Thank you.
chair we have 51 attendees and we can start as you wish
thank you
good morning everyone my name is bill bergman and i will be chairing this morning's meetings
with me is our vice chair ismail shaheed present mr chairman our board member cheryl l gaston
Present Mr. Chairman
Our board member Tanetta Graham
Present Mr. Chairman
Our board member Michael Johns
Present Mr. Chairman
And our board member Taya Nguyen
Present Mr. Chairman
Also present is our attorney Hillary Emerson
And our executive director Ian Haggerty
Here's a virtual format
Proceedings are being recorded
With your participation you agree to be recorded
The video will be available by contacting zbaexecutivedirector at phila.gov.
For a court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you are participating by phone, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
To earn an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548.
Leave your email address and the address of the property in question.
And finally, the question answer box on the screen is not for testimony. All comments or questions should be directed to ZBA Executive Director at phil.gov. Let's look at our schedule for today.
Number three, MI 2024-001-644-2135 West Van Angle Street.
That case is being continued.
Number seven, MI 2024-004-473-1000-52 Frankfurt Avenue.
Cases continued, attorney moving party.
Number 11, MI2024-004-578-1722 Ridge Avenue.
There is a request for continuance from United Francophil Civic Association.
It's Mr. Anastasio in the audience.
Good morning, Chair.
this is Yvette Benton. I'll be your co-host for the day. Mr. Anastasio has been unmuted and
allowed to speak. Thank you, Ms. Benton. Good morning, Mr. Chair. Could you please state your
name as spelled for the court stenographer? Yes, sir. It's Bern Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O,
on behalf of Danielle Lawless. You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth? I do. This is the first listing. We have a continuance request from
francisville civic associate and also council member young's office could you give us your
position on this i have no objection mr chair thank you very much for for calling in we appreciate it
so number 11 mi 2024 004 578 1722 ridge avenue that case is continued and number 16
MI 2024-004-714-2109-11 West Nidro Avenue, that case is continued.
Are there any other requests for continuance?
Chair, we have someone by the name of Cherie Miner with their hand up.
They have been unmuted and allowed to speak.
hi my name is sheree my i'm the owner of from the heart youth haven at 2135
hango street what hold on one minute please spell your name for the court stenographer
sheree s-h-a-r-e-e last name minor m-i-n-o-r you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth yes and what case do you want to talk about uh 2135 west venango
That's MI 2024-001-644.
So we continued that case already.
so so we we continued that case already are you aware of that i am not okay um we we have a
request from your attorney to continue this case okay okay because you so you you got to meet with
the rco one more time i believe or meet with the rco okay thank you thank you for calling in is
or any other requests for continuance? Chair, we have Strawberry Mansion. They have been
unmuted and allowed to speak. Good morning. Can you hear me? Could you please state your name
and spell for the court stenographer? My name is Bonita Cummings, B as in boy, O-N-I-T-A,
C-U-M-M-I-N-G-S, Strawberry Mansion Community Concern. Do you swear or affirm to tell the
truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do it's coming what case are we talking about
2300 north 25th street um there was initially uh one rseo then another it got scheduled and then
it was some technical difficulties and we weren't able to get it rescheduled but due to the nature
of the use, it does need to have a public community meeting. So we can work to get it
for December the 19th if that meets with the applicant. So we did send a request this morning.
Let me see if I can get it. Mr. Vaccaro, are you in the audience?
Mr. Vaccaro is with Omita and allowed to speak.
Good morning, Mr. Vaccaro. Could you please state your name and spell for the court sonographer?
Good morning. My name is Joseph Vaccaro, V-A-C-C-A-R-O, Attorney for the Applicant.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do, and I do object to this request for the continuance.
Could you please tell me why, Mr. Vaccaro?
Absolutely. The coordinating RCO always was and still is all in the family group associates.
My client had received that notification by email on May 10th of 2024.
We were scheduled to have a community meeting with All in the Family by Zoom on July 25th, 2024.
The notifications were sent out.
They were approved by All in the Family.
we even got a Zoom link for the July 25th RCO meeting. We were waiting and waiting and waiting
for over a half hour. I finally got through. I called the other RCOs. No response. Nothing
happened that evening. Again, we were waiting for a long time on the Zoom link. And then I finally
got through to a lady named Odessa, who's in charge of all in the family. And her position
was, oh, I forgot. I'll send you the letter of support. So we got the letter of support anyway.
We were initially scheduled for the zoning hearing on September 18th, and we were not able to proceed
at that time because we had not even received the posters from the zoning board.
So this is our second listing, and my client is ready, willing,
and able to proceed with our presentation.
And you already have a letter of support?
And we already have a letter of support.
It's in our packet.
But, Mr. Vicaro, you did not actually give a presentation to the community.
Is that correct?
We did not. We were ready, willing, and able to. And her name was Odessa from All in the Family, which is the coordinating RCO. She said, when I finally got a hold of her on the phone, she said, I'll send you a letter of support. And that was the end of everything.
and that happened and that happened all the way in all the way back in july so strawberry mansion
which is the only other rco that's intervening in this matter um they had all of august they
had september they had october and they had november only now at nine o'clock in the morning
on the day of the hearing are they chiming in saying so so so mr vicario here here's what
we're going to do we're going to continue this one more time i i think i heard the rco say that
they have december 19th open um whatever happens to the meeting will take everything in consideration
whether you go or not but they they're offering a 19th of december meeting i'm going to continue
with today sir i'm just looking whether the 19th is available for me and again yeah i i'm still
I'm just looking whether the 19th is available for me. And again, I'm still noting my objection.
All right.
Mr. Vaccaro, I understand your objection. If the 19th is not available, then I want you to work that out with the RCO. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Okay. Any other requests for continuances?
Here, we have a Stephen Gaze with his head up. They have been unmuted and allowed to speak.
sir could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
mr gaines please unmute yourself hello hi could you please state your name and spell for the
court stenographer yes steven with the v gaines g-a-i-n-e-s you swear or firm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth sir i do could you please um what case are you interested
it in? 5963 Kimball Avenue. I believe it's number 10.
Okay. This is the first listing. We do not have any exhibits.
No. All right. And who is the, the applicant is Gaines Construction, LLC?
Well, it's me. But you're going to need an attorney.
okay well okay what once again um mr gaines who who owns the property what what's the is it owned
by an entity or is owned by yourself personally it's owned by me stephen gaines okay now then
you'll you will be fine um you can you can present on your your behalf okay um yeah that that is
fine. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay, good. Is there anyone else who has a request
for continuance? I see the heads, Chair. All right. So, number 12, MI 2024-004-579-150
Brown Street. Lewis and Vanessa Porto are the listed owner applicants. We have a letter of
support from Northern Liberties
Neighbors Association, we do not have any
exhibits. This is the first listing.
Louis or Vanessa Porto, if you're
in the virtual audience, please raise your hand.
Porto has been unmuted and allowed to speak
to you.
Good morning. Could you please
state your name and spell
for the court stenographer?
Yes, my name is Luis Porto.
spell it please for the stenographer
l u i s p o r t o you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i swear mr porto i've seen that you i've noticed you've met with the rco we don't have any of your
exhibits i actually uploaded everything last night my apologies here i didn't know so so here here's
what we're going to do. We're going to
continue this case
because we need
time to review your documents,
okay? We can't take them the night
before, okay?
I understand. All right. Thank you
very much, and you'll hear from us with a new date,
okay? Okay. How do I
hear about it, Chair? Do I get an email?
You will hear. Yeah, we'll send
you an email, right? Thank you very much.
Thank you. Okay.
We're going to go to our
adverts.
Number one, MI 2024-002-077-3940-Baltimore Avenue.
I vote yes.
With proviso, maximum, hold on one minute, I'm sorry.
I just want to note for the record that this is a re-vote.
I vote yes with proviso.
Revised plans, seven pages, stamped by ZBA on December 4th, 2024.
John, my vote is yes with proviso.
To another Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes, we're proviso.
That's everyone.
Okay, number two, MI 2024, 002-809, 1329 South 22nd Street.
My vote, yes, we're proviso.
I vote yes with proviso. Maximum two dwelling units per amended refusal dated 10-23-24.
Maximum two dwelling units per amended.
Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.
Senator Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
Iowen, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes with proviso.
Just waiting for the record, Mr. Chair, that was a re-vote to correct provisos. Thank you.
Number three, MI 2024-002-410-2913-15 Kensington Avenue. This case is continued until 12-11-24. We will vote at 9.30 a.m. Thank you.
And number four, MI 2021-004-633-3900 Main Street.
This case is continued.
We will vote on 12-11-24 at 9.30 a.m.
We're going to start hearing our cases.
We're going to go to number 13 first.
Sorry, Mr. Chair.
Can we go to number 8 first and then go to 13 for time scheduling reasons?
Thank you.
So MI 2024-004-487-2814 Bridge Street.
Henry Clinton is the attorney.
Mr. Clinton is coming back in now as a panelist chair.
There's a letter of unanimous support from the Bridesburg Community Civic Association.
morning mr chairman morning mr clinton please state your name and spell for the court sonographer
sure henry clinton h-e-n-r-y clinton c-l-i-n-t-o-n do you swear or firm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do uh i understand we don't have a tax compliance yet
Right.
What we have is my client entered into an agreement with the city to pay them back over time, and he's made his first payment.
Hilary, do we have that?
I'd have to double check.
I don't recall seeing it when I went over the exhibits.
And if it just happened, then we might not have seen it yet.
Right.
It just happened yesterday, and I put it in the exhibit package, and we uploaded it.
I will double check during your presentation.
It could be that it was uploaded after I reviewed it.
So let me take you, Mr. Emerson.
Mr. Clinton, our vice chair has a few questions.
Good morning, counsel.
Do you agree to wait the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
I do, Mr. Shahidi.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?