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,