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