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.