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