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?