Thank you.
Okay, Chair, we have 24 attendees, and you can start as you wish.
Thank you.
Good morning, everyone.
My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this morning's EBA hearings.
With me is our Vice Chair, Ismail Shahid.
our board member Thomas Holliman
and our alternate board member this morning
LeBaron Leonard Palmer.
Also present is our attorney Hillary Emerson
and our executive director Tanya Sunken.
Here's our virtual format. Be advised. Proceedings are being recorded.
A video will be available by contacting tonyasunkett at phil .gov.
For the benefit of our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you're participating by phone, if you wish to testify, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
To an interference statement, call 267 -270 -5548.
Leave your email and the address of the property in question.
And finally, the question and answer box on the screen is not for comments or testimony.
Any comments should be directed to our Executive Director, Tanya Sunken.
Let's look at our continuances for this morning's meeting.
Number one, MI 2022 -006 -213 -2551 West Silver Street.
that case is continued. Number five, MI 2022 -006 -279 -5246 -50
Belfield Avenue, that case is continued. And number six, MI 2021 -005 -123 -931 South 18th Street,
that case is continued. Are there any comments relative to the three cases I've just continued?
no hands chair thank you are there any other requests for continuances
good morning chair this is Yvette Benton I'm your co -host for today
I see no hands at this time chair thank you very much we're going to take a look at several cases
that we do not have exhibits for.
Number three, MI 2021 -003 -092 -41 North Robinson Street.
Larry Hawkins is the owner applicant.
There are no exhibits.
This is the fourth listing.
Mr. Hawkins, if you're in the virtual audience,
please raise your hand.
Chair, I see no hands at this time.
Thank you. So, number three, MI 2021 -003 -092 -21 -North Providence, I vote to dismiss.
Thomas Holloman, I vote to dismiss.
Ishmael Shaheem, I vote to dismiss.
number 10 mi 2021 003 057 4841 north 6th street leonard perez is the applicant no exhibits fourth
listing i see no hands at this time chair so number 10 mi 2021 003 057 4841
41 North 6th Street. I vote to dismiss. Thomas Holloman, I vote to dismiss.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is to dismiss. Thank you. Number 12, MI 2021 -003.
Thank you. Number 12, MI 2021 -003 -062 -230 West Wensley Street.
Mohamed Najee is the applicant, no exhibits, fourth listing.
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Number 12, MI 2021 -003 -062 -230 West Wensley Street.
I vote to dismiss.
Thomas Holloman, I vote to dismiss.
Ishmael Shaheem, I vote to dismiss.
Number 13, MI 2022 -002 -900 -5304 North 5th Street.
uh charles coxman is the listed applicant no exhibits this is the second listing
i see no hands chair the number 13 mi 2022 002 900 5304 north fish street i vote to dismiss
thomas holliman my vote is to dismiss
And number 14, MI 2021, 005 -068, 2049 Shelton Avenue, Jamari Lee is the listed applicant, no exhibits, third listing.
I see no hands at this time, Cher.
So, number 14, MI 2021 -005 -068 -2049, Shelton Avenue, I vote to dismiss.
I vote to dismiss.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is to dismiss.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is to dismiss.
And number nine, MI -2021 -002 -889 -2949 -51 North Phillip Street.
Enoa Polino is the listed owner.
We have information this case is going to be withdrawn.
I see no hands, Chair.
So MI 2021 -002 -889 -2941 -51 -North Phillip Street. That case is withdrawn. So we're going to go to our regular list.
Chair?
We have someone with a hand up by the name of Jamara Lee.
I think, okay, let me, I called that earlier. Let me, let me go back to it. Okay.
Ms. Lee, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
can you hear me could you state your name please and spell for the court reporter
my name is jamara lee j -a -m -a -r -a last name lee l -e -a right do you swear or for him to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes uh your case was called we had this is the
third listing we do not have any exhibits for your for your case okay so um what do that mean
it means that we've called it three times you've never turned exhibits in
exhibits okay all your paperwork so what we we have we have dismissed your case
okay so what where do i have to go from here um my sense is you should reapply
Okay. Okay. Thank you for calling in. We appreciate it.
We're going to go to case number two, and we're going to hear this with also case number four.
MI 2022 -002 -926 -1430 South 6th Street. Richard DeMarco is the attorney. There is
a letter of non -opposition from Passion Square Civic, letter of non -opposition from Council
Member Squilla. And at the same time, we'll be hearing case number four, MI -2022 -002 -927 -1426 -28,
South 6th Street. Same letters were sent in for both cases. Mr. DeMarco.
Morning, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. Hi. Could you state your name and spell it,
please, for the court reporter, sir? Richard DeMarco, D -E -M -A -R -C -O, last name.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes. Could you identify your client in relationship to the property?
Could you identify your client in relationship to the property?
Yes. The client is Michelle Huang, who is the principal of the owner, LLC.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you, sir. Sure.
Good morning, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do. Have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Okay. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
So, yes, the companion cases, the site plans are actually identical for each.
Let me start with the – so, obviously, the first case is the 1426 -28 South 6 address.
The other is the 1430 South 6 address.
by putting on my screen the zoning refusal we're here for um this is a cmx2 property both
properties by the way this is not the corner property i'll show you that on when i get to
the photos so you can see exactly what frontage we're talking about this is an old uh actually
meat and sausage uh building first uh with one story um the property is on cmx2 we're proposing
three units in each of the lots. So two lots, three units each. We are refused because the
first floor space will not have a commercial use, but will be a residential unit. And there's some
dimensional variance as well. But I would tell you that three units are permitted as of right.
So in actuality, the variance is for the first floor to be a residential unit, but three units are permitted, which would be a commercial storefront and two units above.
So we're proposing to have solely residential on the first floor.
We did do revised drawings.
We met with the neighbors.
We revised our plan, and we actually eliminated one of the variances.
is we increased our rear yard depth you see here on your screen we had seven feet initially
and both properties have now been increased to nine feet so at the conclusion if the board is
willing we'd ask for a proviso one page for each case for revised plans. I'll get into the revisions
a little bit more detail but the other revision is we changed the full bath in the basement to a
half bath at the request of the neighborhood. But I do want to mention that on the floor plan,
we also added walkout access to the re -yard for the first floor unit, which is a bi -level unit.
So there is walkout access for that first floor unit. And I'll show you some photos and we can,
we do have neighborhood non -opposition. So I'll try to be as brief as I can. I do want to give
you a little bit of an idea of what we're dealing with. This property, I'll rotate
clockwise. I'm using my courser to designate the properties that we're talking about.
It's these two lots here. This lot, which says Maglio, is not included. This is a closed and
shut off. You can see bricked over windows here, a commercial storefront that is not in
operation. Our commercial use has been vacant for many, many years. There was an attempt to try to
do a use that's more consistent with CMX2 by the seller. That failed. No one wants to have
a commercial storefront in the middle of a block where there's been unsuccessful attempts in the
past at commercial uses. There's a grocery store on the corner, so that eliminated the owners
attempt to do a commercial grocery store, which would be consistent with CMX2. That was not
possible. So the seller only was able to get residential interest, which was my client that
purchased last year. I'll show you a couple other photos. Again, obviously, we're proposing to
demolish this and erect two three -story, three -unit structures. I included some interior
photos. This is the old use, which was the meat and sausage business. Looks like I have to rotate
this. I'll briefly show you the changes on the plan, and then we can move forward with
having my client accept testimony. Mr. Chairman, this was one of the additions. I'm circling with
Mr. Chairman, this was one of the additions. I'm circling with my course through the rear yard access.
That was the change, and I did not include the original plan, but we actually shortened the building in order to provide more open space.
That was the main changes to the plan. Here, we reduced the bathroom.
You can see here it's a half bath, and then there's a family room.
But again, it's a bi -level unit with walkout access to the rear yard.
Trash storage is available in the rear yard and on the roof deck for the tenants.
And the second floor unit will have a sealed trash storage closet.
And these were all negotiated with the neighbors.
This is my proviso plan.
Again, we have neighborhood non -opposition.
The proviso form, excuse me.
All right, so I'll ask Michelle to raise her hand virtually.
She can accept my testimony, happy to answer any questions.
So, Michelle, can you raise your hand virtually?
Ms. Wang, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Mr. DeMarco, you're an officer of the court. We will accept your testimony.
I can assess that all those facts are true and accurate, Mr. Chairman.
Okay. Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chair.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman.
David Fecto, F -E -C -T -E -A -U with the City Planning Commission.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir, I do.
Proceed, sir.
Thank you, sir.
Mr. Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning to residential single family at this location.
The applicant has shown that a hardship would be created if the ground floor commercial provisions of the code were applied.
Absent the commercial unit, the applicant is essentially requesting this lot be treated as a residential multifamily property.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant the removal of required ground floor commercial space for the construction of three dwelling units.
Thank you. Thank you, David.
Hillary, I'm going to vote these separately, okay?
Yes, Mr. Chair, thank you.
So, number two, MI 2022 -002 -926 -1430 South 6th Street.
I vote yes with proviso.
revised plans, one page, stand by ZBA, March 29th, 2023. Thomas Holliman, my vote is yes,
with proviso. Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes, with proviso. Number four, MI 2022 -002 -927 -1426 -28
South 6th Street. I vote yes. Revised plans, one page, stamped by ZBA, March 29th, 2023.
Thomas Holliman, my vote is yes with provisos.
Kishmil Shahid, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you, everyone. Have a good day.
But number seven, MI 2022 -006 -297 -436 South 54th Street, Steve Masters is the attorney, letter of non -opposition from Cobbs Creek Neighbors.
Chair, Mr. Masters is coming back in now as a panelist.
Good morning, Mr. Masters.
Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the board.
please state your name and spell for our court reporter my name is steve masters m -a -s -t -e -r -s
i'm with the law firm of just laws do you swear or for him to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth i do could you identify your client in relationship to this property
my client is the property owner monet amos okay our vice chair has just a few questions sir
good morning counselor do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to
its accuracy yes i do have you emailed all the required documents and
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, we have.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Okay, thank you.
Good morning again, Mr. Chair, members of the board.
We are here on 436 South 54th Street.
We have a refusal for duplex.
This is a single family zoning of RSA 5, and that's the only refusal that we have today.
Okay. Our clients circulated petitions to the near neighbors, and we have 17 of the near neighbors
who have signed the petition. As you see in the petition, we explained to the neighbors that
quite a number of the homes that are on that block are already multifamily.
One of them is actually a vacant lot that was purchased by a neighboring owner from the city through the vacant property program, and that lot is deed restricted to remain an open green space.
So the majority of the buildings on this block are no longer in compliance with the single -family zoning.
These are the 17 petitions in favor.
This is the letter of non -opposition from Cops Creek Neighbors.
We had the community meeting back in February 6th,
and there were no neighbors at all, no near neighbors at all in opposition.
So the community expressed support for the project,
and the RCO letter is for non -opposition.
Let's do our plans here.
So this is an existing duplex, so we're not changing the configuration, we're just legalizing it.
This is our site plan.
we have a small side yard in the rear space and and the backyard
and on the first floor um the first floor is one unit and it has
a single bedroom on the second floor we have three bedrooms and a kitchen area
and our photos this is the first floor kitchen
the first floor living room
The first floor bedroom.
First floor bathroom.
Another view of the first floor bathroom from the kitchen.
This is the corridor on the first floor.
Stairs leading up to the second floor.
The second floor kitchen area.
Second floor, rear bedroom.
Second floor, front bedroom.
Second floor, bathroom.
And this is an unimproved basement.
Any more pictures of the basement, and then these are the zoning posters.
that are displayed on the front of the property.
When we presented to the RCO, we showed them the status of many of the other properties on the block.
So here we are. This is a fairly, you know, strong RSA5 area. There's just one property on this block face that's a CMX2.
property on this block face that's a CMX2. But this chart shows that 440 South 54th Street is
that vacant lot that has the deed restriction from the city, from the land bank. 430 South 54th
has been a legal quadruplex since 1961. That's the one that's known CMX2. And then 441 and
446 have been legal duplexes for quite some time, 444, starting in 1940, and 446 in 1972.
Here we have 430 South 54th proof of zoning from 1961 that legalized the four family. This is
444 South 54th Street that legalized a two -family in 1940.
446 South 54th Street, evidence of the permit that legalized the two -family in 1970.
This is our tax clearance for the property.
The deed of ownership.
Move through that.
Our application for appeal.
Our hardship is that the current duplex cannot be converted into a permitted use without extensive reconstruction and demolition,
and also the character of the block has significantly changed
and is no longer suitable for only single -family living.
Of the eight other lots on the block, two are legal duplexes,
one is a legal quadplex, and one remains vacant with a deed restriction from the city.
Our project information form.
this is the rco notice that we sent the letter to all of the near neighbors
our proof of mailing and all the addresses that we sent the rco notice to
At this point, I would like to call my client, Monet Amos, to adopt my testimony.
Ms. Amos, if you're in the virtual audience, please raise your hand.
Ms. Amos, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
And could you please state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
can you go
hi could you state your name please
I'm sorry chair
no go ahead you go ahead
if you have two devices may you
mute one or turn it off please
or maybe turn your audio down because we're just getting the feedback
how's that um it's a little better but we do still have a feedback
okay i'm just gonna move my cell phone it's not on but maybe
is that okay
that's better could you state your name please sure my name is my name amos do you swear or
affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing about the truth i do i do steve could you ask
some simple questions we'll just get yes or no from her please and excuse me chair may she spell
it for a court reporter sure spell your name please the spelling of my name is m as in mary
O -N as in N -T, E as in Edward, T as in Tom, last name Amos, A -M -O -S.
Thank you.
Proceed, Steve.
Good morning, Monet.
You heard my testimony this morning.
Do you agree that it's truthful, and do you adopt it as your own?
Is there anything that you would like to share with the board about this project?
other than the fact that it's a home of I think I'm the third generation to own the home
third generation to own the home. My grandmother owned it first, and then my father, and now it
my grandmother owned it
belongs to me. Once I expire, I intend to leave it to my daughter, so it is a family home.
We take great pride in it, and I think that's about it.
All right. I have no further questions of this witness, but I do have a near neighbor who would
I'd like to testify in support of the project also.
If Sabrina Cunningham is in the virtual audience,
could you raise your hand
and be recognized by the administrator?
Ms. Cunningham, please unmute yourself
and wait for the chair.
Ms. Cunningham?
Ms. Cunningham, please unmute yourself.
I unmute myself.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter?
Sabrina Cunningham.
The spelling is S -A -B -R -I -N -A -C -U -N -N -I -N -G -H -A -M.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed, counsel.
Ms. Cunningham, can you tell the board where you live and how close it is to Monet Amos' property?
I live on, my address is 438 South 54th Street, and it is on the right -hand side of Monet.
You're their next -door neighbor, is that correct?
That's correct.
And how long have you been living at that location?
I've been here over 11 years.
Okay. Are you familiar with Monet and with the tenants who have been living in that house?
Yes, I am.
Okay. What is your opinion of how well this house has been run and what kind of impact it has on you and the other neighbors?
The house has been run sufficient. There's no impact. We are close neighbors.
If the guys or anybody in the house need anything, I'm always there to assist them and help them.
um i'll stay in touch with monet and you know if anything happens i'll call her and let her know
what's going on but the neighbors are fine no problem at all so do you have um how do you feel
about her um her application to to make the the two apartments legal uh i'm all for it okay
I'll support it 100%.
I have no further questions, Mr. Chair.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have a Paul Garland with his hand up.
Mr. Garland, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Good morning, Mr. Garland.
could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Mr. Garland?
He's unmuted, Chair, but he just does not have...
Mr. Garland, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Okay. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see no other hands at this time, Chair.
Greening Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman. David Fecto with the City Planning Commission.
Mr. Chairman and Board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single -family zoning at this location.
based on the testimony that we've heard the applicant proposes to legalize a long -standing
non -conforming condition so the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the
proposed use variance thank you mi2022 -006 -297 -436 south 54th street i vote yes yes thomas holliman
my vote is yes
ishmael shaheed my vote is yes thank you counsel thank you so much
Number eight, MI 2021 -005 -092.
MI 2021 -005 -092 -4334
Frankfort Avenue. Darlene Treat is the attorney.
Letter of non -opposition from Council Member Lozada.
Letter of support from the Frankfort Neighbor Advisory Committee
with unenforceable provisos.
Chair, Ms. Treat is coming back in as a panelist now.
Good morning.
Good morning, Commissioner.
Can you hear me?
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
My name is Darlene Threatt, D -A -R -L -E -N -E, last name Threatt, T as in Thomas, H -R -E -A -T -T.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you put your video on?
Hi, good morning.
Could you identify your client, the relationship to the property?
My client is Mr. Irvin Rodriguez.
He is the owner of the property.
Mr. Rodriguez, are you on the line?
Oh, good boy.
We'll call him.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good morning, counsel.
Do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Hello?
Yes, I agreed to waive the reading of the refusal and I stipulate to its accuracy.
Have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits five days in advance to proceed with this hearing?
Yes, I have. I would like to say I did swap out the pictures.
So the pictures in my original submission are a little different, but the number of documents are the same.
Okay, we may need you to email them into our offices, but let's proceed. Please share your screen.
I'm going to try it again.
that's it that now you're coming up just to your zoom page yeah i don't know what's going on
That's it. I think that that might be it.
Try it one more time.
can you see my screen now i see the zoning board of adjustment revised proviso plans okay let me
just open up my exhibit package just give me a second please
I apologize.
I thought I had it opened already.
Can you see my screen, Commissioner?
I can.
Thank you very much for your patience.
Commissioners, this is 4324 Frankfurt Avenue.
I submitted an exhibit package consisting of 12 exhibits.
I'm going to go through them for you today.
At first, we have a notice of refusal.
At first, we have a notice of refusal. We applied to have an eight -family dwelling and we were refused because multifamily household living is not permitted in this zoning designation ICMX.
We apply to have a.
I would like to give you a little history of the property, though. We strike that. Here is our application of appeal.
the property information form
the uh certificate of tax clearance
the uh deed for the property
the owner's commercial activity license with the city of philadelphia
And attached here are our plans.
Basically, we would like to keep the commercial on the bottom,
but we would like to develop eight one -bedroom apartments on the top.
This is an overhead view of the area, and here is a view.
I'm just going to reduce that a little bit.
of the plans. Basically, we have the first floor, which contains, well, actually the
first floor is, which has four apartments. This is the front of the building, and you
would walk up the exit here. There's a corridor here, and you can get to each of the one -bedroom
apartments from the corridor here. They're all a good size apartments. They have one bedroom. They
have a living room, a bathroom, and a kitchen area. There are four apartments on the second floor.
On the third floor, there are two apartments. Again, you come up the stairway here and you
can enter each apartment from the corridor there. And on the third floor, we also have two
additional one -bedroom apartments, the same thing. You walk up the stairs here and you can enter
each apartment from the stairs there. Now here is a picture of the posting of the property.
And here is a picture of the property. Basically, it's a commercial. There was a church using the bottom floor up until about a month ago. And the top apartments here were vacant.
uh here's a picture of the back of the building
here's a picture of frankfort avenue um where the building um sits
uh there's a picture of frankfort avenue uh looking north uh there's uh some uh use there
but most of the upper floors of the building on frankfort avenue uh have uh no tenants and are
vacant. Here's a picture of across the street. Again, there are a lot of vacancies there in
this area here. Parking is not a problem currently. Here's a picture of the neighborhood Frankfurt
Avenue looking north down the street. Again, you can see a lot of vacancies, no parking
issues here. Here's the notice that the applicant sent out to the community. They had a meeting,
I believe it was February 22nd of 2022. And the Frankfurt neighborhood advisory committee
They met with the applicant and they did issue a letter of support.
And there are some of the proofs of mailings.
Again the applicant did this and he didn't do the bulk mailing.
And pretty much that's our presentation today.
Can I ask a question, the upper floors were apartments before?
Actually, this was previously approved for a six -family dwelling, and I do believe I have the actual zoning application, I mean, the approval here.
When the client bought this building, it was quite developed, but it did need some work.
But here's the previous zoning approval.
Previous zoning approval, it went to the board in 07.
It went to the board in 07.
It was vacant on the bottom and it was approved for six units.
So, yes, it was cut out previously for six units.
The applicant plans to make additional modifications to make eight units.
And it is his intention to serve this community and have a single family apartments that are affordable for individuals or couples that live in that area.
And still save the commercial on the first floor?
Yes, the commercial will still be on the first floor as desired by that community.
Okay. You want to bring your client on?
Mr. Rodriguez, are you on the line?
mr rodriguez please unmute yourself and wait for the chair
hello morning sir good morning sir could you state your name please and spell for the court
reporter yeah my name is ervin rodriguez e e as an edward r as rover v as an victor i as ice cream
n as nancy uh rodriguez is r -o -d as david r -i -g -u -e -z a zebra
mr rodriguez are you the owner of this property yes i am
mr rodriguez do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes i do proceed counsel mr rodriguez uh are you the owner of this property yes i am and mr rodriguez
Have you heard my testimony today?
And Mr. Rodriguez, did you meet with the Frankfurt Community Association?
Yes, I did.
And did you receive a letter of support?
Yes, I did.
And Mr. Rodriguez, would you adopt my testimony as truthful today?
That's all I have.
Questions from the board.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
i see no hands at this time chair planning commission thank you chair bergman thank you
chair bergman david vecto thank you very much no we're not done yet we're not done yet
go ahead david thank you chair bergman david vecto with the city planning commission
mr chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends a change in the zoning at this
location to industrial and residential mixed use under that zoning designation dwelling units would
be allowed by right. The proposal substantially meets the intention of the proposed zoning and
so the City Planning Commission recommends the board grant the use as variance. Thank you. MI 2021
005092 4324 Frankfurt Avenue. I vote yes with proviso. Use registration required prior to
occupancy for vacant commercial space on the first floor. Thomas Holloman. My vote is yes
with provisos. Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with provisos. Thank you, counsel.
Okay, thank you, counsel.
Unmute. Okay, we're good. Unmute, please. You're muted.
You're muted.
Okay, I'm catching up.
We're fine, counsel.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
You have your vote.
Right.
Okay, number 11, MI 2022 -006 -249 -6801 -R New State Road.
Dan Mita and David Anna -Connor are the attorneys for the tenant.
Letter of non -opposition from Taccone Civic Association.
Chair, Mr. Americana is coming back in as a panelist now.
Thank you.
Good morning, counsel.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Thank you, Chair.
My name is David Americana.
It's spelled A -M -E -R -I -K -A -N -E -R.
I'm an attorney at the law firm of Dwayne Morris here on behalf of the tenant and the
applicant in this case, Orthodox Holdings, LLC.
Thank you.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Our vice chair has just a few questions.
Good morning, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, although we believe it's a referral, not a refusal, but yes, we agreed to waive.
Yes, although we believe it's a referral, not a refusal, but yes, we...
Have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits in our offices five days in advance of this hearing to proceed with this case?
Yes, we have.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
All right. Thank you for hearing us this morning. As I mentioned, my name is David Amera Conner with the law firm of Dwayne Morris. We're here for the property located at 6801R New State Road, Parcel D, on behalf of the applicant, Orthodox Holdings, LLC.
This applicant seeks, we seek a special exception for a junk and salvage yard and building use at a property in the I -2 zone.
Junk and salvage yard and building uses are permitted in the I -2 zone by special exception, which requires that the criteria in sections 14 -3037E .1 and 14 -3037E .2 be satisfied.
This property sits on New State Road between I -95 and the Delaware River. Our client, Orthodox Auto, has operated at this location, this area, for decades.
They have an existing owned property at 5247 Unruh Avenue adjacent to the subject site, where they have been in operation since 1968 in the auto salvage business.
They've seen a recent increase in the need for salvaged and recycled auto parts, and they wish to expand their business.
So when the subject property, which is adjacent to their previously existing and owned property, became available for lease, they entered into a lease and began using the property for the same use as is done on their owned adjacent property.
This application is to obtain a special exception for this use as required under the code.
It is very similar to the uses on neighboring properties and consistent with the neighborhood
generally.
So I've shared my screen and I'll show you some of our exhibits and photos as we walk
through this.
First is our special exception application.
Next, I will move down to the lease.
Just give me one moment.
lease agreement between our client and the property owner.
And next, I will scroll down to an aerial of the subject site.
Most of the operations take place in the building that is outlined in red.
And then I will then go down to some photos of the site.
I'm going to share a different document, if you bear with me for one moment.
Is there some photos of the interior of the site that we submitted in our packet?
And lastly, building layout that we submitted in our packet.
I'd like to now just take a moment to walk through some of the use specific requirements
and 14 -3037E .1 and 14 -3037E .2.
The code requires that the property be at least two acres.
This property is four acres, approximately.
The code requires that the lot be at least 150 feet
from the nearest residential district.
This is about more than 1 ,000 feet
from the nearest residential district.
The code requires that any cutting, shredding, compressing, or packing
The code requires that any cutting, shredding, compressing, or packing activities take place
further than 300 feet from the nearest residential district. And as we mentioned,
the nearest residential district is more than a thousand feet away.
The code requires that the use be walled off, that there be a wall.
Most of the uses on this property take place indoors and inside the building, surrounded by walls.
There are also walls on the adjacent properties that provide shielding around the exterior of the site.
The code prohibits open burning, and there is none.
The code requires that the site provide a way of suppressing windborne dust in outdoor areas,
and all outdoor surfaces are paved or are covered with aggregate to suppress wind -borne dust.
And as we mentioned, most of the activities on the site take place indoors.
The code requires that when autos are brought to the site to be salvaged,
that fluids be drained within seven days and disposed of in compliance with applicable law,
and our client does do that.
We also need to demonstrate compliance with specific detrimental impacts in 14 -037 E .2, and to show that none of those detrimental impacts will occur.
first the the code inquires as to whether the use will cause congestion on streets in the area
and the answer is no it's consistent with existing uses and is causes very little traffic in the
area the we need to show that the use does not cause overcrowding of land and this is not any
this is not a new use this is not an intensification of any use there will be not any overcrowding of
land. It's consistent with the uses in the neighborhood. Again, we need to show that it
does not impair the supply of light and air to a neighboring property. And again, there's no
new use, no building proposed here, no intensification of the existing use.
It will not burden any public facilities such as water, sewer, school, or park because it's
not residential. We're not bringing any new people onto the property. There's nothing new here,
no intensification of any use. It will be consistent with adjacent properties, as we
mentioned. It will not endanger public health and safety. And this use is consistent with the
comprehensive plan because the comprehensive plan prioritizes grouping uses of similar types,
such as out of salvage yards together. And this would unify this property with the neighboring
property, which is used for the same thing. I would like to now call a client, Nick Evangelist
of the applicant to adopt my testimony. Can I ask the question first? So this 6801R is the
additional space? Correct. Right. Is that what we're looking at on the screen now?
That's the interior. Sorry. You're looking at the interior, an interior photo of the space. Yes,
Yes, that's correct. That's the additional space you're looking at. Correct. Okay, thank you.
Mr. American, what's your... Yes, his name is Nick Evangelist.
Mr. Evangelist, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Yes, hello. Good morning. Good morning. Could you state your name, please, and spell it for
the court reporter. My name is Nicholas Evangelist, N -I -C -H -O -L -A -S, Evangelist, E -V -A -N -G -E -L -I -S -T.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes. Proceed, counsel.
Thank you. Good morning, Nick. Could you please state for the board your position at Orthodox Auto?
Yes, I'm an operations manager at Orthodox Auto. I oversee all the day -to -day activities.
Thank you. Did you hear my testimony this morning?
Yes, I did.
Did you agree with what I said in my testimony this morning?
Yes, I did agree with everything that you said.
Do you adopt it as your own?
Do you have anything else you'd like to add for the board's benefit this morning?
You did a really good job of covering everything. Really, the only thing that I wanted to add was that we've been operating for over 50 years, and we're a proud Philadelphia company. And we really, we provide an essential service of handling these end -of -life vehicles and recycling them in an environmentally friendly way.
Okay, thank you. Questions from the Board?
Okay, thank you. Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Mr. Chair, this is Hillary. I have a quick question for Council.
It was noted in the presentation and the application materials that this was Parcel D, but I did not see Parcel D noted on the refusal.
um would council be opposed to um a proviso specifying that this use is limited to parcel d
on this property since that is a part of the property you are leasing
i believe so let me confirm that hillary very quickly i think that's fine i think that's fine
okay are you is it is it parcel or units i know it's condo units as well condo units yeah it's
unit D. Unit D. Okay. All right. We'll limit it to unit D. It's the board grant. Thank you.
Questions for in the virtual audience.
Chair, we have someone with their hand up calling from the Galaxy S8+.
Paul, can you please unmute yourself and wait for the chair?
Good morning. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
hi my name is paul garland p -a -u -l -g -a -r -l -a -n -d swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do are you a neighbor uh not of this uh particular
case of the previous case there were uh technical problems uh i kept getting a message stating that
What case was that, sir?
For Monet Amos.
Well, sir, we've moved on from that case.
I'm very sorry that you couldn't get in, but we've moved on from that case.
Right.
Thank you for calling.
We appreciate your interest, but we've moved on from that case.
Thank you.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman.
David Fecto with the City Planning Commission.
Mr. Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the general industrial zoning at this location.
The applicant has shown that the proposed warehouse junk and salvage yard will have no detrimental impact on the neighborhood beyond what might be expected.
And so the City Planning Commission recommends the board grant the proposed special exception.
Thank you. MI 2022 -006 -249 -681R, New State Road. I vote yes with proviso.
Use limited to unit D.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
Okay, number 15, MI 2022 -002 -946 -2100 -02,
North Franklin Street.
Zen Jin is the attorney.
Letter of support from APM.
Chair, Mr. Jin is coming back in now as a panelist.
Good morning.
Good morning, sir.
Could you please state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
My name is Zen Jin, Z -H -E -N -J -I -N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 1838, Philadelphia
EPA 19103, here on behalf of the applicant.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Could you identify your client and the relationship to the property?
My client is DYS Properties, the owner of the parcel, and Mr. Bader is here on their
behalf today.
All right.
Our vice chair has just a few questions, sir.
Good morning, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits into our offices five days in
advance of the hearing?
I have.
Thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
I'm going to share with the board the information we previously submitted.
This is the packet of exhibits that was submitted to the board for today's purposes.
We have submitted the refusal, support letter, photos, plans, tax clearance deed, and related documentation.
I want to first jump to the refusal.
This is an application in a CMX2 district.
This is currently a double -sized vacant lot.
And our proposal on this location is to build a multifamily household living for seven families.
for seven families. The refusals directly relate to the seven family use and the lack of the
The refusals directly relate to the seven -family users.
commercial use. We met with APM who issued a letter in support particularly indicating that
the members of the community actually is excited for the opportunity to have a new building here
for the residential use. I do want to point out that this particular lot is a double -sized lot
and it's best seen through the site plan itself, 2100 to 02 is two lots side by side that's
been previously combined through in the past through some subdivision. This is at one point
a auto repair business years and years ago, but it's been vacant for quite some time.
The community itself is predominantly, and we're actually surrounded by RM1 uses,
which is what essentially we're trying to propose with this particular variance.
But CMX2 used on this corner, which is actually the corner of Diamond and North Franklin Street,
the neighborhood's feedback about the prior commercial use wasn't that positive.
It was an auto shop use.
They actually do not see the benefit of a commercial unit being put onto the first floor of this particular location.
and they're kind of glad that, you know, the more residential uses are coming.
In addition, part of the reason we're setting it up with the way that the seven unit is
because one of the design aspect is to put a handicap accessible unit into the first
floor.
By doing so, what my client did is instead of having a very large front unit with basement
access, he split the front unit to two, because again, it's two lot in width, and that bi -level
unit became two. The upper floor essentially are two units each, making the four additional units,
giving us a total of seven. So again, this is a design that allows us to add the needed residential
units in the area, the needed handicap accessible units, and again, we believe that this lot would
have a hardship to have a long -term viable commercial use, given that North Franklin's
really not a very large street. And even Diamond Street in that location really isn't very viable
with a lot of commercial. There are more residential properties and some vacant lots,
more so than any commercial activity. So based on that is why we came forth with this proposal
and why the community supported our request for these variances.
I'm certainly happy to show the board any additional exhibits the board would like to see,
and my client is here to verify my testimony regarding this application.
Counselor, are there other multiple units in the area?
Yes, actually, everything surrounding us are mostly multiple units.
The whole district in this area right now is RM1.
All right, thank you very much.
Or multiple surrounding blocks, yes.
You want to bring your counsel on, your recline on?
Mr. Bader, please raise your hand virtually to be identified.
Mr. Bader, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Good morning, sir.
Could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Yeah, good morning.
My name is Chagai Bader, C -H -A -G -A -I.
My last name is Bader, B -A -D -E -R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you.
Mr. Bader, did you hear my testimony and see my presentation to the zoning board?
Can you verify what I've said is true and correct and adopt it as your own testimony?
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
From the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair, I'm good.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman and members of the board.
David Effecto, City Planning Commission.
Chair and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the commercial mixed use zoning at this location.
The current zoning dates to 1933.
This section of North Philadelphia has never been rezoned.
There is no unique physical condition of this lot that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code, and so the City Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny the use in dimensional variances.
MI 2022 -002 -946 -2100 -02, North Franklin Street, I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you. Have a good day.
Thank you.
Is there anyone whose case has not been called on the morning list?
Tara, we have someone with their hand up from a Galaxy S8+.
Okay, sure.
I believe that's the same person, too.
Hello. Can you hear me? Yeah, I can. Sorry. I've already sworn.
And I mentioned that your cases has that case you're interested in is over.
But if you have comments, please feel free to tell me what your issue is.
Yes. My issue was.
For what was presented to you, it's not the current or future intent for the application of Monet Amos.
She is using that as a rooming facility, not as a single or two -family dwelling.
And there were a lot of other problems with the property, illegal lockouts or self -help.
And a lot of other...
I'm sorry, Chair, this is Tom.
Your neighbor, sir.
Chair, he's been muted.
Okay. Mr. Chair, this is Hillary. I was going to jump in as well. The record is closed on this case. If he has additional information, he can submit a request for reconsideration.
Okay. Sir? Sir? Sir?
Okay. I hope you heard what was said. You can submit.
I am here, sir.
All right. So the case is closed. Listen to me. The case is closed. If you want to, you can go down and you can submit for reconsideration.
What was your voting on that? Because every time I try to speak, I am muted by the -
We had the necessary votes to approve it.
Sir, you can reach us at rcozba at phila .gov if you have any more questions.
Thank you. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience whose case has not been called?
I see no hands, Chair.
Thanks, everyone. See everybody at 2 o 'clock.
Lakeisha, are we ready to go?
Yes, Chair.
Thank you.
Good afternoon.
My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this afternoon's EBA hearing.
With me is our Vice Chair, Ismail Shahid.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, Thomas Holliman.
Thomas Holliman.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
And our Board Member, James Snell.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also here is Hillary Emerson, our Attorney, and our Executive Director, Tanya Sunkett,
is also here. Here's our format. Be advised if proceedings are being recorded. The video will
be available by contacting tanyasunkett at phillip .gov. For the benefit of our court
stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you're participating by phone, if you wish to testify, press star nine 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 finally, the question answer box on the screen is
not for comments or testimony. All comments should be directed to our Executive Director,
Tanya Sunde. So let's look at our continuations this afternoon.
Number two, MI -2022 -004 -229 -3301 Emerald Street, that case is continued.
Number seven, MI -2022 -003 -308 -5774 North 20th Street, that case is continued.
And number nine, MI -2022 -004 -231 -4501 Woodhaven Road, that case is continued.
Are there any questions or comments relative to those three cases?
No hands, Chair.
no hands chair are there any additional requests for continuances
Are there any additional...
good afternoon chair this is Yvette Benton I see no hands at this time
thank you and also number five MI 2022 001 804 4430 Pine Street that case has been withdrawn
on. We're going to go to our add -on list. Chair? Yes. We have Brandon Saverin with his hand up.
Okay. Mr. Saverin, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Hello. Brandon, state your name and spell please for the court reporter.
Sure. Brandon Saverin spelled B -R -A -N -D -O -N.
S as in Sam, A, B as in Victor, R -A -N.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
What case, sir?
I just wanted to confirm that 4112 Petion Street has been withdrawn.
I did not see that.
Hillary, I don't see that.
Mr. Savage, what was the address again?
Pichon Street.
4112 Pichon.
We'll check on that.
That wasn't on the list to be withdrawn today, but we will check on that and we can reach back out to you via email.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir.
So we're going to head to our add -on list.
Number one, MI -2022 -005 -751 -7631 Algon Street.
Hold on one minute.
I vote yes proviso per amended refusal dated 3 -22 -23.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes, with proviso.
James Snell, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Thank you.
Number two, MI 2022 -001087 -103 Widener Street, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
And number three, MI 2021 -005 -076 -5217 Morris Street, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes.
Mr. Carlos, if you're in the virtual audience, please raise your hand.
Chair, I see no hands at this time.
We see an interpreter's hands?
No, nobody's hand. Just a moment, Chair. Somebody just put their hand up on Carla Jacobson.
Ms. Jacobson, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Yes, I'm here, ma 'am.
This is the interpreter speaking.
Could you state your name, please?
Carla Jacobson, ID number M, as in Mike, U, uniform 465.
Could you do me a favor?
Could you spell your name for the court reporter, please?
Absolutely.
K, as in Kilo, A Alpha, R Robert, L Lima, A Alpha, Jacobson, J -A -C -O -B -S -O -N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
I'm trying to locate the owner in the audience.
Could you please see if Juan Carlos Bernal is in the audience?
Si, esta el señor presente, el señor Juan Carlos Bernal.
No hands have come up as yet, Chair.
Okay. We're going to continue this case. MI -2021 -004 -660 -1233 East Luzerne Street, the case has been continued. Interpreter, thank you very much. We appreciate you getting on.
We're going to continue this case.
Okay, thank you, sir.
Interpreter, may you just interpret that that case is continued, please, before you go.
Señor Juan Carlos Bernal, su caso está continuado.
thank you so much you're welcome thank you for using our services
we're going to move to our regular list number one and number eight will be heard together
MI 2022 003 590 1411 North Bouvier Street
Vern Anastasio is the attorney. Letter of support from the United Neighbors Civic Association.
And number eight is MI 2022 -003 -586 -1409 North Bouvier Street.
And there's also a letter of support for that project.
Mr. Anastasio, could you please state your name? It's spelled for the court report.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair. Yeah, it's Vern, V -E -R -N. Last name is Anastasio, A -N -A -S -T -A -S -I -O. 2016 Spruce, Philadelphia, 19103. And I represent Mr. Zudad A -H -E, principal of the LLC that owns the company.
Do you swear or affirm, tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Our vice chair has just a few questions.
question. Good afternoon,
counsel. Do you agree? Do you agree
to wait a reading of the refusal and stipulate
to its accuracy? I do.
Have you emailed all the required
documents and exhibits into our offices
to proceed with this case five
days in advance of this hearing?
I have. Thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
Mr. Chair, 1409 and 1411 are identical proposals, so they both were, in fact, the applications
each for four family dwellings. There are two empty lots. We got a refusal because the
multi -family household living is prohibited, and we had an open -air requirement of 25 percent.
We came just under that at 23 .3%.
During the course of dealing with the RCO on a couple occasions, we reduced that number to three units per building.
and made some other material changes that have been submitted to the board on the proviso form
sheet that I forwarded to attorney Emerson earlier this afternoon. As you can see, here's a great view
of the three units. You'll see a bi -level one unit. You'll see a second unit and then the third
unit here's the two vacant lots on the block there are several multi -family homes three and
four family dwellings we do have lots of space in the rear because it's new construction we're able
to put ample numbers of trash cans in both yards with access from the rear alley for each and every
one of the of the tenants. Here is the revised plan. The first unit, we have a home office,
which as you know, is becoming more and more something that people need these days. And then
we have a one basement bedroom. And then we have two additional bedrooms with a large living dining
and in kitchen area on the second floor unit
is an 864 square foot two bedroom.
And the third unit is another 889 square foot,
large units, two bedroom unit as well.
Contrary to the initial plans,
there is no public access to the roof,
which was another condition precedent
to getting the RCO support for the project.
um as you can see a large hole in the middle of the block which is and here's proof of posting
which is, and here's proof of posting. It's been quartering off with our gates.
There's proof of mailing to the community. 121 individual households were mailed.
We have a letter from the UNACA in full support of both, given the provisions of the trash plan,
the reduction in number of units, the complete elimination of the roof deck.
This was the vote, 18 to 1. We also added the exterior lighting and video surveillance.
Again, condition precedent. These are vacant lots to build single family homes on this block
and suggest that we'll be able to market them and sell them to anyone who lives in that neighborhood
at a price point that they could absorb is just a fallacy,
which is why the community worked with us in building three, six total over two properties,
quality, new construction, housing units, the smallest of which is just under 900 square feet,
which will be approachable in price point, but still ample in size to support families with
two and three bedroom units. And with that, I'd like to ask my client, Zaudahi, to raise his hand.
so before you do that could could you give me an idea what the block looks like
i heard you mentioned three and four but do you have a sense of what it looks like relative to
multifamily yeah uh there are several multifamilies uh there's one right next door to it uh there are
on our side of the block uh most of the properties i don't know if they all have variances but most
of the properties are in fact two, three, and four family dwellings. There are some single
families interspersed, but they are the exception and not the rule. Thank you. Yep. Mr. He? Mr. He,
please unmute yourself and wait for the chair. Hi, Chair. Could you state your name, please,
and spell it for the court reporter, please? Hi, this is Zora He, Z for zebra, U for umbrella,
O for Oscar, D for David, A for Apple.
That's my first name.
Last name is H -E -H for Henry, E for Amity.
You swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you.
Mr. He, did you hear my presentation to the board today for both 1409 and 1411 North Bouvier Street?
Yes, I did.
Is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
Yes, it is.
Do you adopt it as your own testimony?
Yes, I do.
Have you explored the feasibility of marketing, building, and then selling single -family homes on this lot and deemed it to be impracticable given the existing conditions?
I have.
And did you work tirelessly with the RCO and immediate neighbors to, in fact, reduce the number of units, eliminate the roof deck, and put in a comprehensive trash and security plan for the project?
Yes, I did.
Thank you very much.
I have nothing further, Mr.
Thank you.
Questions from the board.
From the board.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission?
This is Ronald Bednar with the City Planning Commission.
First name Ron, R -O -N, last name Bednar, B -E -D -N -A -R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
This testimony is for both 1409 and 1411 Bouvier streets.
These properties are indicated for residential use on the city plan.
Given the physical circumstances of these sites, the documented uses surrounding, we recommend that the requested variance at two properties, 1409 and 1411,
be granted with maximum of three units only. Thank you. Okay, I'm going to do one at a time.
MI 2022 -003 -590 -1411 North Bouvier Street. I vote yes with provisors. Maximum three units,
revised plan, one page, stamped by ZBA March 29, 2023, no rooftop deck or roof access,
or roof access, trash stored, and rear yard. Thomas Holliman, my vote is yes with provisos.
trash stored and rear yard.
James Snell, my vote is yes with provisos.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with provisos.
Thank you. Number eight, MI 2022 -003 -586 -1409 North Bovier Street. I vote yes with provisos.
Maximum three units, revised plan, one page, stamped by ZBA March 29, 2023. No roof deck
or roof access, trash door and rear yard. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with provisos.
James Snell, my vote is yes, with provisos.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes, with provisos.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
Number four, MI 2023 -000733, 1904 to 40 Samson Street.
Augusta O 'Neill is the attorney.
letter of non -opposition from the center city residents association chair miss o 'neill is
coming back in as a panelist now okay good afternoon i counsel could you state your name
please and spell for the court reporter sure my name is augusta o 'neill that's spelled a -u -g -u -s -t -a
My last name is spelled O -N -E -I -L -L.
Right.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client and relationship to the property, please?
My client is 1911 Walnut LLC.
They are the owner of the property.
Our vice chair has just a few questions for you.
Good afternoon, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
It's actually a referral, and yes, I do stipulate to its accuracy.
all right no problem uh have you emailed all the required documents in five days in advance
of this hearing i did thank you please proceed and share your screen thank you so much
is everyone able to see my screen yes okay perfect thank you so much uh members of the board as
stated my name is augusta o 'neill i'm an attorney with the law firm of claire harrison harvey
Brandsburg. I'm here this afternoon representing the owner of the property at 1904 to 40 Sansom
Street. I'm here on behalf of my colleague Hercules Grigos, who was the applicant but
could be here this afternoon. This application is a proposal to put a sit -down restaurant
in at the property located at 1904 to 40 Sansom Street. For anyone who's not familiar with this
property, this property is part of the Laurel building. So even though there's two different
addresses, these properties have a unity of use. And this Laurel, the Laurel building, um, has air
rights over 1917 Walnut Street. It's also got a bridge over Moravian Street, as you can see on my
screen. Um, and so these two buildings, like I said, are connected through a unity of use. And
We're proposing to have a restaurant in the area that's on the west side.
So this is where the restaurant is going to go.
The site, as you can see from a picture that I provided with my exhibit package, it's currently under construction.
So again, this is where the restaurant is going to go in.
This restaurant is going to be part of the Scholten Collective.
The Scholten Collective designs and operates a number of high -end restaurants in the city of Philadelphia.
Some of the restaurants that they currently operate include Sampan, Double Knot, Harp and Crown,
and Prunella, just to name a few, provided a copy of some of the renderings for the
restaurant that we're proposing at this location in your exhibit package. As you can see, the
aesthetic that Shulson is going for with this particular restaurant is going to be something
vibrant with a lot of interesting textures a lot of different colors to catch the eye.
There's going to be seating for 122 people inside of the restaurant as you can see from the
floor plan that's up on my screen. Now with respect to the referral that was generated
as part of this application as I noted before the buildings are part of a unity of use which means
that um because of that uh unity of use we were subject to the overlays that the building fronting
on walnut street is subject to so if the restaurant was simply going into i'm sorry
i'm sorry if this was not part of a unity of use these buildings um weren't subject to that then
if this was not part of a unity of use
we actually would not need a special exception but
again because of it we are required to seek a special exception as part of this application
the property zone cmx4 um it's in a number of overlays including the center city overlay
district walnut street area west which as i mentioned requires that we um seek a special
exception as part of this application just want to note there's going to be no change to the
building footprint of laurel uh and with respect to the operation of the restaurant it's going to
have hours typical for other restaurants in the city so that's going to be approximately 11 a .m
to midnight um during the week and then it will have later hours on the weekends trash is going
to be picked up daily it will be stored within the building until it's ready for pickup but both
pickup of trash and deliveries to the restaurant are going to be handled with a um using the loading
dock that's part of the laurel building moving on to the um criteria for a special exception
why we believe that we meet it the code provides that the grant of a special exception shall not
cause detrimental impacts to the neighborhood beyond which might normally be expected from a
proposed use. We're not going to be causing any additional congestion in the public streets or
the transportation system, because again, we are conveniently located off of Walnut Street.
We're very close to Rittenhouse Square, which means that there's a number of means of public
transportation that are available to anyone going to the restaurant or coming from it.
And again, as I noted, all loading for the restaurant is going to be handled
or using the loading dock that's part of the Laurel, so any trash or deliveries again will
be using the building's loading dock. The project is not going to cause any overcrowding of the land
or impair any supply of light or air to any adjacent properties, because again we aren't
changing the building footprint, we're just fitting a restaurant into this location.
The project is not going to burden any of the public facilities and won't impair the use
of adjacent conforming properties because it's instead just going to enhance and complement the
building and also be consistent with the many other restaurant uses that exist in Rittenhouse
Square. The project will not otherwise endanger any public health or safety. It's going to be
consistent with the comprehensive plan. The last thing I just want to note is that we did meet with
the affected RCO for the project, the Center City Residents Association. They did not oppose our
request. And a copy of that letter was provided with my exhibit package. So at this time, I would
like to call forward Mr. Brian Emmons to document testimony.
You see a hand in the audience?
Not at this time, Chair.
Councilor, you're an officer of the court. We will gladly take your testimony.
Thank you so much. Questions from the board? No, Mr. Chairman. No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no handshare. Planning Commission. So, we're on Bednar City Planning. Property is
currently indicated for commercial mixed use on the city plan given the site's physical conditions.
proposed use will have no more of an impact that wouldn't be expected to have given its
specific location. Therefore, we recommend that the Board grant a special exception.
Thank you. MI 2023 -000733 -1904 -40 Sampson Street, I vote yes.
I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, I vote yes.
James Snell, I vote yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you so much.
Number six, MI 2022 -001 -770 -5021 Aspen Street.
Darlene Treat is the attorney.
No RCO letter at this point.
Ms. Treed is coming back in as a panelist chair.
Thank you.
Ms. Three, you have to unmute yourself.
It just unmuted.
I apologize.
And let me put the video on.
Thank you.
You've already been sworn.
You've already been sworn once today.
Just state your name for the record, please.
Darlene Threat, 45 East City Avenue, Ballackenwood, PA, 19004.
Could you identify your client and the relationship to the property?
My client today is ISS Holmes, LLC, and I have a representative, Mr. Samuel East, present today.
Okay. Our vice chair has just a few questions for you.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits that are required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Commissioners today I'm here representing 5021 Aspen Street I've submitted an exhibit
package which contains 30 pages and 11 exhibits. I'll scroll down and show the exhibits in my
package. Here is the refusal. We applied to actually legalize a two -family dwelling.
We did this in early February of 2022.
This property had been legal since 1988, and I'll show you the documents in a minute.
For a two -family dwelling, we lost our zoning during the COVID pandemic period.
We applied for an appeal to the board.
Here's a copy of the appeal.
we prepared the project information form
we have clear taxes here's the deed which uh demonstrates that iss homes is the owner of this
property. I did include some leases that I'll just scroll past. The property is currently vacant
for renovations. I just wanted to show you a little bit of the zoning history here.
You'll see back in 1988, this property did go before the board.
It was a single family.
It was approved for a two -family dwelling, and it has been in use as a two -family dwelling since that point in time.
I have some other zoning information just to show that the property has been used as a two -family dwelling for some time, which I won't go over each document.
Commissioners, here are the plans for the property.
This is just the site plan.
You can see it's a two -family dwelling.
It's not very large, and it sits on a block with mainly two -family and single -family dwellings.
Here is the floor plan.
It's very simple. There's no basement use. There are utilities in the basement.
We have a first floor apartment, approximately 500 square feet.
We have a living room, kitchen, dining area, and the bedroom.
And there's the bathroom over there.
The second floor, the layout is almost identical to the first floor.
Here's a picture of the property and the posting on this particular block.
The trash is stored in the front of the properties and taken out by the Philadelphia Sanitation Department on trash day.
by the Philadelphia Sanitation Department on Trash Day.
We have a contract with them.
We participate in that program.
Here's a copy of the,
we met with the Civic Association on two occasions.
Here's the copy, I believe, of the second posting.
That's the first posting.
That's just a view of the street,
how the,
Houses on the street appear.
Doesn't appear to be a parking problem at this time either.
It's another picture of the block and how the houses look.
There's the two meters which have been installed since, I imagine, 1988.
Here's a picture of the upstairs living room area.
bathroom, kitchen, kitchen for the second floor, front room for the second floor, and
the bathroom.
We did send out a notice on two occasions.
We met with the Civic Association the first time.
They asked us to make some changes and to come back.
We met with them again the second time.
We came back with the changes.
There's the proof of mailing.
and the Civic Association did issue a letter of support supporting our application for
supporting our application for the variance. And with that, I'm here to answer any questions that
do you have your representative of the property uh samuel are you on the line
mr east
all right you're an officer of the court we will take your testimony um could you make sure hillary
gets a copy of that letter i i don't think we have a letter do we hillary thank you mr chair
No, we do not have a copy of this letter.
So just send the copy over the letter to Hillary, okay?
I will, thank you.
Okay, questions from the board.
No, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair, we have Cheryl.
Ms. Cheryl, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Hi, could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
okay my name is Cheryl Morris Davis I live at 5036 Aspen Street could you do me a favor could
you spell your name please so that the court reporter can get it okay first name spelled
c -h -e -r -y -l -l the last name is m -o -r -i -s hyphen Davis all right d -a -v -i -s all right do you swear
or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do proceed okay this
particular property at 5021 has been um since 19 i mean whenever in a in 1988 was not properly
zoned as a two -story family dwelling. It's always been a one, I mean, a two -story family dwelling.
It has not been a rental unit. My concern, those pictures that were taken that says it's not a
parking problem on this particular block, there is a parking problem on this particular block.
first thing some people have two and three cars when this picture was taken was probably early
in the morning when people are going to work secondly the property was built in 1925
approximately and now they want to change the configuration of this property to be
a not a two dwelling the property is too small the property has three bedrooms on the second
floor. It's an inadequate size. And if you get a person that has a family, therefore the property
cannot be used for more than one person on the first floor and one person on the second floor.
And also in this particular block or block.
And also in this particular block, there has been an increase in shootings.
We do not need another shooting on this block.
And most of the properties on this particular block are now rental units.
I would say 75%.
Now, I know from the past, PHA, what they did was like, we moved some of the rental units to be family units for selling.
Listen to me, Cheryl, we want to concentrate on this property.
Just tell me about this property.
Oh, this particular property?
Right, that's it.
It's an applicable size to be an apartment.
And you're against the project then?
Sorry, I can't hear that well.
He's asking you, honey, are you against the project?
Yes, I'm against the project.
Thank you very much for calling in.
We appreciate your input.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, I've got my hand raised.
I'm a husband.
I guess you could hear me.
Wait a minute.
State your name, please, and spell for the court reporter.
Ernest M. Davis, E -R -N -E -S -T, middle initial M -D -A -V -I -S.
Do you swear a friend to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
And your position is similar to your wife's position?
Similar to my wife.
We just had a shooting of a house away from that property yesterday and the
density of people in the neighborhood and the type of people.
So I want you to concentrate on this property.
This property did not have a shooting of property nearby.
You're saying only a house away, right?
In front of 50, 23 and 25.
This was out there the other day.
All right.
Y 'all cases everywhere.
All right.
Thank you for calling in.
We do appreciate your input.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Chair, I see the other heads up at this time.
Counsel, do you want to respond?
Yes, Commissioner, I can't really speak to the shooting on the block.
I can speak to the security concerns.
Those concerns were discussed in the meeting.
We did agree to have a security camera and to let the block have access to the camera.
I have also provided a documentation which shows that this house was legally zoned and changed over to a duplex back in 1988.
It is our intention to have apartments that are affordable for people in the neighborhood.
One of the other concerns of the community was to empty out the apartment and screen and vet the tenants closely so that we could have good tenants and individuals who will keep the property up and keep the area clean.
Thank you very much.
Cleaning Commission.
This is Ron Bednar, City Planning.
property is indicated for residential use on the city plan
our adopted district plan recommends no change to existing residential single family zoning at
this location the applicant's hardship is not supported with evidence of unique physical
circumstances or condition of the property that were prevented from being used in conformity with
the code it's a single family block comprised of small two -story rows with front porches we
recommend the request of advantage not be ran. I'm going to take this back to the board and take
it to an executive session and we'll have a conversation in an executive session and we'll
vote next Wednesday at 2 p .m. The case is closed. Can I say one more thing please? Sure. You said
sure yeah go ahead oh um this property uh does have a a hardship in our opinion it is already
converted um to a duplex uh it has been used as a duplex for many many years and uh it would be
a difficult well not difficult um it would be uh in position and uh difficult to convert it back to
a single family and that it already has two systems, two meters, two entries, etc.
Okay, thank you. Thank you for your input. We will vote on this next Wednesday at 2 p .m.
We will vote on this next Wednesday at 2 p .m.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Number 10, MI 2022 -001 -768 -1625 North 18th Street.
Sherman Toppin is the attorney.
letter of support
United Neighbors Alliance
Civic Association
provisos
being negotiated.
Chair, Mr. Toppin is
coming back in as a panelist now.
Thank you.
Darlene, you can go out
thank you yeah there's everybody it's happened could you state your name please and spell it
for the court reporter yes my name is sherman toppen s -h -e -r -m -a -n -t -o -p -p -i -n address
1500 jfk boulevard suite 800 right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth i do do you identify your client please in the relationship to the property
Yes, my client is Gavi Atavison. He is the managing member of the LLC, H &M Development, LLC.
And our vice chair has just a few questions for you, sir.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Sherman?
Sherman, you want, we can't hear you.
Sherman.
You went dead on us.
Can you hear me?
Now we can.
Now we can.
Okay, sorry.
There is one inaccuracy on the refusal.
It's a type of graphical error by the examiner.
If you look under the refusal list, when you go to it, there's indication of rude feck.
It should be roof deck.
But that's the only thing that I notice that is inaccurate in connection with that refusal.
Okay, thank you.
Have you emailed all the exhibits and documents that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
I did.
Thank you. Please proceed and share the screen.
All right. You should be looking at my screen at this time.
And it's H &M Development is the owner of the property, the subject property we use as an identifier, 1625 North 18th Street.
It's actually five lots assembled with this one address.
And so I'll begin to proceed through my exhibits list.
My typical exhibit list is here.
I've got some additional things because of questions that the community had.
And I think it'll be insightful to the board to see some of the other exhibits that we've got.
So here's the refusal.
So the refusal, we have three refusals that were triggered by the plans of this property.
One, of course, multifamily.
Two, the dimensional.
38 feet was required. We are seeking to build the structure to 62 feet, and we'll explain why and
show it to you. And the third is the roof deck access features. The pilot houses, the way they're
designed with the interior stairwells, actually abut the lineup with the actual structure, the
exterior of the property. And I'll show you where that is. So we're looking for relief from the
five -foot required setback for the roof deck, we are seeking to build the building taller than
usual to add a floor to accommodate a parking garage underneath the units that we're seeking
here, the 20 units that we're seeking, and of course, then multifamily use. Notably, on the
refusal previously at this very same site there in 1912, going back 12 -11 -1944, the same, this
a ZBA board has granted three -unit family household living for these various lots. So if that were to
hold true to today, there could already be 15 lots, 15 properties, 15 units built on this very same
site. Today we're asking for 20, and to offset the additional lots is where we've added the
parking garage. So let's go through my package a little further. The second exhibit, Exhibit 2,
is the deed to the property showing H &M Development LLC. Third exhibit is the application
which was provided by previous counsel, Mr. Nockamson, and he has indicated that. He's
completed that. Mr. Nockamson's office also did the project information form which we're
presenting here as exhibit four. Exhibit five will bring us closer to the subject property. So this is
Exhibit 5 will bring us closer to the subject property. So this is an aerial of the lot itself. As you can see, it's indicated by a subject lot with that blue tent there in the middle.
The Alliance for Progress Charter School occupies about basically 25 % of the northern part of the street.
The subject lot is bordered by Cecil B. Moore up top here, and below you have West Oxford, and then you have Bouvier on one end and Gratzel on the other side.
And so North 18th runs between. And on North 18th Street, the 1600 block of North 18th Street, as you can see from this aerial, Meade School occupies almost the entire, I guess, western side of North 18th Street.
And then there's a vacant lot. And the Alliance for Progress Charter School occupies the northern quarter of the block.
Then there's the subject lot. And then here, and we'll see later and closer in pictures below, there's an eight unit building here. And then there's another, sorry, a four and four, two, eight units of housing, multifamily housing, immediately adjacent to the subject lot.
And then there are five single -family homes. So there's only five single -families individual homes there, and the rest of the block is institutional use and, of course, multifamily.
So given the math of that, we have the composition of the block that's pretty much 60 % schools, 20 % vacant, 10 % multifamily, and 10 % single -family.
And as we go down further through my exhibits, we are seeking one variance to go to the height of 62 feet. This image that you see over the vacant lot shows where the height line would be.
The height line is consistent and matches. Well, it's taller, slightly so, to the Alliance for Progress Charter School, but it's equivalent at height to the Meade School, the middle section of the Meade School, and immediately across the Meade School, it's just one floor less.
So, there's four floors here, and that other floor makes it the same height as the Meade School on the same street.
And if you look beyond, you see buildings on Cecil B. Moore at the same height as well.
So, further down in my exhibits, the subject, this is an aerial of the subject property from the top.
And you can see that the depth of the property, the subject development that we're seeking today, will match the depth of the existing four -unit multifamily property immediately adjacent, and it will land right there on the other side of the parking lot of the Alliance for Progress Charged School.
so we always talk about what's what's how the block and how this neighborhood has developed
over time and in an area of view from 2011 will show that in in this particular area the subject
lot was vacant even back then in fact the subject line has been vacant for over 20 years and these
every site that you see with a red square has been developed with multi -families and specifically
this big one up top has been developed with multifamily of over 20 units. So again, right
adjacent in the immediate sideline is a property that we actually saw further up as a completed
project. Here you can see the development, the infill development has all been 20 units plus,
20 units plus, same type of height, multifamily on the end here and all the infill, a multifamily
in this particular block okay so that goes back to that exhibit um and i want to show
okay so this is what the the actual site looks like at ground level you can see the
the four unit apartment building to the immediate adjacent on the northern side
Now, property is zoned RSA 5, one sliver away from where at the CMX 2, we would be able to do this particular development and not need and have multifamily use just one lot in front of us.
So, we're not really changing, going too far afoot from where the existing zoning map already shows uses for multifamily.
So again, so here we are with the, we're moving into the plans now. This is our exhibit. Let's see, it's our, our plans is our exhibit 12. Here, you will see that the way this is designed is strategic to appear as a townhouse, really.
So they've designed it so that there's the mix of materials here with the balconies set back and the red brick matching the existing housing stock that has red brick fronts.
And at the level of four, there's a cornice at the top of the fourth floor, which would match the same roof line as the adjacent building.
which would match the same roof line as the adjacent building,
this four -unit building next to it.
And the fifth floor will have a different material, a darker material,
sort of offsetting that it's a little taller.
So this area that we're seeking, this extra floor that we're seeking
to go from the at -right 38 feet to 62 feet will have a different material
and giving a little bit, masking a little bit the taller nature of the building.
And going down the side profile facing the Alliance for Progress Charter Schools parking lot is this appearance.
And again, we'll have a security fence to make sure that the children don't have some safety away from the building itself.
On the other side of the building, this is the side of the building that faces the four -unit multifamily.
So in that one curb cut that we'll see later on, the cars will come into the parking garage here, and trash will be removed at the front.
This front entrance is where commercial off -street trash service will be provided.
So trash is not an issue for this particular building.
It'll be private.
It'll be off -street.
And parking will occupy the bottom floor of the building.
And this is the rare elevation view.
So looking down at the building, here is North 18th Street on the right side of your viewing.
Cars will enter here and go inside of the parking lot underneath.
As you can see on our second refusal, we're seeking relief as to the roof deck, but it's really the pilot houses that have triggered that.
The roof deck will be sort of centered in the middle of the roof, but the pilot houses, as you can see, lines up on the edge on both sides.
This is because of the design of the stairway inside. So this is so, but when you come up the pilot house, you will enter into the gated and secured roof deck area. Both pilot houses will create, will have that same opportunity.
So that's why it's this section right here that we are seeking the five -foot relief and this section here to maximize the size of the roof deck without having to make it smaller.
But yet it is a gated and secure area on top there.
So the first floor of the building, as you enter from the 18th Street, is on the right -hand side.
As you come in on 18th Street, you have eight units of parking inside the building with one van handicap accessible parking space, and you have one off -street outside parking.
That gives us the nine off -street parking spaces that we indicate on the refusal.
And again, you see the trash area, trash collection area for the tenants.
They will use this area.
We also have, obviously, bikes, a bike room to accommodate that use in the building as well.
And there's an amenity room here that could be also, when we met with the community, and we'll talk about that later, we did talk about how the community can benefit from there being this amenity room where there can be functions that can benefit the school if they had a desire to do so.
But we'll talk about the RCO and the meeting we had with them in a bit.
as you move up the four floors the all four floors have the same um appearance as you come
up to the top stairs there's five units on every floor so there's five ten fifteen twenty units as
you go up and there are each of the units i'll make this a little bigger to see a little bit
more of of what the layout looks like so there's a there's two there's two um two bedroom one three
and one three -bedroom, three two -bedroom, and one one -bedroom on each of these, on each of the
floors. Okay, hold on, let me go back. There we are. Okay, so, and the sizes of that. So here,
this is the two, this is a two -unit, this is a, sorry, three -bedroom unit here. The unit G,
it's 1 ,100 square foot, 1 ,104 square foot. All of the three bedrooms will have that. The two
bedrooms are around the corner here. So there's three of them. One is 681 square foot, 772 square
foot, and 970 square foot. So these are good sizes. And here you have 600 square foot for the
one bedroom that's in the front. So that's how each of the four floors are laid out.
I have a couple other pages of schematic unit plans laying out the layout of each of these,
which are pretty straightforward again we're we're envisioning a mix of materials breaking
up the red brick with with different composite materials to make the building more interesting
to look at just like the alliance for progress charter school which is right next which is right
on the other side of it so going into our zoning procedures here we did get the zoning notice
our zoning procedures here. We did get the zoning notice. This is a continued, this hearing is a
this is a
continuation from the previous hearing. We posted the ZVA notice on the property. Here it is on the
gate of the property. We have postings of the ZVA notice hearing. And we did send out to the
community members this notice of this public meeting for an RCO to meet with the community
groups that are in the near neighbors. We have 105 letters went out to these neighbors in the
affected area. These are the addresses of these. So we'll sort of move down through that.
And our certificate of mailing, you can see 105 letters did go out to the neighbors.
And this is just verification that we did have a community meeting. And in that community meeting,
We had a lot of discussion about the property. There is a letter of support that's there, but I did want to bring some attention to one of the persons at the community meeting that presented questions about the project was the Alliance for Progress Charged School.
There was an interest that the school had in this very lot to do.
I think they wanted to do a playground or have some other use.
And we had to clarify in the meeting that this particular property was purchased on the open market.
It was listed for sale, wide open on the market.
It was sold for $451 ,000 for these lots.
And so there was no inside dealing or there was no private sale of this.
but that anyone could have purchased it when it was on the market and or my client was the one
that did buy it and went through this process there was questions about whether or not and how
multi -family would work within the building so this is a picture of the multi -family unit the
eight the four unit building and right next to it there's another one that's I'll just make my
picture a little smaller so you can see both so here you have the first four unit and right next
to it where this gentleman is standing is another four unit building these are the eight units that
i'm talking about and this is where the the building proposed building will be located
so the the name and you see the four uh you know the the you see the um the way it's broken up
so a lot of the neighbors wanted to so that as far as community character we talk a lot in these
zoning hearings about the community character, the community character of this particular block
is tending towards multifamily. What you see here in this picture is just the only, these are the
only five single -family homes on the street, on the entire street, end -to -end, from C .C. Moore
to West Oxford. This is it, these five. Three of them, two of them, I'm sorry, have private
off -street parking of their own, and only three do not. And so this, so this block has a, has a
character that it lends towards multifamily. And in fact, multifamily is equal to and use
as the single families that are on the block. And here's our tax certificate. And as a final
exhibit, here's our letter of support from the RCO. It was a well -attended meeting, 26 attendees
in the meeting, and you see here three of the RCO and the entire RCO board did support the project
as well as the majority of the attendees. Here, there were eight members that voted not for the
project, but I just wanted to bring to the attention of the board that all eight were members
from the Alliance for Progress Charter School who were there, who were not affected neighbors,
and were just members of the school who wanted to propose to buy the lot from my client.
for their private use. So we made no mention in the meeting and we mentioned here that it's not that these are all, all of these opposed individuals come from a single source and not an affected source.
And I think, Mr. Bergman, there was a letter, Chairman Bergman, from the RCO about the, that gave more information about the letter of support there.
So I did want to just share with you that that's pretty much our presentation and what we've come to share.
The last thing I did not show you and I will show you now, and that's just some aerial, some pictures of the block itself from either side.
I think I skipped that one. I'm not sure if I didn't show you that one.
And I think that's one of our first exhibits, street level of the block.
Okay, so looking down the block across, this is immediately across from the lot, you'll see the school and how, so this is what the character of the block is, basically a school from one direction, and the other direction, you see it's the alliance, two schools define the character of this particular block.
two schools define the character of this particular block. So, and this is from one end
to the other. And again, these are just the one, the five homes in between the two schools.
All right. So, that's pretty much the exhibits that we came to share with the board today.
What I'd like to do now is to bring my, have my client promoted to.
Can I ask the question? What kind of, you're still negotiating provisos?
Yes. So we're not still negotiating them. I know what was said on the letter, but just to give some context to that, what we offered was in exchange for doing this building the way we're doing it, that one proviso was that we would have two units that would be used in such.
One would be a handicap -assessable wheelchair -assessable unit to go with the wheelchair, to go with the one handicap -assessable building parking space that's there.
And the second unit would be a unit where a community member would be used as an on -site residence for a manager who would make sure that any trash or cleanup would be taken care of by a person employed by the building.
Those were the two major issues of the proviso.
We also volunteered that in our application process for any occupants that would want to live there, that we would prioritize teachers and parents of students in the two schools.
So those were the three things we talked about with the community.
When the letter of support came back, and I did speak with the RCO head before this, he did not provide that clarity in his letter that we talked about.
But I told him that, you know, in this in this particular zoning presentation that we would discuss that with the board and he could present those provisos, requested provisos to this board.
He told me today, earlier today, that his board is meeting tonight to prepare that.
I'm like, well, the hearing is today. So I don't know. I don't know if that was a mix up with their planning or I'm not sure exactly.
when we look at all the buildings in the area is there any other building like this that takes a
whole floor and makes it parking no no and parking is not even required as a matter of right in this
area we wouldn't have to provide any parking if we just did this building so we're we volunteered
to we wanted we felt that to get this project approved by the community that it would be a
great advantage to have nine spaces with the off with the one curb cut that's already there
rather than no parking and that was one of our sweeteners with the community and they did like
that because there's a neighbor that has a that has a handicap lift in one of the pictures that
I showed earlier and she's got a lot of difficulty getting into her property based on you know based
on just uh i'll show that again to the community uh to the board like here this this 1615 she's
got a lot of problems um finding a way to get into her home because of this and so what with us
having off -site uh handicap accessible parking that was one of the things neighbors like to hear
about. So, yes. Bring your client on. Okay. Is Mr. Gavi Tavison, is he, is he there?
Mr. Ataseven, please unmute yourself or wait for the chair.
Hi, could you state your name and spell it please for the court reporter?
My name is Gazi, G -A -Z -I. The last name is Ataseven, A -T -A -S -E -V -E -N.
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes sir proceed counsel oh yes mr out of seven um have you been listening to my presentation of
this application yes and has everything i said true and accurate to the best of your knowledge
yes and if you were testifying on behalf of yourself would you adopt my testimony as yours
And have I omitted anything that was discussed either in the course of representation or the course of the RCO meeting that you would like to add that I have not mentioned already?
No, you mentioned everything.
And one of the things we talk about in RCO meetings is hardships and the hardships and the refusal that we presented.
is is it your testimony that each of the refusals that we are are seeking zoning relief and variance
relief for are they all hardships to you and your entity in building this building yes okay
no further questions from Mr. Adamson okay questions from the board no chair
no chairman no chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
chair we have larry griffin mr griffin please unmute yourself
Chair, we have Larry Griffin. Mr. Griffin, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Good afternoon, sir. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Mr. Griffin, are you there?
Mr. Griffin, are you there?
Mr. Griffith?
Is there anyone else in a virtual audience?
Chair, we have Brian Cameron.
Mr. Cameron, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Hi, Mr. Cameron, could you please state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Mr. Cameron?
hi i'm here can you hear me yes i can could you state your name please as a spell for the court
reporter absolutely so it is brian cameron b -r -i -a -n -c -a -m -e -r -o -m right do you swear
or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes sir are you a neighbor
i am the principal at alliance for prior starters sure proceed sir so um first of all i want to just
state that there was a very informative presentation. We do have some concerns coming
from the school level. I first wanted to point out a couple untruths regarding the conversation
around the community meeting. He stated that there were eight members of Alliance of Progress as an
entity which opposed it. That is factually not true. We did not have eight individual members
attend the meeting. As somebody who stayed for the entire meeting, we discussed multiple
provisos, one of which that he stated, and this will be on the record, as a negotiation as far
as a playground space or a space was the possibility of using part of the building if they are
permitted to build the building as a playground space. So that was omitted there when he was
talking about three conversation points that came up in the original community discussion.
We have a number of different issues with this. Number one, 18th Street has a major traffic issue. We do have two large schools there. Both schools have hundreds and hundreds of students. I think that building this sort of residence will lead to a lot more traffic issues there, which we're already experiencing on 18th Street.
in addition to that the safety of this block and the safety of this neighborhood bringing in
multiple more tenants as you can see by the pictures they're backed up right into our school
right into our parking lot and quite frankly I do think it's a safety concern having that
building that close to to a school with children age five up through 12 13 years old
thank you very much for taking the time to call and we appreciate your position
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Chair, Mr. Griffin has his hand up again.
Mr. Griffin.
Mr. Griffin, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Mr. Griffin.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see the other hands at this time, Chair.
Hi, Planning Commission.
Yes, this is Ron Bednar, City Planning.
Our adopted comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single -family zoning at this location.
Three -row houses could be developed by right on these parcels, with a fourth unit permitting only at the minimus lot with variance.
However, there are no unique physical circumstances or condition of the properties.
that would require five times more units than allowed with two stories above the permitted
height. We recommend, we therefore recommend that the board deny the use and dimensional variances.
Thank you. Counsel, do you have any more comments before we move on?
Well, I do want to make a statement as to the well, what happened in the as far as provisos versus community benefits agreement.
We specifically spoke in there was no there was no talk in the meeting about proviso.
We talked about what would be a benefit to the community and in the benefit to the community.
And in the benefit to the community, we talked about the need for parking to offset the off -street parking, which is what the gentleman from the school did present.
We talked about the need for parking to offset the.
And the folks that did come from the school were all seated at the front, and they spoke for quite a bit of time after the presentation was done without the presence of the applicant.
And so there was no conversation. There was a conversation there because the school has a 16 by 100 sliver lot right adjacent to the building where the building would be.
And then so the side yard is there. So the idea would be that if the school did plan to build and we did say that we would participate in that process so that if they were going to do a play area along the parking lot, we would be able to use that sliver of land towards that.
So that was converse, that was spoken of, or not gated so that the students, so that that project could be done. But the school took the position in the meeting not to have that further discussion on proviso or on development. They have not presented to us, they didn't present any active plans to build the playground. So we just basically, that did not progress past it.
So what the community did support, and what the community, as you can see by the vote count that was presented by the RCO, they do want the building because they do see a great need for the teachers and the parents who, for the amount of students and teachers and parents who are there, they recognize the demand.
And that's what motivated the support that you see there. The second piece was the off -street parking and the off -street trash removal. Those two pieces were very key that leveraged the support that you see inside of the vote count that was there. So those are the key provisos, Mr. Chairman, that we talked about.
thank you very much
so this is
a big project
what I'd really like to do
is take this to the executive committee
and talk to the other members
where we are
I would probably
Hillary if it's possible
I'd like to see what the provisos are
Mr. Chair we could close
the record
except for
receiving a list of
Okay, so the record will be closed.
Look at the provisos.
Look at this next week, Hillary.
If we think we can get a list of provisos from then.
I understand there's a board meeting tonight by RCO.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Hillary, you're breaking up.
Can Mr. Holloman
So we're going to continue this
to next week
We'll continue this to next week
Yeah, Mr. Tresor, I'm sorry
Yeah, we can
continue to next week
and if we can get a list of
suggestive provisos from
the RCO and then a response
from Mr. Toppin
that would be great
I just wanted to note too for the record that
the provisos that have been discussed
so far, I don't believe any of them
are enforceable by the board.
That's right. I just want to make
sure there's not provisos that are enforceable
that we should know about.
That's fine. So we'll
close except for a receipt of
a list of provisos and a response
from Mr. Toppin. And then we'll play
in the vote next week.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you very much.
Is there...
Sherm, you're muted. You're muted. You're muted, Sherm. We can't hear me. Can you hear me? We'll hear you now, right?
All right. Yes, thank you. I don't know if it would benefit the board to have the actual list of attendees of the RCO meeting was something that we had requested so that we could really go through and see what was the level of affected that were voted and that opposed the project itself.
because we were we were told that it was a very it was not eight individuals that were in the
and that's what I represented so if the board wanted more information about that
it might seek that from the RCO. Okay thank you we would take a look at that if that's available
but and I just think we really besides the provisors we want to have a discussion about
the project and that's why we're going to move it the next week okay? Okay thank you. Thank you very
much. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Is there anyone in the two o 'clock list that their case has not been
called? I see no hands at this time, Chair. So we're going to take a break to 3 .30, everyone.
we are recording in progress you could begin chair okay good afternoon my name is bill bergman
and i will be chairing this afternoon's eba hearing with me is our vice chair ismail shaheed
he's here Ishmael present Mr. Chairman thank you board member Thomas Holliman
present Mr. Chairman and board member James Snell present Mr. Chairman also here is Hillary
Emerson our attorney and also our executive director Tanya Sumpkin here's our virtual
format. Be advised, the proceedings are being recorded. The video will be available by contacting
tonyasunkett at philip .gov. For the benefit of our court stenographer,
we ask 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
on mute. To enter an appearance statement, call 267 -270 -5548. Leave your email and the address
of the property in question. And lastly, the question answer box on the screen is not for
comments or testimony. All comments should be directed to our executive director, Tanya Sunkett.
Let's look at our continuations for this afternoon.
Number seven, MI 2021 -005 -086 -59 Harbison Avenue.
That case is continued.
Is there anyone has comments relative to that case?
I see no hands up, Chair.
Are there any other requests for continuances?
I see no hands up at this. Just a moment, Chair. Mr. Orphanides, just put his hand up.
Thank you.
Mr. Orphanides, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Counsel, could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Certainly. David Orphanides, O -R -P -H -A -N -I -D -E -S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
You have case number five, Burke Street?
That's correct.
Requesting a continuance?
Yes, sir.
We did meet with the community on this matter as directed by the zoning board, but there
are still, we believe, some conversations to be had, and we'd like to request and have
a continuance in order to continue those discussions with the community.
Thank you very much for calling in.
MI -2022 -002 -678 -1330 East Burke Street. That case is continued.
Thank you, sir.
Are there any other requests for continuing?
Mr. Santiago, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Hi, Mr. Santiago. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Enrique Santiago
E -N -R -I -Q -U -E
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Give me your case number. What's your case?
Case number
Oh, right here.
What's the location, sir?
$5 ,900 Harbison.
I've continued that case.
You want to continue, am I right?
No, I wanted to know why was it being continued?
We're the residents.
Sorry.
You're the residents?
Yeah, it's continued.
We've continued that case because the attorney involved in it has to continue.
Great.
Thank you.
Thank you.
um are any other requests for continuance
Are there any other requests for continuance?
also you don't have to decide to so case number six mi 2021 005 281 70 54 rutland street
um we have no exhibits for this this is the third listing
i see no hands at this time chair thank you mi 2021 -005 -281 -7054 rutland street
this is the third listing i vote to dismiss
i vote to dismiss james snell i vote to dismiss ishmael shaheed i vote to dismiss
thank you number eight mi 2021 005 277 221 east wildey street this is the third listing
no exhibits
chair i see no hands at this time thank you mi 2021 -005 -277 -221 east wally street third listing
i vote to dismiss dismiss thomas halliman i vote to dismiss james snell i vote to dismiss
Thank you. We're going to go to our regular list. Number one, MI 2022 -006 -305 -165 West Seymour Street.
Vern Anastasio is the attorney. Letter of opposition from 12th Ward RCO. Letter of opposition from Solo Germantown.
And Councilwoman Bass has taken a position of opposition.
Afternoon, Mr. Chair.
Counsel, could you just state your name?
You've already been sworn in.
Yep, Vern Anastasio.
Last name is A -N -A -S -T -A -S -I -O.
I represent Nakia Peterson, owner of 165 West Seymour.
Our vice chair has just a few questions, sir.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, counsel.
So do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
Have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, sir.
Thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
I've shared my screen.
165 West Seymour Street is a corner property.
It's currently zoned RSA 5, although for, and you'll see in a minute, the physical configuration has had it as a commercial mixed use for quite some time.
We are refused because the two -family dwelling above the commercial space is prohibited in the zoning district, and the lower level is commercial and above is residential, and therefore the multi -principle uses on the same lot also kick in.
I think before we get to the actual interior plans, I think it's important to see what the property looks like.
and as you can see, property was built out as a commercial space on the first floor
well before my client purchased the property.
The initial application had four personal services in the front.
The property is divided by a large staircase that goes right up the middle,
And the first floor rear was going to be an apparel retail, but instead we were just asking for the personal services to be on the entire first floor.
I believe that may have been an issue for the RCO, although absolutely no immediate neighbors showed up to the meeting.
We just had the RCO leadership there, and despite our mailing to the community, over 100 pieces of individual mail.
Here's the rear yard with full access here for trash storage,
and both the commercial space and the two units above would have access to the rear yard to store their trash.
I'll show you some of the interior photos of the first floor and then above the second
show you some of the interior.
That's all.
and third floors zoning notice we did in fact post the property of not only the zoning notice
but the uh refusal as well this property is located right here on the corner across the
street are two vacant lots down the block is another six or seven vacant lots so there are
There is a lot of vacancy on our side of the block and across the street is a school because it's a corner and because of the physical configuration of the property on the first floor.
We do believe the commercial use is compatible with with what was there and because it's on a corner, because it adheres to the basic planning principles that typically we have.
There will be one use on the first floor, and I will show you, and it will be for personal services.
Now is a good time to show you the plans because here's the rear yard, again, where each and every tenant, commercial and residential can access for trash storage.
The basement will be used for storage as well.
Just by the nature of the construction of the property,
commercial space is divided into two separate spaces.
Here's the corner entrance to the first commercial space
with storage and a restroom and a closet.
As you can see, running throughout the first,
second and third floors is the staircase.
So to do anything with the first floor, but to have the two separate spaces would mean that we would need to completely remove the staircase in the existing staircase in the building.
But again, the use for both the front and the back will both be for personal services, which is different than the application.
And then the second floor would be what we call a junior one bed with a full restroom.
There will be storage on the second floor for both of the units.
We do recognize that the units are on the smaller side, so there may be a need for some sort of personal storage, bicycle storage.
The RCO did ask that the storage unit be divvied up so that there would be no misunderstanding as to which unit gets which portion of the space, which we agreed to.
And then the top floor, again, would be almost identical with a junior one bed with a bathroom off of it.
And that's about it.
There are other multifamily properties on the block are not commercial spaces in the middle of the block.
The commercial spaces are typically on the corners here.
And of course, across the street is the school because of the actual physical build out of this property.
It is relative. You know, I think it's obvious that the commercial space was there prior to my clients rehabbing the space.
She believed that the commercial space was legal at the time, which is why they have the personal service space in the first floor front.
But upon going through the process, she realized after rehabbing the entire property that it needed to be brought before this board for approval.
And with that, I would like to call Nakia Peterson to testify in this matter.
Again, Mr. Chair, I want to be very clear that no immediate neighbors showed up at the meeting.
So the letter of opposition is just of some RCO leadership, none of whom live anywhere near the property, based on what was presented at the community meeting.
And with that, I asked Ms. Peterson to raise her hand.
Ms. Peterson, if you're in the virtual audience, please raise your hand.
Ms. Peterson, please unmute yourself and wait for the chat.
Ms. Peterson, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Could you please state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Nakia Peterson, N -I -K -I -A, Peterson, P -E -T -E -R -S -O -N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Peterson, did you hear my presentation to the board this afternoon?
Yes, I did, Vern.
and do you uh deem it to be fair and accurate yes okay and do you uh adopt it as your own testimony
yes i do mr chair we're open for questions questions from the board board no mr chair
no chair questions this is sorry mr chair this is hillary i have a brief question um mr anastasia
Did you say that both of the commercial spaces are now proposed for personal services?
That's correct.
Okay, so that's the only commercial variance you're seeking is personal services.
No more retail sale of wearing apparel and accessories.
That's correct.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Cheryl Smith.
Ms. Smith, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Ms. Smith, could you please state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Hi, my name is Cheryl Smith, C -H -E -R -Y -L, Smith, S -M -I -T -H.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
No, I represent the 12th Ward RCO, the coordinating RCO.
Okay, thank you.
we did have two meetings for this um this applicant um nobody showed up on the first
meeting and then no one showed up no near neighbors showed up on the second um we proceeded with the
meeting um on the second meeting uh and what was presented to us was um the building the way it is
we were also told that there were uh two commercial spaces on the bottom personal services and i think
boutique in the back um but anyway either way there were two commercial spaces on the bottom
we denied it um as a group because there's an overlay in um where that property is at
um with the city under the code there's also um no renter's license for the applicant and she
stated during the meeting that she's been get the zoning board has been getting i mean i'm sorry
Ellen has been getting calls about the zoning for that property and that it's not zoned correctly.
And we assumed that it was because there's no rental license attached to it.
So we denied it for those two reasons.
And there was another reason.
But those were the main reasons.
She spent a long time.
We asked her if she had other properties.
And one of the other RCOs has dealt with her on other properties.
So she's not unfamiliar with what needs to be done to have licensing done on this property.
That was the other reason that we denied it.
So that's basically our letter.
And Faith RCO, CDC RCO was in agreement with me.
And Solo also sent in their letter in agreement and also Councilwoman Bass's office.
Mr. Chair, I have no cross -examination. I just want to note for the record that the concern about two separate uses is no longer a concern because we have one use, which is the personal services in both spaces.
They are two spaces because just the very nature of the physical construction of the property and the the L &I being called issue is simply we don't have a rental license because we have to come before you.
And that's this process.
Are there is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Chair, we have someone with the phone number 5555.
Paula, please unmute yourself. We'll wait for the chair.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Yes. Hello. Allison, A -double -L -I -S -O -N, Weiss, W -E -I -S -S, Solo Germantown Civic Association.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
I would like to add to the comments that when they say personal services, they are describing
describing a nail salon, which is one of the businesses that is covered by the Germantown
a nail salon, which is one of the...
overlay and requires a community meeting to have a variance for that type of business.
And this, well, we basically wrote in our letter all of the issues we had with this property
because it had a fire many years ago
and it was renovated without permits.
So that was a big issue, a safety concern
that this building was not renovated properly
and again, had no permits or licenses
and has been operating for some time.
Okay, Mr. Chair, I have no cross -exam.
I just want to make sure that we're all on the same page.
Yes, to the extent that there is an overlay,
their refusal was generated.
We had two meetings, which is required.
And of course, before a certificate of occupancy
can be had and a valid rental license for upstairs,
my client will not only have to go before this board
And if you're so inclined to grant the zoning variance, she will then have to get a certificate of occupancy, which will ensure that the property is, in fact, compliant with the International Building Code, which will require, of course, an engineer and an architect.
So thank you.
Thank you.
Anyone else in the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Charles Richardson with his hand up.
Mr. Richardson, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
All right, Mr. Richardson, could you state your name and spell, please, for the court reporter?
Mr. Richardson, can you please put your hand back up?
There we go. Charles Richardson.
Could you state your name and spell, please, for the court reporter?
Yes, Charles Richardson, Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass, room 508 City Hall, R -I -C -H -A -R -D -S -O -N.
Do you swear from tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
As has been indicated, the councilwoman is opposed.
The place is open illegally, has been opened illegally for quite some time.
The renovations were done without any permits or anything along those lines.
We don't believe in rewarding folks for doing bad deeds. And unfortunately, this is one of those situations where this individual has decided to move forward without needing to, without fulfilling the rules and regulations as set forth. So the councilwoman's opposed.
Mr. Chair, I have no cross -examination on that. I do want to make sure that it's noted for the
record there are no open L &I violations. The rehab that was done needed no building permits to be
pulled. There are no open 311 call tickets. There are no open 911 call issues. And with that,
i'm i'm gonna rest thank you question when was the fire years ago uh yeah many years ago uh and
you know it's just sat there uh you know a disinvested like uh seven other properties on
the block. Anyone else in a virtual audience? And by the way, Mr. Chair, my client did not
own the property when the property was caught fire, by the way. Just want to make sure you
understand it. Yeah. Planning Commission. This is Ron Bednar, City Planning. While this property
is currently indicated for residential and city plan. Given the physical circumstances of the
site, we recommend that the requested variance for mixed use be granted, provided no more than
one dwelling unit. MI 2022 -006 -305 -165 West Seymour Street, I vote yes with proviso, only one
dwelling unit. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with proviso. James Snell, my vote is yes with
proviso. Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes with proviso. Thank you very much. Thank you. Number
two, MI 2022 -002 -951 -2683 Roberts Avenue. Brandon Sabran is
2683 Roberts Avenue.
Brandon Sabrin is the attorney.
Thank you.
Letter of support from the East Falls Community Council.
Chair, Mr. Sabrin is coming back in as a panelist now.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
I think I already swore you once today.
Do I remember?
So just state your name for the record.
Brandon Sabrin.
And could you identify your client in the relationship to this property?
Yes, my client is Michael Powell.
He is the owner.
He is not here today because he is employed as a guard in a correctional facility and unfortunately had to go before the case was called.
So if it's all right, I'll be I'll be testifying his behalf.
All right. So our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon, Mrs. Averin.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Okay, please. Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Okay, thank you.
Okay. Good afternoon, members of the board.
So I will be brief and just walk you through our exhibits to explain the project.
This is our notice of refusal from L &I. It's exhibit 1A in our packet.
It provides the scope of the project as the erection of an addition with a roof deck above the existing structure.
And the finished building with the addition would be used for two -family household living.
So the only refusal we have is because we're proposing two dwelling units.
The addition is completely by right in terms of the dimensional aspects of the zoning code.
Exhibit 1B is our application for appeal.
Exhibit 1C is our project information form.
I'll kind of skip over those.
Exhibit 2 is our tax clearance information.
We used a screenshot from the Philadelphia Tax Center's website site.
to show that Mr. Powell's property taxes are current.
Exhibit three is our deed.
Mr. Powell bought the property at sheriff sale in 2018.
He, I believe, spent part of his childhood on this block,
but does not live there now.
Exhibit four, this is the zoning map of the property.
So peculiar area.
I'll show you some other photos in a second,
But behind the block is an active warehouse, huge warehouse that I would estimate is about 50 feet high.
That sort of wraps around the block and the property.
And across the street is a what may be an abandoned sort of train line here and then some commercial grounds.
And here's an aerial view of what I'm talking about.
So on the opposite side of Roberts Avenue is really nothing.
It's vacant space because it's this abandoned railroad.
And then here is the roof of the warehouse that I mentioned.
Directly behind the property is a vacant lot.
So in terms of impact of the third story addition, although I'll remind you, the height is by right.
It will be, you know, 38 feet or less, not including the roof deck access structure.
There's really no parties other than, I suppose, the immediate neighbor from whom we've heard no objection about this project.
There's no one to be impacted by the addition in terms of light and air.
It's kind of just like a very spacious area in terms of the width of Roberts Avenue and then the lack of anything across the street.
Here are photos at Exhibit 6 of the zoning posters that my client hung, one on the front Roberts Avenue, one on the side exposure, which is King Street.
Exhibit 7 is the zoning code relevant table.
Exhibit 8A is the mailed notice for the RCO meeting that was mailed.
Exhibit 8B shows to whom those notices were mailed.
Exhibit 8C is the coordinating RCO's decision letter.
So the RCO is East Falls Community Council.
The letter describes the project.
The letter describes the project. It notes that the owner has committed to replacing the crumbled sidewalk adjacent to the building, which is important because it's on a corner.
It notes that the owner has committed.
The letter says that the committee supports the investment in a vacant building in need of major repairs and reconstruction, end quote.
it notes that there were no community members present in the meeting other than the eight
people who attended. So I'm going to take that to mean that there were no immediate neighbors.
There were eight people other than my client in attendance who all voted in support. My client
claims that he's familiar with the folks who live on the block, has spoken to some of them,
has tried to speak to as many as possible and really has not heard any opposition to this.
I wrote a memo of law at Exhibit 9, which explains the hardship. I will certainly not
read that to you, although I'll address the hardship in a moment. And then Exhibit 10
is our zoning plan, which really doesn't have much of interest on it because it's purely a
vertical addition. The site plan just shows that we'll be building a new egress window well at the
rear. No other earth disturbance work. And here's a side elevation of the planned addition.
Exhibit 11 has some tentative elevations that would show what it would look like when the
project is completed. So these are sort of more detailed elevations, if you will, over the zoning
plan. Here is on the right front elevation of the finished product. And here are side elevations of
finished product. I'm sorry, the top one is here. And my client had floor plans made of the upper
two floors, which would sort of be the bigger of the two proposed units. Just wanted to highlight
for you that my client purchased the property at sheriff sale in 2018. I'm not sure whether that
was a tax reason or a mortgage reason that sent it to sheriff sale. But regardless, what I do know
per L &I's records is that in 2016, a violation was issued against the prior owner for the property
being vacant without a vacant structure license. And then at exhibit 13, I have photos. So this is
a photo of the property in 2011. So we're way before my client's ownership, but you can already
see in 2011 that the grass is overgrown. There's sort of like a failed or fallen awning structure
that's sitting in front of the house. And the second story's front window is boarded. That's
not a proper window. So it might have already been vacant in 2011, although I'm not positive
of that. We know from L &I that it was vacant in 2016. And then my client's ownership began in
late 2018. And here's a photo of the property at that time. You can obviously tell based on this
image at exhibit 14 that the property is vacant. There are plants growing out sort of into, I
suppose, the house in the rear. And you have, again, the boarded up windows, just lots of
signs of disinvestment. And then real quickly, I'll show you, this is the warehouse I was talking
about. It's both behind and to the side of the property. These were taken, I believe, in 2019.
And then the event shows you sort of the context. So I don't believe a third story,
although it's to code, is out of context here based on the towering warehouse across the street.
It's not as though there's anybody really to bother over there. And living on the third story,
because I think my client plans to put bedrooms up there, will allow the resident a better chance
of light at more hours of the day. You can see the shadow that the warehouse is casting here.
is pretty severe. So in short, you know, we have evidence that the property without question has
been vacant for seven years at this point. And I believe that's why the RCO concluded that major
investment in this property is needed. And my client's hardship is that he has been trying
earnestly to finance a renovation of this building since he bought it. And he's been unable to do so.
And as you know, the lending environment has just gotten worse in the past year and having a second unit and having a space for the second unit via the buy right addition is what is going to allow him to attract financing.
Nobody wanted to back him to, you know, fix this house in its current form as a single family. So the minimum necessary relief is a second unit. And that's the only variance we're requesting. And I believe that.
is a second unit, and that's the only variance we're requesting, and I believe that explains
our hardship. As I mentioned, my client is not here, unfortunately, but I'm happy to take any
questions that the board might have. Are there any other multiple family units around
in that area? So this was a block, like many, Mr. Chair, where virtually none of these properties
have zoning records. Now that, that may indicate that many of them are single family homes,
but it may also indicate basically lack of recent investment of any sort, because if anybody was to
do work requiring a building permit or a zoning permit, that would have been noted in L &I's
archive. And on most of these properties, there's just nothing of the sort. So I can't really answer
the question definitively good thank you questions from the board no no mr chairman
questions or comments from the questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands at this time planning commission this is uh ron bednar city planning this property
is indicated for residential on the city plan given the physical circumstances of the site
we have no objection to the granting of the variance. MI 2022 003 951 2683 Roberts Avenue I
vote yes. Thomas Holloman my vote is yes. James Snell my vote is yes. Ishmael Shahi my vote is yes.
Thank you counsel. Thank you. All right number three MI 2022 002 962
4213 Germantown Avenue.
Darlene Trent is the attorney.
Letter of opposition from the 13th Democratic
Ward. Letter of opposition from Councilperson
Here, Ms. Three is coming back in as a panelist now.
All right.
you're muted
you're muted
we can't hear you you're muted
Ms. Threatt, can you unmute yourself, please?
Good afternoon, Commissioner.
You're good now.
Thank you.
Can you hear me?
Yes, we can now.
Thank you very much.
Could you just state your name?
You've been sworn today already.
Darlene Threatt, T -H -I -E -A -T -T, 45 East City Avenue, number 496, Ballack -Hinwood, P -A -19004.
Thank you. Could you identify your client or relationship to the property?
My client is Ms. Nikita Mathis, who should be on the line presently.
Okay. So my understanding from counsel is that we do not have a signed lease from you.
Commissioners, the old lease, which Ms. Emerson pointed out to me, had expired. It turned into a month to month. I wasn't aware of that.
i did obtain a new lease but i could not get all the parties so here so here's what we're going to
do we're going to hear the case and we will not vote until we receive a signed lease thank you
very very much so our vice our vice chair has a few questions
good afternoon counsel do you agree do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate
to his accuracy yes i do have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits needed to
proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing with the exception of the lease yes
thank you please proceed and share your screen uh commissioner when you began you said there
were a lot of opposition from the uh well 13th democratic ward and also council person bass
Okay, thank you.
Councilperson Bass has taken a position of opposition,
and we have a letter of opposition
with 13th Democratic Board.
Thank you.
I'm going to share my screen now.
are you able to see my screen uh we don't we do now we do now thank you very much uh commissioners
i submitted a host of exhibits uh today uh which contain uh 56 uh documents um i'm going to uh go
through the salient documents at this time. First, I would like to refer you to the...
You make it just a little bit bigger. It's hard to read. Just a little bit.
That's fine. Yep.
I'm going to refer you first to the refusal, which is actually a referral.
My client applied for event space for under 50 people to have events in this building.
I want to give you a little background about my client now and about the building.
My client has been leasing this building for three or four years.
She previously ran a daycare here, which served the members of the community.
Once the pandemic came into effect, it was really no more, it wasn't viable anymore to operate as a daycare.
She then sought out another use, which is an event center.
I'll have my client give a little testimony later on in regard to some of the representations made in the letter of opposition by the ward.
We applied for application of appeal.
We filled out the project information form.
We have a copy of the deed.
We have a clear tax balance.
We have the new lease, which I didn't have an opportunity to get everyone to sign, but
I will submit it to the board shortly.
The lease is for three years.
Long lease.
Here are the legacy events terms and conditions.
I'd like you to note that it's only a six -hour rental.
We would like to operate seven days a week, but generally the events are on a Friday, a Saturday, or a Sunday.
The event space is rented from 2 p .m. to 9 p .m. only.
The event ends at 8 p .m., and there's a cleanup from 8 to 9 p .m.,
and we have represented to the community that trash would be removed from the premises after
each and every event. There will also be an attendant who works for legacy events who will
be present throughout the entire event. They will let the people in, and they will govern over the
exit of the events. Now, the types of events that we wanted to have here, and I'm going to scroll
all the way down. We offered this to the community. We didn't really get much cooperation
out of it, but I did prepare a proviso that I attached to my presentation here, and I just
really wanted to go over it very quickly, and then I'll continue. We really limited what we can do
here in an effort to garner support from the community. Number one, we said we would have no
alcohol in this space. Number two, no food preparation on the premises, which means
there'll be no cooking or anything like that. Of course, one may bring in food, but food will not
be prepared at this site. We will have an attendant present at all events. We will have no live music
or no disc jockey, no bands or anything of that sort. The trash will be removed from this facility
after each event by the proprietor. The hours of operation, and that's a typo there, I apologize,
are 2 to 9 p .m. The uses we would like to use this space for are baby showers, birthday parties,
networking events, bridal shower, and different types of classes. We also offered the event space
to the community free of charge for any community empowerment event and an example of what we
consider a community empowerment event credit repair services um social service um information
social service information services and things of that sort by any non -profit organization.
I'm going to scroll back up at this time.
Here is a picture of the event space that we're requesting. It's a three -story building. It has
an apartment which which is presently occupied on the top and this is the uh event center here
it is in a commercial district and i would like to know that we were given a referral and not a
refusal here is basically the event space it's just a straight shot back uh you uh come in through
the front door and I will go over the plans there is a back door and a backyard and there's a
bathroom on the side here it's not much to it this is another picture of the space basically
we set up tables for if it's a community meeting we set up tables for that if it's a birthday
shower or something we have the setup of the tables and chairs as desired by who's ever renting
There's not much to the space, but there's another picture of the inside of the building.
And here's a picture of the bathroom that's located inside of the building.
I have provided some pictures of the street that it's located on.
It is a commercial district.
It is Germantown Avenue.
There are some empty spaces, commercial spaces on this block.
I believe there's about five active businesses currently on this block, at least on our side
of the street. Across the street is a church. Basically, they have services on Sunday and
maybe a Wednesday night Bible study. Here's another picture of the event center.
additional pictures of the rear of the block you see there are currently some
vacancies there is a store on the corner and there is a additional a daycare on this block
that's just another picture of the area and you can see it is a commercial area
these pictures were taken during the daytime and as it looks here there is a suitable parking
although in the commercial area parking is not necessarily a requirement. Commissioners I
had two meetings with the Civic Association I prepared the flyer I sent it out I
met the requirement of sending it out certified. There was 129 pieces of mail that was sent out.
Interestingly enough, at the first meeting, myself, my client, and four neighbors showed up,
and no one from the civic association showed up to this meeting of interest is I wanted just to
show you one other document it was clear to me that the civic association didn't want to meet
about this property I contacted them by email on 21 different occasions trying to get a meeting
I finally get a meeting and no one from the Civic Association shows up at the meeting.
After having a discussion with the Civic Association, I was told that it was just a
misrepresentation, a misunderstanding. I really didn't believe that to be the case. I believe
it was intentional i would also like to say that the association that was assigned to this was the
rco uh coordinating excuse me the coordinating rco was the nicetown cdc um the 25th ward did show up
to the um meeting and they did issue a letter in regard to what happened at the meeting which
I don't have the letter attached currently, but I'm just going to back up a little bit here
and show you that there was a second meeting which we noticed and attended
and show you that there was a second meeting.
i don't really know how many individuals attended this meeting i'd like to note that there was a
no sign -in sheet and there was not a record of the votes being taken at this meeting now during
the meeting there was some concerns from the community we did adequately try to address the
concern and that is evidenced by the provisos that we tried to not that we tried to the provisos that
that we were willing to agree with.
The individuals at the meeting,
there were some in support of the application
and there were some against the application.
The individuals who were against the application
indicated that there was some loitering in the community
and that there was a lot of trash in the community.
We respectfully indicated to the community
that there is a bar on the corner called Limitless.
And that's where the loitering comes from.
And that's where the majority of the trash
in the area comes from.
And again, we agree to remove the trash from the facility
after each event.
I did not go over the plan with you.
I just really wanted to bring it up very quickly.
I showed you the picture, but I didn't show you the plan.
Basically, let's move this over a little bit.
I think we understand the plan by, you have already showed us photos of the inside.
Yeah, it's just a basement, and this is the basement plan, and then we just have a straight
shot you enter from here to the facility you can walk straight back you have a bathroom
i think there's a tv on this wall and back here you can exit the rear of the building
uh commissioner i would like to present a little testimony uh from my client uh miss
nikita mathis yep miss mathis are you on the line
nikita
we see her with her hand raised
hi yes i'm here could you could you state your name and spell please for the court reporter
yes nakia n -a -k -e -a last name is mathis m -a -t -h -i -s and sam
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do. Proceed, counsel. Ms. Mathis, are you the proprietor of Legacy Events?
Yes, I am. And Ms. Mathis, did you previously operate a daycare for the community at that
location? Yes, I did. And how long did you operate that daycare? For three years. And why did you
closed the daycare? Once COVID happened, I kind of had to pivot because the parents were not
really bringing the children back because I think parents weren't really feeling safe at the time
with the spread of COVID and everything going on. And Ms. Mathis, did you decide to change to use
and open up an event space? Yes, I did. And did you hire someone for permitting?
Yes, I did. And can you tell the board what occurred?
So I did find a gentleman who was supposed to do all of the paperwork, zoning, hired attorney, do everything for the event space.
I paid this gentleman. He came out, did paperwork. I paid him $10 ,000 to be exact by the time all the costs came.
Once I realized that some time went by, he said, you know, everything is good to go.
I'm just going to send your documents to you. I've been, you know, reaching out to him,
reaching out to him, trying to get documents from him. Didn't have any paperwork. I'm like,
well, where's all of my documents? Where's the paperwork? No emails are coming through.
We didn't have any community meeting, any zoning, you know, what's going on. All of a sudden,
his social media disappeared. Phone is cut off. Nobody can locate him. And so I was just.
phone is cut off, nobody can locate him. And so I was just, you know, out of my money and no
change of usage. I then had a friend of mine who worked in L &I to check for me to see if the zoning
was changed. They said, no, everything is still zoned at the daycare. Nothing was submitted,
nothing was done. So then that's when I hired Ms. Treat to go ahead and get the process started
once again for us and uh miss mathis did you ever receive a violation or anything for uh
operating um the event center no no and have we been going nobody told nothing i just
i'm sorry say it again and have we been going through this zoning process for almost a year now
Ms. Mathis, did you attend the first community meeting?
Yes, I did.
And would you agree with my representation that no one from the Civic Association attended
the meeting?
Yes, I agree.
And would you agree with me that there were actually four neighbors that showed up at
that meeting?
Yes, I agree.
And did we discuss the presentation with the neighbors at the first meeting?
Yes, we did.
And were the neighbors generally in support of your use?
Yes, they were.
Ms. Mathis, did you attend the second community meeting with me?
Yes, I did.
Were there some neighbors in there at the meeting in support of the project?
Yes, there were.
And were there some neighbors there against the project?
yes there were and were the main reasons they were against the project was for the loitering
and trash yes did you hear anything at the meeting concerning any density no did we address the
problem or the concerns of loitering in regards to providing an attendant to let the individuals
out of the event space at the time of exit?
And did we discuss the problem of trash,
indicating that we would have the trash removed
from the premises after every event?
That's all I have for Ms. Mathis at this time.
And at this time, I can take any questions from the board.
Questions from the board?
No, Chair.
No, Chair.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Elaine Colbert.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter?
Elaine Colbert.
E -L -A -I -N -E -C -O -L -B -E -R -T.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
I'm a resident of Bristol Street, and we were made aware of the last RCO meeting.
So the neighbors that were made aware attended that meeting.
any meetings prior to that we didn't know about okay um for this venue this venue has already
been open and some of the neighbors on the block witnessed the uh persons that were renting the
venue they were sitting all on neighbor's steps eating food drinking uh smoking we you know
the way they were even parking they were taking up you know two parking spaces for one car and
we are all senior citizens on this end and we have to come out and I'm not the only neighbor
on here so I'm quite sure someone else can say about their experiences as well
um we had to come up and clean up after you know they've gone and when we were at the last meeting
and we talked about the trash we were talking about the trash that they leave on west bristol
street okay and what we were told at that time was that oh well the we're going to clean up you
know at the venue but we don't have any control of what goes on on bristol street and they try
to put the onus on uh another um place of business that's a block away and we
place of business that's a block away. And we were just trying to say, this is what we've seen
from the type of people who have rented out this venue. And it takes away from our block where
we're senior citizens. We have to come up and clean up after other people. And when we express
all of our concerns. If we go out, we come back, we don't have anywhere to park. And what was said
was, you know, this venue would be available to the community. And what we were looking to hear
is that, okay, we hear your concerns, residents. Let's see if we can come together and, you know,
come up with a solution. And they didn't seem to really care about how we felt as residents.
You know, the noise and things like that. We have a lot of sick people, too.
You know, and they didn't seem to care about us.
So let me ask you this. So you're against the project.
OK. And we thank you for calling in and giving us your input.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Chair, we have
Ladeen Dutton
Hi, could you state your name
and spell for the court reporter, please
Ms. Dutton
please unmute yourself
Ms. Dutton
Hi, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter
Ladeen Dutton
L -Y -D -I -N -E
That and there's a David
U -T -T -O -N
Thank you. Do you swear or
affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth
and nothing but the truth? Absolutely.
Are you a neighbor?
Yes, I live on
Crystal Street. And are you against
or for the project?
I am against it.
Okay. For the reasons
that we just heard?
The main being
the problems with these people
at 2 o 'clock in the morning that
lay around, the trash,
the parking.
a nuisance.
I understand it's commercial,
but it's also residential.
Okay, so we appreciate
your call, and we appreciate
the comments you've made to us.
Thank you. Is there anyone else in the
virtual audience? I would like to ask
Ms. Dutton a question, if I may.
Proceed.
Ms. Dutton, you mentioned loitering at 2 p .m.
And you do understand that the event center closes at 9 p .m., correct?
Ms. Dutton, you have to unmute yourself.
Okay, what I'm saying is whatever time you close, they're already parked on Bristol Street.
So they come around Bristol Street.
They're sitting in their cars and doing whatever.
Ms. Dutton, how do you know that those people aren't from the bar on the corner?
Positively, I don't.
But when it's late on in the night and the quietness, it's either around here at the other club.
I don't think you're open that late.
so between the two of you
it's a nuisance for the people
on Bristol Street
I have no further question
thank you very much thank you for calling
is there anyone else in the virtual audience
I see no handshare
planning commission
Charles Richardson
just put his hand up
hi Mr. Richardson
just state your name for the record
you've already been sworn sir
Charles Richardson, Office of Councilman, Cindy Bass, room 508, City Hall.
Just wanted to weigh in.
Yes, there were some problems with getting that meeting scheduled, but you did get a meeting schedule.
And it was on February the 16th, the meeting did take place.
It said they don't know what the vote was, but the vote was this, because I'm the one that took the vote.
There were 18 opposed and only three in favor. Okay. The young lady opened illegally after the fact, when she discovered that she wasn't going to be able to make money further with the daycare at that point in time, because all daycares were pretty much shut down.
with regard to Ms. Rasheed and, you know, the 20 times or however many times that it took
to get the meeting done, it got done. Unfortunately, that meeting that they
to get the meeting meeting done it got done uh unfortunately that that meeting that that they
they are talking about uh took place miss rasheed actually was out of town and she had forgotten
about the meeting and uh then they called me from from from uh nice town i told miss three and
everybody that really you cannot state that what happened at the meeting because there's no no
credibility there because you're the ones that that actually did your whatever presentation and
possibly invited the same people to come to the meeting as well. This was an in -person. The second
one was a Zoom meeting. The folks that were on that call actually had spoken about the fact that
they were experiencing problems already. There was no 9 p .m. That's a new proviso. That wasn't
what we were talking about on that meeting. There was no corroboration of the fact that it was
ending early at that point in time.
So 9 p .m. is a new thing.
So, you know, there were a whole bunch of folks that were against this.
And, you know, as it stands, the councilwoman supports the near neighbors.
Thank you.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair.
We have Yolanda McFadden.
Hello.
Hi, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Yolanda McFadden, Y -O -L -A -N -D -A, capital M -C -F -A -D -D -E -N.
You swear or affirm, tell the truth, tell the truth, nothing but the truth?
I affirm.
Are you a neighbor?
I am the block captain of the 1700 block of Bristol Street.
Are you in favor of this or against it?
I was against it.
So they were open during COVID, first of all.
and second of all um the business uh was opened after 10 o 'clock because we had no parking on the
block and 216 was the first time that i have received anything to be on the zoom call i was
on the zoom call the biggest problem that we have in our community is the density that the attorney
said that it wasn't no the density was the most important part we always look out after
the disabled people um the senior citizens as miss colbert stated we that's all that's on our block
um because i'm dealing with someone right now who is disabled i deal with it every time i come on
the block am i going to have parking to get my groceries at least from the corner or block over
and we don't want to wait till monday morning and have to remove our cars or late sunday night
so just because your club or your place closes up at a certain time the people still linger about
they're all we can't tell them stop smoking your marijuana please and now go to your own
neighborhood so it really caused an issue and a problem for all of us neighbors who've been up
here over 30 years and we really pay attention we really clean up our street on the block captain
the two ladies elaine colbert and miss ladene dutton suffer from disabilities and they get
out there and when i put up a sign and they will help me clean and we've been cleaning this block
for the last over 30 years and so we are we know what's going on we see it we're the only ones who
come out here and deal with it's about six people to come out and clean thank you ma 'am you're
welcome thank you very much for calling in is there anyone else in the virtual audience
i see no handshare planning commission ron bednar city planning this property is zoned for
neighborhood commercial uh mixed use on the city plan the proposed use will have no more of an
impact and wouldn't be expected to have for its location. Therefore, we recommend the board grant
special exception. As we stated earlier, we do not have a signed lease. We will hold the vote.
The record will be closed other than receiving a signed lease. We will vote hopefully by next
week, okay? Thank you, Commissioner. Thank you. Number four, MI 2022 -005 -085 -4611
Spruce Street. Zen Jin is the attorney. Letter of support from the Garden Court Community
Association. Mr. Jin is coming back in as a panel. Okay.
Good afternoon.
Hi, Mr. Jin, we've already swore you once today.
Could you just state your name for the record, please?
Zen Jin, Z -H -E -N -J -I -N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 1838, Philadelphia PA, 19103, here on behalf of the applicant.
And, sir, could you identify your client relationship to the property?
Yes. My client is CLW Investment LLC, the owner of the property. And Mr. Wu, he goes by Sam, should be here to...
And Mr. Wu, he goes by Sam, should be here to verify my testimony.
Our vice chair has just a few questions for you, sir.
Good afternoon, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to exact receipt?
Have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
I have.
Thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
I'm going to share with the board the documentation we have previously submitted.
So I'm going to go ahead and move first to the refusal.
This application is for the use of this property, which is an existing large building for multifamily use as a four dwelling unit household living.
The area is zoned RSA 3.
Interestingly, though, this particular side of this block is RSA 3, but everything surrounding it is RM1.
And when we met with the community, the community actually gave us feedback with detailed feedback of support.
Also, while asking for some items of change on our floor plans, which we believe can be done through provisals.
Essentially, while this building is historically a single -family house, this entire block of these rather large three -story, four -story structures are predominantly multifamily.
In fact, the twin to our building, 4611, 4613, is five units.
Next door, there's additional ones that are six units, nine units.
Throughout the block, they're almost all multifamily.
And in fact, the neighborhood supported us converting these two apartments because, in their view, it would require someone rather affluent to be able to come and actually remodel this home back to a single -family use.
And they would rather see the building be used in a multifamily way to increase the neighborhood's vitality and diversity.
In doing so, they did have a few requests.
Our original floor plans had more bedrooms and no living rooms that were shown clearly.
So the community said limited to two bedrooms, provide us a nice living room so that we see these apartments and they're one per floor.
So this is these are sizable apartments would have a look of a living space that would welcome people and have more than just bedrooms.
And we did that. And we're willing to limit every unit to no more than two bedrooms in this case.
We also converted what used to be a rear storage area specifically into a trash room.
And we're willing to make sure that is done so that trash will be stored at the rear.
And finally, the community would like to keep the beautiful facade of the building, although they do understand that the facade will need some refreshing, such as paint.
But they ask that we do not change the facade in any way to keep the nature of these houses, to keep the look at the houses, which are quite nice and classical.
So we are in agreement with all of their requests.
What is shown here is the floor plan.
And how it works out to be four units is that this building has three floors, but actually a fourth floor that would be called an attic.
but it is actually tall enough that it's almost eight foot in height and therefore by laying out
each floor with the structures at about eight feet and a half to nine feet we're able to get
the four units design and it is not unusual for this part of the building to be used as a
residential portion of the building and in fact is in many of the other ones that are on the block.
So these would be two bedroom designs with the first floor only being, wait, I'm sorry, this looks like the, my apologies, these are the original plans.
We have, so the limitation is to remove one bedroom from each of the unit, and they would actually end up being two bedrooms.
I believe I have revised floor plans. My apologies. Let me see if I can share that with the board.
I'm not sure why these were not submitted with the revised floor design. One second.
I'm going to share the plans now with the board.
So this is the actual revised plan that the community eventually approved.
As you can see, I'm going to zoom in so it's easier for the board to see each floor.
as you can see the design has been limited to two bedrooms on each floor to provide
open living space for each unit and that was the agreed redesign and here is the public trash
storage which is actually accessible by all units because there's actually these are twins there's
a side access way from the side of the building and the basement will be used for utility and
storage. So that is essentially what we're asking for the board to consider as a variance to allow
us to use as a multifamily with the limitation that each unit will be limited to two bedrooms,
enclosed rear trash storage to be provided, and no change to the facade. If the board would
have any questions or like me to redirect any other part of the exhibits, I'll be happy to do
so, and I believe my client is here to verify my testimony. Why don't we put your client on?
Sure. Mr. Wu, can you raise your hand virtually to be identified?
There are no hands raised at this time. I'm sorry, Chairman.
You're an officer of the court. We'll take your testimony. Thank you.
the the unit that's adjoined to this is that a multiple yes yes there's how many are in there
i believe there's uh six units and i think that is on the city records as well okay um and the
one next door down it's another uh even more units okay than uh than that thank you questions
from the board no mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes chair we have peter last name ending in h okay
sir could you state your name please and spell for the court reporter uh peter huzinga can you
hear me yes i can could you spell for the reporter please uh h -u -i -z as in zebra i -n -g -a
all right do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Yes, I do.
Are you a neighbor?
Proceed.
I live, I own the building, 4609 Spruce Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
I have a couple of questions.
I want to know if there's any kind of interview process that takes place for those that will be living in that property.
It will be, the rental and everything will be handled through my client and a management, real estate management company.
So, yes, there would be a process before a tenant is placed within the space.
Will you do a background check on these people?
Within legal limits, I'm sure there would be, but there are some background checks that you can do and there's some you cannot do.
Are there any rules of conduct as far as those that would be living within the building?
Well, there would be on the leases. There will be a lease agreement with each tenant.
The leases itself would set forth basic rules of conduct.
We noticed that there hasn't been much landscaping being done on the front yard.
Do you plan to do some landscaping?
My client actually represented that at the RCO meeting, that there would be landscaping.
The front would be refreshed as well.
My concern is noise.
We have people that are fairly elderly living next door.
So we're concerned.
We've had situations where there was an individual that was being fairly loud in the backyard.
We never needed to call the police, but we are concerned about who would be living in that property and whether they would be concerned about sound levels and whether you are concerned about any problems relating to sound that might be emanating from that property.
I'm not sure if you were present at the RCO meeting we had but what you can do is actually
reach out to my office I'll be happy to put you in touch with my client he actually would be happy
to talk to you directly about managing some of those issues these type of concerns because that
sounds like concerns with regard to getting and actually occupying by tenants and certainly he
would be happy to work with you to make sure that these concerns will be addressed okay how long is
it going to take for that for the renovations to happen um we would estimate probably three months
two to three months well that's actually but it's all going to be internal so there's not going to
be a lot of activity on the outside of the building okay well you know uh we're we're
on the outside of the building okay well you know uh we're happy you're moving into that building
um and those are just the only concerns that i have thank you so much please feel free to reach
out to my office for contact info for my client i'll be happy to provide is there anyone else in
the virtual audience i see no answer planning commission this is ron bednar city planning the
properties indicated for residential use on a city plan or adopted district plan recommends no
change to the existing single -family residential zoning at this location. The applicant's hardship
is not supported with evidence of unique physical circumstances or condition of the property that
would prevent it from being used in conforming with the code, or we recommend a quest for parents
to not be granted. Thank you. Counsel, do you want to comment at all before we vote? Yes, with regard
to hardship, the physical condition of the property is that it is a large, very large
structure. And to use it in a conforming manner, even as the RCO had pointed out, it would be
difficult to find someone to actually use it in the conforming manner. Plus, because the
surrounding properties have already been converted, some going back in the records as far as 1940s
to multi -use and has stayed that way. I understand that the planning commission, the city has zoned
it RSA3, but the reality is this is a sandwiched structure between multifamily units that we're
trying to force still as a single family. And I believe there is a hardship and certainly there'll
be hardship to find someone who would want to accept a structure at this location among these
multi -family units and fix it up at the size that it is. This is a over 3 ,000 square foot
structure, so it'll be difficult to have it as a single family. I believe there is a hardship to
keep it in that format. Thank you. MI 2022 -005 -085 -4611 Spruce Street, I vote yes.
my vote is yes
James Snell
my vote is yes
Ishmael Shaheen
my vote is yes
thank you
thank you
is there anyone
on the 330 list
whose case has not been called
in the audience
I see no handshare
thanks everyone
good day's work
appreciate what everybody did