I'm sorry this is
from Captain Wilco
Sharon, you're breaking up bad.
I'm sorry.
I have dogs inside and outside I break up.
I just said that we today also received a letter in support from Councilwoman Bass.
We thank the council.
Thank you.
Anyone else here that would like to speak in this matter?
Also, I have a call-in user with a hand raised.
Also, I have a call-in user with a hand raised. I will allow them to speak at this time.
I will now...
Thank you.
Oh wait, that person just put their hand down.
Okay. Anyone else?
No, there's no one else at this time, sir.
Thank you. Planning Commission?
Good afternoon, Chair Peter Bernard for the Planning Commission.
This property is indicated for single-family residential in the comprehensive plan.
the proposal is to replace an existing facility with a similar one that meets the needs of future
students. Accordingly, we support the granting of the variance. Thank you. Calendar number.
Mr. Paus, I'm sorry. That person I said before, I guess I put the hand back up to another one to speak.
Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Caller Newser, please unmute yourself and please wait to be sworn in.
Hello?
Yes, please identify yourself.
Yes, this is Adrienne Fernandez.
My last name is spelled F-E-R-N-A-N-D-E-Z,
Swampoodle Neighborhood Parcels Association, RCO.
I did submit written testimony.
Are you sure to affirm the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Thank you. Please proceed.
I did submit written testimony requesting a continuance.
All RCO meetings or public meetings have the RCO coordinator solely to schedule the meeting
in consultation with the other RCOs that are affected within the boundaries.
All RCOs are equal, so the RCO coordinator does not control any project, and there are
multiple RCOs for this address, multiple affected RCOs for this address.
The meeting was interrupted by the RCO coordinator because Swampood RCO was attempting to poll the participants to determine how many of the 225 affected neighbors were at the meeting.
There were 20 people who called in by phone because most of them were elders, and they did not have computers or did not know how to use them on the phone or on the computer, and they were not even acknowledged to comment.
So, therefore, a significant percentage of the participants were silenced.
They could not comment, and they could not ask questions.
When Swampoodoo, as always, attempted to pull the blocks that were present, the number of affected addresses present at the meeting, the president, Ron Hinton, that's R-O-N, last name H-I-N-T-O-N, president of Allegheny West Foundation, who was acting as the RCO coordinator only to plan the meeting,
um he began to violently scream and curse um profusely and continuously
hold on adrian please understand that um we are only taking testimony regarding the zoning
of this property that's correct yep i'm talking about the public meeting
the public meeting is part of the zoning of the property is that correct
adrian so uh so you're in opposition of this um we're asking for a continuance um when when the
outbreak happened by the rco coordinator they're not allowed to control what people say they're
not allowed to silence people and they're definitely not allowed to disrespect curse
and scream and we had children on the line some of them who were helping people to use the zoom
who had not used it before but they had comments there's a lot of questions in the neighborhood
bit about this project. The 10 meetings that Mrs. Starloff referred to were educational
meetings. And because we're not part of the educational body, we do have a right to the
zoning meeting per the zoning code. And that's what we were trying to participate in. And
we were stopped from doing that by the RCO coordinator. I'm sorry, Chair. Again, if I
put, I'm not trying to be difficult at all as it relates to Mrs. Fernandez's concerns.
However, the zoning board only has the right to listen to the testimony regarding the zoning, not the zoning proceedings at an RCO meeting.
That's correct.
Please understand.
That's all I'm saying, Ms. Fernandez.
Thank you kindly.
Thank you.
Anyone else here that would like to speak in this manner?
I'm not finished.
Anyone else?
There's no one else with a hand raised, Mr. Favreau.
Thank you.
Calendar number MI 2021-000
Calendar number MI 2021-000-958-2829 North 23rd Street.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
Thank you.
Good luck.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
That completes our business before the board today.
Thank you.
Good luck.
Calendar number MI 2021-001-321-4623, Samson Street.
Rachel.
Rachel has been promoted to panelists, sir.
Thank you, Rachel.
Good afternoon.
Please identify yourself.
Good afternoon.
good afternoon rachel r-a-c-h-a-e-l pritzker p-r-i-t-z-k-e-r 1635 market street suite 1600
philadelphia pa 19103 thank you rachel you saw our firm to tell the truth the whole truth from
nothing but the truth yes and do you agree to waive the reading of its refusal and stipulate
to its accuracy yes also have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents proof
of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral folders and plans
five days prior to this hearing? Yes. And have you met with the RCO and have a letter? Yes.
Thank you. Please proceed. I'm going to share my screen. This is 4623 Sansom Street.
This is the refusal. As you can see, the application is for a multi-family household
living, four dwelling units, and an existing structure. This property is an attached two-story
row home on the northwest corner of Sampson Street and Farragut Street. It's owned RSA5,
but has a land area of 2,000 square feet. It currently consists of two apartments that were
already legalized, and there was a beauty salon on the ground floor, so we are looking to add two
units in the ground level. And so that's what we're here for today. And obviously because it's
RSA 5, we were automatically sent a refusal. This is the deed. Tax clearance.
More of the deed. So this is the property right here on the corner. As you can see,
it's a large 2,000 square foot RSA 5 property. This is an aerial view of the property.
and then zoning posters. Again, it's this property over here on the corner.
Let me just get to the side. So as you can see, it already has two existing apartments
on the top floor and on the first floor. There's actually a separate door here,
so this is almost like considered a lower level if you were a first floor above grade,
where we're looking to propose two additional new apartments where the entrance would be on
Farragut Street. There was, again, a previous beauty salon there as well. So the building has
functioned as commercial mixed use and doesn't really make sense in this climate. And given the
residential area for it to be a beauty shop, it's been vacant for quite some time. This is just the
trash area just to show that we already have an outside trash area where trash can be stored
in consideration for the extra units, parts of the code. And as you can see, it has been a
two-family building since the 60s, so it was never a single-family home. It was actually
granted a variance. We met with the Walnut Hill Community Association back on May 3rd,
and they sent us a letter of support, five in favor, one against, but a letter of support
for the variants um and that was provided to the board as well yep we got it yep so um also from
one of the adjacent rcos um the affected rcos they also sent a letter of support which we sent
to the board as well proof of mail additional letters of support as well and um i just want
to have our architect quickly go through the plans if that's all right i think we don't need
Tom, you want to see the planes you go with?
It's not necessary.
Thank you.
Then I would either like to, as a member of the bar, be able to, and in this court, be able to have my client swear my testimony, or if the board will allow me as a member of the court to be able to...
Bring him up. Is he available?
Thank you. Elijah Clark?
Clark are you available yes I'm available can you hear me yes yes Elijah please identify
yourself for the record spell your first and last name Elijah E-L-I-J-A-H last name is Clark C-L-A-R-C
Elijah, E-L-I-J-A-H, last name is Clark, C-L-A-R-K.
You saw our friend to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Thank you. Please proceed.
Thank you. Elijah, have you heard my testimonies today in front of the board?
Yes, I have.
Do you deem it to be true and accurate to the best of your knowledge, and do you adopt it as your own?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Thank you. Board has any questions?
no is there anyone else here that would like to speak in this matter
no other hands at this time mr change thank you planning commission
good afternoon board peter bernard for the planning commission
sorry this property was indicated for single family residential
in the comprehensive plan and was rezoned as part of a community-led remapping
in 2017. We feel the proposal represents an overuse, has failed to demonstrate sufficient
hardship, and is not the minimum necessary variance. Accordingly, we oppose granting the
variance. Just want to comment on that, that this is an existing building with two units already
previously approved, and to make this to a single-family home, we would have to demolish
the entire interior of this building, which I believe is more of a hardship. Just want to put
that on the record. Thank you. Calendar number MI 2021-001-321-4623 Samson Street. My vote is yes.
My vote is yes. My vote is yes. Good luck. Thank you. Welcome. MI 2021-001-276-5100 Lebanon Avenue.
Mr. Plaza, Ms. Augusta O'Neill has been promoted to Panamist.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, can everyone hear me?
Good afternoon, ma'am.
Yes, we can.
Can you please identify yourself for the record?
My name is Augusta O'Neill.
I'm an attorney with the law firm of Clara Harrison Harvey Brandsburg.
Thank you.
Can you spell your first and last name?
My first name is spelled A-U-G-U-S-T-A.
Last name is O-N-E-I-L-L.
Thank you.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, for nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
You agree to waive the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
And have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership,
proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral, photos and plans five days prior to this hearing?
Yes, to all of the above.
Thank you.
have you met with the RCO and have a letter? Yes. Thank you. Please proceed. Thank you so much.
I'm just going to share my screen. This property is zoned RSA 5. I'm here this afternoon. Let me
back up. I'm here this afternoon representing SBT property for the property at 5100 Lebanon Avenue.
is currently zoned RSA 5. This property has been at its current location for a very long time.
The zoning records on this property date all the way back to 1955. The current owner of the property
is Woodward Properties, and my client has entered into a partnership with Woodward
as of February of 2021. So as part of my client's entrance into the partnership,
it's currently doing the work of just making some improvements to the property,
cleaning up the city records, and cleaning up of the city records is actually what
brings us here today. Let me just pull up the
records. As you can see, these are the, this is the most recent use permit that's on the city's
records, and it lists the building as having 104 apartments. In actuality, there are 106
units in the building. So my client just became aware of this discrepancy with the city's
records. And so because of this, the zoning is currently doesn't permit the multifamily
use. And so we've had to go through the variance process, even though it's a fairly simple
change. The building, as I said, has 106 units, but we're only we only found city records
404 the city couldn't find anything that showed the actual number of units so there won't actually
be any changes to the building envelope or any construction at the property this application
is purely just to update the zoning records we did meet with the RCO for this property the
Winfield Residents Association we met with them back on April 20th and we did receive their
We met with them back on April 20th and we did receive their support. We explained to them the
support we explained to them
circumstances and why we're making the application that we are. A copy of their letter of non-opposition
is included with the exhibit package that I provided to the ZBA. And just with that, I'm