to answer any questions that the board has, or I'll call my client to adopt my testimony.
Mr. Whalen, call your client, please.
Certainly.
Ramton Saniketam should be on the line.
If I'm allowed to speak.
Hi, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Yes, my name is Ramton Saniketan. It is R-A-M-T-I-N-S-A-N-E-E-K-H-A-T-A-M.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
Great. Thank you very much. Mr. Sneeketam, you are here on behalf of the owner of Ali LLC?
And did you hear all of the testimony that was already presented in this case?
And do you believe it to be true and correct to the best of your knowledge and information?
And would you adopt that testimony as your own?
All right.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
questions or comments from the virtual audience
do you know further hands Mr. Chair Mr. Haggerty thank you Chair Bergman Ian Haggerty for the
Philadelphia City Planning Commission members of the board the comprehensive plan recommends a
zoning map change from CMX2 to RSA5 on this property and the entire block actually given
the lot size the existing CMX2 zoning district however would allow two residential units and
one commercial unit. We agree in accord with the comprehensive plan that the lot's location away
from the main commercial corridor presents a hardship for complying with the ground floor
commercial use requirement. However, we believe the proposed dwelling unit count of four is not
connected to the hardship and represents more than the minimum variance necessary, especially
since this is a vacant cleared lot. So our recommendation would be for the board to grant
the variance with a maximum dwelling unit count of three. MI 2022-00049-1326 West Summer Street,
I vote yes with proviso three units. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with proviso. James Snell,
my vote is yes with proviso. Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with proviso. Thank you. Board,
I just have a quick question for you.
We obviously the RCO was in favor of four units, and therefore we did not provide any proviso plan or revised plans.
We don't have any revised plans to be approved by the board today.
So with this just being a use change, I would just like confirmation from Ms. Emerson, if I could, that nothing would be, no further documentation or plans would be necessary as part of this proviso.
Or in the alternative, I would offer that, you know, the fourth unit be provided, be allowed and provided at a workforce housing rate.
This is Hillary Emerson. The proviso is sufficient because we're not stamping.
We don't need we don't need additional plans or anything to stamp. You can work with L&I.
We don't need additional plans or anything to stamp.
You can work with L&I with the proviso that's been provided to submit a new set of plans at the building permit stage.
Thank you very much, Ms. Emerson.
Thank you.
Number three, MI 2021-005-300-1615 West Lehigh Avenue.
Brandon Savron is the attorney, letter of support from coordinating RCO Allegheny West Civic Association.
Also a letter of support from Swamp Poodle Neighborhood Association.
This is Savron Aspen from both of two panelists, sir.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Yes. Good morning, Mr. Chair.
Brandon Saverin, B-R-A-N-D-O-N, S as in Sam, A, V as in Victor, R-A-N.
Right.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed.
Thank you.
May I share my screen?
Oh, hold on a minute.
Could you identify your client and the relationship with this property?
My client's name is Crowdcopia, LLC.
It is the owner of the property.
All right. And Mr. Howellman has a few more questions.
Good morning, Counselor. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
Did you email all of the exhibits and documents as required, such as proof of ownership, tax clearance, copy of the refusal or referral, pictures or drawings of the property five days in advance of this hearing?
Did you meet with the RCO and did you have a letter?
um yes to all those questions mr holliman i just have to revise my prior answer i do waive the
reading of the refusal but i i don't step to its accuracy um i don't think that'll be an issue in
this case but i can explain why in a moment thank you please proceed and share your screen thank you
very much okay uh hopefully uh the board is able to see the refusal um as i mentioned i represent
crowd copia llc who is a uh lender and um as i will uh show you with documentation in a moment
And Crowdcopia came to own this property because its prior owner, who was a borrower from Crowdcopia, was in the midst of a renovation of the property and fell into default on its mortgage loan.
So Crowdcopia took over through a D in lieu of foreclosure and basically embarked on a mission to stabilize the property, both physically and legally.
Um, we don't know whether the prior owner realized this or not, but the property, um, which has had, um, use as three dwelling units since we believe at least 1960 did not have a, um, valid zoning permit.
It had had them in the few, in the past, which I'll show you, but L and I deemed, um, that those zoning permits, uh, to have expired.
We're not quite sure why.
And for that reason, I'm not going to stick to the accuracy of the refusal.
We're really, we have not received a demonstration from L&I as to why the property is considered
to have the need to seek new zoning.
But in any event, we decided to go through that process, went through the RCO process,
basically took a legalization program to the coordinating RCO and obtained their support,
as I'll detail in a moment. So in any event, this is the refusal that's the subject of this case.
This was issued to my client when it went to apply for rental licenses. And as I mentioned,
was surprised that those rental licenses were refused. My client was told that it needed to
obtain a new zoning and use permit, it then went to apply for that. And that was also refused
with a basis that really wasn't detailed. But here we are. So just to give you some background,
this is an exterior shot of the property from a few years ago during prior ownership.
This is where the property is located. It's on West Lehigh Avenue between 16th and 17th.
These are pretty large properties. It's 16 feet wide, as are most of its neighbors,
but 111 feet deep. So even with a building depth that probably exceeds 60 feet, there's a very
large rear yard here, which all of the units have access to through a common door in the ground
floor. Sorry, common door from the basement. This is the front of the property after my clients
Um, this is, this is the front of the property after my clients, uh, uh, painted it, um, and, uh, have a for sale sign because they, they are lenders. I don't know if that's currently up, but their mission is really to get this in legal form and then sell it. Um, they're not in the business of developing or owning properties long-term.
This is the deed in lieu of foreclosure that I mentioned. You can see that this was recorded in December of 2020. Basically, instead of going through the formal foreclosure process through court, the prior owner agreed to execute this deed and transfer the property to Crowdcopia when it fell into default on its mortgage.
This is the most recent zoning and use permit, which is from 2013. There's plenty of others in the zoning archive. Here's one other one from the 60s. You'll see it says present use three family.
but this is the most recent one, 2013, basically reaffirming the three family use as legal
non-conforming. There have also been commercial uses in the ground floor at times, but at least
over the past 60 years, we're not aware of any point in time where the property had more or less
than three residential dwelling units. So that's what it's constructed as. And basically the prior
owner had largely renovated it but was not at the point of having renters in there to occupy the unit.
This is our letter of support from the coordinating RCO, Allegheny West Civic Association.
I attended this meeting myself with two representatives from the lender, my client.
In-person meeting, there were 38 votes of support and no opposition.
This is a letter of support with provisos from another affected RCO, Swampoodle Parcels Association.
Swampoodle also took a stance of support but proposed a few provisos here that my client has no issue with.
If the board is inclined to place one or multiple of these provisos on the zoning permit, that we're agreeable to that.
And just to give the board some context, while there are a few other single family houses on our side of Lehigh Avenue on this block, and that's what the zoning code would require in this location, it's, I believe, an RSA 5 property.
Most of the other properties that are not vacant lots have more than one dwelling unit.
And as I mentioned, that probably is due to the size of these properties.
They're large. So I won't run through this line by line, but I've attempted to list out here all of the properties from end to end on our side of the block,
how many dwelling units are within them according to the zoning archive and the manner in which
those properties were permitted you'll see that many of these properties were permitted through
the zba variance process our property was as well we believe and we are really here to have you
reaffirm that triplex use because the hardship if you were to decline to do so is that this house
would have to be gutted in favor of a single family home and that because quickly I have a
lot of photographs these were all presented to the coordinating RCO at our meeting but when my
clients took over, the property was largely complete in terms of its renovation. It's possible,
I'm speculating, but that the prior owner basically ran out of cash doing this, but it really would be
a shame to have to gut this. These are really generously sized units that could provide three
nice homes to folks in the community. So with that, I would like to bring the client's
representative on to adopt my testimony. And his name is Dan Mastropiri.
Dan, not to speak.
Could you state your name and spell it for our court reporter?
i can't hear anything dan can you hear us
sir you might need to just turn up oh your body i got it okay okay hi could you state
your name and spell for the court reporter uh it's daniel mastro pierre d-a-n-i-e-l
It's Daniel Mastropieri, D-A-N-I-E-L-M-A-S-T-R-O-P-I-E-R-I.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Proceed.
Dan, good morning.
Are you authorized to represent Crowdcopia at this hearing?
Were you able to hear the full extent of my testimony this morning?
Was it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
And would you therefore adopt it as your own testimony?
I would.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Mr. Chair, I have Mr. Charles Richardson with his hand raised.
I will allow him to speak at this time.
good morning mr richardson could you state your name and spell for the court reporter please
good morning mr chair charles richardson from the office of councilwoman cindy bass
uh room 312 city hall richardson is spelled r-i-c-h-a-r-d-s-o-n do you swear or firm to
tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do proceed the councilwoman has no
objection to granting the variance for this multifamily thank you um any other questions
or comments from the virtual audience i see no other hands planning commission thank you chair
bergman ian hegarty for the philadelphia city planning commission members of the board the
comprehensive plan recommends a zoning map change from rsa 5 to rm1 on this block face this proposed
use is consistent with both the prior approved use and with the comp plan recommended zoning
district so the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the variance
thank you mi 2021-005-300-1615 west lehigh avenue i vote yes with provisos trash and recycling
stored indoors, no basement living, no rooftop access structures, rooftop access limited to
maintenance only. Thomas Hollum, my vote is yes with provisos. James Snell, my vote is yes with
provisos ishmael shaheed my vote is yes with proviso thank you council thank you
m m i 2021 005067 2048 wilmot street
letter of non-opposition from councilwoman sanchez letter of approval from frankfurt neighborhood
advisory committee
yanessa santiago labrum is the owner pro se
i'll promote them to panelists at this time sir
i also have a miss eb reyes with her hand raised do i promote her as well
let's let the woman come first okay
good morning good morning hi could you state your name and spell for the court reporter please
yes um good one of the english in spanish bueno dia mi nombre es um jinesca santiago
okay so so do you need an interpreter do you need an interpreter
okay okay hi this is tanya i know what time so we have to we have to have our own interpreter
right we have to i believe i believe she's available um try eb rea um jason i believe
that's the interpreter good thank you no i'm not the interpreter yes it's the funny good morning
i am the interpreter i'm here thank you very much could you state your name and spell for the court
reporter? Yes. My name is Estefania Rubio, E-S-T-E-F-A-N-I-R-U-B-I-O. Do you swear or
affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Proceed. Okay. Mr.
Holloman, you have a few questions? Good morning. Did you email all of the exhibits and documents
as required such as proof of ownership tax clearance copy of the refusal or referral
pictures of the property five days in defense of this hearing did you meet with the rco and do you
have a letter buenos días han envió todos los documentos de anexos antes de la audiencia con 5
and envió todos los documentos anexos antes de la audiencia con cinco días estos documentos
incluyen prueba de propiedad impuestos copia de rechazo derivación en todos los documentos que
tienen que ver con la propiedad y yes thank you please proceed and share your screen
excuse me mr chairman yes did you want to read the uh refusal in the record
do you have it with you there thomas yes yes okay do you read it why do you no problem thank you
i'm sorry this is tanya may i intervene for a second uh the court report court report is
questioning whether she was born in
i'll double check could could you state your name and spell for the court reporter please
thank you
could you have her state her name spell for the court report
jinesca podrías decir tu nombre y deletrearlo para la corte por favor mi nombre es jinesca
santiago lebron y es deletreado y y de punto n e s k a a mi apellido s a n
C-I-D.A-G-O-Lebron-L-E-B-R-O-N.