we have begun
okay chair let's see we are
they're piling in now so you can start in about one minute sir
sure i'm fine
Good morning, everyone.
my name is bill bergman and i will be chairing this morning's dba hearings with me is carol
tenary our vice chair present ismael shaheed our board secretary present thomas holliman
our board member president mr chairman and james snell our board member
jim's there yeah present also thank you also our board administrator tanya sunkett is here
and sherman toppen is our attorney so before we begin here's our virtual format be advised
these proceedings are being recorded by participating you acknowledge your agreement
to be recorded. A video will be available by contacting tonyasunkett at phila.gov.
For the benefit of our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves
before testifying. If you are participating in my phone, if you wish to testify, press star 9
to raise your hand and star six to unmute. To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548.
Leave your email and the address of the property in question. And lastly, please note the question
and answer box on your screen is not for testimony or comments. Any comments should be directed to
Tanya Sunkett, our board administrator. So let's start with continuances. And I have number four
on our list. MI 2021-003-723-1819 Gregg Street. That is continued. Is there anyone in the virtual
audience who has comments
relative to that?
I see no hands at this time,
Chair. So 1819
Gregg Street is continued. Are there any
other requests for continuances
or withdrawals in the
audience?
Chair,
we have Sloan folks.
Mr. Folks, you can unmute yourself
and wait for the chair good morning chairman bergman zba board good morning sir my name is
spelled s-l-o-a-n-e f as the fire o-l-k-s representing the office of councilwoman
maria quinones sanchez 7th district room 508 city hall all right do you swear or firm to tell the
truth the whole truth is nothing but the truth i do sir thank you go ahead mr folks proceed
regard regarding case mi-2021-003715 uh 414 east roosevelt boulevard our office uh would like to
request that this case be continued the applicants uh reached out to our office um they were unable
to get in touch with the RCO. They had the wrong contact. They were given the wrong contact information
for the RCO. We were able to connect them to the proper RCO. They will be having a meeting sometime
in February. Thank you. Thank you very much. So MI 2021 003715 414 East Roosevelt Boulevard.
That will be continued. Is there anyone else in the audience, virtual audience,
who has comments relative to that case.
Chair, we have someone by the name of Luz Noah.
Mr. or Ms. Noah, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Could you state your name and spell it for our stenographer?
Could you state your name and spell it for us?
Luce, are you there?
You have to unmute yourself.
I don't see any more hands, Chair.
They put their hand down.
They're here.
I'm sorry.
Luz, can you speak?
Luz, could you state your name and spell for the stenographer?
I'm sorry, sir.
Before she begins, do you have on two devices?
I'm representing the 414 East Roosevelt Boulevard.
That's being continued because you're going to meet with the RCO, I understand.
Yes, yes.
Okay, thank you so much.
No, Chair, I don't think it's for this case.
I think she wants another case.
I see. Okay. Can you state the address you are speaking to?
What, the other address?
Yes, the address that you would like to continue.
For continuing, 414 East Roosevelt Boulevard.
That's it. Okay, thank you.
Thank you.
Are there any other requests for continuances?
i see no hands at this time chair good so we're going to go to our regular list
and we're going to uh
we're going to combine four cases one two nine and ten so m i m i 2021
003736, 148 West Cumberland.
Number two, MI 2021 003745, 152 West Cumberland Street.
And here, MI 2021 003746, 2503 North Hancock Street.
and MI 2021-003784-2505
North Hancock Street.
We have letters from the RCO
in all four cases.
Lynn Nichols is the attorney.
Chair, I see no hands up at this time.
Lynn Nichols, please raise your hand for your cases.
Ms. Nichols is coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Good morning, Ms. Nichols.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Could you state your name and spell for our court reporter?
Yes, Lynn Nichols, L-Y-N-N, last name N-I-C-H-O-L-S.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Hi, good morning.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes. And it appears based on our notes that everything has been submitted as required. Is
that correct? That is correct. Thank you. Okay, you may proceed. Good morning, Mr. Chair, Madam
Vice Chair. As I stated, my name is Lynn Nichols. My bar number is 64598. I'm here on behalf of
Norris Square Community Alliance. And I would like to ask the members of the board how you'd like me
to proceed with these four matters. Since they are similar in terms of the project,
is it acceptable to you if I just go through one of the packets and then have a witness
our design professional testify as to the particular response that we have regarding
the L&I refusals?
That's fine.
Okay, thank you so much. And I just wanted to make sure we have a witness who
will come on, Jeremy Avellino. I'm hoping he's still in the waiting room because I know that
I got a message that he might have been kicked out. At this time, may I proceed with my presentation?
Proceed.
All right. I'm going to share my screen.
Can everyone see what I have on my screen here?
I think you got to open it up a little bit more.
All right.
Is that better?
That's better.
Great.
All right.
So as you see, we are seeking a variance to erect four multi-family units at one of
148 West Cumberland, 152 West Cumberland, 2503 North Hancock, and 2505 North Hancock.
Inside, you will see an order.
I hope my computer will work properly.
The NARS Square Community Alliance Intake Form.
The Zoning and Use Application.
the petition of appeal form, the project information form, the deed,
The certificate of tax clearance.
These are color photographs of the property in question here, which is 148 and 152 West
Cumberland.
The view you see here is looking to the right of both of those properties.
The second photograph is a view facing the two locations of 148 and 152 West Cumberland
Street.
These are the impacted neighbors.
This is the proof of mailing, the zoning notice, the L&I refusal,
the site plan, and we have a proviso. At this time, I would like to call as a witness Jeremy
Avellino, who is the design professional that will testify with regard to the proviso that was
prepared in response to the L&I refusal, beginning with 148 West Cumberland Avenue.
Is Jeremy Avellino available?
Mr. Avellino, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Yes, I'm here.
Mr. Avellino, state your name and spell for the court reporter, please.
Jeremy Avellino, J-E-R-E-M-Y-A, V as in Victor, E-L-L-I-N-O.
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Mr. Avellino, would you please address the members of the board and explain to them with regard to the first property here, 148 West Cumberland Avenue,
the details that you have in the proviso with regard to the site plan in response to the LNI
refusal for this location. Sure. For 148 West Cumberland, we received three notes from the
plans reviewer. And the first note was that a two-family youth is not allowed on this land.
per table 146021 the allowed number of dwelling units is one where we are proposing two so that
generator did refusal and our response was to seek a variance for that use because we exceeded
the minimum occupied yeah the minimum area of the lot number two the originally designed
parapet walls in the front extended up to 42 inches i'm sorry 48 inches and that exceeded
the minimum 42 inches allowed we responded by revising the design of the parapet wall down to
36 inches which is below 42 inches and therefore allowed by code and the third note was to revise
the site plan in response to that and so we we did revise that site plan and that should be what you
are looking at the areas that are bubbled there show where we made our changes any questions for
for 148 west cumberland any questions from the board no mr chairman okay um with your permission
No, Mr. Chairman.
With your permission, I'll proceed to 152 West Cumberland.
I'll proceed to.
Thank you.
Mr. Evelino, would you please describe for the board the response of the, with regard to the site plan for 152 West Cumberland?
Sure. This design is exactly the same as 148 West Cumberland. It was a different reviewer,
but we only had one comment that generated a refusal, and that is that a two-family use
is not allowed because the size of the lot doesn't allow more than one dwelling unit.
So we're seeking a variance for the proposed two-family use.
And is that what is reflected here?
we were also ended up making similar changes to match the design for 148 in the change of the
parapet which changed the overall height of the building as well so the changes are reflected in
that even though it wasn't required to seek a variance we wanted the design to be the same
Are there any questions?
Any questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
We're now proceeding to 2503 North Hancock Street.
Mr. Avellino, would you please describe the site plan here in response to the L&I refusal
for this location?
So, for 2503 North Hancock, the first note that we received from the reviewer just said
that a streets approval is required to grant the zoning permit.
And we received our streets approval as that was under review and we provided that information
to the plans reviewer.
The second note was similar to the first two in that a two-family use is not allowed because
of the size of the lot which is slightly different from the first two but but still did not meet the
requirement so we're seeking a variance for the proposed two-family use and we ended up again
making changes to the parapet height which which reduced the overall building height
and just to be consistent with the with the other designs thank you are there any questions
no questions we'll now proceed to 2505 north hancock street
and mr avelino would you please describe this site plan in response to the ellen i
refusal for this location yes so the first note we received from the plans reviewer was similar
to the others and that a two-family use is not allowed because of the size of the lot
So we're seeking a variance for the proposed two-family use. The second note, again, was
referring to the parapet height was higher than allowed by code. As per the others, we reduced
the parapet height to 36 inches and the building height is now 32 feet 3 inches. And that is
reflected in the plan, similar to the others. The third note, similar to the last one, was that
streets department approval is required to grant a zoning permit and that approval was granted
as it was under review and we provided that information back to the reviewer
thank you are there any questions any questions from the board no sir i have no further questions
of this witness i'd ask that he be excused sure thank you thank you um at this time i would like
to introduce into the record the four summaries that were provided by the RCO with regard to these
properties that weren't available at the time that I forwarded the packet to the board.
In addition, I'd like to now call Jesse Hunting.
Mr. Hunting should be in the waiting room. Mr. Hunting, please unmute yourself or wait for the chair.
okay mr hunting state your name and spell it for the court reporter please
sure jesse hunting and that's j-e-s-s-e and then hunting h-u-n-t-i-n-g all right do you swear or
affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do proceed thank you
Mr. Hunting, would you please state your title for the record?
Vice President of Finance and Real Estate at Norris Square Community Alliance.
And are you here on behalf of NARA Square Community Alliance?
And are you here on behalf of Norris Square Community Alliance?
Mr. Hunting, have you heard the presentation and the testimony provided today with regard to 148 West Cumberland Street, 152 West Cumberland Street, 2503 North Hancock Street, and 2505 North Hancock Street?
I have.
And do you agree with the presentation and testimony given here today for the properties that were previously noted?
Yes, I do.
And do you accept the presentation and the testimony on behalf of Norris Square Community Alliance?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
At this time, Mr. Chair and Madam Vice Chair, it would be the request on behalf of Norris Square Community Alliance to grant the variances as noted.
And at this time, I would respectfully close my presentation.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have slow folks with this hand up.
Mr. Folks, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
uh good morning again chairman uh bergman and zba board sloan folks uh office of councilman
maria canada sanchez 7th district from 508 city hall mr folks you've already been sworn
yes sir the applicant uh having met with the coordinating rco and receiving a letter of
support uh the councilman has no opposition to the granting of this various request thank you
Thank you. Any other comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Andrea Bibiloni. Ms. Bibiloni, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Good morning, Chair Bergman and members of the committee.
Could you state your name and then spell it for our court reporter?
Sure thing. Andrea Bibiloni, A-N-D-R-I-A, last name B-I-B-I-L-O-N-I.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you. Proceed.
Good morning. I'm a resident of the 2400 block of North Hancock Street, and I'm also here as the co-chair of the North Square Community Alliance RCO Zoning Committee.
And I just wanted to be here this morning to express the committee's support for this project.
Our committee scrutinized this proposal just as we would a proposal from any other development team.
The team generously met with us three times for pre-zoning, zoning, and a follow-up conversation about the programmatic goals of this affordable housing development.
We appreciate the difficulty of putting together a truly affordable housing project, and we need more projects like this in our community.
I just wanted to, again, express our support. We are so excited about this development proposal, and we hope that you will grant the variance.
Thank you very much for calling in. Any other comments from the virtual audience?
I'll show you no hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Good morning, Chair Bergman. Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, H-E-G-A-R-T-U-Y.
do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes sir i do proceed thank you sir uh chair bergman if it pleases the board um i would just
want to recap for the record the uh variances that are now on the table here uh following the
revisions that were made post refusal if there's any corrections um we can uh ask the applicant
just to correct me, but I'll go through my understanding. 148 West Cumberland Street,
the sole remaining refusal is for two-family use in a single-family district. 152 West Cumberland
Street, two refusals remain multifamily use in a single-family district and open area.
And the remaining two, 2503 and 2505 North Hancock Street, each have a single refusal for
multi-family use in single family district is that correct
that is correct thank you miss nixles miss nixles i appreciate that um city planning commission
recommendation on these i'll combine there's a pending zoning map amendment from various zoning
districts all to rm1 at each of these four locations in accord with a neighborhood remapping
that is in in committee with city council at the moment the proposed use is consistent with
The proposed use is consistent with the pending zoning district, and so the City Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant the variances in each of these four cases.
the pending zoning district and so the city planning commission
Thank you, Ian. I'll list all four, then we'll vote. MI 2021 003736148 West Cumberland. MI 2021 003745152 West Cumberland.
MI 2021-003746-2503-North Hancock, and MI 2021-003784-2505-North Hancock.
I vote yes to all four with proviso relative to the height in the parapet that was changed.
Carol Tenere, my vote is yes with provisos on all four.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes to all four with proviso.
James Snell, yes with proviso to all four.
Ishmael Shaheed, yes with all four with proviso.
Thank you, Ms. Nichols. Thank you very much.
Thank you. May I be excused?
Absolutely.
Thank you.
Okay. Number three, 2021-003721, 1716 North Uvier Street.
Zin Jin is the attorney. There's three different RCOs. One is in opposition. Two are in support.
I'm sorry, Chair, this is Tanya.
I'm the administrator.
My question to you all is, were you going to put the proviso for revised plans on?
I did.
If you could just state that for the record, please.
Or Sherman.
Sherman, what I stated was proviso change of height relative to the parapet that was changed on all four.
yes that's correct um there was a vote i think each of the council persons did say yes with
the proviso regarding the change reflected in the plans of the parapet okay thank you just to add to
the record chair so it's very clear for all it's yes with revised plans one page yep thank you very
kindly that has to go into decisions i just wanted to be clear thank you
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Zinn has been promoted to panelists.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Yes. Good morning. Zinn-Zinn, Z-H-E-N-J-I-N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 1838, Philadelphia PA, 19103, here on behalf of the applicant.
You should allow her to read your paper before she left.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, sir.
Carol has a few questions for you.
Hi, Mr. Jinn.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
It appears that we have all of the documents required.
Is that correct?
That is correct.
You may proceed.
Thank you.
I'm going to share with the board the information we submitted relating to this case.
can the board see the uh exhibits before you yes thank you so we have submitted copies of the
refusal um one of the uh coordinating rco which is beach community services issued a letter in
opposition and i will address these the opposition letter in a minute we also submitted photos plans
tax clearance and other documentation i want to first point out that this is an rm1 zoned
district, we are proposing basically a subdivision of what was once a consolidated double lot
back to two lots, and then having one on each lot a duplex, which the use itself would be by right.
As you can see, all of our variances before you are dimensional in nature. That is because
the lots on this block, North Bovier, are smaller in size. What we are actually doing is to make the
lots more consistent to what are existing on the block versus allowing what is essentially a double
lot in the middle of the block being built with the original by right project of a quadplex with
a much wider front. Beach Interplex issued a letter in opposition indicating they were attaching an
explanation of their rationale. However, no attachment was with my copy of the letter. I
don't know if the board got any rationale from them. My understanding at the meeting,
At the meeting, they did not actually give us specific objections other than that, you know, additional student housing development in the area they're not in support of.
they did not actually give us specific objections.
So I'm not sure what their exact reasoning for opposition is.
However, Friends of 47th Ward and also MAP Holistic CDC, both of which are RCOs in the area, affected RCOs, are in support because they saw our project, which shows that we're actually proposing a much better design than what the original design from the by right would be.
So with relating to the project, what we're proposing is essentially two separate units subdividing the lots into original width of what most of the other lots on the street would be, about 14 and a half feet wide.
The depth, the width, and the overall size of the lots are constrained by the lot size and constrained by the overall block lot sizes.
So we're not doing anything unusual here.
In fact, what we are doing is to put this lot back to what it was on the block.
Having these kind of super wide buildings filling in the middle of the block is unusual on this block, on this side, because all the other houses are basically smaller width.
My client actually saw the original project approval and did not like the 38-foot floor design and rather would lower it to the 35-foot being proposed here, which is more consistent with the block, making it look more consistent with the block on width, height, and design, maintaining the duplex use, which is by right in itself.
However, by taking a whole floor off and changing the layout, he is asking for a slightly slight bit of variance on both the rear yard size and the rear yard and the complete open space requirements.
But I do want to point out also that even with those variances, this two buildings will be completely consistent to both 1714, which is currently approved for the same exact open space and rear yard, as well as the building on the other side.
And from a height standpoint, it would also be consistent to what would become 1714 and also other three stories that are on the block.
So based on that, both MAP and the ward, 47th ward, were in support.
From the interior layout standpoint, it is basically a duplex, three stories, and split
into two units, one unit on the first floor and basement.
The second unit is the second and third floor.
Complete height is 35 feet with an accessible roof deck that is set back.
on both ends. And again, the design here is very consistent to what else is on the block.
It is consistent to the RM1 use. The only variances we are seeking essentially would be the lock
being smaller than what is required by code and the dimensional variance for the open space
coverage as well as six foot versus nine foot rear yard. So I would ask the board's favorable
consideration for this particular request and again this is a dimensional variance that is
required due to the smaller overall lot size once subdivided and it is again very consistent to what
is in the area on the block. So that is the same reason that both MAP and 47th Ward issued their
support mainly because they see this is not unusual and out of place and it's consistent to
what is being used on the block and how it's designed so i'll be happy to answer any questions
or redirect to any particular part of the exhibit for the board is your client here
i believe mr copa should be present alex can you raise your hand virtually so that you can be
identified? I'm sorry, if the board would allow me as an officer in court. Yeah, that's fine.
That's fine. Questions from the board? No, Mr. Chairman. No. No. Questions or comments from the
virtual audience? Chair, we have someone by the name of Bernard Savage. Mr. Savage, you can
unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
hello hi mr savage could you state your name and spell for the court reporter yes my name
is bernard savage i am with beach interplex and we're a non-profit at 15 10 seas will be more
avenue um mr savage spell your name please oh yes sir b-e-r-n-a-r-d
Bernard Savage, S-A-V-A-G-E. Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth? Yes. Proceed, sir. Okay. We also met with Mr. Zinn and his client,
and overall design and the layout and everything was good. However, our main issue was concerning
the bedroom counts. And as I understand it, the first unit has two bedrooms in it. The upper
bi-level has four bedrooms in it. And for our position historically, and as I understand the
code, that the limit is three bedrooms. The concern is that we approve this. Now this opens up the
floodgates for developers coming in wanting to do four, five, six bedrooms. The push also has been
by beach the community and it's our understanding the council person that they they were not
supporting or pushing um student housing we haven't we feel we have an overabundance of student
housing we feel that the need to provide affordable housing for families um is where the present um
effort and activities should be um these units are nicely laid out for their use but they're laid
out for students they're not laid out for families and the other concern is
that if this and we've seen it already if this client cannot secure the
students or the population that they're promoting or targeting they usually tend
to go to another population and that normally tends to be a program which
brings other programs into the neighborhood that's not family-oriented.
I would object to that particular characterization.
That's very speculative.
I sustain your objection.
I understand.
Proceed, Mr. Savage.
Yes, it is speculative.
But if you ask the client how many affordable housing units or families do they rent to,
they're doing others.
And we've been doing this for some time here.
this is the norm and understood it's a business model and that's the clients
business they need to get an investment they want to return an investment so and
also we were okay with three bedrooms and that was a conversation that came up
in the in the presentation the architects said they can do a redesign to
do three and three there was no issue with that for us our issue is four
bedrooms now opens up the gates for other developers to have a a precedence
say hey you did it for them why can't we do it so that was our main objection to this layout design
works good three bedrooms we have no issues the owner said he wanted four bedrooms and that's
what the owner wanted he wouldn't change thank you mr savage mr jin you want to respond to that
yes um as far as the bedroom count the layout the original layout and i'll share with the board the
the application again so that we can see
so I believe Mr. Savage is mentioning is the layout here for the bedroom count I believe that
if if it's solely a bedroom count issue if it's going to be adjusted for three bedroom three
bedroom I don't think it would ultimately affect my client's ability to build the project however
However, I do want to point out that this is originally set up as a different type of project where, and I'll share with the board that information, this was originally set up in a way for a much larger building with four stories by right coverage, however, it actually has four units with even more bedroom count.
We're actually reducing the overall bedroom count here. Again, if the issue here is purely bedroom count, which I do recollect some discussion about it.
However, when we were asking Beach for their update, we just received a letter in opposition. We didn't actually get specific discussion on the bedroom count again.
And if my client, I don't know if my client is in fact present this morning, I can certainly confirm that, you know, whether he would be willing to accept as a three bedroom maximum.
However, I do want to point out that if this was built as it was originally designed, there would be no limit on the bedroom either way.
As it was originally designed, there would be no limit on the bedroom either way.
This actual project still is less dense and a better design than what was originally proposed and approved through the city.
Other comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have someone with a phone number ending at 6894.
or whoever has the phone number ending at 6894.
Please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Would you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
My name is Reverend Lewis Nash, Sr., L-E-W-I-S-N-A-S-H.
Good morning.
Reverend, do you swear for him to tell the truth,
the whole truth of nothing but the truth?
I do affirm.
Thank you.
Go ahead, Mr. Nash.
And I'm also here with the ward leader, Louise Bundy.
She will speak after me.
We do not have any opposition to this.
And I just heard the statement.
We don't know who's able to rent these properties.
And I'm sure I didn't hear that it was dedicated to student housing.
And so as long as they agree, like he said, that whoever can afford the property to rent it, it's okay for them to rent it.
And then I understand that it's three, four bedrooms upstairs and it's two bedrooms downstairs.
I'm living in my own house.
I have two bedrooms downstairs and four bedrooms upstairs with two full bathrooms.
And my family is pretty large.
But also, I hear that they reduce the building and only ask them for yard size.
So we really have no opposition to that as long as they maintain the trash, the noise tolerance in the community.
And also, as far as tenants are concerned, once again, as long as there's not no restriction to whoever can rent it.
And I do also recognize if he was to build it three bedrooms upstairs and three bedrooms downstairs, changing the design, it would still be six bedrooms.
So if it's four upstairs and two downstairs, we don't know if a section eight tenant will have a mom with three daughters and a husband.
So I do wish that you guys would consider and grant this and approve it.
Now I'll turn it over to Ms.
good morning miss bundy good morning miss bundy state your name and spell for the court reporter
please l-o-u-i-s-e-v-u-n-d-y right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth i do proceed um well my main thing was the fact that it's not dedicated
to students okay it's dedicated to anyone that can come in and can apply for it and there and
they will accept them also okay and also um on the reduced it already says about reducing on
the size of the building and another thing that i was concerned about was about the trash and i
think that that's already taken care of my main thing was to be honest with you was about the
dedication to anyone that came and applied for it okay because um i already knew that the other
things was satisfied okay thank you thank you miss bundy i said i i accept them okay
thank you miss bundy any other comments from the virtual audience
there are no hands at this time chair okay planning commission thank you chair
ian hegarty with the philadelphia city planning commission members of the board comprehensive
plan recommends no change to the existing multi-family zoning at this location the
proposed lots as we've seen in the presentation are consistent in size and frontage with the
adjacent properties on this block and the dimensional variances are related to this
smaller lot size city planning commission recommends that the board grant this variance
M.I. 2021-003721, 1716 North Bouvier Street, I vote yes with three bedrooms per unit as a proviso.
Carol Tannery, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with proviso.
James Snell, yes with proviso.
Mr. Bergeman, I did just, Chairman Bergeman, I just heard back from my client.
He did reflect to me that because he was looking to
he did reflect to me that because he was looking to keep it open rental to any possible tenant it's
that's why he had his structure the way he had one was four bedroom one was two bedroom
it's actually easier for him to find tenants that way the three bedrooms we do understand the board
just folded the three bedrooms generally is uh because the rule in the city is that no more than
three unrelated people may be in the same unit that is why i think beach was asking for three
bedrooms, that's specifically targeting students as tenants. I just wanted to say that that was
the feedback from my client. I just wanted to let the board know.
George, so that was our vote, and you'll have to work with him on that, okay?
Thank you.
Thank you. Appreciate it. Okay. MI 2021-003717, 2028 North 29th Street.
RCO letter has not yet been received. Michael McElhaney is the attorney.
Chair, Mr. McElhaney is coming back in as a panelist now.
Sorry.
Good morning, sir. State your name and spell for the court reporter, please.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman. Michael McElhenney, M-C-I-L-H-I-N-N-E-Y.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
The vice chair has a few questions for you.
Hi, good morning. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Based on the notes I have, you've submitted everything as required timely, is that correct?
that is correct okay you may proceed and mr chairman may i share my screen sure
and good morning mr chairman members of the board michael mcelhenney of the law office
of orphanetes and toner here on behalf of the applicant brighter view investments inc and my
client, Shamari Lewis, will be on the Zoom as well. The property at issue is 2028 North 29th
Street. This is an existing structure where my client was seeking approval for legalization of
a roof deck and for use of the property as three dwelling units. We did meet with the Strawberry
mansion cdc uh the 32nd democratic ward um and held two community meetings um at those meetings
we at the second meeting we came back at the request of the rco to reduce the request from
three three dwelling units to two dwelling units and the rco there was a dispute between the two
rcos in terms of keeping the roof deck or removing it my client did erect the roof deck in 2019
19, well before the overlay came into effect, but it was done without a permit. So that is the reason
for the roof deck refusal at this time. The RCO meeting held by the Strawberry Mansion CDC,
the vote was 100% in support of two dwelling units without the roof deck. We did get a letter
from the 32nd Democratic Ward, which is the other RCO at the meeting, and they issued a letter of
support. They were hoping we would keep three dwelling units because my client was offering to
do one unit as affordable, either through a community benefits agreement or a deed restriction.
But the vote that was held was for two dwelling units without the roof deck.
The Strawberry Mansion CDC was supposed to send a letter directly to the ZBA. I have requested a
copy, but I have not received it. The property at issue, if I can pull up the zoning map to orient
at the board. The property at issue is on the southwest side of North 29th Street. It is
currently zoned RSA 5. It is the property that abuts the CMX 2 zone to the south, and RM 1 and
CMX 2 are properties to the east. The property itself, looking at the overhead map at Exhibit 3,
is abutted to the south by a community park this on strike that ridge avenue abuts the
the property to the south with diamond street to the north to the immediate south of the property
is a public park owned by the city of philadelphia um to the north are several single family houses
in addition to four vacant lots on the same side of the street on the west side of the property
on the west on the east side of north 29th street is what will be coming is a 94 unit
apartment building that will span from 29th street up to diamond street just for context
Just for context of what's going on in this block of North 29th Street.
of what's going on in this block of north 29th street
To the south on Ridge Avenue, my client's property abuts a commercial property on Ridge Avenue, which is an existing seafood restaurant.
If I can pull up Exhibit 4, you can see the street view photos of the subject property.
The property at issue is this green and yellowish colored building, an existing three-story structure. As mentioned, my client is, there are no additions or extensions as part of this application. It's merely for, was for legalizing the roof deck and for three dwelling units.
As I mentioned, the property is to the north. There's three houses. Then it's vacant land, a few more houses, and then another vacant lot at the other end of the block.
the property to the south is that park that i mentioned and the seafood restaurant on ridge
avenue that has the mural of the police officer on it um the interesting thing with the seafood
restaurant the exhaust literally blows out onto my client's property at the rear so it makes for
not the best um living experience especially for a single family home at this location
One of the issues that the community brought up in addition to housing density was trash and trash removal. As you can see, the property actually has a alley easement next to the property that would allow for easy removal of trash from the units from the rear yard out to 29th Street for trash day.
way. The zoning plan itself, there's no changes to the structure. For the request of the RCO,
we would do a proviso to remove the roof deck. The floor plans for the two units, which is
what we presented at the last community meeting, would create two dwelling units that would
be approximately 1300 square foot each. And that would consist of the first floor unit being a
one bedroom unit, full one bedroom, living room, dining room, kitchen, and bath, and with a in
suite laundry and mechanicals in the basement. The second unit would be slightly larger, it would
consist of the second floor and third floor. And again, the second floor is a full living room,
dining room kitchen layout with the bedrooms being on the third floor, and that you end up
with a very large master bedroom with a second bedroom and a full bath. As noted on the roof deck
plan, the roof deck has been removed from the proposal at the request of the Strawberry Mansion
CDC. And I should mention, over the objection of the 32nd Ward CDC, they think, and I agree,
that a roof deck at this location where you're abutting the commercial corridor of Ridge Avenue
and a non-residential block makes sense to have a roof deck, but we did agree to a proviso to
remove the roof deck as part of the support from the Strawberry Mansion CDC.
And Exhibit 8 are the current interior photos. As I mentioned, my client did work at the property under a selective demolition permit back in 2019 to stabilize the structure.
Because a lot of structures in Strawberry Mansion are being torn down. His goal was to save the structure and fit it out as multifamily.
So, exhibit eight are just interior photos. And on page five is the roof deck access structure that was built in 2019 that matches the one across the street on the northeast side of North 29th Street.
But as mentioned, the Strawberry Mansion CDC would like to see that removed, which my client is agreeable to in this instance.
Upon review of the planning commission, I'm not sure of their position on the project, but the 2035 plan I pulled up and attached as Exhibit 9, which is in the center of the photo, appears to call for multifamily at this section of North 29th Street, where it intersects with Fridge Avenue, which logically would make sense given the access to transit and commercial amenities at this location.
The Exhibit 10 is just the permit for the properties across the street that are going to be erecting the large market rate 94 unit apartment building.
So with that being said, the property itself is on a numbered street, 29th Street, that is immediately abutting the commercial corridor of Ridge Avenue.
It's abutted to this open park that's used for the community.
It shares this rear alley, rear yard with the seafood restaurant at the back.
It shares this rear alley, rear yard with the seafood restaurant at the back.
And by allowing the multifamily use of two units at the property, it creates a buffer between the other single family houses on the block and allows for quality living and affordability in the neighborhood.
Although we won't be able to do an affordable unit with only two units, it still will allow for better quality living and bringing this property back to life.
As I mentioned, the 32nd Ward gave a letter of support. The Strawberry Ranch and CDC was supposed to send over a letter of support. It was a unanimous vote at the meeting, so there should be a letter of support in the ZBA's file.
And with that, if I could call up, if the board has any questions, or if I should call up my client now.
Where do you call your client up, Michael?
Shamari Lewis, can you please raise your hand?
mr lewis you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair
mr lewis state your name and spell it for the court reporter please
it is shamari lewis s-h-a-m-a-r-i last name l-e-w-i-s all right do you swear or firm to
tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do proceed sir mr lewis did you
hear the statements that i presented to the board this morning yes and to your knowledge were those
statements true correct and accurate yes um including the statements regarding the meetings
the two meetings with the community rcos yes and would you adopt those statements as your own yes
um no further questions mr chairman questions from questions from the board no mr chairman
Questions from the virtual audience?
So we have someone by the name of Thomas L.
Mr. L, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Mr. L, could you state your name and spell it for our court reporter?
Excuse me.
Good day to everyone.
My name is Thomas D. Eal.
The E is long.
that's t-h-o-m-a-s middle initial d as in david eel spelled capital e lower case l i am the
homeowner of the property directly adjacent wait one minute wait one minute wait one minute do you
swear affirm to tell the truth to hold the truth nothing but the truth sir i do so affirm thank
you proceed. You're welcome. I live, my wife and I are at, we live at 2030 which is the property
the property obviously directly adjacent to 2028. I never have spoken with Mr. McElhenney
or with the current owners of this property. I am, I must say I'm glad to know that they
have been that the deck has been disapproved. It's been my personal experience since the change of
property, change of ownership of this property, which has resulted in the new owners. And this
gentleman, Mr. McElhinney, says that the actual roof work began in 2019. I'm not sure it's that
quite that old I'm thinking maybe the end maybe the beginning of 2020 be that as it may since
the new owners of this property have undertaken this work it has not gone well for me and my wife
as a matter of fact we still are going to pursue the possibility of having structural damage to
our own home investigated because when this these individuals start sir we we listen to me we
We understand issues you may have with them, but what we're trying to do is work on the zoning.
So could you testify relative to what the zoning issues are that you would object or agree with?
Okay, well, the zoning issues, number one, there is no, the only ingress and egress that this particular property has to the street is a side gate, a side gate leading to the rear yard.
uh the abutment that the lawyer is speaking of is a where all the properties actually come together
no one can can uh can move from their rear yard directly into or out to the city-owned property
that that part that lot right there is a city-owned lot so if you look at the if you're looking facing
the property that would be on the left side walking for the further back toward the restaurant
on ridge avenue there is just a gate that allows you access to the rear yard of the property
that allows you access to the rear yard of the property otherwise you cannot create anything else
Otherwise,
to that city property because that would create that would cause a gross amount of reconstruction
on the part of the property owners all right any other issues you have and the issues of that okay
now the group that because there was a great amount of debris every time that they began work
So the permits, the restrictions that the L&I had imposed, the workers, there were like three or four sets of workers.
So I'm just mentioning this as a matter of reasoning.
Listen to me.
Sir, listen to me.
I understand that.
I understand that.
But my understanding is they're agreeing to take the deck off the roof.
Okay, great.
Relative to that.
So the other thing is, do you have any other thing else relative?
They've agreed to take it from three units to two is my understanding.
Do you have any other issues?
Other than that, no. Other than that, no. That's fine. I'm just going to pursue.
Thank you very much for calling in. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience that has comments?
Chair, we have Mary Jones. Ms. Jones, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Good morning, Ms. Jones. Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Yes. Good morning. Mary Jones, representing Council President Daryl Clark's office, City Hall, room 494.
Could you just spell your name for the court?
Oh, sorry. Yes. M-A-R-Y-J-O-N-E-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you. Proceed.
The, I do, it looks like Mr. McElhenney did receive the letter, I got, we just received the letter from the coordinating RCO, Strawberry Mansion CDC, and, you know, it contains the provisos, which he stated, and our office does support their, the RCO, the coordinating RCO's position.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Any other, anyone else in the virtual audience?
Sarah, I see no hands at this time.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman.
Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
Members of the Board, the comprehensive plan recommends RM1 multifamily zoning at this
location.
Under the recommended zoning, two dwelling units would be allowed at this location with
a lot size that's given.
And so with regard to the variance for dwelling unit count, we recommend that the Board grant
the variance with the proviso that's been suggested already, no more than two dwelling
units permitted. And we also affirm the decision to remove the variance for the roof deck.
Thank you very much. MI 2021-003717, 2028 North 29th Street. I vote yes with proviso,
no more than two units, and also the removal of the rooftop deck.
Harold Tenere, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with Proviso.
James Snell, yes with Proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, yes with Proviso. Thank you.
Thank you.
MI 2021 002091
2116 East Stella Street
RCO, Somerset Neighbors, letter of support.
Chair, we have someone by the name of Odette Sarris.
That's the owner, yep.
She'll be coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
Odette, could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter?
My name is Othette Saudis, O-T-H-E-T, Saudis, S-A-U-R-I-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
And I understand you're going to make your presentation.
You may have someone there that's helping you.
Yes, sir.
Okay, proceed.
I've been a resident at 2114.
And I was given the opportunity of buying the 2116 East Stella Street,
which I built a storage for my personal use.
and I'm very active in the community, and I like to do everything by the law, by the rules.
and I'm very active in the community.
So I did not think that I had to go through the city or whatnot to make a little storage,
but when it was told to me that i had to well i went in um i got everything everything's by the
books okay and i present you all the documents she's putting it there so you can see
i don't own no taxes no nothing um i got everything done by the books that
it has there is uh the deed and the tax uh
could we move the screen the screen needs to be moved the show is the deed and everything else
right yes we do that why don't you want to move the screen as we speak okay those are the plants
there i see the location yeah can you scroll that down those are those are the letters from the
community but odette you need somebody needs the screen make the screen moved scroll down
Okay, she's strolling
Que la siga pasando
Pa' que ellos vean
So, which part
Would you like to see?
Well, just want to scroll through
Scroll through everything you have
Okay, strong
Que le pase toito
Toito lo que tiene
Poco a poco
That's the front of the location
I'm sorry
I'm Miss Odette
this is the administrator
do you have pictures
the documents that you presented
do you have that all available to show
yes she's going to stroll
but at this moment
we are still looking at the plan
so if they could move forward
oh you're looking at the plan
ellos están mirando al plan
ellos no están mirando todo y todo lo otro
okay I just told her
so she can stroll through
that is the plan
you see it
Yeah, go a little bit more.
Stroll it.
Stroll it a little bit more.
Sigue poco a poco.
Now we're back to where we were.
Okay, now she's going to stroll.
Dale, poco a poco.
Que ellos quieren ver.
Do you see different pictures?
No, it's still stuck where you were.
It's got to move.
Do you see, are you seeing the pictures?
Now we do, now we do.
Can you see now?
so that's that's an attachment you had built on the side of the house is that what you're saying
yes sir
is there any other photos you have or that's it
Okay, she's trying to, did you see that?
The confirmation, that's the clearings.
No, we're not seeing it.
If I can ask a question, are all your documents on this here file that you're presenting, or are they different places?
Yes, ma'am.
Okay, so how many other documents do you have here?
So do you have your tax clearance, your deed?
Yes, yes.
She's going to put the tax clearance now.
you can't see it okay so that's why i'm asking and if you need you might need to the d is there
We're at.
where at only d right but what i'm
Pon el D.
Right, but what I'm suggesting is
you might have to unshare
and reshare so that we can see
the other documents. We're still seeing
the same thing.
Tú tienes que sacar todo y todo
y ponerlo otra vez
para que ellos los vean, porque no se está viendo.
I just told her to
unshare and share again.
Que saque todo eso otra vez
y empiece a
and cheer this is tanya the administrator if i may state that all the documents were submitted
correctly um but if you wish to see them and they can't share now we're okay we're we're okay
we're fine thank you all right
yes everybody okay i agree with you yeah let me any any questions from the board
no mr chair i'm so sorry no no mr chair questions in the virtual audience
Here, I see no heads at this time.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman.
Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
Members of the board, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing single-family zoning at this location.
the applicant owns the adjoining conforming residential structure and the subject structure
of this variance could be considered as accessory to the adjoining residential use
and so we have no objection to the use being permitted on this site
however we would recommend that a proviso be added that the fence surrounding this building
be removed and replaced with one that conforms to the zoning code. That is four feet tall.
MI 2021-00209-2116 East Ella Street. I vote yes. Would Proviso the fence be replaced with one
that's consistent with the zoning code? Harold Tenere, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Thomas Holloman my vote is yes with proviso. James Snell yes with proviso. Ishmael Shahid yes with proviso.
Okay thank you.
She's off. Here we go.
mi 2021 004515222 market street rco old city district letter of support attorney justin
correct chair justin quick is coming back in as a panelist now thank you
good morning sir state your name and spell for the court reporter
yes good morning members of the board justin crick j-u-s-t-i-n-k-r-i-k all right do you swear
a firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do the vice chair has
a few questions for you. Yes. I'm Mr. Crick. Do you read away the reading of the refusal and
stipulate to its accuracy? I do. Based on my notes, you've submitted all the documents required. Is
that correct? Yes, it is. You may proceed. Thank you. Thank you. Members of the board, we're here
today on an application for the property located at 222 Market Street. The property is currently
seeking an extension of an existing restaurant that is currently used on the first floor and
basement of the building. The kitchen is in the basement. This board approved a special exception
for that first floor restaurant use back in March of 2021, wherein it allowed for the
assembly and entertainment in this district because this district refuses, it is a refusal
in the overlay district to have nightclubs and private clubs. The first floor approval
was granted because of the nature and characterization of the assembly and
entertainment. And that same nature and characteristic of the assembly and entertainment
is being extended to the upstairs. The owner applicant, I'm going to share my screen at the
moment. The owner, I'm sorry, the applicant is a tenant of the building who intended to stay on
the first floor originally but after understanding the um concerns uh does the does the panel see the
uh documents on the screen thank you so after after um recognizing the concerns that this is
So after recognizing the concerns that this is just an extension to use the second floor as additional restaurant, after realizing that the first floor had occupancy issues because of limited egress and an issue dealing with a rear alley easement that has long been cordoned off or inaccessible, the tenant decided that he would like to expand upstairs.
just an extension to use the second
The second floor, for geographic purposes, let me just say this is at Market Street between 2nd and Banks, and there is an alley, a rear alley behind these properties.
However, in the past and without going through all of the history, it has since terminated just before our property, and so therefore we do not have that extra egress on the first floor.
A little bit closer in, you can see where this alleyway kind of gets to, but not entirely.
um by example the second floor is optimum because there is a fire escape and it allows for that
additional seating to be upstairs the uh here's the picture of the front of the building
across the street looking east and looking west i mean this this corridor obviously is a commercial
corridor that everyone's familiar with um we have second floor anticipated layout of tables
for seating and restrooms in the back. This is basically an expansion of what you see.
Here's a first and second floor or first floor basement layout that then this is the first floor
that has been extended and already approved for use with this. A concept drawing by my client.
And most importantly, again, the characterization of the assembly and entertainment. This is geared
toward ambient conversational music with the occasional live DJ to play this ambient music.
We went into great lengths to discuss with the neighborhood the nature of the sound system,
that it is not large speakers and subwoofers shaking the place down, but that we are looking
for, again, that conversational atmosphere and occasional live entertainment being like a solo
violinist to accompany the music. We met with the RCO. Having been already before
them within the past year for the first floor seeing that this is just a natural extension to
the second floor we did have a significant uh support from the rco and for that reason i will
show you that the tenant has a uh these are exemplar pages from the lease the first couple
pages showing his interest and tax clearance certificate as well as notices of the posting
For these reasons, we would ask that the board grant the variance for the assembly and entertainment on the second floor.
And if the panel is agreeable, I'd like to bring on Wayne Shulick to testify.
That's fine. Yep.
Mr. Shulick, if you could raise your hand for the board.
Mr. Shulick, if you're in the audience, please raise your virtual hand.
He may be on by phone, and I will coordinate if he isn't already available.
Chair, I see no one with their hand up at this time.
Mr. You're an officer of the court.
We're fine with your testimony.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions from the virtual audience?
Or comments?
Chair, I see no hands at this time.
Planning Commission?
Thank you, Chair Bergman.
Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
Members of the board, in 2014, the zoning map was amended in this area, but this parcel was intentionally left as CMX3.
The old city residential section of the CTR overlay expressly prohibits nightclubs and private clubs.
However, the existing use, as shown by council, includes an accessory nightclub and private club use.
And this building has been configured in such a way as to lend itself to this use.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant this variance.
MI 2021-004515-222 Market Street, I vote yes.
Harold Tenere, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Mr. Shahid, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right.
MI 2021-003710, 2440-42 South 9th Street, Ying Fang Yu, no exhibits, first listing.
Ying Fang Yu, no exhibits, first listing.
Mr. or Ms. Yu, if you're in the virtual audience,
please raise your hand.
Cher, I see no hands at this time.
who's fatina l
you would be one of the zba staff no no hands okay right cases continued must be tried
Number 11, MI 2021-003714-3222H Street.
Ranjan Saffron is the attorney.
RCO Impact, letter of support.
Chair, Mr. Saffron is coming back in as a panelist now.
Hi, Mr. Saverin. State your name and spell for the court reporter, please.
Yes, Mr. Chair. Brandon Saverin. B-R-A-N-D-O-N. S as in Sam, A. V as in Victor, R-A-N.
Thank you. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Our Vice Chair will have a few questions for you.
Hi, Mr. Saverin. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
yes i do madam vice chair based on the notes i see you've submitted everything as required is
that correct yes we have you may proceed okay thank you very much um gonna share my screen here
just give me one moment okay um so um i am here today sorry i'm going to silence my phone i
apologize. We're here today on behalf of Esperanza, which is a non-profit organization that provides
various community services led by the Reverend Luis Cortez Jr., who you see here. And the property
we are here about is actually not shown here. I'm showing this for context. It's sort of on the back
of this block i'll show you in a second along westmoreland street but we are uh right next to
the famed intersection of kensington and allegheny next to the l station there this is a um old bank
building that esperanza also owns and operates a health care clinic out of providing uh health care
services to the immediate community. And several years ago, I'll say that building that I just
showed you again is right next to the K&A L stop where my hand is here. Several years ago, Esperanza
was able to purchase this large property at the back of that same block. So that's behind the
building I just showed you along Westmoreland Street. It has an H Street address, but sort of
the primary frontage there is on Westmoreland. So Esperanza obtained a zoning permit by Wright
in 2020 to provide a whole host of services out of this property related to its general mission,
education, healthcare, housing. On the fourth floor, you'll see in the permit text here,
it got permission to now this is described here as a nightclub and private club but but in reality
this is an event space um it's not a i think a nightclub is a far stretch uh even if that's what
it was classified as by the examiner um now what we are applying for today is not a change of those
uses it is to construct a roof deck on the fourth floor that is accessory to that gathering space
So here's the refusal for that. That's the only refusal right there. Roof deck for non-residential use is prohibited in this zoning district, which is ICMX.
I want to speak for one second about what I see as the hardship in this case.
If I go back to this map, you'll see we sort of stick out like a sore thumb that we are the only industrially zoned lot in the immediate area.
And the other properties, I don't know if any of them are quite as large as ours is,
but the other large properties in this area around K and A are zone CMX3.
are zoned CMX3. Now, if we, looking at the code, had been zoned CMX3 like these other properties,
Now, if we, looking at the...
we would not have received a refusal. We would have received a referral because roof decks for
non-residential purposes in CMX3 are permitted by special exception. So again, given that
we're not using the property for an industrial purpose. We are really asking for permission to
do something that all of our similar neighboring properties would also be able to do with a special
exception checkup from the board. So with that, I would like to call on Kevin Jaycey. That's spelled
J-A-S-E-Y. He is the architect for this project, and I will briefly have him walk you through the
roof deck plan.
Could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter, sir?
Sir, if you're in a tennis game, please raise your hand.
Chair.
Yes. Okay. His hand was just up, then it disappeared. Okay. There it is. It's back up
again. Mr. J.C., can you unmute yourself and wait for the chair?
Sir, could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Kevin J.C., K-E-V-I-N-J-A-S-E-Y. Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Proceed.
Hey, Kevin. Thank you for joining us. So briefly, I assume what we're looking at here is a site plan from a bird's eye view perspective that was submitted for this application. Is that correct?
That is correct.
Could you, you know, I'll sort of tell a straight for you, but could you speak a little bit about where the roof deck is depicted here, how it's accessed, and sort of, you know, what form it takes in terms of location and safety features?
So, yes, if you can zoom into the gray shaded area a little bit closer to the left.
Yeah, so this is, as we mentioned, a four-story building.
with amenities for the community. The roof deck was proposed as an amenity for, you know,
access outside of the building. You access the roof deck from the interior of the building. There
There is an elevator closer to the H Street side of the lobby.
There's an elevator lobby that gets you up to that floor where the event space is currently located.
And from that event space, there are doors, storefront or doors that open out to this roof terrace, which has a raised paving system for occupants to walk on.
The roof deck is, you know, designed in a way such that there's a setback five feet per the code requirements off of the street frontage edge on the upper portion on Shelbourne Street.
and with railings as shown there on the plan. The roof deck is designed to support the proper
occupant loads that are required by code and the egress from the roof deck would be from that
entrance that you walk in from. And then there's a, immediately to the left, there's a stair tower
that brings you down to the courtyard level where you exit out towards Shelbourne Street or towards
H Street in the courtyard. Thanks, Kevin. Does the board have any questions for Kevin?
questions from the board no mr chairman no uh council do you want to bring your
your client on thanks mr that's exactly what i would like to do next um so his name is justin
perry okay
mr perry you can unmute yourself or wait for the chair could you state your name and spell it for
Could you state your name and spell it for our court reporter?
for our court reporter?
Yes, Justin Perry, J-U-S-T-I-N-P-E-R-Y.
All right.
Do you swear or firm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
Hey, Justin.
Can you share with the board what your position is within the Esperanza organization?
Yes, I'm the Director of Operations.
Okay, thank you.
And were you able to hear the full extent of my testimony today?
And was it true and accurate?
And would you thus adopt it as if it was your own testimony?
Correct, yes.
Okay, thanks very much.
And I think I'll just leave the board with brief snapshots here of our letter of support
from the coordinating RCO and a letter of non-opposition from the district councilwoman.
Thank you. Questions from the virtual audience?
Chair, I see no hands at this time. Questions from the planning commission?
thank you uh chair bergman ian hegarty for the philadelphia city planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the industrial commercial mixed use zoning at
this location and you know we appreciate the mission of the applicant we don't believe that
the applicant's hardship claim is supported with evidence of unique physical circumstances or
conditions of the property. The property is neither zoned CMX3 nor proposed to be zoned CMX3
in the comprehensive plan. So a comparison to that zoning district is not an appropriate basis
for hardship in this case. The City Planning Commission recommends that the board deny the
variance. I would just quickly counter that as illustrated on the map, the property is a relative
island within the broader zoning scheme and that has been recognized as a hardship in various
cases in the past in the state of Pennsylvania if i may respond uh sure yeah sure uh thank you
very much for the opportunity i just want to take a moment to respond to that particular
argument the zoning map is very clear and in cases where we have remapped and where
the comprehensive plan has been completed the indicated zoning district on the zoning map is
unique to that location it is not close to other locations it is unique to a property and it's an
intentional uh designation that is reflected in a document that's been adopted by city council
thank you very much mi 2021 003 714 32 22 8th street i vote yes carol tennari my vote is yes
Thomas Howellman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
My vote is no.
Thank you.
Thank you, everyone.
MI 2021 003737 3930 Fittler Street,
Catherine McCracken, RCO, East Targetsdale Association, letter of support.
Chair, Ms. McCracken is coming back in as a panelist now.
Thank you.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Yes. Hello. My name is Catherine McCracken. That's spelled K-A-T-H-E-R-I-N-E. Last name
McCracken, M-C-C-R-A-C-K-E-N. Thank you. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Thank you. Our vice chair has a few
questions for you. Hi, Ms. McCracken. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with all of the
required documents i have okay you may proceed thank you and hi mr chairman and the board um i
am joined here today with my husband and co-owner of my property 3930 fitler street joseph matthewson
just so you know he's here um and also our architect um who i have submitted as a witness
on the list who if it's okay with you will help me in presenting our plans for the property his
name is Gregory LaVaradera.
Why don't I
swear him now? Is that okay?
Could he state his name
and spell for the court reporter?
Could I ask a quick question first?
Could I ask a quick question first?
This is Tanya, the administrator.
This is Tanya, the administrator.
Ms. McCracken, will he be presenting or would you be presenting the screen?
Ms. McCracken.
I'll be presenting the screen, but he will help present the design.
So staff, you could just give him audio.
Thank you.
Mr. LaVadera, you can unmute yourself or wait for the chair.
can you state your name and spell for the court reporter sir
my name is gregor y l a v as in victor a r d as in david e r a do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do thank you proceed great thank you very much
i'm just going to share my screen really quickly um all righty so sorry if you saw the pictures
um so to start i'm just going to show this is the deed for our property showing that we purchased it
on september of 2020 um this is our application for appeal which was submitted
uh we have our project information form which was also submitted our certificate of tax clearance
and then our initial zoning permit, which was denied through the Eclipse system.
I'll now take you through a few slides and I will pass it to Greg when we get to the point
of sharing some of the design work that he has done on the property. So this is our home here,
3930 Fittler, just a picture with the posting outside at the curb. This is our request for
an RCO meeting with our coordinating RCO. These are just examples of the mailings that went out
to all of our neighbors that live within 250 feet. And this is the receipts that show that we mailed
to all of the neighbors. I believe it was 36 neighbors at two RCOs and the district six
councilmen. And then the true reason for our hardship and why we're here today,
um we are in rsd1 zone which has a minimum lot width of 75 feet and a side yard setback dimension
of 15 feet based on that lot width um however our property is undersized with a 50 foot wide
um lot which when you add the two 15 feet side yards actually only leaves us with about 20 feet
of biddable space in the middle of our lot. And so our current house actually today already
oversits the setback on the left-hand side by nine feet, leaving only a side yard of six feet.
And we are looking to add an addition to our home. There is already a rear one-floor addition
off the back of our home, and we're looking to add a second floor above that. And to add that
second floor, we'd be over the side yard setbacks by nine feet, which is consistent with the
property, our full property. And we'll have some pictures that Greg will walk you through that
I'll visualize this for you as well. So today we are seeking relief of that hardship to add the
addition to our home. Here's a picture from the street view. Here's an aerial view of our home.
You can see the existing one floor addition rear here.
And now I'm going to pass it to Greg, who's going to take you through our plans.
Hi, everybody.
This is a site plan that we actually received from the city, which we believe was drawn up the time these houses were built.
Catherine's house is the most on the right.
And in this drawing, you can actually see the indication of the one-story portion of the house at the rear.
The two adjacent houses are also in 50-foot lots.
Their houses are similar in design, and we'll see that they've also been added onto in the time since they were initially built.
Go ahead to the next slide, Kevin.
Here's our site plan.
um it's uh losing a little bit of the bottom but there's just open yard space to the back
for the full 200 foot depth you can see the 50 foot width we have these dash blue lines which
represent our side yard setbacks on the left hand side we have a driveway and the house is set back
sufficiently to be at the setback line but on the right hand side you can see that the setback line
courses through the house and leaves the existing portion of the house into the required side yard
setback. We have this indication in yellow that is the area of the second floor addition which
will be over the setback line into the side yard. On the buildable side we have a portion of our
On the buildable side, we have a portion of our addition is just on the second floor.
edition.
And then to the leftmost side, the addition is actually two stories.
But again, that portion of the addition is within the setbacks.
In terms of site coverage area, although the lot is undersized, the RSD1 district requires
10 000 square foot minimum lots and this 50 foot by 200 foot lot is only 5 000 square feet
despite that because of the modest size of the house um it is uh well under uh the the uh
required open area um 65 is required open um the existing house is only 78 uh um open and
with the additions it will still be 75% open. So even though the lot is half of the required size
because of the modest size of the house we're still well within the area restrictions. It's
only this nine foot of the second floor addition which is over the side yard setback which has
triggered the refusal for the the side yard. Let's go to the next image which will give us a look at
what the addition site is like. Perhaps not quite so clear here but we're looking at the one-story
portion of the house in the back and then the second floor is set back. Go to the next slot
that will be really apparent. So here you can see how this one-story portion of the house actually
has a flat roof over it so we're going to be building over that following the profile of the
existing house and if we look towards the neighbors a little bit you can see that their original
houses have already been expanded in the same location with their additions already over their
side yard setback as well so this condition has come up in the past those additions may have
predated the current zoning restrictions, but my point is that what we're proposing is consistent
with what is already going on in the immediate neighborhood. Okay, well, the next slide. Okay,
here we can see both of the adjacent houses have been extended into floors similar to what we're
proposing to do with Katherine and Joe's house.
Terrific.
Here we have elevation lines showing the new addition.
The new addition is going to be clad in a siding
versus the original house is all clad in brick.
So you can see very quickly the areas that are being added.
In the lower right-hand corner of the rear elevation,
you can see the two-story portion facing the driveway
and how that wraps over the existing one-story portion.
follows the profile of the existing roof and then we have a slightly shallower roof that extends out
over the portion that faces the driveway side and to the left of that you can see the elevation
facing the driveway the existing door at the third portion of the house is a door into directly into
the kitchen for the driveway and the new door at the back we're establishing a door into a mud room
a place to come and go, goes into the existing family room at the back of the house.
And the space between those two entrants will be an expansion of the kitchen.
Upstairs, we have, we're adding an additional bedroom,
which will take the house from three bedrooms to four bedrooms.
I think that's it.
I'll hand it back to you, Kevin.
Great. Thank you, Greg.
And then I just wanted to close out our presentation with sharing the support from the East Tarsdale Civic Association, which is our coordinating RCO, who we presented to and had support.
And at the board, as well as our non coordinating RCO, who is actually the president is also a neighbor that sits within 250 feet, who is also supportive based on the ruling at our coordinating RCO meeting.
And then lastly, we were able to garner 15 letters from the 35 neighbors notified within 215 feet.
You can see here I just tried to put together a very quick little map where there are green
check marks or where we've actually received an email and your office has also received an email
that there are no objections and that they are in support of adding our addition to our home.
Thank you. Questions from the board?
no mr chairman no mr chairman questions from the virtual audience
i see no heads at this time chair planning commission
Planning Commission.
thank you chair bergman
Thank you, Chair Bergman.
Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
Members of the Board, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing single-family zoning at this location.
However, this proposed dimensional variance does not conflict with the neighborhood character or with the purpose and spirit of the zoning code.
City Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant the variance.
Thank you.
MI 2021 003737 3930 Fittler Street. I vote yes. Harold Tenere, my vote is yes. Thomas Holloman,
my vote is yes. James Snell, my vote is yes.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much everybody. Good luck. Okay. MI 2021 0017
7752-5136
Wayne Avenue.
Jermaine Harris is the attorney.
Germantown Civic Association, letter of
opposition.
Mr. Harris, if you're in the virtual audience,
can you please raise your hand?
Chair, I see no hands at this time.
Okay. Case continued. Must be tried.
MI 2021-003724-6328 Vine Street.
Justin Crick is the attorney.
RCO letter of support with provisos.
Chair, Mr. Crick is coming back in as a panelist now.
Thank you.
Good morning, members of the board.
Good morning.
Good morning again.
Just state your name.
You've already been sworn.
Yes, Justin Crick, K-R-I-K.
And the vice chair has a few questions.
Hi, Mr. Crick.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
It appears you have all of the required documents.
Is that correct?
You may proceed.
Thank you.
Members of the Board, we are here today for an application for variance for the property.
It's 6328 Vine Street.
I'm going to share my screen and presentation.
application. The application that we are seeking asks for seven units at the property, but it is
not the number of units of residential units that is in question. It is the fact that the property
is located in a CMX2 district, which requires commercial use on a substantial portion of the
first floor of the property. So we are seeking a variance to not have the commercial use on the
first floor of the property, but rather entirely residential. Based on the footprint of the
building and the property, which I'll show you shortly, there is actually enough land for
appropriately up to 10 units here, but that is not what we're seeking. So again, because we needed
to have some commercial use along the first 30 feet, we are seeking the variance from that
requirement. The property is situated uniquely at the corner of Vine and North 64th Street.
And in the past, several decades, almost over 40 years ago, it did have a commercial purpose,
as you will see. But the property consists of one large building with somewhat of an addition
that'll be more relevant from the street view, as well as a rear separate structure building,
which is a garage and an upstairs that consists of one of the units.
This is a frontage view of the building, and as you can see, the right-hand portion of the building is a one-story building that used to be a bank decades and decades ago and has since been residential of some form or another by previous owners.
And so we are now coming as the owner of the building to essentially legalize the fact that the prior owner had stopped using the side of the property as a bank many, many decades ago.
The character of the building also shows us that in order to obtain a commercial purpose for any portion of this building, this is really set back from the street in such a way that we don't believe it is appropriate or convenient for liability purposes and otherwise to try to put a commercial use in either side of this building.
in either side of this building but because they are together as you'll see this would actually
But because they are together, as you'll see, this would act.
extend to a depth of first floor on both buildings um but the property is very unique and as you can
see it's actually been fixed up quite a bit by the current owner um who uh it's owned by some
entities but miss leanne paris is on the line uh representative and owner of the entity um we've
spoken with the neighbors and they've indicated a desire to see this residential use we've made some
agreements with them for it. But what they do understand is that the neighborhood, as I can show
you, this is an older view of the property. Here's the rear building in the back. This is actually
part of this property in one of the units. Even though it's a separate structure, there's a little
rear courtyard here. For an intersection, our building is on the left. The other two corners,
which have CMX and other commercial uses, are what you typically see in a commercial district
or a commercial structure with a corner store and access right off the street and so forth.
From a plan's perspective, the first 30 feet of these buildings would encompass both
structures, even though it was this side structure that was originally commercial back in the
day, we could have residential in the back of this portion and this portion if we had
commercial up front along Vine Street, which we again believe is not desirable for the area
any longer and also not really situated for this property. The layout of the building as such would
result in a common vestibule area, two apartment units in the former bank space, and a single unit
on the first floor. And really to do commercial would set back this initial first floor residential
and may leave little to no room for a unit in the bank portion.
But again, we don't believe that it's a desirable use.
The property has been configured in such a way that each of the units,
the majority of the units, anything touching the first floor
has independent access to the outside.
And second and third floor units, as well as the space above the garage,
Per discussion with the neighborhood, we are providing escape, fire escape ladders, but there are pull stations in the building as well as compliance with all fire suppression or fire codes that are necessary.
So for that reason, I would like to ask Ms. Perez to join. And before I do that, I'll just go through the rest of these. As you can see, the second floor is one unit. We're not looking to squeeze more on top of others. And the third floor is the same.
There is no change to the number of units. It's just, again, first floor, not wanting to have commercial.
I do have some photographs of the inside of the different apartments.
Very, very typical of apartments that you'd find in the area, but there is a lot of space in these units.
These are not crammed in, so to speak, even on the second and third floors, but the first floor units as well.
And we have a unit above the garage structure.
This is the rear of the building, courtyard, commercial trash pickup has been agreed to, and there is adequate street parking for this number of units.
Again, density is not our concern at the moment, but rather the lack of commercial use.
We did receive, again, support from the RCO with provisos that the board can review, being the latter, as well as a proviso concerning the nature of tenancy for one of the units.
Here's a copy of the deed.
Leanne Perez, who will join on momentarily, is a member of the Good Neighbors Development LLC.
She's one of the partners here.
And Oliver Wischmeyer, who is also on the line but is not going to testify, is the member of the second entity owner.
Here's photographs of the posting.
For the hearing, posted on the front and sides of the property.
as well as tax clearance certificates for both entities involved.
And that concludes the presentation.
If Ms. Perez can be promoted, we're allowed to speak.
Ms. Perez, you can unmute yourself or wait for the chair.
Ms. Perez, could you state your name and spell it for our court reporter, please?
Yes, sir. My name is Leanne Perez, spelled L-E-A-N-N, last name E-E-R-E-Z.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do. Proceed.
Ms. Perez, thank you. Have you heard my presentation and testimony to the board this morning?
thank you have you heard my presentation and testimony to the board this morning
yes and do you agree that the testimony was true and accurate yes and would you adopt my testimony
as if it were your own to the board do you have any other comments to add in this matter no thank
you very good questions from the questions from the board no mr chairman no mr chairman
questions from the virtual audience or statements
chair i see no other heads at this time thank you planning commission
thank you chair bergman ian hegarty for the philadelphia city planning commission
uh members of the board i apologize my camera is not working um the comprehensive plan recommends
no change to the existing cmx2 commercial mixed use zoning at this location um as the
As council has noted, the proposed variances to exempt this building from the requirement for ground floor commercial use only.
We believe that the applicant's hardship claim is supported by the physical configuration of the existing structure,
which is set above and set back from the street.
And so we would recommend that the board grant this variance.
Thank you.
MI 2021-003724-6328 Vine Street.
I vote yes for proviso relative to portable fire escape stairs in each unit.
Carol Tenere, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with proviso.
James Snell, yes with proviso. Ishmael Shaheed, yes with proviso.
Thank you, Mr. Kirk. Thank you very much. I may be excused.
Yes. Is there anyone else in the audience whose case has not been heard or did not hear the case?
There's someone by the name of Sam Yu. Mr. Yu, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
yeah uh we are i'm sorry i'm sorry
wait a minute wait a minute could you state your name first and spell for the court reporter
uh south century spells no could you say
state your name oh uh same sheet right and spelled for the court reporter
S-A-M-X, U is the last name.
Right.
Do you swear or firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, sir.
Oh, yes.
Basically, I want to make sure that my request for continuance is granted.
Right.
Your case has been continued, and it must be tried.
We are having trouble with the other.
so your case has been continued and it's marked must be tried the next time you're notified to
come in we have to have your case okay yes sir yes sir all right thank you very much thank you
is there anyone else in the audience who has a question about their case no chair Allison that's
it chair that's it okay thank you everyone see you thank you thank you see you too see you too
See you at 2.
We are recording.
Okay, thank you.
We're ready to start when you are.
Good afternoon.
My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this ZBA hearings this afternoon.
With me is Carol Tenere, our vice chair.
Present. Ishmael Shahid, our board secretary.
Yes. Thomas Holman, our board member.
Present, Mr. Chairman. And James Snell, who should be on shortly.
Also, our board administrator, Tanya Sunkit, and our attorney, Sherman Toppin.
Before we begin, here's a look at our virtual format. Be advised these proceedings are being recorded.
By participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded.
The video will be available by contacting TanyaSunkett at phila.gov.
For the benefit of our court stenographer,
and we ask our attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you are participating by phone, if you wish to testify,
press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
and star six to unmute. To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548. Leave your email
To enter an appearance statement, call.
and the address of the property in question. And lastly, please note the question answer box
on the screen is not for testimony or comments. Any comments should be directed to Tanya Sunkit,
our board administrator. So let's look at our first of all, our continuances that we have for
this afternoon's meeting. Number one, MI 2021 004366, 13909 North 22nd Street, Attorney Moving Party.
Number four, MI 2021-004397-2028 Westmoreland Street.
And number seven, MI 2021-002825-2348 West Montgomery Avenue.
Does anybody have any comment or information about these three continuances, objections?
i see no hands at this time chair thank you any additional continuances
chair we have tina marie russell with her hand up
miss russell you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair
miss russell state your name and uh spell for the court reporter please
Tina Marie Russell, T-I-N-A-M-A-R-I-E-R-U-S-S-E-L-L, North Central Philadelphia CDC.
All right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Correct, I do.
Proceed.
I was just supporting the fact that we agreed to the continuance for 2028 North 21st Street.
I mean, oh, shoot, I forgot the address.
The one you just mentioned, I'm sorry, I forgot the address.
West Morning Street.
Westmoreland Street.
2028 Westmoreland.
Yes, I was just saying we agree with the continuance.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Any additional continuances?
Okay, thank you.
MI 2021-004395-1613 Ellsworth Street.
RCO, East Point 3's Neighbors, Letter of Support, Rachel Pritzker.
Chair, Brandon Saverin will be rejoining as a panelist.
Hi, Brandon.
Just state your name.
You've already been sworn.
Thanks, Mr. Chair.
It's Brandon Saverin, B-R-A-N-D-O-N, S as in Sam, A, V as in Victor, R-A-N.
Our Vice Chair has a few questions.
Hi, Mr. Sabrin. Do you agree to wave the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do, Madam Vice Chair. Based on the notes I have, it seems that you've
sent in all the required documents timely. Is that correct? Yes, it is. You may proceed.
Okay, thanks very much. Sure. Is it okay if I share my screen? Yes, it is. Okay.
Okay. So I'm here representing Seth Vincent. He is the owner of this property at 1613 Ellsworth
Street. This is a duplex that used to be his home. He still lives in the neighborhood, but
moved out with his family for a greater space. So this is now a investment or rental property
for him, if you will. And we are here because Mr. Vincent was made aware at some point that
the duplex use is not permitted in this structure. That's what this refusal says, that he hired
me to pursue a zoning permit for a duplex, and that's not permitted in the RSA 5 district.
We do have support for this legalization from East Point Breeze Neighbors, held a community meeting at which we received strong support.
And just wanted to briefly do two things.
One, talk about the history of the property for a moment and then show you a few photos.
This is an activity license issued in paper form six years ago by L&I for the two-unit use that Seth himself obtained.
for the two-unit use that Seth himself obtained. I think this was right after he purchased the
property. So this property was listed in 2005 in the MLS as a duplex. Mr. Vincent bought it,
I believe, in 2016. Again, it was listed as a duplex. He was under the impression that it was
a duplex from the listing. That position was solidified by the fact that when he applied for
this two-unit rental license, it was granted to him. So this came as quite a shock when he realized
that property is not zoned properly. And I can't really explain why it does not have a zoning
permit on file. One would think that in order for L&I to have issued this license, it did have a
zoning permit on file for a duplex at the time. It may have been lost. We just don't know. Not
my place to speculate, but we're really just trying to sort of patch up and return to what
we believe was the prior permitted status. And real quickly, I will just show you there's two
units in this building. Mr. Vincent is really playing by the rules. So since the moment he
found out that his zoning is not correct he has held one of the two units the one you're looking
at here as vacant he has a rental license only for one unit at the moment so only one unit is
occupied so i'm showing you the vacant unit which i believe is the first floor in the basement
and then if i keep going here we will get two photos of the upper unit which is the one that
is presently occupied um that's that's really the whole case i'd like to bring seth on to adopt my
testimony uh and i'm happy to take any questions from the board and so is he sure
you're bringing seth mhm seth vincent
um mr saver what is in the basement um the i yeah miss uh seth can address that madam vice
chair there is there is not a i think you're looking at it um so it is not uh used as a
bedroom i know that's a common concern uh you're this is a facing ellsworth here uh and then
you have uh this this is the full extent of it it's not occupied presently yeah hi can you hear
me this is seth vinson speaking yes seth do me a favor uh spell your name for the court reporter
please yes my name is seth vincent that's spelled s-e-t-h-v as in victor i-n-c-e-n-t right do you
swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do thank you yep in
regards to uh the basement in question um there are two living spaces shown here in this photo
plus utilities that shared with the unit. So there is gas, electric, and water heaters.
You can see the gas meters. There are two gas meters supporting the unit, one for the unit
that we're seeing, one for the unit that is occupied. Separate washer and dryer unit.
Water heaters separate for both units, which is not shown here. Electric only for this unit,
and that is all that is in this basement.
I'll ask Mr. Vincent to adopt my testimony,
but are there any other questions for him
from the board first?
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
I'm wanting you to adopt this testimony.
Did you hear the full extent of my testimony
before you started speaking?
yes i did and was it true and accurate yes it was and would you adopt it as your own
yes okay thank you questions or comments from the virtual audience
no hands chair planning commission good afternoon chair bergman david fecto f e c t e a u with the
city planning commission you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the
truth yes sir i do proceed great chair bergman members of the board the comprehensive plan
recommends no change to the residential single family zoning at this location however this
appears to be the legalization of a duplex the city planning commission recommends the board
grant the use variance thank you mi 2021 004395 1613 ellsworth street i vote yes
1613 Ellsworth Street.
I vote yes.
Carol Tenere, my
Harold Tenere, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Thank you.
MI 2021-004458-1903-Venango Street.
Vern Anastasio, the attorney, letter from the RCO opposition at this time.
Chair, Mr. Anastasio is coming back in as a panelist now.
State your name and spell for the court reporter, please.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair. Vern Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O. First name is Vern, V-E-R-N, 1315 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, 19107. Permission to share my screen, sir.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
And our vice chair has a few questions, Vern.
Hi, Mr. Anastasio. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
And it appears that all of the required documents have been submitted. Is that correct?
That is correct.
You may proceed.
Thank you very much.
I am going to...
not sure you can see my screen yet no no but i'm working on it so bear with me okay here we go
we're good awesome thank you thanks very much and i'll zoom in
this is uh 1903 west venango street the application was initially
for a six-family dwelling in an existing structure.
We do have plans after we met with the community group.
We had revised those plans to propose a four-family dwelling,
which would have been a one-family dwelling on the first floor,
one family dwelling on the second floor, one family dwelling on the third, with a bi-level
in the rear. Since most recent negotiations with the community, and by the way, I want to
show you the history of this property, it's always been a six-family dwelling. You can see here with
six electric accounts plus a house account it's a very large property
and in an area that has been unfortunately depopulized over the over a certain amount of
time but thankfully and we also have a rear area to store trash but thankfully after speaking with
Mr. Karn, the 13th Ward, and going through the RCO process, we were able to come up with a
compromise. And if I might, I'll pull up. This is the letter from the RCO.
well this is the the notice from my office but the letter from the RCO clearly stated
that the community residents were open and in fact support a three-family dwelling at at the
subject property. I spoke to Mr. Karn as recently as this morning 134 households were mailed
And we have agreed to seek no more, with a proviso, no more than three-family dwelling in the property.
And as such, given the history that it was always five or six units, given the fact that the immediate area is suffering from depopulation,
we do believe that there is some amount of density that is needed in the area.
because we have a trash plan because we have a you know we've pledged to a light and landscaping
light and landscaping the rco has agreed in fact to support a variance so long as it is does not
the rco has agreed in fact to
exceed a three family dwelling uh per their letter and i believe there may be somebody on
uh on online today to to support that position from the rco but that's that's where we are with
that. And with that, I'd like to ask my client, Mr. Kira, to raise his hand. Peter, if you could.
Mr. Kira, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Yes, Peter, P-E-T-E-R, Kura, K-U-R-A.
All right.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Kura, did you hear my presentation to the board this afternoon?
Yes, I did.
Yes, I did.
Is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge, sir?
Yes, it is.
And would you adopt it as your own testimony?
Yes, I will.
Were you actively involved in communication, negotiation, and meetings with the RCO?
Yes, I was.
And is it your understanding that they would support a three-family dwelling here?
And is it your also pledge that you would be requesting the variants for no more than the three-family dwelling? Is that right?
Yes, that's right.
Despite its history of being more. Thank you.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Charles Richardson.
Mr. Richardson, you can go mute yourself and wait for the chair.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair.
How are you, sir?
I'm well.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Yes, Charles Richardson, R-I-C-H-A-R-D-S-O-N, Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass Room, 312 City Hall.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you. Proceed.
As the RCO and the developer have worked out some type of agreement, the Councilwoman will have no opposition to this granting this variance.
Thank you, Mr. Richardson. Thank you very much.
Anyone else in the virtual audience have comments or statements?
Planning Commission?
Good afternoon, David Vecto, City Planning Commission.
Mr. Chairman, members of the Board, the Comprehensive Plan recommends no
change to the residential single-family zoning at this location. This is a 2,422-square-foot
lot with an existing structure. According to the zoning archives, eight properties on the block
range from two-family to six-family units, but the majority of the homes on the block are single
family. We were going to recommend against this application, but after hearing the applicant's
testimony regarding the existing six units in the home and the compromise with the neighbors,
the city planning commission recommends the board grant a variance with a condition of no more than
three dwelling units thank you very much mi 2021 004458 1993 west finango i vote yes proviso no more
than three units in the building thank you my vote is yes with proviso thomas halliman my vote is yes
with proviso ishmael shaheed my vote is yes with proviso
Thank you, Vern. That's your vote.
Thank you, sir.
Okay. MI 2021-004-394-2056 East Fletcher Street.
East Kensington neighbors
appear to be in opposition.
Councilman Squill, letter in opposition.
Nockamson.
Chair, Mr. Nockamson is coming back in as a panelist now.
Yes, okay.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
How are you? State your name and spell for the court reporter, please.
Oh, yes. Alan, A-L-A-N, last name Nockamson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N, 123 South Broad Street, Suite 1600, Philadelphia PA, 19109.
Oh, yes, Alan, A-L-A-N, last name Nockamson, N-O-C-H.
You swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Okay. And our vice chair has a few questions.
Hi, Mr. Nockamson. Do you... No, you've just been sworn in.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
can you hear me can you hear me i said that was the second time i do
okay so you're now married strike that um i assume that you have sent in all of the required
documents that's what my notes say is that correct i i have i've updated some materials
because we didn't receive the letter from the uh east kensington neighbors association until
recently as well as councilman squilla my understanding is you do have them because
i forwarded it to miss zelena and it's in my presentation okay you may proceed thank you
i share my screen sure
all right so i'm here to present 2056 east fletcher street uh this is a property in east kinsington
section of Philadelphia. In my presentation materials, you'll see the Notice of Refusal,
correspondence from East Kensington Neighbors Association, correspondence from Councilmember
Mark F. Squilla, letters of support from nearby neighbors, then nearby garages to our property.
It's not uncommon to have off-street parking by way of front-loading garages or otherwise
in this neighborhood. East Kensington is notorious for having difficulties given its density
and there are many streets in East Kensington including this one on East Fletcher where there's
no parking allowed on our side of the street where the even in the past as an example 2068
East Fletcher Street where this board has granted variances to allow for front loading parking and
we'll go through those garages. Maps of the area we'll go through, photographs of the property in
the surrounding area, plans and drawings, proof that we met with the RCO, our application for
repeal, our deed to the property showing that Fletcher partners LLCs on their property,
and our certificate of tax clearance. By first thing, our notice refusal, we're just trying to
build a single-family home, but with off-street parking in the form of a front-order garage. As
you'll see through our materials, it's not uncommon. And the situation on our block is rather
bad. We'll see through the pictures that people illegally park in front of properties on the
sidewalk. So all we're trying to do is legalize a proper form of off-street parking, which would
be a front-loading garage. And again, under calendar number 32762, this board granted a
similar variance for 2068 East Flecker Street. And our only refusal is for the front-loading garage.
Everything else meets the zoning code. All right, so correspondence from the East Kensington
Neighbors Association. This was a well-attended meeting, but not because of us. There was a CDR
project for comment only for 2221 North Front Street. That was a proposal for a 60-unit apartment
building on the 2200 block of North Front Street with no parking. We presented first. Most of the
commentary of the individuals who were against it lived closer to 2221 North Front Street and not
us uh ultimately the comments were we're having an issue with parking if we can't get parking
you're not going to get parking ultimately again this project of 2221 north front street was only
for comment because it was as a right project uh but the cdr project definitely hurt you know what
the real community that's close by thought of this project uh if you look at the vote it was 10 people
in support and 18 people in opposition and one abstain, I can almost tell you hearing the
commentary, most if not all of the opposition was nowhere in proximity to us. It was another
part of the neighborhood. And ironically, they were upset for the fact that they lacked parking
in this neighborhood. Again, as you'll see in the photographs, there's no parking allowed on our
side of the street so by providing a curb cut with a front voting garage we're not taking parking off
of the street and we're actually alleviating the problem so again i spoke to councilman
squilla's office they understood the situation you know but you know given the fact that the
you know given the fact that the community voted against it uh as a whole not our part of the
The community voted against it.
community but you know just generally the people who attended that well-attended meeting for a cdr
project they had no choice but to also write a letter following you know the vote but you know
we did reach out to members of the community because we were really surprised like this is a
project or similar type of project that has been granted in the past by the zoning board again as
example, 2068 East Fletcher Street. So we reached out to members on that particular block. So we
have people at 2071 East Fletcher Street. We have actually our next door neighbor who owns 2058 East
Fletcher Street, 2060 East Fletcher Street. We have 2406 Amber, which is just around the corner
from us which is adjacent to east lecture street and we have one individual also um on frankfort
avenue which is caddy quarter from us as well time and time again they put letters and your
this board should have those letters because i forwarded the revised presentation materials to
miss salata salata but time and time again they stated why wouldn't we have a front loading garage
on this block we're not taking away public parking we're actually helping a situation that's
pretty dire in their neighborhood and so the nearby garages i mean we really did our homework
on this because you know it's it's pretty uh drastic the the issue in terms of uh the parking
situation in east kensington but we're the green right here on east fletcher street and then we did
a quarter mile radius of all the parking that does have front-loading garages or garages in
general. And again, there's garages on our block and nearby, which have been approved by this board
on many, many occasions. Again, most recently, 2068 East Flecher Street. But, you know, there's
been 16 instances of new construction where there have been new front-loading garages. 2068 East
Fletcher Street, 2022 and 22-28 Amber Street, 2055 East Dauphin Street, 22-27 Amber Street,
2101 and 2103 Susquehanna Avenue, 2115 and 2117 East Arizona, 2050 Trenton Avenue, 2114 and 2112
Burgess Street. 2028 and 2130 Burgess Street. 2447 Martha Street. Now here are some of the
older construction. 2070 Fletcher Street, which is on our block. 2080 East Dolphin Street, which
is a cross street of ours. 2020, 2018 and 2016 Fletcher Street, which is on our block. 2029
East Susquehanna Avenue, which is across the street of ours, 2027 Abigail Street, 2026 East
Susquehanna Avenue, 1916 East Dauphin Street, 2033 East York Street, 2327 Emerald Street,
2335 and 2339 Emerald Street, 2211 Trenton Avenue, 2085 East Austin Street.
Mr. Knock, I'm so weak at your point.
Yeah, no, I get it. Is this frustrating? No, I get it. It's just very frustrating. People are wanting to cut off their nose to spite their face in a different part of the neighborhood. But here's our property. And again, if you notice, most of the streets that we talked about, Amber Street, Dolphin Street, Fletcher, Susquehanna, those are all cross streets of ours.
So I did not walk in the general Philadelphia area. I really did try to be honest in terms of our evaluation of like what's out there. My philosophy in Philadelphia zoning law, if I walk by the property built or used as proposed as to stick out like a sore thumb versus something that kind of fits within the fabric of the neighborhood. This is something that would fit within the fabric of the neighborhood.
um photographs of our property we're just a vacant lot right and then east to the east
flusher street to the right of the property and look at this i'm pointing here this is our side
of the street this is a sidewalk people are parking on the sidewalk all we're trying to do
is do a legal use of it there should be no reason why cars should be parked on the sidewalk
it's a safety hazard and then here's east flusher street to the left of the property
Again, if you look at our side of the property, people are parked on the sidewalk.
That's not a solution to a problem.
And then just our plans and drawings. Again, if you just, you know, if you just look at it, here's our garage. You know, first floor is a bedroom. You go up a flight of steps is the main living area. Two bedrooms on the third floor.
And then just our plans and drawings.
Again, if you just, you know.
again we're trying to just have just a basic nice single-family home with off-street parking
brick facade meeting notice we met on november 10th 2021 at 7 p.m we notified 198 addresses
again i would gather that most of the people that attended that meeting were for a cdr
matter which was not us so even though more people voted against 18 than 410
I believe that most of those people that voted against were not within close proximity to our
project. Proof of mailing of our hearing of our meeting notice, our application for appeal to the
ZBA, our deed to the property, showing that Fletcher Partners LLC owns the property,
and then our certificate of tax clearance, showing that they're in good standing with
the city of Philadelphia with that being said I'm going to stop sharing my screen I can always go
back and forth between my materials I do have the owners of the property uh both representatives of
the LLC I would ask that Karen Fisher uh virtually raise her hand so she can dot my testimony
and I believe there are some members of that block who are also online who are in support of this
partner. Ms. Fisher, if you're in the virtual audience, please raise your hand.
I see no one with their hand up with that name at this time, Chair.
So I know they're an older couple, so I don't know how technologically savvy they are.
I believe that she's with her husband, Mike Yalowitz, so it may be under their name and
may be seen in the same room. Do you see anyone with Michael Yalovitz? Yes, he's here. Mr. Yalovitz,
you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair. I think I'm unmuted, yes. Yes, very good. Good
afternoon, sir. Could you do me a favor, state your name and spell for the court reporter? Sure.
My name is Michael, M-I-C-H-A-E-L.
Last name is Yalowitz, Y, like in Yankee, A-L-O-W-I-T-Z, as in zebra.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed.
Yes, Mr. I'm sorry.
Mr. Yalowitz, you heard everything I stated today.
Yes, I did.
And is it true and correct?
I believe so, yes.
And do you adopt it as your own testimony?
I would, yes.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have someone by the name of Tom Weber.
Mr. Weber, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
All right, Mr. Weber, state your name and spell it for the court reporter, please.
My name is Tom Weber, T-O-M-W-E-B-E-R.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Proceed, sir.
So I was an associate developer of the property of 2068 East Fletcher
that granted the parking spot on the single-family home that was built two years ago.
So I wanted to say that I think that the reasons that the CDC voted against it was because most of the neighbors that come to support the project of 2068 weren't aware of that.
I think where the applicants tried to reach out to some of the neighbors, some of them they're not familiar with.
So when we got the voter, we got a lot of the neighbors.
We all live like a few blocks away from like Amber Street and Dauphin Street.
I personally live on 2232 Frankfurt Avenue, which is three blocks away.
I can say that it was extremely important to all the local neighbors over there
that they will take like one parking spot off the street, which that's what they...
We took a car spot that should have parked on a street parking and got it into the house where there's no parking on the slot.
Everybody were very happy with it and wanted to see something like that.
In addition, that spot was converted to an electric vehicle charging point that there are none in the neighborhood.
And it was very important for the homeowners that bought the property on 2068.
Yet not only this, but they share their electric vehicle charging point with other electric vehicles around the block.
They don't have private parking, and they let them charge the electric vehicle on their parking.
And they let them charge the electric vehicle on their parking on 2068 Fletcher.
I think that it should be approved.
There's much more support in the neighborhood than what was stated in the CDC voting.
And I have no idea why would people object something like that.
Thank you very much for calling in, Mr. Weber.
Any other questions or comments from the virtual audience?
chair we have someone by the name of wesley goodman levy mr levy you can unmute yourself
or wait for the chair hey guys can you hear me yes could you could you state your name and spell
for our court reporter yeah wesley goodman levy um spelling it's going to take me a minute w-e-s
l-e-y goodman uh g-o-o-d m-a-n hyphen l-e-v-y right do you swear a firm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth yeah absolutely i do proceed sir
so alex i mean i i've got a few issues with what's going on here um and i honestly don't
object to a parking spot um in of itself because i do think parking is an issue in the city
I wanted, like, I have a master's in public health, focusing in urban development and its
connection to health. You know, I think the problem, though, as the block captain on the
street is that you haven't really surveyed the community at all. So, you know, that's my biggest
issue with this. Lauren, who you have a letter from, it's her parents who own this lot. Nima
Entomati owns an abandoned house. He hasn't lived there for 10 years. And you got a letter from him
where there's probably, you know, he's the executive director of PNN, you know, Philly
neighborhood commercial, whatever. But he doesn't live there. He doesn't ever go there. He's got
a sign on his house that says, you need to fix this, like this building is dangerous in order
of demolition and there's loose bricks falling from his house and his mail's always there there's
a door sir sir sir we want to try to stay focused i understand sorry there's no real support
from from the block so far um and i think people generally are not really sure if parking spots
in houses do stop off-street parking. The pictures you included were I think the Google image
pictures from like 2008 of the street. If you had just driven down today, you would see that
cars are still parking the sidewalk in front of 2068 every day. There's no, like they're not
using their garage. And they, as far as I know, they don't offer electric vehicle charging to
anyone else on the block i think that would be huge if there was a way to make that publicly
available or on the other side of the street where cars do park but cars are still parked
on that side of the street like they park in front of the garage they don't park in their garage
and if you had a modern picture i think you'd see that and so there there wasn't really any support
from anyone who lives on the block without a connection to the family so far and that's my
biggest issue i don't i kind of disagree the ecna meeting was attended only because of the
other project that was proposed i think people people were unsure about the project and they've
sent in letters and emailed ecna separately thank you very much sir thank you very much for calling
in any other comments i'll give you just to respond um again what we're asking for is not
uncommon on that block um as far as 2068 i don't know you know the individual i just know that
there was a variance i don't know if they're sharing you know electric car services or
whatever um i do know that those pictures are accurate and all of the addresses we provided
are accurate in terms of off-street parking we're not taking a public parking spot off the street
We're trying to help the situation in East Kensington.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Chair, we have someone by the name of Matthew Kobielka.
Mr. Kobielka, you can unmute yourself or wait for the chair.
Can you hear me?
Yes, sir.
Could you do me a favor?
State your name and spell for the court reporter.
My name is Matthew Kobielka.
It's spelled M-A-T-T-H-E-W.
And the last name is K-O-B-I-A-L-K-A.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
yes sir proceed um so i live directly across the street from the proposed property um at 2050 90s
Yes, sir.
Proceed.
So I live directly across the street from the...
fletcher street um i just have i have a few issues with the the development particularly just as it
relates to the garage i have no issues with a house being built there um i do feel that it sets
a bad precedent for more front-loaded garages on the property as you saw from one of the photos
you know it is a lot that has two it's an empty lot that has two properties on it so potentially
if this variance is given there will be another one given for the adjacent lot so now we're
talking about two additional garages um the block between coral and amber of fletcher street which
was included as some of the um you know already existing garages is zoned differently that's
owned rsa5 um i'm sorry yeah between coral and amber is on rsa5 but between jasper and
quality zone RM1. So that's why there's a propensity for more garages on that particular
block. You know, the map also shows that garages are an exception rather than the rule. I mean,
yeah, there are garages in the neighborhood, but it's not the norm. You know, as my previous,
as my neighbor Westland stated earlier, yeah, there isn't a garage at 2068. There is regularly
a car parked in front of it. There's a car parked in front of it right now. There is no electric
charging station i have never seen an electric car it is the same ford car that is parked there
every single day um you know i don't agree with 2068 and that variance being given but that's
a different discussion you know but 2068 and 2070 and 2022 22 22 26 amber they're all across the
street from each other so they're either right next to each other or across the street so it's
sort of you know all together with those garages which i can sort of understand um
The last thing I want to say is that the East Kensington Neighborhood Association voted against it.
Squilla doesn't support it.
Some of the emails in support are from the daughter of the owner of the property.
I agree that people parking on the sidewalk is not safe.
But in the real world, if nobody's parking on the sidewalk, if we give the garage, people are just going to park in front of it anyways.
And ideally, no one's parking on the sidewalk.
It's still a safety hazard because now you have cars blindly pulling out to the sidewalk.
Thank you.
Thank you for calling in.
Yeah, and Mr. Chair, I just want to clarify because I went through a lot of photos.
2068 is not the only instance of having off-street parking on that side of the street.
2016, 18, and 2020, all in East Fletcher have off-street parking.
And as the Chair knows, whether it's RSA-5 or RM-1, it would require a variance to allow for off-street parking.
So I did not include any photos where it would be allowed as of right.
Thank you. Anyone else in the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Cynthia Swartz. Ms. Swartz, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Hi, Chair. This is Tanya, the administrator. We do have at least four or five hands up.
If we could ask if it could be something new and different. Thank you, Chair.
Thank you.
State your name and spell for the court reporter, please.
um sure cynthia c-y-n-t-h-i-a last name is s-c-h-w-a-r-z right do you do you swear
firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do proceed um so first i want to
note um 2016 and 2018 are on a different block they are not uh the block in question is between
coral street and amber street those garages are between emerald street and coral street
so it's not the same block um i would like to i would like to emphasize what my neighbors have
also said because i agree with it but i also agree that we need to move along um and so what i will
say is that this block has a lot of families on it we want the sidewalks to be clear ideally we
would not have people parking on the sidewalk but i do not think that a front-loading garage is the
answer to that. As we have seen with 2068, the owner of that property now assumes that is their
designated parking spot and they park in front of their garage every day. And so adding a front
loading garage will not help the parking situation. I would also like to emphasize the precedent as
As my neighbor Matt said, granting the variance.
I was not present for the meeting on 2068, so I can't speak to that.
But granting the variance for this property sets the precedent for other lots on the block
that I would like to not have set.
So again, I don't mind a house being built, but I do not support a front loading garage.
Also, at the ECNA meeting, Alan misrepresented there was significant discussion about this property and not just about the property on Front Street.
Also, at the ECNA meeting, Alan misrepresented their
I don't think that that was well represented in his notes about the RCO meeting.
Thank you very much for calling in.
So, other people in the audience, if you have something different that you want to comment on, that's fine.
but we're going to have to move on so is there anyone that has something different than what's
been already been said chair we have neba etamadi miss etamadi you can unmute yourself and wait for
the chair could you could you state your name and spell for the court reporters please sure my name
is viva tamadi spelled n-i-m-a-e-t-e-m-a-d-i do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole
truth and nothing but the truth i do proceed um i so i own the two properties next door to the one
in question um which i have yet to develop but i am looking forward to doing that one day and i have
say i i i have yet to hear any reason that makes sense to me why it would be a bad thing to have
us street parking on that side of the street because there's no legal parking on that side
of the street already um so the only it's only cars being that are illegally parking on the
sidewalk that would be displaced by the presence of garages on that side of the street so how that
would be negatively impactful i don't understand and just because one person is has a garage and
continues to park on the sidewalk that to me doesn't mean that there's no point in having a
garage it just means that people who park on the sidewalk should get ticketed including that person
but like i don't see how it helps you know we all acknowledge it seems that there is a parking
problem in the neighborhood and having an off an off street spot for those who live on that
side um only creates a legal parking spot it doesn't take one away for anyone all right
thank thank you so much for calling in uh we've heard people before and people against if there's
anything else that's completely different than what we've heard if not we're moving on
chair we have we still have people with their heads up what would you like
i think we're going to move on okay planning commission
good afternoon david facto city planning commission chair bergman members of the board
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single family zoning at this location
the configuration of this 1189 square foot lot is not substantially different than the other
residential lots on the 2000 block of each fletcher street a front garage is not strictly
necessary to allow the applicant to derive value from their property the majority of properties
have no curb cuts or front garages and i will say that the description of the neighborhood that the
applicant put up put before the board is not the neighborhood that i recognize for my 13 years
working in east kensington the city planning commission recommends that the board deny the
request for a front garage at this location. MI 2021 004394 2056 East Fletcher Street. I vote yes.
Harold Tannery, my vote is yes. Thomas Holloman, my vote is no. James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes. Thank you.
m i 2021 004391 2317 north 15th street
mr chair um i don't know whether my name or rachel pritzker's is there but um
then we'll gladly go to you sir just state your name again for the record
Yep. Brandon Saverin, B-R-A-N-D-O-N, S as in Sam, A, V as in Victor, R-A-N.
And our vice chair has a few questions.
Hi, Mr. Saverin. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
And it appears that you have submitted all of the required documents. Is that correct?
Yes, it is.
Okay, you may proceed.
thank you um may it please the board um could i share my screen again please okay
Please.
So I am here before you today to discuss 2317 North 15th Street.
That's highlighted on this zoning map in blue.
It is an RM1 property.
This property is, and I apologize for the partial blur on the image, but this is an image of the front of the property.
It is a four-story structure with a garage on the bottom floor, and the zoning archive indicates that this has been vacant probably for over a decade, but it was last used as a sales room and storage room for shock absorbers and perhaps previously as an auto repair shop, as indicated here.
So my client purchased this property and intended to convert it for residential use.
He pulled a by-right zoning permit for four dwelling units.
Now, we then proceeded, and I'll tell you why in a second, to apply for seven dwelling units and two accessory parking spaces.
Those uses are by-right.
The seven units are by-right here.
save for the curb cut. The curb cut, which already exists, albeit in very bad shape,
you can see there, the curb cut is not permitted without a variance. So that is the refusal we
obtained that we cannot access the garage without a new variance. And, you know, essentially,
to show you the structure again, and perhaps I can give you a view of the side of it,
Pretty large building. This extends the full depth of this block. It's got about 12,000 square feet of interior space, roughly. And, you know, we approached the Uptown Entertainment Development Corporation, that's the coordinating RCO, and spoke to them about, you know, whether they'd like to see a buy-write project, which would basically be four enormous apartments,
approaching 3,000 square feet each with no parking, or whether they'd like to see something
different. And what we have today, and that I'll be presenting with our architect,
is a result of that collaboration. And I will turn it over to him in a moment. I just want to
talk you through the basics. Going back to the front of the building, we're going to reactivate
this curb cutting garage door to provide a couple parking spaces in there as well as indoor storage
for trash and utilities this door on the left is going to access an apartment hallway into the
building so you don't have to walk through the garage to get to the units the store on the right
is going to be for trash service so that trash haulers sorry that the trash cans can be brought
in and out of the building without passing through the rest of it. And finally, just to go back to
the plan, as you see here on the ground floor, we'll have those two parking spaces. One will be
handicap accessible. We're going to offer a handicap accessible unit on the ground floor
that has two bedrooms. And then there will be three floors above that with two apartments each.
And I'd like to bring on Todd Wormsdorf, that's spelled with a W, to provide some additional detail on the apartments.
You state your name.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
There's no one with that name with their hand up at this time, Chair.
Hold on, Chair.
He just put his hand up.
State your name, please, and spell it.
I apologize.
Can you hear me okay now?
We can.
We can.
Just state your name and spell for the court reporter.
It's Todd Wommelsdorf, T-O-D-D-W-O-M-E-L-S-D-O-R-F.
All right.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Todd, are you the architect of record for this project?
No, I'm the designer. There would be another individual that would be the architect of record for this.
No, I'm the designer.
We would...
Oh, I apologize. Okay. More pertinent question. Did you make these plans?
Yes, I did.
Okay, thank you. And were these plans... Let me just have you... I'll actually pass the mic to you.
Why don't you just sort of walk the board through quickly, if you don't mind, the features of the different apartments, the layout generally.
I'm happy to turn pages as you direct me.
Yeah, I think you covered a lot of it in your introduction.
We're proposing two parking units and a trash room and then an accessible unit with two bedrooms on the first floor.
And then above it, in the three floors above, the units are more or less identical on each floor.
Each unit has three bedrooms, two baths, and a large living area, and an atrium to introduce light into the main living areas.
okay um and there will be windows um on the uh front and back of the building such that every
bedroom will have a window is that correct yes okay um and as you said just to confirm the there
will be six units in total on the upper three floors their layout aside from being mirrored
from one another is identical is that right yes and there will be a smaller unit on the first
floor with the intention of this being uh available for rent to a disabled person or family is that
right yes that's correct okay um last question for you um the uh upstairs units um these have
one bathroom that is an ensuite and then one bathroom that's accessed from the living room
per apartment is that right yes that's correct okay um so i guess um before i bring on the owner
to dock my testimony i just wanted to highlight for the board um that we have um oh i apologize
well i'll show you this too so this is a community benefits agreement um that we offered to uh the
the rcos involved i i do actually want to show you i apologize the um decision letter from the
coordinating RCO. We have support from that organization. As I mentioned, that's Uptown
Entertainment Development Corporation. And I believe that Mary Jones from the council president's
office is on. I don't want to put words in her mouth. She had an interest, though, in incorporating
some of these provisions of our CBA as provisos. I'll allow her to speak to that, and I can help
as needed um but um i guess before we call her could i just bring on the owner of the property
why don't you do that okay his name is uh jen dai d-a-i
mr dai you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair
hi hello hi could you state could you state your name and spell it for the uh uh sonographer
hi first name j-i-n last name d as in david a-i right do you swear for him to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do proceed brendan uh jen did you hear the um
full extent of my testimony today yes i did and was it true and accurate
it yes i would and would you adopt it as your own yes i would okay thank you very much all right so
what i'm going to do is questions from the board no mr chairman mr chairman no mr chairman
questions or statement from the virtual audience
chair we have mary jones yep yep miss jones you can unmute yourself or wait for the chair
um yes good afternoon mary jones miss jones just state your name you've already been sworn
oh yes mary jones uh from council president daryl clark's office city hall room 494
Proceed.
While the council president is not taking a formal position on this matter,
our office did want to ensure that as much of what the community requested
can be included as a proviso,
just to avoid them having to make sure the applicant can be held accountable
to make sure the applicant can be held accountable and avoid the community having to
and avoid the community having to...
put work in enforcing a CBA. They may not have the capacity to do so.
And so within those discussions with Mr. Saverin, we wanted to ask that
um the handicap accessibility be included as proviso if possible and just that you know
they are promising to utilize the plans as promised um with the with the um handicap
access as well and the excuse me and the uh ratio of bathrooms to bedrooms thank you
anyone else in the virtual audience chair i see no hands at this time planning commission
good afternoon david fecto city planning commission mr chairman members of the board
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential multiple family zoning at this
location since the dwelling unit count is by right the only thing we're reviewing is the
variance for the existing curb cut and the city planning commission recommends the board grant
the variance for front parking access from a front street thank you mi 2021 004391 oh mr chair i'm
very sorry i just wanted to mention we do have uh i'm truly sorry to cut you off um sure we
submitted a proviso change form um we did modify the plans after our initial we have that we have
I've talked to the our attorney about it thank you thank you MI 2021 004391 2317 North 15th
Street I vote yes with proviso revised plans one page Carl Tenere my vote is yes with proviso
Thomas Holliman my vote is yes with proviso James Snell yes with proviso
Ishmael Shaheed, that's what's about them.
Thank you.
Thank you.
MI 2021-002826-2713 West Montgomery Avenue.
RCO, 32nd Ward, and non-opposition.
Mr. Dockamson.
Chair, Mr. Dockamson is coming back in as a panelist now.
Mr. Nockmson, just state your name. You've already been sworn.
Yes, Alan, A-L-A-N, last name Nockamson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N, 123 South Broad Street, Suite 1600, Philadelphia PA, 19109.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Hi, Mr. Nockamson. Do you agree to waive the reading as a refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
It appears that you've submitted all the required documents. Is that correct?
That is correct, including a letter of non-opposition by DeCornini-Narcia.
Yes, we have that. You may proceed.
May I share my screen?
Yes, you may.
All right, so I'm here to present 2713 West Montgomery Avenue. It's a property just off
of 27th Street on the corner of West Montgomery and Edding Street.
This is a property that we're looking to put as a two-family dwelling.
In our table of contents, you'll see our notice of refusal, our letter of non-opposition from the 32nd Democratic Court, including commentary as to why.
We had two meetings with the community, and through those meetings, we were able to work through this project where they ultimately gave us a letter of non-opposition.
We have maps of the area, photographs of the property in the surrounding area, including showing that this property has been a vacant lot for some time, almost a decade, well, since 2014.
We have our plans and drawings, proof of our last meeting with the community, as well as a certificate of mailing, our application for appeal, our deed to the property showing that Kumas Homes LLC owns the property, and our certificate of tax clearance showing that my client's a good standing with respect to this property.
Notice of refusal. So this is an RSA 5 property, but it's a corner property, and typically you'll see from corner properties, it's non-common for these properties to have multi-unit facilities.
Here, my client, you'll see through the drawings, is using it such that one of the units will have an entrance on Montgomery, the other unit will have an entrance on Montgomery.
One of the units will have an entrance on Montgomery, the other unit will have an entrance on Edding, and both of the units, most importantly, will have access to the rear yard where there will be a storage container for trash, which was very important to the community to make sure that that happened.
And we would agree to provide some trash to be stored in the rear.
uh here's our letter of non-opposition it's just an email so i didn't get a formal letter
um but i assume that you did receive this email i did as well um but it stated after two meetings
they took a position of non-opposition and these are the reasons why the sanitation plan
we agreed to you know store our garbage in the rear where both units would have access to it
uh it's a vacant corner property and has been for such time and the fact that we put two separate
entrances uh on heading street the lower level will have their entrance there on montgomery the
upper level will have their entrance on there that was very important to community to have
separate entrances and then just the community input the fact that you know we had uh two meetings
where we're able to flesh out a lot of these issues and for all those reasons the community
sent a letter of non-opposition maps of the area again as you can see we're just off of 27th
street on montgomery at the corner of north ed inc and montgomery maps of the area from a google
perspective photographs of the property so this is the property um since well in 2014 so you can
see it's a baking lot that's the condition of the property now but just showing that this does have
long history of being a vacant lot and we're hoping to develop this property into a multi-family
property uh this is the property currently uh from west montgomery from edding street
and then uh and i think i should do this okay and this is uh from edding street and this is
west montgomery uh ave to the right of the property west montgomery have to left in the property
uh heading to the right of the property and into the left and it's just i want to point out here
that our our property that's across the street is also a vacant lot um as well uh so there is a need
uh for you know development in this neighborhood and that's what we're hoping to do with this
two-family club uh kumas homes they've been around for some time in philadelphia uh their headquarters
are in the Point Breeze section of Philadelphia, actually on Point Breeze Avenue.
Kumas Homes sells and leases real estate.
They not only own the real estate, they develop the real estate,
they're general contractors, and they manage their properties.
And this is the type of work product they do.
Hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances.
This is an example of some kitchens, the bathrooms, subway tiles.
but they really try to do a nice work product and be responsible whether it's seller or landlord
and then here are plants and drawing drawings if you looked at it um on google i think in 2009 was
the last time there was a building structure there there was a brick facade that's what we're trying
to do exactly here and more importantly with a corner slide to try to mimic that you know
philadelphia field but the most important thing is is that there's two entrances one on montgomery
and one on Edding Street, one for each unit. So it's not one point of access. And if you see here
is a significant yard of 12 and a half feet where the garbage would be stored and we would
agree to a proviso in that respect. Again just to kind of zoom out here as you can see in our
floor plans we actually have a notation for where the trash would be stored which would be accessed
by both units and then just a rendering of the elevations to from heading street as well
as from uh montgomery and then if you look this is oops this is our hearing notice or
community meeting notice we last met with the community on january 27th at 6 p.m there are
217 addresses that were notified, and here's a list of the addresses, proof of mailing
to those addresses, our application for appeal to the ZBA, along with our notice of refusal
and project information form, our deed to the property showing that Cum La S Homes owns
the property, and our certificate of tax clearance showing that they're a good standing with
the city of Philadelphia.
there. With that being said, I'll unshare my screen so you can see each other. I have
With that being said, I'll unshare my screen so you can see each other.
I have the general manager of Kumas Homes, Efi Anyi Chukwu, easy.
So if Mr. Eze can actually virtually raise his hand, that would be great.
Sir, could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Yeah, sure thing.
It's Ifeanyi C-H-U-K-W-U, last name E-Z-E.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
Mr. Eze, you heard everything I stated today.
Is it true and correct?
Correct.
Do you adopt this as your own testimony?
Thank you.
questions from the board no mr chairman no mr chairman questions from the virtual audience or
statements no hands chair planning commission good afternoon david vecto city planning commission
mr chairman members of the board the comprehensive plan recommends no change in the single family
residential zoning at this location this is an 890 892 square foot lot there is nothing unique
about this lot that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code there
is one legal two-family home on the block face all other homes on this block face are single families
so the city planning commission recommends the board deny the requested use variance
Thank you. MI 2021 002826 2713 Montgomery Avenue. My vote yes.
Carol Tineri. My vote is yes. Thomas Harleman. My vote is no.
James Snell. My vote is yes. Ishmael Shaheed. My vote is yes.
Thank you. MI 2021-003220-2801, Grant Avenue. Letter in support, recommending three-year proviso. Councilman O'Neill, letter in non-opposition with three-year proviso.
Attorney is Ami Farrell.
Chair, we have a Natalie Young
with her hand up.
So let's see who she is.
I will have, yes.
Ms. Young, you can unmute yourself.
Good morning, Chair.
Or good afternoon, Chair.
I'm Natalie Young.
I'm here for Amy Farrell from Kaplan-Stewart
on behalf of the app.
are you an attorney yes for 28 on behalf yep yep okay state your name and spell it please
yes it's natalie young n-a-t-a-l-i-e uh y-o-u-n-g all right do you swear for him to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes our chair our vice chair has a few words for you
i'm sorry chair she's coming in now as a panelist okay
Okay. Is this go? Okay. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy? Yes. According to the notes we have, everything has been submitted as required. Is
that correct? That's correct, yes. You may proceed. Okay. And I'd like to ask permission to
share my screen. That would be great. Love screens. So just to give a little bit of background,
this property is located at 2801 Grand Avenue. It's zoned as an I-2 and it's presently used as
a fitness center and gym. The applicant is actually looking to continue the use of the
fitness center and gym, but they're looking to add two additional uses for a fresh grocery market
and for use as a sit-down restaurant. The property is located in an area that's basically known as
a food desert. And there's no really cost effective, nutritious options nearby. So the
owner who's here with me, Tony Chowdhury, of Fusion Gyms is looking to kind of add to the gym
a healthy option that both his customers of the gym and the public neighboring community can have
that area. Many of the neighboring community members travel, I think, over to Ben Salem
for groceries, and so this would give an option, something fresh and local for making sure.
um something something fresh and local for the thinking uh so we are seeking relief and i'm gonna
see if i can share this here
all right are you able to see that yep okay so this is the refusal um again we received a refusal
with regard to the use for food, beverages, and groceries, because it's an industrial zone,
I-2, and then also the refusal with regard to the sit-down restaurant, because it's an industrial
zone. Just to kind of streamline the process, I'd like to include my exhibits, which, let me bring
the list up. I'm just going to kind of quickly go through and read them in. Exhibit one provided is
the deed. Exhibit two is the lease to Fusion Gems with the amendment that makes it current.
I believe the amendment goes through 2028 with two five-year additional options. Three is the
tax clearance certificate. Four is the amended refusal that we just took a look at. Five is the
appeal application. Six is the project information form. We were actually here, well, we were actually
before the RCO before. With regard to a use as a takeout restaurant, that has since changed,
so we sought leave for an amended refusal. That's Exhibit 7. Exhibit 8 was the approval
for leave to get an amended refusal. Exhibit 9 is the RCO notice letter, and Exhibit 10
is the posting of the zoning photos, the zoning notice and photos. And if you turn your attention
Attention to Exhibit 11.
Oh, I apologize.
Alright, so Exhibit 11 is the aerial of the property.
To kind of give you an idea, here's the building here on Grant Avenue.
There's a better look at the building on Grant Avenue.
And here's the shopping center where the building is located. So Fusion Gyms is back here.
I believe this is in Autism Speaks here. There's an existing pylon sign in the front.
And then to give you a little bit more of a close-up, here's Fusion Gyms, where Fusion Gyms is located.
And again, as we discussed, it's in an I2 industrial zone right here in the middle.
and we are continuing the use. So we're looking to continue the use as a gym. So here's the
historical permit. This has been a gym since 2016. I believe he currently has 3,500 existing gym
memberships. And so this is the proposed use. And so let me see if I can bring this down here.
Oh, maybe up one. All right, so the gray portion in the middle and the gray portion to the left,
those are the continued space that will be occupied by the gym. He's seeking to add in
this blue portion here to the right. This is where he's seeking to add the dine-in restaurant.
We'll get to it in a minute, but essentially there's a service counter that people would walk
up. There are six sets of tables for larger groups and then six sets of tables for smaller
groups that are proposed. And then over in the green on the left here, this would be where the
produce market location would be. Both the produce market and the dine-in restaurant are accessible
from the outside. There's, I believe, an existing door at each location already and also would be
look accessible through. Okay. So here is how close to the
boulevard is this? Um, I'm so are you talking about off of
Grand Avenue, you're saying 2801 Grand Avenue. How close to the boulevard?
So off of Grand Avenue, this is set back quite a bit.
I believe there's a grassy area before the parking lot and then a parking lot and then the building is set back inside.
Let me see if I can go back to my picture.
The one picture kind of shows where it's located a little better.
the idea that's the northeast airport behind your northeast northeast airport is back here
the idea that's the northeast airport behind your northeast northeast airport is back here
i now i know where i am i mean you a little um and then here if you want to see there's
a grassy area before there's the parking lot and then the building
okay we got it thank you
um all right let me pull my floor
And to kind of give you an idea of the proposed restaurant space, we're proposing to have
a service counter that's approached to order the food, then you would have a space to sit
down or here's the service counter, you would have a space to sit down at a larger table
and then smaller tables along the back of the restaurant. Okay, to give you kind of an idea,
these are renderings, concept renderings. This is what we perceive the restaurant space would look
like. Here's the tables. These are the larger tables. These are the smaller tables. This
would be the service counter area. These are the types of dishes. So we're going to offer
a variety of dishes. The idea is kind of to have a fresh option, kind of fresh bowls with a variety
of foods. I believe international foods as well as, you know, common options. But the goal is to
offer quite a bit of food to choose from. And the dishes are prepared to order.
And again to give you kind of an idea of what the restaurant space would look like.
For the produce space it would kind of be set up along this line where there would be
different options where you could just go up and pick up your apples or your
berries or various vegetables. And this is kind of how how we expect that would be laid out.
So, we did meet with the, very recently, I believe you should have it in your packet
with Walton Park Civic Association, it was a very well attended meeting.
And I believe at first there was potentially some concern for the use, as they are concerned
that the building itself is quite large and so that the use, you know, while we intend
only use a portion of the building for a restaurant, a portion of the building for
produce, and the remainder of the building is the gym. They were concerned that should
fusion gyms leave this location somewhere down the road, that this could be adopted for an
entire grocery store or an entire restaurant. However, when we met with the community, they
were very, very interested. They agreed that this area is kind of a grocery desert or a produce
desert, and so they were very interested in the fresh food options and the variety
of dishes that the restaurant would carry. So we were able to come to a proviso agreement
where they would like to see the use be temporary for three years, and then we would come back to
see if it could be accepted. I would like to point out too though that the lease that
Fusion Gyms currently has is 12 years with two options for five years, and so they intend to be
there for some time they're sinking quite a bit of of funds into the development of this property.
And then also Councilman O'Neill was in attendance at the meeting and so his office
supplied a letter in agreement with the with the proposal with Proviso.
So I should have Tony Chowdhury here. Chowdhury if you could raise your hand I'd like to
Mr. Chowdhury, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Sir, could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Yeah, my first name is Sadagar, S-A-D-E-Q-U-R, Tony, T-O-N-Y, last name Chowdhury, C-H-O-W-D-H-U-R-Y.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
Mr. Chowdhury, did you hear my full testimony today?
Do you agree with the accuracy of that testimony?
Do you adopt my testimony as your own?
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions from the virtual audience?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission?
Good afternoon, Chair Bergman, members of the board, David Fecto, City Planning Commission.
Good afternoon, Chair Bergman, members of the board,
David Fecto, City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the medium industrial zoning at this location.
We did want to note that the area that the property is located in does not meet the definition of a food desert.
There's a giant Walmart, Wawa, and Aldi all within a half block of this property.
Although the proposed food and beverages and sit-down restaurant are not allowed in this zoning district,
They are businesses. And it's more important for the city at this point that we prevent
residential encroachment into the industrial zones than it is to maintain a specific type
of business here. So the City Planning Commission is going to recommend that the board grant the
variances for food and beverages and a sit-down restaurant. Hi, Chair. This is Tanya, the
administrator. May I make a quick request that Mr. Jim Snell go out and come back in?
You absolutely can.
Jim, are you there?
Does it sound like he hasn't?
Yeah, he just.
Okay, his technology is a little messed up.
All right.
He went out.
He was out.
Let's see what if he comes right back in.
Very well.
Thank you, Chair.
MI 2021-003-220-2801 Grant Avenue.
I vote yes. Three-year proviso ending March 2nd, 25.
Carol Tenere, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with proviso.
Mr. Chairman, Jim Snell here. Can you hear me?
We can hear you perfect now, Jim.
All right, I'm sorry about that. I must have lost Wi-Fi or something. My vote is yes.
Jim, you got to say with proviso.
Oh, with proviso. I'm sorry. With proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, yes, with provisos.
Thank you very much.
And Chair, this is Tanya again. I just wanted to be certain that it's going to be March 2nd.
Not February. Okay. Thank you, Chair.
No, I said March 2nd, 25.
Thank you.
Okay. MI 2021-004-453-3301 Solly Avenue. Special exceptions required for educational facility. Approved by Councilman Heenan. No RCO letter from Homesburg Civic, but Councilman Heenan's letter quotes the RCO.
who's coming back in as a panelist now hi Mr. Ransom please state your name and spell for the
court reporter uh good afternoon chairman my name is Robert Ransom uh first name Robert spelled
the typical way last name Ransom spelled R-A-N as in Nancy S-O-M as in Michael uh just like the word
from the law firm, Ostradley, Bronin, Stevens, and Young.
I'm here today on behalf of the-
Wait a minute, wait a minute, one minute.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
All right, and our vice chair has a few questions for you before you start.
Hi, Mr. Ransom.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
It appears, according to my notes, that you've submitted all the required documents.
Is that correct?
That is correct.
okay great you may proceed yeah thank you i'm here today on behalf of the archdiocese of philadelphia
with regard to a special exception application
in connection with the father judge high school campus located at 3301
sally avenue and if you'll allow me to share my screen
As stated in the notice of referral, we're seeking a special exception to allow for the
complete demolition of one existing educational structure that is currently vacant on the
lot and the erection of one detached structure with a cellar on the same lot.
The, again, the special exception is required because we are, we're in the RSA 1 zoning
district where educational facilities are permitted as a special exception.
Because we are essentially removing, demolishing one educational facility structure, replacing
it with another educational facility structure that's larger in size.
with another educational facility structure that's larger in size, the special exception is required.
I'm showing on my screen just an aerial photograph of the Father Judd's high school campus
um where i have my clicker here is the uh existing uh structure that is proposed to be demolished
um at the front of the site you can see the what i would characterize the primary high school
building and at the rear of the side you have the the field and adjacent to that is a field
house that was construction constructed a few years ago i'm showing uh the current site plan
along with the construction of the proposed two-story building we are proposing some related
site improvements, including some improvements to the storm water management system, an additional
approximately 42 parking spaces. And it's important to note that the proposed facility, educational
facility, is intended to accommodate the operations and programs involved with the
Father Judge High School's, let me get this right, career, sorry, my screen is, it's a career
pathways program with essentially as a program geared towards providing vocational skills to
the existing student body at Father Judge High School. As our economy shifts, I think you pick
up the newspaper weekly, you'll see a story about the number of vocational jobs that are coming to
market and individuals retiring and how those jobs aren't being filled because we do not have
adequate person being trained with these skill set.
Sorry, my computer is running a little slow, but on my screen now is a architectural rendering
of the facility and another rendering of the facility because because you know
we're essentially replacing one educational facility with another
educational facility we don't anticipate that the proposed use will you know have
any negative impact on the surrounding property or the community. We met with the Holmesburg
Neighborhood Association on December 14th and shared with them the details of the proposed
site improvements and response. We received a letter of no objection, and Councilman Heenan's
office, thereafter issued a letter of no objection in support of the project as well.
At this juncture, I do have two witnesses, one being Mr. Brian King, who's the president.
So I think, Mr. Ransom, I think you should call the president of the school and get your
testimony adopted. And then if anybody has, you don't have to call the architect. If anybody
has a question, we'll call on them. But I think the key thing right now is to get the testimony
adopted. Mr. King, if you can raise your hand.
brian uh that's you you have me we can is that you you can't hear yes i can do could you please
state your name and spell for the court reporter brian patrick king b-r-i-a-n p-a-t-r-i-c-k-k-i-n-g
k-i-n-g do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes i do proceed counsel
mr king um you uh you heard my testimony that i previously provided regarding the
proposed site improvement in the related uh application for special exception yes
uh uh would you uh adopt the testimony as uh uh true and accurate statements yes i would
thank you questions from the board no mr chairman
no mr chairman no mr jim questions from the virtual audience
i see no hands at this time chair any commission good afternoon chair bergman members of the board
David Fecto, City Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single-family zoning at this location. The applicant has shown that the proposed school expansion will have no more of an impact than a school might be expected to have here. So the Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the special exception.
Thank you. MI 2021-004453-3301 Solly Avenue. I vote yes.
Harold Tenere, my vote is yes
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes
James Snell, my vote is yes
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes
Thank you very much
Thank you, take care
Okay, you too
Our court reporter, why don't we take a five minute break
And then we'll come back
And then what we're going to do when we come back
Is go right through to the end, okay
So five minutes and we'll be back and running
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
We have to go.
MI 2021-004-246, 3629-51 North Smedley Street.
Vern Anastasio, RCO 13th Democratic Ward, Letter of Opposition.
Mr. Anastasio is coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
Afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Just state your name and you've already been sworn.
Vern Anastasio, it's V-E-R-N.
Last name is A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O.
Our Vice Chair has a few questions.
Hi, Mr. Anastasio. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate your accuracy?
I do, Madam Vice Chair.
Thank you. And it also appears as if you have submitted all the required documents. Is that correct?
I have, yep.
Thank you. You may proceed.
Thanks. This is the relocation of lot lines, nine lots from one.
We're proposing a multifamily dwelling here, six units along several lots, triplexes, and then one larger multifamily building.
And I want to get to, by the way, the zoning district is I-1 right now, which prohibits any household living whatsoever.
And we're going to have our architect walk you through the plans.
But here they are as a matter of record.
And here is the survey plan as a matter of record as well.
This is what we're looking at.
This large swath of land right here, sandwiched between other multi- and single-family homes.
I'm going to pull out and show you that this area has experienced considerable depopulation.
Here again is the proposed lot.
We've got empty lots right in the immediate area and right behind.
And so, in fact, there is, you know, there has been some sort of de-investment in the neighborhood for quite some time.
Here is the letter that went out to the community.
We did have a considerable amount of dialogue with the neighbors.
And 13th Ward, I believe, is the RCO in question.
And Mr. Karn is the leadership of that RCO.
So there was an opposition letter sent.
There was an opposition letter sent to the board, and I want to also show proof of 148 individual pieces of mail that went out to all immediate neighbors.
Before I, we do also have, we did run pro formas, which we are going, you're going to hear a testimony on today with respect to why, in fact, the number of units for this vast vacant space just makes financial sense.
But also you'll hear testimony as to the number of single-family homes that have been built in this zip code in the last 10 years.
But I also want to bring to your attention approval for 23-unit building, literally several hundred blocks away, by foot at 3424 North 17th, in this very same neighborhood, 24 units on a block that is very much like ours, that has in fact been depopulated for quite some time.
much larger, taller building, but in fact, permits were, in fact, granted, variances
were granted for the, you know, for the 24 units.
I, one is the designating zoning district.
Before I bring on, I have, I believe, two, perhaps three witnesses.
I want to make sure you understand that as a matter of right, what we could build here,
We could build a warehouse or warehouse distribution.
By the way, this is a residential block.
We could build horse stables.
We can rent the land to contractors for building supply materials.
We can put a parking lot for cars.
We can put a parking lot for boats.
We can do vehicle repair and maintenance.
We can do vehicle sales and rental.
We can put a gas station.
All as a matter of right. None of the uses, by the way, are supported by the local community folks, the immediate neighbors, and none of those uses would be conducive to a residential block that's thriving.
Okay. With that, by the way, I represent Galley LLC. I would like to call my first witness,
which is Ian Toner, who's the architect of the project, so that he can walk you through
the actual plans. Mr. Toner, if you're available.
Mr. Toner, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
sir please state your name and spell for the court reporter sure ian toner i-a-n-t-o-n-e-r
from toner architects do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but
the truth i do proceed thank you mr toner i'll i'll use my uh you know the uh exhibit as i have
it up if you'd like to talk about the design of the property uh the trash storage uh and um you
know and the um the tweaks that you've made uh in accordance with the impact from the community
sure so we have um one large parcel we're proposing to divide into nine parcels
eight of those parcels will be three unit buildings those are the dark blue
and then the gold and then the sort of blue-gray unit on the left.
The green unit in the middle, the lot is twice as wide,
so it's going to be six units altogether in one building.
So it's a total of 30 units on nine lots.
Every unit is two bedrooms, and they stack up,
so that plan you're seeing there is the same plan that you –
basically the same plan you're going to see on the upper two levels.
The basement is going to be unoccupied. It's going to be used simply for maintenance and utilities, but there's also, at the bottom of the stairs, a common trash room for all the tenants to use so that there's trash control since there's going to be multifamily living here.
dimensionally i believe we are complying with the dimensional i don't know that we have any
dimensional refusals but the height is a normal 38 foot height for a residential block
so it's not going to look out of character to what you would expect
going to look out of character to what you would expect the new residential development to look like.
the new residential development to look like
Do you want to talk about this easement, sir?
Sure. We have an egress easement through the back of the property,
so it connects all the lots and then goes out to the street.
So for safety and egress, everybody will have access to that rear through that alleyway.
And is there a trash plan?
Yes, there is a trash room in the basement.
And I'm sure the property owner can talk about collection routines, but we're providing a physical space for trash to go.
so it's not in people's units and obviously that'll be a ventilated room that'll be sealed
against any kind of uh pests and odors very well anything else to add mr toner
uh i don't think so at this time thank you uh next uh client i i'm sorry a witness i'd like
to call is mikhail mary mikhail
Michael, Mary, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Yes, it's Michael Mary, M-I-K-H-A-L, last name Mary, M-A-R-Y.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I am.
Proceed.
Thank you.
Ms. Mary, are you a real estate professional in the area?
Yes, I am.
Are you a realtor?
Yes, I'm a realtor for 16 years now.
Okay, and you understand that this lot is zoned Industrial One, is that correct?
That's correct.
And you understand that what we could do by right here are things like automobile vehicle repair, sales, rental, gas station, or parking lot.
Is that right?
That's correct.
And there is no way in which we could build any residential housing here without coming before the board today. Is that right?
That's correct.
Not even single-family homes. Is that right?
And speaking of single-family homes, where in this zip code has there been a brand new, from the ground up, single-family home built in the last several years?
none zero okay can you please speak very loudly and clearly as to the only from ground
single family homes that have been built anywhere near this property yes so the only single family
home that is right now is active or sold in the nearest um um area is one mile from this property
and a zip code of 19129.
So it's a completely different zip code.
Is that right?
That's correct.
We are 19140.
This is 19129.
Very good.
And what about any others farther out?
If you're looking at new construction condos,
the only condos that are as close as they are
to this development is 1.8 miles.
and again in a different different zip code of 1912
are you there yes can you hear me okay very good and if single family homes were built here
would there be trash management uh a trash plan and property management
for a single family home that's right uh if it's for sale no it's not going to be
of course okay and of course uh the development as we propose will have in fact exterior lighting
it's automatic trash plan and a comprehensive local uh local community property management
company is that right that's correct okay and there was in fact a 24-unit property just approved
by this board recently just a couple uh feet away is that right yes that's right on 17th
mm-hmm that's right okay anything else to add mrs mary um just the the only thing that i wanted
to add is um in 2019 two triplexes were sold um on 16th street 35 35 mil 16th street also uh two
triplexes also all the units were two bedroom two bath same thing on the 1700 block of venango
um all the unit two bedroom two bath um so we are no different from any other project that
all the units, two-bedroom, two-bath. So we are no different from any other project.
um came up in the past three years in this neighborhood thank you very much and did you uh
speak to miss ellen douglas who is the uh block captain of this block yes ellen and i have been
in contact since the first day i i uh purchased this a lot and she's been a great help to me
Every time I need to clean the lot or there's something going on on that block, she notifies me.
I've been cleaning the lot since I owned it, every time it's needed.
I was even approached by a car dealership to rent the lot for me.
However, after consulting with Ms. Ellen, I denied his request.
And it's your understanding that Ms. Ellen Douglas did, in fact, send an email or a reiterated email in support of this variance being granted. Is that right?
Yes, that's correct.
Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, I don't know if Ms. Ellen Douglas was able to come on today. I spoke to her about an hour ago.
She had just gotten done, not coming out of the doctors.
She may be here, but she said she was very tired, but was going to be emailing her letter of support.
Not sure she's on the line.
Is Ms. Mary the owner of the property?
Ms. Mary is a member of the LLC that has an investment in the property, yes.
All right.
Would she adopt your testimony?
yes ms ms mary would you uh did you hear what i said today yes i heard what you said and what
was true and accurate to the best of your knowledge yes everything was it true uh and
you adopted as your own uh testimony yes thank you thank you mr chairman for the
questions from the questions from the board no mr chairman no no mr chairman
questions from the virtual audience
chair we have Mr. Charles Richardson
sure Mr. Richardson you can
meet yourself and wait for the chair
good afternoon again Mr. Chair
just state your name Mr. Richardson you've already been sworn
Charles Richardson from the office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass
room 312 City Hall
proceed sir
Just referring to Mr. Anastasio's commentary earlier, just because there are currently no
single-family homes in that area does not mean that you cannot attempt to build them there.
30 units is too many. The councilwoman feels it's too dense for that location and therefore
she is supporting the RCO and those that came to the meeting and asking that you deny the variance.
Thank you. Other people in the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Kiana Shedrick. Ms. Shedrick, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Yes. Good afternoon, Chair. My name is Kiana Shedrick. First name Kiana, Q-I-A-N-A. Last name Shedrick, S-H-E-D-R-I-C-K.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
Yes. I'm representing an affected RCO on the case, and I wanted to make several points this afternoon.
The first is our RCO was not notified of the scheduled community meeting date from neither the attorney on this case or the coordinating RCO.
And I just wanted that noted for the record. My second point is in our community, as Mr. Anastasio pointed out, there are over 500 lots vacant in our community.
And with the depth and size of many of the lots, reproducing single family homes in those spaces are not only cumbersome for people to purchase financially, but also the cost to build on those size lots.
It's just not supported by financial backing when people need to build.
And so not saying that our RCO does not support single family development, because we do.
We're in support of development that makes sense.
But if we continue to wholesalely deny developers for bringing lots in density, we will short
sight our community and continue to have vacant lots.
So we support development that makes sense. And this project does seem to do so.
If the case is kicked back to the community, we're just.
If the case is kicked back to the community, we're just requesting openly to be notified
of the date and have an opportunity to participate so that the members that are a part of our
organization, which is in excess of 30, have an opportunity to participate and voice their
concerns. And we're the North Neighbors Association. Thank you for calling it.
Other people in the virtual audience.
Chair, I see no hands at this time.
Planning Commission.
Good afternoon, Chair Bergman, members of the board, David Vecto, City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends this property for residential single-family use.
The current I-1 zoning presents a clear hardship to reusing the land.
The surrounding lots on this block are zoned single-family, and with RSA 5 zoning, the unit count allowed by Wright would be 8.
So 30 units is not the minimum variance needed to allow the applicant to derive value from their land,
so we recommend that the Board deny the use variance for 30 dwelling units built over 9 separate lots.
MI 2021 004246 3629 to 51 North Smedley. I vote no.
Harold Tenere, my vote is no. Thomas Holliman, my vote is no. James Snell, my vote is no.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is no. Thank you. If I may ask,
Given that it's I-1, it could be, you know, as the Planning Commission said, a gas station or something, you know, other than single family.
But would a different number please this board at some point?
I think what would please this board at some point would be not just a different number, the whole issue, what the neighbors think, what other people think, and things like that.
And then that will come back to the board.
but i i don't want to tell you a different number i think no i understand that but if the neighbors
and i if the neighbors and my client could come to an accord with a lower number lower density
but that might not please all i would say is we would have an opportunity to take a look at that
if it came back to us yes thank you yes mr chair i would recommend the board not um make that
recommendation as the council's requesting okay thank you i appreciate it
have a good evening
MI 2021
004370
Larchwood Avenue
RCO West Philadelphia
Economic Development Council
letter of support coordinating RCO
Garden Court Community Association
letter of support
Isaac Slepner
attorney
Chair, Mr. Slepner will be coming back in as a panelist.
Hi, Mr. Slepner, state your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter.
Yeah, hi. Good afternoon. Isaac Slepner, I, India, S, Sam, AA, Alpha, C, Charlie. Last name Slepner, S, Sam, L, Larry, E, Elvis, P, Peter, N, Norman, E, Elvis, R, Robert.
Go ahead, sir. You have someone?
No longer with Matt Ione. New contact information. I suppose I should present that to the board.
Otherwise, I'm going to enter 201 South 18th Street, Suite 300, Philadelphia, PA, 19103.
Right. Thank you.
Do you swear or firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Hi, Mr. Slefner.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
And it appears that you have submitted everything that's required.
Is that correct?
It is correct. Yes. Thank you. You may proceed. Okay. I'm here today on 5100 Larchwood Avenue
and 5100 Larchwood Avenue. I, if I may just proceed to share my screen, I'll take
And 5100 Larchwood Avenue, I, if I may just proceed to share my screen, I'll take the board through my presentation materials and this whole situation.
So without further ado, I'm going to go ahead and share my screen here.
Oh boy, there it is.
We're going to go full screen on this.
All right.
okay so uh first up exhibit one is our notice of refusal which we just stipulated to uh exhibit
two is our original application for appeal uh signed by me appealed on 10-5-21 exhibit three
is our project information form exhibit four is the affidavit of service of mailing of notice to
neighbors the um mailing was on november 22nd um of a letter uh dated november 18th well yeah um
and this is our this is a copy of the letter that went out to the neighbors which
had both the rco meeting um listed as well as our hearing day right now um signed by me
CC to all of the various people you may know in the CC, including Andrew Goodman of Councilmember
Gauthier's office. This is, again, we had attached a copy of the refusal, and these are all of the
addresses that we copied with our mailing. There are about a hundred of them, give or take.
But five is our letter to the neighbors, noticing them of the RCO meeting held by Guard Court,
as well as this VBA hearing right now.
Exhibit 6 is the letter of support
from Garden Court Community Association,
dated December 10th of 21,
in which this is the summary of their vote.
It was 10 in favor, 1 opposed, and 1 non-opposition.
This is the letter from the Garden Court.
Next is the letter of support
from West Philadelphia Economic Development Council.
Also a letter, it says strongly support.
Exhibit eight, well, we're gonna go on to our site plan.
And I have out here my architect,
my architect Kenneth Johnson.
Ken, are you out there to walk the board
through the site plan and the floor plans?
Well, I guess I should clarify what we're seeking.
We're seeking essentially legalization of existing use.
um but there's a it's got a backstory I mean every property has a backstory um I guess I'll start
with well we'll start with the site plan we'll let my my architect take us through the site
plan and the floor plans and then we'll we'll move forward from there so Ken are you out there
Kenneth Johnson is my architect
yes mr johnson you can unmute yourself yes can you hear me yes could you state your name and
spell for the court reporter please kenneth johnson
could you spell for please k k-e-n-n-e-t-h johnson j-o-h-n-s-o-n all right do you swear
for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes proceed all right um ken uh if
you would take the um the board through this this site plan over here um given you know that we're
all on a zoom and etc right so we have a existing three-story structure with a full basement um
And the site shows that the entry is off of Lurchwood.
It's a corner property.
There's an existing curb cut for one car garage.
When you come up the front stairs to go into the building, there's an existing covered porch.
It's actually the porch is enclosed.
And you have a bay window on the second floor.
and if you go around to the back you have a fairly large rear yard and we're going to um there's an
existing like patio so we're rebuilding that and there is uh the second entry to the building from
the rear is in the back yeah um and ken what if the the plans don't exactly show it but i may have
photo that shows it at the entryway to the house is up one level correct so the basement is mostly
above ground correct yes but i mean it's mostly above ground from the grade that's why you have
that's why you have the curb cut that can go right the car can get into under the front
the curb cut that can go the car can get into under the front porch area
porch area but as you go to the yard the yard is raised and filled with dirt so that the basement
is is is further underground once you get into the yard okay i'm going to uh take you to the uh
floor plans next and have you um go through those with the board so oh boy exhibit nine is our oh
Exhibit 9 is some renderings, just some exterior finishes that the owner plans when it's finished.
Exhibit 10 are the floor plans.
And again, these, now Ken, are these as built?
Yes, this is as the building was existed the last time I visited the site.
Okay, let's take, oh boy, let's take the board through the plan.
So how many units is this?
It is currently configured for three units.
And take the board through the plan.
If you come from the first floor plan, which is label number two, you have a front door, which is actually the porch.
Then you go through the second door, which actually gets you into the actual structure.
And this is a common hall.
and a common space on the side and there's stairs that go up to the second floor
which is number three. When you come up to the second floor there's a common hall
but you have a door that goes into the first unit which has a bedroom in the front,
a bedroom in the back, a kitchen on the side, a large living space and its own mechanical
uh space and there's a bedroom suite and well actually it's two bedroom suites right and um
and laundry which i don't show but it's the laundry here and a mechanical one then when you
come back out the door the stairs continues up to the third floor you know the third floor you have
again a bedroom suite in the front bedroom suite in the back and a big large living dining room
space in the middle with a kitchen okay now to get to the third unit you have to go around to
the back of the building um well now we're in the basement plan go to the back of the building
and the porch that we showed that's on the site plan that's when you go up the steps and you get
back on the first floor i'm just going to take us back to that for a second well you can see from
the renderings also but right so this porch so there's an elevated porch and an at grade porch
correct yes or an at grade entrance and an elevated entrance so you call it it's a bi-level apartment
yes okay so if you come into the first floor you come in up that porch you come into this door
in the kitchen there's a bedroom on this floor a bathroom and then there are stairs that go down
to the basement and once you come down to the basement you have two bedrooms in the bath and
the mechanical rooms and you still have access um directly to the to the yard from this window from
this door sorry and are there are there egress windows in the basement yes egress windows in each
bedroom okay uh all right exhibit 11 oh wow these are photos i'm going to show the board some photos
This is the current view of the front of 5100 large wood. This is also a current view of the front of 5100 large wood. This is one of the interior units. These units are not finished. They're not occupied. And we'll explain that backstory in a moment, but I want to take the board through here.
This is the second floor unit with a bay window. This is one of the egress windows in the basement. You can't really see through it because it's boarded, because it's not occupied. That window on the outside is no more than two to two and a half feet off of the ground. It's not subterranean. It is all completely above ground.
This is a current side view. That's a gate in the fence that's being on back order.
And you can see the rear axis to the house, the side, and the front. Exhibit 12 are other
properties in the neighborhood that are also multi-unit. This is a property directly across
51st Street. That's 5050 Larchwood and you can see that that is a multi-unit.
um next that's 50 50 large wood that's a close-up of it as a multi-unit that's its side
and then this is 451 south 51st which is caddy corner and that's also got um at least two units
in it uh this is 5102 large wood which um was also recently granted
This is 5102 Larchwood, which was also recently granted a variance for three units.
So these are photos of our orange posters, which were posted no sooner than 21 days ago.
This is one at the front. That's a second at the front, which is a close-up.
This is one at the side, and the second of one at the side with a person reading it.
Exhibit 14 are, so now we'll get into why we're seeking relief from the board.
This house, when my client purchased it, she purchased it in 2018, and it had been zoned RM1 at the time, as had a number of its neighboring properties.
she actually had gotten a use permit for three three family and had had plans drawn up and
a contractor went and without pulling permits started building um you can see this is uh the
the permit from 2019 uh which at the time it was rm1 and the owner shilla woodhouse
for use is multi-family prior to this permit the youth it's my client's understanding and
she can explain this further, that it had been a multifamily or a boarding house. And my client
had no interest in having it be a boarding house. She wanted to convert it to a three-unit apartment
in order for her to have a temporary or occasional second apartment in Philadelphia
for her kids and also for tenants. So this was the application that had been filled out
at the time for the three unit. Then in 2020, so my client hired contractors. The contractors
were crooked. The contractors basically took her money and ran. And my client had to then hire
additional contractors. And at that point, at that point, the contractors had built it out to
the uh roughly the configuration that you just saw in the plans um so my client had to hire
additional contractors uh and went and rather than convert to a three unit realized that that was
not going to be feasible for her she went it was still classified rm1 in december uh in november
of 19 went and had it classified uh for a two family but then at that point at that point um
is where the rezoning occurred on her way out of office in late 2019 councilwoman blackwell
went and rezoned a number of portions of the neighborhoods of west philly into uh rsa5 from
previously having been a single family this is a copy of my client's deed which you can see she
purchased the house in uh 12 11 of 2018 and recorded the deed in her favor um exhibit 15
is a copy of the ordinance that remapped this particular property and several others at right
around the corner of 51st and largewood and i'm going to scroll down and show you uh exactly where
we are so if you can see um right here with the yellow circle rm1 that's the corner of 51st and
Larchwood. Our property is the corner of 51st and Larchwood, 5100. Up until November of 2019,
this was zoned RM1. Map B1 was the zoning that eventually passed council and was signed into
law by the mayor, which converted it to RSA 5. So my client wanted to get this built out
into responsibly um and had it she sought a permit for two two units um until she could
recoup some of her costs um pursue these contractors and uh and then intended to go
back have it rezoned to a three unit unfortunately that was the point at which through no fault of
her own, this hardship was created because of the rezoning. Exhibit 16 is a copy of the deed to my
client in her favor. Exhibit 17 is her tax clearance. She was clear on taxes. And I'd like
to call my client, Dr. Sheila Woodhouse, and have her give a bit more testimony as to this and have
or adopt my testimony.
Dr. Woodhouse, are you out there?
Your client's last name is Woodhouse?
Correct.
any hands yet
any hands up
there she is
it was up and she put it down
just one house
can you please unmute yourself
and wait for the chair
could you state your name and spelled for the court reporter please hi yes good afternoon it's
sheila woodhouse s-h-e-i-l-a last name is w-o-o-d-h-o-u-s-e do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do dr wood dr woodhouse did you hear
the testimony that Ken Johnson gave today? Yes, I did. And would you adopt that as your own?
Yes, I would. Was that true and correct testimony? Yes, it was. And did you hear the testimony that
I offered? Yes, I did. And was that true and correct testimony? Yes, it was. And do you have,
would you adopt that as your own? Yes, that's correct. I would. Is there anything that you
wanted to add with regard to, well, let me take you through this. So as I testified, you purchased
the house in late 2018 um correct you purchased it in 2018 it was zoned rm1 at the time correct
that is correct and you hired um your architect he drew up plans and you uh were you familiar
with the use of it prior to your purchase of it yes i was and what was that use it was multi-family
at some point, and then a boarding house, I guess, during the history of the property at another
point. All right. And what was your intention to use the property? To make it as an owner-occupied
rental property with three units. Okay. And so you hired a contractor after you
had these plans drawn up, is that correct? Correct. And what happened with this contractor?
well mr schlepner i think you went through this already i think we understand it okay um
all right and um dr woodhouse i guess i just asked you are you uh ready willing and able to um
do all the things necessary to convert it to a three family at this point yes i am okay i have
nothing further for my client questions from the board no mr chairman mr chairman no mr chairman
no mr chairman question questions from the virtual audience
i see the hands at this time chair planning commission good afternoon chair bergman members
of the board david vecto city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to
the residential single-family zoning at this location in 2020 the applicant received a zoning
permit for for two dwelling units in the existing structure nothing about the lot or building has
changed since 2020 three units is more than the minimum variance needed and so the city planning
commission is going to record going to recommend that the board deny the requested variants for three
units and by 2021 004370 5100 archwood avenue i vote yes harold tennery my vote is yes thomas
Holloman, my vote is yes. James Snell, my vote is yes. Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes. Thank you.
I have nothing further. Thank you. Have a good day. All right. MI 2021 004521 8430 Ardley.
Ardley LLC, at this point we have no exhibits first listing. Is anyone in the virtual audience for
this case. Chair, we have someone with their hand up by the name Matt Millan. Mr. Millan,
you can unmute yourself and speak now. Hello, Chair. Hello, Board. Mr. Millan, could you state
your name and spell for the court reporter? Yes, Matthew Millan, M-A-T-T-H-E-W, Millan,
M-I-L-L-A-N. I'm the architect, design professional, and here on behalf of the owners.
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes i do are you ready to go on today yes i am all right our vice chair has a couple questions
about i'm sorry i think we i think it's an llc and they need an attorney mr chairman okay
uh the the property is owned by bob and elizabeth brennan
It says Ardley Property, LLC.
it says ardly property llc
Is that correct, Tanya?
You cannot present as an architect.
You would have to have the owners, if not an LLC, present and you offer testimony regarding the plans.
And if they are Ardley, LLC, they would need an attorney to represent them.
Who owns it?
Bob and Elizabeth Brennan.
I'm just checking to see if I have their ownership in my information.
Well, the issue would be is they would still, if it's them, they have to present it and you could advise them.
But they're the presenters if there's not an LLC.
Chair, I'm sorry.
This is Tanya.
We do have them with their hand up.
We can allow them to speak to this case.
Sure, sure.
Staff, can you unmute them for this case, please?
Mr. Brennan, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Mr. Brennan, state your name.
It's spelled for the court reporter.
Robert Brennan, R-O-B-E-R-T-B-R-E-N-N-A-N.
All right.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Are you the owner or is it an LLC?
We're the owner.
the prior owner was an llc we purchased it from them and we purchased that back in june
right mr brennan let me ask you this are you ready to go on with the case that i make the
presentation um if i need to i could probably walk you all through it i've seen matt do it
several times previously but you'd have to have the materials if he can present if he can share
his screen then i can i can walk you through it tanya do we have anything on this at all
um we did not receive exhibits either were the exhibits submitted and if so by whom and on what
date i believe that i had submitted them i would have to check and see on the date uh and i do
have copies of both the settlement deed as well as the alta agreement that shows that the brennans
are owners of this property and i do have a presentation that i can share today we need a
tax compliance refusal or referral photos plans of the property and we need to have received them
five days in advance of this hearing and you also must have met with the rco and do you have a
letter yes we did complete uh all the presentations to the rcos there's actually four committees and
And we did get the full support of the board that was submitted to you yesterday.
Okay, so who's talking?
Is this the architect?
Yes, it is.
So here's the thing.
You cannot, it's up to the owner to submit the testimony regarding what was done.
Were you the one that sent the documents that were necessary?
Yes, I believe that those were all uploaded.
i will have to see i will have to find an email for the confirmation
okay why don't we do this i i think we're gonna have to continue this i i mean i i think we'll
continue it we'll look for a date for them tanya mr brendan will be prepared to make a presentation
mr millen can advise him but it'll all come from mr brennan and i and i think we're going to
CONTINUOUS. WE CAN'T DO THAT CURRENTLY OR BECAUSE WHEN WILL THE NEXT OPPORTUNITY BE TO DO THAT?
I THINK THE OPPORTUNITY WILL BE YOU WOULD CHECK WITH MS. SUNGKET AND SHE WOULD PROVIDE YOU WITH A DATE.
OKAY. YES. REACH OUT TO ME OFFLINE.
THANK YOU.
AND THAT WOULD BE CORRECT PATH, MR. CHAIR.
Thank you. MI 2021-004455-9800-Frankford Avenue. Councilman O'Neill, letter of support, West
Tarsdale-Morrell Civic Park, letter of support, Jared Klein.
Chair, Mr. Klein is coming back in as a panelist now.
Thank you.
Mr. Klein, state your name. Did I swear you already today?
No, no, Mr. Chair.
It's been a long day here.
No problem.
His name is Jared, J-A-R-E-D, last name Klein, K-L-E-I-N, from Blind Rome, 130 North 18th Street in Philadelphia.
Right. Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Right. Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Yes, I do.
Vice Chair.
Vice Chair, I'll have a few questions for you.
Hi, Mr. Klein. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Based on our notes, it appears that you have submitted all the required documents timely. Is that correct?
That is correct.
Okay, you may proceed.
Thank you. I'll share my screen. Can everybody see that? I hope.
fantastic uh so i'm here for 9800 frankfurt avenue um which is the location of the union
leagues toursdale frankfurt uh golf course and we're here with what is a an uncontroversial
application to slightly expand the uh clubhouse area and i will endeavor to be brief as i know
the board's had a long afternoon and still has a 3 30 list so i will i will move expeditiously
The refusal that we have relates to the fact that it's a pre-existing use of the property for a non-conformant purpose.
So it's an expansion of a current non-conforming use, that use being the active recreation use.
So the application is actually just to extend the usable square footage of the clubhouse area to create some terrace seating at a second level.
The way that the clubhouse is currently configured, guests can dine on the patio level at the rear of the of the building.
This that patio area is covered with sort of a portico. This would allow seating on on top of that.
And so it is that sort of minimal expansion of the square footage of the clubhouse that is driving the refusal because we're a 13 percent expansion of the nonconformity and only 10 percent is allowed.
So it's a fairly small ask. This is the location of the golf course.
Generally, as you can see on the screen, give the board some context.
Next, this is the site here.
The actual clubhouse is located here where I'm circling with my cursor.
And so the seating area would be below this back half of the club looking out over the golf course.
Photos, this is the gatehouse that actually fronts on the street.
This is where the notice posters were placed.
This is the front half of the clubhouse.
And some street views to show the board the seating area again would be back here.
you can't see it from this particular elevation but this is the clubhouse that we're speaking about
just to orient the board again this is the clubhouse here this is their existing parking
area this again this expanded terrace seating would be in this area back here as it looks out
over the golf course uh and this is uh just some main level floor plans to show you the area that
we're speaking about. We met with the West Toursdale Civic Association and they gave us a
letter of support which is up on the screen here and Councilman O'Neill also provided a letter of
non-opposition based on the Civic Association's position. If you have any detailed questions I do
have a representative of the league on here to answer them. At this point I'll just ask him to
adopt my testimony. If Scott Luddy could raise his virtual hand and briefly come online, that would
be great. Mr. Luddy, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Could you state your name as spelled for the court reporter, please?
Sure. Scott Luddy. That's S-C-O-T-L-U-T-T-E. Right. Do you swear for him to tell the truth,
the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do proceed thank you uh scott did you have a chance
to hear my uh brief presentation this afternoon yes i did do you adopt my statements as true
correct in your own if you'd be able to testify yes i would thank you uh mr chair scott is here
to answer any detailed questions the board may have questions from the board no mr chairman no mr
chairman no no mr chairman questions from the virtual audience
i see no heads at this time commission good afternoon chair bergman members of the board
david facto city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends this property
for active recreation the proposal seems to be in line with that recommendation
so the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the proposed use variances
MI 2021-004455-9800-FRANKFORT-AVENUE, I VOTE YES.
CAROL TENERI, MY VOTE IS YES.
THOMAS HOLLYWOOD, MY VOTE IS YES.
James Snell my vote is yes. Ishmael Shaheed my vote is yes. Thank you all very much have a nice
JAMES SNELL, MY VOTE IS YES.
ISMAEL SHAHEED, MY VOTE IS YES.
afternoon. Thank you. Is there anyone in the audience who has had a case in the 2pm listings
that the case wasn't heard or they're still waiting?
I see no hands chair. Okay we're going to go right into the 3.30 meeting.
My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this meeting of the ZBA this afternoon.
With me is Carol Tenere, our Vice Chair.
Present.
Ismail Shahid, our Board Secretary.
Here, Mr. Chair.
Thomas Holliman, our Board Member.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
And James Snell, a Board Member.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Administrator, Tanya Sunkit, is here, along with our Attorney, Sherman Toppin.
Just to give you a quick overview of our virtual format, be advised that the proceedings are
being recorded by participating to acknowledge your agreement to be recorded.
The video will be available by contacting Tanya Sunkett at phil.gov.
For the benefit of our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify
themselves before testifying.
If you are 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 address of the property in question.
And lastly, please note the question and answer box is not for testimony or comments.
Any comments should be directed to Tanya Sunkit, our billboard administrator.
I'm going to go at continuances first for this listing.
Number four, MI 2021-003748-2401 South Alder Street.
This is a continuance request.
Is there anybody in the audience who has any comments about that?
I see no heads, Chair.
That case is continued.
Are there any other continuances in the audience?
Chair, this is Tanya Sunkit, the Administrator.
We received a continuous request for case number seven on the list.
Thank you very much.
Number seven, MI 2021-003-759.
That is continued.
Okay, we're now going to our add-ons.
MI 2021-000-727-2212 North 50 A Street.
RCO letter, non-opposition.
Lamont Rogers, please.
Sherry, Mr. Rogers is coming back and is a panelist now.
Thank you.
Mr. Rogers, could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Thank you.
Lamont Rogers, L-A-M-O-N-T-R-O-G-E-R-S.
Right.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Our vice chair has a couple of questions for you.
Hi, Mr. Rogers.
It appears that you've emailed everything in, all the required documents.
Is that correct?
Thank you.
You may proceed.
Yes, hello?
We're here.
We're here.
of uh 2212 north 58th street and uh would like to show you all my exhibits
we can start with the refusal letter um the property that i purchased was a duplex but i
would like to change it to a triplex and this is a refusal letter right
this is my current uh tax clearance which i just received
this is a six-page copy of my d of the property stating that i own it
These are my architectural drawings.
The property will be the, this is the front part of the drawing, the property will be
The property will be the, this is the front part of the drawing.
The property will be the exact same size and dimensions of the houses existing on 58th Street.
And as I talked to the neighbors and everything and explained it to them,
that everything will be the same height, the same length as all the rest of the properties on the block.
This is the side view of the property, which I said will be the same length as the property is already on the block.
This is a picture of the drawings of the apartments.
The apartments are about 750 square feet.
There are two bedrooms, one bath each.
They all have trash compactors.
They all have sprinkler systems.
Um, and, um, just the drawings of it.
Hi, Mr. Rogers.
This is Tanya, the administrator that spoke with you last week.
You are, you are quite welcome to have your architect assist you as necessary, just so
you know, okay?
Oh, well, can we add him?
I thought you were doing a pretty good job
He can explain his drawing a lot better than me
I don't know about that
Can we promote Adib?
Please, thank you
You're welcome, Mr. Rogers
You're doing great, though
Mr. Boddy should be coming back
and it's a pan in the snail
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Is his hand up?
Okay, Adeeb, try to unmute yourself.
You ready?
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
D-Mahdi, A-D-I-B, last name M-A-H-D-I.
And I agree with the panel Lamont was doing this.
Wait a minute.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do, Mr. Chair.
So you're here to help Mr. Rogers, but he's not doing a bad job.
Well, we've rehearsed this many, many times.
You can take credit for it.
That's fine.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Continue, Mr. Rogers.
The only thing that I would add is that we're going to have a trash receptacle, a mobile trash receptacle at the rear of the property.
Since there are no garages, as are part of the adjacent homes, we've got that space in the rear yard where we can have it.
So each apartment dweller will have the ability to store their trash there on the outside.
Once it's compacted, hopefully that will cut down on the size of the storage and, of course, put their trash out on trash day.
That's it. I think he did a really good job.
I can't think of anything I might add.
unless the board has questions i think you should be i think you should be paying mr rogers
i agree with you mr nary
mr rogers are there other multiple unit buildings in your area there yes there are um we'll have
one across the street also but yes there are multiple yes there are um triplexes and duplexes
in the area great okay um questions from the board no mr chairman no mr chairman no mr chairman
questions from the virtual audience chair we have a miss dukes you can unmute yourself and wait for
the chair hi good evening hi could you state your name for us please and spell for the court reporter
Sure, it's D-Dukes, D-E-E-D-U-K-E-S.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Absolutely.
Proceed.
All right, so I am D. Dukes from the Winfield Community Neighborhood Association.
We are RCO in Winfield.
And so I have a couple of concerns. I've sent in documentation from two nearby neighbors, including myself. So I'm going to make a few comments. So the first is this case has been going on since August of 2021.
And so I have a couple of concerns.
I've sent in documents.
one. The actual zoning meeting itself, the first meeting, was held one day before the actual
hearing. So many of the nearby neighbors were not on that call. There were only one nearby neighbor
on that call. Since that time, we've gone out as an RCO, we've gone out and we canvassed the
neighborhood. And we spoke to about 30 nearby neighbors within the ones who were part of the
nearby neighbor list. And not one of those nearby neighbors received notification of this refusal.
Not one of them received that notification. They are opposed to it. Most of those nearby neighbors,
I'm not sure what what Mr. Lamont is talking about when he says that there are most of the homes in that on that block and in that surrounding area are single family homes, which Winfield is zoned to single family.
Also, I wanted to comment that during the actual meeting, there were three people who opposed. The additional people who were in non-opposition were not nearby neighbors.
um well prior to um prior to the demolition and even after the demolition of of it becoming a
parking lot there were multiple violations and complaints um for the previous owner as well as
the current owner of the property um during the meeting Mr. Lamont mentioned that he would he may
occupy the premises. There's no guarantee or requirement that an owner occupies. Parking is
an issue in that area, and that was one of the main concerns that came up about parking in the
area. We now have a lot of issues with neighbors parking on the sidewalk because there is not
enough parking. Also, the certificate of mailing, we did not receive any documents with regard.
All these plans here, we did not receive any of this information.
As an RCO, we did not receive any of this information.
So we were not able to let the neighbors know exactly what was happening.
Even when we went out and did our canvassing, when they said they had no idea, we provided them with a copy of the refusal notice.
So we are totally, totally not in favor of this.
But ma'am, you wrote an original letter in favor or no opposition?
No, that was the Winfield Residents Association, who was the coordinating RCO.
We are.
So what I'll say, the limiting, so the coordinating RCO had no opposition and your RCO is now against it.
Is that what you're saying?
So there were three in opposition with the origin, the coordinating, the coordinating RCO had three in opposition.
Three people?
Three people.
three people and how many in favor um it was 14 in favor who were not nearby neighbors okay all
right and that's the winfield residents association yes okay i'm very familiar with
that area and that's the coordinating rco yes they were the coordinating rco uh we we were we
were um the winfield community neighborhood association had just become an rco and had not
received any of the documentation. We subsequently did receive documentation. And again, we went out
and we canvassed the neighborhood door to door to see why those neighbors were not on the call.
And they said that many of them are elderly, and then some are not. They had no knowledge
of receiving a letter from the owners or the applicants. They did not receive the information.
When we went out to campus, we provided them with a copy of that letter so that they would be aware of what was going on.
Many of them had no idea what was happening with that particular property.
So, again, there are in the immediate area right there, there are single family homes.
There are residents who have been there for 30 plus years and they are absolutely not in favor of building a three plus.
But, man, in that block up the street, there is a couple.
It's not on the block where we are.
It's not on the surrounding blocks.
it's not on the surrounding blocks. On, I believe that's Woodcrest, you do have some,
I believe that's Woodcrest.
I guess it's triplexes or duplexes. But again, one of the problems is that neighbors are not
being notified of these meetings or are unable to get on because of the access to having Zoom,
and so their voices are not being heard. And so even though there's building there,
they are not aware of what's actually happening until the properties are already being built.
I thank you very much for your point of view and calling. Is there anyone else in the audience,
virtual audience? Chair, we have someone by the name of Crystal Morris.
Ms. Morris, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
yes I'm on mute Miss Morris could you could you state your name and spell for the court
reporter please Crystal Morris C-R-Y-S-T-A-L-M-O-R-R-I-S right do you swear or firm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes I do please proceed yes um I am a
representing the coordinating RCO. I'm president of the Winfield Residents Association.
We did, in fact, have a meeting that was rather quick because there was some difficulty in
communication. We were told by Mr. Adib that he had been reaching out to the
Winfield Community Neighbors Association as opposed to Winfield Residents as the RCO.
So when we got everything sorted out, we were able to put a meeting together for him. That meeting was advertised via social media, as well as announcing it in our meetings and sending out via email.
So in all of our meetings, we make it clear to residents that the meeting is not their only
opportunity to have their voice heard. They can send in letters. They can also show up at a
hearing like this one today. But no near neighbor reached out to the Winfield Residents Association
indicating that they had any issues. I do have several names of near neighbors
who said they lived close by, one even next door, that were not opposed. So we did, in fact, have
opposition as Ms. Dukes indicated. She was opposed, a member of our executive committee
was opposed, and one other neighbor was opposed. We determined as a group that the idea of providing
an opportunity for uh he didn't come over yet he said we're gonna bring it right over
i'm sorry no proceed okay yeah we just decided that uh though we we agree parking is always a
challenge uh uh we we we'd rather have single family than multi-family those things are a given
But Mr. Rogers presented a very compelling case. He was hoping to live within the property and also was providing some opportunities for our residents to remain in the community by having a nice place to rent.
So, with those things in mind, and with his promise to build something that remained within the scale of the properties that are in the neighborhood, keeping that same size and scale, that is what made us support his project moving forward.
Since it was some amount of time, I think that the neighbors, if they did have issue, have had plenty of time to voice their concerns before now.
Ms. Morris, thank you very much for your call, and we appreciate your telling us how the original event went.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience who has something different to offer than what we've heard?
We've heard a couple different sides of this.
Chair, we have a crystal color.
Ms. Collar, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
All right. Put her on.
Ms. Culler, please state your name and spell for the court reporter.
Ms. Culler, you must...
All right. My name is Crystal Culler. First name Crystal, C-R-Y-S-T-A-L. Last name Culler, C-U-L-L-E-R.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
I am a nearby neighbor, and just as Ms. Morris stated, you were to reach out to the WRA, and I did.
And at that time, Dee Dukes was working with the WRA in the capacity that she was.
And as she also stated, Dee Dukes voted no on this project.
also as Ms. Morris stated she said you should write the zoning board which I did back in August
also on the 12th of January both times I never received a notice the one notice that I did find
on the ground in the rain I picked up and read because it was folded up completely as if it was
a letter and that was the notice that's when I wrote and mentioned to D Dukes back in August
that this was going on.
No one ever responded.
I continued, she remained, D. Dukes remained in contact with me
about what was going on.
And I currently work with the Winfield WCNA,
Winfield Community Neighborhood Association.
And I have written letters about this property,
about the fact that people are parking on sidewalks.
I live on a corner, so I know what it's like.
the damage that it does to the sidewalk is ridiculous our children cannot play in the
street they can't play on the sidewalk they can't ride their bikes for fear that they'll damage
someone's car right now their property that lot their parcel of land you know what's on it cars
it's parking but the issue is this we're looking at a zoning issue about whether or not it should
have apartments so i don't because it's going to be more people bringing more cars and more trash
trash and if we have gone continued this case on and on because mr rogers can't present what he
needs to present in a timely manner we have no faith that he's going to be okay with you know
removing snow and and taking care of the property and picking up trash thank you thank you ma'am
thank you we we hear your concern no thank you thank you okay planning commission
Ron Bednar, City Planning. First name Ron, R-O-N. Last name Bednar, B-E-D-N-A-R.
Right. Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, sir.
This property is indicated for residential use on the city plan or adopted.
District plan recommends no change to the existing residential single-family zoning at this location.
The applicant's hardship is not supported with evidence of unique physical circumstances or conditions of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformity with the code.
Therefore, we recommend that the request for variance not be granted.
MI 2021-000727-2212-Yorth50HD.
I vote yes.
Harold Tineri, my vote is yes.
yes. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes. James Snell, my vote is yes. Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes.
Thank you. Good luck. MI 2021 003747 1036 McKean Street, Michael McElhaney,
East Pass Young Civic Association
letter of opposition.
Mr. McElhenney is coming back in as a panelist now,
Chair.
excuse me good afternoon mr chairman members of the board just state your name because you've
already been sworn? Yes, Michael McElhenney, M-C-I-L-H-I-N-N-E-Y, here on behalf of Lepore
Properties, LLC, for the property at 1036 McKean Street. Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Hi, do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do. It appears that we have everything that you've submitted,
all the required documents. Is that correct? Yes, you do. It was submitted. Okay, you may proceed.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, members of the board. On the screen is exhibit two of my pre-marked exhibit
packet. And I guess as a preliminary matter, all the tax clearance, neighbor notices, zoning posters
Neighbor notices, zoning posters were submitted, and are attached to Exhibits 11, 12, and 13.
were submitted and are attached to the exhibits 11-12.
On the screen is Exhibit 2, which is the refusal for the subject property.
My client's application was to take 1036 McKean Street and make that one parcel into two parcels
to use Parcel B, which is an existing two-story house as a single-family dwelling,
and the existing garage to be used for equipment and material storage,
essentially to store my client's construction tools.
The refusal was generated because the garage use to use it for storage of any type
generates a refusal in the RSA 5 district.
There are also two-dimensional refusals because of the existing size and shape of the lot.
The garage occupies, as proposed subdivision, it will occupy 85% of the lot, whereas only 75% is
permitted by right. And the actual lot size that will be created on the portion that is the garage
is 541 square feet, whereas 960 square feet are required to have a by right subdivision.
on the screen is exhibit three which is just a the zoning map for the subject property as you'll
note it's on the south side of mckean street towards the intersection of south 11th and the
block itself is rsa5 the second screen shot here is an overhead shot of the subject property the
existing house the two-story structure is on the right the garage is on the left in the center of
screen. And at the rear, you'll note that there's these rear parcels, rear addresses. My client
purchased this property in 2018 and it was several different parcels that had to be consolidated to
correct the lot lines. So all these rear parcels have now been consolidated into this one parcel
and we're seeking to basically subdivide it down the middle to make two as equal lots as possible.
So Exhibit 5 is just the aerial view of the existing house with the garage to the right in the first photograph.
And I'm going to pull up, these are the, Exhibit 6 is the street photographs, the site photographs of the property.
So what we're talking about here is this two-story structure on the right, 1036 McKean, and the attached garage.
So the request is to separate the two into two separately deeded parcels and to continue using them as they've historically been used.
Single family house and to store my client's construction materials.
tools to the to the west is a three-story apartment building to the north is a restaurant
with apartments above and the remaining parcels properties on mckean street are generally just
two and three-story residential buildings similar to my client's property
and exhibit six are the current interior photos of the property the house itself requires full
renovation prior to occupancy, and we're trying to go through the subdivision process first before
my client would undertake the renovation. The garage itself, as you can see, is just used to
store some basic tools and construction equipment, which is what my client would like to do going
forward. The house is in a shell condition and requires full renovation, and that hopefully my
client can undertake quickly after this process. Exhibit 7 is the site plan for the subject
property. So I'll zoom in. The existing parcel is what's listed here as parcel A, 37 feet of
frontage with 19 feet at the rear. And as you can see, it's an angled parcel. The proposal
is to create a subdivision down the middle between the garage and the house. So proposed
Proposed parcel B is the two-story house that is 16 wide by 62 feet deep, which is the same size and shape of all the other properties on McKean Street.
And flipping back to the zoning map, as you can see just from the aerial, all the parcels on this address, on this property, strike that, on this block, they're all the same size.
They're 16 feet by 62 deep, which is what this house, after subdivided, would be.
The garage itself, angled shape, has a very large frontage of 21 feet and angles toward the back.
What my client did is allow for as much of the rear yard as possible to create a rear yard for the garage,
to have the outdoor space and open area, and to be able to separate it from the house.
There's no proposal to reconstruct the garage or build or add to the garage.
it's purely an application for use to store construction tools as the chairman did mention
um as the chairman did mention we did meet with the rco um they did not i wouldn't characterize
We did meet with the RCO.
their letter as a letter of opposition it was a split vote um seven opposed um six in favor
um it wasn't a very contentious or hot or very interesting meeting um with the community group
my clients and his family lives on the block um and they're members of the community uh long
standing um so we are requesting that the court or not the court let the board um approve the
variance to create the proposed parcel a and parcel b so the house will exist just like the
rest of the houses on the block and my client will be able to use the garage for his construction
storage of tools and um other equipment and i do have mr richard uh lapore is on the on the zoom
with us. I guess we could have him raise his hand to zoom in. Mr. Lepore, you can unmute yourself and
wait for the chair. Mr. Lepore, could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter,
please. Yes, my name is Richard Lepore, R-I-C-H-A-R-D. The last name is L-E-P-O-R-E.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do. Proceed. And Mr. Lepore, did you hear the statements that I have put on the record
today? Yes, I did. Were they true and correct to the best of your knowledge? Yes. And would
you adopt those as your own? Yes, I would. And just for the record, what address do you currently
live at? I live at 1024 McCain Street. Thank you, members of the board. I don't have any
further questions of my client. Questions from the board? No, Mr. Chairman. No. No,
no, Mr. Chairman. Questions from the virtual audience? There are no heads at this time,
chair planning commission this is run bednar city planning this property is indicated for
residential use on the city plan given the irregular physical circumstances of the site
we recommend that the request of variance be granted thank you mi 2021 003 747 1036 bekeen
Street. I vote yes. Carol Tenere, my vote is yes. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes. James Snell,
my vote is yes. Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes. Thank you. Thank you for your time,
Mr. Boarding. MI 2021-002904-1535 North Stillman Street. Brewery Town's Sharswood
Community Civic Association
letter of support with provisos
letters sent to the board.
Chair, Corbin Wise
is coming back into the panelists now.
Mr. Wise, could you state your name, please?
Good afternoon.
Coren Weiss, C-O-R-E-N-W-I-S-E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir, I do.
Right.
Vice Chair has a few questions.
Hi, Mr. Weiss, do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy?
It appears that you've submitted all the documents that are required.
Is that correct?
Yes, it is.
You may proceed.
Thank you, ma'am. My name is Corrin Wise. I'm an attorney on behalf of my client, Keith Johnson. The address is 1535 North Stillman Street. Mr. Johnson, I just asked him to raise his hand. He should be with us.
Mr. Wise, could you take your volume up a little bit?
I sure can try. Does that help?
A little more. Try a little more.
Okay. I'm at 100. I don't know if that's...
Yeah, that's better.
Okay, good. I didn't even know that's how that worked. Very good. I'm sharing my screen,
Mr. Chair. Okay. So we're in, this is 1535 North Stillman Street. We're in Brewery Town
on Stillman between Jefferson and Oxford. Can you see my exhibits?
yes okay so uh this is an existing uh i'm sorry this is an application for an existing um use no
modifications no alterations uh proposed this is an existing auto garage mr johnson has owned
mr johnson has owned since 2015 but in talking with near neighbors the auto garage itself was
since 2015 but in talking with near neighbors
Cheers.
existing when he bought it in 2015 and sounds like it's been there for over 25 years one one
gentleman across the street says you know it's been here longer than i have um so the refusal
is uh for the operation of the existing personal vehicles repair and maintenance um garage repair
shop um and i'll just scroll down here the deed from 2015 for keith johnson
and let me show you the here's the tax clearance
plans it's it's a one-story structure uh angled on one corner next to a vacant lot
and on the other side on the oxford uh street side it's attached to a mixed-use building with um
Let me flip my screen here so that makes more sense.
Okay, so this garage door is the entrance to Mr. Johnson's garage.
The application is solely for this structure we see in this picture.
It's adjoining to this building on the left, which is a separate structure fronting on Oxford.
And this vacant lot to the right in the photo is also a separate property, separate from this.
So we're just talking about this single-story structure.
And then there's the inside of the garage, pretty straightforward.
He's got his Lyft in there, and he services cars there.
This is the signage we posted, zoning notice.
And this is the letter of support from Brewery Town Shoreswood Community Association that we met with.
um and they just asked that no vehicles on the sidewalk obstructing the pedestrian walkway which
is not something we were doing and not something we will do that's not a problem at all
to add that in and here's the support and the vote count um so i think it's pretty straightforward
that you know ongoing use of a of a existing long existing uh auto garage at this address
seeking a variance
to continue that use
with the support of the RCO
and if I may
Mr. Johnson
be elevated
and escalated to adopt
my testimony and
see if there's any other questions from the board
he told me he was on his phone
and I explained to
hit star 9 to raise his hand
I think is that the way they do it
the client's name Mr. Johnson yes yes Keith Johnson he's on a spell
you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair thank you
Mr. Johnson could you state your name and spell for the court reporter
keith johnson k-e-i-t-h-j-o-h-n-s-o-n right do you swear affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth and nothing but the truth yes i do thank you mr johnson were you able to hear the testimony
i offered today to the board yes and was it correct and accurate and would you adopt it as
your own yes thank you sir mr chair that's that's the presentation we're just asking for variance
questions from the board no mr chair no mr chairman from the virtual
i see bill he is at this time chair planning commission
planning commission ron betnar city planning this property is indicated for residential
use on the city plan our adopted district plan recommends no change to the existing
residential multi-family zoning dislocation the applicant's hardship is not supported with
evidence of unique physical circumstances or conditions of the property that would prevent
it from being used in conformity with the code this part of brewery town is trending residential
with at least 14 row houses built within the last several years within 200 feet of this site
an auto repair shop is incompatible with the surrounding development use pattern
Therefore, we recommend the Quest for Variance to not be granted.
If I may, just briefly, if I'm still sharing my screen,
this end of the block towards Oxford is actually more industrial in nature.
That's the rear of a large project with this access,
and this is a large electrical liquidator.
electrical liquidator um so uh and this is that large uh lot next door to this property so
um the fact that this garage has been in existence for uh over over two decades from what i can tell
is a bit of a hardship in that uh mr johnson would have to knock down his garage and build
residential to comply with the code thank you for that okay mi 2021 002904 1535 north stillman street
um i vote yes and council parking on a payment is not an enforceable proviso am i right
I'm here, sorry. I was trying to get to my unmute button.
Okay, good. So it's just I vote yes, period.
My vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
ishmael shaheed my vote is yes as well mi 2021 zero zero three seven six three
2402 north marston street darlene threat
rco on north penn community action community meeting zero to eight opposed
chair miss three is coming back in now as a panelist
Ms. Treek, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
commissioner can you hear me yeah i i hear you i hear you now you were you're muted could you
state your name and spell for the court reporter please sure darlene three darlene three and
Associates, LLC, D-A-R-L-E-N-E, T as in Thomas, H-R-E-A-T-T as in Thomas.
Right.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Hi, Ms. Thurich.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
It appears that you've submitted all the required documents.
Is that correct?
Yes, it is.
you may proceed. Thank you. Thank you.
Can you see my screen? Yes. Thank you.
Sorry about that.
Here we go.
My screen seems to be frozen.
it's moving slow
commissioners uh i submitted a presentation a package which can uh has several exhibits the
first i won't go over them all but the first one is the refusal uh we were refused um because this
is the rsa 5 zoning district district and the rsa 5 zoning district only allows for a single family
Our application is to legalize an existing multifamily dwelling. It is currently a two-family dwelling.
Commissioners, I'm going to scan down very quickly. I'm going to start off with the pictures.
I'd like you to take a look at the structure. This is the two-family dwelling that we like to
use as a two-family dwelling. I'd like you to note by looking at the picture how there are,
This is 2402 Marston.
We probably have about three or four parcels to this side, which are vacant.
We have three or four parcels to this side, which is also vacant.
I just want to show you a bevy of pictures so you can understand how this is a very unpopulated housing block.
You can see this area is fenced, and over here also, it's just vacant lots.
You can see this area is fenced, and over here also, it's just a vacant lot.
I'm going to scan down a little to additional pictures.
You can see on the same side of this block here, there's another four or five vacant parcels.
There has been no new construction on this block.
I confirmed it with a near neighbor who I actually have a letter from for at least 10 years.
There are many, many, many missing houses on this block. Here's another large parcel across
the street. It has to be maybe six or eight units that were previous there that were knocked down
and never redeveloped. I'm just going to scan down a little more and show you some additional areas
of the block. Here we go again further down on the same side of the street here where you have a large
empty vacant lot here. This is a block that hasn't had any new development in many many years. I'm
going to show you an overhead picture of the block so you can see all the vacancies, all the
empty lots on the block. This is actually my client structure here. You can see empty lots,
empty lots, empty lots, huge empty lots, empty lots, huge empty lots here on this block.
This block is uniquely filled with just mainly two family dwellings. There hasn't been any new
construction for a three family dwelling or a new house in this area in many, many
many, many years. And I would submit to the board here is the area is really no longer
suitable for single family houses here, which is why there are no two-story single family
houses which have been built here in many, many years. Mr. Coulter purchased this property
in 2019, he indicated to me that it was already set out as a two-family dwelling, and he finished
the completion of a two-family dwelling, and he rented it out to either students or individuals
in the neighborhood at what we call lower than market rate. There are two one-bedroom apartments
in here, and they rent for $750 and $850, which we all know is out of the range in these areas
these days, which effectively means that persons in the neighborhood can't really live in the newer
developments in the area. I'm going to scan down to the plan now, and I'm just going to reduce it
a little so you can see the whole plan. But as you can see, it's a very simple structure.
It's just a two-story dwelling. We didn't try to put a third story on it that if we had a setback,
of course we could do as a matter of right. We didn't try to jam many bedrooms in here
or many people in here. The rear of the property has a deck and this is just the site plan for the
property as it exists currently. If I scroll down a little further, I'd like to just show you the
floor plan. It's a very, very simple floor plan here. No use of the basement, just utility zone.
The first floor is a simple, nice size between about 450, 480.
It's just a one bedroom apartment, a one bathroom apartment, which allows a single person from this community to still stay a part of this community.
The second floor is pretty much a similar layout.
You have the one bedroom in the back. You have the bathroom. You have the living room, a kitchen area here.
um there weren't many many um residents on this block but we did circulate a petition and
I'm gonna just slow it up a little bit there are only two houses near this property one is
adjacent to it which is 24 08 Marston and one is across the street which is 24
17 Marston those are the only two houses that are near this property and neither of the uh
residents there have a problem with the use of the property or how the property has been used.
We did notice the neighborhood. We did have a community meeting. Again, we attended the
community meeting. And here is the, of course, the certificate of mailing for that meeting.
I also just wanted to show you an additional piece of information that wasn't in my package.
I actually did canvass the neighborhood, and I did talk to some of the neighbors.
In particular, I spoke to Ms. Joyce Weathers, who really gave me...
In particular, I spoke to Ms. Joyce Weathers, who really gave me some background on the community.
She said she lived in the area for 30 years, that that property that Mr. Coulter renovated had been an ISO in the community for 10 years or more.
Her letter also indicates there's been no new development on that block in the 15 years, in at least the past 15 years.
She did indicate that some houses have been renovated and that there were illegal two-family dwellings in this block.
Commissioners, I would submit to you, Mr. Coulter came to the board on his own.
He didn't have any violations.
He's not trying to put 10 pounds of sugar in a five-pound bag.
He's only asking for one additional unit.
And with that, Mr. Coulter, I'm sure, is on the line and can answer any questions.
And I'd be more than happy to answer any questions about the project and or the plan.
Mr. Coulter, if you're on the line, please raise your virtual hand.
Mr. Coulter you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair
Mr. Coulter could you state your name and spell for the court reporter
first name William last name Coulter C-O-U-L-T-E-R right Mr. Coulter I'm sorry do you swear
to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes Mr. Coulter have you heard
my testimony as I presented it here today? Yes. Do you consider it to be true? Yes. Mr. Coulter,
are you actually from this neighborhood? Yes. And what was your purpose and point in buying
the property and developing it? A lot of these neighborhoods are being redeveloped and gentrified
and a lot of people in the neighborhoods are being priced out of the neighborhoods.
So I wanted to provide a place where people have the chance to stay in the neighborhood, not be priced out, and still be a part of the new regentrification that's going on in the neighborhood.
And Mr. Colter, did you have an opportunity to talk to your near neighbors of 2402 North Marston?
And did they all support your project?
Yes, they did.
They was actually very happy that somebody came into the neighborhood and was helping fix it up.
And as a result, a lot of them actually started also fixing their properties up, which they were going to do, but, you know, just gave them a little incentive to move a little faster.
Thank you, Mr. Colton.
Board, I have no additional information and more than happy to answer any questions that you may have at this time.
Thank you.
Questions from the board.
Yes, Mr. Chairman.
Councilor, do you have any comments on why the RCA voted zero and eight opposed?
Yes, I do. I really do.
In these neighborhoods, and I go to the neighborhoods now all over the city with these RSA 5 designation and the community,
Some of them insist on all the new development or the redevelopment being single-family residences.
As I stated earlier, it's like an old thought.
They think the neighborhood's really going to come back, that it's just going to be a single-family neighborhood.
But if you look at the actual facts, you look at the pictures, you look at the circumstances of development on Marston Street, there is no new development.
There hasn't been any new development, and nobody's building new houses.
there has to be 20 vacant plots or more on that block. And most of the houses that no longer
exist there were in such disrepair that they were actually demolished and they haven't been
replaced. So just as a community thought, they're used to the single families. They want the single
families to return. And it was a matter of principle, not necessarily our particular
development. Our development is a good development. It's the shining star on the block. It's a
well-maintained, and it's encouraged others on that particular block to spruce up and maybe put
out planters, et cetera, as my client did when he developed that. It was the community's thought
that they just want single family or nothing, and that's why they were proposed.
Thank you.
Other questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have someone by the name of Odessa Tate.
Chair, we have someone by the name of Odessa Tate.
Ms. Tate, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Ms. Tate, you can unmute yourself.
Hi, Ms. Tate.
Ms. Tate, could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter, please?
Ms. Tate, unmute yourself, please.
Hi, could you state your name, please?
Ms. Tate, do you have a mute button on your device?
There you go.
She's ready for you, Chair.
State your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter.
okay chair we can move on okay is there anyone else in the virtual audience has comments
chair we have tina marie russell miss russell you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair
good afternoon
tina just state your name you've already been sworn to that i believe
tina marie russell north central philadelphia um cdc
right go ahead um we're going to support the um coordinator rco in this case um
we did not get notification so we really can't um
um we would like to see we can we um have this committee this this contest uh applicant come
back to the community so that we can do our due diligence as well um and that's what we'd like to
do if we if not then we would like to support the um coordinator thank you tina thank you
anyone else in the virtual audience
chair miss taytan is up well it was up now it's disappeared
there's no other hands chair planning commission uh ron bednar city planning this property is
indicated for residential use on a city plan or adopted district plan recommends no change
to the existing residential zoning at this location the applicant's hardship is not
supported with evidence of unique physical circumstances or conditions of the property
that was prevented from being used in conformity with the code. This is a solidly single-family
neighborhood and block. Therefore, we recommend the request for variance to be granted. Not
carol you broke off carol scenario is no thomas holliman my vote is yes
james snell my vote is no ishmael shaheed my vote is no okay okay um chair this is tanya the
administrator may i make a request that miss tate you turn off your mute mute yourself turn off your
video and take your stuff off the screen and hold on to the last case. You can continue, Chair. Thank you.
Thank you. MI 2021-003-764-4231 Lancaster Avenue. RCO Letter in Support, People's Emergency Center,
Community Development Corporation, Henry Clinton.
Chair, Mr. Clinton will be rejoining as a panelist.
Mr. Clinton, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Sure, Mr. Chairman. Henry Clinton, C-L-I-N-T-O-N, 1313 South 33rd Street, Queen Memorial Building,
19146. Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do. Our vice chair has a few questions.
Hi, Mr. Clinton. Do you agree to wave the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
I do. Based on our notes, it seems that you have sent the required documents in. Is that correct?
Yes, ma'am. Okay, you may proceed. Why are you in the dark?
You're in the total dark, isn't he? It's a story of my life.
Yes, he is. I don't think so. Okay, go to the crunch in.
uh can i i'll share my screen then sure
I'll share my screen then.
Is that visible?
Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Henry Clinton, on behalf of Asita Silla, who is also on the call with me, this is my presentation package containing table of contents AA through A11, and I'll walk through these briefly.
Appearance statement, refusal.
Just so the board knows, this is a referral and not a refusal.
And as the board is familiar, there's a different standard of proof required for a referral.
We're basically seeking a special exception, as this is a CMX2 zoning district.
The property is a commercial on the first floor, and there are two apartments above.
And the proposal is basically to use the ground floor as an event space for neighborhood meetings, birthday parties, and showers.
This is our letter of support from the People's Emergency Center.
Seven in favor, zero against.
I have photographs to show you of the block.
This is the 4200 block of Lancaster Avenue.
There's a lot of vacant buildings on this half of the block right now.
but gradually we see more businesses moving to the area and right now it's a laundromat next door
but you can see there's some vacant buildings and the community group as well as my client
is hoping that with her space I'll show you some pictures of the inside with her space and the
the level of detail that she has gone to to improve it that we're going to bring more
businesses to the block and hopefully many of those businesses will want to use this event space
to conduct some of their meetings
as well as their family members.
Hopefully we'll want to conduct
some family gatherings in this space.
These are the posting of our zoning notices.
And this is the plan of the facility.
I'll blow it up a little bit more.
We're not changing the footprint of the building.
We're not increasing the depth of the building
or the height of the building.
We're simply re-designating the interior of this space, which was vacant for many, many moons.
At the end of the presentation, I'll show you that this was once used as a furniture store, but again, we're going to change the use.
So pretty straightforward, enter through the front door.
The whole open space that I showed you in the photograph will be used for meetings and any other events.
There will be no food preparation here.
Anyone who wants to use the space will bring their own food and their own balloons and
anything else that they want to use to decorate the space.
There's ample bathrooms in the back.
There's a rear door that leads to the yard.
And in the yard, there's going to be a dumpster.
There's a rear alley that takes you out to 43rd Street.
And that's where the trash will be handled.
There'll be no dumpsters in the front of the property and no trash receptacles in the front
of the property. The rest of the documents are the pro forma documents that Ms. Tenere referred to
as I agree that yes, we submitted all the documents that were necessary to appear before the board.
Again, just to show the board, this is a zoning map of the 4200 block of Lancaster Avenue.
We are CMX2 and I wanted to show you that there is an alley on the back of that property leading
toward 43rd Street where the trash will be brought. So there's no detrimental impact to light
or air of any adjoining property. There's no impact on the development of adjacent properties.
The standard here for referral is not a hardship level. It's basically that we're not going to have
any detrimental impact on the public facilities in the neighborhood, no impact on light and
air, no additional congestion, and no contrary use to the spirit or the intent of the zoning
So with that, I would rest and ask that my exhibits be admitted into evidence and yield
to the board to see if there's any questions or comments.
Is your client here?
Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman.
Why don't you have your testimony?
Mr. Sita, can you unmute yourself?
Mr. Sita, can you raise your hand, please?
Mr. Sita, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
could you state your name and spell for the court reporter please
Asta Silla, A-S-I-T-A, last name S-Y-L-L-A.
last name
Do you swear or firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Mrs. Sita, were you on the Zoom call when I made the presentation concerning your property at 4231 Lancaster Avenue?
and if you had the opportunity to testify would you adopt my testimony as your own and as true
and correct yes thank you mr cita questions from the board no what's the capacity the capacity is
going to be 50 people okay and the hours of operation hours of operation will be 8 a.m till
10 pm. Thank you. Questions from the virtual audience? I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission. This property is currently indicated for commercial mixed use on the city
plan, we recommend that the special exception be granted.
MI 2021 003764 4231 Lancaster Avenue, I vote yes.
Carol Tannery, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ismail Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
MI-2021-003-765-5319 Chester Avenue.
No RCO letter at this point.
Darlene Threat.
Ms. Threat, can you raise your hand, please?
She's already here. Darlene, you can unmute.
Can you unmute?
Good afternoon, Commissioners. Can you hear me?
Yeah. Could you just state your name? We already have sworn you in once before.
My name is Darlene Threat. Commissioners, we did meet with the Civic Association.
Okay, wait a minute. We'll get to that.
Hi, Jorlene, do you have some questions and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
And you have submitted everything that was required?
Yes, I did.
You may proceed.
Proceed.
Good afternoon, commissioners.
I'm going to share my screen.
Can you see it?
Thank you.
Oh, that's the wrong one. I'm sorry.
Commissioner, I submitted a presentation package today that contains the refusal, the appeal, the project information form, tax information, deed, zoning history, plans, pictures, a community letter, and a certificate of mailing.
I'm going to start by indicating that this is a vacant lot currently.
It's zoned as a RSA 5, and we're requesting to put three dwelling units inside of this new structure.
I'm going to scroll down now to what I call the zoning history to just give you a background.
on this structure here.
I'd like you to look at this first document, page number 15.
This is 5319, it was in the zoning archive, and I'd like to show you that 5319 was used
previously for a three-family dwelling before it was knocked down.
So it had used as a three-family dwelling since about 72.
to, the uses had changed, but I just wanted to show you that it had a history of being
a multifamily dwelling. I also like to show you some of the near properties that just
received zoning very recently. We can see here that 5303 Chester has just been approved
for a lot of units, which is a nine-family dwelling. I also like to show you the zoning
history of other properties on a block 5317 was used as a three family dwelling.
was used as a three-family dwelling.
And then we have here 5307 is currently approved just recently for a four-family dwelling.
And lastly, there are other multi-families on the block, a two-family dwelling at 5303, I believe.
Here I'll show you the pictures of the property and the lot now. As you can see, these houses
on Chester Avenue are huge. It's a very big lot. It's a 16 by 74, which is a pretty big lot.
These structures and the other houses on the block I tried to give you, there are a lot of
missing houses on this block also but as you can see these are very very very old large houses and
they haven't been any new constructed single families in a while although they made new
renovations. I just took some additional pictures of the block to show you how large these properties
are and how far they go back here. I'm just going to scroll through some additional pictures here
and as you can see, there is a parking on the block. Parking, I went there in the daytime as
well as the evening time and it didn't seem to be an issue. There are many other vacancies on this
block. As you can see across the street is a old, like an adult care home. They have a huge
a parking lot inside of that home and the times that I went to the neighborhood there was actually
no cars parked on the other side of the street there and I would indicate to you that parking
currently is okay. Now I'd like to go through the plans with you and I do have the architect on the
line Mr. Meena if there are any specific questions that I'm not able to answer but here is the site
plan. This is the location where our parcel sits on this block, and this is a site plan just of
the parcel. I'm going to scroll down now and show you the floor plan that we intend to build with.
We have the basement for utilities only. On the first floor we have one single two-bedroom,
two-bathroom apartment. The second floor contains two bi-level units, two two-bedroom bi-level
units. On the actual second floor is the kitchen, a bathroom, and a living area for both apartments.
kitchen, bathroom, and living area for both apartments. On the third floor are the two
bedroom areas and the two bathrooms. And then we have a full roof, a full roof plan so we
can meet the cornice lines of the rest of the properties on the block. There is just
an elevation of what the property would look like this is the front of the property we tried to
match the exterior to how the other properties on the block look and this is our full roof here
to make the property match the existing properties on the block and we did give
the two bi-level departments the benefit of a back re-alcony. Commissioners, we did meet with
the Civic Association. We had a meeting there, and I did send out the notices. Now, I did not get a
letter from the Civic Association, but it was my understanding that they were inclined to support
the application. And with that, I have Mr. Stanley Nenna, the architect for the project, and the
owner, Mr. Simon Kiyoko, the co-owner with Mr. Nenna. And I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have.
Do you want to ask one of your owners? Mr. Kiyoko, are you on the line?
Mr. Kiyoko, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Sir, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Simon Kiyoko, S-I-M-O-N, Kiyoko, K-I-O-K-O.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Yes, I do.
Proceed.
Proceed.
Mr. Kiyoko, are you the co-owner of this plot of land?
Mr. Kiyoko, are you the-
And did we attend a community meeting with the residents of the community?
Yes, we did.
And is it your understanding that the residents were in support of the project?
And Mr. Kiyoko, have you heard my testimony here today?
Yes, I did.
And Mr. Keogra would you adopt my testimony as true and correct to the best of your knowledge?
Yes I do. Board that's all I have at this time. Questions from the board? No Mr. Chairman.
Questions from the virtual audience? I see though he is at this time chair. Planning Commissioner.
Ron Bednar, City Planning. Well, this property is currently indicated for a single-family residential on the city plan, given the site's documented use history and its proximity to public transit nearby. We recommend the Cressor variance be granted.
MI 2021-003765, 5319 Chester Avenue. I vote yes.
Charles Tenere, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Commissioner.
That's right.
Thank you.
Is there anyone in the virtual audience for the 3.30 meetings that their case has not been heard or they're still waiting?
Chair, we have someone with their hand up by the name of Shakila.
Shaquilla you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair
hello good afternoon everyone
Shaquilla yes I'm a resident
on the block close to
5313 5319 Chester Avenue
I live on Ruby Street on the 1300 block of Ruby Street
and I've been a long time resident all my life
the case is over
it's over with? yeah the case is over
We called. Did anyone have any testimony in the audience?
I raised my hand the first time and nobody said anything.
This is outrageous.
Have a good night, ma'am.
Thank you.
Is there anyone else in the audience that's waiting on a case?
Chair, we have someone by the name of Courtney Alston.
Ms. Alston, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Hi, I just want to...
Ms. Olsen, can I help you? What is it?
You have to unmute yourself.
We're done, Chair.
I apologize.
Okay. All right.
What's going on? If somebody is unmuting her, please allow her to speak.
If somebody's muting her.
Ms. Olsen, what is it that you need?
Unmute yourself, please, and state on the record your concern.
I just like the last woman I also had my hand raised for the last case as well
and nobody called on us so here is the thing chair if I could interject I am the administrator
I consistently monitor all ongoings with the zoom we did not have your hands raised at the time
the chair asked for more testimony so I apologize ma'am can I put it in ma'am I'm trying to give
you an explanation okay we did not see those hands raised so it could be an issue with zoom
but the case has been voted there is no more testimony allowed on the record okay thank you
very kindly for attending thank you chair it's up to you now to take over we're done for the day
we're done we're done for the day everybody thank everyone sorry it's well it's not quite
six o'clock yet but thank everybody including our court reporter it's been a long day and i
appreciate all the work everyone's done thank you thank you thank you take care
have a good night good night all good night