen to what some people said and we'll give
you a uh a uh resumptive hearing and see if i can come up with a better plan okay
okay so i'm going to that's going to be 8 8 26 at 9 30 a.m thank you okay sure all right number six
26. mi2025 007 639 523 tasker street jennifer bitzilla is the attorney
hi i'm already a panelist for some reason so here you go here you go um you know you've
already been sworn just take state your name for the record sure jennifer bazidlo b-a-z-y-d-l-o
could you identify your client the relationship to the property sure my client is aurora jacob
and she is the property owner and i see that uh dickinson square gave you unanimous support and
council member squill also is a non-opposition our vice chair has a few questions good evening
have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing i did and
do you waive the reading of the refusal and simulate to its accuracy i do okay jennifer bring
us home okay all right so i'm going to try to keep this one also pretty short and simple this is i'll
just say this is through a series everybody says but go ahead this is the third time we're here
and this is actually already been approved but it expired so um with that in context um like i said
i'm here today representing aurora jacob she is the property owner also on the line i have their
design and build company G space with Angela and Michael. So let's just get into this a little bit
Um, so let's just get into this a little bit here. Um, I have the, you know, all the exhibits were, um, submitted. I won't go through them. Um, but so this is the property here. Uh, it's in ours. It's, it's a parcel. It's about, it's 1,342 square feet. And there's an existing three story structure on it.
here. I have the
um my client aurora obtained this home in 2010 when she purchased it from her siblings who had
inherited from her parents and the family has owned this property since the 1980s um like i said this
is our third time before the board on this project due to a series of unfortunate events um that you
know stuff happens okay so in 22 i'm just going to run through that briefly uh in 2020 in 2010
after the property was obtained, Aurora went ahead and applied for a zoning and use permit
for a three-family dwelling and an addition on the second and third floors in the rear of the
property. In 2011, that zoning variance was granted for both the use and the construction
of the addition. And then she went ahead and started that project and obtained a bunch of
of permits, as you can see here. Unfortunately, the contractors that were hired that first
time pulled permits began work and disappeared without finishing the job, but did take a
lot of her money. So she gathered up her money again, and in 2015 and 16, she hired another
contractor who started the project again, and again, did not finish the work. This is
not G-Space. This is not the current contractor, just to be very, very clear. So what I will
say is that all the prior work was done with permits and the structure itself is that we're
talking about is up we can see it in the back here this is the back structure i'll show you the plans
so in 2024 Aurora hired me knowing that our zoning permit for the use had expired
um and we came back here and there was a new zoning permit issued for the three-family dwelling
and the reason we did not at that time go ahead and ask for a zoning permit for
the rear yard length was because when i had looked at the permits for that addition it was marked
closed so i had assumed that and the contractors had assumed that that part of the work had been
finished and we didn't need to renew a variance for that. However, when they went to go apply
for the permits to finish up the project, Elle and I said, oh no, the contractors never
got the final sign off and you're going to need to get a new variance for the extension
in the back. So, like I said, the work is done, the permits were pulled, apparently
they just did not get the final inspection and that's where we are today so um let me just show
you the current state of the building oops sorry one second i'm on the wrong thing um
as you can see this this building is mostly together um these are some examples of the
units the additions already been fully built um and again this was all with permits with
electrical plumbing this is what it looked like before the project was started um so what we're
looking for is to kind of renew that 2011 permit 2010 2011 permit so that we can get those final
sign-offs and any other do any other additional work i think the uh smoke uh the uh fire suppression
system needs to be fully hooked up and get this building finally back into use um so let's just
see a couple more things here so here's the plan you can see here this is um let me just zoom in
because you can see here kind of where the addition was built on the back um so i think
things to point out here is that first of all even when the first time around the the rear yard was
not actually shortened at all there had been a smaller like a shorter structure all the way to
the line where this addition is now it was just that there was one section that needed to be
completely rebuilt and the other sections just had additional floors built over it because it
was that typical thing where you had three stories in the front and an older addition in the back
and so it was just building up on a footprint that was already there so this hasn't changed
the the rear yard length hasn't changed since this building was constructed in
the early 1900s, some, whenever it was, a long, long time ago, right? And we were just building
up. Like I said, and it's already there, if not for these contractors.
like i said and and it's already there uh if not for these contractors walking away it would have
been signed off on and this building would be occupied now um so but i did want to also say
that let's just go to the aerial photo this is not an uncommon rear yard you can see there's
lots of other properties on this block that go pretty far back onto the property line um
and I will also note that there is no refusal for occupied area because there is quite a
large side yard on this that's almost six feet wide it's like five foot nine inches so you have
a lot of open area still and there is an alleyway in the back here that's like reserved for that
we're not occupying. We had a meeting with Dickinson Square which is the same group that
we met with before, and they voted to, there is I guess 14 people in attendance, it was
a unanimous support, and also Aurora and the design build team had previous to this, went
out to reach out to the community, and we got 25 letters of support from near neighbors,
seven on the same block, and five from the block on the rear, and none of those letters
of support are from the same people that were at the community meeting. So we had pretty good
representation between the community meeting and this block and the letters of support
of people that are supporting this project. So just in summary, before I have my client come on
and adopt my testimony, you know, we're trying to really just finish up this project that was
first approved in 2011. The use was renewed in 2024. It was clearly some weird glitch that it
It was marked closed, but it wasn't closed.
So now we just need to go ahead and get the zoning variants for the existing edition that
was built with the 2011 permit to finalize the project and get these units back in operation.
So with that, I would ask Aurora to raise her hand and adopt my testimony.
please raise your virtual hand and wait to be sworn in
or jacob please raise your virtual hand and if you cannot find her you can if
there's either angela or michael dibucci you can have them raise their hand
thank you my client's a little um she's not as familiar with technology so she might have had
um miss bazidlow is angela is she one of the owners of the property because i only have aurora
jacob listed on the deed um she angela is the design professional so she can't be okay okay
yeah as a witness okay got it yeah thank you hello mike hi could you please state your name
and spell for the stenographer yes my name is angela di prima hyphen bucci that's a-n-g-e-l-a
di prima d-i-p-r-i-m-a hyphen b-u-c-c-i do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
and nothing but the truth i do yes so proceed angela you heard my testimony um do you believe
uh what i described um as the the history of this property and the additions on this property is
accurate yes okay um and if i asked you all those questions you would have said basically what i
said correct yes all right that's i just wanted that to be on the record then if we can't get
our board to adopt at all all right questions from the board
questions from our attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr chair questions from the virtual
audience
planning commission maybe one with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no
change in zoning at this location to the current rsa5 residential single family
the proposed addition was construction constructed under permit number 309036
the planning commission recommends that the board grant their requested variance for a rear yard
sat back mi2025-007-639-523 tasker street i vote yes with proviso certificate of occupancy to be
obtained yes michael johns my vote is yes with proviso sure i'll guess
My vote is yes, with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Hi, Owen, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Is there anyone in the audience whose case has not been called?
Mr. Chair, I do not see any further hands.
Okay, thanks, everybody.
And I would tell you what, we're about 40 minutes ahead of schedule.
because he had a start in 650 or something like that the last one right
thanks everybody we we we did get through a lot of work