I just want to make sure that we understand as the history shows,
nowhere in the record is there a permit for a single family dwelling,
but consistently I've been able to show you a history of permits for two family dwellings.
Well, the thing in this property, this property's history is exclusively to family dwelling.
I can appreciate what you're saying, Mr. Anastasio, that it was used, but the fact that they're not separate utilities kind of goes against the grain as far as I'm concerned.
it's because of one single family occupied both units i know that you don't see that too often
i would prefer that i prefer to see two electric meters as well but if you're using one of those
units as a mother-in-law suite you would not necessarily ask mom for the well you know to
have a separate bill excuse me it's all one family so it's not like it's just two separate families
Yes, Mr. Holloman. That's correct. Yeah. Excuse me. Is there two existing kitchens?
Well, what there is one functioning kitchen and because there was only that one individual living
there with her family, the actual appliances were removed, but the kitchen mechanism,
the infrastructure still exists thank you thank you I'm going to recommend that the board that
the record be closed and the board will discuss and make a decision at next Wednesday's executive
session thank you all right I think we go to number six now MI 2020-003-239-7347 Oxford Avenue
there's a letter of non-opposition from councilman o'neill and there's a letter
no letter received unless you have it mr jen uh on bromhall town watch
mr jen is coming back in as a panelist now good afternoon mr jen please identify yourself you're
still on the road. Yes, good afternoon. Zen Jin, Z-H-E-N-J-I-N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard,
Suite 1838, photo of EPA 19103 here on behalf of the applicants.
Suite 1838, Philadelphia PA 19103, here on behalf of the applicant.
I didn't catch the last part about the second letter.
We only have a letter from the councilman's office.
Yeah, I was saying that we did.
I see that the notation is there were no RCO letter from Braunfels.
There was no letter from them.
That's correct.
But the councilman's representative was actually present.
I will get to that.
Real quick, do you agree to waive the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership,
proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral,
photos and plans five days prior to this hearing?
Have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
We don't have the letter from the RCO, but we have a letter from the councilman's office.
Thank you. Please proceed.
Thank you.
This is actually a second half of a two-part application, partly because this application was originally part of a twin house, and they're not currently consolidated as lots.
So we were before the board about a week ago with the first part of this application, which is the other half of the house.
Let me first actually jump to the photograph, and let me share the information with the board.
it'll better show exactly what we're discussing and what we're asking for before the ZBA.
So first thing, this is an application to use an existing structure as a cultural exhibit
and slash library in essence an Asian cultural museum of sorts with documentation storage above
in the upper floors. So this property is actually an older twin building. My client has purchased
the entire structure, but it is addressed as two separate properties. And we had to present
45 last week, and this is the other half. Essentially, what we're requesting before
the board is to allow this property to be used without any exterior modifications. We're hoping
to keep the exterior because it's a very nice exterior design. So we're going to refresh and
keep the exterior. And even the interior, the goal here is to minimize extensive changes to
the interior, but essentially open this house, what was a twin house, up into what is going to
be a Asian American cultural exhibit museum.
My client is a nonprofit organization
that has also partnered with other organizations in China,
here in Philadelphia with the various Chinese organizations
in Chinatown, as well as various organizations
in California and other parts of the United States
to try to concentrate and gather the Asian American experience
and documents, paperwork, history of people coming from China and other parts of, and coming to
America and basically growing up here in America, that along with art, historical artifacts, and
other pieces will be exhibited at this location. When we met with the RCO and with the councilman's
assistant who was present. This was all discussed in detail, and we received support with the idea
that the house itself really isn't situated in a place that would make it really suitable as
just pure residence. It also has a rather large plot of land behind it, which makes it possible
in the future for us to actually provide some parking. I'm sorry, I'm hearing a little
noise. Can everyone still hear me okay? Yes. Okay, great. So we also have a large plot of land
that's part of the parcel behind that may be converted in the future into a parking area if
enough people are starting to visit this location. There will be no on-site living at all. This will
be purely for storage of information, artifacts, and exhibits. And it would operate on a, basically
it will be an operating hour situation, much like most museums, where it will be open to the public
and people can come in and learn of Asian culture. That is the main goal of this exhibit,
to share the culture with people of Philadelphia and surrounding areas. My client's organization
is quite excited about this possibility.
this possibility. And again, I believe the neighborhood as well as the councilman's
And again, I believe the neighborhood
office also was quite supportive of our request. So with that, I will be happy to answer any
questions or show any other exhibits the board would like to see. Do you have a client with you
today? I should. I believe we normally have Mr. Drew here. I don't know. Can you raise your hand
Or unfortunately, because it's an organization, I may have one of three individuals here today.
It's okay if you don't.
We can stipulate.
I didn't know if you needed to bring anyone.
I think I would like my client at least to, because we didn't do that with the first presentation,
I would like to at least have someone verify my testimony for the purpose of record keeping in this case.
Give us a name.
Ms. Benton will recognize that person.
Let me see.
Is Stephen Drew present, ZHU?
If not, yes, I see Steven. He just needs to raise his hand.
Okay, great.
Mr. Zhu, can you please raise your hand?
I mean, in the interest of time, Chairman, I understand the board has had a long day.
if if my client cannot get his system working at the moment i'll be happy to stipulate stipulate
you being an officer of court your client would have adopted your testimony any questions from
the board no no no anyone else would like to testify in this case please raise your hand
i see no hands at this time chair thank you planning commission on bednar city planning
the wireless property is currently indicated for residential use on the city plan we recommend
thank you mi 2020 does zero zero three two three nine seven three four seven oxford avenue my vote
is yes. My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
2021-001090
809 Diamond
Street, Parcel D
as in David.
There's a letter of non-opposition from
the Association of
Puerto Rico.
I'm not sure what the rest of that is,
confessor.
Chairman, we have Jeffrey Young coming back in as a panelist.
Good afternoon, Mr. Young.
Please identify yourself when you're on and I'll swear you in.
Good afternoon, members of the board.
Jeffrey Young here on behalf of the applicant Frankl and property owner Frankl Enterprises
excuse me 800 diamond LLC excuse me. Young do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth? Yes. Sir please proceed. Mr. Young you agree to wait the reading of its
refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? Yes. Have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required
documents proof of ownership proof of tax compliance copy of the refusal or referral
photos and plans five days prior to this hearing yes and have you met with the rco and have a
letter yes we have thank you please proceed thank you i'm going to proceed to share my screen
again members of the board uh jeffrey young uh here representing the applicant um and property
owner 800 Diamond LLC requesting the variance for 809 Diamond Street. With my exhibits is the table
of contents, tax clearance, deed, zoning map, the refusal, plans, renderings, pictures, RCO letters,
the neighbor notification, proof mailing, previous zoning decisions for this property,
current zoning permits, and the previous letter from the RCO. As you see here is our tax clearance
for 800 Diamond LLC, the property owner. Here's the D for the property to 800 Diamond LLC.
And here is a zoning map for the area. Currently, our property is zoned CMX2,
But if you see in the neighboring properties, this is a primarily an RM1 neighborhood.
neighborhood. We have one refusal. Currently, the applicant here only seeks to deviate from some
dimensional requirement of the zoning code. We are denied for non-compliance with section 146045C4
of the code regarding our roof deck access structure. And we do not meet the current
setback requirements of this particular section of the code. However, we are in compliant with
the other provisions within 146045C of the code. The roof deck access structure only serves to
enclose the excess stairs. The roof deck access structure does not exceed 125 square feet,
and the roof deck access structure does not exceed 10 feet in height above the surface of the roof
deck area. So again, we're asking for a de minimis variance request. Here are our plans.
You'll see our roof deck structures here are, again, our compliant 10 feet high.
However, our roof structure starts at the beginning of our property line.
As I go through the renderings, you'll get a better picture of what the roof deck is proposed to look like.
Can you, I'm sorry, I zoomed out too far.
and still zooming out
can you still hear me am i frozen we can hear you okay all right i'll move on um i'm trying
to pull up the uh the rendering of the roof the roof deck structure um here we go
get back to this page here great here we go so as you see um here from our renderings our
um roof access uh starts at the property line um we have two roof access structures
to be compliant with the egress in the building code
because we have a public roof deck.
So we are required to have two access structures.
As you can see, they're both flush with the property line.
However, our design seeks to meet the spirit of the code
because no one accessing the roof will be visible from the street
as our entrances are 15 feet, eight and a half inches from the property line.
And as you can see, the egress is toward the middle of the roof deck.
So the direction of egress out to the roof access, you know, will not allow anyone to be seen from the street.
in all actuality if we were to set the property back to be code compliant we will only have to
our entrance will only have to be 10 feet from the property line and here we're an additional
five feet away from the property line where someone actually accessed the roof so in meaning
the spirit of the code you know we've tried to do a design where you know the the egress point
is furthest away from the roof line as possible.
Here, just pictures of the current property.
Currently, it's a vacant lot.
If you look in the neighborhood, the neighborhood is being developed now.
It's primarily vacant lots.
I actually received 83 notification letters back because of the vacancies in this neighborhood.
And as you can see from the pictures here, every new construction property has a roof deck and a roof deck access.
So given the design of our property, we're particularly given how this neighborhood will be developed, we will be within the characteristics of how this neighborhood will look.
This picture here, just again, the sense of neighborhood across the street.
It's primarily a multifamily residential area.
There is a playground a half a block away from us.
And here corner stores, typical corner stores.
And here, corner stores, typical corner stores on the other side of the playground.
Again, this is another look on Darien Street, another block, vacancies across the street from us, directly across the street, another vacancy.
So again, this neighborhood is under development as we speak.
Here's our letter from APM.
Again, there were no one attended our community meeting.
Again, we received 83 letters returned in the mail because the properties were vacant, but letters were sent out.
We hosted a community meeting.
We had this letter of no opinion from APM, given the fact that no one attended our community meeting.
This is a copy of the letter that was sent out.
Here is a copy of our certificates of mailing that was sent out.
And again, I haven't issued the Zoom here, but we mail the letters.
Here's a current notice of decision for this property.
This property was before the board in October, granting the variances for lot line consolidation
and adding some additional units.
However, during that phase, we did not apply for the roof deck.
we would have applied for their roof deck in that application.
However, we subsequently had to apply for the roof deck.
Here's a permit right now, currently on file for the lot line relocation
and for the 11 units that are permitted here.
And with that, I'll take any questions from members of the board.
Thank you, Mr. Young. Do you have a client that you need to have to adopt your testimony?
Yes, my client, Zach Frankel, is on the line.
Mr. Frankel, you can unmute yourself and speak now.
Good afternoon, Zach. Please identify yourself, spell your first and last name, and I'll swear you in.
Good afternoon. My name is Zachary Frankel, Z-A-C-H-A-R-Y-F-R-A-N-K-E-L.
You swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Absolutely, yes.