Thank you.
Thank you.
good morning good morning everyone my name is bill bergman and i'll be chairing this meeting of the
zoning board of adjustment with me is our vice chair tenetta graham president mr chairman board
secretary shell l gaston mr chairman board members michael johns present mr chairman ty
winn mr chairman why mcadams president mr chairman also here is our attorney lynn reuter
uber and our board executive director ian haggerty and our um board administrator lakeisha dandy
this hearing is being recorded and will be posted on this eba website by participating you can
sent 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 your name and spell it and then wait to be sworn
in after swearing in each time you testify please state your name to an end appearance
indicate the property address on the zoom webinar speak with a staff member
call the ZBA office by close of business tomorrow please call 215-686-2429
remote participation raise your virtual hand when directed to speak when we call on you please click
Click the Join as a Panelist button.
Use the Q&A only for procedural questions, not cases itself.
If you are joining by phone, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
In person participation.
If testifying, get close to the microphone so that all attendees and the court sonographer
can hear you.
no talking either you're drinking during the hearings aggressive behavior will not be tolerated
and any emergency follow the instructions given by the staff the main exit is the double doors
at the rear the nearest stairwell is to the left in case of an evacuation go to love park
and please remain there so we can account for you so let's look at our schedule for this morning
Number one, MI 2025-004-587, 4513-15 Tacowano Street.
That case is continued until 1-20-26 at 9.30 a.m.
Number two, MI 2025-004-799, 2425 West Norris Street.
We have no exhibits.
It's just the third listing.
Good morning, Chair.
This is Doreen, and I will be co-hosting this morning's session.
And I don't see any hands.
So MI 2025, 004-799-2425 West Nara Street.
I vote to dismiss.
Michael Johns, I vote to dismiss.
michael johns i vote to dismiss cheryl gaston my vote is to dismiss
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is to dismiss.
tenetta graham my vote is to dismiss brian mcadams my vote is to dismiss hi owen my vote is to dismiss
number eight mi2025 006 006 997 3201 potter street that case has been withdrawn
number nine mi 2025 007 011 3445 um melville street no exhibits second listing
i see no hands chair mi2025-007-011-3445 melvin street i vote to dismiss
will 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
my vote is to dismiss um number 10. mi 2025 007 014 133 marion mart mart martina street
no exhibit second listing
marita street no hands chair um so number 10 mi 2025 007
77014133 Marita Street. That case has been dismissed. I vote to dismiss. Michael Johns,
my vote is to dismiss. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is to dismiss. Tanetta Graham, my vote is to dismiss.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is to dismiss. Taya Wynn, my vote is to dismiss. Number 11, MI2025007385304
west huntington street the cases continue until 1 20 27 at 9 30 a.m
1 20 26 1 20 27 okay 27 yeah oh you're just okay um number 12
MI 2026-001-685, this case is continued, attorney moving party?
Correct.
Attorney moving party.
And number 13, MI 2026-001-738-2326 Emerald Street, this case is continuing until 1-20-27 at 9.30 a.m.
number 17 mi 2026 002 151 2700 west oxford street um this is the first listing we have
I have no exhibits. Leroy Brown is the listed owner.
Oh, a hand was up by Jennifer Bozillo, but it has went down and there are no more hands.
So number 17, MI 2026 002 151 2700 West Oxford Street, cases continue until 1 20 27 at 9 30
number mr chairman mark must be heard okay thank you and 19
mi 2026 002 188 1302 west huntington street this case is continued until 120 27 at 9 30.
are there any other requests for continuances yes chair there's a hand up by jennifer visit low she
will be allowed to speak okay hi chairman this is jennifer visit low the morning council could
you please add a state your name again and spell for the stenographer sure it's jennifer visit low
B as in boy, A as in apple, Z as in zebra, Y, D as in David, L as in Larry, O as in Oscar.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
What case is yours?
2324 Tasker Street.
Sixth.
And I'll just say that.
once you one minute my page is sticking together here no problem i'll wait i didn't know if you
wanted me to keep talking or wait so number six go ahead um so i believe this might be
So, I believe this might be the second continuance, but it's the first listing after we were able to have the community meeting. There is definitely a split vote and no one from the block showed up. We are working on reaching out to the neighbors on the block to talk to them about the project and the support. And so we just would like a little more time to have a little more community outreach on the block itself.
the second continuance but it's the first um listing after
All right, so MI-2025-006-631-2324 Tasker Street.
That case is continued until 1-20-26 at 9-27 at 9.30 a.m.
Okay, thank you.
Any other requests?
Yes, Chair.
There's a hand up by Jasu Garcia.
They will be allowed to speak.
Good morning.
Good morning.
could you please state your name and spell for this stenographer my name is rosway garcia spell
jays and jack o s as insane u e as in edward garcia g-a-r-c-i-a you swear firm to tell the
truth the whole truth nothing about the truth yes what case is yours uh this is case
m i two zero two five what's the location what's your location location is 1304 west hunting park
avenue and 1302 west hunting park avenue i continued those then i can both cases have
been continued sir okay great and and and the continuation it means that there's another court
date and we'll log on again at that point okay thank you very much thank you um any other requests
for continuance there are no more hands all right so i'm going to go to our add-on list
number one mi 2026 002 973 4723 um sheldon street at the request of the parties the vote in this
matter has been rescheduled until wednesday september 2nd at 9 30 a.m number two mi 2026
zero zero two nine seven five four seven three sheldon street at the request of the parties
the vote in this matter has been rescheduled until wednesday september 2nd at 9 30 a.m number three
MI 2025-004-680-5830 Whitby Avenue. The Board is reopening the record in this matter
in order to conduct a resumptive hearing to discuss the revised plans that the applicant
wished to supplement for um consideration uh this will be scheduled for october 6th at 9 30 a.m
is that right correct mr chairman number four mi 2025 003 858 510 to 28 south a street i vote yes
with amended refusal dated 5-13-26. Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston. I, Cheryl Gaston, certified that I watched the video recording
of the July 28, 2026 hearing in this matter, and I vote yes with proviso.
Samantha Graham, my vote is yes with Proviso. Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with Proviso.
I have to certify, right? We have to find a date.
All right, my name is Taya Nguyen and I certify that I watched the video recording of the May 19,
2026 hearing in this matter and my vote is yes oh with proviso yes with proviso all right
number five mi 2026 000 um two set zero zero two seven seven two 118 hillcrest avenue
know. The board is reopening this matter, reopening the record in this matter in order
to take evidence regarding whether the appellant still has standing to bring this appeal. Once
Once determined, oh, okay, that's right.
determine the, oh, okay, that's right.
All right, we will do this on 10-6 at 9.30 a.m.
Number six, MI 2025-004-134-3813 Folsom Street.
I vote yes, proviso, revised plans, one page, stamped by ZBA, August 26, 2026.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes, with proviso.
I, Ryan McAdams, certified that I watched a video recording of the August 18, 2026 hearing in this matter, and my vote is yes, with proviso.
I'm trying to get the end of this one here.
What page is it?
Yeah, I got this here.
Where does it end?
Chairman, page 14.
okay all right so mi 2025 005 993 6100 wissahickon avenue
i vote yes with proviso revised plans two pages stamp by zba on august 26 2026.
michael johns my vote is yes with proviso cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso
tenetta graham my vote is yes with proviso hi excuse me ryan mcadams certified that i watched
the video recording on the august 18 2026 hearing in this matter and my vote is yes with proviso
number eight mi 2025 007 735 2313 north 11th street i vote no michael johns my vote is no
cheryl gaston my vote is no tenetta graham my vote is no i ryan mcadams certified that i watched
the video recording of the August 18, 2026
hearing in this matter, and my vote is no.
Number 10.
Number 9. Oh, here we go. Okay.
Number 9. MI 2026
000480
3251 Fox
Street. The vote in this matter has been rescheduled to Wednesday,
September 2, 2026 at 930 a.m.
Number 10, MI 2026, 001-686-6701 Charles Street, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Tywin, my vote is yes.
Number 11, MI 2025, 006256, 7175 Oconce Avenue.
I vote yes with proviso.
Use limited to 7175 Oguns Avenue, Suite C, and temporary variants that will expire 9-27-30.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
Brian McAdams, my vote is yes with proviso.
I am Wayne, my vote is yes with proviso.
We're going to go to our regular list.
Pardon the interruption, Chair. This is Ian Haggerty. I just wanted to note that there are no more cases for which we need an interpreter, so interpreters are dismissed. Thank you.
Thank you, Ian.
number 15 um we need to call this one am i correct correct mi 2026 001
793 5123 west rod avenue um malita ford is the listed owner
Melita Ford. She's in the audience, and I'm going to promote her now.
lead a four
she's in the
Thank you.
Hello.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
sure it's melita ford m-a-l-i-t-a last name ford f is in for all r is in rima o is an oscar
d isn't all you swear affirm to tell the truth told truth nothing but the truth yes so i i don't
believe we have all of your documents and i'll have our attorney here mention that to you real
quick yes hi miss uh ford hello uh lynn reidel huber board council uh we're missing your proof
of mailing do you have that that's the only thing so i was trying to reach out to someone because
we had a few continuances just because of um the storms and stuff and that was misplaced
that's the only thing i didn't have um i was trying to see last night because we had a last
minute meeting our uh community center flooded so see if i could get some of the people that
was there to say that they did get their notice but um i wasn't able to okay we can't go forward
uh without that proof so this is going to have to be continued okay all right so this case is going
to be continued until 1 20 27 at 9 30 a.m okay can i just ask one question um if i can't find
that would it be okay to how would i get that back because it was just a paper i misplaced
you can call the office for guidance on that. Okay. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Yeah. Number 18. Let's see here. 18. MI 2026 002 157 838 Howard Street.
and and bing lynn is the owner applicant
and bing lynn has been promoted
Good morning. Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
M. Bin Lin. My first name E-M-B-I-N-G. Last name L-I-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Our vice chair has just a few questions for you, sir.
yes sir hi good morning um have you submitted your uh documents and exhibits five days in
advance of this hearing yes okay and you are here because you're trying to legalize a two-family
uh household living yes okay and you understand that your refusal was that um that two-family
household living is prohibited in your rsa5 district yes i understand that's why you've
refused right right okay all right so we have your document so you want to just begin to tell
us what you're trying to do so request to uh formalize formally recognize the existing property
as a duplex and this was a bill uh in 1979 as a so okay sir why don't why don't you do this why
don't you turn your computer on so all your documents will be in front of you okay
you want me to uh show the document yeah are you okay you want me to present yes okay let me share
okay i see i can find my uh presentation so why don't we do this why don't we do this i'll come
back to you in about a half hour and then by then you can have all your things ready okay okay all
All right, thank you.
Thank you.
Number three, MI 2025, 006451, 1108 West.
0-0-6-4-5-1-1-0-8-Wesley High Avenue.
Joseph Ficaro is the attorney.
Joseph Ficaro has been promoted to my analyst.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
good morning good morning mr vaccaro could you please state your name and spell it for
the sonographer good morning may it please the board joseph vaccaro v-a-c-c-a-r-o attorney
for janet ray is the applicant all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do our vice chair has a few questions for
you to share. Thank you. Good morning. 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 your refusals and
stipulate to their accuracy? Yes, I do. All right. Thank you. You can share your screen and proceed
with your case. Okay. Thank you very much. And while my screen is coming up, I'd also like the
record to reflect that Janet Reyes, my client, is sitting to my right in the same room as I am.
And we also have two individuals that are in on the Zoom, Mr. Williams and Mr., I mean, Mrs. Williams, who's an immediate neighbor at 1110 West Lehigh, and Mr. Wayne, who's an immediate, who's a neighbor behind at 1109 Oakdale.
Thank you, Mr. Vicarawani, proceed.
Thank you. So if I could start with my exhibits, as indicated in the application, this is an application to permit four units on the second and third floor, two units per floor, as well as an office on the first floor of this three-story building located at 1108 West Lehigh Avenue.
The reason that we're applying for this type of use for the building is that Janet is suffering from a severe disability.
And that's why I added as the first two pages of the exhibit packet, Dr. Madeline's note confirming that Janet is suffering from FHMC and AVM.
So she's had a craniotomy. It's basically a deformation of the blood vessels in her cranium, in her head, that leads to her brain, which leads to seizures, and she also has a macro adenoma.
it's basically a tumor on her pituitary gland um so she's incapable of work um and she
and since she's incapable of work she's hoping that this building with four residential units
and the one commercial unit uh would be a source of income for her uh she wants to be productive
uh a productive member of of her family of her community and she does not want to rely on public
on public welfare benefits. So that's why she's looking to proceed with this application,
with this building configured as such. By way of additional background, Janet acquired the
building on 9-28-15 from her sister, E.B. Reyes, tax clearance certificate. And I'm going to focus
on the deed that E.B., her sister, her sister E.B., Janet's sister E.B., acquired the building
one year prior in September of 2014 from a sheriff's sale. So that's the bottom paragraph
of the deed. I believe that's page three or page four. I can't make out of the page number.
So E.B. acquired the building from sheriff's sale. She transferred it to her sister Janet,
who's currently applying for this variance I could move move down to page
20 where the plans start now Janet discovered that there was a problem with
the zoning when she tried to install a fire alarm in this in the building when
the fire alarm company informed her that this building is not properly zoned as
configured with the four units and the office on the first floor obviously there would be no use
in the basement no storage it's just the heating units which I'll show you in the exhibit packet
the plans show the red area which is the first floor all red that's the office we have
two units indicated in purple and yellow.
two units, indicated in purple and yellow. And then we have on the third floor, we have pink
and green. And they're all color coordinated here. If I could zoom in, which shows the commercial
space on the first floor would be 717 square feet. Second floor unit, the yellow one, is 331.4.
the second unit rear that's the purple would be 366.4 the third unit in the
front the pink one 366 and a third square feet and the third floor in the
rear is 339 and a half square feet in the back I could zoom out up sorry zoom
out a bit again nobody would be living or using it's to be used as storage only
it's an uninhabitable space and nobody's you even using it as storage this is
this photo shows as soon as you get into the building from the outside to the
left that's the door showing the office staircase going up to the second floor
units scrolling down again that's the door to the first floor unit which is
the office. I could zoom out a bit. And we have some views of the office. There was a little
kitchenette area. And when I say kitchenette, there's just a counter, some cabinets with a
sink. There is no stove in that unit. It's just a break room for the office workers.
There's a restroom on the first floor. Some additional office space in the back.
The first apartment, apartment one, and they're all coordinated with the plans. Stove, kitchen, area, refrigerator. This open door here is the restroom, and I'll show you that in a few moments.
here you go and here's the restroom
i'm sorry yep here's the restroom second floor apartment i mean apartment number two
again on the second floor with the kitchen area
bedroom now this apartment is being occupied by enrique moran which is uh who is janet's uncle
Janet's uncle is the only individual that's occupying this building, and he's basically maintaining the building and keeping an eye on the building and securing the building because, as shown in the last page of my exhibit packet, my client, the building was the victim of a burglary sometime last year, and she doesn't want this building to be a magnet to any criminal activity or any intruders or unauthorized persons.
So she's having her uncle live there to keep an eye on the place.
So, again, here's apartment two.
Then you have apartment three.
And apartment four.
with the exception of uncle Enrique this building has been vacant since the 11 years that it's been
purchased initially by her sister Evie here's a view of the basement with the three heating units
And again, it's unoccupied, uninhabitable.
We have an email of non-opposition from Council Member Jeffrey Young and 18 members of the community at a meeting which occurred on May 20th at the HOPE Partnership for Education.
they voted in favor of this application and this was the 37th Ward RCO. I could
zoom down to the notice that was sent out to the near neighbors with the proof
of mailing and I could skip that and I could show you some additional photos of
parking and the rear of the building. Here's the posting at the main entrance.
Here's a view of the main entrance right next to the church. Another view of the
posting. Here's a side view of the alley. The church has its alley and this house
in question has its alley and they're separated by a gate the electrical
the electrical meters, and here's a view from the back.
meters and here's a view from the back
There typically is some concerns about parking, but there's ample parking on this block of West Lehigh Avenue.
There are many empty lots, as I'll show you, ample parking.
Here's another view.
You can see many ample parking spaces, as well as many empty lots across the street, as well as next to 1110, the neighboring property.
This is the view from the house in question across the street, looking on the north side of Lehigh Avenue.
This building is on the south side of Lehigh Avenue.
Here's a view of the church right next to it with our building.
And it's zoned as RM1. Here's the zoning map of the building. And there are many neighboring
properties that have had multiple units approved. For example, 1101 West Lehigh,
which is across the street seven family was approved I'm sorry I could catch my
page again and I could just identify the other the other neighboring properties
that had such uses approved. We had 1101 as I as I indicated, seven units. We also
have 1103 had multiple units approved also 1107 had three units approved 1109
is vacant 1107 is also vacant trying to make out the address to this property
here five units I think we understand that there's several units in the area
that are multiple family all right and here's the complaint incident report
about the burglary as at this point I'd also like to just show a quick video of
of the block and you're showing us for what reason joke was i mean you showed us the block
up and down one and and it's just an additional view of the block uh as well as the building if
if the board feels that it's unnecessary i think i think you've shown the the block pretty well and
also the building so why don't you bring on your client have the testimony adopted joe yeah come
sit next to me and and watching and while janet sits uh prepares to sit next to me uh she does
have good good communication and good relations with pastor darjan at the roma church which is
right right next door which is right next door he just wasn't able to participate in today's meeting
all right could could you please state your and spell your name for me speak very loudly into the
microphone okay hello um good morning um yes my name is janet reyes say that again a little louder
if you can yes good morning my name is janet reyes um could you spell that yeah sure right
yes it's r-e-y-e-s all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
but the truth yes council thank you can the board hear me well i can joe yeah okay no problem uh
janet have you heard my presentation speak loudly yes okay and do you agree with it
do i say that again why don't you want to get a little closer to the mic for us please
you could hunch down don't worry he doesn't need to see you okay well he needs to see you um
do you agree with my testimony yes is there any corrections that need to be
made to my testimony okay would you adopt it as your own testimony if you
were testifying yourself okay any questions from the board or
counsel questions from the board actually Lynn Riedel Huber I I don't know
we could hear that yes that last yes I just want to make sure that's on the
record okay all right thank you questions from the board yes because we
don't have floor plans while we have images and could you walk me through the layout of
this building i'm trying to understand how we went from a six-bedroom single-family home
in 2001 to a four-unit apartment building in 2026 without
to a four unit apartment building in 2026 without ever pulling any permits
well uh all that janet had done while i find while i find the appropriate page
excuse me well when after this building was acquired it was vacant and all that janet had
done was just was just uh rehab it it was already subdivided as we see uh let me find the exhibits
again I'll go to page so I guess to be clear we're certifying that when it was
acquired at the share sale in 2014 that it had already been subdivided into four
units is that correct yes yes Janet says yes okay okay here we go so we have can
am I sharing this no I'm not no you know okay okay miss when can you see the
plans yes okay so we have the first floor plans over here indicated in pink
and my cursor's over that so when you come in when you come into the building from the street here
are the steps walking up and i showed you the photographs with the open door to the left and
the stairs going up yeah okay okay so here's the commercial space a restroom that staff area with
that kitchenette without the stove and an inner office which is where my cursor is and here's
that back door that I showed you when I showed you the back shot okay this
actually answers my question I don't need and it's on page 21 of the exhibit
packet okay and then just to be clear the commercial space is the only tenant
that has access to that basement let's confirm that was Janet is the commercial
tenant the only one with access to the basement or can anybody access the
basement just you okay so where do you access the basement from the outside or
the inside from outside okay so so you access the basement from the outside
we're in the front or in the back of the building in the back so there's a
stairwell from the from the rear yard is it that's currently the only access
into the basement okay okay she said yes is is it this is it this little is it this little
staircase over here on the upper right hand corner of the basement where my cursor is she said yes
and then given this was done without permit understand it was this condition when you
bought and you just rehabbed it are you open to uh requirement for a co yes absolutely absolutely
Can you tell me where the trash is going to be placed, where the units are going to
store the trash?
The trash is going to be held in the back, correct?
In the back.
Where in the back?
Because the picture that you showed us, it was open.
It wasn't enclosed.
Let me go to that photograph.
and of course everybody will have access to get into the back right absolutely absolutely
they have to throw their trash out of course I mean we're getting there
It's that area where the trash units are going to be, you know, the trash containers are going to be put in.
Other questions?
Yes. It says here that a minimum of 425 square feet of lot area is required per dwelling unit.
so can you walk me through how many square feet we have for each one of these units again please
sure gladly go to
it's on page 21 of the packet the commercial space on the first floor would be 717 square feet
but that's not a dwelling unit correct correct i would just go in line by line here uh you have the
the second floor unit the the yellow one so that would be the second floor in the front okay
Okay, 331.4, second floor unit in the...
331.4 second floor unit in the rear that's the purple right here that would
be 366.4 the and then on the third floor you have the front unit which is the
red one over here mm-hmm that would be 366.3 and third floor rear 339 and a
half which is this one okay and and i'm referring to page 21 of the packet yeah well my concern and
again usually this is the concern of one of my other board members but um that there's really
very little in terms of any kind of living area in these because these are uh much smaller than
this is not a de minimis difference in terms of the um uh square footage per dwelling unit
this is pretty significant and um so that these are very tight and very small and the living area
is practically non-existent so you know that's my concern i think that it's too many units for
the space that is allotted.
Well, this is what we have here, but the units are very tall.
Janet, do you know how tall the units are?
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
You can't live on the ceiling, so.
14 feet up.
It's 14 feet up.
Yeah, well, that's nice.
wait do you mean the ceiling height the ceiling are you sure because i'm looking at the facade of
the building and it doesn't look like i've got a 14 foot floor plate on every okay but that
oh she's just referring to the first floor yeah but that's because it includes the
the basement out of the yes right okay i'm just saying that this is these are these are like
micro units, if you will, and I'm very concerned about that. And I think that, you know, in terms
of the density, it's too many units for the space. Other questions? Questions from our attorney?
No questions at this time, Mr. Chairman. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
yes chair there are two hands up the first hand is um a person with the last name starting in a
and they will be promoted sure thank you very much you're welcome
good morning good morning i um i do apologize my question is not related to this case
okay so then please let us concentrate on this case we'll get back to you okay
Sure. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else in the audience?
Yes, Chair. The next hand is Timothy Wayne.
Hi, Timothy. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
himacy wayne hello you're allowed to speak hi could you please state your name and spell for
the sonographer can you guys hear me i can sir okay yeah uh himacy wayne uh h-i-m-i-t-h-y last
name wayne w-a-y-n-e do you swear or firm to tell the truth told truth nothing but the truth
I do are you a neighbor yes so uh we share all right please proceed yeah we share backyard so
my backyard meets with her backyard and you know I'm out there sure why don't why don't you tell
me where you stand on this case uh I'm just a neighbor and they told me um just to get my input
on you know I mean what's going on with the building and if I agree I said sure
so they told me to join the zoom and I'm here all right so you're in favor of the project
uh correct all right thank you very much for taking the time to call us next hand please okay
there are no more hands planning commission
good morning liz fuselay l-i-z-f-u-s-e-l-i-e-r for the planning commission do you swear or affirm
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth please proceed
to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes sir please proceed
comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing rm1 residential multifamily zoning at
this location the property has a history and documented use as a single unit rental
the appellant has not demonstrated any unique physical circumstances or conditions of the
property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code
the city planning commission recommends the board deny the requested variance for a multi-family
dwelling thank you mi 2025 zero zero six five one one 13 30 west rockland street i vote no
michael johns my vote is no cheryl gaston my vote is no
tennetta graham my vote is no ryan mcadams my vote is no iowen my vote is no
I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman. There was a proviso on that, so it would have to be no with proviso.
Okay. Her amended refusal dated March 27, 2025? 2026.
Would everybody else agree with that proviso? Why don't we go through it one more time?
Yeah, why don't you do that again? Great.
yeah sure yeah that's right
michael johns my vote is michael johns my vote is no with proviso
cheryl gadsden my vote is no with proviso tenetta graham my vote is no with proviso
ryan mcadams my vote is no with proviso tyo and my vote is no with proviso
thank you number four mi 2025 006 511 1330 west rockland street jermaine harris is the attorney
jermaine harris is joining as a panelist morning mr harris
yes hello hi mr harris could you please state and spell your name for the stenographer
uh sure uh jermaine harris uh counsel for your van haquez uh trying to get my can i be seen
We don't see it yet, Jermaine. No. You're up, but we didn't see it. Why don't we do this? Did you spell your name for the sonographer?
Oh, okay. Okay. I see myself now. Okay. It's J-E-R-M-A-I-N-E-H-A-R-R-I-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Mr. Harris, could you identify your client, a relationship to the property?
sure my client is uh yervin jacques and the relationship uh i'm the attorney uh i'm the
attorney for mr jacques and mr jacques is the owner of the project thank you very good our
vice chair has a few questions sure good morning have you submitted your documents and exhibits
five days in advance of this hearing i have okay and do you wait to read another refusal
Yes, I do, and I do stipulate to the accuracy.
Okay, thank you.
You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
Okay, so this is, let's pull up my, okay.
So this is for the property at 1330 Rockland Street, and this is to legalize four units
in this property.
Now, this is the property right here.
This is the front of the property, the side right here, and the rear.
When my client purchased this property, it was already subdivided.
Now, this property has, it's a pretty large property.
It has, the lot size is 3,341 square feet, according to the city's records.
And the building size is about 2,100 square feet.
and the building has three separate entrances.
And the building has three separate entrances. You have one entrance. Hold on. Let's see here. You have one entrance right here. This goes to the second and third floor of the building.
You have
then you have a side entrance right here this goes to the first floor right here
and then you have the rear entrance which is for the lower level so again it's uh three separate
uh entrances for uh this building and uh let me pull up the plans
so what my client is seeking to do is uh what is already laid out as itches uh two bedrooms
Um, this is the basement level, the lower level. Uh, this is the plan right here. That's on the
far left that I have the cursor on. Uh, two bedrooms, which will be towards the front
with egress, uh, windows, uh, right here and right here as noted in the plans.
then we have well each of these units would be two bedrooms uh one bath so we move up uh
to the first we we move up to the uh first floor here's the entrance as i pointed to
you move up there and then uh you have the two bedrooms
right here and right here which is towards the rear of the house you have
the front entrance which then goes up to the second and third floor and the
second and third floor you have a bedroom in the front you have a bedroom in the rear
then you go up and then it would have the third floor which would be
the fourth unit it would be a bedroom in the front and then a bedroom on the side
as part of plans let me show you what it looks like on the inside
yeah so how many units stick all together four so one for each level that's what uh
is being requested you did you initially request eight they did request well i didn't request eight
They pro se requested eight, but they're only requesting four, one for each level, not eight.
Hold on.
Let's see here.
Hold on.
That's not it.
All right.
so this is the posting let's get to the inside all right so this is the lower the basement level
leading out to the back
bedroom bedroom then this is the first floor
Then this is walking into the, well, this is the first floor, this is the other entrance, walking upstairs to the second and third floor.
Now, my client lives on the second floor. I forgot to state that my client lives on the second floor, but the basement, first floor, and third floor are not occupied.
So, again, this is the second floor bedroom, just went through the kitchen, the bathroom,
So again, this is the second floor bedroom.
living room.
And then you go up to the third floor, I mean, did the flooring, painting, and all of that
is that that's the third floor uh these are well we just went over the plans um
there was opposite uh there was uh support for this it was 11 in support 10 in opposition for it
um there was only one nearby neighbor that it looks like uh that voted
it. We have nine signatures of nearby neighbors that did actually, that does actually support
the project. Then we see that there are multiple family, multi-family units on this block,
stock, 3 units, 14 units, 6 units, 5 units. Let's see here. This goes into the size of
the building. And a lot size, then we have my client purchased the property in 2023.
And then there's no tax obligation factors at 1,300 and we have all your paperwork. Okay.
Okay, so what I'd like to do is I would like to call my client, have him promoted, so that way.
What's his name?
Mr. Jacquez.
Mr. Jacquez, could you raise your hand so you could be promoted as a speaker?
he has been from yes he's been promoted okay mr jacques uh could well could you state your name
for the record please state your name please and spell for the stenographer mr jacques
mr jack i'm sorry uh urban jack was uh y-r-v-i-n jack was j-a-q-u-e-z do you
swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
could you please turn on your video
okay thank you counsel okay so mr jockhead did you hear my testimony that i just gave uh to this
to this board yes okay uh do you agree with the testimony that i gave yes is there anything
that you would like to add
to the testimony that I've given?
You don't necessarily have to,
but is there anything you'd like to bring
that you'd like to add
to what I just testified to?
No, you can cover everything.
Questions from the board?
I have a question.
Looking at the records,
it looks like you purchased this property in 2001
and then subsequently have been getting
continuous stop work order violations from LNI since then and I just want to
know what is your plan to finish this property what my plans with the court
the size okay all right did you understand the question mr mr jacques
uh what am i yes what are my plans to finish the project well yeah because you started the project
without pulling permits which is prohibited and you're coming to us and asking us to give you
relief so i just want to know what like how are we moving differently in the future as we
complete this project i'm gonna get more involved because uh the contractor i had uh he's the one
The contractor I had, he's the one that was supposed to get all that solved.
that was supposed
But I'm going to get more involved and contact the correct people.
And then looking at your plans, it seems like it might already be in the basement, but there's a plan to put a unit in the basement.
but you have a solid concrete plinth and then you have the basement.
So right now there are no, there's no easy way to get egress wells.
You're showing an egress well coming out underneath the porch that is solid concrete.
And so how are you, how are you going to be able to get this unit
so that people have access to light and air?
Could I, if I may, because the contractor, I believe is also on a call
and I think he could answer that question more so than the owner if I could have him promoted.
Is that possible? Sure. Okay. Mr. Rodriguez,
could you raise your hand, please? Is he with Properties, Inc.? Yes. Okay.
they have been promoted okay mr rodriguez did you hear the question that hold on hold
on hold on mr rodriguez could you please state and spell your name
mr rodriguez can you unmute yourself yes good morning sir could you please state and spell your
name yeah my name is damaso spelled d-a-m-a-s-o rodriguez
all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes would you turn to your video one two please yes sir one second
counsel start your conversation okay so uh mr rodriguez i believe that a question was posed
about how the egress could be accomplished for the windows in the uh for the rooms in the basement
I don't want to miss
I don't want to miss
I don't want to misquote the panelists
so maybe if he could be asked that question again
I mean I think you hit it
on the nail council but my question is
given that this has a plinth
and then the basement is up
out of the ground it currently looks
like it's solid concrete
how are you going to
get the egress wells in where they're
indicated on the plan because currently they would
terminate where that's underneath the porch yeah we're gonna do an opening on
the concrete and we want to do a support where support beams so we can
have the opening on there I mean that's still gonna have very poor light and air
into the basement and your plans currently don't address what's
happening with the utilities, which are currently in the basement. So I think right now, as
the plans are shown, I'm just concerned about property management and density.
Yeah, we're going to be working with our engineer. So everything is according to with
utility from the city. So when we do the excavation, we don't disturb that in the service.
all right other questions yes what's your management plan for the uh michael we'll get to you
can you repeat the question again uh the trash um where's the trash going to be stored for um
all four units we're going to try to locate like a um steel indicator probably on the front side
so we're just trying to decide where we're going to put it but we're going to put like at least
for um can for each unit
and you don't know where you're going to put it we're trying to see it like the side i believe
you can do the side or the back yeah so you don't know where you're going to store the trash
no but we're going to have an idea at least in the side or in the back or like exactly we're
going to have that so we's like i say as soon as we do the opening we can store sure exactly
what we're going to organize it okay thank you you're welcome michael who who prepared the plans
were these plans prepared by you guys who were with whether plans prepared for you guys that you
for you guys that you have it was prepared for us okay then why wouldn't they show exactly what
have it was prepared for us okay
you're saying um when the plans were prepared so that makes no sense to me you have to answer that
um i don't see it i don't i don't see a section for the for the third floor for the building
but clearly there's a man starting the front in the back and the third floor unit
there'll really be no living space because of the ceiling height and the fact that the ceiling
slopes on the third floor so you've got a big kitchen and really nowhere to for headroom and
the rest of that third floor and i agree with um board member when on the basement you've got
windows that you've already put in that don't comply um with code so i'm i'm just not convinced
and what i do have a question what is that the the vinyl siding box on the side of the
building with the door what is that what is that for the siding the the side of the building there's
a vinyl siding there's a vinyl siding covered um looks like a room i don't is that a closet
it doesn't you don't it doesn't show on the plan that it goes to anything
it's a it's a can you pull up the plan sure it's right there in the photo that you have
it's in the photo right there at the right yeah yeah yeah yeah right here right here right here
right right it was that yeah i don't recall exactly that that's something we got to ask
the owner right now because i haven't been in the property many times so
okay it's the boiler the boiler is there yeah the electric i'm sorry yeah the electric heater
the boiler is oh the boiler okay and then between the basement you've got a room next to the entryway
this is mechanical room okay all right all right thank you that's right other questions
um i'll just um chime in and just say that i'm very concerned about the idea of a basement unit
seeing as how as has already been pointed out by other board members there's no real light or air
down there and i'm also concerned about the density it's too many units too little space
questions for attorney um not really a question i just wanted to make sure on the record you're
asking for four units not the eight units that were in the application correct correct it's
four units that's being asked for all right all right questions or comments from the virtual
audience anybody have a no hands planning commission morning liz fusely on behalf of the
philadelphia planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rta1 zoning at
this location the property has a documented history of multi-family use however eight
units is not the least variance necessary to afford zoning relief the city planning commission
recommends that the board deny the variance for multi-family use mi 2025 0 0 6 5 1 1 13 30
west rockland street i vote yes maximum two units no basement living uh 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. Tya Nguyen, my vote is yes with proviso.
Before we go into the next one, number three, we're going to vote one more time. MI 2025
006451-1108 Wesley High Avenue, I vote no with proviso. Per amended refusal dated
March 27, 2026.
Michael Johns, my vote is no with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is no with proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is no with proviso.
Ryan Wynn, my vote is no with proviso.
Mr. Harris?
Mr. Harris?
I had, I just promoted him again. Sure. Oh, good. Thank you. So we'll move on to number 7. MI 20, 25, 0, 0, 6, 7, 2, 8, 18, 0, 2. Kendrick Street. Jermaine Harris is the attorney.
Yes. Uh, good afternoon. Mr. Harris, just for the record, could you please state your name? Because you've already been sworn.
State your name, because you've already been sworn.
Jermaine Harris.
Jermaine
Could you identify your client, a relationship to the property?
My client is Michelle Kendrick, and her relationship is the owner of the property, and I represent
the owner of the property.
Thank you, Jermaine.
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 have and do you waive the reading of the refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy I do okay thank you can see your screen and see
what your case okay okay share screen
Okay. Hold on. Let me pull up my exhibit. I had the last ones pulled up.
okay so this is for the legalization of a two-family
uh building at 18 again at 1802 kendrick street um that was previously subdivided
uh and here are the plans uh let me pull up the actual
packet
okay all right so
this is the uh this is the building the building that i'm uh pointing at on the left
And this is the front of the building. This is the side. This entrance is for the upper two floors.
and this is the rear of well yeah this is the rear which is for the
basement unit and when my client bought the property she bought it I believe it was last
year it already was fitted out as a basement unit the rear unit the garage door was knocked out
the bay window was placed in there um like i said with this entrance and then
it was framed out uh it's it's currently framed out uh this is the basement currently
a new bathroom. A bathroom was put in there. And then this is the first floor right here.
This is, the kitchen is, living room, one of the bedrooms, one of the bedrooms, bathroom, bedroom, another angle of the bedroom on the second floor, still another angle.
another angle of the bathroom, and let's get to the plans. Let me get back to the plans.
this is uh unit one which is the uh lower level which has the entrance
this is i guess uh this would be kitchen and then it would be bedroom and then bedroom
and this would be this is the uh front of the building so it would be under under the front
uh this is the bedroom two bedroom one and that's what it that that's what it is uh this has it the
what it that that's what it is uh this has the the layout is actually pretty uh different of
this building because it has like steps uh like like three steps and three steps i so i didn't
really understand the architecture of this building uh but it doesn't lead to upstairs
into the upstairs unit this is all this is all still downstairs then we have the
second floor or the main I guess the main floor of the building where it has
the entrance going to the kitchen and then you have bedroom one and then you
have going when you walk into the building you step up and you step up into
Union into a bedroom then you step down I guess you step you step down into the
kitchen and then you have another set of steps to go to the upstairs and so you
walk upstairs and then you have this is three uh it's three bedrooms for the bi-level uh apartment
so to speak and you have bedroom number three and bedroom number two so
So that's the layout of the bi-level apartment, so to speak, which comprises the second and third floors or the main floor and the floor upstairs.
Let me go back to my exhibits.
these are the plans that we just discussed we had there was uh
well before i get to the support of the neighbors there was opposition from
the rco
there was opposition from the rco there was community meeting that was held
on april 16th and they had they explained to us that they had although they understood that the
property had been converted previously uh they just have a long-standing uh preference of not
wanting multi-family units in their area uh although they understood uh what my client bought
into um there were notably there wasn't any there there there wasn't any nearby neighbors
uh that appears to have voted in that uh presentation or that was present there
now we did my client had the opportunity to go door by door and speak to the neighbors that were
nearby and there is there was significant uh support from the nearby neighbors and uh it's
55 signatures that was obtained for the support of this project and also there are some rental
there are some multi-families there is a history of multi-families on this block in fact right
next door to my client's property. There's a five unit, which is 1800 Kendrick Street.
Directly across the street, there's 1801 Kendrick Street, which is a two family. 1831, it's
five units. And 1834, there was approval for five units. I just discussed the RCO community meeting.
This is my client's evidence of ownership. She's owned the property since September of 2022.
tax there's no tax obligations and what I'd like to do is I would like to
And what I'd like to do is I would like to have my client, Michelle Cedric, I'd like to have her, Sittler, have her promote it as a role.
All right.
Miss Sittler, are you there?
If you are, raise your hand.
What was the name again?
Sittler.
Michelle.
She just came on.
Great.
they have been promoted to panelists okay miss oh i'm sorry no it's okay
i counsel i mean uh miss sittler could you please state and spell your name for the stenographer
michelle sidler can you please unmute
Michelle, yes, I'm I'm here. I'm here. Okay. Okay. What was the new? Wait, wait. Wait 1 minute.
Could you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer? Okay. Michelle, see where I'm Michelle.
And settler.
Yes, did you spell your last name?
sidler s-i-d-l-e-r right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth yes i do okay uh miss sidler uh how are you doing this morning um did you have an opportunity
to hear the testimony that i just gave to uh this uh to the board yeah and do you agree with the
testimony that i just gave yes okay is there anything you would want to add to what i testified
to or you don't have to but is there anything that you want to add or not necessarily i won't
just finish my project and move over there closer to my son and like make my help i would i am
farmer i want retired and i really want like move to this house and like help something with rent
one apartment to like with my pension plan and close to my son because my son lives across the
street your son lives across the street okay okay um all right and do you adopt the testimony that i
just yes okay all right so i guess with that we would open it questions for questions from the
board uh yeah can you go back to the plan again just quickly sure um a couple things you've got
the there's a concrete deck out front correct yes there is yes so um i don't know how you're
going to get the you got to get you got to get egress wells out of that basement bedroom right
yes i know that they put something i these are these appear to be windows for that i mean that
i think that this with this reflect that's why they have windows with arrows right here and
windows what what yeah i'm i'm just i'm looking at google right and earth and it shows the concrete
deck in front of the house um so i don't know how you get those windows to you've got to get
regress windows out of the out of the um out of the out of the bedrooms right yes yes of course
yeah right so so so so that's an issue you've got so the access to the basement unit is off the side
correct that's correct and there's a walkway that goes from the front of the house to the back of
house potentially correct okay okay okay and is that is that wall and door where it says living
living dining room is that a is that a door and a is that door there off of the hallway when you
come in that's there there is no door there it's just the basement was just framed out
from the prior owner where they like like i showed in uh the photos it was just framed out
they put a bathroom there they put they eliminated okay all right so and it's in the
basically the first floor and second floor are is a three-bedroom unit kitchen living room
two bathrooms okay um all right uh i think i understand how it works how it works
all right uh i think i understand how it works how it works other than there's got this weird
closet that's at the top of the stair from that second unit to living room which completely is
like illegal but okay all right where are you where are you storing the trash i guess that's
the other question miss sittler you want to store it in the where do you plan on storing the trash
the side there's a trash all the time like an old neighbor has on the book or on the side of the
building all buckets stay no okay on that on on the side between the houses that's where that's
where it shows on google earth okay all right thank you i just want to like the plans are are not
accurate to the existing conditions of this property are we abandoning the current front door
that faces or that is off Kendrick Street the front door you see where your arrow is right here
yeah so that door is currently on the deck but then the door that you're showing that is the
access to the basement is inverted it's on a completely different side of the basement I mean
of the of the building so i think my confusion is that right now while the plans as drawn make
sense this is an existing building and you have doors that are on completely opposite sides
of the structure that would then invalidate everything that we're looking at and so
i'm having a hard time understanding how this is going to be laid out and then what is existing
versus what needs to be completed
and what is proposed.
Yeah, it is a little weird
how they show it,
but that door is actually...
It's correct.
It's correct.
When I look at the Google Earth,
it's correct.
Because the door in the front
is off the side.
Because they're showing them
on the same side
and they're on opposite sides.
They are.
They are on Google Earth
on the picture.
I don't know if you show pictures
of the building.
I'm on Google Earth
and they're on opposite...
I'm looking at them
and they're on opposite sides.
maybe maybe maybe we're looking at two different buildings but i see them on the same side
can you can the can the attorney pull up the pictures of the exterior
germaine disappeared
this one and that door is right there germaine the other door is right here and on the plan
there on the same side yeah i think that they yeah because they're you're they're the second
house from the corner right 1802 is the second one from the corner and it shows two doors one
in the front and one on the both on the side between the two houses but they're both on the
side one is towards the front of the house see if we can find our attorney here jermaine
It was, I didn't, was there a photo of that wall? It, it, it just looks different.
Jermaine Harris is still on there. He's just not talking.
He's not, he's might be froze or something.
All right. Um, and while you're asking questions, I don't understand the bathroom on the third floor.
there with the bi-level unit is that with a shower
it's little it shows a shower and um toilet in a in a small sink right off that hallway right
right right yeah but it shows a full bathroom though so okay we're going to come back we're
going to move on we'll come back to this before we're done this morning and to see if jermaine's
available. So let's, let's go back to number 18 and we'll come back to this a
little bit later.
We're coming back to 838 South Howard Street and Bing was the appellant.
hello yes sir did you get straight with your computer yeah yeah so okay uh you've already
been sworn and you've already been uh so why don't you start your presentation turn your
computer on okay let me share my name just state your name for the record okay mbin lin okay
Let me share my file.
Let me share my file.
Okay, we see it, so why don't you start telling us what you want to do here?
can you see my slide yeah it's it's up okay present present for uh 838 south halvard street
why don't you start okay thank you so much sure so this is a request to formally recognize the
existing property as a duplex okay and uh so so why don't you start moving through show us the
property and plans and things of that nature okay so this is a clear the text uh so let me quickly
say that uh thank you so much remember about this probably as a view was in 1979 it's a block of
six duplex and it built at the same time and uh so it was already functioning as a tool home
for each duplex so why i'm requesting there's no construction nothing no expansion
and so allow this duplex continue as a duplex okay so why don't you show us the property
so so this was six duplex built at the same time in 1979 okay and this is uh uh i made with the
uh sir sir sir listen to me why don't you show us the duplex the photo that you have in your file
okay okay this is uh uh the front door okay no no we you you don't have anything up sir
all we see is the headline that says presentation four now we we don't see what you have so why
don't you show us the documents oh i saw you uh let me try to bring up right i think you've got
to bring them up yourself on the side here see the side hi mr lynn this is ian hegarty the executive
director i'll help you through this so there you go there you go yeah that looks like you
you have the photo there um you're right now you're showing us the window that just has the
um the powerpoint program instead of the presentation so i think what you might need
to do is to start um stop sharing and then start your presentation and then start sharing again
so we can see the presentation screen instead of the screen that shows where you edit the document
does that make sense oh sorry about it i saw you can see that oh no that's okay happens a lot no
worries so can you see this diffusion can you see this so mr ling go ahead and stop sharing
and then um start sharing again and show us oh yeah and now start sharing again but just
share the screen that says presentation instead of the PowerPoint document.
Let me see.
Say stop sharing.
You want me to stop sharing?
yeah so the screen that we are seeing now is the screen where you edit your presentation
the screen that we want to see is the screen that shows the final presentation right so
those are two different um application windows that you from what you'll have to select so what
you'll have to do is stop sharing and then start again and select that correct uh second version
which is the final presentation yeah can you put it in the mailbox and her
yeah mailbox should be open germaine germaine germaine your mute yourself
okay oh so i need to bring up my my powerpoint
so what do you see now but we we don't see it sir we're still seeing we're still seeing your
powerpoint uh presentation where you edit the presentation instead of the presentation itself
so um what i would suggest is uh stop sharing stop sharing yep and now click start sharing
uh stop sharing stop sharing yep and now click start sharing again but before you press anything
you're going to see a few options the one at the top that says entire screen
and then below that you see application windows do you see that
do you see a section that says application windows when you're press select screen
sorry why don't you press uh share screen
sir on the right hand on the right top corner do you see a section that says application windows
um i don't see application window do you see something that says entire screen
and a button
He's saying after you hit that share screen button at the bottom of your Zoom application, it should open it to a new window, and that window will either tell you to share your entire screen or the application windows, meaning your document that you have open.
So I choose entire screen?
Yes, why don't you choose entire screen?
Oh, I see, I see, I see.
Then we'll see what you see, okay?
Okay, now I know that.
thank you sir nice job so then what do i do
so we see what you see so just bring up uh bring up your presentation there there you go beautiful
okay oh now i understand okay so this is a refusal that that was in my file yep yeah so these are
the text is clean yep and uh so again thank you both members so uh this probably was built
as a sixth duplex in 1979 they are all identical the six due process and uh so i request that uh
this basically is very low relief there's no construction no expansion nothing just
recognize this is a duplex all right why don't you show us the properties or the
pictures yeah the show is the property show the pictures yeah so these are the
six duplex view at the same time and I met with the Queen's village neighborhood
Association on June 10 so they after my presentation they approve this
support they support my my request so this is a A38 South Howard Street and this is the main
entrance going in and there's a stairs the downstairs this unit one up there's you need
two okay so right hand side you can see the unit two so this is the back the first floor is gosh
there's a uni one you need two up there so i uh share this before the uh community meeting
so again this is a front door the main entrance
so this is a uni one you can see the three pictures and there's a unit two
so let me just quickly summarize so so so let me ask this question is all the properties along
their duplexes all six houses are all plexus they are all duplex okay thank you yeah you
in the same time in 1979 okay okay so supporting this request in the community's best interest
it keeps the party function as it always like this in the past
it simply allowed the building to be used as it was originally designed
and promote the stability prevent vacancy and the use so preserve that the way it is
and so the artificial context is just being consistent as the neighborhood okay so that's
all I want to say any questions questions from the board yes how where are the tenants storing
their trash oh this uh there's a this front yard okay this is the inside is a common use
at entrance and also there's a front yard
the basement but i mean the the garage is a uh the trash there okay thank you yeah other questions
the basement i mean the the garage is
questions or comments from our attorney no questions at this time mr chairman
uh questions or comments from the virtual audience there are no hands planning commission
good morning liz fuselay on behalf of the philadelphia planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing rsa 5 residential single family
attached zoning this is a predominantly single family use neighborhood and block the appellant
has not demonstrated that there are unique physical circumstances or conditions of the property
that would prevent them from being used in conformance of the zoning code city planning
commission recommends the board deny the requested variance for a multi-unit dwelling
mi2026002157838 south howard street i vote yes michael johns my vote is yes
sarah gaston my vote is yes tanetta graham my vote is yes ryan mcadams my vote is yes
iowen my vote is yes you have your vote sir okay thank you so much thank you uh jermaine
jermaine is rejoining us now
what happened what what are you straight now we're good i'm i'm i god willing i'm i should be good
um you got a chance to be a stand-up comedian because you got the whole place
all right questions from the board for jermaine where you have the picture
so you have pictures of the the building the exterior the exterior of the building sure
specifically the entrances right yeah from the outside these are the two
not not saying anything
you got it you got to share oh i'm sorry i thought i shared all right
okay let's get back to it
right this and this right right see they're both on the side and this is the current condition
this is a current photo of the house correct okay that answered my question
i have one quick question did you say the house adjacent to it is also a multi-family
yes do you know what that address would be 1800 8200 okay and 1801 directly
across the street from that building which would be this one right here and then just because the
it looks like there's been considerable hard surfacing and hardscaping at the site versus
what's currently in um google google maps or google earth what is going to be the sort of
security plan and outside trash plan at the site so i believe she testified that she would place it
on the side a bit miss sidler um you know because i don't want to speak for her because it also
looks like the the deck was removed right let's see right that that was that was what i mentioned
first was the deck was removed and the concrete pad was put in so they've got to make sure that
they have legitimate egress wells out of the the basement um right in the front
uh but let me uh if i could i'd like to just have miss sittler
um be promoted again okay hopefully she's still on the call
miss sittler could you raise your hand please
he's coming in now okay
there was the up a lot and I guess they're not opposed to a CEO.
All right, Jermaine, your client's one.
Okay. Ms. Sittler, I'm sorry.
I just wanted her to be available to answer any questions that I may not,
that only the owner may be able to answer. So, um,
So I don't think I don't think I need an answer to that.
I don't think, I don't think I need an answer to that.
You know, if you get a CEO, you've got to have egress windows that that meet code.
Right. I think, you know, you've got two side doors. One enters directly into the basement.
You can go out to the I think the layout kind of works. I don't have that personally don't have an issue with it.
It's just got to comply with code. That's the thing. And the front windows in the basement bedroom just do not.
so they got to get a co or whatever they got to get permits questions
um i do have a question i was asking about security because there's a driveway at the
rear of the property and before there was a fence and it looks like from your photos
that the fence the perimeter fence was moved
yes do you did you i i guess there was a question about do you plan on having any
sort of security for the uh rear of i i guess for the building do you plan on having any fencing or
anything maybe fencing on the front where is the patio and the cameras
did you under i'm not sure miss when did you understand what my client just said
i know could you could you tell us i put cameras she said cameras and fencing
maybe fencing i don't know yet like on the front like everybody has like my neighbor across the
street and is your plan to like on the view that we're looking at right now on the photo
are you going to use that as parking uh this is on the back it's like parking like everybody has
on the side like we split this is a backyard with the neighbor
correct where the stairs are uh-huh yeah
and you built those stairs in partnership no it was exist it was exist
this well this the concrete stairs existed when you purchased the property
uh it was different but i fixed it it was like very old you know and i just
fix it like for uh like nice okay understood questions from our attorney
yes um i wanted to clarify is there parking at this um location
no okay i thought you just mentioned there was parking no i'm not parking right now nobody
there's nobody parked okay um there is that area that looks like flat that's cement what is that
used for uh what do you mean the flat cement it just picture that your lawyer i'm sorry just let
just put on the record so it can be descriptive um the picture that your attorney is showing
is of the building and right next to it it looks like two could be used as two parking spaces and
it's cement and then there's like steps that are going up what are those for no this is you you
you can't use like for a parking for two spaces not enough place over there it just puts a garbage
can on there on the uh on the side and talking area that's it like maybe for barbecue can you
go back to the photo that you just had up of the of the rear of the property with the stained glass
sure so then this might be a better view this is that same this is like if you this is the this
is adjacent to the alley okay i just want to clarify because so like this is where all the
other neighbors are parking like up against their house in that in that spot okay and also uh there
is there also street parking uh is there also street parking miss uh siddler in front of the
house yeah it's a lot of parking covered there on the streets these are twin houses right on this
block is that the character of these uh houses is that they're twin yeah okay uh the reason why i
is asking if you're saying there's no parking uh just wanted to put on the record that the
refusal for parking is missing and if the board grants the request there would be a variance for
um this parking if um if it is approved
do you hear that charming there would be i i heard a couple voices i'm sorry could you repeat that
please sure um you're saying that there's no parking and if that's so i just wanted to note
on the record that a refusal for the parking is missing so that if the board grants this request
So that if the board grants this request, there will be a variance.
There will be a variant for parking.
For parking that's included in the approval.
Okay, yeah, but we have parking like on the back, uh, on the back of this house.
It's like back from other house over there.
Why should your comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, chair, um, Alice, you will be allowed to speak.
good morning alice yeah it's like good morning chairman members of the board alice
udovich from councilman brian o'neill's office just spell your last name please alice u-d-o-v-i-c-h
you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth alice
i do please proceed chairman um you can picture the northeast as being built with the end units
being duplexes however the entire rest of the row are small single-family twins this is a complete
overuse of this property trying to fit a small apartment in that basement which doesn't even
seem to be a full sized basement um as you saw from Ron Hurst it was unanimously opposed and
the councilman um opposes this project as well thank you very much is there anyone else in the
virtual audience planning commission good morning liz usually on behalf of philadelphia planning
commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing rsa3 residential single
family zoning at this location the appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique physical
circumstances or conditions of the property that would prevent them from being used in conformance
with the zoning code the city planning commission recommends the board deny the requested variants
for a two-family dwelling thank you mi 2025 006 728 1802 kendrick street i vote no michael johns
my vote is no. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no. Tanetta Graham, my vote is no. Ryan McAdams,
my vote is no. Ty Owen, my vote is no. Thank you, counsel. All right. Number five.
MI 2025-006-615, 1301 North 15th Street. Devin Upta is the attorney.
Devin Uchtah has been promoted
good morning board good morning counsel could you please state your name and spell it for the
sonographer Devin Uchtah UQDAH do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
about the truth i do counsel could you identify your client their relationship to the property
uh dominic digulio he should be in the audience okay and our vice chair has a few questions sir
good morning morning have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of
this hearing i have and do you waive the reading of your refusals and stipulate to the accuracy
i do okay thank you you can uh share your screen and present your case
can you see my screen yes sir okay so this project is 1301 north 15th street um this
is a six unit project so i will state that this project um it actually was already zoned as a six
unit which i'll show you the prior permits it was actually a lapse and licensure so that's what caused
issue that we're having now so we're just coming back to get it rezoned um here's the deed to the
property we we have all your documents sir okay so why don't you move to plans and photos okay sure
um so here are the pictures of the outside of the unit some pictures of the inside
um this is the i'll zoom out this is the original permit that he received
that has a six units this is from 2009 i believe this is the one that lapsed i heard of plans
so basically six units
it's a foundation there's no basement living
is the first floor
is the first floor
second floor
how many units per floor here why don't you want to tell us how many units we're looking at
so i believe it's when you go back to one the first floor okay so on this first floor is two
units the stairs in the middle there right one's in the back one's in the front
yes and how big are they I'm not sure okay but it looks like all right then keep moving on
all right so here's the second floor second floor again is
second floor again is two units two but two both of them are two bedroom units
Okay, that one in the front, is that, is that, um, you know, the size of that, by any chance it looks really small, this one is the one in the front.
Yeah, 18 by 18 and a half, 18.7.
So we're just looking at 2 bedrooms there. Right? Yeah. These are 2 bedrooms. Yeah.
thank you so okay so the second the second floor has how many units three i mean two sorry two
it's two units on the second floor both of them are two bedrooms so it was a unit in the front
and a unit in the back okay i don't know and what's the third floor two two units as well
so each floor has two units pretty much okay
okay um
okay um is your client here uh dominic so why don't we do this why don't we bring him on
and then we'll go back to the board
and we'll go through the units.
But bring him on to adopt your testimony, okay?
Dominic?
Dominic, can you unmute yourself?
Hello, I'm here.
Hi, Dominic, could you please state your name
as spelled for the seductress?
Sure, it's Dominic DiGiulio, D-I-G-I-U-L-I-O.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Dominic, did you hear my statements?
And do you adopt my testimony?
Questions from the board.
I have a question about the commercial space.
If this is a building that, and I'm pretty familiar with this building, I used to live two blocks from here.
I watched it go up.
It's never really had a functional commercial space and where the commercial space is currently being intended.
It's a very, very tiny single room space on the side of the building, which while it's the corner, like what commercial tenant are you planning or intending to have?
I've never had a commercial tenant there.
Yeah, I would assume so the way it's laid out.
so um this is the plans that i that were submitted 17 or 18 years ago whenever i had gotten it and
um i mean it's never been any of that i mean the only i don't have an answer for it other than
it's never been used and that's what i got approved 17 years ago i understand that but
you're asking for it now so what is your plan in the future for the 92 square foot commercial space
yeah i mean i guess i could well i guess i could i could make that a uh that's i i want to say small
office if somebody's willing to take it as a small office if there's a space it is off i mean that's
the only thing i believe that i could i could be used as and then you've got six units in this
building how are you managing the building i manage the building sure but like how like the
only space that could be an office space a management office mail room anything that like
would give any space outside of the units itself is currently what's being proposed as the commercial
space so well next i mean there's an entrance there's a big foyer once you walk in the front
door next to the steps there and next to the there's a larger foyer there but um so when you
walk in that side building you walk into a foyer and then there's a door to the right that leads
into the commercial space do you have a photo of that space it's i think we have different
definitions of large no no it's not no no no no no no no no no i should not have used the word
i should not have used the word large okay it's it's a let's call it a space okay
large okay it's it's let's call it a space okay
but uh no i i the uses are obviously limited because of the space um i believe that like i
said the the only used is put a desk in there and using it as using it as a uh so you might
want to have that zip code for you know a business mailing address something like that
i it's such a small space that for the you know i just haven't really i just have neglected it
okay and then we're being honest with you yes and i appreciate that i think given the way the
building is laid out then i have a question like where are the mailboxes for all six units
where's trash being stored for all six units where are their utility connections is there laundry in
building okay so i'll give you a quick look at that so um each so the building's fully sprinklered
um as per my initial um uh permit that i got um it in reference to the um trash when i first got
it i was putting a two-yard dumpster on the uh thompson street side on the sidewalk and then i
as soon as I put it out in two days it was filled up so I was getting twice a week
pick up and then I put a second dumpster out there because it just couldn't handle it
and then I just started opening up the bags and then you know I'm seeing this trash coming from
everywhere so then I put a lock on it with a chain figuring that I'll just like you know give it to
my tenants where they can unlock it and then open and put it in I wanted to find out that now that
the people are just throwing the trash bags on top of the the lids and all sides so I had to remove
it so basically the way i'm handling the trash now is i'm just telling the people like like hold
it in your you know hold it in your in your space until you know sunday afternoon and then monday
morning you just put it out or sunday night put it out and that's what i've been doing for the
last 15 years um it's it's okay i mean it's i'm not saying it you know it never goes with an issue
but for the most part it's it's it's been working i tell them where where i want them the place to
trash they're not putting it on they're putting it towards the towards the broad street side of
the building so it's further down and um that's been working the each um i think i told you it's
got heating and air conditioning each apartment has heating and air conditioning it's been rented
fully for the last you know all these years it's always been rented um rental demographics has
changed it's more used to be it used to be a hundred percent um students now it's more of a
post-grad and just you know open market people which i'm adopting to that um and uh
it's going well the property's doing well
okay other questions
so where is this office space on this right next to the steps yeah i could zoom in a little bit
yeah you gotta you gotta zoom in because it's really yeah yeah it's it's yeah it's next to a
large foyer yeah i mean he's he's pretty much expressed that he has never really used a
commercial space the building's really just been used as a six-unit apartment building
so why are you asking for this we were asking for the same permitting that we had in 2009
because of space is actually there it does exist I see okay and then again I'm going to make the
same comment I've made with some of these others it looks like the dwelling units in this area
are supposed to be 425 square feet.
And you have 1,746 square feet, which is existing.
So you're splitting the 1,746 square feet between six units,
which is what, about 300 square feet?
No, no, no.
there was an addition on the back that's but there's actually an addition in the back that
see the the where if you're looking at the building the back part of the building you see
yeah go go to the foot for the to the basement all right you see the back part where kind of like
that was another building that i purchased so i added on to that it's a huge building and
and when did this happen before I pulled my permits okay so this was before you got that
yeah yeah obviously I had it yeah it was I had to combine them it was a whole process okay so because
had to combine them it was a whole process okay so because if you look if you look at the
normal building you still have a refusal here you still have a refusal here for the square footage
for the number of units so
how did this help and i guess my question is again you're supposed to have
2,550 square feet of lot area okay to have six units and according to the refusal
you have 1746 square feet if i met go ahead i believe at the time of him getting the original
permits that was not the case so that's why he was able to get the original permits so
what you're citing and because this came up in the rco meeting um the rule now has changed but
it's already been in existence so he was able to actually get the permits originally because he was
in compliance it was only the lapse and licensure that now brings the refusal so can i just say
something so so so what the issue was is i got i did everything right i pulled permits i got the
electrical engineer i got spring i did everything right the building inspector funneled me out
the huge mistake that I made was I did not go and pay for the $50 certificate of occupancy was the
way that it was done back then so that's all I'm sorry what was the uh you had back then I was on
I'm under the impression because I had just started out in the business I was not I didn't know
all I had to do was go downtown as like right now the CO you can just get it's part of your permit
right now okay back then it was another step so in other words i had to go down and pull get my
file for my certificate of occupancy that was the fatal flaw or error that i made i did not
go i did not know i had to do that okay so that was my fault i that's what caused this mess that
i made for myself so so for 16 years you've been running this yes i hear that 16 years yes and it
turns out you don't have the license because you didn't pay your 50 at the time right i don't i
didn't have yes and then and then it got it then it got and that's why you wound up yes if there's
a certain amount of years that i if it falters back to to its original right yep okay so that
was my mistake all right thank you other questions questions for attorney no questions
at this questions or comments from the virtual audience there are no hands chair planning
commission good afternoon liz fuselay with philadelphia planning commission this property
was remapped from cmx2 commercial mixed use to rm1 residential multi-family in 2017 consistent
with recommendations of the comprehensive plan the property has a long-standing documented use
as mixed-use multi-family the city planning commission recommends that the board grant
all the variances for this appeal mi 2025 006 615 1301 north 15th street i vote yes
michael johns my vote is yes cheryl gaston my vote is no tanetta graham my vote is yes
ryan mcadams my vote is yes taiwan my vote is yes thank you counsel all right so number 14
um wait a minute is this the jennifer this is jennifer's case right this is one that she's
ready to go with she had another he's ready to go with this one sure mi 2026 001 784 844
4 South 3rd Street. Jennifer Bazzillo is the attorney.
There's a letter of support from Queen Village and a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Squilla.
I don't see Jennifer Bazzillo with her hand up.
wait a minute all i see is a person with the last name lay
why don't we see who that is okay
they have been promoted
good morning it's it's me i don't know what's happening here hold on one second
May Lee is my client. I'm not quite sure how I am on and on my client, but I am.
Maley is my client. I'm not quite sure how I am on it.
All right. So, Jennifer, did I, I swore you in earlier once today, right?
You did, yes.
Okay. So, could you just state your name for the record?
Sure. Jennifer Vizitlo.
Can you identify your client in a relationship to this property?
Sure. My client is 3401 Sky Properties, LLC, with the principal of May Lee Lai.
And our vice chair has a few questions.
Good morning.
have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing i have yes and do
you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy yes okay all right thank you can
share your screen and present your case okay let's see let's share the screen here we go
all right so um like i said i'm here representing the owner of 844 south third street uh 3401 sky
properties the principal is mainly lie and for the record she is a Philadelphia
resident and owns and operates a few businesses and rental properties
throughout the city and purchased this property in November 2025 so I submitted
my exhibits I'll come to the ones that we need to but you know there's refusal
deed proof of tax payment you said you had the RCO letter zoning map we're
to go to the listing in which you purchased the property our zoning archive and some photos um
so let me just go here first all right so uh 844 south third street is um an existing property
it is at the corner of third street and christian um this is you can kind of see that the the one on
the photo on the left is on christian street and the one on the right is third street um hold on
i don't know why it just skipped so many one second my computer did something weird there to
me all right um and here you could also see a better view of the side and this is the rear of
the property um it's fenced in there but that's the back of the property um the parcel itself is
uh 632 square feet according to l and i and i believe 682 square feet for the tax record so
So we're somewhere in that ballpark and there's these existing three-story structure that
is about 1400 square feet plus it has a finished basement section to it as well.
And the property is zoned RM1 for multifamily housing and is in an area with largely multifamily
zoning.
our proposal is to use the property for two residential units with the lower unit being
one bedroom and one bath on the first floor with storage and laundry on the basement no
no bedrooms in the basement and the upper unit is a two bedroom one bath and that's going to be on
the second and the third floor let me just get to some photos here
the both of these units can be um accessed from the side door um and when you walk in that side
door on third street if you go straight that's how you enter the lower unit and if you turn up
to the right that's where you have the staircase to the upper unit um all units uh have in unit
washer and dryers uh separate utilities um and there is no bedrooms in the basement and there
is no proposed changing to the size or the shape of the exterior of the building so these are
photos of the lower level unit this is the kitchen area in the front of the building bathroom this is
what the basement looks like you can see it's it's not fitted out for anything other than storage and
washer and dryers this is the bedroom that's in the property or for that unit and that's the
stairway in the main living area down to the basement um this is the second floor you go up
to the second unit you come up to the landing with the i'm going to come back to those other photos
but you come back to this is the main area you have your washer and dryer living room kitchen
bathroom is upstairs and these are the two bedrooms so you have um you know it's it's
over 1400 square foot of space if you include the storage in the basement 1400 if you don't
and we're only putting two units in it this layout is substantially similar to the floor plan
that was already there and my clients clearly have painted put in some new appliances new
flooring that sort of thing so let's talk about what this building was before oh and I just wanted
to note that both units have access to the rear area where the trash can be stored so they would
and with a gate on the side so they could take the trash out on trash day um so there is a plan
for trash storage um this property has historically always been two units or has been
This property has historically always been two units or has been at least where I can tell for the past 90 years.
The most recent permit, so the permits variances date back to 1936 to have two units here.
It was at one point commercial and residential.
The last known zoning permit here is from 1972, where you can see there was a beauty salon and then a residential unit.
um this same family has owned this property from 1972 until my clients purchased it
in November of last year and at some point as far as I can tell between 1972
and 2007 they converted that bottom unit to residential so this is as far back as I could
find an image and you can see this isn't a beauty salon anymore it's a residential unit
2015 again substantially similar residential unit so but clearly the
prior owner never obtained the permits to do this which is why we're here
because my client went to go get their rental licenses and no dice so the city
is and also there's further proof that the the building has been two units the
city actually has it on record they're charging the commercial trash pickup
already for it as two units if we can get to hold on one second let me get to the right page i didn't
mark that you can see they have a commercial trash fee so there's there's a documented here use of
two units like i said this this unit is zoned for multi-family family use so you know it's presumed
that this is an okay use in the area and even this RSA 5 parcel across the street is a 30-unit
apartment building right now. So we're on a busy street, Christian, we're in multi-family zoning
with historic use of numerous units in the building. Why we got the refusal is, as you know,
the number of units isn't determined by the building size, it's determined by the lot size.
So, depending on whether you go with L&I or the tax records, we're 38 to 88 square feet
too short for two units in this building.
So if the rear yard was a little bit bigger or a little bit wider, we would be good to
But again, we do have a fairly large building on this corner lot, it is a corner and it
does have this documented use as two units commercial and residential and now we're just
looking to permit those two residential units, which will actually be a decrease in the intensity
of the use of this property. The use is consistent, like I said, with the rest of the neighborhood,
which is zoned for multifamily and should have a really minimum impact on the expected density in
this area. Because like I said, it is a corner lot. We are in multifamily zoning. There has been
a documented use as either mixed use or two, just two units, whether commercial or residential
for at least 90 years here.
I will also note that there's a large community garden on this block that further reduces
any expected, like further reduces the density on this block.
So that little bit of short space has less of an impact because of that dedicated, as
you can see, it's zoned for that too, the community garden on this block.
We met with the neighbors, he said he had a letter of support.
I think they understood that this has been two units for a long time.
And my client anticipates, you know, finishing up the permitting process and getting two
people into these pretty nice units to go ahead and get this building back in use.
So why don't you bring your client along?
Absolutely.
Maylee, can you raise your hand?
do we see a hand yes i just promoted miley thank you very much but she has declined the
the promotion hi maylie can you can you accept the promotion please
she should be coming in now thank you
hello hi could you please state your name could you please state your name as bell for the
sonographer uh hello my name is maylie lie m-a-i-l-y and last name lai you swear or affirm
you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes council great
to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes
um did you hear my testimony here today and believe it to be truthful and accurate
yes and would you adopt it as your own yes and i just wanted to confirm a few things with you
um this was separated into two units when you purchased it correct
yes all right that's all i wanted to say questions from the board
questions from our attorney no questions at this time questions from the virtual audience
there are no hands planning commission good afternoon liz fuselay on behalf of the
philadelphia planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning to the
existing rm1 residential multifamily zoning this location there is a documented history
of a commercial use on the ground floor level conversion of the commercial use to residential
brings the structure in line with the comprehensive plan the city planning commission recommends the
board grant the requested variance for a two-family resident mi2026-001-784-844 south
third street i vote yes michael johns my vote is yes cheryl gaston my vote is yes tenetta graham
my vote is yes ryan mcadams my vote is yes hi i win my vote is yes thank you council thank you so
much all right number 16 mi 2026 002 141 50 70 parkside avenue to tamika mccoy is the attorney
the letter of support from parkside association of philadelphia
tamika mccoy is rejoining as a panelist thank you you're welcome
She's coming in now.
Thank you.
I'm promoting Ms. Mukherjee.
McCoy, but it doesn't seem to be working. Can somebody else try?
Tamika? Yes, I'm here. Oh, okay. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Could you please,
I just saw a beach scene. I thought I was like on vacation for a minute there.
Could you please state and spell your name for the stenographer?
sure tamika mccoy t-a-m-i-k-a last name is m-c-k-o-y you swear referring to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth i do would you identify your client and the relationship to
this property sure i represent filthy business and technology center marjorie oglesby is the
uh ceo and the representative that will participate here today okay our voice shares a few questions
for you good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of
this hearing yes i have okay and this is a referral so do you waive the reading of the
referral and stipulate to its accuracy yes thank you can see your screen and present your case
thank you I am
to make it to make it to make it make it off yeah oh to make a business and technology
settle it is are to make it you keep going in and out yeah there's something wrong there's
something wrong with your computer i think okay try again okay let's try this one more time
Okay. Can you see my screen?
okay can you see my screen i see your screen
I see your screen. Yep.
Okay. So what I'm showing are the interior photos of the Philadelphia Business and Technology Center.
It is a 300 located in West Parkside Business District that is adjacent to the Mann Music Center.
um what we have is the sixth floor
and we're losing you again to make it to make it we're losing you now we can't hear you
yeah make it do me a favor turn your system off and come back in
yeah this is a terrible connection
Tameka. Hello, I'm here. Okay, so we're losing you. We think you should shut off and come back in.
You. Sorry, this is Executive Director Haggerty. Tameka, I'm sorry, the connection that you have
is not strong enough. When you start showing your screen, it causes a lag and the board's not able
to hear what you're saying so I think you're going to need to have a stronger connection
to the internet in order to be able to present
okay very well what I'll do maybe I can walk through since we've already submitted the materials
and I can walk through and address any concerns that you may have without sharing my screen maybe
that will expedite the circumstance but essentially what's being proposed is using a sixth floor of a
commercial building that is existing as a event or engagement space essentially to have networking
or fundraising kinds of events it's anticipated that it will be professional in its setting
the approximate capacity that we are seeking is for 432 occupants, though the space is 8,913
square foot in total area. A good portion of that is to utilize as storage for tables and chairs
and that sort of thing, so the usable space we only anticipate essentially approximately 431
occupants in this particular location. There are 250 secured parking spaces, 200 immediately
attached to the facility that has an armed guard, well not armed guard, but a guard that allows
people in and out of that location. And then adjacent is another location with an additional
50 spaces. There are two stairwells for egress that's built into the structure that's currently
zoned CMX 3, and there's also a public elevator. In addition to that public elevator is a freight
elevator that's used only by the internal staff, so there's essentially four means of being able
to access this space three of which which are going to be used for the public there are three
bathrooms two are in the hallway one is in the actual space in and of itself
um and that is the actual proposed use it's my understanding that the community
is in support of the use of this project for the commercial space
to be used as an entertainment center, there were 507 effective neighbors, and no one has
expressed any opposition to the proposed use. And at this time, I would like to have Ms. Marjorie
Ogilvie admitted for purpose of addressing any questions the board may have. Thank you.
It should be noted that this is a family-owned and operated commercial structure that's been
in operation since 1988.
Marjorie Ogilvie is coming in as a panelist.
Hi, could you please state and spell your name for the stenographer?
State and spell your name for the stenographer.
It's Marjorie, M-A-R-J.
It's Marjorie, M-A-R-J-O-R-I-E, and Ogilvy is O-G-I-L-V as in victory, I-E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Counsel.
Ms. Ogilvy, did you hear the testimony that was provided to the board today for the Business and Technology Center?
and if you were asked those same questions uh is it accurate in its representation in terms
of the intended use yes i would submit and address ask the board for any questions all right
um questions from the board i know just to just to comment i actually thought this was always um
the zones as such i've been to a number of events there fundraisers and the like so i never knew
that it wasn't but it's it's it's a very useful space and i know a lot of the community folks and
local politicians use it yeah it's a beautifully done artistic space and it presents very well so
it is anticipated to host intimate gatherings in a professional setting all the questions
yeah i have a question so um you said this is the the space is on the sixth floor yes it is
okay thank you questions from our attorney no questions at this questions or comments
from the virtual audience no hands chair planning commission good afternoon liz fuzely on behalf of
the philadelphia planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in
zoning from the cmx3 commercial mixed use zoning at this location granting the special exception
will not have a detrimental effect on the surrounding neighborhood beyond what might
be expected from the proposed use the planning commission recommends the board grant the
special exception for the proposed event assembly facility
we want six floor only okay mi 2026 002 147 50 70 parkside avenue i vote yes with proviso
sixth floor only michael johns my vote is yes with proviso
cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso tenetta graham my vote is yes proviso ryan mcadams my
vote is yes with proviso hi when my vote is yes with proviso thank you counsel thank you
is there anyone in the audience whose case from 9 30 a.m has not been called i see no hands
okay um see everyone at uh 2 p.m thank you all for uh working today we got a lot accomplished here
and see the board members at good afternoon chair this is dana dabney and i will be your
co-host this afternoon how many people in the audience
good afternoon everyone my name is bill bergman and i will be chairing this meeting of the
philadelphia zoni board of adjustment with me is our vice chair tenetta graham president mr
chairman our board secretary charl l gaston president mr chairman board members michael johns
present mr chairman iowen president mr chairman ryan mcadams president mr chairman also here's
our attorney lynn reuter uber and also our executive director ian haggerty and our board
board administrator lakeisha dandy this hearing is being recorded and will be posted on the zba
website by participating you consent to be recorded this is an in-person meeting with
remote participation whether in person or on zoom if you are called to speak please state and spell
your name then wait to be sworn in after being sworn in state your name each time before testifying
to enter your appearance indicate the property address on the zoom webinar speak with a staff
member call this eBay office by the close of business tomorrow at 215-686-2429 and provide
your name email and the address and the case address remote participation raise your virtual
hand when directed to speak when we call upon you make sure that you click the join as a
a panelist button, use the Q&A, and only for procedural questions, not for case information.
If you are joining by phone, press star nine to raise your hand and star six to them.
If you are joining by phone, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
In-person participation.
If testifying, get close to the microphone so that all attendees and also the court reporter can hear you.
No talking, eating, or drinking during the hearing.
Aggressive behavior will not be tolerated.
In an emergency, follow instructions of the staff members.
the main exit is the two double doors at the rear and this nearest stairwell is to the left
in an evacuation go to love park and please remain here so that we can account for you
so let's look for our schedule for this afternoon number one 1134 samson street which is mi
2026-001-075. This case is continued until 1021 at 2 p.m. Number 10, 3017 Germantown Avenue,
which is MI 2026-002-452. This case is continued until 1021 at 2 p.m.
is there any other requests for continuances
i see no hands chair okay um let's go to our add-on list number one mi2026 001 772 905 south chalet
Street. I vote yes, with proviso. Revised plans, one page, stamped by ZBA, August 12, 2026.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes, with proviso. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Tenetta Graham, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Tywin, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Number two, MI 2026-002-327-2450 North 30th Street.
I vote yes with Proviso.
Maximum two units, no household living in basement.
an occupied area um to be no more than no more than 75 is that right correct
Michael Johns my vote is yes uh to two uh two units hold on hold on you wanted to also have
the trash oh and uh interior trash am I right interior trash is the third the fourth one
michael johns my vote is just maximum two units with provisos
did i say that right maybe i said that wrong just saying with provisos is fine
okay with provisos okay with provisos my vote is yes with provisos
sonetta graham my vote is yes with provisos ryan mcadams my vote is yes with provisos
number three mi 2026 002059 1122 mcclellan street
i vote yes with proviso per refusal dated 8 2026.
michael michael johns my vote is yes with proviso cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso
tenetta graham my vote is yes with proviso ryan mcadams my vote is yes with proviso
number four mi 2026 002 137 28 14 master street
i vote yes with proviso per amended refusal dated july 7 2026 use limited to ground floor only
michael johns my vote is yes with provisos cheryl gaster my vote is yes with provisos
Tenetta Graham, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Number 5, MI 2026, 0004491233, South 58th Street.
I vote yes, maximum.
I vote yes maximum two dwelling units Michael Johns my vote is yes with proviso
Cheryl Gaston my vote is yes with proviso Tanetta Graham my vote is yes with proviso
Iowen my vote is yes with proviso we're going to go to our regular list now
number two
MI 2026
002091
1201 Moore Street
Joseph Consul is the attorney
there's a letter of unanimous
support from East Pass Shunk
Avenue and
non-opposition from Council Member
Squill
good afternoon morning mr console could you please state and spell your name for the
phonographer. Joseph Consul, J-O-S-E-P-H. Last name is Consul, C-O-N-S-O-L-E. Do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Do you identify your client,
their relationship to this property? Yeah, my client is Tara Beza, B-A-E-Z-A, and she's the
owner of Birds of Prey Artistry and Aesthetics, the tenant and the applicant. Mr. Consul,
our vice chair has a few questions good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits
five days in advance of this hearing yes and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulates
his accuracy yes okay thank you you can show your screen and present your case all right my screen
should be up joe console 1201 more representing uh tara lynn beza and um her company birds of prey
artistry and aesthetics this is a request for approval as a personal
services and body art studio that was refused because the property is zoned
RSA 5 this property has a history of only being a commercial space on the
first floor with an apartment above and so we're hopeful that this is seen as an appropriate
commercial use to put in this space.
My client is leasing from the, let me find the pictures, leasing from the heir to the
previous owner of the property, so some of my clients work.
The niece, I believe, of the previous owner who ran a tailor shop in this space for many years.
All that's documented in the city.
There's her lease.
Where's my external photos?
Sorry with my three today.
I'm a little bit muddled.
But there's never been a residential use on this first floor.
and we met with the community, there is not really the sort of, you know, negative thoughts
that there might have once been with things like tattoo pilers, and everyone was wholeheartedly
in support of this use. I just want to show you a quick outside photo. If I can get it to load,
but I might not be able to be.
Let's see.
And to that end, Tara has been doing this work in.
Passion Square in that area for many years.
She's moving from Passion Avenue to this space on 12th on 12th and more.
See if I can get this to load.
Okay here it is, it's external showing what the space looks like on the outside.
Once we get approval the interior will be updated and she will begin to have chairs there and to
do the kind of work that she does, which I sort of flipped through before, but it's not typical
tattooing. It's more aesthetics and things like eyebrow work. And she can explain that to the
extent folks are interested, but it's not your typical tattoo studio. It's by appointment for
more aesthetic based sort of sort of tattooing. I think that's sort of the bulk.
sort of tattooing um i think that's sort of the bulk of my presentation
i want to bring you why don't you bring your client one
yeah tara are you available to raise your virtual hand here
do we see her in the audience
Tara has been allowed to talk thank you very much Tara
can you hear me I can most certainly could you please okay state and spell your name for me
yes my name is Tara Lynn Baeza could you spell it please for the stenographer uh t-a-r-a middle
name l-y-n-n last name b-a-e-c-a do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth yes absolutely counsel uh tara did you hear my testimony just now about
your space at 1201 more i did yes yeah i've been watching i'm driving so i and i was on mute sorry
that's okay do you adopt it as your own and i apologize if i didn't fully explain your business
correctly but i think everyone has an idea we have good support and things like that yeah absolutely
Yes. I adopted it as my own. And yeah, I specialize in like advanced skincare and like, yeah, aesthetic tattooing. So eyebrows, eyeliner, and also paramedical. So I do a lot of work with scars and like breast cancer survivors, a lot of that kind of work.
Thank you. Nothing further.
Sure. Questions from the board.
so do you have some kind of hazardous waste sort of disposal um or like needles and things like
that absolutely um yeah that's um so board of health we're uh always uh you know um i have a
establishment license for body art and um that's all yeah that's we have uh the hazardous waste
and that gets picked up by a third-party company um and i just follow the rules based off of board
of health um standards and i also have a medical director uh dr glenn rosen who um is like my
supervisor for the medical aesthetics that i do okay so when you say this is like the um
tattooing in like eyebrows and um things like that which i've seen but i haven't
know i haven't done but so is that considered a medical um yeah in a way yes i mean you don't
have to have a medical director to do that stuff but i do i own two lasers and i do microneedling
and prp so that kind of stuff is backed up by my medical director but when i say paramedical
tattooing um that's that's like a different like even though you know like i brought eyebrow work
or eyeliner or lip blush like kind of tattooing isn't like could like you know paramedical per
se um the paramedical part comes into play when i'm doing like scar camouflaging or areola tattooing
for breast cancer survivors you know that undergone surgery and stuff like that so um again it's it
doesn't have to be backed up by a medical director but i do have one in place for the other services
that i perform um and i am a licensed tattoo artist and a licensed establishment in the city
of philadelphia with the board of health and we can just anticipate your your thought process
cheryl uh we the last time we did this was maybe 2018 and the personal services category was
determined to be appropriate for all parties as an approval here versus any any kind of medical
use approval yeah well you know we just had that it was personal services and then i wasn't yes
what that meant you know but you know i i there was discussion of maybe body piercings but it
makes more sense for what you're talking about and i i i understand what the uses are so that was all
any other questions yeah board what are your hours of operation yeah so um i'm right now i'm monday
through friday 12 to 7 p.m and then i um but i'm going to be alternating every other week to tuesday
through saturday so and i'm appointment only okay i guess my question was about how many uh patients
are with you at a time only one at a time I don't have any staff members anymore I just I decided
to go solo again so just one at a time and I see probably anywhere from like eight to ten patients
a day okay and then just I know what's the plan
okay and then just i know what's the plan for the layout of this retail space i'm assuming
just because of the nature of what you do that there's going to be some
separate private room right yes services are happening yes so the front room is a lobby area
seating uh there's you know retail there's a brow bar uh because i do like even just you know the
basic aesthetics is like eyebrow waxing and tenting and lash stuff. And then
past that room is one treatment room. That's going to be the area that I do my cosmetic
paramedical tattooing. There's a restroom right there as well. And then past that room, there's
another entryway to a larger room, which is going to be like my facial room where I do like my
facials uh waxing laser treatments anything skincare related and then there's like a backyard
behind it that i don't have i'm not really using right now it's um so yeah all right are there any
other it sounds like there's the one bathroom on site or is there any other plumbing um in the
basement there's like a another toilet but it's like not it's not functioning but um but then
there's like yeah there's the bathroom and like right there in the middle room and then there's
another sink in the back room and then you're not using the basement for services but it is included
in your space and lease yes so I'm not using it for services it's not a finished basement it's
just there merely for storage okay the questions yeah I just want to clarify there's two uses so
if any proviso was used, it should be really uses, not use, correct? That would be for the lawyer?
Yes. I'll agree with that. Yes. Thank you. And it would be to first floor and basement, correct?
Yes. Yeah. I mean, that's an release just by function of it being the only
access point to the basement, but yes. Okay. Thank you.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience or this audience here?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Tina Solomano with the Planning Commission.
NIA, sorry, N-I-N-A, S-O-L-O-M-O-N-I-C.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
Comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing RSA-5 residential single-family attached zoning.
the proposed use should not have any detrimental impact beyond what might be expected the planning
commission recommends the board grant the requested variance for personal services
and body art service mi-2026-002-091-1201 moore street i vote yes with proviso use limited to
first floor and basement michael johnson hold on one second uses maybe we can make it plural
oh uses right you didn't hear my silence
uses limited to first floor and basement
michael john michael johns my vote is yes with provisos
cheryl gaston my vote is yes with provisos
anybody else we're good no it's not a gram my vote is yes with provisos ryan mcadams my vote
yes with provisos tie you when my vote is yes with provisos okay mr con thank you mr council
could you please stay on so we're moving to mi2026-002-609-3737 north 15th street mr council
just for the record please state your name yeah it's joseph council j-o-s-e-p-h last name is
council oh sorry sure and mr council could you identify your client a relationship to this
property yeah my client is mr kirk wechter uh he's the owner of the llc that owns this property
great and we we do not have an rco letter but there was a meeting i understand is that right
uh i thought we had an an rco letter of approval
or an email no no rco letter or summary of so maybe you have it we just don't have it do you
send it to us? I don't believe we have it. Okay. Yeah. So if you have it, Joe,
could you please send it to us? Yeah. I submitted a petition. Did we not hear back from the RCO?
Interesting. We had an RCO that backed out at one point, resigned. Oh, yes. Yes. That's,
Yes. Yes, that's correct. We did submit proof of that. We tried to schedule with Nicetown Tioga, and they kicked us to Tioga United. The city assigned it to Tioga United. We emailed them about six times, and they never approved our meeting.
that's correct. We did.
I want to move our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good afternoon.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
All right.
Thank you.
You can show your screen and proceed with your case.
All right.
Joe Consul here again, 3737 North 15th Street.
this is a use variance for approval as a three-family dwelling in an existing attached
building. The history of this place, it was a three-unit building, and it was zoned RM1.
I'll show you in a second. The previous owner got approval for three units while still zoned RM1,
but they did not go through the necessary subsequent steps to actually get the rental
license for three units. My client purchased it and is working backwards to legalize everything.
The hope is that he'll get an approval today and then he'll get the CO. So as a condition
of approval, we would expect the CO to be appointed that. So here is the old approval.
Again, the property had been functioning as a three unit.
This is a legalization approval use permit from 10 years ago, approving it as a three unit.
This was the application that was submitted in 2016 requesting that approval.
It's our notice that we sent.
application. The plans that my client's architect put together, he would, I'll call him to walk us
through each level because they did not specifically label everything. So I wouldn't mind if he was
available to to speak to that so i'll return yeah hey kirk are you there to raise your virtual hand
per collector kirk w
do what she is hand kirk has been allowed to speak sure
Are you available, Kirk?
Hello?
Hi, sir.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yeah, so you can hear me okay?
We can.
All right.
Thank you.
Sorry about that.
uh kirk wechter k-i-r-k yep w-a-e-c-h-t-e-r do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth nothing but the truth i do could you also turn to your video one please
go ahead joe you can start all right kirk have you heard my testimony just now regarding your
property so far yes are you and you adopt what i've said so far as your own
did we lose him he left no no no yeah i'm here okay okay there you go good and you adopt what
i said is your own so far yes okay could you walk us through the layout uh that your architect put
together i know these will turn into your uh co plans um but they're not labeled so i mean the
the levels are but not the interior so what's the basement look like basement is actually just free
and clear nothing special about it um our intention is to put storage units down there for the tenants
themselves laundry well and also um the garb like garbage cans and containers so that the tech can
put the trash into those cans um one of our staff members comes by weekly on trash night
takes the trash out puts the trash cans back okay and we've got interior photos that we'll get to
once I'm done with Kirk's walkthrough here.
done with Kirk's walkthrough here.
All right, now going to the ground floor,
All right, now go into the ground floor.
could you walk us through this layout, Kirk?
All right.
So let's see here.
Having trouble seeing all the way to the right.
Oh, okay.
So here's the entry to the upper left.
If you walk straight, there's a stairwell up to the second level.
to the right there. They're basically adjacent to each other as a stairwell
down to the basement as well. The entry to the first floor unit has a couple of different options.
So you would normally enter in the front there through that door. And then there's a living
area there um so living room area and then you would continue on to the common area
there's another there's a bedroom there continuing back there is the bathroom then back further is
finally the kitchen and then a doorway to the backyard so this represents unit one is that
correct correct all right so now i'll move on to the i guess where to go did i screw that up
that's level three all right moving on to level two
okay so stairway dead center here then you enter into kitchen dining room area
hallway at the bottom heads back to the first bedroom then the bathroom then the rear bedroom
okay so two bedroom one bath second unit correct okay and then we'll move on to the level three
all right stairway is at the top there
bedroom is to the very front and then it just has a kitchen
and a bathroom there.
And that's
a third unit and that's one bedroom,
one bathroom? That middle area there
is living space, like a living
room. Okay.
So no having
to go through bedrooms to get to bathrooms
to anticipate
that question.
Alright, I'm going through the deed.
Deed's my client's
company.
tax clearance, proof of mailing.
We included the emails with the various RCOs in the city, assigning and then reassigning
Included, my paralegal put together a little timeline of our attempts, all the emails and
phone calls that were made to try to schedule this.
exterior
photos showing the interior um kirk if you're still there could you help us identify what
units we're looking at on these upcoming photos let's see
i think that i want to say that's the third floor but it's it's hard for me to
to tell her a number. I couldn't really say, honestly.
Okay, so the state of these properties is not occupied and
will do the cosmetic work to make them
occupiable? Is that accurate? Correct, yeah.
Okay. Here are some photos
that we pulled as well. I believe these were, yeah,
you can see the for sale sign. Some listing photos that showed good angles of the property.
Some more, more, now I kind of have a feeling what the basement looks like now.
Obviously, it's not finished and like you said, your intent would be for what, a washer
dryer and storage and trash.
we also included a neighborhood petition of support uh quite quite a few uh number of
near neighbors that signed a petition of support for legalizing the use of this property we
included that in our packet uh i have nothing further any questions for my client or me okay
questions from the board what can you go back to that floor plans again that
that first floor seemed to be a little strangely laid out is that yeah it's us
so the years you said that the access to the basement is right next to the
right next to the adjacent to the floor the stairway to the upper level right I
adjacent to the floor
believe that's what you said but I'm looking at this stairway and it looks
like where is that stairway to the basement because I see a stairway to the
basement out of the first floor unit in the back where it says so down let's see
out of the back stands down um that i think that's an additional that's an additional one
um but see where it says up and then right to the right of that there's another staircase
that's uh that that appears to be within the unit also of that or is that first floor unit
separated by these walls that's separated by those walls with an additional door
if they wanted to. So you have to, so where the fireplace is, you have to go out of that into a
common area, open another door to go to your bedroom or to the bathroom or to the, to the
kitchen. Is that what I'm hearing you say? No, because see, let's count the doors starting in
the upper left. So the front door. Yes. Then there's a door from the foyer to the common area,
Yeah, which leads to the state both up and down.
Correct.
Well, as I'm saying, where is this?
That's where I'm stuck.
Where is this up and down?
Where is this up and down?
I see it now I'm going to draw here.
This is the up, correct?
So how do you get there?
So where do you go down?
There's a space.
The drawing is a rendering.
So you would go down there.
So where it says up?
Yeah, all right.
so that is all open area right there and the down steps is right there okay it makes no sense
in terms of which is drawn here if this is this black is a wall how do you'd have to walk up come
down there's no room to do what you're saying I don't think it looks like it say that it's wrong
right so so if this is the way to get down the steps right then i'd have to come in here go down
the hallway go down the steps this is part of the first unit this is part of the first lunatic
blah blah blah i've got to come out of here go out a door go into a door go to the bedroom
kind of doesn't make sense so just in terms of in terms of the of the of the layout now whether or
not in reality there's something different going on i don't know but based on what you showed
it kind of doesn't make sense that first word layout I'm just I'm seeing if
there's any photos that I have that can make it clear yeah I'm looking through
the large for larger format photos now see if any make it clear I'm not certain
that they do i think also it appears that there's two stairwells into the basement from the same
unit correct yeah right right so so so i don't i don't know what that i don't know what that
what that all means right um other than the the second and third floor units probably maybe
work out a little bit better maybe so does it make sense to be three units I
don't know okay that's where the you know everyone is storing their trash in
the basement everyone has to have access to the basement in order to do
that you might need interior trash storage for you we're we're fine with that um this is a better
shot of the stair they're the only stairway it appears leading upstairs on the plans that's okay
right are we seeing both are we seeing both here or now i don't know and the one that you're showing
in this photo is the rear one near the back is the rear one correct in the plan correct
and that has white right has a winder at the top which is incorrectly drawn on your plan
all right so listen i think i mean with the stipulation that trash is managed and kept off of
the um the front i think i think trash is one issue i think there's a lot of other questions
you didn't answer about how the drawings are done and joe what i'm going to do is make this a
resumptive hearing and come back with better drawings that people understand i mean okay
we just can't keep going back and forth with this so yeah that's fine we can we can get
his architect in there quickly hearing the resumptive hearing is 10 6 9 30 a.m
and then just come back with the i think you've heard enough that you'll understand what the
drawings are okay if um 10 6 is going to be an issue what's that that's a 10 6 is going to be an
what's that that's a 10-6 is going to be an issue if if it's assumed because i haven't been on site
issue if
because we've been waiting for zoning for some time if it's assumed that the stairway to the
basement is strictly from unit one well could we proceed with that assumption listen listen to me
i mean it it's as simple as this we're going to continue to 10-6 if you want to you can call the
office but at this point that's the date i'm given okay um thank you very much and joe you have
another case i do all right so we're going to move on to number 12 which is 245 west coulter street
um and joe just for uh could you state your name again please yeah joseph council could you
identify your client a relationship to the property yeah my my client is uh one second
let me get these celeste de silva owner of the property right and also joe we we recently
received another letter of uh support okay you don't have it but we'll make sure you get a copy
of it okay oh great our vice chair has a few questions good afternoon um again have you
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits for this case five days in advance of this hearing?
I have.
Okay. And do you waive the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Okay. Thank you. You can show your screen and present your case.
All right. 245 West Coulter Street. This is an application for a visitor accommodations approval in an existing single family structure.
This use would be, per my clients, feedback from the RCR would be limited to two adult
guests, no parties, no events, no exterior signage, no commercial storefront activity.
My client, as you'll see, posts house rules, has the property monitored with safety and
management technology, including exterior security, noise monitoring, smoking detection,
This property operated as an Airbnb, obviously against the city code, although my client did not realize as they submitted the rental license and were approved by Airbnb to operate, they did not realize that that was inappropriate.
I understand the Planning Commission will have their say there, but it did operate successfully and without any incidences leading up to coming into the side.
Once they realized it was inappropriate, they terminated that operation and the listing came down, although we do have some reviews and things like that that we can show you.
There's the refusal.
This is the exterior of the property.
Our mailers, interior of the furnished property, current status of the basement, and one of
client's big points and she can talk about it a little bit is just that the quality of the
property that she's able to provide is so much stronger with this model versus the long-term
tenant model that she had prior to giving this model a try. And we actually even have photos
was from the pre-model showing sort of tenant under site and that's the opposite of oversight
and kind of letting the property go down.
But as you can see now, the property is in good shape.
This was the traditional, this was the tenancy prior to her taking over and transitioning
to a visitor accommodations model.
And here's what the basement looks like now.
property is purchased in in 2010 as you saw before the property has been um substantially improved
exterior now condition at the time of purchase um my client can attest to the
you know craftsmanship that went into refurbishing this property here's what it looks like now again
You know, we know that we got an RCO letter of opposition, although they did state several items that they would want to see if it was approved.
That was a temporary variance issues, but interior trash storage, limiting the number of adults, and those are all things that we are fully willing to.
that we are are fully willing to commit to.
Thank you.
We included some reviews just showing the properties run nicely.
These are some of the more recent ones. It's the zoning. Another important point is that this
the surrounding context we think matters. It's not an isolated single-family residential block.
There's daycares, churches, funeral homes, security businesses, grocery and other storefront
type uses on this block. Again, uses that serve the neighborhood. It's not strictly a single-family
block despite the RSA-5 zoning that dominates it. It has plenty of other non-single-family
uses. The record is not one-sided. We had some petitions that came in and another one that came
in that we just mentioned that support it, including the actual next-door neighbors.
Here's some photos showing other businesses on the block, Streetscape.
my client you know also submitted some uh items regarding how she runs the business and things
like that and here's one statement of support that we have and here's another um
the property I guess two down or perhaps right next door 249 I can attest to that and
property at 237 West Coulter so I'll have my client come on to speak a little bit about
why don't you do that please um Pamela Braces you are allowed to speak
hi could you please state your name and spell it for the sonographer good afternoon uh i'm not the
owner i'm a person going to testify okay we're looking for um celeste or an antonio either one
of those i heard some hand pop up do we see any other hands yes sir celesta silva is rejoining
Thank you very much.
Celeste?
Are you there Celeste?
Celeste, can you unmute yourself please?
uh can you hear me i can't could you you can hear me um please state your name and spell
for the stenographer oh my name is celeste da silva c-e-l-e-s-t-e uh da silva d-a-s-i-l-v-a
would you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes i do counsel please proceed um mr silva did you hear my testimony just now regarding
your property 245 west coulter yes i heard it um do you adopt it as your own yes i do
um is there anything you'd like to add to the board before we open it up to
um any neighbor input and anything else no i have nothing else to add all right questions from the
board yes i i think my main question is just trying to understand hardship and why airbnb
versus a traditional rental for the single-family home mr silva
um we have been renting uh traditionally for over 15 years i've had i believe a total of four
tenants um just my experience uh out of the four tenants only one of them uh and she happened to
be section eight she was really really nice kept the place very clean uh did everything you know
on her lease um uh the other three uh you know each one of them stayed maybe three or four years
or whatever they paid accordingly you know but you know i would tell them look you need to keep
the place clean at one point there was um a little garden in front of the house um if you see from
the pictures there's no garden now but i kept telling her look you need to keep it clean keep
i kept telling her look you need to keep it clean keep it you know keep it trash free um
you know, keep it trash free.
and then the yard and everything they were responsible for it you know you know on the lease
and she she didn't do that now eventually we said okay heck with it we're you know cementing the
front of it um and then and then i have my you know the next tenant after that she was really
really nice Patricia. She was section 8. She left because she just went, she had a child and she
wanted to move to a better area with better schools. But then my third tenant, that was during
COVID. I mean, you know, that was the one where like, you know, we told, you know, I could see
from, you know, looking in the, you know, hallway, you know, it wasn't being kept clean. We would
tell her look you need to keep the yard clean it's on on your lease uh she just did not clean um
you know that's the pictures that i showed you where there was like weeds everywhere
and that was during the covet era um and when she she stopped paying rent but when she finally
had to leave uh i went in there and it was just it was just horrible it was a mess the yard was full
weeds you know after me telling her you know many times you need to you know keep the place clean
um but anyway she left then i had um the last ten the fourth tenant uh which was she left around
2024 so that tenant seemed to be perfect on paper great you know everything great on paper
she paid rent you know well no problems but a couple months into her tenancy I get complaints
from my next door neighbor they're yelling and screaming just loud noise you know and you know
I told my neighbor you know I'm so sorry I thought she was you know a nice person you know it was a
mom and a daughter and a little boy that was all I was living there so then there was issues I'm
going to go into it because it's private things concerning that tenant but you know some authorities
were called uh she eventually left on her own and that was kind of my like the last resort i
just could not take it anymore and then someone told me about airbnb and he said you know if you
go to airbnb you know the people are just you know the guests are just much more professional
and so i thought i'd try that and you know i had a rental license i thought okay i'll
i already have a rental license i'll just go right into it i didn't think anything of it
and i've been doing it for you know almost two years and i've had no issues i've had
more than 44 guests in there um the place still looks beautiful it's kept clean
I go in there more often. Now I'm responsible for the cleaning. So it's kept clean. The yard is kept clean. There's no weeds coming out. There's no trash. And it's just been better, you know, for the neighborhood, for myself. And I really do not want to go back to regular tenancy. You know, this has just worked out much better.
Other questions? Other questions?
i mean i guess my follow-up question is a lot of the issues that you could have with airbnb you can
have i mean with a regular tenant you can have with airbnb so how are you managing this property
it sounds like you got into some of it sounds like you're doing the cleanings in between tenants
um are you managing your listing are you dealing with trash and turnover and everything individually
are you working with a property management i have um they call it a co-host which is like a property
manager and he helps me with it um i do i have someone that helps me clean because i do have a
full-time job as well but i go in there i try not to schedule like too many people because i do go
in there after each and every person to make sure everything is good if there's any trash
um my husband works in the city he works with septa so he'll literally come he has a a van and
he you know if it's not trash day he'll just grab it put it in his truck and you know we'll take
care of it if it is trash today i'll put it out yeah is is your co-host based in philadelphia
uh no he's not he's uh virtual okay so you are you and your husband are still the closest
physical person if there's an issue at the unit you are the one that's responding
yes i'm the one that responds i go there after every single guest you know make sure everything
is good i have uh the cell phone numbers of you know the closer neighbors
the cell phone numbers of you know the closer neighbors and you know I let them
know if you have any issues just let let me know okay all the questions questions
from our attorney no questions at this time questions or comments from the
virtual audience Pamela Bracey you have been allowed to speak okay good
afternoon I couldn't do could you please state your name is spelled for the
stenographer yes p-a-m-e-l-a bracy b as in boy r-a-c-e-y do you swear or affirm to tell the
truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do please proceed i did attend the rco meeting
and it was a question that we raised the same as what one of the members raised why did the lady
decide she wanted to do an airbnb which we felt as though which i felt as though we've been bringing
a lot of people into the neighborhood. It appears as though that is more single family, even though
further down you do have businesses. But I think we should kind of keep our single family and
not have so many people coming and going. And especially if you're telling tenants or Airbnb
persons they can only have two persons there. I mean, you know, they may decide they want to
invite someone and she's saying her rule is you can only have two people no one else can come and
visit no parties we understand that but you could have a dinner if you wanted to and that could be
more than two persons so i just think that ignorance of her zoning is not an excuse for what
she should have done so i would say solo said temporary and i think maybe temporary
various if the board agrees and thank you thank you very much for taking the time to call see
joe do you have any questions no uh anybody else in the audience i see no hands chair um planning
commission nina solomonic with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends
no change to the existing RSA. Can't hear you. Can you hear me now? Yes. There's no unique physical condition or circumstance that would prevent the property from being used in conformance with the zoning code.
a 2020 zoning ordinance passed by city council which regulated short-term rentals did not change
the basic rule prohibiting full-time use of a dwelling unit as short-term rental this type of
absentee management where the owner does not live in the unit has been illegal since the first
short-term rental zoning regulations became in effect in 2015 what's changed since the passage
of the 2020 ordinance is that there is now a licensing and enforcement mechanism the city
planning commission recommends the board deny the proposed use variants for visitor accommodations
thank you um mi 2026 003 185 245 west culture street i vote yes temporary variance that expires
8 27 29 and also trash stored inside 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.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
Tia Nguyen, my vote is no.
TIA Nguyen, my vote is no.
TIA Nguyen, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
Number three, MI 2026-002-148-1933-43-North 31st Street.
Alan Nockamson is the attorney.
I'll be freezing myself.
You weren't here this morning, were you?
Oh, there you go.
Mr. Nockamson, could you please state and spell your name?
Alan Nockamson.
oh a-l-a-n last name knockamson 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 i will could you identify your client and relationships in a
property yeah my client is friends rehabilitation program inc and then the virtual audience should
be aleda zelodon uh its director all right and our board secretary has a few questions for you
Good afternoon, counsel. Did you submit your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing? Yes, we have. And do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulations?
uh yes we have and do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy i do
okay you can then share your screen and begin your presentation all right um if i could be
promoted to a pan as a panelist thank you you have been promoted
i do not see that
Do you see it?
I'm in now.
Just waiting to join.
All right, so my client is Friends Rehabilitation Program.
They're an affordable housing developer in Philadelphia.
They do a ton of work in the Strawberry Mansion community and regularly collaborate with the
Strawberry Mansion CDC.
And what we're proposing here is to have five triplexes on lots that were formerly six lots,
and it's not out of character to have that.
I have a list of exhibits, which includes, I believe, 13 exhibits here, I think includes
my presentation, I would ask that Aleda virtually raise her hand to be sworn in.
First is the refusal. This is an RSA-5 property, a rather massive lot. Subdivided, as proposed,
each lot would be 1,161 square feet. We have two refusals. The first refusal is the use as
triplexes for this RSA-5 property, or hopefully properties. And then we also have a refusal
REGARDING THE OCCUPIED AREA, WHERE 75% IS REQUIRED, WHERE 80.7% IS PROPOSED.
WE HAVE CONFORMING REAR YARD SETBACKS, AND ACTUALLY OUR PROPERTY DOESN'T GO AS DEEP
AS, YOU KNOW, WE HAVE A 9-FOOT REAR YARD SETBACK WHERE THE PROPERTY IN 1931 ONLY HAS
AN 8-FOOT YARD FOOT SETBACK.
I WOULD HAVE SUGGESTED TO MY ARCHITECT TO MATCH THEM IN LINE BECAUSE THEY ACTUALLY
got more space but anyway we're more in conformance with the code in terms of the setback requirement
than our neighboring property we're also in the strawberry mansion uh well we're respecting the
fact that this is strawberry mansion so the height of our building is only a little less than 35 feet
um high and there is no roof deck proposed either in respecting their overlay we met with the
community we have overwhelming support unanimous support what's not in my materials we we did
reach out to the ZBA's administrator today. My understanding is there's a letter of non-opposition
from Council Member Young. I mean, that's what I was told. I don't have a copy of that,
but that was my... Give me one minute here. Yeah, so... Unanimous support, right? Yep.
Is there a Council Member Young who has a letter of non-opposition? Okay. I just don't have a copy of
it. That's why it's not in my materials. But, you know, again, not out of character for, you know,
in on that block 1931 in 1921 uh north 31st street are triplexes the properties have had histories of
had has had history of being multi-unit equaling three units and you know i just gave you the
materials uh that we found on atlas regarding some of these properties again uh friends rehabilitation
Program, Inc. is an affordable housing developer. In addition to that, they are also known for
several other programs, which is Homeless Services Program, which they're not doing here, but I'm
just saying, and a re-entry program, and as well as GRIP Program, which nurtures environments for
at-risk individuals to grow, learn, and succeed. So they're very well known in especially this
community, strawberry management community. Like I stated, they have collaborated on many
occasions you you would even see the letter of support from the strawberry mansion community
group uh stating that uh rather large law out of character you know as an rsa5 property behind us
on stanley street are rm1 properties again 1921 and 1931 are also triplexes aerial views of the
property so since our clients own this property they've had problems of dumping of cars and
trailers and this would obviously stop that and also you know build up that block that that does
need some help photographs of the property this is the property there's also two vacant lots here
that we don't own this is the property 1931 that we're mimicking in terms of height and like i
of height and like i said it goes a little bit deeper than us but you know again what we're
said it goes a little bit deeper than us but you know again what we're trying to
trying to do is conform as close to the code as possible with regards to occupied area this is
our hearing notice poster for today's hearing uh north 31st street to the right of the property
to the left of the property our plans and drawings again what we try to do is mimic the architecture
as much as possible so you have a flat brick facade you have a cornice line you have lentils
uh front doors that are defined um and uh the window lines even you know are matching a little
bit more architectural interest in terms of the cornice uh excuse me the lentils to kind of have
a look curve on the tops of it have some architectural interest um this is you know
our site plan uh we are uh four feet below grades and three feet above uh this is our floor plans
I'll quickly go through them. If you go through the front door, there's a vestibule area, you make
a right. Unit number one is one bedroom, one bath. So you have a delivery room, kitchen, and dining
room area, a bathroom, and the bedroom. The person can store their trash outside. There's a lower
level. We really just think of that as storage. Maybe someone puts an office down there. I don't
you know, the ceilings are not that high. You go up a flight of steps, you have the livery room
and dining room area, kitchen, a bedroom. Here's the ventilated trash closet for unit number two.
You have a bathroom and a kitchen. You go up a third flight of steps, mimics unit number two.
You have, you walk in, you have a living room, dining room, kitchen area, ventilated trash closet,
one bedroom two bedrooms bathroom this is just a you know survey showing that
this property is gonna be subdivide or at least a proposed subdivision this is
our proof of mailing for the community meeting we met on June 25th at 6 p.m.
these are the 158 addresses we sent the mailer to proof of mailing those
notices our application for zoning variance along with the notice of refusal and the project
information form our deed showing that friends rehabilitation program inc is the owner of the
property and then finally our certificate of tax clearance which i will be getting through the deed
you want to bring your client on yeah um elena can you virtually raise your hand
while i'm going through this and the certificate of tax clearance
a lady have been allowed to speak hi could you please state your name is spelled for the
stenographer a lady zeladon a l e y d a zeladon z e l e d o n do you swear or affirm to tell the
truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes counsel uh yes alayda you heard everything i had
to state today about your zoning matter yes i heard everything specifically that you know your
organization uh can you speak a little louder please sure especially since you're that your
organization is a non-profit organization that does affordable housing and that you regularly
collaborate with strawberry mansion cdc with respect to these matters yes that's correct
we're a non-profit organization all right great and um everything i state is stated was true and
correct right that is correct and do you adopt it as your own testimony uh can you repeat that
please do you adopt it as your own testimony what i stated yes thank you questions from the board
who's going to have access to the basements all the units just unit number one just unit number
one okay and so then what's uh the friends rehabilitation program's plan for property
management this is now 15 units uh which is pretty dense the other multi-family on the blocker i
think the other one's a tax credit building so it's a slightly different setup that's management
plan yeah alayda can you uh can you state um uh to board member when what how you handle property
management for this intended for this property and other properties i know there are other
problem i meant for this because they have an array of different ways that they handle house
okay specifically for this one for this one uh i'm sorry i can barely hear you so my question
was about the property management for the five properties since they're now 15 units on this
block the other multi-family in the neighborhood there's a like large tax credit project which
has a completely different management type so i just wanted to know how you all were planning to
to manage this one? We are going to be subcontracting now the management agency to manage the property.
We are going to be subcontracting now the management agency to manage the property.
And is this one where you're going to have tenants applying individually or are you going to be pulling people from like a citywide list?
It's going to be a combination of both.
Other questions?
Oh, not question, comment.
um you're doing that thing again where you have uh the bathroom or a bedroom where you have to
you know wander through the kitchen and the living room to get to a bathroom and at three
o'clock in the morning that's quite a walk and I just think it's a bad layout so so I will say
that I'm not the developer I'm not the architect but so noted and I'll make sure I'll let them know
actually did have another question are you all opposed to commercial trash pickup since you're
going to have a third-party property manager i i would defer to the board if they think it's
appropriate to have given the amount of units to have commercial trash pickup sure i do sure wow
uh any other questions questions from our turn yes um are you having roof decks on that or did
i know that was i i noticed that you know it's it's it's it's not on the notice of refusal i
noticed it when i was sitting here i was like and that's my fault but that's no intention to have
that okay because i did see that on the plans and i only only the illustrative plans yes not not the
site plan no i don't if there was you might have to get it no we're not okay it's to respect the
fact that strawberry mansion they don't want roof decks and and you know we would fall under the
overlay that's why we don't have that refusal just want to make sure great thank you uh questions or
comments from the virtual audience pastor tyrone williams you have been allowed to speak hi reverend
how are you sir reverend please unmute yourself mr pastor williams good afternoon hi reverend
how are you could you please spell your name yes pastor tyrone williams tyrone t-y-r-o-n-e
williams you swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes sir please
proceed council uh just want to i'm sorry yeah i guess that's it uh just want to confirm my letter
of support for this project um we have submitted it um yeah and uh now that i know you'll have it
because at one point i got a notice from you guys but i did call down there and um so you'll have
the letter and i just want to confirm it all right thank you very much reverend is there anyone else
I'll send the audience not at this time to any commission, you know, Salmonic, the planning commission in 2014, the zoning map was amended from RM 1 residential multifamily to the existing RSA 5 residential single family attached zoning at this location in accord with recommendations from the comprehensive plan and the support of the community.
there are no physical circumstances that prevent the application use the applicant use the property
in strict conformity of the zoning code the property is being subdivided so the dimensional
variances are self-imposed the planning commission recommends the board deny the requested variances
for multi-family use and occupied area can i just quickly i know you have a long list
we've owned this property since 2010 but yes but uh you know we purchased the property in 2010 with
the intention of building triplexes here. Unfortunately, it's taken my client a little
bit of time, but they purchased it as an RM1 property. Thank you. Thank you. So MI 2026,
0002-148, 1933 to 43 North 31st Street. I vote yes with proviso. Commercial trash pickup,
up no household living in basement Michael John's and my vote is yes with proviso Cheryl
Gaston my vote is yes with proviso Ryan McAdams my vote is yes with proviso
who's doing it Alex is doing the rest of them thank you have a good day all right you too
two more for you two more
come on yeah come on
just making sure the audience knows there's a uh ending yes or right at the end of the site how's
that but which one is it uh uh mi 2026 002 246 312 north 41st street
2 4 6 3 12 north 41st street
mr goldberg could you please state and spell your name
alex goldberg alex goldberg do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth i do mr goldberg could you identify your client a relationship to this
property my client carrie dupree is sitting to my left she's the owner of the property okay and
And our Vice Chair has just a few questions for you.
Leave me back there.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
I have.
And do you waive the refusals and simply to the accuracy?
Thank you.
You can show your screen and proceed with your case.
okay i'm sharing my screen now um the property address is 312 north 41st
my client carrie has lived there since 1994 she's temporarily taking care of her mother at a
different location but her plan is to hopefully have this variance approved for two family living
do a complete renovation of her property and move back home she has um as i learned at the
community meeting process um close ties to this community she's an active community member
she actually went through the variance process once before on this project for a greater variance
and had um had the support of the community group at that time um i was not her counsel
at that application um but uh that involved developing a standalone single family home at
the back of the property this this property goes street to street that's no longer part of her
plans um there's an existing detached garage back there that you'll see a photo of that is just
storage of her stuff so here is the notice of refusal um the property is owned rsa5 i'll note
that when she purchased the property in 94 it was zoned rm1 which would allow four units here the
zoning changed in 2015 the only variance that we're asking for is for two-family household
living there's also a small addition proposed as a part of this application which i will show you on
the plans we met with the coordinating rco west palton saunders park i believe will be in the
virtual audience they supported this application unanimously they I also
included in the presentation materials their their letter from the last time
around because this property was previously zoned RM1 the character of
this block specifically our end of the block is significantly multifamily you
can see on this diagram here what the nearby properties look like many of them
are actually three units we thought two units was the right number here carrie living on the first
floor uh and a portion of the second floor and a bi-level unit above her but there are multi-families
at 303 304 305 306 307 309 310 311 313 317 332 338 and 340 okay just for the record and i included
those rental licenses for the record as well here's the legislation that was approved in 2015
changing the zoning of this property which again runs street to street with frontage on holly
street in the rear from rm1 to rsa5 here's that letter of support from 2021 again that was
proposing a new standalone single family home in addition to a duplex in the existing structure
that was supported um heavily i guess not unanimously but um 23 to 1 here's the zoning
map of the property we're one of just a few here that go street to street the majority
of the lot lines cut right down the middle here so we have a i would say significantly larger lot
than what is typical for this block the other thing i'll note is we're adding a one-story
addition on the top of our structure you'll see in the photos that um we're adjacent to three
story structures and the majority of this block is three story structure so we're actually
matching uh coming closer into conformance with the heights on the block than than what we
currently are this is the garage on the black on the back on holly street here's the posting
photos from both street frontages here's to the right on north 41st you can see all these
three-story structures, which are primarily multifamily, and then to the left, here's Holly,
smaller street. Here's interior photos. So like I said previously, Carrie is planning to do a
significant gut renovation and retire in this home.
there's no one living there now plans and drawings i'll zoom in here for you
so the first regarding the addition the the darker portion of the building structure here is is the
addition portion the building height is 32 feet 11 inches at its highest point
there is going up to the floor the site plan up here um there's an existing two-story addition
that's in disrepair and is being removed and then there's a significant amount of space
um between um the rear of the of the existing building structure and where the garage is our
rear yard um you know is well beyond the nine foot minimum and then here's the floor plans
are small, so I'll zoom in here. Her unit is the blue unit. There's no living in the basement,
just a washer and dryer. It's an existing unfinished basement, and our plan is not to
change that. You go in the front, and you make a left, and you have one bed, one bath
on the first floor. There's an exit point to the rear yard on the side right here where my mouse is.
There's also, I would say, a guest bedroom at the rear of the second floor. It's a partial by level.
There's also a bathroom up there. And then going up the stairs to the orange unit, which has its own ventilated trash closet, it's also a bi-level, three-bed, two-and-a-half bathroom with, you know, obviously lots of natural light coming in the front of the second floor where the living space is, and then up above on the third floor where all the bedrooms are.
um obviously living there carrie is going to self-manage the property um and uh and with that
i'd like to ask my tenant to or my client to adopt my testimony close to the mic for me please if you
don't mind and pull being pulled right down to you okay all right could you please state and
spell your name carrie dupree c-a-r-r-i-e-d-u-p-r-e-e do you swear or affirm to tell the
truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes counsel carrie did you hear my testimony today
Okay. What? Into the mic? Yes. Was it true and correct? Except for the fact that I moved in in
1987. Oh, okay. 1987. She said, except for the fact that she moved in in 1987. I said 94.
Maybe there was a change in deed and I didn't catch that. My fault. Besides that, do you adopt
my testimony as your own? Okay. Thank you. Questions from the board. So did you say your
mother is going to live there? No, I moved in with my mother to take care of her. She passed
in december oh sorry sorry for your loss oh okay she'll be living there right and so i'll be staying
there during construction so that's right gotcha okay the and they're both bi-level units um i
don't have any issue with the layout okay thank you michael anyone else yeah just could you i'm
sorry good no are you going to be living in one unit and renting out the other is that how this
is going to work yeah okay all right yes thank you okay thank you yep i just may have missed it
so you're going to demo the rear right there's a portion of the rear that was like i think a
haphazardly added addition okay that's going to come down uh it's going to be replaced so that
the addition can go over it i'll reshare the zoning plan here so from my understanding carrie
correct me if i'm wrong the and i'll show the the uh the elevation here um the existing two-story
addition right here is not being replaced okay we're just adding a third floor so the rear that
that space between the garage and the back of the home is significant yeah and the the lieutenant
will have access to that space is outdoor space for them as well well just this is for just just
for the first floor all right thank you any other questions yes um i guess my question is about the
garage understanding that the plan is to use it for storage now but is the curb cut still legal
there is no curb cut it it i don't know if there ever was but i've been using it as storage ever
since i moved in so it was never actually it's really a storage shed an oversized storage shed
Yeah, I mean, it looks, based on the photos, like there was an opening that was cinder blocked up.
I'll go back to the plans.
I don't know if that...
There's no curb cut, though, on Holly Street.
Correct.
Got it.
And, you know, this door looks obviously like it's been there for a while.
I think, Carrie, I think you said you keep your, like, ceramic, your craft stuff in there.
Gardening stuff in there, art supplies.
Can you insert it from the yard as well?
There's a door on both sides.
I mean, I guess to Tanetta's point, it's dense, and I think to have a multifamily unit, you do have an opportunity here to give the tenant access to the rear yard, understanding that you're the one on the first floor and you might not want to.
to give the tenant access to the rear yard understanding that you're the one on the first
floor and you might not want to have people in your space but it does create opportunity where
there is access where you could you could have it yeah questions tomorrow attorney no my question
was answered by actually uh so no questions questions or comments from the virtual audience
For this audience here.
I see.
The planning commission in 2,015, the zoning map was amended from rm 1 residential multifamily to the existing RSA 5 residential single family attached at this location.
The comprehensive plan recommended RTA one residential two family attached, which would have allowed this use by right. The proposed use is consistent with the prior zoning and recommended zoning. The planning commission recommends the board grant the requested variance for multifamily use for two family dwelling.
Thank you. MI 2026-002-246-31-North 41st Street. I vote yes with proviso. No household living in basement.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso. McAdams, my vote is yes with proviso.
Tywin, my vote is yes with proviso. Thank you for coming and we appreciate it.
you okay who's doing nine i am okay so mi2026 002 262 1021 west uh hoarder street mr um hi could
you please state your name because you've already been sworn alex goldberg could you identify your
client the relationship to the property my client is sophia gordon sitting behind me she's the owner
of the property uh with her husband anthony murphy right um our 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 read now the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do all right thank
you you share your screen and present the case it also has unanimous support from westbound area
neighbors so this is a very interesting case with a what i would think is a very de minimis variance
request. It's a beautiful property in West Mount Airy with a lot of, I would say, historical
elements to it. And we're proposing to, in addition to a full sort of renovation that's
happening, we're proposing to change the gate that's at the front of the property. I have
Justin Detweiler of John Milner Architects to my left. I don't usually do this. I would have my
client first but i want justin to explain for the board you know the the design theory behind
what's going on with the gate and how it relates to some of the metal work that's in the inside of
the property and i'll have him sworn in when we get to that point okay the refusal that we're
asking for is for a six foot eight inch gate rather than a four foot gate this gate is set
back significantly from the front of the property it's really not visible unless you're looking down
the chute of these stone walls which match the height of the gate that we're proposing
and is set back 60 feet from the lot line so that's and we meet the opacity 60 feet yeah
it's far back it's a big property you'll see the photos it's beautiful i see the coordinating rco
has his hand raised i'm sure we'll get to him here's the letter from them unanimous support
here's the zoning map this is a very funky shaped property
that my client actually got married at and grew up in here's what the front of the property looks
like so there's a better photo coming I believe but the existing gate is is tiny it actually
doesn't meet the opacity requirements so it's existing non-conforming and it's manual so the
new gate will provide better security. It's also automatic and beautiful. So, you know, it's part
of a bigger vision here for the renovation. Here's the notice posting. You can see these stone walls.
These are, you know, 100 years old plus maybe. Justin will correct me if I'm wrong. And our gate
is matching the height of those. So you really couldn't even see it from the side. Here's the
right of the property and at the left heavily wooded area there's a better picture of the
existing gate here it is from another perspective this existing archway with original iron work
is remaining a couple more perspectives there's also a pedestrian pathway through the entry point
Here's the plans and drawings. So this is the site plan. I'll just show you sort of where we
here's the plans and drawings so this is the site plan I'll just show you sort of where we are on the
are on the site. Here's the gate. You can see that there's a six, you know, it's 60 feet,
one inch set back. Then there's an existing parking court behind that. That's an additional
almost 69 feet to the primary facade. And then the gate is going right there.
here is a an elevation whoops an elevation of the gate so this is sort of a more rudimentary
drawing of the gate for for zoning purposes you'll see the more ornamental version in a
later slide but you can see it's six feet eight inches tall and that that existing
lantern and bracket is to remain I think at this point I'd like for Justin to be sworn in
and he can explain. Hey sir could you please state and spell your name? Justin Detweiler J-U-S-T-I-N
Detweiler D-E-T-W-I-L-E-R. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth? I do. Counsel? Justin can you explain to the board what it's made out of who's making it
and what the sort of design intention was behind it just briefly? So this house has extreme historic
significance. It was designed by one of America's foremost architects of its era, 1928. And the
house is full inside and out of important museum quality ironwork by Samuel Yellen, who was the
foremost metal worker in American history. The arch over the gate, everything that you see on
this property was designed by Yellen. And so our clients have spent great expense restoring this
house. We're in the process of that right now. And we've added some new elements within the house
in the spirit of Samuel Yellen. And so these designs for the gate are very reminiscent of
the work that he did. They're also the work of a very popular and well-known Philadelphia
And they'll they're being fabricated and hand forged in his shop in Fishtown, and that's the basis for them.
We're matching the height of the wall because that 60 foot long driveway that you saw is very much a kind of privacy slot on the site.
One thing that we didn't mention, and I think is worth noting is the security factor here.
This is the last house on Hoarder Street before Fairmount Park, and the street ends and turns onto Parkline Drive, and that is an entry point into the park, and thereby people park.
They go in and out of the park to hike, and this property continually gets vandalism from people who are doing all sorts of nefarious things, and even as recently as a few weeks ago,
the construction the electricians and all the contractors had all their cars broken into
on the sidewalk right in front of this property so it's partial security and it's partial um
ornament okay thank you um and if you want to just swap places with sophia okay so that's
you know there's obviously drawings here you can see the different creatures they uh uh
an image of their dog at the bottom of the gate and that's essentially it we
obviously met with West Mount area neighbors July 1st we mailed notice to
what neighbors we were required to which is not many because there's these are
large properties and then the deed to the property and then the tax clearance
so with that I'd like my client to be sworn in sure hi could you please state
and spell your name for the stenographer i'm sophia why don't you just i'm sophia gordon uh
spelled s-o-p-h-y-a-g-o-r-d-o-n all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth counsel okay sophia did you hear my testimony today and did you hear
justin's testimony today were they both true and accurate and would you adopt them both as your own
thank you questions from the board
so is this historically certified property i don't believe it's on the philadelphia historic
register yeah okay couldn't hear couldn't hear his answer it's not and justin opines that it
it's it's surprising that it's not because it has a lot of historical elements and could qualify
okay and um what committee i'm sorry what committee out area westbound area neighbors and uh oh okay
all right um but this wasn't something that had to go but i guess because i was trying to
I guess, because I was trying to figure out if you just had to go in front of any, like the historical commission or anything like that.
Maybe this had to go in front of any.
Did not.
All right.
Question tomorrow.
I didn't have a question.
So to be clear.
Oh, go ahead.
You had another one?
Oh, no, go ahead.
Do you have another question?
Are you done?
No, I wasn't.
So I guess I'm having a little trouble with the orientation here.
so how far back does this i'm going to go to the site plan i think i mean i saw the
walls but i didn't see it's going in the same place where the existing gate is
if you look at the the plan on the screen it's circled where the proposed gate goes so
that sort of tunnel effect of the stone walls you can see on the left and the right here on this
drive and then the gate is being replaced where it currently is and then there's a parking court
that's directly behind it so if i go back to the photos you can see it's kind of this is like
more or less from the curb from the street and this is that yeah wow okay so then i guess
all right so this vandalism that happened where were these cars parked they weren't it sounds
like they were parked on the street um which is a close access point to fairmount park um
but this wouldn't have any parking in it what what's that can you park on this i'm not sure
if you can park there legally like the street is parkable and that's sophia sophia she grew up
living that entrance that drops in the department yeah right um but i mean how would that well you
can't you could you could you could step over the gate that's currently there it's it's i think it's
okay four feet tall or less um the new one is you know almost seven feet tall and it's made of iron
um no i don't have a problem with considering the orientation i'm not but i'm not sure how
even that if folks are parked outside at the this gate that's going to prevent the vandalism
it it may not i guess time will tell but it'll at least help my client feel a little bit more
secure that that you know people like vaulting this fence and i don't think so property hopefully
not yeah i'm just i'm just surprised you didn't you're not you're not defense is not being proposed
for the front of this exactly you know the front of this entry i don't i'm not sure how this is
like stop them before they go on the brick on there right i mean i think that the idea was to
put it where it was and it looks nice under the existing iron archway and the columns that are
there from a design perspective i mean i hear you um i mean if you're not you're not being
prevented from any for any historical no and and they could put if they could put a code
compliant fence there at a later date if they if they wanted to yeah oh okay all right try it i
think my question was just is this going to be a manual gate or is it going to be motion sensor
automatic and I think there will be a key
a keypad as well
and then motion sensor
but not floodlighted no floodlights
sounds like no
really
that lantern that's above the gate
I just want to know
that's my question
but I mean wouldn't that also help with the
there will be a light above it
I imagine that there may be security cameras
there's lighting at the front of the property
i don't think it's flood lighting i think it's more ornamental um my client and her husband are
moving in here for like the first time since she grew up here so i i assume you know um
if you determine that you need to beef some things up you will as time goes on
yeah there you go i mean i guess a question i think a question i have more for sophia is just
I know that these are big properties and there's a long distance, but I know that you have support from the RCO, but have you have any of the neighbors on either? Well, I guess only on the one side of you expressed any concerns about just in general, because it seems like you're doing this for a safety reason. Like, have you talked to any of the neighbors and are they aware that you're, yeah, they're aware that we're doing that. Yeah.
And nobody has expressed concerns about the gate.
And I guess my only issue is, I'm not sure if this is enough in terms of the, to address the security issues.
to address the security issues well i i'm not we're not claiming to address all of them i just
Well, I'm not, we're not claiming to address.
think it's an added benefit of of of the of the gate but i mean now when you have you know uh
you got cameras you've got the motion detection lights you've got you know different kinds of
ways that you can um kind of deter yeah there's options the idea is to make it you know
I think a lighter approach now, to answer your question about being set back, we believe
i'm sorry if there's additional testimony being made right now it's not being entered into the
record because we can't hear it in the microphone so if you want to testify you need to step up to
the microphone i was just saying that the um you know the modifications that we're making are in
compliance with the secretary of the interior standards which is our national standard for
historic preservation and we feel that the arch and where the lantern is placed which does provide
quite a bit of light actually um is the intended entry point of the property and on the other side
of that gate will is where they will be parking so in that front court that will prevent that
will protect their cars and eventually the front door of the house okay so you're following historic
standards of a sort without it being historically certified yes okay all right well you know i'm
just well the the real fact of matter is you're putting security up but you're also hanging a
piece of art yeah I mean I'm saying this is a piece of art yes it's a work of
sculpture by a significant sculptor and I will also add grace so Yellen did the
front the front gated temple Yellen did that right no questions at this time
all right mr. chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
planning Commission chair we do have a hand up sure from Ralph he is now
allowed to speak sure hello can you hear me i can could you mr pinkus could you please state
and spell your name for the stenographer surely good afternoon mr chairman members of the board
my name is ralph pinkus r-a-l-p-h pinkus p-i-n-k-u-s right do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth mr pinkus i do please proceed i chair the west
mount area neighbors zoning committee and signed a letter of support that a revised letter of
support that was sent in to the board on july 9 2026 mr goldberg has referred to that letter
i only want to indicate that there was unanimous support of the west mount area neighbors zoning
committee at the meeting on july the first the only neighbor who came to testify at that particular
meeting happened to be a fellow by the name of dan gordon who i've met once or twice as i've
lived in mount airway for 46 years and chaired this committee for maybe about 20 and that mr
gordon just happens to be the father of your witness that's testifying today and lives
and the property abutting the subject property.
There were no other neighbors who, after receiving notice, chose to attend our meeting,
and we're pretty well heard from in the neighborhood.
So I just wanted to share that there is support, that everyone thought the gate that's been designed is very tasteful and quite interesting.
And it's a unique property.
I've actually been there once or twice.
in a wonderful location and in fact as was mentioned there are a lot of people that come
and go in that location as I do to take a walk in the Wissahickon it's a very central entry point
into the woods okay Mr. Pinkish thank you very much for taking the time is there anyone else
no more hands at this time really commission
ina solomonic the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to
the existing rsd1 residential single family detached zoning the proposed dimensional
the proposed dimensional variance is minimal and does not conflict with the purpose
variance is minimal and does not conflict with the purpose and spirit
and spirit of the zoning code the planning commission recommends the board grant the
requested variance for the gate height mi 2026 002262 1021 west hoarder street i vote yes
michael johns my voice several guests and my vote is yes tenetta graham my vote is yes
brian mcadams my vote is yes hi owen my vote is yes thank you thank you mr patterson
mr chair this is uh ian hegarty pardon the interruption i'd like to now
ask you to call uh from the 330 list number three 1108 howard street so we can uh bring
the interpreter on for that case thank you okay all right we'll be right with you
MI 2025 006733 1108 Holworth Street
um joseph the caro is the attorney and we could the spanish interpreter please come on
yes my name is uh good afternoon a good afternoon chair my name is one i'm going to be a spanish
interpreter id number is json julia is in india 803 do you swear or affirm that you will interpret
accurately completely and impartially from english to spanish from spanish to english
Mr. Vaccaro.
Good afternoon.
May it please the board?
Good afternoon, Mr. Vaccaro.
I think we've sworn you in a few times today.
Am I correct?
Once before.
Right.
So could you please state your name and then identify your client?
Good afternoon.
My name is Joseph Vaccaro, V-A-C-C-A-R-O, and my client is Washington, as in George Washington,
caraballo c-a-r-a-b-a-l-l-o and he's sitting to my right okay um joe tell me what do you
recommend is this going to be word for word we're going to need or how do you want to do this
no if the board is willing if the board is willing to uh accept my my testimony as if my client were
testifying and then we'll just go back and he'll affirm it right and then he could just affirm
All right. Interpreter, could you please explain that to Mr. Carvalho?
Yeah, please.
Joe, our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Thank you very much. Go ahead.
good afternoon have you submitted your documents and is it just five days in advance of this
hearing yes i have and do you wave the reading of your referrals and stipulate to their accuracy
yes okay thank you you can share your screen and proceed with your case okay thank you very much
if i could start sharing my screen here and joe there is a letter of opposition from council
member Lozada and a letter of uh unanimous opposition from uh Northwood Civic
I I was expecting a letter of opposition from the uh neighborhood Civic it was my understanding
that councilman Lozada was uh not was neither going to oppose nor nor I'm just reading from
this piece of paper it says a letter of opposition from count council member Lozada I understand
Thank you, though.
If I could.
All right.
So by way of background, Washington had purchased this property on May 19th of 2023.
We can't try to zero.
There we go.
That's what I was trying to do.
Maybe just a little bigger, Joe.
Absolutely.
So on May 19th of 2023, Washington had purchased the property.
And yes, admittedly, in the past, and that seems to be a lot of the focus of the opposition from the RCO, this property was once used illegally for multifamily dwelling.
But Washington has gone, he's taken many strides to convert this property back to its single family use.
We've had this property inspected by city inspectors.
City inspectors were satisfied, as I could show you in my packet,
That yes, this property is continuing to be used as single family. And all we are asking the board is for is for the variance to permit the rear semi detached structure so that he could access the basement. And I'll be showing you get access. Say that again.
that yes, this property is continuing to be used as single family and
And so he could access the basement. And again, the basement is only being used only for storage purposes, and nobody is living in the basement. And again, the RCO just, unfortunately, was just not getting past the fact that even though it's not being used for multifamily now, Washington wants to keep the structure as a single family home because it was being used in the past as multifamily.
they just were not getting past that. If I could start going down to some of the photos and the
plans. And well, before I get to the photos and the plans, here we have the building permit,
which was applied for, for the alteration to the existing structure as previously approved,
as well as plumbing and mechanical permits. I want to focus on the on the
confirmation. There was an inspection conducted on January 5th of this year
and it passed. Permit issued to verify single-family dwelling will need to
access basement to confirm as I scroll down and again on the 13th the inspector
verified that the basement is not being used as a residential unit will need
electrical permit and mechanical permit to continue separate permit required to
legalize the rear addition so that's what we're here for um Washington he
still was able to get the mechanical and fuel gas permit for the utilities gas
permit as well as and that's to permit the duct work and the heating he got
the electrical permit and I'll show you that there's only only one electrical
meter. I'm going to show you that shortly. As we're going down, here's a- Joe, Joe, did Washington
own it when it was being used for, as you described, illegal activities? Yes. Yes. When he purchased
it, it was being used. Okay. Okay. So if you see on the plans over here, here's the basement.
Okay, existing basement. Yes, it shows a bathroom in the basement of the front of the building. That bathroom still exists. It does identify two bedrooms and a kitchen. He's had all that removed, and I'll show you that in some photographs.
the structure that we're trying to legalize is right over here you have the
staircase going up from the back into the first floor of the house then you
have the staircase going back downstairs into the basement and these
were plans that were already approved by the city I could zoom in on the city's
departments of licenses and inspections. Okay. Let me go back out.
And we should be getting to some photos very shortly. Here we go. So here's the front of the
house from Hallward Street with the posting. The mailbox, there's only one mailbox on the property
because there's only one family living there. Here's the main entrance. The entrance is off
to the side. That's how these buildings are constructed on this block. That's the school
across the street. As soon as you walk in, you have a den area, living space.
Moving towards the back, here's the structure at issue with the staircase going down to the
backyard. And from the backyard, here's that same staircase that I was showing you.
going back to the to the house here is the staircase that goes down from the
yard down to the basement we took the steps down and here's and now we're in
the basement looking towards the back and here's the basement nobody's living
there and it's empty and that's and that's how that's how the basement is
being used to this day. Only one meter. You had the meters removed. The other two
meters removed. And he confirmed that. He had the other two meters removed. So
there's only one electrical service. Here's the structure. Side view of the
one electrical service. Here's the structure, side view of the structure with the siding.
structure with the
Here's another view of the structure.
This structure over here is the garage in the back, his garage.
The two doors, so the door to the left is what goes into the house,
the door to the right is what goes into the basement.
When was that done?
When was that done, Washington?
He doesn't remember, but it was sometime after he purchased it, but it was sometime
after he purchased it.
Here's a side view of the structure.
And these are the neighboring homes.
They have similar structures.
this is going towards the east of Howard Street and this is going towards the
west this is the immediate neighbor going towards the west with the
neighbor's garage while we have while we have a letter of opposition from the
councilwoman and from the RCO we have a petition in support on page 41 of our
exhibit packet, 11-12, Mr. Babyloni, he supports it, and 11-14, Horworth, they
support, 11-32, 11-11, Ms. Peralt, where does Ms. Peralt live? Well she lives on
Harwood Street and 1127 and 1125. 1127 Wakeling and 1125 Wakeling. So we have
and Wakeling is the next street over behind. So we do have some immediate
neighbors supporting Washington in this. We've had a we've had our meeting with
the RCO and the meeting took place on March 17th when they issued their letter
of opposition we tried to have a second meeting we tried to have another meeting with the rco
and the rco then saying well now it's getting to be springtime spring turned into summer
but joe 24 people were there and 24 people voted against it yes uh uh
nine 19 of the attendees and five of the committee okay and um i attended that meeting
And again, everybody was, I could say from personal experience, they were focusing on the fact that Washington was using this property in the past, despite the strides that he's made to convert it back into a single family and that it's still being used as a single family.
I also remember one or two attendees at that RCO meeting, they were in opposition simply because Washington was renting out the property.
This one individual that attended said, no, nobody's allowed to rent out any properties in this neighborhood.
Completely erroneous, completely not consistent with the law.
And for that reason, that individual was also in opposition.
I don't remember that individual's name. With respect to follow-up, my follow-up, I did ask for an explanation. I also asked for another meeting, and about three or four weeks ago, I finally heard back from Mr. Heiser, Terry Heiser,
after everybody got back from vacation
and Terry told me,
no, we're just not going to have any more meetings.
The neighbors were against it
and it's going to stand.
I have the deed and the tax clearance.
We have that.
And are there any other...
We have all your paperwork.
So if there are any questions...
As an officer of the court,
you can take the questions, okay?
Okay, thank you.
Questions from the board.
yeah just for point of clarity for me was the addition already built when he purchased
a property or did he build the addition let me confirm that with washington or
the or the interpreter can the interpreter interpret that question sure okay
one we can sorry about that interpreter could you swear in him when you speak to him and asked him
and ask him does he swear or affirm that tell the truth, told truth, nothing but the truth.
does he swear or affirm to tell the truth told truth nothing but the truth
El señor Washington, ¿Usted jura o afirma que va a decir la verdad, toda la verdad y nada más que la verdad?
Correcto, sí.
Yes, correcto.
Ok, so the question that the lawyer wants you to ask, right, the question was, was that two doors, was that addition there before when he purchased it or did he put that up?
there was one door and i added the second but the addition was already there so i just added
another door because there was only one okay so my other question is how what was access
like to the basement without the second door entonces mi pregunta es cómo sería el acceso
al sótano sin esa segunda puerta
question again how did you access the basement
how did you access the basement before the second door was put up
on the bus como usted accedía al sótano antes de que la segunda puerta fuera puesta en la edición
it was open the door was downstairs and it would get wet a lot so what i did is i put
a door up front so the second door or the door downstairs wouldn't get so much water
so the basement door was always on the exterior before the addition
entonces la puerta al sótano siempre estuvo en el exterior antes de la edición
correct thank you gracias gracias
¿Alguna otra pregunta?
Supongo que mi pregunta es ¿por qué no fue puesta unas escaleras en el interior de la propiedad para darle acceso al sótano?
I have no idea because I bought the property that way, so I have no idea.
I understand that that's how the property came. Why didn't you do it? is the question.
Entiendo que así es como estaba la propiedad. Mi pregunta es ¿por qué usted no hizo eso?
can you repeat the question please yes my question is why didn't he create an access
My question is, why didn't he create an access from the basement to the rest of the house
that does not require you to go outside of the structure?
Mi pregunta es, ¿por qué usted no creó un acceso al sótano o del sótano hacia el resto de la casa
sin que requiera tener que salir afuera de la estructura?
it was due for the house upstairs to have more space
right now there's no use for it
ok entiendo entonces si usted fuera a tener aprobación hoy día qué es lo que va a estar
ocurriendo con el sótano
simplemente se necesita por el espacio de arriba
y vosotros nire for the space of a bob
i understand the first and the second floor of the house i understand that there was not
a stairwell put in to keep the rest of the house as is with more space but what is going to be the
as it is with more space but what is going to be the use in the basement moving forward
use in the basement
storage are we going to have a playroom down there we're going to store tools like
what is the thing about the map
a herramienta cualquier cosita que yo
car bicicleta cualquier cosita que necesiten it will be to use a storage to put pops or tools
boxes bicycles whatever whatever i need okay thank you any other questions
questions from our attorney um i just wanted to put on the record um there was a question about
the letter from councilwoman lazada she did submit it's dated april 2nd april 20th 2026
uh that she did submit a letter of opposition
from the virtual audience i see no hands chair planning commission
i do have um before the planning commission i'm sorry uh i do have one of the near neighbors also
julio rodriguez he lives in the area he's also in the room with me who would like to voice his
support yeah joe could you make sure that she can please have her does she speak english yes julio
you speak english right okay he's right i could you please state your name and spell for the
stenographer. Good afternoon, members of the board. My name is Julio, common spelling J-U-L-I-O,
Rodriguez, R-O-D-R-I-J-U-E-Z. Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
told truth, nothing but the truth? Yes. Go ahead. Yes. So I'm here to testify because I
live in the area. Not only that, but I also work in the area as a police officer. I patrol the
area and i know this man personally as well and i could testify how he's really like caring about
the neighborhood caring about the the prop his property always keeps it like well maintained
because i know that's really important to that community specifically because everyone cares
about if if they take care of the property or not which he does and i'm also here to testify
that he, I understand he had, he had, you know, problems in the past because he didn't follow
the rules, but he did admit, you know, his mistakes and he corrected it. And that was
one of the main issues why when he went to the community board, why he was constantly
gonna be objective though they it was they just focus on that one mistake that he made
but he learned from his mistake and i asked if
kind of like you know we all make mistakes we all so not just focus on that one mistake and actually
well it's been some just there's some mercy that's all okay thank you very much thank you
planning commission good afternoon army i'm sorry uh this is sloan folks from council member
lazada's office i had my hand up and uh how are you sloan i i was wondering if you were coming go
ahead good afternoon chairman uh and board uh my name is sloan folks i'm representing team the
office of council member catchy lazada right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth whole truth
nothing but the truth yes i am thank you proceed sloan um we sent a letter of opposition uh back
in april i believe it was um in light of the outcome of the rco meeting subsequently um the
applicant did reach out to us um stating that you know his goal was to put the property back as uh
initially was um and um he asked us if we could facilitate a second meeting with the um community
um and uh in speaking with his attorney and uh in representation as well as reaching out to the
residents um in the um in the uh in that part of the in the northward section of the city
uh we worked to do so um we had hoped that um a community meeting with the rco would um
at least shed light on the applicant's next steps, goals, and objectives, possibly
clear up any misconceptions that they may have had going in because my understanding is
they were, the community had some issues with, you know, how we went about the process initially.
They were, community had some issues with, you know, how we went about the process initially, and the council member wanted to be sure that he had the opportunity to state to the community, and she lives in that community also, that he's working to address those, or part of the process of addressing those was the zoning variance.
we're not uh officially changing our um our letter but we do we would um state that you know
the appellants the applicant has uh worked to try to address the community concerns
um and um and uh we just want that to be recognized thank you thank you very much um
thank you mr folks dean of solomon of the planning commission the comprehensive plan
recommends no change to the existing rsa2 residential single family the request is for
a legalization of a rear addition visible in atlas imagery back to 2024 after withdrawing a variance
request for two-family dwelling the applicant underwent additional efforts to convert the
property back to single-family use the addition was granted a residential building permit number
rp 2025 010643 in 2025 the planning commission recommends the board grant the requested variants
for side yard setback and occupied area um joe we had a lot of testimony and um you know
looked like there was complex meetings with the community we'll vote on this wednesday next
wednesday at 2 bm much appreciated thank you very much all right have a good day all right
All right, number four.
So, Mr. Chair, we're now going to continue to complete the 2 p.m. list.
Is that correct?
What's that?
We're going back to the 2 p.m. list, right?
Correct. Yes. Thank you.
And we're going to be hearing Mr. Patterson.
m i 2026 002175 30 to 48 snyder avenue ronald patterson is the attorney mr patterson please
state your name and spell for the stenographer good afternoon ronald patterson p-a-t-t-e-r-s-o-n
right claire harrison law firm 1835 market street you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth yes i do mr patterson could you identify your client a relationship to
the property sure uh my client clients is first the the tenant is advanced auto parts stores
yep uh and the landlord is the goldenberg group which i represent both okay 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 and do you waive the read no the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
yes i do all right thank you you can proceed with your case i just need to be promoted
are we putting bringing Mr. Patterson in Mr. Patterson has been allowed to promote thank you
yeah Enron I'm in thanks
this is goldberg shopping center dinner it's it's one of them yes i'm going to explain that thanks
okay so this application regards 30-48 snyder avenue uh there's a vacant tenant space in the
shopping center is snyder south owned by the goldenberg group here's an aerial photograph
here is i-95 surrounded by all these shopping centers here's the ikea shopping center with
lowe's that's a goldenberg shopping center snyder south which is what we're here for snyder north
over here is the target so it's surrounded by um commercial as you'll see zooming in on here's
snyder south snyder north targets back here this uh parcel here was the intellects parcel
which i'm working on we have we're converting that to a shopping center as well so it's it's
in a it's in a commercial area here or just tap these for purposes so this is the space
we're referring to this corner which used to be a right aid store
target acme lowe's ikea
So it's located, the particular store is on the corner of Snyder Avenue here and Front Street,
also surrounded by Water Street and Jackson Streets. It's space number one, it's about
10,425 square feet, last occupied a year ago after a Rite Aid vacated the store.
The proposal is for an advanced auto store which sells retail parts and accessories,
So it is a commercial retail store. We're located in a CA2 commercial auto-oriented zoning district, which allows for the largest shopping centers possible, like the IKEA shopping center.
And the use here falls under, not commercial, but it falls under an industrial use category code of personal vehicle equipment sales and services.
so it's also located in the cdo central delaware riverfront overlay which makes this use of
refusal advanced auto is a sales his retail sales there are no repairs such as body and fender and
painting which would be those uses that are typically included in that category
and this is probably one of the reasons why it's prohibited in the overlay yet again it's just
retail sales. I'll go through more of the store. Here's the old Rite Aid. There's a rear, which
we're keeping these murals, paintings that are on both sides. Swanson Street side.
It's the surrounding area. I'm sure we're well aware of them.
here's what the rebranding would look like within the shopping center
again keeping the artwork here and i'll further move down to the floor plan so
we can talk about that if there are any questions about that so they stated we're an overlay the
overlay is part of the language in the overlays says the purpose is to connect the public and
neighborhoods to the waterfront and promote sound economic development we believe this use as retail
is not inconsistent with the code or the area and fits within the character in the context of the
area as to the property it's a large space it's been hard to lease finding one large retail that
replace another but as you'll hear we this use actually has lesser density impacts in terms of
customer trips and cars than the Rite Aid did so with that said I want to introduce you to Ashton
Quinn if you could I sir could you please get close to the mic state your name is spelled for
the stenographer all right I'm going to relax here yep go ahead sorry name is Ashton Quinton
Ashton, A-S-H-T-O-N, Quinton, Q-U-I-N, T-I-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, told truth, nothing but the truth?
Counsel?
Thank you.
So, Ashton, you're familiar with this location?
And what's your position with Advanced Auto?
Construction Project Manager.
Again, you heard my testimony.
Would you agree it's true and accurate?
And I do adopt it as if it were your own?
And so just to reiterate, so it's a retail store?
Correct.
Right, no auto repairs?
No body fender, no painting?
Is there much to do there to convert the building?
No, it's an interior outfit.
Okay, and here's a floor plan.
I think I have some interior photos as well.
Give me a second.
Should be toward the end.
Scroll up a little bit.
Sorry, I did provide them. I can't find them.
Anyway, days and hours of operation.
Days of seven days a week, Monday through Saturday, 7.30 a.m. to 9 p.m., and then Sundays, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
And how many total employees would be employed here?
Total hired at these locations tend to be around 15 employees, but around five per shift.
And the parking is adequate or reasonable in the shopping center for this?
Okay, and I'm sure you've done studies, but is there a comparison you could say?
i'm sure you've done studies but is there a comparison you could say what are the the customer
what are the cost
trips or how many customers within a store compared to the right aid on a typical day
the average maximum amount of customers in the store at a given time is probably around four
to five okay tends to be in and out sales and if we look at this floor plan um is where is the trash
storage so the trash would be small trash containers for lunch disposal and miscellaneous
trash there's also a dumpster area in the back on the swanson half side that we would take all
of our trash out to um and yeah that's really good okay and is there any hazardous waste here
so there is uh oil storage container for customers to drop off their used motor oil
It will get dumped into the oil containers, and then once the container gets filled up to a certain capacity, they call a company called Safety Clean to come and collect them and then drop off an empty container in addition to a container for oil filters.
And that's all stored inside, right?
That is all stored inside to the rear of the space near the receiving doors.
Okay. And I also have for Ashton, if there's any questions, I would say that we did meet with the Whitman Council's community group on June 17, and we have a letter from them with proviso conditions, which I'll turn this around here, which we're fine with.
is there anything other thing for us erlyn okay uh questions from the board
yes so is there a charge for that expense of dropping off oil because i didn't know that
no it's complimentary oh wow okay well that's good people for people to know so typically with
businesses like this especially in the city you have folks that may i may buy a can of oil and
you know i'm just gonna pop my pop my hood right in the parking lot or my engine with the oil and
then go um so is there a system where your employees will monitor that parking lot uh
making sure that folks won't do those like minor tweaks of you know adding fluids to their that
you guys sell to their uh automobiles um is there like periodic watch of that so um wait before you
Before you, before you, before you answer that, can I break in here?
Council, our member is being very nice.
I got to tell you, every one of these places that I go to, you've got people that are running
businesses in these parking lots, repairing cars, repairing, replacing batteries, replacing
motors in some cases, doing body work.
And so the question is, what are you going to do with the existing properties that you
have and including this one to kind of deal with those kind of nuisance conditions in these parking
lots and it goes on and on and on I'm about to probably pull out a video of something you know
what's what's your answer to that we've learned I'll let Ashton speak we learned a lot about this
and I learned a new term called shade tree mechanics so it this did arise at the meeting
and that's why we talked about these proviso conditions um we'll do as as much as we can and
we talked about this with whitman council they are comfortable with the landlord because they
know the landlord the golden brew group would not want this happening in uh their in their parking
lot but ashton if you want to address what you had proposed to do so yeah so there is a couple
of conversations we have internally with these types of situations with the shade tree mechanics
One of those items is to let our staff or our store team members know and operations team members know to necessarily notify the authorities when it comes to those types of services or items being conducted on the site.
If there is any waste left behind, our store team are notified to just come clean it up and throw it in our dumpster.
Those are kind of the expenses or the risks we're willing to take.
But we have a strict policy not to necessarily engage the public when it comes to those acts, because we don't want to jeopardize their safety.
In addition to that, it's also beneficial for us to just have communication with the local police
or sheriff or whosoever and just figure out potential processes when it comes to having
maybe security or patrol, as well as possibly just talking to the landlord and seeing if there's a
possibility of engaging in tow trucks or tow companies to because we've heard stories where
because we've heard stories where people would leave and abandon cars for these shade tree
people would leave and abandon cars for these shade tree mechanics and
mechanics and the client, whoever their client is, has to come and see that the car has been
sitting there and unable to be serviced. So we have some ways to try to alleviate that stress
within the neighbors and whatnot, but it's kind of a process that we're trying to figure out what
works best in the area. So you can commit to at least like if any debris is left from those
mechanics that your your staff yeah yeah we've done that in multiple locations i've had stores
in long island where we've had that taken care of in brooklyn so when you so when you contact the
the local authorities what do they do because uh you know i'm not too far from one and i could go
out there right now and they're probably about 15 different mechanics working on cars right at this
moment so what what what did they do so you call the local what did they do yeah it was sometimes
we call we call multiple occasions and sometimes they just don't come out or you know every times
where the store manager would come out and just let it be known to the people who are doing these
repairs in the parking lot but at the most um we're kind of limited with what we can do it's not
like we can but we're in agreement with with you and the landlord that they would take action
the best they can i don't know what they can do on the street but yeah i guess these are the
parking lots yeah these are the parking lots these don't in the streets these are literally
on your parking lots yeah and i guess i have a follow-up question because this is not something
that we can provide though but how much control do you all have as a store operator to put up
signage in front of the spaces that are in front of your store that say things like no loitering
or sort of inform people, no stopping, no wait.
Like their target, for example, has to do it for their pickup, right?
So like how much control do you guys have in putting out signage in front of the store?
We have a lot of control.
We have a branding department that could put up appropriate signage that is needed.
And we can put them all along our storefront.
And then we can coordinate with the landlord as to posting probably post signs on the property
within our lease line, whatever he allows, but we can definitely have that conversation.
And then I just have a question about your typical customer. How often are you guys getting
like larger bulk orders? So the trucks would deliver to the store on occasion, possibly once
a week, and it comes after business hours. Not inventory. I'm saying like as a customer,
I'm going to walk in and I'm going to order, I don't know, 20 tires or like a bulk order
from a customer? How often does that happen? Not often. We don't do large bulk orders. So
our service is basically DIY customers. That's somebody coming out of their house and want to
get windshield wipers or anything. They'll come in and buy something off the sales floor.
And then we have a clientele, which we call pro services. And those are the local mechanics in
the community. They don't typically buy bulk. They buy on order. They will call in the order
to the store they'll receive that call and they'll have it ready and then they will we will have a
delivery vehicle that comes from our store that will deliver the product to the mechanic so they're
not having to come because i'm more worried like just about loading zone or like anybody that might
have a larger than normal order no mostly taking those to them yes we have a delivery service with
a small car that we just drop off the mechanic so they run an account with the store yes they
They lock in an account with what they call our CMM, and they get that service provided.
Other questions?
Questions from our attorney?
I have two questions.
You indicated in your paperwork about, it looked like signage.
Signage is not part of this.
That's correct.
I just want to make sure.
It would be a separate application.
Okay, great.
I also wanted to kind of clarify the address of this, because when I was reviewing things,
there's a couple different addresses and not that we asked for it but we didn't have a lease for it
which maybe would have clarified you know what i mean from the tenant so we have the address you
know that was on the application is 30-48 schneider avenue but i thought i read pen schneider avenue
on your sign plans so we need to make sure yeah that's no that or do you have a unit you know
what i mean because it was the the the opa address is 30-48 i think it once might have been an aka
10 snyder or that was colloquially known as that but the official address is 30-48 okay so that
would be okay thank you i would just add before planning speaks yeah if i may just to close it
you know we believe a hardship exists for the space it's been too large to rent and we have a
viable tenant yet we don't see any adverse impacts i mean we there are some but we would we would
we intend to address them for the space in terms of public health safety welfare and traffic traffic
and the customer density is less than what the Rite A would have been and the Whitman Council letter supports that.
the right a would have been um and the whitman council letter supports that um we believe it's
within the character in the context of the area so it's not out of character and it's surrounded
and within large shopping centers so thank you thank you planning
nina salamonic the planning commission in 2014 the zoning map was amended from i2 industrial to
the existing ca2 commercial auto zoning at this location accord with the recommendation from the
comprehensive plan the proposed use vehicle equipment and supplies sales and rentals is
prohibited in the central delaware riverfront overlay district planning commission recommends
the board deny the requested use variance um mi 2026 002 175 30 to 48 snyder avenue i vote yes
michael johns my vote is yes cheryl gaston my vote is yes uh tenetta graham my vote is yes
ryan mcadams my vote is yes hi i win my vote is yes thanks so thank you my mechanical ability
would never have me be accused of working in the department you're not going to be a stage
okay thank you thank you okay mike i'm sorry for my debutante question
yeah yeah because it could because it's real i mean it's problematic it's problematic right
oh here we go but number five mi and ron sorry we kept you so long number five mi 2026 002
197 172 to 76 esta street richard de marco is the attorney
i'm moving around you see the ends inside
richard demarco have been promoted to pan thank you very much
yeah i don't think i got promoted i'm here but i'm not a panelist
can you hear me i can't share screen it looks like
Dana, can you hit remote to payment? Thank you.
I think that worked.
Mr. DeMarco, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes. Good afternoon, everyone. Richard DeMarco, last name spelled D-E-M-A-R-C-O.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
yes mr demarco could you identify your client a relationship to this property
yeah the client is maple lane properties llc and ian kerr is the client he's uh in the zoom
our vice chair has a few questions for you sir sure good afternoon have you submitted your
documents and exhibits five days in advance for this hearing yeah i did all that okay and do you
waive the reading that your refusals and stipulate to their accuracy i can waive and stipulate okay
Okay. Thank you. You can share your screen and begin your presentation.
And I see the 7th Ward RCO has sent a letter of support.
All right. You should be able to see my screen. Is that right?
We can, sir.
Oh, great. So, Mr. Chairman, this matter is an unusual property. It's zoned CMX2, but I'm about to show you some photos, which I think will show you that.
the uses that are typically associated with a cmx2 which would be a neighborhood commercial
zoning district are really not feasible in any way shape or form i'm going to just jump to a google
streetscape so you should be able to see this is the actual property it's a it's it's very
industrial the history of the property is very heavy industrial use let me just swing so you
You can see there's a little bit of residential here, but it's a brick, tiny brick, cobblestone street.
You can see it here.
There's basically the back of parking lots, some industrial buildings, and it's basically a very small, off-the-beaten-path property.
The applicant, my client, would not be able to secure and has not been able to secure any type
of viable CMX2 consistent use like office retail or anything like that. No one would see it. No
one would go to it. And there's no walking along here at all. It's tiny sidewalks, as you can see.
All right. So back to the exhibits. We were refused for use and for a parking space. Let me jump to
our floor plan so you can get a look at that here's some of our postings
floor plan. So you can get a look at that. Here's some of our postings.
This is the interior. You can see it's a warehouse building to begin with. So here's the floor plan.
This is an auto repair. No body, no fender, no painting work. Simple auto repair. There'll be
three mechanical bays we put on the floor plan, no spray, no body work. Let me zoom back a bit
here. Yeah. So there's room within the property. There is one parking space here for staging,
but there's room inside the building to stage any cars that come in. And there's really not
room to put them out there anyway, even if that would be the intent. So, and I do have the tenant
available for any questions as well, should you need that. So, we met with Angel Cruz's award.
Oh, by the way, before I forget, Mr. Chairman, there is a revised plan form. We did our original
application called for four repair bays. There's three, which actually results in more room within
the property for maneuverability um and the total area of the car lifts was reduced to
1080 square feet so i would ask for a proviso one page um uh revised plan what what we have
now is maximum three bays am i correct okay and we'll change that's what you have now correct
no that's correct okay sure thank you yeah and i'll put this up so um we believe obviously a
clear case of hardship as you can see this is not a cmx2 block in any way shape or form
it's got a long history one of my exhibits is the zoning uh history they're like machine shop
type uses there's tire storage historically in this building um we do plan that it'll be totally
self-contained um so really that's my presentation i have ian kerr and the tenant available for
questions of nine to five operation and um all the proper lights is the the tenant is an experienced
auto repair businessman he's got other locations so he knows what is required and what is needed
obviously you'll have all the the requisite licenses and he will have a commercial hauler
all the appropriate waste haulers that are needed so with that mr chairman i would ask
ian kerr to raise his hand virtually to accept my question
ian kerr has been promoted to panelists
i sure could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
hi yes can you hear me i can't yeah okay yes uh my name is ian kerr it's spelled i-a-n-k-e-r-r
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Counsel?
Mr. Kerr, did you hear my presentation of the board today?
Yes, I did.
Was it true and accurate?
And can you adopt it as your formal testimony in the case?
Mr. Chairman, that's all I have for Mr. Kerr.
I forgot to mention Mr. Cruz and his ward were in support.
He understood the nature of the property and was fine with the use.
It's needed to sit there.
I have the tenant as well, if you want to question him.
You have what?
I have the tenant available as well, if you wanted to question him.
But Ian is the one who's going to run the shop, right?
No, the tenant, Ian, is the owner.
I'm sorry.
Why don't we bring on Mr.
Yeah, why don't you bring on who's going to run the shop?
That sounds good.
um drew uh please raise your hand virtually so we could unmute you and bring you in to testify
mr drew morales has been promoted to panelists that's him
well i don't have specific questions of drew so go ahead and the board can ask questions as they
see fit although let me let me swear at first drew thank you yeah hi do you swear or affirm
spell your name please and state it for the board all right so my name is andrew a-n-d-r-e-w
morales m-o-r-a-l-e-s do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth yes i'll do so i want to talk about the general operation of the place how do you get
rid of old oil and things of that nature because you're going to change oil there right so yeah
we have 250 gallon drums that are pumped out so throughout the summer we pay for oil to get
pumped and in the winter they pay us to take the oil away okay questions questions from the board
how many how many cars are are you going to be are going to be stored in the in the site
at one time stored we don't want mainly store anything well well so so people
stored we don't want mainly store anything well well so so people come to be serviced how many
people generally do you expect to be serviced probably three to five a day okay and so nothing
stored on the site people come and so but cars are never left there overnight uh occasionally
we have to wait for parts because you know that's the only thing that holds us back from certain
things okay and so the maximum is is three or four that would be there and and no one would ever be
parked outside on the of course there's no room but no there's only one parking space we use
okay all right thank you other questions all right um so how many bays is it three it's only
yes three three bays okay how many lifts that's that's the same thing right uh drew
the bays are left yeah every bay services one vehicle so if it's three bases three vehicles
four bays before and so forth all right okay and there won't be any kind of body fender work
no spray painting anything like that no and so the services are basically what oil changes tires
we i do mostly wiring and uh little specialties so we do wiring lights basic maintenance breaks
oil changes stuff like that wiring yeah okay and you do have hazardous waste disposal for
um the oil is that yes so be a third party collect the oil third party collect the trash
okay and that's whether it's oil or automatic transmission fluids all those kinds of things so
all oils are considered the same the only thing different would be cool and that's
stored in a separate container picked up by a different company gotcha okay and what are your
hours so we do nine to five and in the winter we change with daylight savings so we'll change the
time a little bit for the winter okay and you said how many you could service in a day you
said four or five three to five depending on day of the week okay and absolutely no
parking outside of the there's nowhere to park yet at all
other than the one dedicated spot yeah we have one dedicated spot in the driveway that's it
okay all right thank you all the questions
okay questions from our attorney um i have a couple questions i just wanted to clarify
you're not having parking the parking would be basically in the bays is that correct so if you
look at the diagram the floor plan is open so the bays are toward the rear so the entire rest
of the garage is used as parking and pulling parking i meant outside the building like you're
not there's there's physically nowhere to park if you look at the map there's a thousand poles
outside and no sidewalk just wanted to clarify in case we were missing a request for parking
secondly what kind of vehicles are you actually repairing it says commercial but are you uh
preparing i'm sorry repairing not preparing uh repairing like like say if i brought my car in
or you're looking at you know buses you know what are you looking no we fix tow trucks we do lighting
on tow trucks and basic maintenance like oil changes and brakes and then vehicles the same thing
i'm sorry so you're looking at sizes of tow trucks and that size i'm just trying to clarify
if this should be yes it's all medium duty and regular cars okay so not regular cars like you
know someone like if i brought my nissan in you wouldn't be repairing that yes we repair medium
duty trucks so which is the f-250 f-350s things of that nature and then regular pickup trucks and
vehicles so it'd be passenger light vehicles small sedan compact cars things of that nature
i think what he said he would be able to service your nissani but it's he has a specialty with
trucks am i right but mr demarco i think what she's trying to say is she doing commercial
vehicles right it looks like it's both so we might have to do a proviso with regard to that
it's there's both uses commercial so we do what we do with lighting which is wiring we do lights
flood lights uh amber lights emergency lights things that nature on trucks
yeah i mean if you think of prizes needed that's that's fine i i understand it would be because
your request was just for commercial if you're going to do personal you have to have that you
have to have that use both uses have to be approved via your application okay
obviously we would request that if that's that's if that's needed I mean if not you
would have to get an amended no no we don't want to we don't want to do that that's why
so no no we don't want to we don't want to do that that's why i'm suggesting what i said thank you
I'm suggesting what I said thank you
that's fine it would be use would be limited to personal uh vehicle repair and maintenance
and commercial uh vehicle repair and maintenance i would list both of them out use limited to
personal personal vehicle repair and maintenance and commercial right vehicle so that we have both
uses on the um decision so there'd be no you know computer questions from the virtual audience or
here i see no hands here um planning commission
ina solomonic the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends a change from
the existing cmx2 commercial mixed-use zoning to rsa2 residential single-family attached zoning
at this location the existing and proposed zoning do not allow the proposed use and intensity is
not in keeping with the existing residential character and use of the block the planning
commission recommends the board deny deny the requested use variance in my 2026 002197 172 to 76
west east street i vote yes with proviso maximum three repair bays use limited to personal vehicle
repair and commercial actually i was clarified by hillary we should say approved uses are
let's say that again approved uses are the personal and the commercial uses are the personal
and commercial vehicles and if i may mr chair i think we need the uh proviso plan form proviso
the uh we our original application had four bays and we reduced to three i reduced it to three
right that's oh okay very good thank you that's why i said the proviso i got you first thing i
said was maximum three repair base very well thank you okay uh michael johns my vote is yes with
provisals
cheryl gaston my vote is yes with provisals tenetta graham my vote is yes
for provisals brian mcadams my vote is yes with
provisals hi i win my vote is yes with proviso thank
you mr tamarco appreciate you have have a good one thanks everyone
number six mi 2026 002 206 71 10
Mount Airy Terrace, Harold Johnson III, and Shiana Flynn.
And this is going to be here and hold, am I correct? Correct Mr. Chairman.
Are you involved in this ma'am? Sure, come on up.
uh we're going to hear the case and that means we're going to hear it and we won't vote on it
today oh you're good thank you harold johnson
do we see mr johnson's hand yes chair he's here and he'll be joining as a panelist shortly thank
you very much good afternoon hi good afternoon sir could you please state your name and spell
for the stenographer? Harold Johnson, H-A-R-O-L-D, J-O-H-N, S-O-N. Do you swear or affirm to tell the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. I see a letter of support from the West
Mount Airy Neighbors Association. Our Vice Chair has a few questions for you, sir. Sure. Good afternoon
or evening. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
we have and do you waive your the video of your refusals and stipulate to the
the accuracy i do not stipulate to the accuracy of the refusal refusal as written uh we agree
with the majority of it but would like to briefly clarify the parking and rear side yard refusals
May I share my screen? Yep. You can do that as you proceed with your case. Thank you.
So, with regards to the refusal concerning the lack of off street parking, the inspector misread the drawings, the plan provides the required off street parking.
So the actual parking issue is its location within the required yard setback.
so the actual parking issue is its location within the required yard setback now we'll show those
plans in a little bit for the side yard our proposed plan shows a 14 foot 8 inch side yard
where 15 feet is required so that's approximately four inches of relief and then the rear yard is
compliant as proposed the rear yard relief was included to preserve flexibility if the board
requires the house to move farther back.
So I'll get into, sorry just trying to move
this, there we go.
Okay so my name is Harold Johnson, my wife is Shana Flynn and we're the
owners of 7110 Mount Airy Terrace. We're seeking a dimensional variance relief to build a single
family home for our family on this vacant residential lot at the end of the Mount Airy
Terrace cul-de-sac. We're proposing a two-story single-family home on an existing residential lot
in Zoning District RSD1. It's a modestly sized four-bedroom home with approximately 2,000
square feet of net interior living space. The home has no basement and no garage.
The property is unusual because it is wedge-shaped and located at the end of a cul-de-sac. It
also contains significant mature trees and the rear of the property approaches steep
and environmentally sensitive terrain associated with the Wissahickon landscape. The property
is within the WSIC and watershed overlay and also has a steep slope protection overlay.
Our design approach has been to fit the house to the existing site conditions rather than
substantially alter the site to accommodate the house. That approach has led us to preserve
mature trees, avoid a basement, omit a garage, and limit excavation and grading. We also intend
tend to use energy efficient construction and lower impact materials.
This is intended to be our long term family home and our goal is to build it in a way
that minimizes disturbance to the property and its surroundings.
In terms of required documentation, our deed is at Exhibit F, Certificate of Tax Compliance
is at Exhibit G, Property Posting Documentation in Exhibit I, and Near Neighbor Notices and
Proof of Mailing at Exhibit J.
We presented this project to the Westmount Area Neighbors Zoning Committee.
After hearing the presentation and the concerns raised by near neighbors, the committee voted
unanimously 7 to 0 to support the requested dimensional variance relief.
The committee cited the unusual size and configuration of the lot, its location at the rear of the
cul-de-sac, preservation of the wooded character and heritage trees, and the
benefit of avoiding extensive rear yard regrading that could affect the WSIC and
watershed. So in terms of what relief is actually required by the proposed plan,
there's there's a lot going on in this plan so I tried to highlight the key
aspects for the required front setback it's 35 feet and that's highlighted here in orange
the closest point of the house is highlighted in green and that's approximately 26 feet
six inches from the property line and this small front tower represents an area of roughly 100
square feet that the main body of the house is roughly 30 feet from the street and that 30 foot
line is highlighted there in yellow so we're asking for eight and a half feet of relief at
the tower and five feet of relief for the main body of the house with regards to the side yard
the the proposal here is approximately 14 feet eight inches of side yard where 15 feet is required
You can see over here on the left, the small green area there, that's approximately four
inches of side yard relief.
And the proposed house here is compliant with the rear yard requirement as shown.
Although the refusal states that the plan does not show the required off-street parking
space, it is shown in fact right here, this is sheet Z1.02.
Thank you.
And it's highlighted here in green.
We contacted L&I to clarify this and included those communications in Exhibit A, and our
understanding is that the actual zoning issue is not the absence of parking, but the proposed
location of the parking within the required yard setback.
so to address the question of why is this the minimum necessary relief it's really the the
physical conditions they're driving this request it's the combination of the wedge-shaped lot
geometry the significant mature trees and these steep slopes toward the rear
and i'm just going to zoom out for a second
to show some of these alternative drawings. So we had our architect conduct a study of
alternative orientations to reduce the front yard encroachment while still preserving those
significant existing trees and found there's no direction in which the house can simply be moved
without affecting another condition. Moving it farther back improves the front setback but brings
construction closer to significant trees, the root systems, and the steeper rear portion
of the property.
Moving or rotating it laterally is constrained by the angled property lines and side setbacks.
And here you can see the steep slope area in red and yellow, as well as the canopies
of the major trees that we are trying to preserve.
This property drains to Kitchens Land Creek, which is a couple hundred feet downslope,
which then flows into the Wissahawken Creek.
And this is a picture of the 26-inch diameter tulip poplar in one corner of the property.
And this is another 27-inch diameter tulip poplar on the other side of where the house
would be.
Both of these are heritage trees.
And here's a photo of the steep slope at the back, and here you can see an approximately
eight-foot drop at the edge of the rear setback.
So the proposed location is intended to balance these competing conditions.
The greatest front yard encroachment is limited to that roughly 100 square foot front tower,
while the main body of the house is set further back at approximately 30 feet.
The house has no basement or garage.
The requested relief is therefore not being used to maximize development, rather the proposed
siting is designed to preserve the trees and limit excavation and rear yard grading.
For those reasons, we believe the proposed plan represents the minimum dimensional variance
necessary for reasonable development of this property.
And so at the community meeting, several near neighbors expressed concern primarily about
the front setback and whether it would be consistent with the rest of Mount Airy Terrace.
You know, we took that concern seriously and followed up with a setback analysis, which
is located in exhibit L.
I'm just going to zoom in on the results.
So that analysis found that the existing front setbacks along Mount Airy Terrace vary considerably
from 20 feet to 36 feet.
This was primarily done using the measurement tool in Atlas.
us. This analysis demonstrates that Mount Airy Terrace does not have a uniform 35-foot
building line. So at a 26-foot to 30-foot setback, the proposed plan is very consistent with
our neighbors. We also looked at the gross square footage of our neighbors' houses, which
ranges considerably from under 2,000 square feet to over 4,000 square feet. So at 2,700
or gross square feet, the proposal is again fairly average for this neighborhood.
And as far as the side yard, the immediately adjacent properties have side setbacks of
approximately 11 feet and 13 feet and those are in the engineered survey in the plans
and that's compared with the 14 foot 8 inch side yard that we're proposing.
So in our view, the requested relief produces a better overall site planning result than
and strict dimensional compliance
that would require greater disturbance on the property.
So in closing, members of the board,
this is one single family home
on an unusually shaped residential lot
at the end of a cul-de-sac
with significant mature trees
and steep environmentally sensitive terrain at the rear.
The West Bountry Neighbor Zoning Committee considered both the project and the concerns raised by near neighbors and voted unanimously to support the application.
The West Mount Area Neighbors Zoning Committee
considered both the project
and the concerns raised by near neighbors.
We respectfully believe that the proposed plan represents the minimum dimensional variance necessary for reasonable development of this property without undue impact on the neighborhood or the environment.
For those reasons, we respectfully ask the board to approve the requested dimensional relief.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
good presentation very good that's good I have a question about your proposed
new driveway and one have you already sought street department review and
approval for the new curb cut yes we have the streets approval letter
included in the package and we also have that stamp in the bottom right corner
there I think when you showed it before it wasn't zoomed out all the way sure
yeah and uh i think my second question is about your storm water understanding sleep sleep the
the steep slope and i see that you have your ens sediment plan for construction but just looking at
where the building is situated um could you share a little bit more about how you're going to avoid
touching that steep slope when you pour the foundation
sure it looks close that's why yeah so we we have we did part of the earth moving plan they have
that limit of disturbance marked out there along with erosion and sediment controls uh that the
that we would be doing so um i think it's you know the i think it's just the shading i couldn't
really read the notes because and i get why you shaded it it's helpful i think just to confirm
So, like, when you guys pour the foundation, you're not going to have to dig at all any that disturbs that slope?
Correct. Correct. Yeah, we are not near that red part. There's a good bit of buffer.
All the questions?
Questions from our attorney?
More of a comment.
um we're going to reach out to you this week because we're not sure if it's going to be
amended or corrected refusal that you're going to have to request so uh meaning we meaning council
will be reaching out to you meaning the applicants with regard to what the next steps will be
on this but we haven't held do we want to put a date do you want to put a date on it
why don't i finish okay sure you know sorry no no no we'll come back questions or comments from the
virtual audience. I see a hand up by Ralph Pincus. Oh, here you go.
Hello. Mr. Pincus, you must be on overtime now. This is your second one today here. I mean,
I know, I know. And I have to come to work. You've already been sworn in. Just state your
name for the record. My name is Ralph Pincus, R-A-L-P-H-P-I-N-K-U-S. Please start your
presentation, sir. I chair the Westmount Area Neighbors Zoning Committee, and I'm a neighbor
that does not live far from this property. The applicant has summarized our letter of support,
which is dated july the 7th we had an extensive meeting we had a seven of the neighbors uh present
and our committee seven people from our committee we were impressed by the presentation of the
applicant that the house was going to be constructed of it's going to be straw bale
construction, which we were told is an environmentally desirable material. And that it appears that
every effort that is being made to protect the site and the Wissahickon watershed, an area that
as someone who lives in this area for 46 years, appreciates and has at times taken actions when
developers or owners have tried to disrupt or disturb the watershed. So we're impressed with
the efforts that the applicant is making or will make to preserve and prevent any disruption to
the watershed. We also didn't find that because of the location of the lot at the end of a cul-de-sac
that the changing or not having as much of a front yard setback as required would not be
so disruptive and out of place or out of keeping with the other houses other properties on
with the other houses, other properties on the terrace, on that cul-de-sac.
There was discussion at our meeting about the architectural style of the property,
which does not match the 1960s or thereabouts style of most of the homes.
But again, it is not the position, I believe, of the zoning board or our committee
to pass upon proposed construction.
We thought this style of the proposed home is pretty much in keeping with what is a typical West Mount Airy home
with gables and two stories.
And the house that's proposed is not excessive in size, 2,700 square feet.
It's well within keeping with most of the properties in and around that that part of the community.
So we supported it, and I would ask the board to grant the requested variance.
Thank you very much. Is there anyone else in the audience? Oh, come on up. Why don't you sit down first?
and then um please state and spell your name for the stenographer okay i am gwendolyn bright g-w-e-n-d-o-l-y-n
last name b as in boy r-i-g-h-t do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
but the truth i do are you a neighbor i am a neighbor please proceed pardon me please proceed
with your presentation i am a direct neighbor i live one house over from the lot in question
oh i am a directly neighbor i live one house over from the lot in question
yep i live at 7121 i have lived there for over 50 years i am a lifelong resident of mount airy
i do take issue with um some of the things that have been said here today and i just want to
I want to make clear the main concern here and as at the community meeting that was referenced.
I and the neighbors were concerned with the variance being given as to the offset from the street and contrary to what has been represented.
I don't know who took the measurements and all of that in terms of the presentation by the lot owner.
But if you drive through the neighborhood, the visual is of conformity.
kind of a unique carve out neighborhood in west mount airy it came to being in the 1960s
my parents built our home in roughly 1969 1970 and i and i have lived there throughout
there is uniformity and consistency in the neighborhood in terms of the offset
if you drive through the visual is that all the the lines are in conformity and
and that contributes to the aesthetic of the neighborhood.
So what is proposed in terms of the offset
will not be insignificant.
It will be quite significant
considering the wedge shape of the property
and the two properties on the side,
it will sit out significantly
and offset the beauty of the neighborhood,
which I take folks are really interested in preserving.
The neighborhood border is off of Whissahicken Avenue,
about two blocks on wissahickon parallel streets are about are of allen's lane mount airy avenue
and um mount pleasant avenue with roughly four or five cul-de-sacs we are in mount airy terrace
is the closet stack towards the end directly accessing the woods i'm across the street but
the neighbors on the side of this property have direct access to the woods it's sometimes an issue
of people trying or the public trying to access Fairmount Park in the woods through people's
properties so people primarily there are stone front split level homes but there have been a
number of new constructions in the area which are different varieties and colors shapes and sizes
But throughout this little car, this carve out area, there is consistency in terms of the offset. And either out of respect of those who have built new construction, or perhaps folks who have come before this board and have enforced the 35 foot offset, there is consistency.
So I ask that you take that into account. It's not just a neighborhood where, and I'm trying to put the heart and soul into this because I feel very strongly about this, having lived there so long. People have respected the aesthetic and the character of the neighborhood.
People have respected the aesthetic and the character of the neighborhood.
And that's all we're asking, that that be respected.
And I understand there are different aspects to this in terms of these new property owners and what they want to build.
but I ask that they respect them obviously they wanted to be in this neighborhood because of the
beauty of it and and how it's been upkept in the area and the and the love of it that the community
has but um it will impact the aesthetic of this neighborhood and it's not like you know Mount
Airy is big and there are a variety of houses the big old stone houses um and the house is different
but that's not our concern okay that's not our concern um but it is going to be it is going to
stick out because it's going to be different but the the offset in terms of the the um symmetry
of the neighborhood the peacefulness in terms of the neighborhood it's it's going to be irreparable
right um so i really i i'm speaking from the heart here and i ask that you take that consideration i
ask you taking into consideration the respect that old homeowners have had and also the new
homeowners who have built in this area there are a number of different homes that have been built
in this area some more recently and they respect the offset um and thank you very much for coming
down do you um did you receive my letter we no we did not okay i did i do have copies of i did
submit it why don't you give it to our turn and thanks for sitting here i know you've been here a
long time if i could i did download it okay the um website did say that it was received but i would
ask that you take into consideration what i've said in my letters thank you thank you is there
anyone else in the audience i see no hands here planning commission dina solomonic the planning
commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsd1 residential single family
detached zoning at this location the appellant's property is irregularly shaped which creates a
hardship for the side and front yard dimensions and their crusted variances are de minimis
furthermore the front yard and side yard depth is comparable with the other homes on the cul-de-sac
the appellant complies with the wissican watershed overlay and the steep slope protection area and
And preserves the heritage trees by proposing to build on the front portion of the lot the planning commission recommends the board grant the requested dimensional variances and the location of the required on site parking. Thank you very much. I see a hand chair by Clarissa McInnis.
What's that? Oh, she's like, she.
Hello.
Carletha McInnis is allowed to speak. Well, I just wanted to say that. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer? My name is Carletha McInnis. That's C-A-R-L-E-T-H-A-M-C-E-N-N-I-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Are you a neighbor? Yes, I am.
and you're are you in favor of this project or against i'm against the project as far as the set
back okay to build a home fine but the setback that's great thank you very much for taking the
time to cause i mean i'm sure you just heard um our planning department we're taking this
under consideration we're going to hold this lynn would two weeks be okay i think two weeks why don't
do uh wednesday at 2 p.m two weeks it's actually going to be i'm sorry chair that will be actually
has to be the 16th because we're not going to be sitting the ninth really okay yeah is that what
you're going to say ian so no we're off in yes that's correct chair the next meeting after next
week will be september 16th okay all right so this but that's just so the the appellant knows the
case is closed right except except for either the amended refusal or the
corrective okay all right thank you sir for coming in we
appreciate it yeah you may you may want to consider some stone I'm looking at
them just looking at the street and all the houses have some stone on it so at
least there'd be some sort of not to the existing stone character of the rest of
houses on that to call the sec but but thank you for your presentation we appreciate it all right
so we have one more on the two clock list number seven mi2026 zero zero two two four one one zero
0-0-2-2-4-1-1-0-1-5-9-Rareve Road.
one five nine
Peter Gonzalez is the attorney.
Oh, here we go.
Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Mr. Gonzalez. Could you please, you're Mr. Gonzalez, right? I am. Okay. Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer? Certainly. My name is Peter Gonzalez. It's P-E-T-E-R-G-O-N-Z-A-L-E-S. Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do. Mr. Gonzalez, could you identify your client and the relationship to this property?
Certainly. Sitting to my left is Pastor Tony Hsu. He is my client, and he's also the lessee of 10159 Varee Road.
Okay. Our vice chair has a few questions for you, sir.
Good evening. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
I have, yes.
And you have one refusal, but so do you either know your refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
All right. Thank you. You can share your screen and present your case.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And make sure you get close to the microphone.
Thank you.
You can pull it.
Get it near you.
Just pull it.
Get very comfortable with this.
There you go.
Right.
I have to re-enter the password.
How are we doing?
I am here and now the next thing is for me to raise my hand.
Is that correct?
Well, she wanted you to raise your hand in the machine. Am I right?
I believe so. Okay. All right. So you've done everything.
He has been promoted to panelists. There you go. No, that's not it.
it should come any minute we're hoping
there you go
um i'm all set okay why don't you start uh so we are here for uh 10159 free road it's an rsd3
zoning um and the proposed use is for religious assembly the only reason we are here is for
that one use variance there's no dimensional variance there's no changes to the property
it's simply the use and i have on the screen um some information i think would be very helpful
that this property while it is zoned rsd3 it has not been used as a single family home for 60 plus
INITIALLY IT WAS BUILT IN 1946, 1961 THE ZONING BOARD GRANTED A VARIANCE ALLOWING THIS PROPERTY TO BE USED AS A VETERINARIAN HOSPITAL AND A SINGLE FAMILY DWELLING AND THERE WERE NO CHANGES TO THE BUILDING, BUT IN 1971 THERE WERE PERMITS ISSUED FOR REAR DISSION AND NO CHANGES TO THE USE, BUT IN 1999 THE PROPERTY CAME BACK BEFORE THE ZONING BOARD GRANTED A VARIANCE FOR A PHYSICIAN'S OFFICE.
And the existing or then existing residential use was eliminated.
As a result of the 60 years of this use, there is now a property that has 20 parking spaces and a circular driveway, which I'm showing on the screen, with an ADA compliant ramp.
and it has just it's not been used as a as a residence primarily so our request is that the
zoning board grant of use variance to allow pastor Zhu to move into the residence with his wife Lucy
who's here in the audience where they would reside on the second floor and use the first floor for
And use the first floor for religious assembly. They currently operate out of their basement in Bucks County, a virtual religious service that Mr. Xu conducts online and has people participating from as far away as China.
religious assembly. They currently operate
and his hope now is that we are recovered from recovering from COVID some of us are still
struggling with the technology but that he move into a space that would allow him to do both
continue virtually conducting his religious services but also have a space that would
allow people to come in and join him and his wife for those services and the request is really to
use that first floor as a very limited capacity that Sundays they would continue at 8 30 in the
morning to provide virtual services only and at 10 30 a hybrid which would allow people to join him
and his wife in the in the room while he continues to do his his preaching that would go from 10 30
to 12 on Sunday. And on Wednesday evening, he's proposed to use the space for Bible study, I
believe it is Wednesday's prayer meeting. And that would be from the 7.30 to 8.30 or 7 to 8.30.
And then on Friday would be Bible study, and that would be 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.
That is the only use that is being requested. Those are the services that are being proposed. And at the moment, the only people that show up in person are Pastor Tony and his wife, Lucy, but they would like to welcome others into the space.
um we did go before the rco uh which uh happened back on june 9th and in the packet there is a
letter of opposition they had a vote that evening after we presented and there were some why tell me
yeah sure um i'll tell you what the letter says i'll start there i have different maybe you could
tell us what you think but go ahead sure tell me what the letters i think that's really most
important and it's factual so the letter states that the community has had experiences with
other properties being used for religious assembly and parking becoming an issue
and that in fact i don't know what the property was but i think they referred to a bank at one
point being used as a as a church and then what happened was that church grew so big that people
started parking in the neighborhood and residents started to get very upset about that this property
is very different and that it already has 20 off street parking spaces um and the uh
i'll leave it at that i mean it's it's built with the 20 parking spaces mr or pastor shoe did not
build the um that's already there in the property so the issue of of uh parking is
is sort of solved by the same reason that we're here because it's not uh with 20 parking spaces
This is practical for it to be used as a residence only. Okay.
There was, I believe, some question in the letter also about tranquility.
I think the term was it would be disruptive to our tranquility, and the property, as I will show you, has pardon me.
I'm going to see if I can share the right screen this time, has a tremendous amount of trees surrounding the property bordering the neighbors.
um and i'll just have to pull up the okay so back to zoom sharing again yes all right i believe that
worked yeah um so the property it is situated here in the trees um where the red dot is or no
uh right where the the uh the pointer is yeah where the red dot is now exactly that's the church
or that's pardon me that's the the the property and why don't you tell me what's around it sure
um right next to it on on i believe that would be the northeast side is a large medical complex that
jefferson hospital operates and that is also rsd3 um but clearly got some uh use variances in the
passed on the other side is a residence that it says bianca's health and beauty essentials
um on the on the screen it appears when you when you click on that that
on the on the screen, it appears when you when you click on that, that it might be like a home salon that's operated by the neighbor across the street.
It's very interesting, and I'm going to just show you that across the street are neighbors that live in RS.
RTA 1. I'll just pull up the zoning map real quick. Yes, RTA 1. So the purple right here
is our property, 10159. RTA 1 is directly across the street, and I'm just going to show
you what they look like, right? And all of them have off-street parking in front of their
houses. The neighbor that lives in this property here was unable to come to the RCO meeting,
But in response to the vote that happened at the RCO meeting, we thought it would be really important to invite people to really understand what it is that is being proposed.
So we sent the same letter that was sent out to everybody announcing the RCO meeting.
We announced an open house.
This happened a couple of weeks ago.
And Pastor Tony and his wife invited the neighbors, the same ones that were invited to the RCO meeting, to come and meet Tony and ask questions.
um and get to know and get to know his wife and see the inside of the space so that happened and
the neighbor that lives directly across the street who's unable to be here today but submitted a
letter of support has been a resident for 11 years and came over when they saw the sign and received
the letter and said they were so excited that there was a place in the neighborhood that they
felt welcomed uh where they could meet other people in the community and where they wouldn't
have to go so far to for bible study frankly for praying um they drive down into i believe it was
masher street in north philadelphia so they were very happy and that was a they stayed for over an
hour and it was a very good experience um why don't you do this why don't you show us the
property what's in it and how it's going to be laid out what you're doing with the property
excellent i will do that if i can figure out how to get out of here
oh boy
okay all right
again this is the layout yep i'll show you the inside this is what the inside
of the property looks like um it as i said for 60 years it was a veterinary and physics
physician's office right so it's been sort of public facing uh this is the first room that
you would walk into um and this is the proposed uh use for the room is to gather for religious
services um i will just this is different configurations of the room right um these
some of the people that came to the event, the open house. This is a Bible study room
on the property. It's in the back room. You can see the sink is left over from a physician's
office. That would be used as a regular office, administrative office. There's hallways with
clearly marked exit signs. And this is a room that would probably be used for fellowship where
or a pastor might meet with somebody in private for counseling.
There's bathrooms.
Oh, so the second floor, right?
This is the stairway.
Yeah, take a look.
A separate private entrance that goes directly to the second floor.
And that's where he's living up there?
That's where he'd like to live with his wife.
Oh, okay.
They currently live in Jamison, Bucks County.
There is a kitchen on the second floor.
there is a bathroom on the second floor there are three bedrooms on the second floor this is one of
them second and a third and let's see so exterior this is the parking lot in the rear so how many
spots do you have there are 20 parking spaces with two uh that are marked as handicapped or
ADA. There are also an ADA compliant ramp that was clearly built for patients that were coming
to visit, but would be ideal for anybody who needed assistance. That's the back. Yeah,
it's coming right from the driveway. You can see the houses on Varee over here on the far right.
yep okay uh this is the side entrance uh
pictures are a little blurry but this goes back to the uh to the drawings that are that are
enclosed i'll show you the uh the floor plans if you'd like to see the the way things are laid out
I'll show you the floor plans if you'd like to see the way things are laid out on the second floor.
on the side.
There's the three bedrooms, the kitchen, the bath, and the stairwell.
On the first floor, it is configured.
It's much larger.
There was this addition that was built in, I believe that was 1977.
I can't remember.
It was in the packet.
The main house is here.
um the public entrance here is facing towards varie um and that ramp in the back is over here
on the on the far left uh and comes right from the from the driveway the bible study room is up in
the top right facing the driveway or pardon me facing the parking lot same with these uh what
what were like medical examination rooms but would be used essentially as offices so you got bible
study and places where the minister can meet with people alone. Yep, exactly. That's the
fellowship room here for a personal one-on-one conversation, private. And you can see it's away
from the congregation if they were together. I want to just point out that they're doing this
virtually. There's nobody yet, but they would like to have people join them. What else can I
show you what what else would you like to know um why don't you finish up are you done everything
um well maybe a few things i could come back to but i feel like uh you made you understand what
it is that we're proposing to do i i've enclosed in the packet i should point this out there are
a number of properties um one of the one of the statements that was made in the rco opposition
letter was that this was right in the middle of a residential, pardon me, right in the middle of a
residential neighborhood. And it was, it's actually on the edge. I mean, it's next to a very large
medical complex. Photographs right here will show you from the property, the front yard, what it
looks like when you look at your next door neighbor. That's Jefferson. That's Jefferson, yeah. Right.
So it's not exactly directly in the middle of the neighborhood. However, there are instances
places very nearby where a religious assembly would be allowed, and I want to just point out a couple of them. This one is about four doors up from from the property, and it is a CMX one, which would allow religious assembly.
but interestingly there are no uh no parking spaces um that are offered for so well but i
don't think you're allowed to be parking on the sidewalk i'm not sure i didn't i didn't check to
see if they had a permit but the point is that they don't have 20 parking spaces waiting for
them in the back right so it's not really an ideal spot um there is on the same block uh at
10150 busselton avenue also in rsd3 a religious assembly uh where the beth emmanuel congregation
is actually situated pardon me actually situated directly between residences multiple residences
on either side so that is in the middle of a residential neighborhood on the same block
and operating um in fact their schedule it's posted online so you can see they have
many more service hours than the ones that are proposed. On the same block, I also want to point
out just down the street at 10111 Varee Road, also an RSD3, religious assembly is happening
at the Philadelphia Tabernacle Church of God. There are two off-street parking spaces. And again,
this is on the same exact block, same street. This is more information you can see about the
church um let's oh another block up there is a masjid that has been operating uh for i don't
know how long but it's uh it's a beautiful building 10663 bustleton ave okay also uh not
allowed religious assembly of the caa1 without zoning board approval um so i just wanted to
point out that there's instances of religious use being allowed that's right okay uh oh this is what
What I wanted to find out, I thought this was fascinating when I did my research, that the RTA1 directly across the street would allow for religious assembly in an enclosed structure on their properties.
So if...
On the other side of the street, you would...
Directly across the street.
Yeah, it's fascinating.
I mean, it might need to be revised.
Let's look at it.
So here's your place.
Jefferson is to, I'm going to say to your right.
And then to your left is a beauty salon.
A house with a beauty salon.
And here it is. Here's the picture, right? And all of the trees. I believe there was some question also in the RCO letter about a neighbor behind being concerned that this would be disruptive to their tranquility.
being concerned that this would be disruptive to their tranquility.
All right, so why don't we do this?
I pretty much think I understand what your case is.
Why don't I open this up to some questions from the board?
You could have your testimony adopted first, okay?
Yeah, I'd love to.
Minister, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yeah, my name is Tony, T-O-N-Y, last name, letter X, letter U, I pronounced U.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Right. Why don't you have your testimony adopted?
Okay. Pastor Hsu, would you allow the testimony that I gave today on your behalf to be adopted as truthful and complete?
Yes, sir.
Right. So we'll go from questions from the board, then we'll work our way and see if there's anybody in the audience.
Okay. So questions from the board.
Okay. For the services, so you have all these chairs set up, but are you planning to have the hybrid kind of services, like where some people will be in the space and others will be on Zoom or whatever you use as your platform?
Yeah. Right now, 100% virtual right now. In the future, we hope some people in the neighborhood, while virtual, can come into a person.
And where you—
Oh, all right. Thanks, sir.
And is that the same plan with the Bible study and the prayer meeting?
Yes, ma'am.
Okay. Because that's what our church does. We have the Bible study is—or prayer meeting is like on Wednesday night,
but it's on a it's actually on a phone line it's not even yeah a zoom kind of thing okay
and then uh are you planning to have um like a church office
church office well basically just me right now actually just me my wife has helper i never even
thought of a question office what what is a church office just curious well it's usually where you
know you have somebody there who answers the phone uh you know does support for the pastor
like you know answers the phone for them uh writes letters for them and i will just point out that at
the moment that is his wife lucy uh who manages all of that okay but you don't have a space in
there for it there if if there i will point out that there actually is space for uh office use
there's two office users not i'm not saying that but you don't have that kind of like carved out
as no no and i was just wondering if you were planning to have that okay and then um the um
so the what kind of size congregation do you have zero right now in person zero
Everything's on online virtual.
Right.
But, I mean, you do have an idea.
Oh, yeah.
How many are.
For Sunday service, we have two sessions right now.
One is 830, mainly focused on mainland China, Asian countries, roughly 50 to 60 people.
I don't know how many people, but devices.
So I can count.
But they're not going to be coming.
No, no way.
Basically, Asian.
Definitely not in this administration.
Right.
The administration is out there.
Right there. The second service in mainly USA, West Coast, East Coast, on Zoom, roughly 20.
And a lot of people go to YouTube. We also do YouTube. YouTube more people.
Yeah, something like that.
Yeah, a lot of churches do.
Okay, all right. And then you're going to have all the other kinds of rites that you would have with a church.
There's weddings, funerals, that kind of thing.
I don't think that's the part of funerals and weddings there. I don't think so.
The plan was not to have funerals or weddings or something. It's literally, it's preaching online.
Ever? Yeah.
Right.
You plan on growing your congregation.
I feel like you've more than explained your current operations.
I think the questions and I think even to address RCO concerns are really about what could happen in the future.
also what could happen if somebody behind you ends up in this building so right because once
it's approved for use it's approved stays with the property so i think like better understanding
your your aspirations for growth you certainly have enough space here to host other types of
church events and to host things in person right and i think that's you know that's a question
can i ask him some of these questions absolutely get this out do you do you plan to offer yeah
you plan to offer funeral services at your church um would you want to in the future offer
Would you want to, in the future, offer baptismal services or weddings or anything like that?
Do you have any intention or plans in the future to host any kind of events beyond praying and preaching and Bible study?
I don't know if you do or not.
Even social services. I mean, I think churches have a lot of ministry work that goes beyond
events, right? And that just involves people. Yeah. So in our conversations, I believe that
that his heart and his mind is to serve the community and to be open to it. I don't know
that he knows what that would look like in terms of the need of the community,
but I do believe that his intention is to make the space spiritually open for people who are
seeking counsel and Bible study and religious services but those other items are like social
service items like a food distribution something a food distribution I'm thinking your marital
council like just any other thing that the other thing that that Pastor Tony has said is if that's
what, one, the community needs, and the community wants, and it is allowed, then that's what
the church would do.
But if it's not allowed, and it's not wanted or needed, then you wouldn't do it.
And so that's the question.
I don't think there's a plan to do it.
I mean, I think the frankness that I would have is that I think at this point, you're
now juggling two communities, right?
You have your church and your religious community, both online and in person as it grows, and
you have the physical community in this neighborhood and those might not always overlap and so i think
just for you i mean there's a lot of things that are allowed under religious use and because you're
not planning to do any of it now i would just hope that if if you were to get approved as you move
forward that you figure out some bridge or some way to stay involved in your physical community
and i think you living there plays a role in that being more likely that's in fact i think
what is driving all of this is to become part of a community um i think my only other question is
about signage there's an existing standing sign in the front that wasn't included in this
application so is your plan just to replace that sign as is or ideally it would be just replace
the sign exactly as it is with different lettering okay and then and so no crosses or anything like
on the roof like typically churches have other signage and religious icons that kind of denote
it as a church and right aside aside from that flat sign that identifies the former uh doctor's
office okay there's no plans for for converting any other part of the property without necessarily
convert you just it wouldn't be adding uh and just a reminder that if that happens because
it's not included in this application you just have to come back to something for that that was
giving me my next comment yes signage is not included why don't we do this why don't we see
if there's anybody in the audience to get it so do you have anything at all i i have no questions
questions or comments from the virtual audience let's see i see no hands chair okay um planning
commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change from the existing rsd3 residential
single-family detached zoning at this location there is a documented use of single-family
residential in conjunction with a commercial use the property was used as a physician's office in
1999 and a veterinary office in 1961. the proposed use will not cause detrimental impact beyond what
would reasonably be expected. The Planning Commission recommends the board grant the
requested use variance for religious and assembly use. So I'm not going to vote today, but wait till
next week. And I want to sit with the board and just get our hands around this, what this means
and things like that. Okay. But we will vote next. It's going to be Wednesday the 2nd. Wednesday
have to you can listen online but that's you know that's what i meant i didn't need to physically
it'll happen online okay so that's helpful to know i do have a question for the board
um because these questions are are really helpful in thinking about uh potential provisos
uh if that would be helpful to restrict uh future uses because i i heard the churches
is we'll we'll let us work okay okay we'll work okay okay um thank you very much you're welcome
oh yes we want to make sure it's 2 p.m yeah 2 p.m we just right um thank you very much we look
forward coming in we appreciate you've sat there a long time is there anyone in the audience whose
Is there anyone in the audience whose two o'clock case has not been called?
uh two o'clock case has not been called i see no hand
I see no hands, Chair.
Okay, so we only have three cases left, but we're going to take a little bit of a break,
five-minute break, maybe six minutes, and come back.
We're okay.
Good afternoon, everyone.
My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this meeting of the Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment.
With me is our Vice Chair, Tannetta Graham.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Secretary, Cheryl L. Gaston.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
board members michael johns president mr chairman taiwan she should be here any minute coming
through the door and ryan mcadams president mr chairman so here is our attorney lynn reuter uber
our uh executive director ian haggerty and our board administrator lakeisha dandy this hearing
is being recorded and will be posted on the zba website by participating you consent 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 spell your name,
wait to be sworn in, and then state your name each time before testifying. To enter
your appearance, indicate the property address on your Zoom webinar, speak with
a staff member call the ZBA office by the close of business tomorrow call 215-686-2429
and also provide your name your email and the address of the property in question
remote participation raise your virtual hand when directed so that we can call on you
when we call on you make sure that you click the join as a panelist button
Use the Q&A only for procedural questions, nothing to do with the case.
If you are joining by phone, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute you.
So let's see what our schedule looks like this afternoon.
Did that work?
Yep, you did.
Number two, 1447 West Cayuga Street, MI 20-25-006-623.
This case is continued until 1-20-27 at 3-30.
number five 69 30 king sesson street which is mi 2025 007 187 we have no exhibits for this
and let me call the
this number
Steve Masters is the attorney
investing
nationwide is the company
listed company
this is the second listing
anyone in the audience
i see one hand chair
Okay, let's see who it is.
I would move to Craig Madison.
No, we don't.
No, we don't need Craig.
We need the attorneys.
Okay, so this is the second listing.
We still have no exhibits.
So MI 2025.
No, continue.
It must be heard.
okay so all right so 6930 king sesson mi 2025 007187 this case is continued will mark must be
heard to 120 27 at 330. going to go to our first case
it's here
number
we always did
we did that right so this one here number one number one well let's go to number one
MI-2025-002-819, 29-22 rear, 24-24 South, Felton Street.
mi 2025 002
Henry Clinton is the attorney.
Henry Clinton has been promoted to panelists.
good morning mr chairman members of the board good evening good morning council i'm sorry we had to
call you so late here that's all right please proceed um could you state your name and spell
for the stenographer sure henry clinton h-e-n-r-y clinton c-l-i-n-t-o-n you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do could you identify your client in
relationship to this property sure i have two clients who own the property nicholas and larissa
That's L-A-R-Y-S-S-A, Foschini, F-O-S-C-H-I-N-I.
And Nicholas is on the call.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good evening.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
I have.
And do you waive the reading of your refusals and stipulate to their accuracy?
Thank you.
You can share your screen and present your case.
Thank you, Ms. Graham.
I don't know if that's coming up or not.
Yes, it didn't stop.
Try to go to go again Henry.
All right, sorry about that.
No, take your time.
I'm gonna have to start from scratch.
Is that visible?
All right, let's try it again.
I don't know what happened here.
I'm going to start from the beginning.
No, we got this one.
Is that visible, Mr. Chairman?
All right, thanks for your patience.
This is a request by Mr. and Mrs. Faschini, who've owned the property since 2013, to have two one-bedroom apartments above an existing garage that's been used for about 10 years as a cement contracting business.
We are in an RM1 zoning district, and both of our refusals are dimensional.
We have 100% lot coverage, and there's no ability to conform to the zoning code in terms of setbacks or open space, and I'll explain why as I walk through.
These are Table of Contents A1 through A10.
Here's a refusal.
Again, we are in an RM1 zoning district.
to refusals concern the minimum rear yard space of 144 square feet and minimum rear yard depth,
we have neither, and I'll show you why as we walk through it. We do have the RCO letter of support.
It's actually the Southwest Philadelphia Consortium of seven RCOs who support this project
with a proviso concerning trash, the storage of trash, and the handling of trash, which is
self-explanatory in this letter.
So this is the existing one-story CMU cinder block building.
It contains two addresses, 2922 and 2924.
Posters, concrete company.
These were the original plans submitted to the community
and obviously a little bit not of a professional nature.
We have professional plans by Harman Deutsch-Ower Architecture, Mike Nardini, rather, on this case.
He prepared professional plans.
And we do have some changes, which I submitted with the proviso form, chief of which is the way the plan was originally drawn is this was an interior hallway that accessed two apartments.
And the community group did not like that.
They wanted a wall put on the rear of the building with an open floor plan here.
they wanted a wall put on the rear of the building with an open floor plan here
to lead to the two entrances in apartment one and apartment two so i think i'll just go to the
revised plans which are here's the two provisos one is an enclosure below the steps to store the
trash and the second is an interior hallway on the second floor rear which is set back by five feet
on the left is the front of the garage the side view the garage also has a driveway that accesses
the rear of the homes that are on Felton Street this is a front facade two doors here's the stairway
that will be added to the side of the building with the second floor will be a stucco on the
second floor here is the existing floor plan excuse me site plan here's the driveway
The new floor, second floor addition, as you can see, it's 100% lock coverage, and there's no ability to have an open space or rear yard.
That's why we set back the second floor by five feet.
And if you multiply basically five feet by the width of the building, which is almost 30 feet, you get 150 square feet or so, and the open space requirement is 144 square feet.
I'm not arguing that we've met that open requirement, but we've attempted to do so by pushing back the second floor and leaving an open walkway in the rear of the building.
Here's a side view.
This will be the trash enclosure.
It's going to be a metal facing with locks so that only the residents of the second floor and the business can use this area.
42-inch chair rail, all metal leading up to a doorway.
And this is the floor plan.
You have to blow that up a little bit.
So again, it's two one-bedroom apartments up the metal stairs into the open walkway
with a half wall and then a metal railing above.
So you're bringing some light and air into the rear of the building.
Enter for the first apartment.
Sofa, living, kitchen area, trash closet, HVAC units, bath, one bedroom.
Second bedroom, basically a mirror image of the first living room, dining room, kitchen area.
Walk into the front of the building with a bedroom and a full bath.
So this is what I was talking about, the rear of the building.
Now we have an open walkway with the railing above a half wall, and there's the entrance to the first apartment, entrance to the second apartment.
Application for appeal, a project information form, tax center indicating no taxes are due.
zoning map again this is an RM1 zoning district across the street is English
house as well as the Bob Brady veterans building is directly across the street
deed indicating ownership since 2015 notice letter sent to all the neighbors
within the 250 feet 76 mailers were sent out and that is the presentation so
with this proposal, we're adding two apartments to the neighborhood. We're not impacting any
lighter air. We are in harmony basically with the code because it is an RM1 zoning district.
We're in harmony with what the neighborhood and with what the community group wants.
And I'd ask the board to look kindly upon this application. And with that,
I'll ask my client to unmute himself and be prepared to be sworn in. Nick, can you raise
your hand I'll go back to the floor plans Nick are you on the call Nick has
been promoted to panelists thank you Nick okay I think I'm there can you hear
me now I can sir could you please state your name it's spelled for this
stenographer. My name
is Nicholas Faschini
and it's N-I-C-H
O-L-A-S
F-O-S-C-H-I-N-I.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth? I do. Proceed,
counsel. Yeah, Nick, were you on
the call when I presented your project to the board?
You just muted yourself.
Nick were you on the call when I presented your project yes okay and if
you had the opportunity to testify on your own behalf would you adopt my
would you adopt my testimony as your own and as shown correct yes correct thank you nick questions
testimony as your own and as shown correct yes correct thank
from the board what kind of business is it below the apartments i mean i know they're not part of
the that's not part of the application but right below it is a garage for storage for
mr fascini's cement business okay so would there be a need for some kind of sound proofing
Well, he's going to have to put some soundproofing or insulation between the 1st floor and the 2nd floor, but he doesn't do any work in there. It's mainly storage.
Just ask it. Okay.
Is the garage store is going to the both sides going to be restricted to the business use?
Both sides.
Does the truck park in front of the garage at night?
There is a drive aisle, and there's also an area in front of the two doors.
And yes, there are trucks that are parked in front.
I mean, occasionally, you know, there's neighbors that park there, but it's typically trucks.
And then also, trucks are parked on the street next to the curb.
I'm just wondering, in terms of parking for the two tenants, are we anticipating that
they will park on the street or not have cars well we're going to anticipate that they're
going to park on the street uh and not in that garage but let me see if i go to an aerial
photograph yeah i think we just have that we just have these photographs i can show you
so there there's where they the trucks would park on that pad and then
neighbors would park on the street right here where the tenants would not in the garages okay
and then I have a question about the sign like the because it sounds like the business is existing
correct is the sign for the business going to remain on the building because your elevation
shows it as removed and repainted right because the stairs are going to come up this way that
sign would be blocked as you anticipate it so i think what nick's idea is he's going to put a
smaller sign between the door and and the front of the building okay and then could just from the
elevation i feel like you showed us what was happening before and what's happening now but to
be clear they're going to enter off the stairwell and the facade is going to align
on all four sides with the existing um exterior of the garage correct right do you mean are we
going to go straight up from above the garage and no bays or no overhangs correct correct on all four
walls because at one point you had mentioned a five foot setback but it looked like that was
still an interior hallway on the plan right so i may not have been clear so let me go back
so when when you would go up the metal steps there's a door here and that area five feet
back from the rear wall to the beginning of the addition that's going to be open walkway correct
Okay. Okay. Other questions? Yeah. I guess my issue would be, is that going to be the only means of egress?
Yes. Yes, Ms. Gasson. This is the only means of egress.
Okay. And is that safe from a fire?
I mean, we'll have to comply with all fire code regulations. I think it's going to be
required to be sprinkler. And if there's any other requirements, we certainly will comply,
but there is one means of egress only.
Okay. Well, I'm thinking about it that way. And also in terms of accessibility, I mean,
you i guess i'm at the stage where you know i'm looking for the ramps i'm looking for
or or lift yeah elevators escalators uh you know just just just a comment understood understood
i'm there too yeah i have a question about mail also like you've addressed trash but like now
you have two apartment units coming here this was originally a garage at the rear behind another
house understanding that the lots were subdivided where where the where's going to be like the address
Where where the where's going to be like the address so that tenants, people visiting the tenants, Uber drivers, Amazon are going to be able to identify the apartment units?
so that
Well, it's really uncanny because that was, frankly, one of the big discussion points at the RCO meeting.
So right. So the idea is to put the mail boxes right here where my cursor is on the first floor and clearly mark second floor apartment one, second floor apartment.
too because there was talk about putting it up here but uh most people said the post office may
not walk up the steps so thought was to put it right right here at the base of the metal steps
is the plan to do a like an address known as because that's on isn't that on eastwick avenue
and not on felton street yeah i'm i mean we're gonna have to make it very clear uh that it's
29 22 rear um felton even though it doesn't really front on felton it does it is 29 22 r
but we'll have to you'll have to spell it out as as rear and then i mean this is like a nitpicky
thing that has nothing to zoning but i think to have the stairway go up to second level
And then to have no coverage for the two units as they're entering the unit, it doesn't really protect them from the elements.
It also doesn't really give them a lot of light or coverage up there.
So it's just something to think about the process of getting into the apartment units and safety.
L&I is going to require that stair to be covered.
Yeah, they're going to require that.
I have a question.
i know the rco was concerned about trash and asked for proviso for commercial trash pickup
correct that uh agreeable yes absolutely all right thank you any other questions
questions from our attorney um yes um i have a question well i guess more of a statement
um you indicated in the testimony that you're creating basically a five-foot walkway
for to get into the two apartments that you're creating is that correct right that's what the
architect drew i believe what you're creating is really a roof deck and that's on your application
so you're going to have to submit for an amended refusal because on the application
and refusal there's nothing about the roof deck so we're going to have to hold this then until we get
it's a little confusing is it actually a roof deck or is it just a deck
off the back yeah it's on the roof because it is on the it is on the it's on the current roof of
the current garage right oh it is on the roof okay it is on the roof okay that was confusing
until he actually testified i didn't yeah from looking at the plans okay yeah it gets yeah it
is a little confusing even on this elevation all right how long would that take
we would have to do it uh three weeks because we're going to be off so september okay i didn't
hear what you said i we're looking now september 16th henry we can have this for uh september 16th
right okay on september 16th at two o'clock so what what is the the issue i couldn't hear because
it the voices uh the issue is that you need to submit for an amended refusal because of the five
foot walkway that you talked about um that's on the roof it's considered a roof deck that is not
on your application and it's not part of the refusal okay all right now i understand does that
make sense okay great thank you i just didn't hear you that's all september 16th at 2 p.m we'll vote
Thank you.
Oh, yeah, I'm sure. But I got to go up here 1st. Wait a minute.
What is there anyone in the virtual audience?
I have a hand up by Craig.
Madison met adults. Yeah. Hi, Craig.
yes hi craig uh chair bergman good good evening good evening could you please just state your
name and spell for the stenographer craig c-r-a-i-g last name melidosian m-e-l-i-d-o-s-i-a-n
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do um please proceed all right not not to belabor this and i tried to jump on king sessing
but it's been continued uh i i first wanted to say that mr fashini uh i'm gonna
I first wanted to say that Mr. Faschini, I'm going to say with the shepherding of Hank, has been extremely flexible and easy to work with.
I don't want to castigate other people that come before us, but we spoke, he listened, and they made changes.
The whole new set of plans, Z1 and Z2, before you were generated after our initial RCOs meeting.
uh the setback i'll take the blame for it i'm sorry nick uh was was my fault uh the idea was
because the original plan went to the edge of the west elevation we took a look at seeing how we
could introduce some air for the tenants so when they were out there they could step outside their
apartment and still be able to look west i did think about the deck but i didn't think about
the way council did we also did raise the issue of coverage over the steps
sometime in the future did not understand realize that it would be
mandatory though I regularly do see them in South Philly where this type of
entrance is quite common we spent a lot of time discussing the issue of the
trash believe there'll be a two and a half yard roll-off dumpster there there
is short dumping on the block uh so we don't want his uh other people's trash to end up now
aggravating both nick and the tenants upstairs uh they did agree to though i don't know how
it'd be provisoed that adequate polls will be made for the commercial trash as well as the
domestic trash so that there'll be no build-up uh there has been unfortunately in southwest philly
there are always fights and occasionally a few murders over parking in our driveways
so we were concerned about that the idea was that obviously nick needs to load and unload trucks
or could be getting shipments in that he would be cognizant of the needs of the people
on the driveway who may need ingress or egress so it'd be typical a 20-minute term if there was
blockage otherwise they always agreed agreed to keep the drive lane open there is significant
parking west of this because it is an open lot or actually two open lots going from the western
side of nick's wall up to the next street so there will be sufficient parking there'll be
really no competition the english house is for special uh for physically challenged people who
are driving in and out and the brady home is mostly senior citizens so they're not a lot of
people parking on the street uh we uh we defaulted to you to the post office to let them set what
would be uh what their expectation is for where the boxes should be mounted and uh been in
situations where the postal service could end up assigning a different address to this within their
system that does not match up to the water department address. So that's something that
we thought about and that Nick should anticipate. We really went over this with a very fine-toothed
comb, even though there was only one person from the community that came forth.
We need new apartments. It's going to be meeting the current standard building code. There'll be
high efficiency apartments we do anticipate that it'll be sprinklered uh so it'll be state of the
art on top of a a commercial structure and wanted to thank nick and and thank henry and and thank
the board craig thank you for hanging around so long i'm getting a little later but we appreciate
it and and we agree with you about henry um okay so planning
nina solomonic the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends a change in
zoning at this location from the existing rm1 residential multifamily to rsa5 residential
single family there is no reason why the property cannot be used in strict conformity with the
zoning code the planning commission recommends the board deny the variance thank you um we're
going to vote on this on the 16th of september at 2 p.m thank you okay and we'll have everything
hopefully we'll have everything by then and henry could you stay on too please sure um thank you
nick we appreciate it thank you guys have a good one mi 2026 002 191 4441 spruce street henry
clinton is the attorney henry just for the record could you please state your name sure henry clinton
h-e-n-r-y clinton c-l-i-n-t-o-n and henry could you identify your client their relationship to
this property sure my client is simone lee sobers s-i-m-o-n-e lee l-e-e sobers s-o-b-e-r-s and she is
Sobers and she is on the call. Okay. Thank you. Our vice chair has just a few questions. Henry.
on the call okay thank you our vice chair has just
Good evening. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits 5 days in advance of this hearing?
We have and do you waive the reading of your refusal and stipulate to the accuracy? We do. Okay. Thank you. You can share your screen and begin.
is that visible mr chairman yes all right so this is a little bit of an unusual situation here uh
the property is in the heart of penn's campus 44th and spruce it's on a block that is predominantly
apartments a mexican restaurant and one single family house this house uh historically was used
as a five-unit rooming house um i have some plans back from the 70s i can show you but
the plan or the quest is to legalize this as four units not five when we went in front of spruce
hill we presented five units they uh voted six uh to two not to not to oppose it but since that
meeting we reduced the the units to four and we provided spruce hill with those plans but
if they were unopposed to five, I gather, they would be unopposed to four.
So these are the table of contents, refusal A1 through A10, and these are the backup zoning
documents. I have some aerial photographs to show you that, again, the majority of the block,
it is partly RM1 and RTA1, but it's all apartments, some extremely large apartment buildings.
here's a refusal rta1 uh but again the request was for five family multi uh unit structure all
within the same footprint we're not expanding the footprint or the height or the width or the rear
yard and we have two refusals multi-family is not permitted new rta1 despite the fact there's many
on the block. And then there was a request for parking
for five accessory off-street parking spaces, which basically is a
physical impossibility. And historically, there's been no
parking at all for this property. Here's the RCO letter
of non-opposition. As I said, it's six non-opposition, two
opposed. And their letter is pretty straightforward
that they don't want to set a precedent. And they recognize,
as I said at the beginning, this is an unusual circumstance since it's currently zoned as a
five-unit rooming house. Right now, it is being used as five units, but there are five apartments.
There's five individuals in the property. The owner occupies the first floor, and then the
other four units are on a month-to-month lease because we didn't want to assume that we were
going to get approval. And we wanted the tenants to know what was going on. And there may be a
tenant or two on this call. The tenants are not, there's one postdoctoral student, but there's two
employees of the University of Pennsylvania. One's a doctoral assistant, and the other is
statistics analysis. And there's also a freelance medical analyst in the apartments, which are
fully furnished from top to bottom. And when I show you some of the photographs, you'll see that
is very well appointed uh so this is the photos of the 4400 block of spruce street and you know
right to left or uh you know east to west 28 apartments 40 apartments 3 6 3 3 and this is
my client's property right here and next door is apartments on the second floor
mexican restaurant on the first floor across the street 57 apartments and 33 apartments
This is just a view looking west.
The property is at the end here,
but these are some of the larger apartment complexes
I wanted to show the board.
Again, looking westbound on Spruce.
I'm moving west now.
Again, multifamily, multifamily, single family here.
And then this is our property, my client's property,
excuse me, right here where the porch is
next to the end property.
So we're getting closer.
Again, here's my client's property.
it at the almost at the end of the street uh you can get a better view it's it's really nice on the
outside nice detailing nice windows kept the old bays kept the old copula roof on the top
and all the existing stone and brickwork is there
straight ahead view this is my client's property in green
with bordered on a darker green and the restaurant at the corner
some interior photographs of the five
apartments that are there now
I think the photographs speak for themselves
uh photographs of our postings and close up to show you that the
photographs of our postings
trash receptacles are stored in front of the building as are the recyclables
so these are old time plans this is when it was a rooming house i don't want to dwell on these uh
but uh basically the first floor is is similarly now set up as an apartment there's a porch a
living room a kitchen back in the kitchen is here but back in the day there was a
community kitchen here then I'll go to the second floor again there were
bedrooms on the second floor really difficult to see and on the third floor
a utility room and some bathrooms these were the plans that we presented to the
The RCO, really rudimentary plans.
That's why my client went out and hired Harman Deutsch-Oller to come in and show the board some professional plans, which I'll move to now.
And we do have Rustin Ohlers on the call in case there are any questions that I can't answer about the floor plan or the layout.
So, again, this is the zoning map RTA1.
here's the lot very long as long as and deep as all the other lots on the block
except for the apartment buildings and here are the floor plans
so this is you know 44 41 spruce street the site plan the first plant first floor
will have has a porch let me see if i can blow it up so people can see a little bit better
so you walk in the front steps there's a lobby here trash receptacles and recycling in the front
walk in down toward the living room area the porch a study your sunroom on the front
the kitchen in the middle bathroom here bedroom here and there's a set of steps that go up to
the rear of the second floor and the rear of the second floor and the entire first floor
is going to be one unit.
So again, that redundant a little bit.
Here's the first unit, first floor, and second.
Go up the stairs, second unit, kitchen, living, bedroom.
Continue up to the third floor.
Third unit is in the rear.
Again, kitchen, bathroom, one bedroom.
These are all occupied by one individual.
We have a professional management company that manages the property,
makes sure that things are handled fine, well, that leases are by-to-buy.
Tenants put out the trash.
We do have a trash closet here on the third floor.
We do not have a trash closet on the second floor because, frankly, again,
this is an existing building.
It is difficult to fit in a trash closet.
I mean, Unit 2 has to go down one flight of stairs,
and he or she is already
at the front of the building
so they use the trash receptacles
we haven't had any complaints or issues
thus far
and we even let the one family
on the block that owns the
only single family house
we invited them to walk through the house
I walked through with them so they could see
what was going on and
what this was intended to be
that is four units
application
notification, tax center notification or documentation that no taxes are owed, zoning
map, again, RTA closer to where our client's property is, RM1, down at the end of the block,
as well as across the street, deed indicating ownership since 2013, notice letter to all
the occupants of properties within 250 feet. We've mailed out 80 pieces of mail. And then here are
the zoning records. I don't want to belabor it, Mr. Chairman, but I'll go through it to prove that
what I've said in this chart is accurate. 28 units, 40 units, vacant, six persons, three persons,
3, 3, 57, and 33, 40, 01, 28, 40 units, 3 units, 27, 44, 31, 6 units, 3 units, that was 37, 44, 39, 3 units, and subject unit, 44, 41, again, shows 5 units,
And I do have, actually, I have a zoning permit indicating that it was a rooming house.
And the other side of the street, on the even side of the street, 33 units.
Excuse me, this is the even side of the street, 57 units.
57 units and this is our management contract that we have with property management services
And this is our management contract that we have with proper.
Helen Gill I've met her at the property she's on top of it the tenants there from what I
understand like it would like to stay there but again they're only on month-to-month leases right
now and this is the property certificate five rooming units to accommodate five people so
We have five units. There happen to be apartments, and there are five people. Even though it is not a rooming house anymore, it's compliant with what the property certificate indicates.
With that, Mr. Chairman, I would like to conclude the testimony by just saying that we're not impacting any lighter air. We're in harmony with the block. We're in harmony with the RCO.
um and with that i'd ask my client to unmute herself simone if you could unmute yourself
and uh field any questions that the board or why don't we bring her on a moment we'll take
care of it okay simone can you unmute yourself i'll go back to the floor plans simone has been
promoted to panelists hello hi simone could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer
uh yes my name is simone sobers um simone lee sobers my first name is s i m as in man o n as
in nancy e middle is lee l ee and last name is sobers s as in sam o b as in boy e r s you swear
or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do mr clinton uh good
Good evening, Ms. Sobers. Were you on the call when I presented your project to the board?
And if you had the opportunity to testify, would you adopt my testimony as your own and as true and correct?
Yes. Thank you.
Thank you.
Questions from the board.
I don't know that it's a question. I think it's more of a statement.
I think for, I understand that this block and you're trying to reduce it from five units to four,
but I do think that the front porch provides a really great opportunity to create an outdoor
sorry not the front porch the front patio creates a really great space to create some sort of outdoor
space for the other three units in the building given that unit one has so much access and space
to the backyard and to only have the trash enclosure there might make it less wonderful
for the residents so i would want interior trash storage all right that's something we will
consider and discuss is when questions from our attorney no questions at this time mr chairman
questions or comments from the virtual audience i see no hands here oh i see your hand just went up
okay Caitlin oh hi I could you please state and spell your name for me please
sure my name is Caitlin C-A-I-T-L-I-N my last name is Searson S-E-A-R-S-O-N
right um do you swear or affirm to tell the truth told truth nothing but the truth
i do are you a neighbor i'm currently a tenant a resident a resident all right please proceed
uh just uh popped on to say that this is a lovely place to live and um simone has been
a wonderful owner and incredibly communicative and um has created like a really
nice and safe community for myself. I don't want to speak on behalf of the other residents, but
everybody seems to really enjoy living here. Thank you. Thank you very much for taking the
time. We appreciate you saying that. Yeah. Is there anyone else? I see no hands at this time.
Planning Commission. Nina Salmona for the Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan
recommends no change in the zoning to the current rta1 residential two-family attached zoning the
appellant has not shown that there are unique physical circumstances or conditions of the
property that would prevent it from using being used in conformance with the zoning code the
planning commission recommends the board deny the requested variances for multi-family living and
off-street parking so mi 2026 002 191 4441 sprue street i vote yes with proviso interior trash
storage michael johns my vote is yes with proviso go ahead maximum four dwelling units
Go ahead. Maximum four dwelling units because they reduced it from five to four. Isn't it five because we have the first four? No, they reduced it to four. Okay. Are you going to restate that?
are are we all right maximum four units okay my michael johns my vote is yes with provisals
cheryl guest and my booty chefs with provides another graham my vote is yes with provisals
ryan mcadams my vote is yes with provisals hi when my vote is yes with provisals
thank you henry thank you everyone have a great night thank you all right um
MI-2025-007-171-219-West-Roosevelt Blvd.
Lumna Alaradi is the owner.
Lumna has been promoted to panels.
hello hi good evening and thanks for waiting around for us could you please state and spell
your name for the stenographer. Yes, my name is Lubna, L-U-B-N-A, last name Alaradi, A-L-A-R-D-I.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes. Our vice chair has just a few questions for you, okay? Okay. Hi, good evening. Have you
submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing? Yes. Okay. And you
do you understand that your application is for uh proposed office and business and professional use
yes okay and you understand that you were refused because that use is prohibited in your
rsa5 zoning district yes okay all right thank you so you could share your documents and tell
what you're trying to do yes i'm trying to open the place for using it as a motor vehicle tag
and title agency and i just want to make it clear i'm not doing any changes to the property
or doing any construction i'm not adding or changing structure on the building or
and i'm not putting a sign the only change is i'm using the interior rooms as an office
as it shows on the floor plans okay
okay why don't we proceed we have all your documents
so if you would could you go to photos and or um plans for what you want to do
yeah okay you can see my screen and that's when you hold on hold on a minute you went
to the zoning board and they voted in your favor am I correct correct okay
and i'm just using the first floor for do me a favor blow that up a little bit make it a little
bit bigger okay all right go ahead uh the first floor i'm using it as in just office
second floor i'm not using the basement i'm gonna use it as a storage for files and papers
and upstairs is second floor you're two right is that we have yes I'm not using the second
floor you're only using the first floor yes first floor and the basement who's on the
second floor uh nobody okay not a problem go ahead so you're gonna only use the first and
second floor yes thank you first in the basement okay you have photos uh for the inside i just
had a photo for the outside the inside just need work and i did not fix anything
right so that that's right there that house there is what where your office is yes and so you'll be
on the first floor doing title work yes or a car dealer yeah i'm doing paper most of it online i'm
Yeah, I'm doing paper. Most of it online. I'm just going to be open for three days, 15 hours a week.
just gonna be open for three
Wow, okay.
I said, is the car lot yours too?
You own the car lot?
No, I don't. I just own this one.
yeah okay all right all right so um the office is yours right on the first floor of that building
but I'm saying are you any are you associated with the car a lot I'm doing paperwork for them
oh you do their paperwork yes all right and you want in the business for yourself yeah okay all
right um questions from the board yes are you the only employee in the business and is there
any plans to expand I know and then um as for your work like how often do you have to meet
with clients or deal with clients three days a week most of my work is going to be online
okay so they're they're not there when you're they're not necessarily there with you no okay
and then i know you said you're not using the third floor are you living on the third floor
or will it just be completely no just close office just office okay
any other questions
yes so uh is the plan to put a sign there uh later on no sign no sign at all like how will
people know that you you're in business i'm just i already have existing with the dealership oh
they'll send them to you yes okay i got you all right thank you
other questions questions more attorney yeah I I just really want to clarify so the use that
you're looking for on the first floor in the basement is office dash business and professional
is that correct correct okay and you kind of said you've kind of changed what's happening
on the second floor is it going to be empty is it going to be an office like it's just closed off i
planning to close the stairs and i'm not using the second floor it's just the first floor and the
basement okay i guess the question i have is how are you using the basement and what's the current
condition of the basement i need to be fixed i'm going to use it to add shelves and for the
paperwork and extra stuff for the office okay so like mostly store you're going to finish the
basement though yes okay any other questions from our attorney just that if it's going to be granted
the proviso would be limited to the basement and first floor with regard to the use i said
that's all questions or comments from the virtual audience i see no hands chair planning commission
ina solomonic with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change
in zoning to the current rsa5 residential single family the proposed use should not
cause any detrimental impact beyond what might be expected the planning commission recommends
the board grant the requested variances for businesses and professional use on the first
floor and basement. Okay. MI 2025, 007171, 219 West Roosevelt Boulevard, I vote yes with proviso.
First floor and basement only. Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.
cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso tennetta 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
thank you is there anyone in the audience whose case has not been called i see no hands chair