Thank you.
Ishmael, are you under Ms. Sunketh's name?
Is Ishmael Logan under Ms. Sunketh's name?
He is.
That could be the case.
Can you?
Yes, Pauline.
okay chair it looks like we have 29 attendees we can we can start when you wish great thank you
good morning my name is bill bergman and i will be chairing this morning's dba hearings
with me is ismail shaheed our board secretary
he's here i just heard it mr chairman thank you thomas hallman our board member
Thomas, and James Snell, our board member.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also present is our board attorney, Hillary Emerson, and also our ZBA hearing administrator
today is Karima Quintana.
Before we begin, here's our virtual format.
Be advised if the proceedings are being recorded by participating in a knowledge agreement to be recorded.
A video will be available by contacting TanyaSunkett at phillip.gov.
For the benefit of our stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you're participating by phone, if you wish to testify, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548. Leave your email address and the
address of the property in question. And finally, the question answer box on the screen is not for
comments or testimony. Any comments have to be directed to our executive director, Tanya Sunken.
Let's look at our continuances on today's list.
number one m i 2022 003 932 25 23 52 north 22nd street this case is continued number two
m i 2022 003 865 excuse me mr chair this is hillary what what was the address in the last
one i thought i heard you say 23 52 23 52 north 22nd 29th street 29th 29th okay thank you
number two mi 2022 003 865 4063 holland street that case is continued number three mi 2022
003-935-2627 West Oakford Street. This case is continued. Number four, MI 2022-003-989-2851
Bodine Street. That case is continued. Number seven, MI 2021-002-828-6516-20
Upland Street. That case is continued. Number eight, MI 2022-004-033-2235 Cecil B. Moore Avenue.
that case is continued and number 12 MI 2022 004 477 2623 orthodox street that case is continued
that's the first listing is there anyone have any comments relative to the cases i just called
for continuation. Good morning, Chair. This is Fatina L. We have Raymond Dorizio. Okay.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman. Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Mr. Dorizio?
Mr. Dorizio, please unmute us now.
Yes, sorry.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Yes, Raymond Dorizio, D-O-R-I-Z-I-O.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, told truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
What case, sir?
So I just wanted to confirm it's a 2627 West Oxford Street, and I believe it's a continuance,
but I think I heard Oakford, and I just wanted to confirm that it was actually Oxford.
If I did, I mispronounced it.
Oh, no problem.
It's Oxford Street.
I just wanted to confirm.
Thank you so much.
Sorry.
You're at Oxford Street.
Thank you.
Have a good day.
Anyone else have any comments?
I see no hands, Chair.
Are there any other requests for continuances?
Chair, we have Vern Anastasio.
Good morning, Vern.
Could you state your name, please, for the court reporter?
Good morning, Mr. Chair.
Vern Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O.
Right.
Do you swear, Vern, to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
What case?
4063 Howland
we do have to go back to the RCO on this one
does anybody see a number on that
that's number two Mr. Chair we didn't continue that case
we continued that already oh thank you very much
yeah sure sure any other requests for continuance
yes chair we have jeffrey young
good morning mr young could you state your name and spell for the court reporter please
uh yes good morning my name is jeffrey young uh j-e-f-f-e-r-y-y-o-u-n-g right do you swear
for him to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes and is that case
5900 Pulaski?
Yes, sir. We're asking for
a continuance on this
matter to continue the dialogue
with the near neighbors.
Thank you. MI
003 966
5900 Pulaski Avenue.
That case is continued. Thank you.
Any other requests
for continuance?
I see no, yes, Chair.
I have a few cases that we
don't have exhibits mi 2022-005-303-4140 poplar street mr young is the attorney no exhibits first
listing mr young mr young you can amuse yourself yes good morning um you've already been sworn
jeffrey uh we have no exhibits for this case yes we're also asking for a continuous on this matter
uh we've met with the rco um they've asked for some design changes in our um uh development
and so we're working on those design changes all right thank you so number nine mi 2022 005 303
4140 Poplar Street, that case is continued. Case number 13, MI 2022-004-030-9311
Voight's Lane. We have no exhibits for that.
Ved Patel is the owner.
i see no handshare okay so that's the first listing mi 2022 004 030 93 11 volts lane that
case is continued excuse me chair we have someone with the last name patel yes that's his name
yep i'm mr patel could you mr patel could you state your name and spell for the court reporter
please yes my name is barad hotel b-h-a-r-a-t hotel so i'm the protestant all right okay okay so
you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes sir okay so are you the owner of the property no i'm the i'm the protestant i'm right next to
his property. Okay. Thank you. This case is going to be continued. Okay. Okay. Thank you, sir.
Okay, thank you, sir.
All right. So MI 2022-004.
All right, so MI 2022-004-030-9311 Volts Lane, the cases continue.
And number 14, MI 2022-003-948-5017 Walnut Street, no exhibits, first listing, Andrea Tillman.
I see no hands share.
Okay, so MI-2022-003-948-5017 Walnut Street, that case is continued.
We're going to go to our add-on list.
Number one, MI-2022-003-770-3920 North 17th Street, I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Number two is MI 2021-002-095-4319-Rawne Street.
This vote will be next Wednesday at 930.
Number three, MI 2022-003-393-2612-North 17th Street.
I vote yes with proviso.
Maximum two units, interior storage of trash and recycling, use of basement limited to trash storage and mechanicals, rooftop access limited to mechanical use.
thomas holloman my vote is yes with provisos james snell my vote is yes with provisos
ishmael shaheed my vote is yes with provisos number four and mr chair this is mr chair this
is hillary i i just wanted to note on that that last case we had held it um for a month for
feedback from two of the affected rcos yeah um we received one letter in opposition from
swamp poodle a neighborhood parcels association um that letter also included um proviso should
the board be inclined to grant in this matter i just want to note that for the record thank you
Okay, thank you.
Number four, MI 2022-002-678-1330 East Burke Street, I vote no.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is no.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
okay um okay moving to our regular list
number five mi 2022 003 987 3844 fairmount avenue henry clinton is the attorney
letter of support from the Drexel Area Property Association letter of support from the Mantua
Civic Association. Morning Mr. Chairman members of the board. Morning. Hi Mr. Clinton could you
state your name please and spell for the court reporter? Henry Clinton C-L-I-N-T-O-N. All right
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Our secretary has a few questions for you.
Do you agree to waive the reader under refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
Have you mailed all the information in that was required within five days of this hearing?
Yes, I have.
All right, please move forward and share your screen.
Thank you, Mr. He.
Mr. Chairman, is that visible?
It is, it is.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman, members of the board,
Henry Clinton for AHM Properties, LLC,
the principal of which is Leffler, L-E-F-T-E-R,
Dima, D-H-I-M-A, who is on the call with me.
This is my presentation package containing Exhibits A1 through A11, which I ask to be admitted into the record.
This is my presentation package containing exhibits A1 through
I'll go right to the refusal.
This is a current vacant lot, Mr. Chairman.
It's been vacant for a while, and the proposal is for a three-family dwelling.
Adjacent to this property at 3842 is a recently approved four-family dwelling, which the board voted on and approved in October of this past year.
So we're asking for one less unit than what has been previously approved very recently.
This is an RSA 5 zoning district.
Our request is for a three-family dwelling.
We have three refusals.
We've managed to eliminate the third refusal by pushing the front of the house back in
context with the other homes on the block.
So this refusal goes away, the minimum front setback refusal.
The occupied area is a de minimis issue.
It's a 6% variation from the code.
So the single issue that we see before the board today is one of use.
As the chairman mentioned, we have letters of support from the Manchewa Civic Association,
an overwhelming support of 10 to zero.
And we also have a letter of support from the Drexel Area Property Association.
photographs of the street looking south towards center city there's a number of vacant lots on
both the south side as well as the north side so the neighborhood group basically sees this as an
opportunity for some infill and perhaps that will spur other development on the block as i said this
is our property right here 3844 the previously approved quadplex is to the the east at 3842
and at 3836 there's also a triplex which I'll show you a photograph of that. I also have zoning plans
to substantiate the approval of 3842. This is a photograph on Fairmount Avenue. We're looking
east on Fairmount. Again just showing you the number of vacant lots on the on the property.
Our lot is is in between. There's two vacant lots to the west one to the east
and our property is situated in between again just another contextual photograph
this is 3836 indication it's a triplex of three meters and one common meter for the common space
our zoning notices we do have a proviso sheet with one plan
one page of the plan if the board looks kindly upon this application
So I just wanted to show the board the site plan. Basically, it's a very, very large lot. It's 90 feet deep. We have a large rear yard, 11 feet. Actually, our rear yard is larger than the approved quadplex next door.
We also have set the front back 14 feet, six inches in context with the other properties on the block.
And I can show you some of those properties.
Basically have three units.
Basement of first floor is one unit.
Second floor is another unit with two bedrooms.
Third floor is another unit.
There is no rooftop deck.
The community group was not in favor of that.
for context for the board, just some of the other properties on the block to show
that we will fit in contextually. This is 3840. 42 is the quadplex under development.
This is our property, a proposed property at 3844. And if you move down the block, 3850.
So you can see that we're trying to match the height of the windows. We have the front porch
with the overhang. And also, we're trying to match the window dimensions and sizes on the
second floor, as well as the height of the other buildings. And these are some of the other
buildings on the block. Again, we'll keep our property at three-story below 38 feet if you
have no issues with open air or rear yard space. The rest of the documents are the typical documents
you would see in a proposal such as this. One thing I just want to point out to the board,
my client recently paid his real estate taxes. There's a zero balance. And then there was a
lien of 2518. And he was able to go to the sheriff's office and pay that off. Since this
just happened on December 12th, that information has not been conveyed to the city. So we're unable
able to have a formal tax certification, but these documents do substantiate that he is in
current goods status with regard to real estate taxes and any liens that may have appeared on
and any liens that may have appeared on the property mr chair this is hillary i just wanted
the property. Mr. Chair, this is...
to to jump in and from what i can see on the city's site um the the taxes are in compliance
the real estate taxes for this property so we can vote on this today if the board is so inclined
thank you thank you mr emerson the last thing i want to show the board was uh
Just the zoning records for 3836 Fairmount and 3842 Fairmount.
This is 3836, three units.
And this is a zoning permit issued to 3842, as I said recently, in October of 2021, for a four-family unit.
So in conclusion, I'd just like to say that we have some unique physical circumstances here.
The lot is rather large.
There's an adjacent quadplex.
there's another triplex on the block we're not altering the essential character of the
neighborhood we're not impairing the development of any adjacent property we're not impacting
later air of any adjacent property i believe the project is in harmony with the code it's
in harmony with the rest of the block and it's also in harmony with what the community group
desires at this point in the development of this block with that mr chairman i rest and
want to entertain any questions and have my client adopt the testimony. Why don't we adopt
your testimony first? Mr. Dima, can you raise your virtual hand so you can testify?
Mr. Dima, please unmute yourself. Yes, I do. Hi. Could you state your name, please,
and spell for the court reporter? My first name is Lefter, L-E-F-T-E-R,
and last name is Dehmad, D-H-I-M-A.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed, Mr. Clinton.
Good morning, Mr. Dehmad.
Were you on the call
when I just presented your project?
If you had the opportunity to testify,
would you adopt my testimony as your own
and as true and correct?
Thank you, Mr. Dehmad.
Appreciate it.
All right.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Asa Inouye, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair.
Good morning.
Sarah Bond, City Planning Commission.
S-A-R-A-H-B-A-N-H.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
In 2017, the zoning map was amended to RSA 5, Residential Single-Family Zoning, at this location.
with the support of the community however the proposed variance will not cause detrimental
impacts to the neighborhood beyond what might normally be expected for this use
the city planning commission recommends that the zoning board grant the variance
thank you MI 2022 003 987 3844 Fairmount Avenue I vote yes with proviso revised plans
One page, stamped by ZBA, December 14th, 2022.
Thomas Howland, my vote is no.
James Snell, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you, Mr. Clinton.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Number 10, MI-2022-004-016-624-North 37th Street.
Cheryl Gaston is the attorney.
Recommendation of support from Mantua Civic Association.
Cheryl Gaston?
Yes. Good morning.
Good morning. Hi. Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
My name is Cheryl, C-H-E-R-Y-L, Gaston, G as in George, A, S as in Sam, T-O-N.
All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client's relationship to the property?
Okay. My client is Joaquin Green.
and he is the owner of the program okay our board secretary has just a few questions
okay okay yes go ahead do you agree to waive the re the reading of the
refusal and stipulate to its accuracy yes i do have you emailed all the required documents
in within five days of this hearing yes we did please proceed
of this hearing? Yes, we did. Please proceed and share your screen. Okay. Could we move up
my paralegal, Christine Schlosser? You can. Thank you.
But you'll do the testimony, right? Yes. Oh, yes. Okay, sure. I just,
no, I got it. We understand. You've seen me here before.
I want this to go smoothly.
Proceed.
All right.
This involves a property.
It's 624 North 37th Street.
And the application is to convert the building to a multifamily dwelling.
There will be three units for a total of about 25,000 square feet.
and uh there's a uh existing two-story um edition in the rear which we want to demolish
and we want to uh replace you get closer to the mic council get closer to the mic we had a hard
time hearing that oh okay yeah we're good all right uh and we want to uh i'm not sure how much
back i need to go um there's an existing two-story edition in the back of this which we're going to
demolished, and we're going to replace it with a three-story addition attached to the existing
structure. The property will be, as I said, renovated for this three-family use. On the
first floor, there will be one-bedroom, one-bath unit of about 760 square feet. On the second
floor there will be a two bedroom two bath unit of about 712 square feet and for the third floor
again two bedrooms and two baths and about 764 square feet. So we did present to the
RCO for the area
and we do have a letter of approval
going through our
packet. We have
our deed
we have
application
We have our notice of refusal, and it's just the refusal for the multifamily use.
There are no other refusals.
We have our application for appeal.
We have a tax clearance certificate.
We have a site plan, which shows you, again, the property as it appears.
And there is a, you can see on the top where we're going to add the addition.
And then we have a floor plan, which is part of the packet.
Floor plan.
Sorry.
Hopefully we can make the floor plan a little bigger so that you can see it.
But again, there is a basement, but we're not using that.
There's first floor, second floor, third floor.
There won't be any deck.
And the trash storage will be in the first floor unit.
On the first floor unit, it'll be in the unit itself.
And then for the second and third floors, we're going to probably have like trash compactors
or something so that they can have their trash taken care of. We do have the pictures of the
posting and we included in the packet some pictures of the exterior of the building
and the interior as it is now.
So again, this is like first floor unit where it's not that great looking at this point.
We are going to make sure it looks a lot better.
Can we just go to our RCO letter?
And we have the letter from the RCO, which was for to support our variant request.
And we have the other paperwork, the actual notification email from the Planning Commission, the addresses, our own letter, and the stamp certificate of mailing.
Counsel, what's the surrounding area look like? Is there other multiple family units?
Yes, there are on the other side of this property, which would be, I'm trying to orient myself here, I guess that would be on the other side. And then there's a community center on one side, and there's a church that's on the other block.
Okay. So again, this is an area where this will actually be a rebuilding of the neighborhood. I
think you can see there were a number of vacant lots where properties have been demolished before.
So this is a way to help rebuild this particular area. It's close to public transportation. It's
close to, as I said, a community recreation center.
And again, it will be a way to start to rebuild this part of the neighborhood.
Could we have your client adopt your testimony?
Mr. Green?
Mr. Green?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
So, Counsel, you're an officer of the court.
We will accept your testimony.
Thank you.
He may have had trouble getting on.
Okay, questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
THANK YOU, CHAIR BERGMAN, CITY PLANNING COMMISSION, BOARD MEMBERS, IN 2017 THE ZONING MAP WAS AMENDED
TO RSA 5, RESIDENTIAL SINGLE FAMILY ZONING AT THIS LOCATION WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE COMMUNITY.
uh staying on i accidentally switched to a different address let me make sure that's okay
okay here we go so we are at 624 north 37 thank you
uh okay so the proposed use variance would alter the essential character of the neighborhood
as well as uh the attorney did not offer evidence of unique physical circumstances
for this location therefore the city planning commission recommends that the zoning board
deny the variance thank you MI 2022 004016 624 North 37th Street I vote yes Thomas Holloman
my vote is yes James Snell my vote is yes Ishmael Shahid my vote is yes
thank you mr chairman thank you counsel that completes my business
you most certainly can thank you thank you number 11 mi 2022
zero zero zero four four seven three 5041 locust street verne anastasio is the attorney
No RCO letter from the Walnut Hill Community Association as of this point.
And also, we need a tax clearance.
Chair, I see no hands, and I'm not showing Ms. Anastasia in the audience.
um hillary did we hear from him at all on this one i i received the exhibit packet
um let me see let me see if i can get him back on because he wasn't
um let me see let me see if i can get him back on because he was on earlier give me all right
so i think that's our last case for the morning
Thank you.
Thank you.
stand by one minute we'll try to get this on as quick as possible we can't get them we'll continue
he's getting back on mr chair thank you
Mr. Anastasio is coming back in as a panelist.
Good morning again, Mr. Chair.
Good morning.
You've already been sworn this is 5041 Locust Street.
Yes, sir.
All right.
Could you identify your client in a relationship to the property?
Phyllis and Bob Elder.
Right.
the owners of the property this hearing was held already according to my notes is that correct
uh i i don't i don't see that uh it's on the list today am i right hillary
it was on the list and we received an exhibit packet
it was also it was heard on 11 30 was it not
i don't believe so but i will i will look and also i i'm not on the scheduling system right now
one of the staff may be able to answer this question better
this is fatina we're checking now
I don't mind presenting it again.
but i do let's let's we'll we'll we'll we'll have it in a minute
and it's 5044 sansum is that right now 5041 locust street excuse me chair i'm sorry
we don't have that case being heard on that day
Vern, it's 5041 Locust Street
Very good, I think
That may be the problem
And it says no RCO letter
And need tax clearance
It was a meeting on 11-1-22 with the Community Association.
It was a meeting on 11-1-22
With the Community Association
50-41 Locust.
i did send over what should pass for tax clearance uh to there is a packet that was
sent over is that true hillary yes we received the packet but i don't believe i received a tax
clearance or the rco letter there were screenshots yeah i think i sent over screenshots because for
whatever reason the ownership hasn't been updated on the system okay i don't believe i received those
I have the photos of the posting, but I do not see screenshots for taxpayers.
But I did just look on the city system, and the taxes are current through December 2022.
Correct.
So we're good there.
We just don't have the RCO letter.
That I do not have.
Sorry for the confusion, Mr. Chair.
That's okay.
But I am prepared to present.
Well, why don't we do it?
Thank you.
Why don't we go back?
Who is your client on this?
Phyllis and Rob Elder.
All right.
I'll be right with you.
I'm going to share my screen in a moment.
5041 Locust Street is an application for a two-family household living in an existing
structure. It is RSA 3, but it's on a block with several multifamilies, and this was a property
that was purchased recently by Mr. and Mrs. Elder
as a two-family dwelling,
the existing upstairs unit.
Mr. Chair, do you want me to wave?
You know what, Asia?
I think we're okay with it
because I think Hillary went over
all the different things that we needed.
So I think we're okay with it, Asia.
Here's the existing downstairs unit.
Do you verify that Mr. Anastasio does waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Thank you.
Yep. So the two units are as already shown.
Here's a front porch. Here's a side alley.
We have a trash area here and a backyard with a shared alley in the very rear.
There are photos of the property in question.
As you can see, two separate doors.
There's the alley for trash storage that is a unique physical condition, both inside and outside that pose a compliance with a single family designation impracticable, given the two separate entrances, two separate doors, two separate units.
Here's some more of the interior photos.
and we also have proof of multiple electric and gas meters as well as two furnaces two water
heaters all predating my client's purchase of the property we did meet with the rco walnut hill
Community Association. We do have a proof of mailing of where 149 pieces of materials went
out. Based on my recollection of the Walnut Hill meeting, there was no opposition, but I do
understand you might have to hold it for something official. And with that, if my clients are online,
I do ask either Mr. or Mrs. Elder to raise their virtual hand.
Mr. and Mrs. Elder, please unmute yourself.
Hi, this is Rob Elder.
Hi, could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Hi, could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Yeah, Rob, R-O-B.
Yeah, Rob, R-O-B, Elder, E-L-D-E-R.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Elder, did you hear my presentation to the board this morning?
Is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
And do you adopt it as your own testimony?
Thank you.
I have nothing further.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No comment questions or comments from the virtual audience I see no he is here planning commission
thank you chair Sarah bond city planning commission board members the comprehensive
plan recommends no change the existing RSA three residential single-family zoning at this location
however the appellant's hardship claim is supported with evidence of unique physical
circumstances and conditions of the property city planning commission recommends that the
zoning board grant the variance all right hillary the meeting was held 11-1
we can go today right um that that is fine mr chair okay thank you and mi 2022 004 473
5041 Locust Street. I vote yes. Thomas Holloman. My vote is yes. James Snell. My vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed. My vote is yes. Thank you, counsel. Thank you. And again,
my apologies for the mix up on the addresses. We're fine. Thanks. Take care.
Is there anyone in the virtual audience whose case has not been called on the 930 list?
I see no handshare. Okay. Thanks, everyone. See you at two o'clock.
Good afternoon. My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this afternoon's EBA hearings.
With me is Ismail Shahid, our board secretary.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Thomas Holliman, our board member.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
James Snell, our board member.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also, here is our board attorney, Hillary Emerson, and our ZBA hearing supervisor, Karima Quintana.
Before we begin, here's our virtual format.
Be advised that proceedings are being recorded.
By participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded.
A video will be available by contacting tonyasunkett at phil.gov.
For the benefit of our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you're participating by phone and you wish to testify, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548.
Leave your email and the address of the property in question.
And lastly, the question answer box on the screen is not for comments or testimony. Any comments
should be directed to our Executive Director, Tanya Sunke. Let's look at our continuances for
this afternoon. Number nine, MI 2022-001919-1831 Airdrie Street. That case is continued. And number
11. MI 2022 004 478 716 North 40th Street. That case is continued. Does anyone have any questions
relative to those two cases? Chair, we have Mr. Patel. Okay.
okay uh hello sir i i think i swore you in last time what case do you want to talk about uh nine
three eleven voids lane
helry did you hear that um yes mr patel um we did not have the hearing this morning on on the case
that you are protesting for the case yes that case will be continued uh that case was continued
and will be held at another date that's why you were not given an opportunity to speak there was
no hearing am i be are you am i gonna be know what date is gonna be yes yes because you signed
up to the hearing today you will receive notification of the new date okay thank you
okay any other requests for continuance I see no handshare okay so I also have case number
I see no hands, Chair.
Okay, so I also have case number 14, MI 2022, 004385, 1530, 1520 to 28 South 7th Street.
Julie Bernstein is the attorney.
No exhibits, first listing.
Chair, we have Ms. Bernstein.
Hi. Could you could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Julie Bernstein, J-U-L-I-E, last name Bernstein, B-E-R-N-S-T-E-I-N.
Do you swear for them to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do. We do not have your exhibits. This is the first listing.
We emailed them on Friday and I received confirmation that they were being reviewed on Monday.
okay they came from my assistant jessica welch okay
do we have anything i i did not receive any exhibits for this case um it may be that
there was a typo in the email so that it didn't get to me um so let's let's see if we can find
them your case is later if we can find them and they were timely i can review them quickly and
can hear it at the end okay okay all right
miss bernstein okay all right chair we also have strawberry mansions community concerns sure
please good afternoon how are you uh mr chairman good could you could you please state your name
just for the record and it's bonita reporter yes bonita cummings b-o-n-i-t-a c-u-m-m-i-n-g-s
and i do wait a minute wait miss cummings do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do proceed miss cummings what case i was just trying to get this position
on 2238 north 28th street i was that continued was um
Let me see here.
Hillary, do we see that?
I'm looking, Mr. Chair. Give me one second.
Sure, take your time.
Hold on. 2238.
2238 North 28th Street, Ms. Cummings?
Okay. Yes, we did receive, that's on the 330 list, and we did receive a request for continuance for that case.
Thank you.
All right. Is there any other request? Thank you for calling in. Is there any other request for continuance?
I see no handshare.
Okay, so we want to go to our add-on list.
So, number one, MI 2022-003-649-3000 West Schoolhouse Lane.
The vote on that has been changed.
It will be Wednesday, December 21st at 2 p.m.
Number two, MI 2022-004-094-2413R Tulip Street. That is a resumptive hearing that has been changed to December 21st at 2 p.m.
number three mi 2022 001 396 5813 is east worcester street that's a request for
reconsideration with that one more minute
i vote no to reconsideration and rehearing thomas holloman okay no to reconsideration
and re-hearing. James Snell, my vote is no to reconsideration and re-hearing.
That's what we expected. Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is no to reconsideration and re-hearing.
Thank you. Number four, MI 2022-001-057-3251 Fox Street.
I vote yes to reconsideration and re-hearing. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes to reconsideration
and rehearing. James Snell, my vote is yes to reconsideration and rehearing. Ishmael Shahid,
my vote is yes to reconsideration and rehearing. Number five, MI 2022, 004-017-5427 Wayne Avenue.
This is a revote for additional provisos.
This is a re-vote for additional provisos.
I vote yes.
Proviso.
Trash stored in dumpster.
Commercial trash pickup six days a week.
Temporary special exception to expire 1-1-26.
Thomas Holloman.
My vote is yes with provisos.
James Snell.
My vote is yes with provisos.
Ishmael Shahid.
My vote is yes with provisos.
Number six, MI-2022-003-699-1709 North Marshall Street, I vote no.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is no.
James Snell, my vote is no.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is no.
number seven mi 2022 002 384 3125 page street i vote no
i will pass um mr chairman i was not that's fine fine thomas
sorry james james snell my vote is no john munlock my vote is no
Thank you. And number eight, MI 2022, 004-547-1849-51 East Venango Street.
Hold on one minute.
I vote yes with proviso. Multifamily household living, 12 dwelling units,
previously approved under zoning use permit 978144. Daking commercial space at first floor
previously approved under zoning use permit 978144 use registration required prior to occupancy
and all all fencing to be by code under the zoning code. Thomas Holloman my vote is yes with provisos.
James Snell my vote is yes with provisos. Ishmael Shaheed my vote is yes with provisos.
we're going to go to our regular list number one mi2022004 yes sir sorry this is hilly
oh yeah i got it number four i'm sorry yeah and i think we may need to promote um ryan mcshary
to panelists so that he can serve as counsel in this matter as i need to recuse myself okay
Okay. Bring Mr. McShari on. So this will be number four, MI 2021-005-233-5018 North 12th Street.
Alan Nockamson is the attorney. Letter of opposition from Logan Civic Association.
uh hillary emerson is recusing herself and we have ryan mcsherry filling in as the attorney
is ryan on hello oh thank you ryan yes yes i'm here uh mr chairman we've also received a last
minute uh letter in opposition from council member phillips i believe it may have just just
been forwarded to you letter of opposition yes from council member phillips okay as well yes all
Mr. Ockmson, Mr. Chair, members of the board, Allen, Ockmson, A-L-A-N, last name Ockmson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N, 123 South Broad Street, Suite 1600, Philadelphia PA, 19109.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client in relationship to the property?
Yes, it's 2035 Silver LLC and then the virtual audience should be Eli Silverstein.
Okay. Mr. Shahid has a few questions.
Good afternoon, Counselor. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
Have you turned in all of the documents that was required five days prior to this hearing?
Yes, I have.
Please proceed and show your screen.
Hi, so I'm here to present 5018 North 12th Street.
We're asking for this property that's an RSA 3 property to remain as a two-family dwelling.
So during the presentation, we'll go through the noisier refusal, the correspondence we received from the Logan Civic Association,
The permit showing previous use of the property.
The permit showing previous use of the property, letters to support for this use, we actually have the neighbor to the left of us in support of this property, as well as many surrounding neighbors.
A total of 10 letters to support were signed because the community meeting that was administered by the Lowood Civic Association was a poorly attended meeting.
Maps of the area, photographs of the property, our plans and drawings, our RCO meeting notice,
our application for appeal that we filed with the CBA, our deed to the property,
showing that 2035 silver LLC is the only other property in our certificate of tax clearance.
Again, in the virtual audience is Eli Silverstein.
At the end of my presentation, I would ask that he would virtually raise his hand,
be sworn in, and adopt my testimony as his own.
This is a pretty straightforward matter.
This is an RSA 3 property.
It's an application for two-family household living.
How the property is configured right now is two-household living.
For some reason, in 2008, the previous owner converted the use to single-family use.
Don't know why.
It's always been configured as a multifamily structure of two units.
And you'll see that not just our house, but many of the homes on that block have two entryways.
So it would be very cost prohibitive for us to convert it into a single family use.
Even though it had a zoning permit for single family use, again, both of the units are configured in a way to make it as a duplex.
We have two refusals. First, because this is an RSA 3 property, the two-family household living is not allowed under the zoning code. But again, how this property is configured and many properties on that block are configured, it shows that this makes sense under circumstances.
The second refusal has to do with parking. Technically, because this is RSA 3 zoning, two parking spaces are required. Again, just looking at our lot, it would be impossible to accommodate that request. And it would also be out of character because there is no other property on that block which has off-street parking of that similar request.
So the correspondence from the Logan Civic Association actually speaks volumes about why this is justified to allow the two-family dwellings to remain.
It was a close vote. It was four people in support and six people in opposition.
But if you look at it, the people that were in opposition, they want property to stay a single-family dwelling.
Well, first of all, it's not a single-family dwelling right now. It's configured as a multifamily dwelling, two units.
but they say there are already 15 multifamilies on the block.
That's something that we showed them during our presentation.
That's something they acknowledged that most of the properties on that block
are multifamily. That's the way they were configured.
So, and that's the way our property is configured.
So I understand that they don't want, you know,
our property to remain a duplex, but that's, you know,
why we're here today to legalize that use.
When my client purchased the property, they understood it was a duplex.
The only reason why they're here, I don't believe there's a violation against the property, although I didn't check before the hearing.
This is self-inflicted by my client.
They were trying to get rental licenses for this property.
They're trying to do the right thing by legalizing this to family household living.
They should not be penalized for trying to do the right thing here.
So, again, anyway, there's only 10 people that showed up to the meeting.
It was a closed vote of four to six, meaning that if one person switched their vote to the to the other side, it would be five, five, which would generate more, more likely not a letter of non-opposition in the circumstances.
So there's not overwhelming opposition to this project.
You know, so you have to take that into consideration.
Again, if you look at it, this has been two family household living for some time in 1940, since 1943.
I venture that the person changed it to single-family household living at one point without changing the configuration, partly because of, you know, code-related issues that we were unaware of at the time.
But again, this is multifamily, has been multifamily, is configured in multifamily.
So the letters to support.
My client made a concerted effort to reach out to members of the community because it was a poorly attended meeting.
Specifically, the person that would be most affected by this property would be 5018 North 12th Street.
And Patrick Holmes signed that letter in support of this legalization.
Then across the street, 5019 North 12th Street as well signed a letter of support.
5021 North 12th Street signed a letter of support.
5021, North 12th Street, sign a letter of support. And then one of the streets that we intersect
And then one of the.
is Camac, and we have many letters to support of people that are behind us on Camac Street as well.
So that's a total of 10 people that wrote letters to support to this project. And as you can see
here, this is the property. We're on 12th Street. As you can see, we're also Camac. So we really did
try to find the people that would be most directly impacted by this project. Again, I don't know who
showed up to this community meeting. You know, we had 10 individuals show up, four people and support
six people against that. So we were really surprised because my client has made a concerted
effort to meet the neighbors. Also, this is rented properties right now. This is a rented property
right now. So, you know, again, we don't want to have a situation where we have to somehow eject
these people from the property so again this is not something my client created this is something
that he inherited by purchasing this property and you'll see from the configuration of the property
just the two front doors alone show that this is a multi-family structure but anyway long story
short we try to find the people that would be most directly impacted and they're in support of this
project and then again just taking a look at it from a google maps perspective as well
And then photographs of the property. So biggest thing is here, and it's not the greatest photograph ever, but there are two front doors, right? So if it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it's a duck, ultimately.
And you have two front doors here. And if if we were asked to now convert this into a single family structure, it would be it would be expensive and devastating to my client.
In addition to the tenants who live who are there now as well.
So but again, before the community, before the hearing, because our pitchers didn't do it justice, I did look and see and confirm that there are multiple properties with this type of configuration with two front doors.
Again, these are how these properties were built many, many years ago. And even the community in their letter of opposition stated there are 15 other instances where there are multifamily structures.
They're tired of it, but the problem is that these properties were built this way.
And to convert them, not legalize it back to single family, but to convert them to single family would be cost prohibitive.
So here's again, there is no basement use for this property at all.
This is just to show that there is like emergency access, not emergency access, but access for the actual owner of the property.
You know, there's a rear entrance there as well.
North 12th Street to the right of the property, North 12th Street to the left of the property.
And there are plans and drawings.
Again, we're not doing any renovations to this property.
We're merely legalizing this property.
You can see just based on these plans, there are two entrances, which are labeled 101 and 102.
And then just the floor plans, just to really be specific about it.
So you go up the front porch.
There's two units.
Unit number one is the first floor and second floor.
That's a bi-level unit, right?
So here's the front door.
You come in.
There's a living room.
There's a dining room.
There's a kitchen.
There's an interior staircase.
and you go up to the second floor where there are three bedrooms and a bath.
Instead of going into unit number one, which has its own entrance, you go into unit number two.
Again, neither unit has access to the basement.
You go up two flights of steps.
You hit the third floor.
You go into a common area, excuse me, an entryway where you have a kitchen, a dining room, a bath, and two bedrooms.
There's no roof deck.
There is ample room in the backyard to store trash, so it's a responsible way to maintain and store trash.
And, you know, we sent notice of this community meeting on November 1st for a November 14th community meeting.
100 addresses were notified.
Only 10 people showed up.
Again, we don't know the addresses of those individuals.
I only know the addresses of the people who are nearby neighbors who are in support of this project.
But these are the addresses.
And all the people who signed the letter, actually, I don't want to say that.
I know that those are the people who are nearby.
I don't know if they're on the address list, but I would assume, given that they're right next to us, they would fall within the 250-square-foot radius.
Proof of mailing to those addresses, proof of email to the RCOs, as well as relevant parties, our application for appeal that we filed to the ZVA, along with the notice of refusal,
along with the notice of refusal and our project information point,
and our project information point.
our deeds of the property showing that 2035 Silver Street LLC is the owner of the property,
Our DTIP
and our certificate of tax clearance.
The only thing I would say is that it shows a balance for 2023,
but that's not due until the end of the first quarter of the year.
So with that being said, I'm going to unshare my screen.
I'm going to ask that Mr. Silverstein virtually raise his hand so he can adopt my testimony as his own.
and I would be more than happy
to take any questions from the board.
Hi, sir.
Could you state your name
and spell for the court reporter?
I'm sorry, Chair.
There's no hands up at this time.
Mr. Nackamson,
you're an officer of the court.
We'll accept your testimony.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments
from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
High Planning Commission.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and Board Members.
David Fecto, F-E-C-T-E-A-U, with the City Planning Commission.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir, I do.
Proceed.
Thank you, sir.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single-family zoning at this location.
However, there is a documented history of two-family use at this property.
This is consistent with the pattern on this block.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the use variants be granted.
Thank you.
MI 2021-005-233-5018 North 12th Street, I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes.
Thank you. Thank you, counsel. Going to number one, MI 2022-004-354-3701-03 North Broad Street. Michael Phillips is the attorney. We have letters of support Nicetown Tioga Improvement Team.
Mr. Phillips
Chair, Ms. Lacey is coming in as a panel
Okay, sure
Good afternoon, I'll actually be presenting
That's great
Say your name and spell for the court reporter, please
Melanie Lacey, that's M-E-L-A-N-I-E
Last name L-A-C-E-Y
I'm with Claire Harrison Harvey in Brandsburg
That's 1835 Market Street
suite 1400 Philadelphia PA 19103. Do you swear or affirm, tell the truth, the whole truth and
nothing but the truth? I do. Could you identify your client and relationship to the property?
Yes. I'm accompanied by Mihir Wan-Kawala, who is a member of the owner entity,
3701 North Broad LLC. And I'm also accompanied by Alex Robles from Shift Capital. That's the
joint venture partner for this development. And we have architects as well from SGRA, Alexa
Buczynski and Mark Paul. Ismail Shahid, our board secretary, has just a few questions.
Sure. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes. Did you email all of the requirement documents
into the office five days before this hearing? Yes, I did. All right, please proceed and share
your screen. Okay, are you able to see my screen at this time? Yeah, we can. Okay, great. Okay, so
we're here seeking an approval of additions to an existing approved project located at 3701
North Broad Street, which has unanimous community support. It's a courtyard Marriott with a proposed
roof deck. The visitor accommodation use was previously approved, and today we are seeking
three things. First, a special exception for the non-residential use of the proposed accessory
roof deck as a property zone CMX3. We're also seeking a variance relief for a de minimis
increase in the maximum GFA to allow the addition of an elevator shaft and ADA elevator vestibule,
as well as a de minimis reduction of the roof deck minimum setback. So as mentioned, we met
with the Nicetown Tioga Improvement Team on November 15th where the project was well received
and they unanimously voted in favor and submitted this letter of support which I am presenting at
this time. And the site is the historic Beury Building located at 3701 North Broad Street
and it's been vacant for many years, some of you may be familiar, and it's being adaptively reused
as a Courtyard Marriott. So the proposed roof deck is located at the, and these are some
So the proposed roof deck is located at the, and these are some images, street views of the existing building, as well as proposed facade and a neighboring development, which is not subject to this application.
um so the proposed roof deck uh and i'll zoom out so you can see first of all this is um
the site as well as some surrounding developments to give you some context
it's in close proximity to the temple temple campus uh medical campus um on the broad street
corridor. And as mentioned, the proposed roof deck is located on the 12th floor and there are two
existing roof deck access structures which would be expanded. So the first expansion as mentioned
is that proposed ADA elevator festival at the 12th floor. The roof deck itself and you can see
these items highlighted in blue, as well as a second proposed addition to an existing elevator
shaft at the 14th floor, which I'm hovering over. And the cumulative area of these proposed additions
is under 600 square feet of GFA. But since and I'll go to the zoning plan for your reference,
and the zoning data. Since the existing GFA of the building is 116,000 square feet,
116 and three to be specific, the proposed additions would only increase the entire GFA
of the building by approximately half of a percent. So this half of percent is obviously
The modest addition and the refusal is generated because that existing GFA already exceeds
a permitted amount, and so a variance would be required.
Additionally, there's a de minimis variance request for the roof deck setback.
We're proposing two feet, where five feet is required.
I'll go to the rendering for your reference so you can kind of see what I'm describing.
I'll note that there's an existing six-foot parapet wall and a four-foot guardrail behind it, which together ensure safety and allow for city views.
And the special exception request is for the non-residential use of the roof deck within the CMX3 zoning district.
But this is an existing roof deck, and it will be accessory only to the visitor accommodation use.
So here is the floor plan.
Showing the 12th floor and the 14th floor.
And I'll go back to some of the diagrams earlier.
that I kind of went through quickly depicting the proposed areas.
And to conclude, I'd just like to reiterate that the roof deck won't be any more negatively
impactful for the surrounding area than any other roof deck use. It would be used only as a lounge
with limited hours of operation, soft music. It would not be used for a club, and it isn't meant
for large parties or loud music.
The increase in GFA is half of a percent.
And the de minimis reduction of the roof deck setback
is based on the existing footprint of the roof deck
and offset by the parapet and guard rails
that ensure safety.
The project has unanimous community support,
as mentioned, and that pretty much summarizes
my testimony.
Why don't you have one of the owners
adopt your testimony?
Okay, great.
So can you please promote Mihir Wan-Kawala
to the panel?
hi could you state your name and spell for the court reporter please
i'm sorry chair there's no one with their hand up okay
can you click on the raise hand button me here
perfect i have him okay hi could you state your name and spell for the court reporter please
Sure. Mihir Wankawala. Mihir is M-I-H-I-R. Wankawala. W-A-N-K-A-W-A-L-A.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed, counsel.
Great. Mihir, did you hear the testimony that I provided to the board this afternoon?
Do you affirm that my presentation is accurate?
And do you adopt the testimony as your own?
Great. Thank you.
questions from the board no mr chairman no no mr chairman
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, no, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no handshare.
Planning Commission?
Thank you, sir.
David Fecto with the City Planning Commission.
Mr. Chairman and Board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the commercial mixed use zoning at this location.
the applicant has shown that the proposed roof deck will have no more of an impact than a roof
deck would be expected to have and the proposed roof deck setback variants and gross floor area
variants are both minor and will meet the spirit of the zoning code so the city planning commission
recommends that the board grant the special exception for a roof deck and the two requested
variances for roof deck setback and gross floor area. Thank you. MI 2022-004-354-3701-03
North Broad Street, I vote yes. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes. James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes. Thank you, counsel. Thank you. Number two, MI 2022,
004-350-506-South 4th Street.
Matthew Lely is the attorney.
Letter of support, Queen Village Neighbors Association.
Recommendation of non-opposition by Society Hill Civic Association.
Letter of non-opposition from Councilman Squilla.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair.
Matthew Lely, L-E-I-L-I.
All right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Do you identify your client in relationship to the property?
Yes, I represent, for purposes of this hearing, S&S Properties, who is the previous owner and the listed applicant for this application.
And the property was sold while the application was pending.
So we also represent the current owner, Bella 7 LLC.
Okay. Mr. Shahid has just a few questions.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you sent in all of the required documents that are required to move forward in this hearing five days before this hearing?
I have.
All right, thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Okay. So, as I stated, I represent SNS Properties and Bella 7 LLC, who represent the previous owner and the current owner of the property.
We're here today seeking to legalize the current use of the property as a three-household apartment.
um there are no changes to the existing structure proposed this is simply to legalize what is
already there um i'll go through our exhibits quickly uh this we have the tax clearance
certificate um the refusal um the zoning code requires 360 square feet per dwelling unit
whereas for this property only 292 square feet per dwelling unit are provided.
Simply put, the lot size is a little bit too small to house three dwelling units.
We have a letter of support from the Queen Village Neighbors Association.
The RCO really had no negative feedback to provide.
Also from the Society Hill Civic Association.
To get into the property itself, this is a zoning site plan that shows the building on the property.
It occupies the entire property.
And we have floor plans that show each of the individual units.
You can see on the first floor, there's a 506-square-foot apartment. On the second floor, there is a 437-square-foot apartment. And then there's a bi-level apartment on the third and fourth floors.
Excuse me, it's about 697 square feet.
So the issue isn't that the units are too small, it's just that the lot size is too small.
We have pictures that show the apartment as it is right now.
Each unit contains a bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen.
And the units were in these conditions when...
and the units were in these conditions when the previous owner purchased the property
in 1998. So neither the current owner nor the previous owner did anything to cause the
non-conformity. We can see the surrounding neighborhood. The property is in line with
what exists in the neighborhood. There's some single-family houses, some multifamily
properties. We have the orange posters that were displayed at the property.
So as I stated, the property owner did nothing to cause this nonconformity. It was purchased
in this condition in at least 1998 and probably for some time before then.
the physical dimensions of the property and its surroundings have created this hardship
the variance is the least modification possible otherwise it would create an undue hardship to
have the applicant renovate the property to restore it to a two-unit use
the variance will not increase congestion or endanger the public it won't harm the neighbor's
use of the property. It's simply to legalize the existing conditions that were there when
the property was purchased in 1998. With that, I can call the current owners to adopt my
testimony. Phil Harvey and Allison Hindman Harvey, if they could be promoted to panelist.
Hi, Mr. or Mrs. Harvey, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter? We just need one person, whichever one.
My name is Allison Hinman Harvey. It's A-L-L-I-S-O-N-H-I-N-D-M-A-N-H-A-R-V-E-Y.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you.
Ms. Harvey, did you hear my statements this afternoon?
yes are they true and correct the best of your knowledge so that's my knowledge yes and do you
adopt them as your own testimony yes okay questions from the board no mr chairman no mr chairman no
mr chairman questions or comments from the virtual audience i see no handshare planning commission
thank you sir good afternoon david fecto with the city planning commission
Mr. Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential multifamily zoning at this location.
This appears to be a legalization of an existing triplex.
The third unit appears to have been built without benefit of permits through no fault of the applicant.
The City Planning Commission recommends the board grant the variance for a third dwelling unit.
Thank you. MI 2022, 004-350-506, South 4th Street, I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Jane Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
Number three, MI 2022-004-246-4913 Haverford Avenue.
Alan Notkinson is the attorney.
we are waiting on a letter from the rco mill creek advisory council
mr chair this is hillary um we did receive a letter from mill creek advisory council and it
is a letter of non-opposition thank you mr knockamson you've already been sworn just state
Yes, Alan Nockamson, A-L-A-N, last name Nockamson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-1.
Mr. Nockamson, can you identify the owner of the property in the relationship?
Yes, 4913 Heverford Avenue.
The owner is City Land Development LLC, and in the virtual audience should be Ghazi Onesette.
Mr. Shaheed has a few questions.
Did you waive the reading? Would you like to waive the reading of the
refusal and stipulate to a taxi? Yes, I would.
Did you email all the required documents five days prior to this hearing?
Yes, I did. Please proceed to share the screen.
So I'm here to present 4913 Aberford Avenue.
All right, so I'm here to present 4913 Agreferred
In our presentation packet, you'll see we'll first review the notice of refusal, then the correspondence from the Mill Creek Advisory Council.
I think I heard when I was venturing into becoming a panelist, I heard that Miss Emerson did indicate that this board has received a letter of non-opposition.
that is my packet we just received it today and we provided revised presentation a revised
presentation packet accordingly um as part of our ability to get a letters of non-opposition
we agreed uh to revise plans um we're actually eliminating one of the refusals the mitchell
refusals so we're in between two two-story homes and we're setting we agreed to set back
eight feet on the third story to eliminate that refusal. But they overwhelmingly then supported
our project based on that concession. Nearby recently granted multifamily variances. I mean,
that's the heart of our matter. This is an RSA 5 property, one in name only. We're across the
street from a big commercial building. And this property has been vacant for some time.
And it's not uncommon for this board and this community to support multifamily dwellings on RSA 5 properties under those circumstances.
Then we'll review maps in the area, photographs of the property in the surrounding area, our plans and drawings, our RCO meeting notice, our application for appeal, our deeds of property, showing that City Land Development LLC is the owner of that property, and our Certificate of Tax Clearance.
Again, in the virtual audience, we have Ghazi Ida7, who at the conclusion of my presentation will virtually raise his hand, be sworn in, and he'll adopt my testimony as his own.
We also have Christopher Johnson of 24-7 Design, if there are any technical issues or questions the board may have.
First things first is our notice of refusal.
So this is an RSA 5 property, and we have three refusals for this proposed two-family dwelling.
The first is the one that we're eliminating, where we're between two two-story dwellings, and where we were originally asking to go straight up on the third story.
at the request of the community.
They asked us to set back AP,
which we agreed to,
and we have revised drawings
with a proviso form as well.
So if the board's still inclined
to grant this variance request,
we would ask that they were granted
with proviso revised plans,
with revised plans.
The second refusal has to do
with the fact that we're asking
for two-family dwelling on RSA 5 lots.
Again, not out of character
to what the board has previously granted
and recently granted in this neighborhood.
And then the third refusal has to do
with the maximum occupied area.
We're asking for a de minimis variance
under those circumstances.
Whether this was an RSA 5 property
that was being used as single family
or as a duplex,
we would ask for that same type of request
just because we're trying to have
of functional floor plan here, and given the width of the lot and the length of the lot,
it makes sense to allow us, under the circumstances, to vary under the Philadelphia zone of the
code. Our correspondence from the Mill Creek Advisory Council, as they indicated, they are
in non-opposition to this project. And then our revised plans, again, we're adding a front
eight-foot setback to the third story to eliminate that refusal. And then this is our revised plan
one page showing that as well. And then recently granted zoning variances in this neighborhood
under similar circumstances, 4801 Fairmont Avenue, this board has approved, 5024 Ray Street,
this board has approved. And then maps of the area, as you can see, we have a kind of funky
intersection here of haverford fairmont and 49th street uh and we're not that far from commercial
corridor so density always helps uh support those commercial quarters like this uh and as you can
see here uh where we're in the neighborhood again we're across the street from chop so we're at the
the beginning of a residential neighborhood typically from a city planning perspective
When you have a big commercial structure like that, you typically don't have single family use, especially when you're out on the street on Haverford Avenue, you're near Fairmont Avenue. Typically, again, to help support some of these commercial borders, you would have.
So typically, again, to help support some of these commercial borders, you would have density from a city-wide perspective.
For the rest of the property, so again, we're between two two-story structures.
This property has been vacant for at least the last 15 years, probably a lot more.
We did meet the neighbors to left and right of us.
Well, actually, I think just the right of us.
We don't have a letter of support from them, but they were supportive of this project as well, which was another reason why the community group actually wrote the letter of non-opposition.
In addition to the proviso requiring us to be set back eight feet on the third story, they also wanted input from the neighboring property owners.
So after we met with those property owners and gave input from them, they sent that letter of non-opposition.
But they're supportive of that.
And then our zoning hearing notice poster, proof of posting, if it says hearing, Haverford Avenue to the right of the property, Haverford Avenue to the left of the property.
Again, you can see we're on the outskirts from this picture, both pictures of this is the commercial aspect.
Here's the beginning of the residential aspect.
Our plans and drawings, again, that's our site plan.
And we try to really replicate as much as possible the traditional Philadelphia brick facades.
We're set back on the third story at the request of the community.
But very simply, you walk in the front door.
There's a shared area, vestibule area.
It turns to the right.
It's unit number one.
That's a bi-level.
Go up a flight of steps.
That's unit number two.
That's a bi-level.
Unit number one, the lower level unit, has access to the rear yard.
Unit number two, for trash storage.
Unit number two has a ventilated trash faucet.
Both have garbage compactors, again, trying to be responsible about trash storage and then removal.
Our meeting was held on November 29th at 6.30 p.m.
It was an in-person meeting.
81 addresses were notified at this meeting list of the addresses proof of mailing to those addresses
our application for appeal that we filed with the zba along with the notice of refusal and project
information form our deeds of property uh showing that city land development llc is the owner of the
property and our certificate of tax clearance again indicating that there's a balance due for
2023 only. Again, those taxes are not due
until essentially the first quarter of the year of 2023. With that
being said, I'm going to share my screen. I'm going to ask that Mr. Addison
virtually raises his hand.
Hi, could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Chair, no one by that last name
raised a hand. However, Mr. Lange raised a hand. Do you want to hear from him? Sure, let's see if
he's involved in the case. Sir, please unmute yourself.
Why could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Mr. Lange, could you please unmute yourself? It was hit by mistake. Okay, thank you.
um i'll check the audience chair there's no one with the last name okay thank you so mr
knockam senior and also the court will accept your testimony thank you could you tell me what
the area looks like relative to multiple family dwellings uh yeah i mean there are multiple family
drawings like um nearby again there are two variances at 5024 ray street and 4801 fairmont
Avenue. So if you, and I can go back on the map. No, no, that's fine. We intersect with Fairmont
Avenue. We're right behind it. Okay. Questions from the board? No, Mr. Chairman. No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no handshare. Planning Commission. Good afternoon. David Vecto, City Planning Commission.
Mr. Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single-family zoning at this location.
This is a primarily single-family block.
The zoning archive shows one duplex amongst single-family homes on this block face.
There is no unique physical condition of this 978-square-foot plot that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the board deny the proposed use variance.
MI 2022-004246-4913 in Haverford, I vote yes. Revised plans, one-paged, stamped by ZBA, December 14, 2022.
MI-2022.
0 0 4 2 4
Thomas Holloman, my vote is no.
James Snell, yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shahid, yes with proviso.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
Here we go.
Case number five, MI 2022, 004259, 5427 Market Street.
Henry Clint is the attorney.
Letter of support from Achieve Ability.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
Hi. Could you just state your name, Mr. Clinton? You've already been sworn.
Sure. Henry Clinton, C-L-I-N-T-O-N.
Mr. Clinton, could you identify your client and their relationship to the property?
Sure. My client is Amir Levy, A-M-I-R-L-E-V-I, and he is the principal of the applicant, LLC.
All right. Our board secretary, Mr. Shahid, has a few questions.
good afternoon council do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy yes i do do you send in all the required documents five days prior to this hearing yes we
have thank you please proceed and share your screen thank you mr sheen
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Henry Clinton for ANM Investment, Inc., principal of which is Amir Levy, A-M-I-R, L-U-V-I, who
is on the call with me.
This is my presentation package, which contains exhibits, table of contents, AA through A11,
which I ask to be admitted into the record.
Chief document is the refusal. This is a long vacant lot at the corner of Market Street and
Conestoga Street in the shadow of the L that runs above on Market Street. It's across from a cemetery
and it's zoned CMX2. This block on this side of the street, which is the north side as well as
the south side of the street on the other side of the L, is primarily residential.
The refusals concern use, basically, indicating that if you have a CMX designation, that the first 30 feet of the building depth be commercial and the rest can be residential.
That's really the chief refusal, even though there's another one concerning the size of the various units.
Our request is that the commercial unit, which would typically be on the first floor, be exchanged in return for a residential unit because the block is mainly residential.
The commercial corridor is at 52nd Street and 60th Street and or other vacant commercial properties between that stretch of blocks.
We have overwhelming support from Achievability, which is the designated RCO. In fact, I wanted to just read one sentence on behalf of the RCO, basically indicating that the development team has made great strides to meet the needs of the community by designing a building that reflects the overall culture
and tradition of the neighborhood and that culture being residential as well as a there was a desire
to have a front porch on this property so whoever inhabits the property can interact with the
neighborhood. The letter goes on to state that the developer has gone above and beyond in attempting
to meet the needs of the neighbors and the majority portion of the residents supported the project
because this is a welcome change to the neighborhood and they believe that the apartment
building would bring a positive change to the area these are photographs uh the property is right
here mr chairman again this is market street you can see the tracks of the l conestoga street
running north and south a cemetery across the street uh when i show you the next photo you'll
see a building here which has been cinched up henry henry hold on a minute thomas go ahead
yeah can you move it up so we see
i think he wants you to make it a little wider henry
I think you want you to make it a little wider, Henry.
Is that better, Ms. Holloman?
Yes, sir.
Thank you, sir.
So this is the vacant lot.
It's more the size of a residential lot.
It's not overly large, but it is on the corner, which would provide three one-bedroom apartments
and ample space for every inhabitant.
This is looking north on Conestoga Street.
This is the cemetery across the street.
This building is not here.
It's been demolished.
This is looking across the street, just to show you the residential nature of the homes
across the street.
There is one commercial building.
And one thing I failed to point out, Mr. Chairman, in this photograph is, this is east direction.
You can see that they're all residential properties on this particular block of the 5400 block of Market Street.
So I was endeavoring to show that it is a residential character block.
Zoning notice, these are the plans.
This is a rendering of the structure, three stories, bay on front and back, the porch,
which was important to the neighbors on the block because each of them had porches on
Conestoga Street, and they were really the neighbors that did come out and voice some
support for the project and had some input on the design. I mean, the design was a
provided to the community group, and they basically endorsed the design.
It's pretty straightforward. Basement will contain utilities. We have no issues with the
rear yard. It's an ample rear yard. No issues with height. There's going to be one bedroom
on the first floor. One bedroom on the first floor here, excuse me. One bedroom on the first
floor. And then the second and third floor have mirror images of floor plan. One bedroom, which
will be in the rear of the property and no rooftop deck.
This is the elevations.
Again, a lot of brick on the side and the front
as I showed you initially
in keeping with the context of the block
and the brick that's exhibited on other properties.
So in conclusion, and by the way,
I do have the architect Ray Rollo on the line too,
Mr. Chairman, if there's any questions
that need to be directed his way.
But in conclusion, this project is really not affecting any development of any adjacent property.
It doesn't affect the lighter air of any adjacent property because any shadow that it casts will be cast on the cemetery, which is vacant to the west.
It is on a residential strip on a 5400 block of Market Street with the commercial corridor being on 52nd Street and 60th Street.
It is generally in harmony with the code.
I understand also there's going to be a remapping of this area to CMX3.
And if that were the case, this would be a by-right project.
And I believe it's in harmony with what the neighborhood wants because of the overwhelming support.
With that, I would rest, entertain any questions, and ask my client to adopt my testimony.
Henry, the remainder of the area, is there other multiple family units?
I mean, I know this is on the corner, so I understand it.
But they're on market, are there other multiple family units?
There are. I wasn't really able to find any from the zoning code, but when you walk up and down the block and look at the mailboxes, there are.
Okay. Thank you. Could you bring one, Your Honor, please?
Mr. Levy, can you unmute yourself?
Could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter?
Amir Levy.
A-M-I-R
last name L-E-V-I
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Mr. Levy were you on the call
when I made the presentation for your project
and if you had the opportunity
to testify would you adopt my testimony
as your own and as true and correct
thank you Mr. Levy
questions from the board
on Marcus Street next door to the to the proposed building is that a no that
is a that's residential mr. Hoffman on the first floor next door yeah the front
uh on the first floor next door yeah the front uh apparently at one time was commercial but
uh it's basically living quarters there's no retail or any other uh business operated out of
that but the other side of the street is considered it's still zone mixed use though right correct
okay and the other side of the street has one one store you said
could be up at the corner right at the corner yeah okay all right um
question other questions from the board
questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no issue planning commission thank you sir good afternoon david fecto with the city
Planning Commission. Mr. Chairman and members of the board, the comprehensive plan recommends a
change in the zoning at this location to commercial mixed use 3. Under the proposed zoning, ground
floor commercial space would be allowed but not required. The City Planning Commission recommends
that the board grant the use of variants for not including commercial space. Thank you. MI 2022
004259
5427 Market Street
I vote yes. Thomas Holloman
my vote is yes.
my vote is yes.
Thank you Henry.
Have a great afternoon everyone.
Number six
MI 2022
004358
742 South A Street. Matthew Lely is Lely is the attorney.
Hello again, Mr. Chairman. So Matthew, what we'd like to do is if we can,
would you present for six and eight at the same time? Absolutely. So what we're going to do at
this time is add to this presentation number eight, MI 2022-004-581-919A Street,
letter of non-opposition from Bella Vista Neighbors, letter of non-opposition from Councilman
Squilla, and I believe for both cases, it's the same support, non-opposition. So number one,
to identify your owner again in the relationship to the properties. Sure. As with my previous case,
I represent both the previous owner, S&S Properties, and who is the listed applicant,
and the current owner, Bella 7 LLC. Right. And our board secretary, Ismail Shahid, has a few
questions. Good afternoon, Counselor. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate
to its accuracy? I do with the explanation that for 742 South 8th Street, the refusal lists
a request for four dwelling units, whereas we are actually requesting three, and a provisal form has
been submitted specifying that. Okay, thank you. Did you send in all the required documents five
days in advance to this hearing? I have. Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen. Thank you.
i believe we do have mr chair yeah mr chair this is hillary uh just a quick note um while we can
hear them together we will want to vote them separately because there is a request for
proviso on number six thank you okay thank you um as stated i represent both previous and current
owners of both properties 742 south 8th street and 919 south 8th street both of these properties
are here to seek legalization of their existing uses. Both require a variance for their unit count.
I'll start with 742 South 8th Street. The tax clearance certificate has been submitted.
I will go to the Notice of Refusal for 742 South 8th Street.
The refusal is for, again, the refusal lists that we're seeking for dwelling units.
That should read for three dwelling units.
Again, the provisal form has been submitted for that.
For three dwelling units, the zoning code would require 1,080 square feet of lot area.
or I'm sorry, for three dwelling units, that's correct, 10,000, 1080 square feet. This lot only has 1,054.
1080 square feet. This lot only has 1054 square feet, which brings us about 26 square feet
under what is required by the zoning code. We have a letter of non-opposition from the
Bella Vista Neighbors Association. The proviso form is also provided as stated. This shows the site
plan for 742 South 8th Street. Again, it occupies the entire lot, the four-story building.
The first floor contains one unit that is 627 square feet, which is, yeah, the second floor
contains a unit that's 639 square feet, and then the third and fourth floor contain a bi-level unit
that's 653 square feet again it's not that the apartments are too small or anything it's just
that the lot area is slightly too small this shows the front door again of 742 south 8th street
some pictures of the unit every unit has its own kitchen its own bedroom its own bathroom
again this building was in this condition when it was purchased in 1998 by the previous owner
this shows some of the surrounding there is a larger multi-family apartment building
next to the or a couple doors down from this property there's a commercial restaurant on
the other side of the property that you can see there it's in the Bella Vista neighborhood which
of course has a good mix of single family and multi-family housing and commercial spaces
the orange posters were posted um we did like i said meet with the bella vista rco and they
uh voted to support the project there were really were no issues with this variance request
And with that, I will move on to 919 South 8th Street.
So 919 South 8th Street. Again, we have the tax clearance.
We have the refusal.
This refusal is for a four unit building where two is allowed by the zoning code for four units.
Yes, the lot would have to be 1,440 square feet to comply with the zoning code, whereas our lot is 953 square feet.
We did meet twice with the Bella Vista Neighbors Association.
With the first meeting, we learned that there were some trash issues with the property.
it appears that during the turnover in ownership there was some confusion among the tenants or
essentially the neighbors brought it to our attention that there was trash left outside
the building you know we don't know whether this was neighbors dumping outside the building or
whether it's tenants who have it's been the same tenants in the building since before the new
management company took over. But the current owners took this situation very seriously. They
developed a trash plan. They've informed all the tenants that trash is not to go out until
after 7 p.m. the night before collection day. They've informed tenants that any trash violations
by L&I would be, it would go to the tenants themselves. They've been, they've hired, or they
have an in-house maintenance person who has been driving by the property to make sure that no trash
is being left out and who is removing any trash that is outside. And we have entered into a
neighbors agreement with the next door property owner to memorialize the trash plan. We went back
to the Bella Vista's Neighbors Association to share the plan and to update the community.
At that meeting, the neighbors, it was the same neighbors came back. They reported that the trash
issue has been much improved, that there really hasn't been any trash left outside the property
since the previous meeting, and they did vote unanimously to support our variance request.
Excuse me.
Matthew, could you cover for me that there was four units in this building since the 90s, too?
Could you cover that?
That's correct.
This building as well had four units when it was purchased.
This building was purchased by the previous owner in 2003, and when it was purchased,
And when it was purchased, it was in exactly the same form that it is now.
it was in exactly the same form that it is now.
obviously some
Obviously, some minor cosmetic work, but nothing structural to change the unit counts.
We can go to the floor plans.
You can see this is the condition that the property was in when it was purchased.
It's the condition that the property is in now and the condition that it will stay in.
The first floor has two units.
um the second floor has has two bi-level units
excuse me leading to a total of four units again these units the bi-level units are very generous
sizes above a thousand square feet the first floor units are a little smaller there's a studio
that's 368 square feet and another one bedroom that's 525 square feet as with all the other
properties. Each unit has its own bedroom, its own bathroom, its own kitchen. These were the
conditions that the property was in when it was purchased. But we see a photo of this. I don't
think we saw a photo of this yet. Yeah, I'm sorry about that. Let's scroll through.
Okay, so we have the first four units here.
there was some packing and moving during the time the pictures were taken so some of them are
a little messy but they're well cared for um the tenants have
been in the building for some time there's not a lot of turnover among the tenants
this is a built picture of the outside of the property on the corner here okay it does reach
back to the second doorway one of the units on the first floor does have its own separate entrance
actually i believe it's the front unit that has its own separate entrance and the
entrance for the other three units are in this door on the side here okay
just another view this is again it's the same door and some view of the surrounding properties
again it's a mix of single family and multi-family why don't we have your testimony adopted and why
don't we if you would bring Allison in she's already been sworn if I remember correctly right
yes Allison Hinman Harvey if you can please raise your hand
yes Allison just for the record state your name Allison Hinman Harvey do you know his thought
that's fine and counsel could you have her refer to both properties yes Allison did you hear my
statements about 742 South 8th Street and 919 South 8th Street? Yes. Are the statements true
and correct regarding both properties? Yes. And do you adopt them as your own testimony? Yes.
Thank you. So questions from the board for both properties? No, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman.
Anyone in the virtual audience with questions on both properties?
chair we have harry cook okay hi mr chairman harry could you state your name and spell for
the court reporter please sure harry cook h-a-r-r-y c-o-o-k anastasio law right you
swear affirm tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do sir proceed uh thank
you mr chair i just want to um uh confirm the representations regarding the near neighbor
agreement that an applicant entered into with my clients, Greg Elliott and Erica
who are the owners of 921 South 18th Street, and would like to be able to submit that,
supplement the record with the executed agreement upon all counterparts being in receipt.
Hillary, is that okay?
um i i think that if if um mr liley is okay with that um then i think we can be okay with that
okay yes my clients have signed it and we're awaiting mr cook's clients my clients do not
my clients are not in opposition as a result and they are here if you want them on the record
no we're fine we're fine we don't need them on the record but thank you mr cook thank you thank
you, sir. Anyone else in the virtual audience? I see no issue. Planning Commission, could you
look at both properties for us, please? Absolutely, sir. Thank you. David Fecto,
City Planning Commission. Mr. Chairman, I'm going to give you slightly different testimony for each
one since the application is different. Okay. So for 742 South 8th Street, the comprehensive plan
recommends no change to the residential multifamily zoning at this location.
The dimensional variance required for the third dwelling unit is minor.
the dimensional variance required for the third dwelling unit is minor granting the variance would
Granting the variance would be
meet the spirit of the zoning code and so the city planning commission recommends the board grant the
variance for the third unit thank you so for 919 south 8th street the comprehensive plan recommends
no change to the residential multi-family zoning at this location in 1991 the zoning board granted
a variance for a third dwelling unit the the fourth unit appears to have been built without benefit of
permits through no fault of the applicant. The City Planning Commission recommends the board
grant the dimensional variance. Thank you very much. Thank you. So number six, I'll do first,
MI 2022, 004-358-742 South A Street. I vote yes with proviso, maximum three units.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with proviso. James Snell, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes for Proviso.
Thank you.
And number eight, MI 2022-004-581-919 South A Street, I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, I vote yes.
James Snell, I vote yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And thank you, counsel.
Number seven, MI-2022-001-810, 2036-38 South 3rd Street.
Jared Klein is the attorney.
Letter of opposition from Pennsport Civic Association and letter of opposition from Council Member Squilla.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the board.
Jared Klein, J-A-R-E-D-K-L-E-I-N, from Bindrome, 130 North 18th Street, Philadelphia.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you identify your client in a relationship to the property?
Certainly.
My client is the Penn Sports School of Dance, and they are the tenant at 2036 South 3rd Street.
Our board secretary, Ishmael Shahid, has a few questions.
Certainly.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Did you email all the required documents within five days of this hearing?
Yes, I did.
Thank you. Please proceed to share your screen.
Thank you very much.
Okay, so we're here for 2036 to 38 South 3rd Street, which is the current home of the Penn Sports School of Dance.
And this application is really a legalization application because my client has occupied the premises as we're operating in there since the middle of last year.
My client saw that the property had a history of commercial zoning and believed that his use would fit right in with the zoning that was at the site previously.
Unfortunately, the dance school is a different zoning category than the commercial that had been there before, personal services versus retail.
So he was unaware that this use required a variance.
And so we're here going through the process to legalize the school of dance that has been there.
We have a single refusal for the personal services that are not permitted in the RSA 5 Zoning District.
To orient the board, this is our property here, surrounded by a variety of uses at this corner.
This is the structure. There's a church across the street.
There's some commercial uses here, commercial uses here, and then residential as it goes into the neighborhoods and elsewhere along 3rd Street.
give the board a sense of what the area looks like at this corner. These are photos from the
various corners that were just reflected in that aerial view you saw a few moments ago.
And photos of the zoning notices that were posted in the window of the property.
We don't have floor plans because there's no changes to the interior of the space that are
being proposed. But we do have some photos of what the space looks like. As the name would
suggest, it is a dance studio. It has an open floor plan with mirrors and typical rails that
you see along them. And it operates as a dance instruction and dance studio.
These are photos just taken of different angles to give the board a sense of the space.
uh from what we've heard from the community there are many people who uh utilize the space
who live in the immediate area um and and generally have a positive experience with
with the school um the biggest challenge that we encountered and particularly
And the biggest challenge that we encountered, particularly through conversation at the RCO meeting, are the immediately adjacent neighbors next to us on Third Street who had some concern about the noise that was generated from the property.
As the name suggests, a school of dance, they do play music and they do have evening classes.
And the concern from those near neighbors was the noise that was coming through.
We took those concerns seriously. My clients have been talking to the near neighbors before I got involved while they were operating the School of Dance and then after the zoning committee meeting.
And they did a number of things to try and mitigate the noise issues.
And these photos that I'm showing you, which my client will be able to speak more about when he testifies, are the installation of an additional wall to provide sound attenuation for the property.
This is not a structural wall. It's not a framing wall for a room.
It's really just an additional wall that's going to go up against the party wall to try and prevent noise from coming through.
Also, as you can see, additional insulation was installed along that wall, again, to try and alleviate these noise concerns.
As I mentioned, the property had a history of commercial use.
This is a zoning permit, I believe, from 1963 that's showing a retail synthetic and dry cleaning business was occupying it there.
The last prior use was a restaurant, and our understanding is the property has been in some form of commercial use since that time.
These are some of the products that my client installed to try and attenuate the noise.
This is specifically fire and soundproof insulation.
that was shown on the photo, and they used a specific form of drywall that is supposed to
have additional sound attenuation. Important for the board to understand, we took the noise
concerns that the neighbors had very seriously, and Air Management Services has been out a number
of times to look at the property and see what was going on in terms of noise. We have several reports
from air management services that are within the packet that we submitted to the board.
And as you can see, there were no violations observed during a visit in September of 22.
There were no violations observed in October 11th of 22.
This one was the inspector arrived while class was in progress, and they did not hear music
or noise from outside the facility on Third Street or Snyder Avenue.
This is now September of 22.
Again, no violation observed.
And then this final one, again, October of 22, no violation was observed.
This one, the studio was not open when air management services arrived.
I include all these just to give the board a sense that although you'll likely hear from your neighbors that have an issue with the sound,
And we've done everything we can do to try and attenuate that, including having the city's air management service come out and specifically look for noise.
So we think that we've done as much as we can do to abate that concern.
Looking at the Civic Association's letter, which I'm sure you received, their position of opposition is really based solely on the noise issues.
um they they acknowledge it's been used previously as a commercial storefront
uh and that there was a petition that we provided that was signed by many people
uh but that the rco was really focused on the couple who lives immediately next door
and was having noise concerns um so they wrote a lengthy letter i'm sure that the board can can
read it um but that that was the long and short of it uh that we and you know i told the rco about
the various soundproofing efforts that we made. They were aware that air management services came
out. They note in their letter that they were aware that air management services came out,
but without more information and without the near neighbors acknowledging that the sound was
abated, the RCO could not change their position. As you can see, again, they conclude that they
are compelled. They do acknowledge the good faith efforts to address the concerns.
And so we're really, what I'm saying is doing the best we can to address the concerns, but we understand that the RCO is still in opposition based on the concerns of those mere neighbors.
With that, I'd like to ask Robert Thiel to raise his virtual hand.
I'm going to ask him to adopt my testimony and also share some brief additional context for the board.
I'm going to ask him to adopt my testimony and also share some brief additional context for the board.
Mr. Thiel, please unmute yourself.
Could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Sure. Robert Thiel, R-O-B-E-R-T-T-H-E-I-L.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Robert, did you have a chance to hear my presentation this afternoon?
Do you adopt my statements as true, correct, and your own if you've been given the opportunity to more fully testify?
Thank you.
Can you very briefly just describe for the board the sound attenuation efforts you made at the property?
We consulted with a couple.
I work in the housing industry.
My company does senior housing.
And so I consulted with contractors that we use for materials and how to kind of build that wall so that it would have a better impact on getting rid of that sound from transmitting through.
So even to the point that you can't tell from the picture, but the wall is actually stepped off two inches to allow for some air.
As we understand it, air is another great insulator as well.
And all the products we use are above the standard products that you would use for any of these activities.
The sheet, the insulation is called safe and sound.
so it absorbs all that down there's also a fiery tone as well as well as the sheetrock again above
and beyond what typical costs it's four times they call it a typical drywall it's three times heavier
so we took everything we could possibly do to kind of help mitigate the sound we bought sound
loose acoustic caulk as well caulked around all the seams caulked around every joint from the floor
all the way up to the ceiling in between the joices our our structure is only one story the
The next door is two, so we kind of went all the way up to the roof in between the jury
cities, talking on every joist, talking on everywhere where there's an open spot, talked
over every scene, went through.
It was a long while to do that, too, because we had to pull some down.
We actually had to buy new mirrors because the old mirrors were going to come off, so
it was of no minor cause to kind of take this on, and we accept responsibility for that
and take the complaint seriously with the neighbor, and we continue to do that.
Every time there is a complaint, we acknowledge it and make adjustments that we're continuing
to do that and the last thing we want is to have the neighbor that does not want us here we've been
in the area for 35 years we have 200 kids in our school right now every year we have an annual show
we do we do toy drives we do 10 good drives we do a lot of good in this neighborhood and as you
can see penn's boarding knowledge is that in the letter as well we had a petition signed by a ton
of people and it was we tried to keep it local but so many of our parents who was kids with a
walking distance but they don't live on third or slatter avenue wanted to sign it too because they
supported as well so um we're trying to do everything we can we will continue to take steps
to do that um in the new year we were even discussing pulling down the drop ceiling and
putting that soundproof insulation in the ceiling as well to try to help again further mitigate and
help lessen any kind of disturbance that would happen but we always respond we always make
adjustments we always do we have to do to kind of help mitigate that sound and bob uh how long
long has the Penn Sports School of Dance been in business? Over 39 years. 39 years. And have you
had any issues with neighbor concerns or noise issues prior to this? Never. And I know Penn
Sports letter makes, we just moved here a year and a half ago because our previous building,
which is three blocks north, was sold. And Penn Sports makes reference in their letter that it
was a freestanding building. It wasn't. It was just like this. One side of our building was up
against the neighbor and we never had any issues and they're still living they didn't honestly
they don't want us to leave because they liked having the kids around they liked having that
occupied um studio there so okay thank you uh mr chair we don't have anything else but
let me mr klein um if you know did air management offer their services to the to the neighbors
they did their house and try to they they they did mr chair to my understanding the neighbors
have declined to give air management services
access to their home.
All right, thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
All right, questions or comments
from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Sorry, Chair.
We got a few that just popped up.
Sure, okay, fine.
We're gonna go to Richard, last name ending in C.
Hi, sir. Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Richard?
Richard?
I'm sorry.
What's your last name?
NNNC. Please unmute yourself.
Okay, we can move on to Stephanie if you'd like, Chair.
Okay, please. Let's Stephanie.
Stephanie, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Stephanie, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Sure. Stephanie, S-C-E-P-H-A-N-I-E, coin, C-O-Y-N-A.
Stephanie.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
I am the neighbor. I am the neighbor that's attached to the wall.
Okay. All right. I just wanted to say, please proceed.
Okay. So I'm actually here with Richard, who is my spouse.
house. We know that they have tried to do things, but the things that they have done
have only amplified the noise. It's nightly. It's six days a week, sometimes seven, because
they outsource the building to other people. It's been a year and a half. It's just been
20 years. It's been 20 years we've been in this home. All the previous businesses were
no noise no issues no complaints uh this has been since day one with this with this place um
it's just and we have not declined air management air management has told us numerous times that
they will not come in the house to do the testing due to covid and whatever other reasons they have
provided um when they test the testing you don't hear it outside you hear it in in my home so when
they stand outside the outside on the opposite street they don't they're not going to hear
anything it's specifically in my home not the noises the whole it's not just in one room it's
upstairs downstairs the basement so that's our issue okay all right so so let me answer this
you're saying that all that work that i i saw pictures of did no good it did no good it amplified
it amplified the noise and they there's jumping from the classes that shakes the home
i mean it's it's a lot a lot of issues okay and we don't even know who like that we don't know
if they got a qualified person to do the work if there was permits if there was anything so which
just right i know i'm just saying i we saw a lot on the on the uh on the pictures of what looked
to me to be things that would lessen the noise right they only did one wall the wall that's
attached to our house so it amplified all the rest of the building and and our home
all right mr chairman mr chairman yes yes sir i have a question have the owner have the owner ever
got a sound report
for their property?
A private agency?
Like a home
inspection? The city did it,
Thomas.
She said the city didn't do it, I think.
Well, she's saying the city
didn't want to come to hers, but I'm saying
the city was in the other property.
Oh, her property. Okay. Thank you.
Yeah, so I do have to make
not calls, text
mostly every night to ask them to turn the music down so it's it's been an ongoing
ongoing do they turn it down you ask um not all the time sometimes not all the time okay
all right thank thank you for calling in thank you for your your comments all right thank you
is there anyone else in the virtual audience yes chair we have patrick last name ending in f right
good afternoon hi mr fitz march could you do me a favor could you spell your name for the
court reporter please sure uh patrick p-a-t-r-i-c-k fitz maurice f-i-t-z-m-a-u-r-i-c-e
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
And you're the head of the community group?
Prasheed?
Well, as you just noted, I'm the president of the Penn School Civic Association.
As Jared mentioned, the Civic Association submitted a pretty lengthy letter regarding this application detailing the history and our understanding of the facts.
I didn't want to reiterate the entire letter because it's so long, but I did want to note a few things in response to what's already been said today.
Before starting, I just wanted to acknowledge what Mr. Thiel said about the prior building being freestanding.
I apologize for our misstatement.
He is correct that on one side, this did border one neighbor, and we were thinking that it was an alleyway.
So I apologize for that misstatement, and Mr. Thiel is correct.
Counsel pointed out that the school has operated since last year and denoted this with a legalization.
but i just want to note as you just heard the neighbor's been complaining since last year
so i don't want to just have this be viewed as a approving of prior accepted use
as council also noted this building was more a commercial storefront for a pharmacy a party
store and a dry cleaner not a dance studio and like i said i do want to note the strong contributions
And like I said, I do want to note the strong contributions that the dance school has made, not just the Penn Sports, to the entire South Philadelphia community, but we really were limited by this being a zoning issue about whether this building is an appropriate use.
as again council noted we were kind of limited without a qualified expert professional opinion
we had numerous questions about the sound being created the vibrations being created which were
an issue that were mentioned by the neighbor at our rco meeting the appropriateness of the efforts
made and the resulting sound and vibration that exists today we know that the applicant met with
people to discuss what efforts should be made but we don't have an independent expert to for
the civic association to review so that's kind of what led us in our opinion um with regard to air
management services from our perspective the inability of air management to test inside
the house is not fatal to the neighbor's opposition as we noted in our letter the
burden is on the applicant and not the opponent the air management inspections that were performed
were for all from outside i think anybody who lives in a row home knows there's a difference
between what could be heard outside and what could be heard through a party wall
um i'm not aware nor is the civic association of what hardship exists for this parcel which
i believe is the standard for this application um and finally unlike many applications that
the rco meets discussed this isn't a situation where an opponent was prospectively seeking a
variance and the opponents were presenting hypothetical concerns we were presented with
issues being experienced contemporaneously with our rco meeting today you have the sworn
non-speculative testimony by the impact of neighbor to our knowledge there is no argument refuting
that testimony. Unfortunately, it appears that the efforts made by the dance school to address
the efforts, the neighbors' concerns have failed. So like council said, we were kind of compelled to
our determination. I appreciate the opportunity to speak today. Thank you. One quick question.
In your experience, I mean, air management said they did not see violations. Did you go over there
and listen are are you asking me mr chair or mr patrick no no i'm talking to the head of the
civic association one one night i did go over um and did you think it was real loud
from outside i stood in between i stood directly between the dance school and the neighbor um i
could infrequently hear some of the music coming from inside the dance school but um in my opinion
compared to the
ambient noise from
traffic on Snyder Avenue in 95
from outside.
You didn't hear it.
I couldn't really register the music.
All right.
Thank you. I appreciate it.
Anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair.
We have Robert Thiel.
oh is that your client it is it is but i'm not sure if he if he had something else he wanted to add
well he's unmuted i don't know i'm sorry
all right we offered it i'm sorry chair okay fine is there anyone else in the virtual audience
we have one more person sure richard last name ending in c please unmute yourself well that's
the husband of the the wife i believe so mr chair yeah richard
richard
please unmute yourself sir
okay chair they're both muted okay thank you is there is there anyone else in the virtual audience
sir mr richard last name ending with c you're already allowed to talk you have to unmute yourself
he just put his hand up that's what i'm saying this year okay richard
all right i'll take note we did take testimony from his wife there are no other hands here okay
planning commission good afternoon mr chairman and board members david fechta with the city
planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the commercial mixed
use one given the current configuration of the building requiring it to be used as a dwelling
unit would pose a hardship however the applicant has not shown that the property cannot be used
for other uses allowed by right under the current zoning so the city planning commission recommends
the board deny the use of permits um i'll thank everyone for their testimony mi 2022 001
I'll thank everyone for their testimony.
MI 2022-001-810-2036-38 South 3rd Street.
I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Shemel Shahid, my vote is no.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you, Mr.
H Street. Number 10. MI 2022-004-245-1533 North Lawrence Street.
Alan Notkinson is the attorney. Letter of support from Old Kensington Neighborhood Association.
Letter of non-opposition from Council Member Lozada.
Mr. Nockamson is coming back in as a panelist.
Good afternoon, Alan Nockamson, A-L-A-N, last name Nockamson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N.
Mr. Nockamson, could you identify your client and their relationship to this property?
Yes, just let me know.
It is Julio and Anna Figueroa.
OK, our board secretary, Ismail Shahid, has a few questions.
Good afternoon, Counselor.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal
and stipulate to his accuracy?
Have you emailed all of the required documents
in within five days before this hearing?
I have.
Thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen.
All right, so I'm here to present 1533 North Lawrence Street, a pretty straightforward project here.
We're looking to do a three-family dwelling unit here.
The first floor and lower level unit, which is unit number one, will be owner-occupied.
My clients are from this neighborhood, so they're looking to do this as a quasi-investment,
but also a way to be able to afford to renovate this family-owned property.
uh we will review first and notice a refusal then we receive a letter of support from the
old Kensington Neighborhood Association which will show that this was a well-intended community
meeting where my clients received overwhelming support for their project my understanding too
is that the district council member also sent a letter of non-opposition which I believe is in
our materials um we have a petition from nearby neighbors which overwhelmingly shows the support
for this project uh maps of the area photographs of the property uh my clients it isn't one of our
occupied unit but my clients are also uh well versed in developing property in the city of
philadelphia so i'm going to give an example of a renovation project they did just to showing the
level and uh and quality of finishes um our plans and drawings are meeting notice showing proof of
mailing of that community meeting that well-attended community meeting did have.
Our application for appeal that we filed with the CBA, our deed to the property and our
certificate of tax clearance.
So notice of refusal.
So this is an RSA-5 property.
The only refusal we have is the use to have as a triplex.
So we are proposing to have an addition at the rear and the side of the property.
So we're doing substantial renovations to this family-owned property that is in desperate need of repair and improvements.
And my clients hope to live there.
And in order to offset these substantial costs on this property, they're looking to rent out the upper two units.
So a letter of support, as you can see, there were 24 attendees, six people didn't vote.
I assume one of them was me as the presenter.
16 people in support, only two opposed.
And because of that, we received a letter of support from the coordinating RCO.
And then we also received a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Lozada as well.
And then the petition.
So our property is right here in green.
My client received 20 signatures from 25 other properties close by.
And we wanted to show you compared to like where those properties are located to our property.
So you can see they're almost all located within a one-block radius, showing that overwhelming support by nearby neighbors.
And then here's our petition with the names of those individuals as well as their...
And then here's our petition with the names of those individuals, as well as their contact information.
And then maps of the area.
We are RSA-5 property, but there is a unique mix of different types of zoning classifications nearby, both RM1, IRMX, and CMX2.
And then just showing where we are in the neighborhood as well.
we are not that far from a commercial corridor so you know again increasing density always
helps support commercial corridors and the progress of the property again this is a three-story
structure proof of posting the property for today's hearing North Lawrence Street to the
right of the property North Lawrence Street to the left of the property example renovation of
just the quality of finishes and product that my client would put similarly into this property as
they've done in the past so I always ask them to show me pictures of the living room the kitchen
the bathrooms and that's what they did and a bedroom just gives you an idea of the quality
of craftsmanship and then there are plans and drawings I do have Brian Jones the architect
from Skyplane if you have any technical questions.
But again, as you can see, this is a three-story structure
and we're just expanding it out in the rear.
There are no dimensional variances with regards to this project.
And then just, you know, again, floor plan, you know,
you walk into a common vestibule area to the left,
go to unit number one, which is the first floor and lower level.
That would be my client's unit.
and then you unit two is on the second floor and unit three is on the third floor
we met with the community we met with the community on October 11th at 6 45 p.m 121
addresses were notified of this meeting list of the addresses proof of mailing to those addresses
our application for appeal that we filed the ZBA including a notice of refusal and a project
information form or deed to the property showing that the figuras have owned this property for some
time. And then certificate of tax clearance. The only thing I would say again, taxes are not due
to the first quarter of next year. With that being said, I would ask that Julio virtually
raise his hand or if Anna's in the virtual audience, one of them, so they can adopt my
testimony is their own. Mr. Nockamson, how does the rest of the area look relative to
multifamily? There are multifamily structures close by and proximally. Okay.
Mr. and Mrs. Figueroa, you're free to speak. Hi, this is Ms. Figueroa. How are you?
Great. Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Anna Figueroa, A-N-A, Figueroa, F-I-G-U-E-R-O-A.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
And Mrs. Figueroa, you heard everything I had to say today about your project.
Yes, I did.
And is it true and correct?
Yes, it is.
Do you adopt as your own testimony?
Okay, thank you.
Questions or comments from the board?
no mr chairman no mr chairman all right questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no he is chair planning commission thank you mr chairman good afternoon david vecto city
planning commission mr chairman and members of the board the comprehensive plan recommends no
change to the residential single-family zoning at this location there is no unique physical condition
of this 1111 square foot lot to prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code
This is a solidly single-family block, and per the RCO letter submitted by Old Kensington Civic, the vote at the community meeting was based on the applicant living in one of the proposed units, not in the proposed zoning variance.
The applicant having failed to demonstrate a hardship of three units, the City Planning Commission recommends the Board deny the use of variance.
So MI 2022-004-245-1533, North Lawrence Street, I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is no.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, Councilman.
Thank you, have a great day.
Number 12, MI-2022-004-364-3146 Richmond Street.
Rachel Pritzker or Brandon Saverner are the attorneys.
Rachel Pritzker or Brandon Savron are the attorneys.
Recommendation of support from the Southport Richmond Civic Association.
Letter of non-opposition from Council Member Squillin.
Good afternoon, Chairman, members of the board.
Hi. Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Sure. Rachel, R-A-C-H-A-E-L, Pritzker, P-R-I-T-Z-K-E-R, 1521 Locust Street, Suite 605, Philadelphia, PA, 19102.
Right. Could you identify your client in relationship to the property?
Yeah. So my client is Corpse Flower Collective LLC, and they are the tenant.
Okay. Our Board Secretary, Ishmael Shahid, has a few questions.
Great.
Good afternoon, Counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refuser?
and stimulate to his accuracy?
Have you emailed all the documents
that were required five days in advance to this hearing?
Thank you.
You may proceed and share your screen.
Thank you very much.
I'm going to share my screen.
can you see that yep okay so this is 3146 riftwin street again i represent the tenants which is
corpse flower collective llc of which are on the call as well i'm just going to go to the refusal
this is a cmx2 property and this is a referral for a special exception we are proposing the use
of the space for body art services also known as a tattoo shop in a cmx2 zoning district
um essentially this business Rachel could you do me a favor you're on your last page of your
presentation could you go back and show us you're right now we're looking at page 38 oh
that's not what I have up I have up oh you know what let me redo this I think I have it on the
other screen okay my apologies um yeah got it there we go is that better it should be coming
on any minute yep we're good okay just a little bit bigger okay
we see it we see it okay awesome this is uh like i said 3146 richmond street this is a cmx2
property we represent corpse flower collective llc who is the tenant and this proposal is for
cmx of cms2 property for use of body art services also known as a tattoo shop and this is a referral
for a special exception. Essentially, this location is on Richmond Street at Allegheny,
so sort of two commercial corridors. This is our tax clearance certificate, the lease,
which we provided to the board, and I'll thank Hillary for working through all that with us.
a copy of the floor plans as you can see is exhibit a of the property so not a very large
property but small enough to have a nice storefront and a tattoo parlor it is two young
women who have operated combined eight years of tattooing experience and worked together at
another tattoo shop. As you can see, the area is all CMX2, some R01, RSA5 in the rear, and then we
have Allegheny Avenue with some additional CMX2 at the corner. The proposed facility, given this
is a special exception, has to provide that this would not be sort of a worse use or cause any
issues to the public space, public safety, water, sewer, surrounding properties, and the like.
Again, just some aerial photos.
I think it's helpful to see the front facade of the structure as well.
You can see this is with the zoning posters, but it's a very nice location and an already
built-out commercial property, perfect for a storefront and a small space, again, for
these women to work together to provide a tattoo shop.
The business will comply with all the hazardous waste regulations, including proper storage
and commercial disposal.
There are no other tattoos operating on this commercial corridor, so it's not an overuse of this use on the site.
Here's the zoning chart just to show that you're not allowed to have, without a special exception, a tattoo shop or body services studio.
um, or body services studio. Um, again, um, this is, uh, something that we presented recently to
So again, this is.
the RCO, well, actually on the 10th of August of the RCO, which was SOPO, the Southport Richmond
Civic Association, who is the coordinating RCO. Um, we actually had a great turnout at the meeting.
I think it was like 43 to 13 in support of the project. Um, as you can see from the letter on
the screen and chairman, as you mentioned, we have a letter of non-opposition, um, to, from a
Councilman Squilla's office. I just want to mention for purposes of the special exception
that basically Richmond Street and this block of it is already an established commercial corridor.
There's on-street parking, there's SEPTA and trolley services, and this, because of the size
of the space, we don't anticipate serving more than a few clients at every given time, so the
impact on the transportation system would not be overcrowded. Additionally, the special exception
will not cause overcrowding of the land beyond what would normally be expected from the proposed
use, and will make use of an existing commercial structure in the midst of a mixed-use block.
Again, not going to burden water or sewer, school park, or other public facilities expected from
the proposed use, and it can accommodate the desired use, and we will, again, comply with
all other regulations of the code. Again, we are just seeking a special exception for use as body
Art Services, and this will be a great opportunity for these entrepreneurs to start a career together
here in Philadelphia. I'm happy to pause there and take anyone. You want to have your testimony
adopted? Absolutely. We should have Vanessa and Lauren. I think they're just probably together,
so Vanessa, if you could raise your hand. I see that you're on.
hi this is vanessa hi could you state your name and spell it please for the court reporter
yes my name is vanessa sabater v-a-n-e-s-s-a last name s-a-b-a-t-e-r right do you swear or
affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes proceed counsel vanessa
have you heard my testimony today do you believe it to be true and accurate and do you adopt it as
your own yes thank you very much questions from the board no mr chairman no mr chairman no mr
chairman questions or comments from the virtual audience i see no he is shared planning commission
thank you sir david fechto with the city planning commission mr chairman and board members the
comprehensive plan recommends no change to the commercial mixed use zoning at this location
the applicant has shown that the proposed body art services will have no more of an impact than
body art services would be expected to have the city planning commission recommends that the
board grant the special exception mi-2022-004-364-3146 richmond street i vote yes thomas
holloman my vote is yes james snell my vote is yes ishmael shaheed my vote is yes thank you
thank you council are you doing the next one i am okay so mi 2022 004 363 180 west gerard avenue
letter of support from northern liberties neighbors association letter of non-opposition from
councilman squilla awesome i'm going to share my screen again are you able to see that chairman
members of the board yeah could you uh identify your client in relationship to the property please
yeah so my client in this matter is veterinary emergency group llc which is the tenant they
will be occupying uh suite 102a okay and ishmael shaheed has a few questions sure you agree to waive
the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy yes to email all of the documents that
was required that was required five days in advance to this hearing? Yes. Thank you. Please
proceed. Thank you very much. One thing is, are we okay with the lease, Hillary?
Yes, Mr. Chair. Yes, we are fine with the lease. I did want to note if the board is inclined to
grant in this case, we should include a proviso indicating that this used to be limited to suite
102A, as Ms. Pritzker just indicated, as there are multiple suites at this location.
102A. Perfect. Thank you, Hillary.
Okay, proceed. So as you can see on my screen, this is a copy of the refusal. This property is
on CMX3 and is on Girard Avenue, 180 West Girard. We only have one variance that we're requesting
here which is for animal services specifically for boarding and other services which is expressly
prohibited in cmx3 commercial as the board may know from other cases that we've done
prohibited in CMX3 commercial. As the board may know from other cases that we've done or that
they've seen, unfortunately, animal services, boarding and other service, which includes a
use as an animal hospital, is not permitted in any zoning district in the city except for I-1 and I-2.
That creates a hardship in and of itself, given the fact that in specifically where this property
is in the central district plan for the 2035 comprehensive plan, only about 10.5% of all the
land in the district is zoned industrial and meets at least the I-2 zoning classification.
If this code was strictly enforced and no variance was prohibited, the vast majority of people in
this district would not have access to an animal hospital or animal boarding services use. Again,
specific for here, we're looking for the boarding and other services because that includes a use
for an animal hospital. VEDGE is a 24-hour emergency veterinary service provider. They do
not have animal boarding. This is not an animal daycare. This is an express use for emergency
animal services. The only animals that stay over are ones that require treatment and are being seen
by a physician or additional staff. Related to this location on CMX3, it would seem, especially
in this day and age, that commercial mixed use and commercial quarters like Girard Avenue
should be able to provide for uses like animal services and animal hospitals. As many people
would want the benefit and the amenity to walk to an animal service provider in the event that
they have an emergency with their animal. And again, if there was strict enforcement of the
code, they would have to try to venture to some industrial areas and or go outside of the city
to service their animal, especially in an emergency. Again, the only ask we have related
to the use variance is for animal services for an animal hospital. And as previously mentioned,
the code is incredibly limited as to where you can even provide that here in the city of
Philadelphia and specifically in this district in particular. We have our tax clearance. This is
just a letter that was just explaining to the board. This is suite 102A and that the LLC is
Veterinary Emergency Group, which is the successor of a former LLC. We have the deed of the property.
We did have the landlords, owners of the building on earlier. They had to jump off,
But they are in support of the project. And more importantly, well, not more importantly, equally as important, we met with the Northern Liberties Neighbors Association, who were very helpful in giving their support and also giving us some feedback related to some of the exterior considerations, given the sort of odd shape and access of this building, which we incorporated into our plans.
As the board can see, this is located in CMX3, which is a medium to high density commercial mixed use.
The building is already existing, so this is just going to replace a use that's already been there, a space that's already been there, and will be retrofitted for this use if this variance is granted.
um additionally just some photos of the exterior of the building um so that the board can see
this is the zoning posters but this is uh again sort of on gerrard avenue commercial corridor and
will be a great addition to the area and is not out of character uh for commercial mixed use in
that area um again we had a meeting in august with the northern lake neighbors northern liberties
Neighbors Association, and we have a letter of non-opposition from them, which is on my screen.
I just want to show where Suite 102 is, just in the event that that's of any interest to the board,
if any members live near here or know anybody near here and are familiar with the building,
and those in the audience as well, 102A on the ground floor. This is the tentative floor plan,
open kind of an open floor plan with different types of rooms for staff break rooms and x-rays
and exam rooms and again as you can see there's no kennel boarding or daycare or outside you know
dog areas this is really an emergency veterinary services provider this is kind of sideways so
just for the benefit of the board although we're not here for signage wanted to provide some just
better photos to show how we plan to have the space. There's an entrance in the garage where
people can drive in. As you may know, in an emergency, you kind of just throw your animal
in the car. We'll not throw them, place them in the car, drive over and want to rush in. So there'll
be two access points. And just so the board can see kind of the exterior of what we're hoping to
achieve as well with the space. There's also some kind of, you know, filming and things on the
outside to cover the glass that was requested by the RCO. We think helped make this kind of a great
project for us. Other than that, I believe I have Jen Hanlon from Veg who can adopt my testimony if
I can bring her on. Sure. Hi, can you state your name and spell please for the court report?
hi can you state your name and spell please for the court reporter yes hi jennifer hanlon j-e-n-n-i-f-e-r
h-a-n-l-o-n you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do proceed counsel thank you jen have you heard my statements today in front of the board do you
believe them to be true and accurate and you adopt them as your own yes i do thank you okay
Okay, questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no handshare.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, sir.
Good afternoon, David Defecto
with the City Planning Commission.
Mr. Chairman and members of the board,
the comprehensive plan recommends no change
to the commercial mixed use zoning at this location.
Although not allowed in the commercial mixed use
three zoning district,
the commission staff has argued in other cases
and will argue today
that this is a necessary service if granted its impact would be limited by the code's performance
standards for animal services so the city planning commission recommends the board grant the use
variance for animal services boarding and other services mi 2022 004 363 180 west rod avenue i
vote yes proviso variants only for suite 102a thomas holliman my vote is yes with proviso
james snell my vote is yes with proviso ishmael shaheed my vote is yes with proviso
thank you council thank you and we're going to do number 14 and after that we'll take a
five-minute break, and then we'll come back and get through the 330 list. Number 14, MI 2022-004-385-1520-28
South 7th Street. Julie Bernstein is the attorney. There is a letter of non-opposition from Council
Member Squilla. Hi, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to give a brief summary of this case. This is for
use in an existing structure for wholesale distribution and storage um the there is one
refusal and that is for the use because the property is zoned rsa 5 in addition to the
letter of non-opposition from council member squilla we've also received a letter of non-opposition
from pass young square civic association thank you thank you hillary council good afternoon
members of the board my name is julie bernstein and i will attempt to share i think if i
remember correctly i already swore you in today right you did earlier okay so so first could you
identify your client and the relationship to this property so my client is lose wholesale
distributors inc and they are the owner of the property and our board secretary ishmael shaheed
has a few questions good afternoon counsel do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal
and stipulate to his accuracy. I agree. Have you emailed all of the required documents in
five days in advance to this hearing? Yes. Thank you. Please share your screen and proceed.
Okay. Can everyone see my screen? We can. Great. Good afternoon. Again, my name is Julie Bernstein.
I'm with Kaplan Stewart. I'm an attorney representing Luz Wholesale Distributors, Inc.
They're the owner of the property that's located at 1520 to 28 South 7th Street in Philadelphia, PA.
This is improved with a single-story warehouse-style building with an industrial-style garage bay.
Luz Wholesale has operated out of this building for almost 20 years, since 2004,
selling products such as beverages, gum, candy, snacks, paper goods, cigarettes, et cetera,
to local convenience mom-and-pop type stores. I have Lou Manor with me. He's the owner of Lou's
Wholesale, which is seeking a variance to permit the continued use at this property, which is
located in RSA 5, of this wholesale distribution and storage use. The current use is also in line
with the historic use of the property, which has been continuously used for industrial and or
wholesale type purposes. So, warehouse storage, manufacturing, woodworking, and wholesale use
since the 1930s, despite the residential zoning. The existing property also is not readily
convertible to an otherwise permitted use in the RSA 5 residential district.
No changes to the property are proposed at this time. Given the existing use, this is more of a
legalization application. Mr. Menor was mistaken and under the impression that this was a permitted
use when he purchased the property as it had been being used as a kitchen cabinet manufacturer and
as it had been being used as a kitchen cabinet manufacturer and storage at the time,
storage at the time.
and he applied for this relief last summer immediately when he learned about the zoning
issue. To streamline the process, I'd like to incorporate our exhibits, which is marked A1
through A12, as well as the exhibit list for the record. As I mentioned, Luminor is here with me
to answer any questions you have.
So I'll move to Exhibit 1.
We have included the deed for the property,
which demonstrates that Luce Wholesale is the owner
and their standing.
We've included the tax clearance certificate
and the notice of refusal,
which again indicates that this proposed
wholesale distribution and storage
is not permitted in the RSA 5 district.
We've also included our application for this appeal
and the project information form that goes along with it at exhibit A4 and A5.
We have at A6, the property posting photos.
And here we have the aerial. So as you can see, this is located about halfway down the block
between Dickinson and Tasker on the west side of South Seventh. The Kirk Ridge School is located
up here. There's a corner grocery, pay as a supermarket down the street. There's some other
commercial uses that are scattered along this block between residential houses. The property
is adjacent to another warehouse style type building. So you can kind of see here
which was recently sold but previously was being used to build custom cabinets and countertops
when lou purchased the property as i mentioned his property was being used for a similar use
which was very noisy and impacted the air quality in the area by comparison lou's wholesale has had
a much lower impact on the neighborhood his business is only open during the day monday
Friday from 9 to 4 p.m., and no large-scale deliveries are made to the location. There
was a second facility outside of Philadelphia to handle larger shipments, so this location
is primarily used just to sell to the local mom-and-top type convenience stores in the
neighborhood. Here's a few more photos, and I'm going to jump to Exhibit A12, which I
added, thank you, Hillary, as she wanted to give, she thought it would be helpful to give you guys
a sense of what the inside of this property current looks like. So again, it's just a giant
warehouse. It's a big open space and it's essentially used as such. Therefore, it wouldn't
be readily convertible to any kind of residential use. It's been like this based upon historic
records are very similar to this since the 30s. Why don't we adopt your testimony? Is the owner
here? Sure. Lou, can you raise your hand? Lou? Yes. Hi. Hi. Could you state your name and spell
please for the court reporter sure it's lewis minore l-o-u-i-s-m-i-n-o-r-e right do you swear
or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do proceed counsel
so uh mr minore you've just heard how i explained what how the property is being used and that it's
been used in this manner since the 30s we included some historic documents at the end that show this
would you adopt everything that I said as true if you had been the one making providing this
testimony? Yes, I do. Questions from the board? No, Mr. Chairman. No, Mr. Chairman. No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no issue. Thank you, Planning Commission. Thank you, sir. Good afternoon. David Fecto with
the City Planning Commission, Mr. Chairman, and board members. The comprehensive plan recommends
no change to the residential single-family zoning at this location. We would argue that
the configuration of the property presents a clear hardship, preventing the applicant from
complying with the zoning code. The City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the
proposed variance for wholesale, distribution, and storage. Thank you. MI 2022-004-385-1520-28
South 7th Street, I vote yes. Thomas Holliman, my vote is yes. James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes. Thank you, counsel. Is there anyone still in the virtual
audience whose 2 p.m. case has not been called?
whose 2 p.m. case has not been called i see no hands or so we're going to take a five
minute break and we'll be back all right chair thank you chair
You ready Kareemah?
okay chair looks like we have 43 attendees 43 start when you wish okay
good afternoon my name is bill bergman and i will chair be chairing this afternoon's eba hearings
with me is ishmael shaheed our board secretary president mr chairman thomas hallman our board
member. He's here. James Snell, our board member. Present, Mr. Chairman. Also here is our attorney,
Hillary Emerson, and our ZPA hearing supervisor, Kameem Quintana. Before we begin, here's our
virtual format. Be advised the proceedings are being recorded by participating in your knowledge
agreement to be recorded. A video will be available by contacting tonyasunkett at phil.gov.
For the benefit of our sonographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves
before testifying. If you're participating by phone, if you wish to testify, press star 9 to
raise your hand and star 6 to unmute. To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548.
Leave your email and the address of the property in question.
And finally, the question answer box on the screen is not for comments.
Any comments should be directed to our Executive Director, Tanya Sunkett.
Let's look at what continuations we have.
Number seven, MI 2022-004-142-2238 North 20 A Street.
that case is continued is there any comments relative to that case in the audience
i see no handshare are there any other requests for continuances
i see no handshare okay i also have a few cases that we do not have exhibits for
Number five, MI-2022-004-234-6729 Elmwood Street, DeConte Williams is the applicant.
There are no exhibits first listing.
I see no hands, Chair.
So MI-2022-004-234-6729 Elmwood Street, that case is continued.
And number eight, MI 2022-004-236-6618 East Roosevelt Boulevard, Muhammad Raymond is the owner-applicant, no exhibits, first listing.
I see no handshare.
So MI-2022-004-236-6618 East Roosevelt Boulevard, that case is continued.
And also, case number two, MI-2022-004-110-9981 Varee Road, that case has been withdrawn.
We're going to start today with case number six.
MI-2022-004-230-7234 Erdrich Street.
Zen Jin is the attorney.
Letter of non-opposition from the Tecconi Civic Association with Provisos.
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon, counsel.
So could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Yes, my name is Zen Jin, Z-H-E-N, last name J-I-N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 1838, Philadelphia PA, 19103.
Yes, my name is Xinjin, Z-H-E-N, last name J-I-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
But you identify your client in relationship to the property?
Yes, we represent Chen Yi LLC, the owner of the property. Mr. Yi Chen is actually with us as well.
Thank you. Ishmael Shahid, our board secretary, has a few questions.
Good afternoon, Councilor. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed all of the required documents five days in advance prior to this hearing?
I have.
Thank you. Please share your screen.
Thank you.
I am sharing with the board the package that was previously submitted, including refusal, the non-opposition from Taconi Civic Association, a business plan for the tenant, photograph plans, and related documentation required for zoning purposes.
This is an application for a use at this location, which is previously used in a very similar manner.
We are seeking to use this as essentially an academy.
It's a relation both to sports as well as class education for kids in preparation for educational purposes beyond primary and secondary school.
So it's a private educational institution with sports activities involved as well.
It is an after-school program.
This area is zoned RSA 5.
However, I think from the photographs, we can see the hardship that exists at this property.
This property is previously used by a church.
And in fact, the building in question that we're trying to make use of is the primary church building that is on the corner.
This building is a large structure and certainly is not fit for single family use.
and already has all the facilities that my client and the tenant would need for the use that's
intended, including classrooms and a basketball court. As you can see, it's already divided into
rooms. There are classrooms built in. There is a basketball court within the space. All activity
will take place within the space itself, within the church space. We are going to add lighting,
security camera. And there are various items of proviso the community asked for with regard to
managing traffic, drop-off and pickup of the kids, as well as maintenance of the property and trash,
all of which the tenant and the landlord both met, the owner and the tenant both met with the
community together and has agreed to those particular requests. And we will make sure that
those requests are met, including controlling traffic during drop-off, pickup, et cetera.
As you can see, majority of the space is already fitted out in a way that would be conducive to the use that's intended.
There are plans submitted, but there are really existing plans of the space, including downstairs with the classrooms.
One or two of the rooms may be converted to an office use, but no structural changes will be made to the property.
So in essence, we're asking for a use that once existed at this location, and we're seeking to put the space back into use.
It's been vacant for some time, and the landlord has tried various ways to make use of the property.
And this has been probably the best option to come along in some years.
So we do ask the board's consideration in this request for a variance.
And again, we do believe there is a hardship to the land here due to the existing large structure and existing building that is on the property.
As you can see, the community is in non-opposition.
I'll be happy to answer any questions.
Thank you, counsel.
Would you want to have your testimony adopted, please?
Mr. Yi Chen, can you please raise your hand virtually to be identified?
Hi, Mr. Chen.
Could you state your name and spell, please, for the court reporter?
Mr. Chen, please unmute yourself.
He might be having difficulty unmuting.
Okay. So, counsel, you're an officer of the court and we will accept your testimony.
Questions from the board? No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman. No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Alexis Tingle.
hi how are you hi could you state your name and spell it please for the court reporter
Hi, how are you?
Hi, could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court report?
yes first name alexis a-l-e-x-i-s last name tingle t-i-n-g-l-e do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes proceed so i own um one of the properties
across the street it's my primary residence they've been operating out of this building
for about a year and a half with no zoning variance, no rental license, nothing like that.
I attended the community meeting. I'm actually the only person on the block that gave them support,
but everything they told us at the meeting doesn't appear to be true because we were curious to who's
been operating because it's been really disruptive to our block and they couldn't tell us who was,
but they promised us a bunch of changes were going to be happening. And about like a day or
so after the meeting, they continued to use the property the way that they have been and it's
been disruptive to the block. And the person who's supposed to be the tenant has actually been
operating in that building for, like I said, probably a year and a half now. They probably
have 50 or more families in there at any given time from about 9 a.m. to anywhere up to 7 p.m.
I've been told, you know, if I want to park on the block, I should speak to them to reserve
parking. They stand in the street and block parking and create all this traffic and everybody's
honking and yelling. They're pulling into the back alleyways and blocking that. And then my
neighbors are honking and yelling and asking people to move. And it's just been so disruptive
for like a year and a half. No one had any idea what was going on until we had the association
meeting. The lawyer said that he didn't represent the owner, but he was representing the person who
was applying for the variance to be able to lease the property to host the school. But what they're
really having is just like tons of families come, you know, throughout the week. I mean,
they're bringing food they're bringing all these things and they're in there for hours and hours
and hours um and uh like I said they create a lot of like noise and things like that on the block
and I work from home so it's difficult to take phone calls with clients when there's so much
noise coming from the block everyone's honking um a lot of my other neighbors feel the same way
and it's just I don't appreciate not being like them not being up front with us about like what
their plans for the building are um and so like I want to revoke the support that I gave them
initially but the taconi civic association did give support right uh yes okay oh thank you for
your information thank you for your call is there anyone else in the virtual audience
yes i'll give you a chance in a minute i'm sorry we have felipe last name and then with the s
okay felipe could you state your name and spell it please for the court reporter
Good afternoon. Yes. My name is Felipe Sevilla, F-E-L-I-P-E, last name S-E-V, as in Victor, I-L-L-A.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
Thank you. Yes. I was also at the meeting that Alexis attended as well, as she mentioned.
at the meeting there was promises given to us and uh one of the main the main thing mentioned
at the meeting was that any use because the legal use that was going on would be suspended
right away and nothing else would be happening at the property until this meeting is
is is being taking place which is today that promise has not been um has not been accomplished
ever since then there has been use of the property use of the building um every saturday
every saturday and sunday there's families going in for looking like some kind of activity sunday
school some kind of program is going on in the place at the moment and it does affect our parking
right i um i have a five-year-old child that i take to school and sometimes when we when i go
to go pick her up or by the time I come back
the block is already flooded
with people, there's no parking space
I have to now
walk blocks from my house
back home, they're in traffic
with my child
that shouldn't be happening
and yeah, like Alexis mentioned earlier
the person that was
at the meeting the first time
mentioned that they have nothing to do with what's going on
but I've seen that guy there
plenty of times
orchestrating the events that are taking place
at the moment at this building.
Felipe, did you live there
when the place was operated as a church?
No, I lived there.
I moved in.
I moved to this block in 2020.
All right.
Thank you.
Of course.
I was in the street before it is what it is,
before it's being used currently.
Thank you very much for your input.
Anyone else in a virtual audience?
I see no handshare.
I see no handshare.
Counsel, you want to respond?
council you want to respond
Yes, I believe we do have the operator representative here as well, Dr. Shid.
I don't know if he's available in the audience and can maybe shed some light to these claims that are coming up.
Let's see if he's there.
Or Ms. Sammy Mo might be present.
If you are, please raise your hand virtually.
Ms. Mo, please unmute yourself.
You're free to speak.
Hi, Ms. Mo.
Could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
My name is Sammy Mo.
First name S-A-M-M-I.
Last name M-O.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you.
Ms. Mo, you're associated with the schools that intend to operate in this location, correct?
To your knowledge, the activities that are taking place with families, is that something that the school has normally in its agenda, or this is something completely different than what your operation would be?
uh that's that school is uh uh it's normally like uh um a weekend sometimes um so because
and uh we have our school have like a performance coming uh so we use that place to practice um
for the performance uh i think uh dr she is uh not here today um so uh dr she is a manager about
uh this place so but we we been uh like uh we've been brought the the side side or we don't we don't
use the entrance from the side or on the seven two three four registry we go we we go in like
drop off and uh in the front door so um like we've been we've been uh we've been
we've been taking care of the like uh the the traffic and uh we tell the the people
stop uh parking on the side street of a 724 um i'm i'm i'm not there like every day because i uh
I dare like sometimes a couple days a week
to check in the property.
So once, when we use that place,
we just have for like some kind of practice there.
Okay, so was it used recently for that purpose
or because the neighbors are saying that it was being used?
We used it for,
uh uh how to say um uh recently for we we used it for recently like to practice our performance
okay but that's not associated directly with the school activities
no we don't have activities like uh monday to friday we don't have the activities there
so only that i saw they will do performance there okay to practice okay thank you um
Thank you. Chairman, I do want to just quickly share with the board that the people that are actually going to be teaching at the school also are certified teachers with the degrees.
So this is going to be a classroom situation. I'm not so sure about the performance practice. But again, the understanding is, of course, that the space would not be used in a way that would try to cause problems for the neighbors.
They do try to direct traffic. And as a school, of course, once once they're fully operating, majority of the activities during the week is actually classroom activity, not having people, families coming. Families are not usually operating within the space with these students. Thank you.
All right. Planning Commission.
Excuse me.
It's right.
Wait a minute. I'm sorry. Tina, you have somebody else?
yes we had someone with a hand up named tingle his name did we just hear them
i'm not sure let them answer let them answer um yeah you actually you actually just heard me i
just i did i did yeah yeah go ahead alexis um so i don't have an issue with there being an
after-school program for children my concern is that the person who dr chen or somebody who's
not here today who's going to be the um tenant and run that school is also running like they run
women's yoga there like monday through friday at like i want to say like 10 o'clock in the morning
want to say like 10 o'clock in the morning to maybe 12 o'clock in the afternoon they have all
to maybe 12 o'clock in the afternoon they have all sorts of activities going on i have
sorts of activities going on i have ring camera footage they're there all the time um and it's
associated with the person running the school so i don't know if there's anything they can do to
only keep it to school activities but it's almost like a constant influx of people using that
building and this is a residential space and i think there's plenty of commercial space on
tarsdale ave princeton avenue places where it might better suit their needs thank you very much
I'm sorry about this here.
I didn't realize she had already testified.
That's fine.
That's fine.
Planning Commission.
This is Ron Bednar, City Planning.
First name Ron, R-O-N.
Last name Bednar, B-E-D-N-A-R.
You swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, Ron?
Proceed.
While this property is currently indicated for residential on the city plan, given the physical conditions of the site,
I recommend that the requested variance be granted, provided that only uses explicitly described in the refusal be permitted.
Thank you.
MI 2022-004-230-7234, Erdrick Street, I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
thank you thank you thank you council maybe excused yeah you must certainly thank you
we're going to go to number three mi 2022 004 145 4047 valwyn park road ronda winfield
is the owner-applicant.
Recommendation of support, non-opposition
from Winfield Heights Civic Association.
Applicant provided a letter of support
from two adjacent neighbors.
Applicant submitted...
So this is for a proposed visitor accommodation
in the same building with an existing family,
single-family dwelling in an existing structure.
Whereas the proposed use visitor accommodation is extremely prohibited in our M-1 residential zoning district.
Rhonda Winfield.
Chair, we have no one in the audience by that name and no hands are up.
Oh, excuse me. There it is. Here you go. I'm a promoter.
Rhonda Winfield.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
she's just coming back in as a panelist okay great
hello can you hear me i can could you state your name and then spell for the court reporter yes
ronda winfield r-o-n-d-a last name is w-i-n-f as in frank i-e-l-d do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes, sir. Our board secretary Ismail Shahid
has a few questions. Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy? Yes, I am not counsel. I am the applicant. I just wanted to
clarify that. Counselor? I am not a counselor. I am the applicant. He's pro se.
she's going out chair i can't hear her she's she's pro se she's not a lawyer
oh okay okay okay okay all right uh did you turn all the uh documents in that was required five
days in advance for this year yes sir i did all right please uh show your skin proceed
sure uh hold on
Can everyone see my screen?
It should be coming on any minute.
Yes, it's up.
Okay, thank you.
So again, my name is Rhonda Winfield.
I'm actually the owner of this property.
As you stated before, Chairman,
I'm seeking a variance from RM1
to allow visitor accommodation,
which is now required after the approval of an ordinance
submitted by City Council in June of 2021
as it relates to short-term rental businesses.
I've lived in this residence.
It is a duplex.
I live on the first floor. I've lived here for 23 years, have been operating Airbnb short-term
rental business for the past four years. And during that time, there have been no nuisance
complaints or issues to the community since the operation of my business. I'll now review some
of the documents and photos that were submitted to the board. Of course, you already have the
refusal. This is my certificate of tax clearance that was also submitted with my packet. The D that
that was also submitted with my packet, the deed that was required to be submitted with my packet
that proves I am the owner of the building, the RCO meeting summary, which shows that I have
majority support from my neighbors and my RCO. These are actual letters of support from my
neighbors. Each neighbor on the side of me, and this is one neighbor that lives directly across
the street from me, who offers support and are just stating that there's been no negative effects
to the community as a result of the operation of my short-term rental business. These are,
wait, something's going crazy here. These are additional letters of support from actual guests
um which the board has received which basically give an overview of why some people have chosen
to stay in an airbnb in my short-term rental um in particular as opposed to going to a traditional
um hotel um you know for their uh stay here in philadelphia uh these are the photos
that I submitted to the board. As you can see, it shows that the postings were placed where they
were required to be placed so that residents or people who were walking by could see and had
notice of the meeting today. These are the photos of the front of the property, the left and the
right of the property as was requested by the board and also the back of the property.
Here is just some photos of the interior of the property, the bathroom. This is one of the two
bedrooms. As I stated, it is on the second floor. I reside on the first floor, so I am in direct
contact with guests when I have them. Excuse me, Ms. Winfield. Yes. Sorry, board. Could you please
turn on your camera so we can identify you? Oh, I'm sorry. I apologize. Thank you. Thank you.
Hold on. Let me see if I can do this.
can you see me now we can okay all right thank you so um these are pictures of the unit um as
i mentioned before it is a second floor unit i reside on the first floor um and again um you
know very quiet neighborhood i've had no issues or complaints from um any of my neighbors um
and uh that's all i have unless you thank you thank you question questions from the board
no mr chairman no mr chairman no mr chairman questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no handshare planning commission this uh ron bednar city planning
While this property is currently indicated for residential on the city plan, given the physical site conditions, we recommend requests for variance to be granted.
Thank you. MI 2022-004-145-4047 Balwin Park Road, I vote yes for temporary variance to expire 1-1-26.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with proviso.
So we have the votes. I have Tom and Jim both voted. Yes. You have your variance, ma'am. Thank you.
thank you thank you okay now we got we heard you is we're good
number four mi 2022 001 695 530 to 32 moore street jack hubbard is the attorney for the owner
We don't have an RCO letter as of yet.
Mr. Hubbard is coming back in as a panelist.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Hi, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
It's Jack, J-A-C-K, Hubbard, H-U-B-B-E-R-T.
Right.
do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
i do could you identify your client a relationship to the property
Could you
the owner of the property is my client fnf properties okay um i talked to our attorney
beforehand we won't vote on this case today but we'll hear the case correct our uh our
board secretary has a few questions for you ishmael shaheed okay
Have you submitted all the appropriate documents other than the letter from the Zoning Board?
Yes, we have.
Okay. And you agree with what the complaint is and things of that nature, right?
Excuse me?
you you agree to um the refusals yes you agree to i agree with reading the refusals that's right
that's right okay i'm with proceeds proceed sir okay so this is a uh rsa 5 it is a uh the refusal
in question is uh not a use it's a dimensional it's uh there's a a portion of the rear yard
where there's a required nine foot setback and then our proposed plans on a portion of the rear
yard only seven feet is proposed for that portion it's a very odd shaped lot it's an undersized lot
and it has 71 feet of lot frontage these are our postings just for the record here is
hopefully you can see that it's a triangular lot so we have a lot of frontage not a lot of
uniformity in depth so in trying to construct a single family home there there was you know
that challenge of the unique nature of the lot dimensions
so I'm going to just jump real quick to because I know you guys have been at it all day
Okay, so here's what we're planning to do.
The issue is over here on the left side of the screen,
if you can see my mouse,
there's a portion where the property
is within seven feet of the rear yard.
Much of it is more than seven feet
and actually more than the nine,
but we have this one little portion right here,
and that's what we're requesting the variance for.
I've included the plans.
You know, for all three floors in our documentation, we have aerial photographs of the neighborhood right now.
It's just traditionally been used as as parking for the neighbors.
These are pictures of the street.
This is a rendering of what we're planning to build.
I have also with me today our architect, Gary Wolf, who can adopt my testimony and provide any specific questions regarding the nature of the challenges of this lot, if Gary could raise his hand.
No, Gary?
is he there hi can you hear me i just yes yeah i can't could you state your name and spell for
the court reporter sure gary wolf g-a-r-y w-o-l-f-e right do you swear a firm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do all right uh council proceed why don't you
It makes construction a little easier, and it makes the home itself a little more comfortable.
But any other issues, that's really the only issue.
Right.
We know that we've had interaction with the Neighborhood Association.
They're going to send a letter post this hearing, but they don't seem to have a problem with the variance request.
the questions they've asked us have all had to do with and we've responded to a couple of them
the sloping of the pilot house the color of the facade but I think the latest one they had
and we really can't live with and that is that the property the building would have to be set
back five feet from Moore Street and that would render the whole interior space
I guess I don't want to call it uneconomical but not not what we're trying to build in this
neighborhood and we're not required by the zoning code to bring the building back five feet we're
not actually sure why they want that but that's the issue that uh results in they want to send a
letter okay questions from the board no mr chairman no no mr chairman no questions or
comments from the virtual audience i see no here chair planning commission so ron bednar city
planning this property is indicated for residential on the city plan given the irregular size condition
post it poses a clear hardship we recommend the quest for variance be granted thank you
um council we're going to hold this for a month am i right hillary
yes mr chair we'll hold this for 30 days um and it's going to be closed a letter from the
rco exactly the record will be otherwise closed yes thank you mr chair thank you council okay
thanks so you don't need us to come back for that 30 days correct
no no mr hopper you do not need to come back for the vote unless you want to but you will get the
result in email with your notice to decision. Okay. Thank you, Hilary. Thank you, Board.
Okay. Okay. So number one, let's see, what is it here?
MI 2022-003-184-780 South 2nd Street. Michael Matione is the attorney for the owner.
Mr. Anastasio is also involved
in the case for people who are protesting
letter of opposition
from the Queen Village Neighbors Association
and letter of opposition from Council Member Squilla
the applicant also the applicant also provided 53 pages of statements from residents neighbors
in support of the requested variances Mr. Mattione good afternoon Mr. Chairman
hi could you state your name and spell it please for the court reporter
sure michael mattioni that's m-a-t-t-i-o-n-i right do you swear for him to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do mr anastasio good afternoon or good evening
mr chairman of vern anastasio a-n-a-s-t-a-s-i-o 2016 spruce street philadelphia 1-9-1-0-3
Did I swear to you once overnight today?
Say it again?
Didn't I swear to you this morning?
More than once, yes.
Okay, all right.
So, Mr. Matione?
Mr. Chairman, we submitted in advance the required exhibits, and we agreed away the reading of the refusal.
That's okay.
I'd like to share my screen.
And is that up? It is. I have a new configuration. That's why I just had to make sure it was up. Thank you. I represent 780 LLC. They're the owner of the Royal Sushi and Izakaya restaurant at 780 South Second Street.
The owner of the building is bride of Frank and Simon's LLC, and the principles are largely the same in the two entities.
um and i presented and it's up on the screen uh last friday the exhibits including the um
showing a proof of payment of the taxes the refusal uh the cv of our expert jonathan deutch
his report the letter from the rco a letter from alexandra gerber who is the accountant for
The letter from the RCO, a letter from Alexandra Gerber, who is the accountant for the entity, the numerous support emails that you discussed, the chat room from the evening of the QVNA zoning committee meeting,
over the years.
a statement of expenses in comparison between 2019 and 2022 that was prepared by my client,
the applicant, site plan, floor plans, a sushi bar plan, zoning map, photographs,
a 2013 zoning approval and proviso letter, memorandum of law, and the lease and the deed
as well. So I've submitted all that in advance. I do have three witnesses today.
to present Justin Holden, David Frank, and Jonathan DeWitch.
What we are seeking today, and it's in the refusal,
which Royal Azakaya is a longstanding restaurant in Philadelphia,
and we're seeking two things to be able to remove a proviso entered into in 2013,
where windows on the one side of the building were to be inoperable and to be able to operate
a takeout restaurant, mainly have people pick up their meals through the window on Fulton Street
in question. Royal Izakaya has been operating a world-class James Beard-recognized Izakaya
and Sushi Room since 2016. This site has long been a restaurant, probably predating the code
in 1933. In 2013, new ownership was preparing to expand the existing restaurant and open a new
restaurant at the site. So even though this was a longstanding restaurant, they had to go to the
zoning board because they were expanding the footprint of the building and that required a
variance. So they had to come back. The original expansion included a proposed row of windows in
New Door on Fulton Street. The row of windows was modified and really had places for windows
for three of them. They got rid of the row. And the proviso letter was entered into when the row
windows and a new door were proposed. The new door in the middle of the building was never
actually built. So that proviso regarding the door from 2013 is moot. The door that does exist
is a longstanding rear door that is used primarily for the trash removal and access to the trash
area. And that hasn't changed. And that doer was not subject to the proviso. As part of the approval,
the owners of the real estate agreed to proviso prohibiting the opening of the windows on Fulton
Street. And at the time of the expansion was completed, use of the windows on Fulton Street
for takeout service or for any other use was not contemplated by the restaurant. So the proviso
had no actual impact on the restaurant at that time. Royal Izekiah opened in 2016. When it opened,
it was operating 63 hours per week, seven days per week, 5 p.m. till 2 a.m. every day.
Royal Izakaya operates a traditional authentic izakaya, which has been described as being
similar to a gastropub, where no reservations are taken in the front of the restaurant,
and there is also a large bar. That's a traditional Japanese izakaya, where you don't
have reservations. You have people show up. It's a very social type of restaurant. In the middle
of the restaurant, there's another seating area in the Omikase room, which is an exclusive
reservation-only, very small dining room with seating for eight people. This small area has
two seatings per night, so it has 16 people that can get reservations on any night and accepts
reservations. It's the only part of the restaurant that accepts reservations because it's an
exclusive room. As with many restaurants, the start of the pandemic and closing in March 22
caused many changes, and the city then permitted them to expand operations in ways that hadn't
been contemplated to permit restaurants to survive. In this case, it including allowing
a license for a temporary sidewalk cafe and takeout service. Royal Zacchaeus took advantage
of these emergency orders and operated the sidewalk cafe and offered takeout service
since indoor dining was prohibited when the restaurant service was first permitted in the
summer of 2020. These emergency provisions permitted Royal Ezekiah to survive the initial
phase of the pandemic. Other than during the emergency order, Royal Ezekiah cannot operate
a sidewalk cafe as a sidewalk on Fulton Street is too narrow for any table seating. And the sidewalk
on Second Street is also too narrow and complicated by a fire hydrant and utility pole. So there's no
space for the people to walk if you have tables. In addition, given the lack of parking on Fulton
Street. It's only six or seven feet wide. And the fire hydrant and utility pole that are on
2nd Street, and the fact that there's no parking in front of Royal Ezekiah, and you have a 15-foot
buffer from the corner anywhere you want to have a streetery, you cannot have a streetery at this
You cannot have a streeterie at this location either.
location either. Streetery is being allowed now in the city.
Streeteries being allowed now in the city, but they cannot take advantage of that.
Outdoor seating is prohibited at the restaurant due to its unique location and dimensions and cannot be offered in the future.
So this helps to create an unnecessary hardship to Royal Izakaya.
When indoor dining was prohibited, Royal Izakaya utilized the window it added to the rear of the restaurant nearest the kitchen for pickup of takeout meals.
In 2022, Royal Ezekiah permitted, applied to be permitted to operate the takeout window and have the proviso regarding the takeout window removed.
Although during the pandemic, the takeout window had been utilized, it is not presently being utilized and has not been utilized since April 16th.
The violation, they received violation for operating the window and it's been timely appealed and the hearing will be scheduled at some point in time before the Board of License and Inspection review regarding the notice of violation.
but that violation was properly appealed and there's been no decision on it the restaurant
industry has changed and the new and the unique physical confines of the building and severe
limitations combined to create an unnecessary hardship to the land that make it impossible
for royal izakaya to operate without the takeout service through the window at the rear of the
property nearest the kitchen as will be shown takeout amounts to approximately 18 to 19 percent
of Royal Izakaya's revenue. As will be explained by both Royal Izakaya personnel and our restaurant
industry expert, John Deutsch, changes in the restaurant industry have mandated that restaurants
that before COVID would have never offered takeout or now that they have to offer takeout
and serve their customers. Many of these customers refuse to eat in restaurants but desire the
ability to continue to purchase prepared meals from restaurants such as Royal Izakaya.
prior to covid royal izakaya operated seven days a week 63 hours per week into until 2 a.m daily
for many reasons as will be explained by our witnesses royal izakaya now operates five days
a week until 10 p.m weekdays and 11 p.m weekends only 27 hours per week which is 60 percent less
than they operated prior to the pandemic expert in late testimony will explain why the takeout
window is the only way for royal izakaya to offer takeout service and why the takeout service is
necessary for Royal Izakaya to remain profitable. Royal Izakaya has received in excess of 100
support emails from nearby neighbors, all personally written. This is not a petition
that somebody signed that a neighbor banged on the door and asked them to sign and they weren't
sure what they were signing. These are personally written emails. Royal Izakaya also attached
comments from the QVNA chat room from the night of the RCO meeting and note that the vast majority
of the comments from the chat room support the takeout window. QVNA did not provide a summary
sheet showing the vote of attendees at the meeting. It stated it doesn't poll attendees to determine
the sentiment of those attending regarding an application. The letter submitted by QVNA is
solely a determination by the QVNA zoning committee and doesn't necessarily reflect the sentiment of
those who attended the QVNA meeting. We have also included some financial information showing the
increase in cost, dramatic increase in costs, despite the significant reduction in hours
and a letter from Royal Izakaya's accountant, which explains why Royal Izakaya really is not
profitable without the takeout service. The testimony will show that there is an unnecessary
hardship to the land unique to this property that justifies the granting of the variance.
With this background, Mr. Chairman, I would like to call my first witness and that's David Frank.
Frank? David?
Mr. Frank, could you state your name and spell, please, for the court reporter?
Excuse me.
I'm sorry, Chair. There's no hands up right now.
Sorry, Chair. Here goes Mr. Frank. Please unmute yourself.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Yes. David Frank, D-A-V-I-D-F-R-A-N-K.
Right. Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And David, are you a principal in the Royal Izakaya restaurant?
How long have you been involved with Royal Izakaya?
About 12 years.
And did Royal Izakaya ever offer pickup or takeout service prior to the pandemic?
No, we did not.
and why not? I was never part of our business model. That wasn't something that would have been
operationally very difficult, and we weren't really interested in doing takeout. We wanted
to focus on the guests inside. And why did Royal Ezekiah offer pickup and takeout service starting
um, offer pickup and takeout service starting in 2020? Uh, because of the COVID-19 pandemic and
in 2020.
the city shutdown orders, uh, but they allowed restaurants to do takeout.
And how did you determine where to locate the pickup window that is a subject of the application?
Uh, it is the location that is closest to, uh, both of our food preparation areas.
the kitchen and the sushi bar and uh it seemed like that was the best location for uh social
distancing health and safety of the community thank you i you know i have no further questions
for mr frank mr chairman i'd like to move on to my next witness if i may cross yeah unless i'm
I'm sorry. Sorry. It's OK. I did not mean to cut you off. No, I know. I just unmuted myself.
So it's OK. OK. Mr. Chairman, may I just briefly? You most certainly can. Go ahead.
Thank you, Mr. Frank. I have just a couple of questions for you. Actually, not many.
You are a principal at Royal Isakaya. Is that right? Yes. OK.
Okay. Do you have an option on your, your lease after this year is done?
I believe so.
Mr. Chairman, they have, they have a lease that was submitted.
I believe they have a, they're in the middle of a five-year term, I believe.
They were just about done that.
I believe it renewed. I believe it renewed a year ago. I could be wrong.
You could be wrong, Mike, and that's okay. And so can I,
But Mr. Frank, as a principal, would know, I would think, if he has an option this year, after this year, to exercise the option to renew.
Mr. Frank, do you know about your option to renew after the end of this year?
We would have to refer to the lease that's been submitted, I suppose.
I believe, Mr. Chairman, the lease does provide options, and it's in the lease.
The lease is a writing.
It speaks for itself, and it's in the record.
Mr. Frank, did you, have you exercised the option?
We've exercised every option at the time that the options were due to be exercised, yes.
Do we have, as part of the record today, an executed option sheet agreeing to?
Mr. Chairman, if the principal says that he's exercised the option, I think that that should suffice and should not go into that.
not go into tangents that have nothing to do with the application i'm going to allow the question
and i'm just asking if we're going to move on the lease is the lease is ending uh so i just want to
know if uh the principal has exercised his option to renew that's all i that's all i need to know
i think he answered that question he says he did but is there any evidence to that in the record
i think he answered the question mr chairman mr frank do you do you have the executed option
renewal do i have it with me right now no or or did you give it to your council
i would may i ask a quick question mr chairman i just want to know did you give it to your
counsel mr frank that's all so i have a simple question listen listen one minute like michael
ask the question if you think it helps yes are you are you also a principal of the owner of the
building yes is the owner has the owner allowed the they also acknowledge the exercise of the
option yes i don't think we need a written written has the option been exercised yes
is there evidence to that yes there is he's testified to it as both a representative of
the owner and the tenant mr chairman okay mr frank another question uh when you change your
operating hours from 60 plus per week to under 30 per week, did you anticipate or foresee a
reduction in revenue? Mr. Frank. Yeah. I'm sorry. Can you repeat the question? Not a problem. Yep.
Sure. When you decided to reduce your hours from 60 hours of service per week to less than 30 hours per week, did you anticipate a reduction? Did you foresee a reduction in your revenue?
That was certainly a possibility, yes.
Okay. I have nothing further.
Okay. I have nothing further.
Okay. Proceed to your next witness, please.
Certainly. Justin Holden.
Hi, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Justin Holden, J-U-S-T-I-N-H-O-L-D-E-N.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And Justin, who's your present employer?
Royal Izakaya.
And what's your position there?
I'm the general manager.
And I think it's already been stated, but what were the days and hours of operation prior to the pandemic?
It was open every day from 5 p.m. until 2 a.m.
And when Royal Izakaya operated seven days a week until 2 a.m., where did customers waiting for a table wait?
um much like they do now they would wait right outside or uh kind of standing or sitting at the
bar inside so prior to the pandemic was it typical to have patrons waiting outside until 1 a.m for a
table seven days a week yeah we served food until 1 a.m so whether they're waiting for a table or
waiting for friends to join um i would say that's very common and when the pandemic hit what happened
to the business? Initially, there was a period where it was completely closed, but a few months
after that, we pivoted to a takeout only model. And what changes did you make to stay in business
as a result of the pandemic? Primarily for a long time, it was the offering of takeout. And then
when we were permitted to, we did have a small sidewalk cafe and eventually some limited capacity
indoor dining. Are you able to operate a sidewalk cafe? Not anymore, no. And are you able to operate
a streetery? No. And how many days and hours per week do you operate presently? We still open at
5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. We're closed Sundays and Mondays. And then we are only open
till 10 or 11 p.m. And why are you limited the days and hours you operate? Primarily because
during the pandemic, the labor market in our industry has completely changed. There's less
people, there's a smaller pool of applicants. So I think that's true across some various industries,
but I think it's definitely more acute in the restaurant industry.
And another reason is that those that do still work in the business,
especially the quality of employees that we're trying to get,
they want a greater quality of life.
And that would include things like less late night hours and a more set schedule.
So we're adjusting to the needs of employees in limiting those hours.
And do you provide pickup and takeout service?
And do you pick up customers pre-order?
Yes, generally ordering online.
And based upon your experience in the business and knowledge of the business, what is the percentage of revenue from takeout?
About 19%.
Has takeout service made it possible to remain in business despite the reduction in days and hours of operation?
Yeah, absolutely. It's another channel of revenue that is kind of filling in the gaps of those less hours.
And what changes did you make inside Royal Azakaya when you were permitted to offer takeout service only in the early part of the pandemic to make it viable to provide takeout service?
um there's some changes to the interior where there's um an area that
was formerly seating that we adapted to make like a takeout preparation area
and also we did invest in a different point of sale system that lets people do online ordering
and pick up you know time to pick up um that we did not have prior to the pandemic
And is this area, do you see where I'm pointing?
Is that the area you're talking about?
I want to go down to the next exhibit, which shows it in greater detail.
And this is the area?
Correct.
And again, explain the things that you did here.
And this is the window in question.
Yeah, that's right.
And so in being able to, like David mentioned, this is right next to.
And being able to, like David mentioned, this is right next to both areas, which food is prepared in, the sushi bar and the kitchen.
And we added things like refrigeration and shelving so that we could, you know, have a counter space to put the orders together and also the appropriate storage for them.
and does the front of the building have a proper area for storage
food storage if people pick it up there it does not
and that shows the front of the building correct yeah and could you modify the front of the
restaurant to handle takeout uh we could not the that the nature of that room um for one is quite
narrow and we already you know obviously the front door is not going to move um so there's
there's not space available um in that room to make those changes so what are these physical
constraints that exist in the building that make it virtually impossible to do takeout through the
front door uh it's a overall very small narrow space um and as i mentioned there's not an ability
to add the type of things that we have in the back of the restaurant such as like you know
any refrigeration or area to store orders that are in process or being completed
yeah so basically just the space and the layout do not allow you know any anything like that in
the front of the building and how are the pickup orders completed if i wanted to do a pickup order
what would i do um by far the most common method is that people utilize is to order them online
and are they prepaid yes and are orders time for efficient pickup yes
and if the pickup window were permitted would there be any ordering at the window would i be
able to walk up to the window and make an order uh no we currently like i said the vast majority
of those orders that come in are online. It's about 95%. And then a small percentage of
people will call and place an order for a scheduled pickup. I would say less than 1%
of our orders are placed in person. And in those cases, we would just direct them inside
to order with like a, you know, a server or a bartender who is more able to handle their
questions and and put an order together for them and please explain the operational constraints
of attempting to have takeout through the front door um the biggest constraint is that it's a
huge bottleneck um so you know with these limited hours you know often especially on weekends
there's there's an influx of people um for those prime dinner times as opposed to having a more
kind of spread out service um so there's there's already an influx of guests looking to dine in at
certain times and to add um people coming in through the front door attempting to you know
pick up their orders is is really increasing to that congestion um additionally it's a
the front of the restaurant is the furthest point from the kitchen so if somebody does come in
through the front door to pick up an order, as we've been doing it now. We have to go greet that
person, find out what their order is, walk back, and then bring it back up front. That whole time
they're standing there increasing the congestion. So it's operationally very inefficient,
and it does lead to that congestion that I mentioned that can tend to kind of spill out
onto the sidewalk. As was noted by QVNA in their letter, um, if you were to have takeout,
which is permitted up to 50% of gross revenues through the front door, where would these patrons
wait? Um, as, as we're getting the order, they would, um, either be directed back outside or
just kind of wait inside and, you know, like I said, contribute to that bottleneck that we have
up front and um does utilizing the uh pickup takeout window permit royal izakaya to operate
both the indoor seating and provide takeout despite the challenges presented by the physical
layout of the building yes definitely the more most efficient way of doing um what we need to do
and i'm going to turn to uh exhibit six which is a letter from your accountant
um did you review this letter yes and his letter accurate yes
is the letter based upon financial records of royal izakaya
Is the letter based upon financial records of Royal Izakaya?
Yes, it is.
And it explains what your profit margin.
So what is your profit margin roughly?
Obviously, it's a low variable month to month, but anywhere from 8% to 15%.
And that's including your takeout?
Including takeout revenue, yes.
Right. And did you appear, did you prepare this expense comparison showing your 2019 expenses compared to your 2022 expenses?
And what does it show?
Well, we've talked about the hours of operation, but as far as the expenses, excuse me, it's showing, you know, in short,
a really significant increase in the dollar amounts on a couple of key categories.
For payroll, as I mentioned earlier, the demand for the wages that are commanded by people,
both hourly and salary, are much higher.
And also, in order to retain quality people, we found it could be a best practice to offer
additional, you know, benefits that both health benefits, 401k, paid time off, things of that
nature that weren't in place or particularly commonplace pre-COVID. In terms of the food
purchase increases, that's driven by a really exorbitant increase in the cost of seafood,
especially the premium seafood that we use, as well as just inflationary costs across the board
and all types of ingredients. And is this report you prepared, is this based upon the financial
records of Royal Ezekiah? Yes, it is. And it's based upon your review of those records? Yes,
it is. And is the need for the takeout window caused by the changes in the restaurant industry,
including people who will not eat in a restaurant, coupled with the inability of Royal Ezekiah to
provide outdoor seating, either sidewalk seating or streetery and the physical conditions of the
building? Yes. And do you still have patrons who refuse to eat in a restaurant because of health
and safety concerns? We do. There's a lot of those patrons, especially our neighbors, as it's
reflected in dozens of those emails that were received. A lot of people really prefer that
option because of their own health situation or those of a close, you know, relative.
And on top of that, you know, not only do they prefer to have takeout, but they greatly
prefer the takeout window, which does not require going inside at all.
And does the ability to offer pickup and takeout meals permit you to serve patrons who will
not eat in a restaurant?
Is the ability to serve these patrons important to the viability of Royal Izzakaya?
Yes, definitely.
Are the circumstances particular to 780 South 2nd Street and not to other restaurants in the area?
yeah our particular um building size and layout i would say is unique as well as
the fact that um after our temporary sidewalk cafe permit is expiring at the end of this year
uh of the industry affected just about just about every restaurant um and or you know uh food and
beverage uh facility in the city oh yeah every in some way different different ways to different
types of restaurants probably but yes okay so the market challenges that you're experiencing
are pretty much uh industry-wise right the rise in costs and all this other stuff is that right
yeah inflationary you know costs and payroll increases are industry-wide sure
when you adjusted and changed your operating hours from 60 plus hours a week to under 30
hours a week did you anticipate or foresee a reduction in revenue
um to be honest i i feel like we were kind of just operating it was really like you know fly
by night kind of situation when when the covid restrictions were changing every day so yeah i
think it's definitely a known possibility that that revenue would decrease but um the decisions
that we were making were based upon, like, how do we stay in business? We found that this was
pretty much the maximum amount of operation that we could comfortably do with our staff.
So attention kind of turned to making the most of that.
Thank you. Prior to March of 2020, did you serve alcohol till 2 a.m.?
And did alcohol sales contribute to a, you know, a substantially percentage of the revenue?
Yeah, about the same proportion it does now, I would say.
As the same as it does now?
Probably not exactly the same.
OK, because when do you stop serving alcohol right now?
I'm sorry.
At what time do you stop serving alcohol right now?
Either 10 or 11 p.m.
So you're losing about three to four hours of alcohol service.
Is that correct right now?
Yeah, compared to the past, yes, as well as food service.
Okay, very good.
I have nothing else.
You have another witness?
Yes, may Mr. Holden be excused because he's got to get over to the restaurant.
Is that okay, Mr. Chairman?
And Vern, are that okay?
Yes, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right, Jonathan Deutsch?
is this your last witness uh yes he is okay
mr deutz please unmute yourself hi could you state your name is spelled for the court reporter
please yes jonathan deutz j-o-n-a-t-h-a-n deutz d-e-u-t-s-c-h do you swear a firm to tell
the truth. The whole truth is nothing but the truth. I do. Proceed. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I have your CV on the screen. It's exhibit three of the materials we provided. Is it reasonably
accurate in terms of your professional background? Yes. And please summarize your background relevant
to the testimony you're going to offer today. I'm a chef and professor of culinary arts in the
Department of Food and Hospitality Management at Drexel University. I'm a graduate of the
Culinary Institute of America, and I've worked in numerous restaurant and food service settings,
both in the U.S. and abroad, as a cook, chef, and manager. Among these experiences was a year
working in a restaurant in Japan, where I gained familiarity with izakaya operations and other
Japanese restaurant service styles. I earned my PhD in food studies and food management at New
York University. And as I mentioned, I'm currently a professor in food and hospitality management at
Drexel University. Among my duties there is supervising the food service practicum, which
has me in a variety of food service settings. And I'm a columnist for restaurant business and food
service director magazines. And you've testified before this board in the past as an expert,
correct? Correct. Yeah. And you were retained to conduct a review of the operations of the
restaurant known as Royal Sushi and Izakaya to evaluate its application for approval to include
a pickup service through a window on Fulton Street. Is that correct? Correct. Are you familiar
with the Royal Izakaya restaurant? Yes. Have you visited the restaurant? I visited many times as a
guest and fan of the restaurant. And then most recently on December 2nd, specifically to look at
the um takeout window and um current layout and current operations and uh in addition to your
In addition to your visits to the restaurant, what have you done to prepare for your testimony today?
visits to the restaurant what have you done to prepare for your testimony today uh
I visited, I interviewed Mr. Holden and also Mr. Frank to get their perspective on the operations, and I reviewed numerous documents.
And what information did you review?
I reviewed a letter from Councilmember Skwila regarding the continuance, the letter from the Queen Village Neighbors Association Zoning Committee, the original zoning and related permitting documents, the notice of refusal,
um the many support letters uh to council member squilla in support of the variance
um the the relevant codes uh that you provided um the emails that the exhibits that you showed
regarding the expense breakdowns and operating hour changes um i also reviewed uh mr anastasio's
exhibits and the letter uh from anastasio lot of the zoning board uh the qbna chat room that you
mentioned and showed as an exhibit, and also the letter from Gerber Accounting and Tax Services
that you showed as an exhibit. Did you prepare a written report of your assessment and conclusions
related to this matter, a copy of which is included as Exhibit 4 and which is up on the screen? Yes.
And based upon your review and analysis of the current conditions affecting Royal Ezekiah
and its operations, as well as the physical conditions related to the restaurant, do you
have an opinion whether this application for approval of takeout window service should be
granted by the board? Yes. And what's your opinion? My opinion is that the use of the takeout window
should be allowed. And explain your basis for your opinion. There are a number of reasons I think that
inform that opinion. One is that the current takeout situation through the front door or
getting someone's attention through the window and waiting for someone to come out with an order
is cumbersome, both for staff and for guests. In addition to that, the Queen Village Neighbors
Association cited congestion as a problem and a reason to oppose the window. But actually,
if anything, I think the current takeout structure without the use of the window would
exacerbate that congestion rather than alleviating it, which is the goal, because people have to
wait a number of minutes for those orders through either that South 2nd Street congested front
entrance or waiting for someone to come out after they are seen at the window, which isn't allowed
to open. So I think those, those are the kind of the first, first set of concerns. The, the takeout
area that has been, has been put in place is really optimal from a food safety and guest service
perspective. It's as, as others have mentioned, proximate to both the, the sushi area and the
hot kitchen. It has refrigeration. So from a food safety perspective and an efficiency perspective,
it really can take the pickup of a takeout order from a matter of minutes to a matter of seconds,
which multiplied over tens of orders per evening, representing, as Mr. Holden said,
a significant part of the revenue I think makes it more efficient for everyone and as I mentioned
would alleviate that congestion. Are you aware that when Royal Ezekiah received its initial
permit in 2013 it had a condition prohibiting the window on Fulton Street from opening? Yes.
And under current conditions is this prohibition still reasonable? I don't believe it is.
excuse me and why not um because royal izakaya is not a typical takeout restaurant or drive-through
um you know not not all restaurant takeout windows are are created equal so if if this were a pizza
place or a cheesesteak or water ice place it would be a different type of takeout window where
People would order at the counter, wait a few minutes while their order is being prepared, maybe eat nearby at picnic benches or on the street, maybe unfortunately litter around the neighborhood or use the receptacles provided by the restaurant.
or use the receptacles provided by the restaurant.
That's not.
That's not the structure of the takeout process here at Royal Sushi and Izakaya.
So as Mr. Holden mentioned, the vast majority of the orders are prepaid and ordered online,
and guests are given a time window to pick up that order.
Mr. Mattione, we had that testimony already. He's just repeating what the person before him said. So maybe we could just focus a little bit more about the work.
Let me move on a little bit then, Mr. Chairman. And I guess, let me move down a little bit, Mr. Chairman.
uh so is we've there's been testimony that they cannot have outdoor seating uh um john so is
allowing the fulton street in the window to operate a viable and reasonable alternative
to providing the prohibited outdoor seating yes and why is that well because um the outdoor
seating is not allowed after the end of this month, based on the emergency order, that will
be a way for the restaurant to capture revenue and also to accommodate diners who are not
comfortable eating inside. Let me skip down a little bit. Taking into consideration your
knowledge of changed circumstances since the pandemic and of dramatic increases in food and
wages, even with a drastic reduction in operating hours, is it reasonable to prohibit the use of
the Fulton Street window for pickup? No. And why not? As was previously mentioned,
there is a labor shortage that is preventing many restaurants from operating their full
complement of hours. There's a monthly survey that the National Restaurant Association conducts,
And their most recent data found that 60% of restaurants reduced hours and 38% closed on days that they had previously been open.
So, and while many of us think of the pandemic as being over, as we're seeing from current cases, and also from comments from the letters, many people don't feel comfortable in a restaurant and are relying on takeout to have those experiences.
So moving on a little bit. Trying to have pickup delivery, I'm sorry, pickup or takeout through the front door. And I've got some photos up that I believe you took. What problems does this create? Why doesn't this work?
Well, first of all, it defeats the purpose if someone is trying to avoid indoor dining for their health and safety or the safety of their family.
Coming into a crowded restaurant, and this was the Friday, December 2nd when I visited, you can see it's very busy, you know, doesn't solve that problem for them.
Further, you see about eight or 10 people in front of the door waiting for a table.
So, as I mentioned previously, it will take a few minutes or maybe longer for an additional guest in that throng of people to find a staff member, explain that they're there to pick up takeout,
then wait for their takeout to be carried to them from the opposite end of the restaurant
and then navigate that crowd to get back out to South 2nd Street or they'll be waiting on
South 2nd Street while someone comes out with their order. So I think this is, if anything,
going to exacerbate any perceived congestion rather than alleviating it.
and moving on i just want to pull up exhibit 12 briefly um again i know mr holton testified about
this but uh you see where the uh pickup window would be um is this really the only viable option
available for this kind of a pickup window at this restaurant i believe it is and why is that
um the front area in the picture you just showed does not have a host stand or any sort of
you know, waiting area like you might find it at a suburban chain restaurant where you have ample
space and that kind of model. That's very traditional with the izakaya format, which is
which is an informal drop-in type establishment and not a reservation type establishment.
an informal drop-in type establishment.
Also, there's no storage area in the front for those takeout containers.
The seating in the small, narrow restaurant goes right up to the front door.
So I don't see any other solution besides this really optimal takeout area that's been constructed.
True. So prior to the pandemic, did Royal Ezekiah patrons typically wait out out front of the building late at night, one in the morning, midnight, one in the morning?
Yes. And does that presently occur? No. Why not? Because of the reduced hours.
And I believe I asked that. Is it reasonable to expect Royal Ezekiah to be able to operate 63 hours a week as it did prior to the pandemic?
No. Why not?
It's, as I mentioned, there are staffing shortages, which is an industry-wide phenomenon, but exacerbated in Philly, one of the things that hasn't been mentioned is there's been a rise in crime in the last year or so, year or two, and many restaurant workers report not feeling safe going home after midnight.
And it's tough to find, you know, reliable transportation that late at night. And so, in addition to the quality of life concerns that Mr. Holden mentioned, almost every restaurant I talked to says we would love to be open more, whether that's for lunch or seven days or Tuesdays and so on.
Um, but it's, it's, um, remains a challenging environment to do that, uh, from a staffing
perspective. And did you review the reasons given by the QVNA zoning committee for opposing this
application? I did. And, and what were their reasons? Um, the, the primary reason was the, um,
concerns about pedestrian and vehicular congestion um i did see that that area is um congested
especially on a busy you know friday or saturday night i visited on a on a friday night prime time
you know deliberately to see it you know sort of at its uh at its worst potentially
maybe i'm wrong but i i understand his knowledge about restaurants but i i'm not sure about
trafficking outside of the restaurant i don't i don't know that i don't see where his testimony
is relevant i think i think it is relevant first of all he can testify about the patrons waiting
outside because he can and i think he can testify about the the pictures that he took when he was
there and at least explain the situation like the testimony about the people outside waiting
when he showed his photos of everybody waiting inside sure i'm just confused well no it's it's
there's there's different there's different testimony there mr chairman one is about
yeah and and all i'm saying is i i don't i don't think that what if you if he wants to talk about
the restaurant i don't know that he can comment on traffic outside the place and people i i just
don't i i don't i don't see the weight of his testimony about what's going on outside
all right that's fine mr mr chairman let me move on uh john and if you review the concerns
expressed by Mr. Anastasio and his submissions to the board? I have. And what were those concerns?
The main concern was that this takeout window, which Mr. Anastasio repeatedly refers to as a
McDonald's style takeout window, could, you know, have some sort of, you know, slippery slope where
it becomes, you know, a pizza place or a fast food place, and there will be all manner of people
sort of hanging out in front of the window waiting for their order.
And finally, do you have an opinion to a reasonable degree of professional certainty,
whether the current circumstances and conditions have created an unnecessary hardship sufficient
to justify this board in granting relief to Royal Sushi and Izakaya to remove the prohibition of
using Fulton Street window as a takeout window. Yes. And what's that opinion? It's my opinion
that refusing the variance requested by Royal Sushi and Izakaya will not be successful in
alleviating congestion, but would contribute to it while concurrently frustrating guests and staff
with this operation. Because of the inability to have outdoor seating, for the reasons we discussed,
coupled with the long and narrow restaurant, the location of the kitchen, and the lack of
and the lack of an indoor waiting area, there's an unnecessary hardship to the land that I think
an indoor waiting area, there's an unnecessary hardship to the land that I think just
justifies the granting of the requested variance to permit the use of the window on Fulton Street.
Thank you. I have no further questions, Mr. Chairman. Okay, any more witnesses?
I have no additional witnesses, Mr. Chairman. How many witnesses do you have?
Oh, just one. Okay, how long do you think it'll take?
uh between my argument and the witness maybe 20 minutes okay so i i think what i'm going to do is
have a resumptive hearing i'm going to continue this well mr chair i i wouldn't be against that
but the problem is is that the applicant continues to to operate in violation of the provisor i do
not operate in violation of the provisor so so what i'm going to do is i'm going to
hillary can we get this back as quick as possible so two things i mean i don't i don't see much
longer but what i don't want to do is hold the staff here any longer than we're here already
and we do need to have public testimony and i expect there will be significant public testimony
that's right um so two so two things one i think we should finish with this witness and have any
crossed and redirects um second the earliest resumption date we currently have right now
is um excuse me one moment um march 22nd at two o'clock mr chair we are we are i'm sorry as we
are for all our special sessions for january and february are already full um so that is the next
available date um that i have been given so i mean i really finished with this there's going
to be people who want to testify here there's going to be a lot of audience and i just i got
to be fair to the people that work at the zoning board i understand if you want to finish if you
want to finish the testimony with this person verne i'll cross mr chairman but why don't we
i have to object to a march hearing because my my clients and 20 families are living with this day
in and day out. And for them to have to suffer this for another three and a half months, it's
just, it's so I will just disagree with the characterization, Mr. Chairman. Okay. Okay.
Why don't you cross examine? Okay, Mr. Chairman. Dr. Deutsch, thank you for your time.
Your report indicated that the negative and adverse impacts of COVID, the circumstances and impacts were industry-wide.
Do you still believe that to be true?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
And are you familiar with other Philadelphia restaurants in the immediate area?
Okay, good.
So you've heard of places like the Villa de Roma, Dante and Luigi's, and Ralph's.
Is that correct?
I have.
And are you aware that they operate in excess of 60 hours per week currently?
I'm not aware of the hours of each restaurant.
I want to make sure, Mr. Chairman, is the doctor under oath?
Was he sworn in?
Okay, very good.
Just want to make sure of that.
Doctor, are you aware if the operators of this, of Royal, engaged a restaurant designer to see if they could accommodate both sit down and take out service from the front of the building?
I'm not aware whether they have or not.
Are you aware that the Fulton Street congestion that we will be presenting later on in this hearing existed while the existing window was in operation?
Were you aware of that?
I'm not aware of the timing of the operation of the window or the dates of the exhibits.
And finally, how much are you being paid for your testimony today, sir?
I'm being paid $300 per hour.
Thank you.
nothing further you have any cross i have no further no no redirect no redirect okay so
there's going to be a resumptive hearing we'll give you the date hillary we don't have the date
right now do we yeah the the the date that we have currently and we'll put on the record for
right now is March 22nd, 2023 at 2 p.m. Mr. Chairman, what happens in the interim
with my clients having to deal with the adverse impact of this scaffold? Mr. Chairman, we have
Mr. Chairman, we have stated and they stated on the record that they do not serve food out of the window.
stated and they stated on the record that they do not serve food.
And that is what they're right. They serve food out of the rear door, which is also a prohibition on the proviso.
First of all, there's no proviso with respect to the rear door.
There's a proviso. At this point, at this point, at this point, we're talking about the window, whether the window is the right place, whether that's right or not.
Mr. Chair, the proviso also indicates that the door should only be used for a certain purpose, and the purpose they're using it for is outside of the scope.
That's an incorrect statement.
So listen, listen, we're going to end the case right now.
I mean, we'll have a resumptive hearing.
If we could find a better date, we find a better date.
I'll do it Tuesday if necessary, but thank you.
Thank you.
Thank both of you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Is there anyone else from the 3.30 list case still being waiting to hear?
Chair, we have Greg, last name beginning with a D.
Greg, state your name, please.
I'm sorry, Mr. Chair, I believe this is one of the Protestants represented by Mr. Anastasio.
Okay, all right, well, okay.
okay any other cases not this case here any other cases i see no answer okay thank you all
thank you very much thanks to the staff i appreciate you staying um thank you mr chairman
hey thank you thank you a lot of words everybody thank you thank you mr chairman thank you captain