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