Thank you.
Thank you.
want to start
to win how many is in the audience
how many 16 in the audience okay thank you
Good morning, everyone. My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this meeting of the Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment.
With me is our Vice Chair, Isabel Shahid.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, Cheryl L. Gaston.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, Tanetta Graham.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, Michael Johns.
Chairman.
Our Board Member, Taya Nguyen.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also present is our attorney, Hillary Emerson, and our executive director, Ian Haggerty.
Our supervisor is Lakeisha Dandy.
Please be advised this meeting is being recorded.
Your participation in this meeting indicates your consent to be recorded.
The video will be posted on the ZBA website approximately one week following the meeting.
The meeting is being held in person with remote capabilities,
meaning that individuals can either participate in person, in the hearing room, or remotely over Zoom.
When you're recognized to speak by the board, please state and spell your name for the court reporter and then wait to be sworn in.
If you're in the hearing room, you must speak into a microphone so that everyone in attendance, including the court reporter, can hear you.
If you're participating remotely, please turn on your camera and unmute yourself when you are recognized as speaks.
Once you have been sworn in, please state your name each time before test filing, whether you're in person or remote, so that the court reporter knows who's speaking.
Please mute yourself or turn off the microphone when we are not speaking.
If you're participating by phone, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
If you're participating by phone, please call 267-270-5548 to register your appearance by the close of the business day after the hearing.
You must provide an email address and the address of the property you're interested in.
All others can either enter their appearance through the Zoom registration.
For individuals participating in person, a QR code is available to register your appearance.
For assistance, please see a staff member at the back of the hearing room.
If you have any questions about how to enter your appearance, please contact rcozba at phil.gov.
If you are in the hearing room, please refrain from talking or engaging in conversation while the hearings are proceeding.
Please note that eating or drinking in the hearing room is prohibited.
In addition, verbal and physical aggression will not be tolerated.
If you are participating remotely, remember that the question-answer on the Zoom platform is not for testimony or comments.
Any concerns related to the hearing operation should be directed to zbaexecutivedirectoratphil.gov.
Before we begin, our Executive Director, Ian Haggerty, has an important safety announcement. Ian.
All right. Thank you, Chair. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to the ZBA hearing room today. The safety of our attendees here is our highest priority. So I just have a couple of safety reminders for everyone. In the event of an emergency, please pay attention to the announcements over the loudspeaker.
All right. Thank you, Chair. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to the ZBA hearing room today.
If there is no announcement, the staff or security officers will give you direction as to what to do.
If there is a direction to exit the room, the main doors are located at the rear of the room.
On the right, the double doors.
If there is an order to evacuate, the nearest stairway is to the left outside the double doors.
Just follow the exit signs.
If an order is given to evacuate the building for any reason,
We'll be having a rally point at Love Park directly across Arch Street from the public entrance to this building.
Please remain at the rally point so we can account for you.
And as a reminder, restrooms are located right across from the elevators where you came up,
and there's a water fountain just outside these doors to the right.
Thank you.
Okay, so let's look at our schedule for today.
Number one, MI 2023-003-382-6340-Musgrave.
Is Troy Pratter here?
Good morning.
Good morning.
Take a seat, sir.
That's your hand up by a Troy Pratter, only a Lorraine Gignard.
Okay. Sir, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Troy Prater, T-R-O-Y-P-R-A-T-E-R.
Do you swear or affirm that tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Mr. Prater, I understand you want a contingence for your case.
Could you give us an update of where the case stands?
Well, I'm trying to schedule for to have the drafts person come out and draft,
the drafting of the property itself and requesting a hearing with the neighbors in the community.
Okay. So I'm going to give you that. One more continue. It's okay. And then what I want you
to do is you have to be ready the next time. Yes. So MI 2023-003-382-6340 Musgrave,
Cases continued till 7.23.25 at 9.30 a.m.
Thank you, sir, for coming in.
Thank you.
Number seven, MI 2024-005-744-4858 Fairmount Avenue.
That case is continued. Attorney moving party. Number nine, MI 2024, 005, 757, 9212 Delaware Avenue.
That case is continued. Number 10, MI 2024, 005, 759, 9214 Delaware Avenue. That case is continued.
Number 11, MI 2024-005-780-5717, Malvern Avenue.
That case is continued.
Number 12, MI 2024-005-788-9216, Delver Avenue.
That case is continued.
Number 15, MI 2024, 005-847-7335 Montour Street.
That case is continued.
And number 17.
number 17 MI 2024-006-068-9218 North Delbert Avenue. That case is continued. Are there any
other requests for continuance? Mr. Chair, I just want to note for the record that all of those
cases have been continued to 7-23-25 at 9.30 a.m. Thank you. Thank you.
Good morning.
Two hands up.
The first one is Lorraine Ginyard.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
good morning good morning Lorraine could you please state your name and spell for the
stenographer okay Lorraine Ginyard Medley l-o-r-r-a-i-n-e-g-i-n-y-a-r-d-m-e-d-l-e-y
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
I do. What case are you interested in? The location? Oh, 4247 Westminster Avenue.
Okay. We haven't called that as of yet, but tell me what your interest in that case.
What my interest is? We have a notice to appear in a court today. I'm a resident.
Okay. But we're going to call that case. In other words. I don't know why you called my name.
I didn't call your name.
So, okay.
We will make sure you, we're going to hear that case today.
Thank you.
Are there any other requests for continuance?
i see no hands okay we're going to go to our add-on list
mi 2024-001-947-2314 north broad street
i vote yes with proviso no household living in basement
I vote yes with Proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Aya Wynn, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Thank you.
That's 16.
so before we do our uh our list um we really want to take a moment of silence for
what happened the other night with the crash of the jet um for all the people who have injuries
people who are deceased and and also probably to recognize all the people who did so much work
there from the police to the fire to to the utility workers so we're just going to take
a moment of silence before we go any further thank you
thank you all
Case number 16, MI 2024, 005-975-9230 Cambridge Street. Galena Markova is the owner applicant. We also have with us an interpreter.
interpreter here? Okay.
Yeah, we have a hand up from Joe
Carson. This might be the interpreter.
Carson, you're free to speak.
Yes, I represent East Tarsdale Civic Association. I'm sorry, I'm not the interpreter.
can you hear me
we do sir we're waiting for an interpreter
when I can wait
maybe late a little bit
chair there's a hand up
last initial D could possibly be the interpreter
Rack, last name, beginning in D, you're allowed to speak.
Rack, last name, ending in D. Could you please speak? Are you the interpreter?
Yes. Hello. My name is Marat. Last name is Duisyebaev. My ID number is double N as in November 904.
My ID number is double N as in November, 904.
So could you do me a favor to go back and state your name and spell it for our court reporter, okay?
My first name is Marat, M as in Mike, A as in Apple, R as in Red, A as in Apple, and T as in Tom.
and the last name is
D as in David, U as in Umbrella
I as in India, S as in Sam
E as in Edward, B as in Boy
A as in Apple, Y as in Yellow
E as in Edward and B as in Victor
Thank you. You soundly swear or affirm that you will interpret
accurately, completely and impartially from English to Russian
and from Russian to English
to the best of your ability?
Yes, sir.
Could you ask
the appellant
to state her name and spell, please,
for the court stenographer?
Здравствуйте.
Можете, пожалуйста, представиться
и по буквам продиктовать
ваше имя и фамилию, пожалуйста.
Меня зовут
Галина Макарова.
My name is Galina Makarova, M-A-G-A-R-O-V-A, Makarova.
Okay, sir, could you repeat that for the interpreter, for our court reporter?
Yes, my name is Galina Makarova.
The spelling of the first name is G as in George, A as in Apple, L as in Lima, I as in India, N as in Nancy, and A as in Apple.
And the spelling of the last name is Makarova, M as in Mike, A as in Apple, K as in Kite, A as in Apple, R as in Red, O as in Oscar, V as in Victor, and A as in Apple.
Okay, could you please interpret this for her?
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please tell her to start her presentation, and as she speaks, could you interpret for us, okay?
Certainly, sir.
Хорошо, пожалуйста, начните со своей презентации,
и когда вы будете говорить, пожалуйста, представьте возможность переводчику переводить.
Спасибо.
I've been living in the United States of America for 27 years.
So probably I may speak some parts in English and some parts in Russian.
What way is the best?
Yeah, I think the best way is you're here, whatever she's comfortable with,
but you just interpret everything she says, okay?
So whatever, I think she might be better off what Russian way being that you're here.
This is the interpreter speaking?
Yes, sir.
Certainly.
Okay, please proceed.
I am an American citizen.
I will probably say a few sentences in a row.
So I never had my property.
I wanted to have a house, I wanted to have a house, I had a lot of work, I collected money, I had to pay a lot of money, I didn't have any time, I had no idea, at any time I had a house.
Finally I bought a house with a mortgage, yes, with a mortgage.
The house was very poor, for $125,000 I bought this house.
I knew that he was very small, he was poor, broken, I would have to fix it, I was ready to this.
So, when I arrived to, when I came to the United States of America, I wanted to have my own house with my own garden.
house with my own garden. This is why I worked a lot. I never had holidays. I didn't go on
This is why I worked a lot.
I never had.
vacations. I started saving money. And finally, I was able to buy a house. I mean, even with a
mortgage, but still, I bought the house for $125,000. Even the condition was not good. Even
the house was in a very bad condition, I was thinking that I would be able to make the repairing
works myself.
Yes, I was building a house, having all the permits for the construction, I have gone through all the inspections, I can provide all the necessary papers that you would require or you would need, so I have some parts of them here with me, some parts are in my case.
I have all the necessary confirmations
and permits. Everything
is here. Would you like
me to provide them to you?
Not right now, but thank you.
Interpreter, could you tell her
I want the house show that she says
this is my house.
I read a photo.
Right.
I want you to show
the house and show
the basis
on the fact that he is your house.
Is this your house here?
No. Where is your house?
Where is your house?
My house. Oh, this is my house.
That's your house there. Yes.
This is your house there. Yes.
Yes. Yes. Okay.
Alright. Thank you.
and and could you explain to us what the issue is what you what you see is the issue here
could you get her to do that please
хорошо в таком случае можете пожалуйста объяснить в чем здесь проблема какая какая
здесь основная причина да yes когда я строила дом у меня не было в планах вот этой козибы сбоку
So when I was building the house, I didn't have plans to have this casaebo on the side.
2-3 фита выше моего уровня.
Вода и грязь течет ко мне.
И я спросила инспектора.
Он сказал, да, вы можете сделать это козиба.
И козиба стояла с 2018 года.
Ко мне не было претензий.
В 2019 году у меня есть бумаги.
У меня все инспекшн, окей.
Я завершила уже шитрик внутри.
Покрашено было.
А потом был ковид.
In the 19th and 20th year, I did not work, no one did not work in the house, and in the 19th and 20th year, I received the first valuation.
Yes, so I didn't have plans to have this casebo.
and when
I was building in the house
you could see that the water
flowing in
into the Crowley space and the
basement, this is why I
decided to
in the basement and the
Crowley space, I have
water heater
what is it
boiler, gas
light everywhere and
I'm scared. Inspector say I can put Kaziba. Okay. This is the in-depth speaking. The client
stated in English. Should I provide that information and repeat that information?
Yes, please. Yeah. So in my basement, I had a heater.
Yeah, so in my basement, I had a heater and some other electronic devices.
And this is why I was scared that the water could damage it.
And I spoke to the inspector and he stated that it's okay for me to build up the gazebo.
Do we have a picture of the gazebo?
Just next to the house with the roof.
And that's when I also asked to provide the permits for those.
All right.
All offices were closed. I couldn't go anywhere.
And on April 2020-2022, I sent an appellation.
I asked to make a complaint. I asked to allow me to make a CZIPA.
And then it came out that according to the documents,
it turns out that not all my land is mine.
Not all my land is mine.
right in 2022 i can provide the exact date it was january 22nd i received my first notice
that's when the pandemic ended in february and uh on april 4th of 2022 i sent an appeal
asking to provide all the necessary documents and approvals to build this gazebo.
And then it turned out that the land does not belong to me completely.
Wait a minute, let him interpret.
um yes um so i couldn't do anything for several years because i was trying to collect all the
necessary documents to make everything in a correct way so on november of 2022 i was
able to get the detailed consolidation with all approvals
How does she have any more testimony?
I understand that I may have violated something, but when I looked at the houses that were built next to me, new houses, there was a distance between the houses, a small distance between the houses, but in the old houses, right?
Wait, wait, you have to give the interpreter a chance to interpret.
Okay, okay.
Could you tell me what she was just saying?
um yes so uh in the period from 2018 to 2022 i had my gazebo uh ready built ready and built
and i had no problems at all but after that period i started having issues after it was completely
built, I started to receive notices. I understand that I may have violated some rules. But I could
see the other new houses build the same things, just like me, or just in the same territory.
Just like me, just in the same territory.
Is there anything else you can tell us?
So, let's suppose and assume that
I'm gonna remove this gazebo and I contacted the certain agencies and found out that to remove and to fix it
it would require from 20 to 30 thousand dollars. I'm a retired person, I'm 69 years old
and my income is only 1500 dollars per month. I cannot afford that.
basement and crawl space. I will live in constant stress, so my house will be on fire.
And when I was in a war, I would have to die. When I went to, I did everything right. I sent 72
certified letter to my husband,
as it was supposed to be.
My husband can't come to RCO.
I took a picture,
I took a picture,
and for the last one,
and for the last one.
I don't know, what to do.
The only goal I want to do is
I want to leave them in peace.
I need a variance.
And then I'll finish everything until the end.
Everything will be clean and I'll live safely.
That's the only thing I want.
If I break this stuff, I don't know who it will.
Hold on.
You have to let him say you can't keep blowing water, right?
Thank you, sir.
Right. So secondly, I'm afraid if I'm going to do that,
my basement will be flooded.
I will be living in this constant fear
that my house will catch a fire or be flooded in case of fire it it won't be only me who's
going to suffer from that but also my neighbors are going to suffer from that i have sent 72
different letters to neighborhoods to every neighbor with certification and unfortunately
my neighbors cannot participate the rco meeting i have everything every document every single
document signed and now i don't know what to do my goal is to have the agencies to leave me alone
and let me finish everything okay all right good so questions from the board
i have a question what other work needs to be done
I said finish.
Backyard, frontyard, the finish, the work outside.
Everything is done inside.
I cleaned all the walls after the leak, everything that was covered.
I can show the pictures of the basement where I was covered.
So mostly all around the house.
I mean, my backyard, the frontyard, everything outside.
because inside everything is already done.
I have completed all the necessary works inside.
Now the exterior, everything that is outside requires the work that should be done.
I mean, I have all the necessary photographs of my basement being flooded.
I can provide those photographs.
Thank you.
Thank you. Any other questions from the board?
Any other questions from the board?
going to stop the water going into the basement.
I'm a little confused as to how this is going to address that condition.
on the weight. How can you stop the water in the bed?
This part is not quite clear.
Just answer the question.
Just answer the question.
One of the things that the water prevents the water,
and here I built a wall.
this is 2-3 feet
this is the floor
this is the earth
if the water falls from the roof
then it falls on the earth
but it falls to the house
but with the other side
where I could
I don't know
how it's called
the pump
where it's all out of the house
it's the other side of the house
So, from one side, the water is blocked by the gazebo.
And there is another wall that I built, which is two or three feet tall.
So, if the water gets in, it gets only into the ground.
but not into the basement and from the other side i have this i don't remember how exactly
it should be called but something like a pump i mean on the other side of the house i sold
this pump that i can install on this part of the house
Any other questions? Thank you.
Do you know if you have a perimeter drain or a sump pump in your basement?
This is pump. I don't know what it is.
Скажите, пожалуйста, у вас имеется дренаж по периметру или что-то вроде этого?
Yes, I just don't know how it's called.
I have this special pump that drains it into the pump, and the pump throws it out.
but from the other side of the house
I have the crawling space
that does not allow me to install
this device
Questions or comments
from our attorney?
Not at this time Mr. Chair
Questions or comments from the
in room audience?
Questions or comments
from the virtual audience?
Yes Chair
there's Joe Carson
will be allowed to speak
could you please state your name
and spell for the court stenographer
Joe Carson
you're free to speak
can you hear me now
yeah please state your name and spell for the stenographer
if you would turn on your video
you cannot start your video because the host has stopped it
my name is joseph carson i am j-o-s-e-p-h-c-a-r-s-o-n
you swear referring to tell the truth the whole truth is nothing but the truth
yes sir please proceed uh we i am the president of the east
tarsdale civic association and we had had a couple meetings associated with
this property joe do me a favor every once in a while
stop so the interpreter can tell her what you're saying okay so pause start start again joe
Pause.
Start again, Joe.
I am the president of the East Tarsdale Civic Association.
Interpreter.
I am the president of the East Tarsdale Civic Association.
Go ahead, Joe.
We had two meetings related to this property.
One meeting was a presentation by Miss Galina.
The other one was presented by her husband, Michael.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir.
The first meeting was a presentation of Ms. Galena, and the second meeting was a meeting with her husband.
Please continue, Joe.
In both meetings, there were concerns that the property as it exists today is inordinately large for the property size.
There were people who initially signed the petition who rescinded their signatures in support.
There were people who signed up for the support of this document.
They said they did not understand the ask when the petition was presented.
They said that they did not understand the purpose of the petition when they sent it.
It's his turn to testify.
Joe, could you give us your position and why?
The Civic Association voted twice, once unanimously against, and once 20 to 3 ratio lack of support
for this variance.
the reason was the property was too large for the existing footprint there were also concerns not
related to the variance ask about why a single family dwelling had two setups for electric and
Thank you. Interpreter?
was too big in large sizes of the building, and two
non-concept electrical equipment and non-stop fuel.
Interpreter, is there anything else?
I mean, Jody, is there anything else you want to add?
I understand the question.
No, no, no.
the Civic Association. Is there anything else you want to add?
No, that's the essence of it. The challenge that has been faced
is that the property has been
in construction forever. It's been challenging
with respect to comings and goings for folks. This is what's been articulated
to me. And I'm just here to report on what
was discussed at the meetings. Thank you very much. Interpreter, please report
Thank you.
Thank you. Joe, thank you for your time. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yeah. Oh, sorry, Chair. Mark Morrison has just raised a hand.
Oh, sorry, Chair. Mark Morrison has just raised a hand.
Okay. Sir, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Mark Morrison, you're allowed to speak.
Mr. Morrison.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Is there anyone else left in virtual audience?
I apologize, but can I provide the permission of the document
that I was allowed to build in this way?
We don't need them right now.
Now, in the moment, there is no need for this.
Mr. Morrison
there he is
Mark could you please turn your video on
and unmute yourself
Mark you're muted
okay is there anyone else in the virtual
unmute yourself please
okay we're we're going to move on is there anyone else in the virtual audience
i see chair there's a matthew rispo will be allowed to speak
i could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
mr rispo
he should be coming down chair okay
oh hi mr rispo could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
it's a matthew rispo n-a-t-t-h-e-w-r-i-s-p-o do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth nothing but the truth i don't mr rispo are you a neighbor
oh no now i'm not the owner no for all right so is this for this case alone that we're using hands
for no we're yeah this is for cambridge cambridge street right okay no we're for another property
thank you very much could you thank you um planning commission
thank you chairman and good morning david effecto 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
please proceed sir thank you sir chairman and board members the comprehensive plan
recommends no change to the rsa2 residential single-family zoning at this location
the property received a zoning permit in 2017 for an addition to make two stories
following the approved plans what was built deviated significantly from those plans without
the benefit of additional permits the city planning commission recommends that the board
deny the proposed dimensional variances for maximum allowable occupied area and minimum
side yard width interpreter could you do that for me please um certainly
this is the interpreter the client stating that she was able to understand everything completely
Okay, thank you. This has been a case that we have to talk about the executive session. We will do this next Wednesday. We will vote on this matter at 9.30 a.m. next Wednesday. Thank you. Could you, interpreter, please, do that for me?
Yes, of course, we heard everything, and we will take the decision tomorrow at 9.30.
Can I add some more information?
No, I think we have all the information that we need.
We will sit and talk as a group, and we will make a decision next Wednesday at 9.30.
Thank you.
And interpreter, please let her know that, but interpreter, we want to thank you for your work.
Okay, we have all the necessary information. Now we need to get together and decide, and the decision will be made in the next week in the 9.30. I want to thank you for your participation.
Okay, we have all the necessary information.
Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much. We will vote next Wednesday.
Thank you, Interpreter.
This is the Interpreter.
Is there anything else I can assist you with today?
No, but thank you very much.
Thank you for using our services.
Interpreter disconnect.
Next Wednesday
at 9.30.
You don't have to come.
You can listen on the phone
if you want. You can come if you want to.
Okay? We're going to vote
next Wednesday at 9.30.
Okay. Okay. Number 18, MI 2024-006-135-6147 Market Street. Stephanie Duvor is the tenant applicant. It's pro se.
Thank you.
Stephanie Duvor is promoted.
I couldn't hear you. Could you repeat that?
We hear you. Very good. Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Good morning. My name is Stephanie, S-T-E-P-H-A-N-I-E, DeVore, D-E-V-O-R-E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
So this is for use at an event assembly facility on the first floor of an existing structure,
no change to previously approved uses on the second and third floor.
An event assembly facility requires special exception approval from the ZBA and the CMX
to zoning district our vice chair has a few questions for you okay good morning uh have
you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case
five days in advance of this hearing yes i did thank you you may proceed and share your screen
okay um so um right now it's zoned as an uh a dance studio and i would like to get it a zone
as an event space.
I did do my RCO meeting and everything
that I needed, and I got 120
signatures for the petition.
I have the floor plan. I have...
Why don't you start sharing your
screen? Okay.
I'm not really
familiar with this, but...
The green button at the bottom of the screen.
You have to open your files up first.
Oh, open the files first, okay.
So you say open the files and then push share screen?
Yes, ma'am.
Hold on, let me set it in.
what kind of computer do you have i'm actually on my phone i'm sorry oh okay okay here it goes
here here's screen
okay can you guys see my screen no
IT, do you have any suggestions on how to?
Well, I clicked on it.
Where does they share it at the bottom?
When you say, when you share it, I should ask you, what do you want to share?
okay hold on one second i think i clicked the wrong thing
okay so it's asking me something about a background
okay so it's asking me something about a background that's what i'm trying to get off of it
That's what I'm saying.
let us hear a few cases we'll come back to you okay okay i'm sorry no no don't be sorry just
try to figure out what's wrong and we i guarantee we'll come right back to you okay okay thank you
Case number two, MI 2024-001-569-1840 South Camac Street.
and case number three mi 2024 001 570 1839 south eismanger street
we will hear both cases together
mr orphanetes please
David Orphanidis has been promoted.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman.
Good morning, counsel.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Certainly.
David Orphanidis, last name is spelled O-R-P-H-A-N-I-D-E-S.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, their relationship to these two properties?
Certainly.
My client is Winfield Consulting Corporation.
Winfield is spelled W-I-N-F-I-E-L-D.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
They're the owner of the properties.
Good morning, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
um i you should have a corrected notice of refusal uh there was an original notice of refusal that
was issued on uh february 13th 2024 there was a corrected one issued 12 30 2024 um it does
we have the one from 12 30 24 for 1840 does not state the correct occupied area
It states more than what it is.
It's still in excess of what's permitted by a little bit.
But other than that, I would wait the reading of the refusals.
Thank you, counsel.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits as needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
I did.
Thank you, counsel.
Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
Can anybody see my screen?
We can, sir.
Great.
All right.
Again, my name is David Orfanides with Orfanides & Toner, LLP here in Philadelphia.
And again, my client is Winfield Consulting Corporation.
Winfield purchased the two properties at Sheriff's Sale.
I'm going to boil it down really simple, then we can get into the details.
Back in 2013, back in September of 2013, prior zoning board issued variances or granted variances for the development of 1840 as six townhomes running from kind of sideways from South Kamak to South Eisminger with the property, with the unit at South Eisminger having a garage, one car garage.
And for variances for the abutting property on Eisminger Street, 1839 South Eisminger, for a single family dwelling with a garage.
The owner of the property then proceeded to secure zoning permits in October 2013, demo permits in May of 2014, and building permits in July of 2014, commenced construction of the project.
I'm going to show you some, I can show you some historical images, but at some point
around 15 or 16, I believe, they ran out of money, is from what I understand.
And the project has been sitting for seven years or so in a state of partial completion.
And I'll show you some photographs.
Because of the time that elapsed since the zoning permits and building permits were secured
and how long it sat, all those permits expired.
My client purchased the property in 22. And in order to complete the property and complete the project, complete the construction of the seven single family homes, they need to go back through the permitting process all over again.
So they submitted actually an expediter submitted the I can show you the same plans that were originally submitted and approved with the original zoning permits and went.
and approved with the original zoning permits and went back to the community after the notice of
refusals were issued and the appeals were filed by a different attorney and we're here today to
essentially have the zoning board reapprove the variances that were granted before
because the conditions that warranted the granting of those variances before still exist and in fact
there's even a greater hardship now because you have these buildings that are partially constructed
and there's a financial hardship to have to tear them down and to go build something else.
What is interesting in regards to the notices of refusals, both the ones that were issued in
February and the corrected ones that were issued just in December, is I believe that examiner
simply took the old refusals that were issued back in August of 2013 and just kind of spit them back
out in actuality with changes to the zoning code or possibly based upon a new examination of the
plans or more thorough examination of the plans. We actually have one fewer refusal today than
than there was back in 2013 for both 1840 and 1839.
So just real quickly, I'm going to show you some historical images.
1840, you'll see in an aerial, runs from, again, from South Kamak to South Eiseminger.
It used to be a catering hall.
It was a catering hall since around 1963.
And you can see here the different iterations of the catering hall.
There aren't any street view images from South Eiseminger. You'll see in the aerials, it's a very small street. And then what happens is you can see here in 2016, the project, you know, the building that was there was demolished and that covered 100% of the lot of the 1840 South Camac Street lot.
you'll see in the historical aerials and the project was commenced this is unit a uh extends
unit a through f on i had to check uh to eisminger and then um and then unit g because the even
though they're on separate properties they're going to function as one planned unit development
so that's how they extend but this is unit a at south camac street and you can see here and then
up to 22, no real change, as you can see here from there to there. It's essentially sat.
Here you can see in 22, again, in keeping with the street view image from Camac Street,
you can see the project in its current state. It's all enclosed. It's roofed. Windows are in.
It has been open to the elements, I think, over a number of years prior to when my client
acquired the property. There have been squatters in the buildings. But this is how it stood.
You can see going back to 2019, looks like it's kind of in this still kind of quasi state of
being finished. Going back to 17, 16, you can see here, it looks like they're framing.
15, 14. And then 14, here are the original buildings. So again, here's right here is 1840.
That extends through to South Eiseminger on the left, Kamax on the right. And up here,
the smaller lot is 1839 South Eiseminger Street. So some of the time between 14 and 15, again,
in keeping with the issuance of the building permits and the demo permits in spring and summer
of 2014, they take down the existing structures, and then they start to build the seven single
family homes, and then get to the point where they run out of money, and then it just sits.
You can see here, let's see.
Here, existing aerial images of the project as it stands today. The properties are all zoned RSA 5.
You can see here Mifflin Street, East Pass Yonk, it's just, Heismanger is just a small
street that runs, loops around from Mifflin to South Camac.
Again, exterior photographs showing both, this is Unit A from Camac, the views down
Camac Street, all around.
this is an alley that exists between the south side of the units that are on uh camac 1840
south camac and properties that are on uh the north side of mifflin street this is a common
walkway that extends between camac street and eismaker street and the current state showing
everything being boarded up and blocked up by my client.
by my client. Here's the abutting properties to the north, and you can see at the bottom,
Here's the abutting properties to the north
and you can see at the...
this is 1838. And then next to it with the yellow siding is 1836 South Camac Street.
And then here's the view of the buildings on Eisemingler. Down here at the left, I mean,
up at the top, that's 1839. In the center of the picture to the right is Unit F of 1840 South
and you can see unit f down here at the bottom to the right of the picture at the bottom both
of those having garages here's the alley again and then views on eisminger street as you can see
no parking in the street a very narrow street that has an elbow in it and goes around to camac
street uh regarding the state of the different units we got into you know unit a to unit f on
camac street showed the range of development unit a uh which is the one at camac was near nearer to
completion you can see the cellar still not being completed um there is water to some water damage
throughout the building my client again is essentially going to take these buildings
and finish them um some of the siding uh the stucco that's you'll see in the renderings
that exist they're going to take that off and put on a more durable material hardy board
plank siding there. But you can see here, unit A is pretty far along.
And then here, all the way at the other end, at Eisman Street, you see unit F.
So this is the range of development and how it's been sitting for the last six or seven years.
I'm just going to close this up here.
So what we have here is here's a color site plan, again, showing the seven units
running on 1840, the one unit on 1839. One thing that changed, we have revised plans, is
community was concerned about, as originally proposed, this common walkway that extends
between South Camac and South Eisminger that services the front doors or by which the front
doors of all the units, including the 1839 South Eisminger unit, are accessed. They were concerned
about security, particularly the rear yards of the properties to the north, 1838, 1836.
So after the original application, the original notice of refusals for this matter, we've
added fencing and gates at both South Eiseminger and South Kamak, and then also have an awning
over the entrance at South Kamak Street, you can see here, just to provide some protection
and some light there at that site, because that'll be the primary entrance because South
Eisminger isn't as developed narrower sidewalks. South Camac Street has the wider sidewalks.
We did enter into a community benefit agreement with East Pass Young Crossing, which is the
coordinating RCO designated by the Planning Commission. One of those things was that we
have trash enclosures. We're going to add those trash enclosures. You will see right here
they'll be added in the walkway in front of these are the egress wells but they will be added in
the walkways in front of each of the units something along these lines trash will not
be stored on the sidewalk we do have a letter of support from east pass young crossing you can see
that it's dated february 3rd 2025 uh did speak to the meeting that we had pardon me hillary do we
have that? I don't believe we had received a copy of that directly. David, can you make sure we get
a copy of that? Sure. Yeah, I'm going to send, I'll send you an updated exhibit package that
includes this one for each of the cases. Does there, you know, it was a well-attended meeting
as noted in the letter. A lot of the comments or most of the comments we received had to do with
the budding property owners who had admittedly suffered a long time with this project, both when
it was initially being developed and then when it was abandoned, when the developer ran out of money
and it sat unattended for so many years. But again, our position is that the refusals that
have been issued, and again, they're one fewer for each of them, those conditions and the criteria
that warrant the meeting of the criteria
that warranted the granting
of the zoning board's original approval
of the project still exists today,
if not even more so
because of the financial hardship.
And you can see here,
here's the notice of refusal for us.
And then here's the notice of refusal
for 1840, you know, back at that time.
And you can see here for 1839,
the refusal and then the corrected refusal now.
I do include in my exhibit package tax compliance certificates for both 18
I do include in my exhibit package tax compliance certificates for both 1840, all the units, because the prior developer did record a plan unit development, declaration of plan unit development.
So there are the units A through F, as I mentioned, on 1840, and we have tax clearances for each of those.
You can see here.
And then also for 1839, which is unit E of G of the PUD.
We posted the notices at each of the frontages, both for 1840 and for 1839.
We did actually post a South Eisenhower Street frontage of 1840 as well.
You can see that right here.
There was a meeting, a community group meeting with EPX that was held last spring when my client was represented by different council.
I was back in May. There was a notice that was sent out for that. That's at my tab 13 of our
exhibit book. You can see here the notice that went out and then the certificate of the mailing.
And then we had our meeting on December 9th where we went back and here's a copy of that notice,
the list of addresses and the certificates of service. Just real quickly, just to go back
Here are color elevations, and I do have Eric Quick on the line or on the Zoom call with us today from Harman Deutsch-Oller, who prepared the drawings and the presentation materials that we are presenting to the zoning board today, including the revised plan showing the fence and gates and the awning at either ends of the walkway that we would ask the board to stamp.
But you can see here the brick is remaining as brick and the replacement of the stucco with a better material, a siding material.
And you can see renderings here from Camac Street, from Eisminger Street, including the gates that we're proposing.
I did have some exchanges with Hillary just yesterday regarding the fences and the gates and an L&I's review of that.
I think in particularly the awning, whether or not it impacts the open area calculations that in L&I's mind, just so we know, the open area that was indicated, the occupied area that was indicated in the original notice of refusal indicated that the occupied area was 80 percent.
And even with the awning, we recalculated it, Harman Deutsch-Oller recalculated it, and we were below that 80%, even with the awning.
Without the awning, we're further below that.
But I did include in my presentation materials my attempts to secure a response from the L&I examiner, no offense, dating back to October about the issue of the awning and the fences.
And there were a number of emails, October, November, two emails in November 11th and 19th.
And then again, that's the 19th, December 3rd, January 9th, and then an email that we went.
So, again, it's our position that the summation that the criteria that were satisfied back in 2013 to warrant the granting of the refusals in that case and allowed that project to commence still exists today.
We have an additional hardship, financial hardship, of not otherwise being required to tear down the buildings, and we're simply looking to just complete the project, sell them to homeowners, and for everybody to be over with, to be done with the issues that have existed there for so long.
All right. Council, why don't you bring your client on and have your testimony adopted?
Sure. Manoj Ramprakesh is here from Winfield Consulting.
Can you raise your hand?
Thank you.
I'm sorry.
hi your honor hi everyone hi good morning could you please state your name
and spell it for the stenographer sure my name is minoj ramprakash the first name is
m a n o j and my last name is go ahead at ramprakash r a m p r a k a s h do you swear
or firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do please proceed counsel uh
minoj um what is your your position with the owner of the property
Manoj, what is your position with the owner of the property, Winfield Consulting Corporation?
We are the owners of this property.
Thank you.
And did you hear the statements that I made to the board today?
Correct.
Yes, I have.
And are they true and correct to the best of your knowledge?
And would you adopt them as your own?
Thank you.
And then I have Eric Quick from Harman Deutsch & Oler to adopt the architectural statements
that I made.
Eric Quick will be allowed to speak.
Good morning, sir.
Good afternoon, everyone.
Can you hear me?
Yeah, I can.
Please state your name and spell for the stenographer.
Yes, my name is Eric Quick, E-R-I-C-Q-U-I-C-K.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Eric, you're with Harmon Deutsch & Oler, correct?
Correct. Yes.
And did you and you and H-D-O prepare the plans, the revised plans that are being presented to the board, the zoning drawings?
and they're being presented to the board
along with the rendering that I have up
and the floor plans and the color
and the other color elevations
that we showed to the board today?
Yes, that is correct.
Did you hear the statements
that I made to the board today?
I did.
And are they true and correct
to the best of your knowledge?
And would you adopt them as your own?
Thank you.
Questions from the board.
Yes, I have a question
about the proposed 44 foot building height.
is this to the top of the roof slab or is this to the top of the parapet or pilot house it's it's
the top of that since they're sloped roofs it's the high point of the slope roof and it's the same
height as was previously permitted and for which variances were granted we're not we're not modifying
the buildings structurally or in turn well in their massing in their height or area in any respect with
this so it's the same so what you're saying is what is currently proposed is what was previously
approved correct yeah there's there's literally and if you take a look here i'll show you um the
here are the approved plans that were submitted that were approved back in 2013 and then the
original app the plans with the original application are literally the same plans
I mean, they literally took them and dropped them out. So nothing is nothing is any different, which I think is one of the reasons why the examiner just issued the same refusals that were issued back in 2013, not realizing that some things had changed regarding the code.
Like, for instance, South Eiseminger being less than 45 feet deep.
There's no open air, as you know, with the dimensional criteria requirements of the zoning code.
When you're under 45 feet, you have the seven foot rear yard, but don't have any open area.
They originally cited not having enough open area.
So that refusal was eliminated.
But we're not changing, again, any of the buildings in terms of their height or their area.
The 1839 South Eiseminger here, I'm going to go to our drawings, actually.
So 1840, this unit, Unit F, is a four-story building, which is why it's taller.
So the L&I, again, even though these are all individual townhomes, they view this, and they're all going to be separate building permits.
They were issued separate building permits before, back in 14.
They're going to be issued separate building permits now.
They view this as a multifamily dwelling, and it's clearly not. It's confusing and misleading for people. These are all A, B, C, D, E, or lower in three stories, and I'll show you again on the elevation.
So the height refusal for both properties come at the Eiseminger side because they have the garage, and to get the same amount of living space, these two units are 44 feet to the top, and you can see here the difference.
so you have the here you have on the right you have a b c d and e three stories with cellar and
then again here's f that's has the additional floor because it has the parking at the ground
floor which eats up a lot of ground most of the ground floor particularly because it's so
irregularly shaped and then with the eisminger you can see here that it eats up a lot of
you know the parking because it's so shallow eats up almost all of the ground floor and that's the
only reason why they're they're taller other questions questions from our attorney i i did mr
questions from our attorney i i did mr chairman uh okay um david did you said that the
reasons for the variants are the same as from before do you know why the variance was variances
were granted before or are you just i i wasn't able to get a copy i wasn't able to get a copy of
the archives and it's so long ago I can't get a copy of the transcript I was really interested to
know you know what the you know whether there were any details regarding that you ask a good
question because I thought the same thing but unfortunately I wasn't able to um to get more
details other than that they were they were granted um without without getting a copy of
the transcript I wouldn't know what was said at that time there wasn't an appeal taken and as you
know unless there's an appeal we don't get any findings of fact and conclusions of law
to get the board's reasoning okay and basically this is the same as what was submitted before
and what was approved before it's it's exactly except for the except for the i think the walk
away may be different or whatever but except for the fence and gates at either end in the
awning yes other than that i mean they literally the shells are not being changed we're changing
the taking the stucco off and putting better siding material on and then everything's going
to be inside finishing up the insides cleaning up like a where there was water damage and and
then finishing up the all the other units on the interior so nothing's going to change in terms of
the mat the height area the massing of the existing structures from what has been there for 10 years
Okay. And then just one last question. Was there any change in the zoning classification here because the original approvals were after the new zoning code was adopted, but maybe not?
No, because that was August of 2012 was the current code, and these were issued. The refusal was issued in August of 2013. So it was RSA-5 back then as well.
All right. And there wasn't any remapping. It's still the same RSA-5.
Yeah, that's that is that is correct. And I think, you know, when it was the when it was the when it was the catering facility, and I'm not sure what it was at that time.
I'd have to take a look. It was it was C2. So 1840, when it was a hundred, the catering hall that occupied 100 percent of the lot.
So there's more open area now than there was with this development than there was at that building previously because of the walkway.
And but you can see it was C2 previously, which makes sense.
It's right off of, you know, right off of Pass Young there.
All right. Thank you.
Any other questions?
Questions for our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
No questions. Just a comment.
I think the revised plans are fine as they are, have been presented, David.
Thank you.
Questions or comments from the audience?
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair, Asia. Asia with the last name beginning in H will be promoted.
Okay. Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Asia, she's allowed to speak, though.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Asia can you please unmute
yeah she's muted
Asia could you please unmute
are there any other
hands in the audience
she's unmuted now
could you please state your name
and spell for the stenographer
Asia you're allowed to speak
okay we're going to we're going to move on
okay anybody else in the virtual audience there are no other hands chair planning commission
Mr. Valenti, please state your name and spell for the stenographer.
Sure. My name is Michael Valenti, M-I-C-H-A-E-L-V as in Victor, A-L-E-N-T-I.
V as in Victor, A-L-E-N-T-I.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Do you swear or affirm that?
Are you a neighbor?
I am. I am at 1838 South Camac Street.
My wife, Cynthia, and I have lived there for over 12 years.
All right. Please proceed, sir.
I am requesting at this point in time just a delay on the ruling of this board.
Currently, my wife and I are in negotiations with David and Manoj for an easement that would allow us access to that common walkway.
We're also, and myself, my wife, our neighbors, are in the process of finalizing a neighborhood development agreement with David and Manoj.
We'd simply like those finalized before the board and committee rules on this particular matter.
We've had a lot of issues with the aforementioned construction, demolition, et cetera.
In particular, my wife and I have had sustained substantial damage to our home.
We had no opportunity to engage the prior owners and contractors in that.
And it's something that's of paramount importance for us as individuals and adjacent homeowners, but also in a larger sense with the squatters maintaining the property.
The neighbors have really gone a long way over the past decade to keep that property in the position that it's currently in.
Thank you.
Mr. Arfinetes, you want to respond to that?
Could you do that in a short?
Yeah. So the community benefit agreement has been fully executed with East Passion Crossing. Deals with things like letting the neighbors know, giving them a weekly update, what's going to be happening in the next week, one dumpster on the street at a time, sweeping up the sidewalk, you know, kind of good construction type of things.
And that has been fully executed to the satisfaction of East Passy on Crossing.
The issues that Mr. Valenti mentions were all issues that predate my client's ownership when they took hold of it.
There had been squatters in there.
There have not been squatters in there since.
Everything's been secured.
In fact, I couldn't even get into 1839.
It was secured so well to take interior photos.
You'll see, you notice that my photos were only A and at the other end F.
We have been discussing an easement agreement with Mr. Valenti, also an easement agreement with the owner of 1836 for different reasons.
And we are going to continue to work on those.
However, those have, I think, the things that Mr. Valenti has raised, the community benefit agreement, taken care of.
The issues are from the prior owner and don't relate to the zoning. The easements don't relate to the zoning. It's for them to, you know, for my client to agree as a good neighbor to provide them with an easement to get out of their backyard to a public street that they don't otherwise have now. And it isn't related and it's to the zoning matters that are before this board and it's not really.
Thank you. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Planning Commission.
thank you chair bergman and good morning david vector with the city planning commission
chairman will testify for both properties the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the
rsa 5 residential single-family zoning at this location this is part of an existing
planned unit development a previous owner had permits for this work and abandoned the project
during construction the zoning permits have expired requested variances will allow the
appellant to complete the previously approved work the city planning commission recommends
that the zoning board grant requested variances at 1839 south isominier street for parking space
accessed from their front height and rear yard depth and requested variances at 1840 south
camac street for multi-family household living height maximum occupied area and route setback
thank you um i'm going to vote on both of them together number two mi 2024
zero zero one five six nine eighteen forty south camac street
and number three mi 2024 001 570 1839 south eisminger street i vote yes with provisos
her refusal dated 12 30 24 revised plans one page stamped by zba on february
Revised Plans, one-page, stamped by GBA on February 5th, 2025.
Johns, my vote is yes with provisos.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with provisos.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with provisos.
Tywin, my vote is yes with provisos.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes with provisos.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you. May be excused.
You can.
Thank you.
Number four, MI 2024-005-661, 122 Diamond Street.
Rachel Pritzker is the attorney.
There's a letter of unanimous support from Norris Square Community Action Network
and a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Lozada.
Also, there's ADA signatures from the block.
Rachel Pritzker is coming in as a panelist.
good morning good morning counsel um could you please state your name and spell for this
stenographer yes rachel r-a-c-h-a-e-l pritzker p-r-i-t-z-k-e-r you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes could you identify your client a relationship
to this property uh yeah my client is antonio gonzalez who is the owner of the property
and our vice chair has a few questions good morning counsel do you agree to wait to read
another refusal or stipulate to its accuracy yes have you emailed in all the required documents
and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing
yes thank you counsel please proceed and share your screen thank you
can you see my screen we can okay
just go to the refusal
okay so as mentioned this is 122 west diamond street i represent antonio gonzalez who is the
owner. We have David Schmalk here as well, who's our architect. This property is zoned RM1 and it
is a proposal for a takeout restaurant with a walk-up window at the ground floor of an existing
structure and for the existing multifamily household living to be reduced to four dwelling
units. This application generated just one refusal for use for the takeout restaurant with the walk-up
window as it's not permitted in arm one. Just going to go down to. So the tax clearance, the deed
to the zoning maps. So this property is the one with the red arrows. It's next to directly adjacent
120 West Diamond Street, which is also owned by the same owner and is currently a restaurant.
This proposal seeks to eventually we're working on to consolidate those properties. But
But for now, we're adding the takeout restaurant to the adjacent property, which is 122 West
Diamond Street.
And given the RM1, it's not allowed by right.
However, it participates with the directly adjacent property, which is CMX2, which is
a restaurant.
The property is 2,400 square feet.
And we're just, again, using this adjacent property for the expansion for the takeout
restaurant.
We had a meeting.
This is an aerial photo.
You can see zoning posters.
And as you can see, this is, again, the directly adjacent property, which is 120 and then 122 West Diamond Street, longstanding restaurant.
Rear of the property.
This is where in the code we don't comply.
Eating and drinking establishment for takeout is not permitted in RM1.
As mentioned, we met with the community NASCAN on December 2nd and received unanimous support, both with their letter, which states that we have RCO support, the vote that went on, so unanimous support for the vote.
And then we also received a significant amount of petitions from near neighbors and folks who attended the meeting also supporting this project.
We also have a letter from Councilwoman Lozada's office voicing her non-opposition to this application as well.
Here's just the floor plans.
It's an existing structure. We're going to be reducing from five units to four units and having the rear bottom unit turned in for takeout restaurant.
If we can promote Dave Schmock to the panelists just to go through the plans briefly, and
Um, and then I can bring my client on after that.
then I can bring my client on after that.
David.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Do we see his hand?
Okay, we're good.
Dave, are you able to?
I'm sorry.
Can you hear me?
We can.
My apologies.
I feel like I unmuted three times.
there uh david schmauk s-c-h-m-a-u-k right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth and nothing but the truth i do please proceed counsel okay uh can i please see the uh
the entire plan i'm just looking at a portion of it here on my screen yeah sorry no no problems
is that is that better yeah if you can scroll down a little bit because we're really concerned
about the plan on the bottom there yeah okay so obviously we have uh as rachel described we have
two buildings, which will at one point be consolidated. But right now we are turning
what was an apartment in the lower level of 122, which is the building on the top of this plan.
We're converting the rear of that building into a commercial kitchen with a walk-up window on the
left side, which is kind of the plan, which is the south side with a slight extension of the roof to
cover that window and then another pickup window on the north side plan north um uh for service
this is all to serve or the um the walk-up window is to serve the existing courtyard which extends
across the back of both of these buildings right now to the rear which is which is the left
thank you
is there antonio yeah do you want to bring your client on please there should be antonio gonzalez
Mr. Gonzales
Hello? Mr. Gonzales
please state your name and spell for the stenographer
if you would turn your video on please
please state your name and spell for this stenographer
antonio gonzalez a-n-t-o-n-i-o g-o-n-z-a-l-e-z do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do please proceed counsel um antonio have you heard my
testimony today do you believe it to be true and accurate and do you adopt it as your own
yes yes thank you questions from the board yes is there an elevation of the takeout window
the proposed takeout window are you talking to me or the attorney thank you either maybe the
architect architect whoever has the image to pull it up i don't know that there is an elevation in
this set yeah typically correct me if I'm wrong that would get provided for the building code
portion of this could be but yeah i mean you're i think we're trying to just understand
what the takeout window is going to look like from the exterior so to be clear and I can I
could describe it to you so the restaurant you would come out the back of the restaurant into
an enclosed outdoor area yard courtyard and the the two takeout windows are only accessible
by either going through the restaurants into that outdoor area because that's what's
yeah so currently they would be accessible through the rear of the property to your point
there is a courtyard back there with seating on the property um i believe antonio you can
you can access the space from inside 120 but that you'd have
You can access the space from inside 120, but that you'd have to kind of walk all the way through and then outside to go to the takeout window.
The idea is that for people who may want to sit outside but don't want to eat inside the restaurant, they can just approach the takeout window to be able to obtain food and either sit on the property, eat it or take it home.
um whatever's more that that part we get i think we're trying to figure out how do people access
this outdoor space courtyard because the plan you're showing has no fence or gate access
so i guess yeah yes is it only open to the folks that are going to the restaurant right yeah like
do you have to walk through the restaurant to access this takeout window antonio can you answer
that no actually you can come in through the bar which has like three entrances to come in
and it's a door in the rear and you can go to the yard or in the yard there's another door
that you can actually come from the pavement inside the back okay so there's the door that's
just not shown on this plane okay i think does this help
i'm just trying to get the rear photos i understand what you're asking
yeah i'm trying to can you point out in this photo what is the rear courtyard
is this go ahead it's on the side of um howard street rear howard street that's fountain street
Okay. So this is the front. Let me just see if I can go to the aerial. Because this is Howard on this side. Can you see that?
Howard's on this side of the street.
so there'll be an access from howard street into the yard where folks can go to the access the uh
the window takeout window correct okay and then for access to the takeout window or to the
restaurant no patrons will be coming through the entrance at 122 diamond street no okay
Okay. Other questions?
Yes. What are we doing about venting for the takeout restaurant?
I know it's not technically a zoning issue, but it is of concern.
Yeah. Venting for the restaurant will probably be through the sidewall of 122 over towards 120.
So not onto neighboring properties, but onto Mr. Gonzalez's own property.
Okay. Not through the roof.
We haven't explored that yet because we haven't gotten to CDs, but given that there's apartments above, I think it's unlikely that we'd want to go through the roof.
If you notice in the drawings, the 122 property extends further than the 120, so there's an opportunity to go through the sidewall and vent through the sidewall, but not over a street and not onto an adjoining property.
or vent to the sidewall and up above the roof and up above the roof of course right okay all
right thank you questions from our attorney hillary emerson
just to clarify is the proposed restaurant for the entire first floor or just the first floor
rear i was a little bit confused if it was covering the entire first floor because it
there was an empty space at the front that wasn't being used it's the ground floor rear of the
structure is what we have in our application okay and what about the front part of the ground floor
i believe that that's used uh antonio can correct me if i'm wrong i believe that's
used to access the four units above the property correct
okay yeah there's four multi-family units on the right so but there's like a large aside from the
hallway there's like a large space there in the front is that like common area mail room is that
what that is it's the stair tower it's circulation yeah okay stair tower in the drawing though is
actually to the to the left so there's no images anywhere of the first floor of this building
we have no interior photos of the first floor of this building
there is a handicap accessible bathroom in that space in the behind the
kitchen and that's that's for that's for the folks that are in the restaurant or is that for
the folks i guess the folks there in the yard is there a demo plan of the original apartment
to convert it to a takeout restaurant yes there is rachel there's a demo plan uh the top plan on
that drawing sheet's a demo plan okay let me share a screen again
drawing sheets a demo plan okay let me share screen again
Thank you.
right so that accessible bathroom powder room or whatever restroom is for oh it's for it's for uh
it's for staff
it's only for staff well it's an intended i mean i guess that's maybe a question for uh
mr gonzalez but it wasn't my understanding was that it would be for staff yes
the the existing restaurant already has bathrooms that are served uh at the 120 uh the 120 address
yeah yeah i see that
any more questions about that
questions or comments from the audience questions or comments from the virtual audience
planning commission there are no hands here
thank you chairman and good morning david fecto with the city planning commission
chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rm1 residential
multi-family zoning at this location the city rezoned north square in 2021 in a community
requested map change at that time the zoning of this property was r was rm1 this property has a
documented residential history with no evidence of prior commercial use there is no unique physical
condition or circumstance of this property that would prevent it from being used in strict
conformity with the zoning code the city planning commission recommends the board deny the proposed
use variance for a takeout restaurant council do you want to make a quick comment on that
yeah um i would just mention that uh as we kind of discussed a little bit we're going to be
consolidating these properties so that they're going to be contiguous and work together there's
no ability in the current space to provide for takeout. And it's a heavily supported and heavily
used commercial restaurant and amenity that's supported by everybody on the block and in the
community. It's added a lot of value. So it just will allow for some additional support for the
restaurant and also to provide food and stuff for the neighborhood and the community as well. So
I do believe in the comprehensive plan. I have to bring it up. There was a discussion, I guess,
in the lower north plan envisioning transitioning obsolete land and residents a little bit more
residential commercial and industrial uses so um we are still keeping in context with the four
residential units above for rm1 but adding sort of the expansion of an existing business to help
help it you know continue to provide value in the community and and it's a modest adjustment we're
not converting the whole building we're not getting rid of the residential we're just adding
an extra component to help support the commercial use directly adjacent and they will become one
property just has taken us a while to get the survey and do the consolidation process as i'm
sure the board is aware so we were doing that in two phases all right thank you mi2024-005-661-122
diamond street i vote yes michael johnson my vote is yes cheryl gaston my vote is yes
tanetta graham my vote is yes i win my vote is yes ishmael shaheed my vote is yes thank you
Council. Thank you. Chair, if I could recommend a five-minute break for the board and staff. Thank
you. Okay, we're going to return. Case number five and six we will hear together. MI 2024-005-740-2431
east huntington street and number six mi 2024 005 743 24 2433 east huntington street jennifer
betzillo is the attorney um the old civic association did not have members at the
meeting to take a position and there's a letter of deferral from council member squilla
jennifer bazitlo has been promoted good morning council good morning hi could you please state
your name and spell for the stenographer and could you please put yourself on video
i i believe i have my video we see you now we see okay all right uh may state your name spell sure
it's jennifer bazitlo j-e-n-n-i-f-e-r last name is b as in boy a as an apple
Z as in zebra, Y, D as in David, L as in Larry, O as in Oscar.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
i do you do identify your client in relationship to the property sure my client is alex uh sakov
Do you identify your client in relationship to the property?
My client is...
who is the owner of both of the properties and our vice chair has just a few questions sure
good morning counsel do you agree to waive the read another refusal or stipulate to attack
yes both have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed
to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing i did thank you counsel please
proceed and Sherry's. All right let me just move this over here. Okay so like I said we're here
today to talk about 2431 and 2433 East Huntington Street. I'm going to go through our exhibits but
the proposal is pretty much just to subdivide these two existing lots into four lots. So we
have here are refusals. The only refusals is for the size of the lots created. Here's the deed
showing the ownership of both properties. Let me get to the second one. There's the second one.
And that there is on 3-1, there's only the taxes from this year owed that are not due yet. And on
three three there's actually um an overpayment um so we're good on the taxes um the rco letter
will come back to the rco meeting but basically we sent out all the notifications and no one came
to the meeting which is why there's no opinion from either the rco or the uh councilman's office
here's our zoning map uh that shows where we're located here in an rsa 5 district by a park
And this is also, this IRMX is a large apartment complex, which we'll show later.
Here you can see the two lots and basically how they are now.
They've been vacant for quite some time.
There's a little bit wider view.
We'll come back to this, but this is a list of all of the properties that are in like this block of housing.
So on this block face on Huntington and this block face on Harold that are under the 960 square feet requirement.
These are our postings front and back on both properties.
And there's the property from the ground from Huntington Street.
And there's the property from the ground on Harold Street, surrounding area on Huntington Street and across.
And then we'll come back to these ones on Harold Street.
But I would just like to point out that, you know, on this street, we have an auto body garage, a lot of garages and not a lot of on this end of the street houses facing there right now.
and then these are our subdivision plans which basically showed that we're taking these two
existing lots and cutting them in half equally so that one would be facing there would be two
lots instead of just two large lots there would be four lots two of them facing Huntington
and two of them facing Harold so let me just go back and start the my primary case here so
So what exists now are these two vacant parcels. They've been vacant for a while. 3-1 right now is 1,583 square feet, and 3-3 is 1,533 square feet.
So we have some pretty large street-to-street lots right here, and our proposal would be to divide them in half.
So for 3-1, that would make each lot a little under 792 square feet, and for 3-3, it would make each lot about 766.5 square feet.
So these lots, if they were subdivided by right, would need to be 960 square feet.
So our proposed lots are smaller than required by about 17 to 20 percent. However, what I'm going
to discuss is that this size lot is actually much more, the smaller lots are much more in line with
the other parcels on this block um than having these large um you know over 1500 square foot
lots um and sub uh so let me go to the plans again I just want to show you those plans
and so here you can see this is where the one lot would be subdivided and then
this is where the other lot would be subdivided um so let me go to this list
So let me go to this list. So I did an evaluation of all of the properties just on these two block
so i did an evaluation of all the properties
faces. So basically the properties that are located in between Huntington and Harold Street
in this block. And we have a total of 32 parcels on this block. And of those 19 are under 960
square feet um it ranges from um about 462 square feet to 958 square feet with a lot of them being
right around the same size lot as we're proposing in that mid seven like 760 um to 800 square foot
range um that's kind of at the bigger end of these smaller lots honestly um of the six there's six
other parcels that are um street to street on this block only three of them are single family
we have another vacant lot we have a six unit apartment building and then we have that one
story large commercial building that's an auto centric business auto repair um
so the plan would eventually be to build a single family home on each of these lots
Alex is going to eventually live in one of those homes.
But again, right now we're just proposing the subdivision.
And if those houses, when they went to get billed, needed any further variances, we would obviously be coming back.
So why do we want to subdivide them?
First and foremost, like I said, these are really long lots.
and when you look at the aerial view of the area you can see here that you're if you build a normal
size house on these lots you wind up basically with nothing along harold street um and harold
street actually suffers for this i i don't live in this area anymore but i lived uh very near to
this property for a long time and if you look at this end of harold street kind of from the auto
body shop, these are the commercial buildings here, all the way down, and you go to the photos,
one second here, there's not really any eyes on this street, and it suffers for it.
When you look here, you can see that, you know, you have garages, you have auto repair,
and it faces a park. And the lack of interaction on this block honestly causes problems with
with vagrancy, dumping, that sort of thing.
By subdividing these parcels, we could have two more single family homes with families
facing this end of the block and engaging with the block in a way that, you know, someone's
backyard or garage wouldn't provide.
So besides being able to build a house on a lot much closer to that smaller lot size
that, you know, has been changed to have reasonable size homes on it.
We're also adding the added benefit of putting more eyes on the street on this side of Harold Street
or this end of Harold Street with neighbors that will actually be able to engage with the property.
So we did go to the RCO meeting.
I sent out 95 letters with certified mailing and no one came.
Um, so, uh, I talked to the person who was the board member who was there.
Um, Orca's policy is basically the board doesn't decide.
They let the neighbors decide.
And since no one was there, they took a, they just said they couldn't reach an agreement.
Um, so the neighbors were notified.
Um, no one came.
Um, I use the same mailing company, proof of mailing, all that sort of stuff that's been
sent to the board.
um i know that my client did talk to some of the immediate neighbors um prior to that meeting who
were fine with the proposal um but again i don't have anything written from them and they didn't
come to the meeting so right now i would just say that we have you know these properties that have
been vacant for a long time they are you know um long and you know the kind of choices are to
subdivide and build two houses facing each road or you wind up again with kind of a wasteland back
on Harold with no one engaging in it. So while these are slightly undersized lots they are very
much in line with the existing lots on this block as shown by this list here and we haven't heard
any complaints from the neighbors about it either so I think with that I would just ask Alec to
raise his hand so he can adopt my testimony.
Do we see Alex?
It might be Terra, T-E-R-R-A, that's his company.
No, I see Alex in the audience.
Okay, great.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Good morning to everybody.
Can you hear me?
I can hear you very well.
Just state your name and spell for the stenographer.
Can you see me?
I can see you too.
Okay, beautiful. Good morning. My name is Alexander Sachkov, A-L-E-K-S-A-N-D-R, Sachkov, S-A-C-H-K-O-V.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Counsel, please proceed.
All right, Alex, did you hear my testimony here today and believe it to be truthful and accurate?
Yes, I did.
And would you adopt it as your own?
And I just asked, have you talked to any of your neighbors prior to the hearing today?
uh so the neighbors to the right uh while you see the picture right now they i've been knowing them
for quite a bit i would say five six years and the neighbor on the right so they never had the
problem uh for me to build in the four homes so the neighbors on the left i'm not sure if they
even live in there i think it's a an empty house and the neighbor in the back of the left that's
the storage and then it's uh car garages all right thank you i just wanted to make sure that
the board knew that you you haven't been ignoring your neighbors yeah i pretty much know the whole
entire block over there okay thank you questions from the board uh yes did you say that they would
uh eventually be single-family homes correct correct thank you all the questions the ultimate
goal is to do two single-family homes on them so it would be four total single-family homes two
on huntington and two on harold okay so you're looking to do four four units on this so yeah
they would be single-family homes so what what will what's the and what width of the new lots
the width is compliant um because we're not changing the width there's two lots right now
and the width of the existing lots are not changing.
Let me just get to the plan.
Hold on one second.
So this is, I think this is 3.
24.33.
Yeah, so 15.3, and then that's not changing.
And then let me just get to the other one.
One second, sorry.
is 15 10
and so the subdivision i guess i'm a little confused so so we're we're subdividing these
two lots correct front to back so there's here's your goal is to put a lot on the on that back
street correct there would be two lots on the back street because right now we have they're
two separate lots right now we're just presenting them together it's two four three one and two
four three three and so each one of those lots would be subdivided so that there's one parcel
in the front and one parcel in the back and the hope would be to put a single family home on each
one of those lots so for a total four individual single family homes and so the only thing else
that fronts on that back block are garages is that what i'm hearing so on this side of it yes
there is rears of properties let me just get to the overhead view one second
um so if you see here these two properties have kind of um parking spaces in the back this is
vacant um and then when we go down over here we have some commercial buildings that
front on Harold. One second here. So you can see over here, you have some garages,
backyards, commercial buildings. And then when you go further down on Harold, though,
towards this, the other end of the street, that's where you have the smaller subdivided lots.
And that's where you have homes facing Harold. And as you can see, that end of the street isn't
cluttered with you know um cars and garbage and things like that um so you would have more people
interacting with this side of the street across the street you know what the uh the zoning
classifications are for those uh garage sure let me get to the zoning map one second i do have that
um it is rsa5 so this whole block is zoned rsa5 i believe all of those have been there
for a long time in grandfather day and however okay got it so hopefully
So hopefully as the neighborhood might continue developing, they would also be developed into single-family homes.
Maybe, maybe not.
Maybe not.
All right.
But it is known for single-family homes on that spot.
Got you. Thank you.
Other questions from the board?
Yes. So two of these houses, eventually, are going to front on this side,
side where there's the commercial use and then there's the other ones that will front on the
other street. Correct. So what are we going to do about any kind of rear yard space depth? How is
that going to work? So I guess we don't have plans yet for these houses. Alec isn't a large-scale
developer. He already lives in the neighborhood, is looking to just develop these parcels,
um one of which for him to live in uh so we you know didn't go through the expense of
developing like plans for this parcel until we knew we could subdivide it um but again if there
was any sort of issues in terms of creating enough um rear yard space or unoccupied area that would
require another zoning variance and we would be before the board again gotcha and they are quite
long lots, so it's 100 feet, so even the newly created lots would be about
50 feet each, which is a pretty normal-sized lot
in Fishtown. I mean, most people want some kind
of outdoor space, I mean, even if they aren't necessarily
using it too much.
They would need to be
code-compliant in terms of rear yard, or it would require another variance.
Gotcha. And then these houses that are going to face on the street where you have this commercial type use, the auto repair use. So basically those two houses would be wedged in between garages?
there's other um there's there's the rear of other um parcels here hold on one second okay
um so this this this block is kind of so hold on one second this this house right next to it
to the left that's residential and this is residential um where the red car where the
red car is residential the one where the black car is residential um this uh if you go even
further down here that's also residential we have another vacant lot which is zoned residential
it's just in the middle of the block there's some pre-existing commercial uses
kind of where you see these black buildings here so we have a separation right now where
we have rear rear yards of some single-family homes here then we have more single-family
homes here and there's a little bit of a commercial um use in between but those are also zoned
residential all right thank you questions or comments from our attorney
not at this time mr comments from the audience
questions or comments from the virtual audience i see no hands thank you planning commission
thank you chair bergman and good morning david effect with the city planning commission
chairman will testify for both properties the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the
rsa-5 residential single-family zoning at this location the city changed the zoning maps in old
richmond in 2017 in accordance with the comprehensive plan at that time these block faces had been
zoned single family since the 1970s the appellant proposes to create two undersized lots
one on huntington street and one on herald street the area of the lots on the 2400 block of east
huntington street range an area from approximately 750 square feet to 1 000 square feet the area of
the lots on the 2400 block of herald street range an area from approximately 490 square feet to just
over a thousand square feet so the appellant's proposed lot sizes match the character of each
block face the city planning commission recommends that the board grant a proposed dimensional
variances for lot area thank you so number five mi i'm going to vote them both together number five
mi 2024-005-740-2431 east huntington street and mi 2024-005-743-2433 east huntington street
I vote yes to both.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes to both.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes to both.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes to both.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes to both.
Tyone, my vote is yes to both.
Tyo Nguyen, my vote is yes to both.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes to both.
Counsel, please stay on. Thank you, by the way, but please stay on.
So, number eight, MI 2024, 005-750-4247 Westminster Avenue.
There's a recommendation of opposition from the West Belmont Civic Association.
vote was six in opposition. An applicant provided 23 form letters of support, seven from the block,
and there's also a letter of opposition received from a neighbor on the block.
Counsel, for the record, could you please state your name?
Sure, Jennifer Bazidlo, B-A-Z-Y-D-L-O.
And you've already been sworn. Could you please identify your client, the relationship to this
property? Sure. My clients are the owners of the property, Angela DiPrimo, DiPrimo Bucci and
Michael Bucci. Okay. Our vice chair has a few questions. Sure. Good afternoon, counsel. Do you
agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy? I will agree to waive
the reading. I can't stipulate to the accuracy. I believe the refusals are correct, but some of
the language describing the project is incorrect at the top. Understood. We'll go through that as
go through your presentation um have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits as
needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing yes i did and then i also
submitted some supplemental documents on monday as well understood please proceed and chase me
sure give me one second let me get the correct presentation up here all right um one second i
seem to have put my notes in the wrong place okay so um i'm here today on behalf of angela
and michael buchi who are the owners of the property they also are a design build team
through their company gspace um so they are also the architects um on this project as well um
so i'm just going to go through our exhibits really quickly uh we have our refusal um so
I'll just address this now. It says use for change in use from household living single family
dwelling to two family dwelling unit. We already have a permitted two family dwelling and that's
not the refusal. The refusal we received is for the increase in occupied floor area for the two
units above the 10% allowed by the code. So I just want to make sure that we're clear that this is
not a change in use this is an increase in floor area for the use um and I'll go through that more
later but and then the second refusal is for um setback requirements above the second floor so
this is a third story addition and I'll show how this is kind of while it's technically correct
we have a lot larger than a 5.1 foot setback um all right so this is the deed I sent separately
um i'm just realizing now it's not in this packet i can pull it up for you in a second but
the board should have that it was sent in um tax compliance
please proceed okay sorry i didn't know there was a question um tax compliance again we only
have this year's taxes owed which aren't due yet um this is the letter we'll obviously be coming
to talk about neighbors. And then these are our letters of support from the block. All of these
letters are from the notification radius of people that were notified for the hearing.
Here you can see we have a zoning map. I think it's important to note that this area was remapped
recently within the past couple years. So when my clients purchased this property,
It was RM1, and that's why they have a permit for two dwelling units already, without a variance.
So here's the aerial view of our property.
It's right here.
These lots are in the process of being developed right now.
They're no longer vacant.
And here's our previous use permit for two family household dwellings.
That was issued in 2019.
and here is a construction permit because they did need to do some construction already on the
property as it wasn't structurally sound when they purchased it so there's another that so
photographs there's our zoning notice posted this is the existing front of the property
the existing rear and this is the condition of the property when my clients
purchased it in 20 a few years ago in 2018 and
a few years ago in 2018 and you can see some of the work they've done to just really secure
this property and make sure it had extensive water damage the roof was falling down
it was purchased at sheriff's sale and it was in a really neglected state at time it was purchased
this is the street we'll come back to some of these photos and these are some other nearby
third-story overbuilds and full third stories that are by right. This is a view from 43rd Street
into the block of Westminster. Ours is the second house that's in there right now. As you can see
on 43rd, that kind of backs up to it. We have a full third-story building and there's permits on
this currently vacant lot to also have a full three-story building up to maximum height as well.
this is another edition and we'll come back to that photo. Here is our plans. We're going to
talk a lot about these so I will be zooming in and talking about it. And then I think for right
now I just wanted to show you a rendering. This is our proposal with the rendering for the third
story edition and this is the difference of what it would look like if this was a buy write project
as opposed to what we're proposing. So let's talk a little bit more in detail now that you have an
overview of what's going on. So 4247 Westminster is a 1,280 square foot parcel. It has the existing
two-story structure on it right now. My clients purchased this in 2018. It was significantly,
as you saw in the pictures, water damaged. It had been vacant for quite a while and quite neglected.
They started the process of repairing it.
Obviously, COVID kind of kicked in and there was other delays due to their own personal health issues that kind of delayed a lot of their projects.
Not typical for them, but there was definitely circumstances beyond their control.
And so now we're, but they did pull the permit and secure the building so it wasn't no longer falling down and was no longer a danger to the neighboring properties.
So, our proposal is to add a third-story overbuild with a green roof and patio above the second floor.
So, let me just zoom in here so you can see dimensions.
um so what you see here this is the front of the property line where this red red line is here
right this is the front of where the front porch is this is the cornice line and this is where our
building starts um let me actually get to a better drawing one second this is not this is not the one
I wanted to show you because there's a really good example um here we go here's where you can
see all the numbers. One second. Okay, so basically what we have here is that, I'm sorry, I'm trying
to get to the correct elevation to show you. There's one that's really good and I'm trying
to find it. Okay, so here we are. We have here that from the front of our cornice line to where
this building actually starts, it's about 17 feet. It's not five feet as the refusal is suggestion.
If you go from the front porch, it is 21 feet. And if you go from the front property line,
because these are properties that have a little front yard here, right? We're 32 feet back.
So why do we have a refusal for five foot one being the setback? That goes over to, let's pull
up this plan over here. The building itself, like I said, is 17 feet back from the cornice line.
But at five foot one inches back from the front of the cornice line, there's going to be a railing.
And that railing separates what's going to be a green roof with some plantings and some stormwater control management systems.
And this railing here is what counts when the plans examiner looked at it as the front setback.
But like I said, actual setback from the front cornice line is a little short of 17 feet, 32 feet from the property line and 21 feet from the front of the porch.
21 feet from the front of the porch. So I'm just going to pull up something that is on this block
So I'm just going to pull up some.
that's actually, we're also not proposing a pilot house with a roof deck above the third floor.
We're just proposing to have this patio area over the existing second floor to provide some outdoor
space for the upper unit. As opposed to what would be a buy-write project that exists at,
But let me actually show you the picture first.
One second here.
And I think it's important we take some time to understand this because it's where a lot
of the confusion with the neighbors is coming from as well.
So this is 4211 Westminster, it's on the same block.
This is not my client's property.
But this is in fact a fully code compliant third story addition to a multifamily building.
and here what they did is only have an eight foot setback then they have a pilot house and
they have a roof deck above the third floor so these are the plans that I pulled that were
approved for that project just so you can see here that again we have a refusal but are building
17 feet back from the cornice line whereas this one is by right and only has an eight foot setback
So practically, while I understand how that railing does create the border of what the setback is, we're actually way farther back than what's code compliant.
And in doing so, we allow for not having a pilot house, not having that additional height and having rather just a patio area in the front of the property for the tenants to use.
um let's see I did want to talk about let's see here uh what we're actually proposing
um I know the neighbors um some of the main concerns of the neighbors was about the use
itself um but like I said this is already a permitted two-family dwelling and that's our
plan is to use it as a two-family dwelling there would be two bi-level units um each are going to
be two bedrooms and two bathrooms. And I just want to focus on this top unit because that's
where the third story addition is going to be. So, like I said, we have the permit for the use.
And what happens is, sorry, I'm in the wrong, there we go. This is the right plans.
um when you have a permit for a pre-existing use you're allowed to expand the floor area of that
pre-existing use by up to 10 without a variance um what we are proposing is about a 15 percent
increase um and that equals about an additional 147 square feet of space uh and what this allows
that extra 147 square feet of space allows is really to have this bathroom on the third floor
that goes with this second bedroom um and and why this bathroom is important um first of all i think
we um all of us who may have lived in a house with one bathroom at any given time know that
a second bathroom is always a good thing to have when you're living with more than one person
um so but really it creates a better living space for this unit um that will attract hopefully
longer term tenants and people who um you know maybe more families that sort of thing which was
a concern of the neighborhoods was having longer term residents um so by having a nicer space with
nicer amenities like a second bathroom and a bathroom for each bedroom um it creates those
people that want to stay in that kind of unit and maybe grow their family and that sort
of thing.
The other structural issue is that by having this additional square footage, it allows
for the addition to be lined up with the rear of the existing property.
Let me just go to the rendering to show you.
One second here.
Let's go to the side-by-side.
Okay, so we can't move necessarily this frontage back because of where the existing stairwells are.
It makes sense to continue the existing staircase up, and I can have Angela and Mike explain that a little bit more.
So what this, if we cut off that 174 square feet, we can't bring that structure all the way to the back of the building.
And that creates another roof line that can create, you know, maintenance issues, another place for water to be accessed, all that sort of stuff.
And it also makes it so that that additional bathroom can't be there.
And it also makes it so that that additional bathroom can't be there.
There's just no way they've tried to figure out if they could put a bathroom somehow in there and it just doesn't work out.
The size of the bathroom would probably, it wouldn't be functional at that point to have a functional bedroom size and a functional bathroom size without that additional 147 square feet.
So that's kind of the gist. You can see here a really good example of what this is the
by-right project that would go forward if the variances were not granted. This is what
it would look like if the variances were granted. And like I said, in comparison to what a by-right
addition would look like, bringing this up by about nine feet and then putting a pilot
house over it with a roof deck over this third story, I would argue that this has a much
less impact from the street and for any of the neighbors.
I also will say we're at a total height of 35 feet, where 38 is allowed in this neighborhood.
And the new construction builds that are happening on 43rd Street that are kind of going to enclose
this area are at that 38 feet.
You can see from the renderings, the massings of the buildings around it.
um so we did meet with uh let me just go first and explain a little bit about um
Angela and Michael they do have um they do own many rental properties uh in Philadelphia and
the surrounding area um they've been a long-term landlords um what I can say is that uh they have
many long-term tenants and that is always their goal they have at least two tenants who have been
there for over 15 years in their units, and several other who have been in their properties
for over 10 years.
And that's their goal.
It's not to make a quick buck, it is to actually provide quality housing for long-term tenants.
I've seen some of their other projects as well, and the goal is always to have finishes
that are nice and accommodating for their residents, but not luxury apartments.
Just nice, renovated, well-maintained, well-constructed units.
So Angela went out, and I'll have her testify to this as well, but she did go out to the community, knock door-to-door, talk to people.
Well, Jennifer, I don't want her to testify that, too, if you're going to say it.
I mean, we've got to move on here.
Let me talk about the RCO meeting then instead.
So we had an RCO meeting on the 18th of December.
um there were 13 people in attendance uh three in support six opposed and there was only one
person who attended within the notification area um there were four main areas of opposition
and i think a lot of this opposition came from people who did not understand the project they
came in late they didn't hear the presentation um so the first was just an uh an opposition to
any rental properties, which is not relevant to our zoning variances. The second was that they
didn't want multifamily housing, which again, we have the permit for that. And the only difference
here is really whether or not that second unit is going to have a bathroom or not. It's not having
a second. Yeah, I think we've talked about that bathroom. I mean, all right. So and then there
were people who were just opposed to the green roof which is not at issue here and then um people
who did not want a railing at the front of the building which again is required by code um since
the rco meeting i may have angela talk about this but just overall there's been definitely some
misinformation spreading around the neighborhood about um them being drug dealers about putting
drug dealers in this property um about people throwing beer bottles around we're not quite
sure where any of this happened um but again this is not in any of our proposal this is market rate
housing hopefully for long-term tenants so with that i would ask that angela raise her hand and
I dropped my testimony and we'll talk a little bit more.
Angela?
Angela?
Do we hear?
It might be Michael.
Last name is Bucci, B-U-C-C-I.
Angela or Michael?
Michael Bucci.
Great.
hello okay hi hi could you please
i could uh who's going to testify
angela okay oh angela please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes it's um angela de prima hyphen buchi uh
Yes, it's Angela DiPrima hyphen Bucci, A-N-G-E-L-A, DiPrima, D-I-P-R-I-M-A hyphen B-U-C-C-I.
Eight.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
All right.
I'm just going to have you adopt my testimony first, and then we'll get a little more testimony from you.
Angela, did you hear my testimony here today and believe it to be truthful and accurate?
Yes. And would you adopt it as your own? Yes. All right. The first thing I wanted to ask you,
have you done outreach to your near neighbors, both since purchasing the property and since
applying for this variance? Yes. Can you describe a little bit about what you did? And did you at
any point go to door to door asking for support for this project? I did. I went door to door.
both my husband Michael and I both went door to door and talked about the project and asked for
support yes and when you did that did you explain the variances you were asking for and what
variances were needed before asking for that support yes I did we both did we had plans with
us we had photographs with us we had the refusal with us as well and so yes so you feel like you
inform the neighbors about what your project was before asking for their support?
Yes, I did. Okay, great. So I just wanted to talk about that. And then I guess let's just talk a
little bit about the plan. If the variances were not granted, can you explain how the project would
change and how that might, you know, would that result in a better or worse project if you didn't
have the variances granted. So it's our belief that it would be a worse project without the
variances. And that's why we decided to go through this for, you know, really a small
square footage that we were denied. We believe that a second bathroom is a great amenity to
any household. Jennifer, could you change that? Because we've talked about this bathroom
over and over. So, I mean, I know it's your client, but you really did a lot of this testimony
yourself, and she's adopted that testimony, right? Why don't we move on from the bathroom?
Counselor, if we can, can we explain what is the hardship? We're still trying to figure out what's
the hardship on this project to grant these variances sure so i think the the the first
for the variance for the setback it's just that it's way farther back um it's just a quirk of the
code um that were hold on sorry one second let me get to the plans to really show you um
so for the front setback like i said um our hardship is that we're trying to create
a nice upper patio here, and by having a second railing to create the green roof space,
it triggers a variance that- hold on, I'm trying to get to the right- one second, let me
zoom in on this while I'm explaining this. Really, we keep- in order to create this green roof space,
it creates a second railing here which is triggering the setback of five foot one
where in reality our our actual building starts almost 17 feet back so i think it's just the
hardship is a quirk of the code in this where we're really well beyond compliance in the setback
um it's just that there's a railing to separate the green roof area from the patio area
And then in terms of the hardship for the additional square footage, first of all, it's a fairly de minimis ask. It's 147 square feet above what would be allowed by Wright.
um and we're not changing the use we're really just trying to um have a project that's more
functional and in the space that's allowed for that expansion we can't have a functional
bedroom and bathroom um and I think that you know in the other thing maybe Angela can explain it
better about why it's important to have that addition line up with the back of the property
and why it can't just be smaller and lined up with the back of the property. Angela, can you
explain the benefits of having it in line with the back of the property?
Yes, it would be adhesive construction. So basically, not having it line up with the back
creates this roof, a small roof that now has to be dealt with and remedied.
um that now has to be dealt with and remedied if if there's ever a leak and extra drains extra
drain exactly um and there's really no you know you'd have to get a ladder to get up there so it
just makes it more cumbersome um for really you know not that much more construction to just build
it to the face where it's just one vertical plane great and and could you move the smaller structure
all the way to the back without significant changes to like the existing building there's
no way no because the stairs already been rebuilt per code uh which is under a difference it's
existing and uh so no we will not and could not do that okay okay so so jennifer let's move on
please great that's so that's um i guess that concludes my case in chief um i believe there's
some neighbors here um i haven't i just want to note i haven't seen the letter of opposition from
the neighbors nor have i seen their petition okay thank you um questions from the board
yeah i just have a couple questions well i don't i don't know that i agree with the argument that
the reason for the additional space is because you need to do another bathroom you've got a
hole in that floor so you took that space up with the hole in the floor that you put
other question that i have is there are comment that i have is there is there basement unit
is that is the first floor bi-level to the basement i don't believe it is a bi-level unit
correct however these are permitted units already and we're only here to talk about the additional
Yeah, I just, I just, you kind of, you showed this third and second floor, third and second floor, I didn't see how the basement was laid out. Okay. And I just wanted to know where the basement unit.
May I respond to that with the hole in the floor question? So that's not floor space. It's not counted floor space. So if.
No, what I'm saying to you is that the reason it's a design decision that you made to have a hole in the floor, which is very nice, quite frankly.
But that's why you need it. That's why you want to have the extra space for the for the bathroom, because if you didn't have the hole in the floor, you could have that space without it.
The hole also accommodates the stairwell.
Yeah, the hole the hole accommodates the stairwell that we need.
And then and that's not counted as it's not counted as floor area.
so it's not like you're asking for additional floor area and your your general purpose of
doing that was to add a bathroom but you put a hole in the floor that took away floor area
to add floor area that's all i'm saying that's all i'm saying if this area was added in it would
count as additional floor area but right now it's not in the calculation so if we put the bathroom
here we would still have the same problem so you took out floor area and added floor area right
that's right this this isn't existing the third floor doesn't exist right now all right all right
are there any other questions yes um is there are that you said that there were going there were
other uh third units on the block correct do you know how many they were and and you said those
are the by right projects correct sure so we have on the on the 4200 block um there's one
and then on the adjacent block on 43rd street there are many there is two that are being
constructed that are full three stories and three units a piece on those and then there are three
other over builds on that block as well okay good I'm sorry I didn't hear how many you said was on
Westminster oh there's one other it's the 4211 it's the one I showed that's a by right okay all
so this would be the second one then correct thank you there's actually i'm sorry there's
actually uh one across the street as well that's um two-story but it has a basement apartment so
it's a three family oh no no i was just talking about the addition not the the third uh additional
above the second floor how many uh for those on westminster 43 2200 black westminster yeah there's
only the one on 4211 on that so listen to me we're we're going to move on um do we have any
comments from our attorney not at this time mr chair all right so we have uh several people
been waiting a long time in the audience here so what what i would like to do is is um in your
comments and i'll i'll swear you in in a minute i think i swore you in earlier this morning then i
i did i swore you in earlier this morning just state your name and then lay out for me what your
objections are and then what we can do after that other people want to come up and object i can just
take their name and their objection so why don't we start out with state your name okay my name is
state your name okay my name is lorraine denyard medley okay and you spelt that earlier for us i
Lorraine Gignard Medley.
appreciate so why don't you start your testimony okay and obviously you're a neighbor yes please
proceed uh excuse me chair this is the court reporter could i ask the witness to get closer
to the microphone i'm having difficulty hearing okay i can speak louder
okay so to give a little background about our block our area somewhere along the line belmont
the whole community was zoned entirely rm1 we worked for two years with councilwoman
uh gothier and andrew goodman of her office and mapped out the entire neighborhood
so we can maintain single-family dwelling character of the neighborhood
and the aesthetic properties of Belmont,
which is a very long-term African-American neighborhood
that was seeded maybe the first neighborhood where blacks moved,
who were schoolteachers and federal workers and people of good character.
When I came to the block 45 years ago in 1980,
you could hardly give a house away in the area so these are some of my neighbors who moved there
and we've developed we put our heart and soul into it i personally and my husband we have four
properties within 250 feet of this development so that's four voices as far as notifying the
the neighborhood of the RCO meetings, I do have an issue with a couple of RCOs. The Belmont
Alliance is an organization that we participate in. The president of that alliance passed away
right around the time that all, you know, this should have been going on. And we are very active
than that. The other organization, West Belmont Civic Association, we did not receive notices
from West Belmont as we normally do, a flyer or an email. The only notice that we had was
when the owners put this notice in our door, and on the back of it, in very small writing,
was some information now they say where the meet today what the property is the date of it
and there's no not even an address of where the meeting will be held okay can i see a copy of
this please because i don't know what this document is that she's speaking of what is the
document you created i i can't see it and i can't verify it's kind of it's kind of hard for us to
SHOW IT THAT YOU CAN SEE. THIS AND ON THE BACK. THIS WAS GIVEN BY THE OWNERS.
PLEASE PROCEED. I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IT BEFORE THE
CONCLUSION OF THE HEARING BECAUSE I WOULD LIKE TO BE ABLE TO VALIDATE HER STATEMENTS.
OKAY. HALFWAY DOWN IT SAID THERE IS A REGISTERED
community organization meeting tiny writing i can barely see it with my glasses and that's not how
we advertise our meetings by saying right we say west belmont civil wbca um and it was around
christmas time that this meeting happened nobody knocked on our door to tell us about the meeting
or made um we don't know these owners they only come to our neighborhood when and make a mess when
the property with some people have pictures of that so and as far as going around the neighborhood
and informing neighbors and getting them to sign we have a neighbor right here who signed her paper
and did not understand what he was signing okay so that's one issue i object to that testimony
that's hearsay no he's sitting right here he jennifer he's going to wind up absolutely so i
prefer if he made that statement instead of she okay also please basheed okay so sure
okay as far as hardship is concerned for this owner i'm here today and to express my strong
concerns about this multi-family dwelling as i said we work with councilwoman go the a and said
this property can be multi this one can be single so that we can preserve well evidently
Well, evidently, they purchased the property while it was still in this stage of being all zoned.
they purchased the property while it was still in this
So these people have no direct stake in the day-to-day quality of life in our neighborhood or its long-term success.
There is one property all the way down the other end of the block that has this roof, but it's set back or whatever it was.
the one she refers to on 43rd street we got no notice okay and all of us are in 250 feet
of the three properties that are on 43rd street right or we would have been here
okay so these people don't care about relationships with our neighbors they don't
we shovel each other's pavements as neighbors we pick up the trash that we didn't put down
My husband cleans the entire block.
We look after those who need help, and we respect the character and the integrity of
the community.
The primary goal of these owners is profit.
They overbuild, overcrowd, and overlook the social and cultural identity of our block,
bringing in temporary tenants while leaving permanent residents to suffer through the
long-term problems that they create.
Then they have the audacity to claim hardship. Their hardship is entirely self-imposed.
They do not need a rooftop deck to be profitable. They don't need a third bathroom to be profitable,
and they don't need to count from the pavement practically 17 or 20 whatever feet in order to
put a rooftop deck that robs us of privacy and other issues and is a danger. What are we going
to do? Be plucked off with rifles from rooftops now? So a single family dwelling or multi two
family dwelling with one bedroom can be entirely profitable without disregarding the integrity of
thank you very much um i do have some questions for this okay so jennifer do you want to wait
till everybody's done or do you want to question each individual person i would like to question
each individual well i i'm going to tell you jennifer that's uh hillary i i don't want to
end this but we'll need a uh a resumptive hearing and i don't really want to bring all these
neighbors back okay i just so since no no no wait a minute wait a minute let hillary respond you
you're the one said you want to question everybody so go ahead well i well i think we should find out
what what question if jennifer is just asking a couple a simple question or two to each person
then that i don't i don't think will take much time but she does have a right to cross
so i mean if we have to we will have to resume um the case all right jennifer go ahead start
dig across sure um miss i'm sorry can you say what your last name is again i i don't want to
mispronounce it you can call me lorraine medley okay um miss medley um i understand what you're
saying are you aware that the second unit uses by right and that is not before this board today
I heard you.
What effect would having an additional 147 square feet of space added to this property have for you as a neighbor across the street when the additional space is in the rear of the property?
Well, you do understand that that address is 47 and minus 46.
We have invested in property in the neighborhood, but we live there.
it's a big difference. So my question is, is the additional 147 square feet
at the rear of this property, how does that versus, so as you can see on my presentation here,
how does the project by variance versus the project by right, what is the impact of you
on that additional 147 square feet.
It's in my face.
We have a side yard.
It affects our privacy.
People looking down,
they can look right in my bedroom window.
You understand also that the patio itself
is a by right feature of the property, right?
Well, do what you can do by right
and what you can't do by right, no.
And what I am asking is
how does the portions that are not by right impact you?
I don't, I didn't see your drawings because we were not included in the meeting where you presented them in detail.
So I don't really think it's fair of you to ask me that question at this point, because when these, when the owners are right across the street from me every day.
Because when the owners are right across the street from me every day, that they come and do that property, they could have shown it to me then.
They could have had a nice conversation with me as a neighbor directly across the street.
They did not.
And now they're using you for a mouthpiece.
We don't have attorneys.
It's just us, neighbors who care about each other.
I would ask that you only give a responsive answer.
And I would also like for Angela to be able to talk about if she had actually spoke to these neighbors.
we're concentrating on the neighbors now not Angela right but I feel that it's important to
counteract her statement that she's not telling the truth yeah that's so if I'm no no no no she's
not testifying when the neighbors testified if you want to bring her back later you bring her back
I'm not gonna have right that's why you're the attorney and not that's why she won't testify
do you have anything else for this witness uh no not at this time all right so what I want you to
do is identify yourself. I'll swear you in. And then if you would, could you tell us something
different than what she told us? In other words, what we want to try to do is zero in on what
everybody's concerns are. So could you please state your name and spell for this court stenographer?
Gwendolyn Jones, G-W-E-N-D-O-L-Y-N, Jones, J-O-N-E-S. You swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth. Yes, I do. And your neighbor. Yes. Please proceed.
My concern is about the parking because once we have these multi levels, it's going to impact on the parking. We have like a lot of senior citizens that lives in the built lives in our neighborhood. And that's going to really impose on them getting back and forth and being able to park in front of their door. Our parking is limited now because we have a school around the corner, you know, already.
Thank you very much.
The number of units is not an issue for the zoning variance. So what I'm asking is how the additional square footage of 147 square feet that does not add an additional bedroom, how that would impact parking.
I can see that it does.
Okay. She said she can see that it does.
Okay. Sir, could you identify yourself and spell your name for this?
My name is Kenneth Medley, K-E-N-N-E-T-H, Kenneth Medley, M-E-D-L-E-Y.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Sir, are you in favor of this project or against the project?
I'm against the project.
Is there anything else you can add than what we haven't already heard?
Well, I would like to talk about trash and maintenance.
I don't trust them doing what they're supposed to do once they get the property up.
And for one reason, I have pictures of where they started demolition in the house, piled it up on the porch.
I have a neighbor that's here, lives on this side.
I have a neighbor here that's on this side.
And when they come out the door, they see it.
Rats was running over there.
A raccoon was standing in the house.
they did not clean up their yard
if you've seen it had a place
where there was grass
it would grow up
grass was over there eating
I'm a little upset
I'm just calming down
we're going to calm you down
but they had a groundhog
was living there
the whole time that they were doing
the development they never came
over and cleaned up the yard
and when they came to my house
knocked on my door and said oh are you watching the football game i said what do you want
she had a petition in her hand right and she wanted me to sign it and i said um and then she
said when i leave here i'm gonna talk to debbie which is the lady that lives where the trash is
at that they left next door to her i said i don't think you want to go over there and talk to debbie
right now okay she said why i said because you have left this trash on this porch for months
okay debbie pays someone to come and clean the yard because we got to live there they don't
live there i understand so she spent her money paying some money else to clean up the yard
and then she said to me she said uh oh we came over once once this is a weekly thing now
oh we came over once once this is a weekly thing now the wind blows east and west east wind blows
this way right and when it blows it blows into her yard and then what can't stay in the yard it
blows in someone else's yard and she has a rail there right they have no consideration i can i
understand what you're saying i think i i i got i have a clear view of what you're saying so i don't
need the pictures i know exactly what you've said one other thing go ahead when they first started
her husband came outside on a wednesday right and put trash out bags and it was debris not no
paper trash and was going to leave it there and my wife said man you're not going to leave that
there he said why not the trash company will pick it up she said this is wednesday our trash is not
picked up to Monday and he had an attitude and then all of a sudden they want to be everybody's
buddy. I understand. I understand. So, so let me ask this, Jennifer, do you have any follow-up
questions? Yes, I have two questions for this, for this witness. Mr. Whitley, do you live with
Lorraine? Excuse me? Do you live in the same household as Lorraine who testified? It's my
wife. Do you live in the same household as her? Yes. Okay. What was that question for? She testified
that my clients had never reached out to her or your family and you testified that they had. Is
that correct? No, they didn't reach out to nobody until they wanted to get a petition signed. She
came to my door while I was watching a football game and said, Kenneth, are you watching the
football game my second question so so they did reach out to you um second question i have is
i hear all of your concerns how does the additional 147 square feet that would provide
space for a second bathroom negatively affect you because you can look off that balcony there
into my bedroom the balcony i'm asking about the addition um of the additional living space
Well, when it does, it puts more people in the neighborhood, more transportation. If you've got three different apartments with three different cars and we don't have enough parking space as it is now.
Okay, we had testimony about parking right before.
Okay, she asked me a question.
I understand. Jennifer, you're done?
That's it for now, yes.
Okay, thank you. Next person, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Part of my interrupting, Chair, just a reminder for the board and for the audience, we have a hard stop at 1 o'clock from 1 to 2.
We're coming up on 1245.
I understand.
Good morning.
State your name.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman.
My name is Dante Leonard, spelled D-A-N-T-E, Leonard, L-E-O-N-A-R-D.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
All right. So, sir, where we are now, I'm going to ask you, are you in favor of this project or against?
Against.
Thank you very much. Jennifer, do you have any comments?
Could you please state your name?
My name is Carol Morris, C-A-R-O-L-M-O-R-R-I-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Are you in favor of this project or against?
Thank you very much. Jennifer, do you have any comments?
All right. Next person.
Excuse me, Mr. Chairman.
If you allow, can I give some context as to who I am in this neighborhood in regards to, so my name is Dante Leonard. I am a citizen planner. I was up until about a year ago, the commercial corridor manager with the Department of Commerce for Lancaster Avenue.
And I also work with the New Freedom District for the city, for the plan that's being adopted by the city.
And I just want to let you know that this is a community that is trying to gain agency and bring the people together.
I live right there.
I own three houses that are, my house are on 43rd Street, on 43rd and Westminster, and on 43rd Street itself.
The developer, they have not reached out to anyone.
a lot of the people that have signed those 16 notices are people that i don't want to use the
word cursed but people that a real conversation was not had with and i feel as though that when
the times come that the people that they will could have good dialogue with they steer clear
of those thank you very much all right thank you all right um you'd state your name please
spell for the stenographer my name is deborah spears i'm the one they call debbie you're good
am the actual neighbor of the property okay do you swear or affirm to tell the truth told you
is nothing but the truth i do um please please well let me ask you this are you for the project
or against very much again all right thank you very much do you have any questions to that person
do you have any questions to that person? I do, yes. I would like to ask her how
I do yes
the additional square footage and the railing location negatively impacts her.
First of all, just get a little closer to the mic. First of all, just let me say I'm
not being disrespectful to anybody. Angela has been getting on my nurse since she bought that
property in 2018. Do me a favor, try to answer what she just asked you.
As far as the railing, put an additional third railing or additional on top of that roof next to me with Ryla.
It looks like it's going to be in my yard.
They'll be looking down at me in my backyard.
I enjoy my yard, so I don't want that additional to me.
I don't want no rooftop.
I don't want none of that.
And as far as the additional for bathroom, I have me and kids, and we live with one bathroom.
We did okay.
So I don't know why they're talking about this bathroom and all the other stuff that they need.
All right.
I just don't want that rooftop over me looking at my yard.
Jennifer, do you have any other questions for that person?
Sir, could you state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Credit Frank Edwards.
I've lived there since I've...
Excuse me.
No, you've got to spell your name for me.
Oh, P-R-E-T-T-I-S.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole...
Yes, I swear to tell the truth on God's name.
Listen to me, you've got to calm down.
Excuse me.
I'm going to ask you this.
are you in favor of this project or against neither one okay what where do you stand then
i stand as a family with my family see around that neighborhood we all family okay we got
grandmothers aunts cousins brothers sisters and the thing about it that house i know that house
personally since i was a little boy okay i know the owner i know who owned it the mother i know
i understand okay but do you understand this that neighborhood we all family good good thank you
very much jennifer do you have any questions of that no is there anyone else um is there anyone
on the virtual audience yes chair i have three hands up the first one is jennifer rock
has been promoted.
All right.
Could you please state your name
as spelled for the stenographer?
No, no, no.
Now, one minute, one minute.
Now, Jennifer's on the virtual way.
Why don't you sit down?
Go ahead, sit down.
Could you please state your name
as spelled for the stenographer?
Yes, my name is Jennifer Rock.
Hold on, Jennifer.
Jennifer, wait one minute. Please proceed.
Hello, I'm Stephanie Collins.
I am... Spell your name.
S-T-E-P-H-A-N-I-E.
Collins, C-O-L-L-I-N-S.
Would you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Are you in favor of this project or against?
Against.
Thank you very much. You have any questions, Jennifer?
Ma'am, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
My name is Thelma, T-H-E-L-M-A, Brinkley, B-R-I-N-K-L-E-Y.
Do you swear or affirm that tell the truth to all truth is nothing?
I'm for to tell the truth.
All right, thank you.
Are you for this project or against it?
I'm against it.
Thank you very much.
Do you have any questions, Jennifer?
Sir, could you please state your name?
Edward Hill, P-D-W-A-R-D-H-I-L-L.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Are you in favor of this project or against?
Against it.
Thank you very much for coming in.
Jennifer, do you have any comments?
Yes, ma'am.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Kathleen Goodman.
C-A-T-H-L-E-N-E Goodman.
G-O-O-D-M-A-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Ms. Goodman, are you in favor of this project or against?
Are you in favor of it or against it?
Against it.
Thank you very much. Jennifer, do you have any questions?
Jennifer Rock, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, my name is Jennifer Rock, J-E-N-N-I-F-E-R, last name Rock, R-O-C-K.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
Are you in favor of this project or against?
Against it.
Thank you very much. Jennifer, do you have any comments there?
Do we have anyone else?
Yes, Chair.
Excuse me.
I have Breonna Johnson will be promoted.
Do you have any more hands after that?
There are two more.
Two more.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Hi, good morning.
My name is Brianna Johnson, B-R-I-A-N-N-A, Johnson, J-O-H-N-S-O-N.
Brianna, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Brianna, are you a neighbor?
Yes, I live at 4249.
Are you in favor of this project or against?
I'm against it.
Thank you very much. Jennifer, do you have any comments?
Yes, I would. Since she's the next-door neighbor, I would just like to ask her again how the additional 147 square feet to the rear of the property would have a negative impact on her.
I think she's disappeared.
Okay. Next hand, please.
Hi, I'm still here. She gave me access again.
Brianna, did you hear that question?
Yes, I sure did.
It directs me personally.
I've only lived at 42, 49 for the past 30 years.
And I do understand we have two bathrooms.
It's been multiple people living in my house, three to four, where we had maintained with two bathrooms.
We didn't have to build anything additional, go up, go down, go back, go forward.
We maintained in the single family household that we had.
We maintained and we made it through these past couple of years.
So any additional going up, like my mom said, is looking directly into our backyard.
Our backyard is not covered.
we have the the gates on the outside but from the bird's eye view you'll be directly into my mom's
yard it takes away all of our privacy as a family and i do understand i do want to make a profit
but as miss glory did mention before it's way profitable to keep it at two levels the third
level is just an additional profit that they just want to do just to add more people and crossing
all boards when it comes to parking privacy older people that block is old thank you jennifer
um i would just ask again um i don't how the difference of adding this additional rear space
is any different than the buy right project for you as i look at the additional space on top if
someone was to come out or look and i look out their window they're looking directly into my
mother's property that's how it affects me personally is that look it's taking away all
privacy that we have at 4249 if you keep it at the same level do you understand that the height
and of the addition it's by right issue and that this portion can be built um no matter what
i i understand that but i'm just saying my concerns as a neighbor and as someone who lives
there who hasn't lived for the past 30 years that i do what i understand what is by right
but just because it's by right does not mean it's correct or it's for the greater good of the
neighborhood and as we said our neighborhood we think about each other not about one own
property game someone who's coming into our own neighborhood as an outsider okay thank you next
person, please. Do we have any more? How many more? Two? Hillary, we now have four more.
Hello, may I speak? Hi, Evisa, could you please state your name and spell for the
court stenographer. Yes, my name is
Ibiza Gallman. It's spelled
E-V-I-S-A, last name
G-A-L-L-M-A-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
nothing but the truth? I do.
Are you in favor of this project or against?
Against. Thank you very
much. Jennifer, do you have any comments?
Not at this time, no.
Next hand, please.
Chair, I see no more
hands. Oh, yes, I do. I'm sorry. Ernestine
Brown-Harris will be
promoted. Okay. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Ernestine? Ernestine, can you please unmute yourself?
There she is, Sheriff. Hi, please. Could you state your name and spell for the stenographer?
do we see her
all right she should have been coming in all right all right we're gonna move on to the
planning commission um i would like an opportunity for my client to respond
i'm trying to come in i'm trying to come in hello ernestine hi could you please state your
name and spell for the stenographer yes uh good afternoon everybody my spell my name is
E-R-N-E-S-T-I-N-E
That's Ernestine Brown Harris
It's B-R-O-W-N-H-A-R-R-I-S
Alright, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, or nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Are you a neighbor?
Yes, I'm right around the corner.
Are you in favor of this project or against?
I am against it, sir.
Thank you very much, Jennifer. You have any questions? No. All right. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Jennifer, do you have any questions?
All right.
Thank you very much.
Jennifer, I started the call planning. You had comments. Yes, I would like my my client would
like an opportunity to respond to some of the allegations made against her. Yes, I would. May I?
Yes, Angela, why don't you? I'll tell you, Jennifer, this is this cannot take more than
three minutes. I can do it in three minutes. Thank you. You're welcome. So the allegation
that I have never reached out to Ken Medley or Debbie next door or any of the other neighbors
up until the day that I needed them is false. Ken Medley, I have his phone number in my phone.
I went there and introduced myself to him the day that I bought that property from the sheriff's
sale I did not even enter the property and I went there and gave him my number and I and he told me
he was at that time the block captain and I have his number in my phone and I could call him and
he has my number so to say that I never reached out to them is not true my next door neighbor
Debbie I knocked on her door and I gave her my number and I told her and I introduced myself
and I told her that if she ever needed anything to please call me which she did and texted me
many times over the last number of years. She told me that, you know, when, when she needed,
you know, whatever it was, she wanted the roof fixed. We fixed the roof. She wanted the yard
cleaned. We fixed the yard. We cut down the trees. We shoveled that walk. There was not one time
in the last eight, you know, from 2018, when I bought that property that that walk was not
shoveled. Angela, in summary, you've been reaching out to your neighbors consistently and maintaining
the condition of the property consistently since you purchased it, correct? And cleaning up,
absolutely. One time in July of 2024, Debbie next door texted me and said that she needed the front
lawn cleaned. I couldn't do it. We had COVID. We had long COVID for three weeks and it was 110
and 10 degrees out and that was the only time that we didn't respond almost immediately so
that's thank you thank you angela you're welcome and i'm just as as a summary of the argument i i
know that there was a lot of people here today that testified in opposition i don't think a
single one articulated um how these variances would impact them or what they would have uh
on the community. The opposition was to multifamily housing, which is not at issue here today
and is already permitted on this property. So with that, I guess I would probably rest my case.
Thank you very much. Planning Commission. Thank you, Chairman, and good afternoon. David Fecto
with the City Planning Commission. Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends
no change to the RSA5 residential single-family zoning at this location. This property received
a zoning permit in 2019 for two-family use. At that time, this blockface was zoned RM1 residential
multifamily. Nothing about the property has changed since then. This lot is neither irregularly shaped
nor does it vary in dimensions compared with the other house lots on this blockface. The appellant
has not shown that they will suffer an economic detriment if required to build the two-family
dwelling approved by prior permits the city planning commission recommends the board deny
the dimensional variances for expanding a non-conforming use by more than 10 percent
and for minimum front setback above the second floor thank you m m i 2024
4-0-0-5-7-5-0-4-2-47
Westminster Avenue. I vote no.
Michael Johns, my vote is no.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no.
Tannetta Graham, my vote is no.
My vote is no.
My vote is no.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you, everyone, for coming in.
Chairman, at this time,
at this time,
I'd like to ask the board for
uh uh pause on the 9 30 list we will resume the 9 30 list at two o'clock um and uh that'll give us
time to give the board a break and give staff a break thank you good afternoon um this is a
continuation from the 930 list. We're going to start with number 18, MI 2024-006-135-6147
Market Street. Stephanie DeVore, please.
Stephanie DeVore has been promoted.
Stephanie DeVore has been promoted.
Stephanie?
He should be coming in now, Chair.
Chairman, I was added as a panelist.
I don't think I should be a panelist yet.
Just want to...
Yeah, you're right.
We're still on the 930 list.
Can we share?
Can we share?
I did promote Stephanie DeVore
but I don't
see her at this moment.
Stephanie?
You sure?
Chair?
I did promote her.
Oh, good.
Thank you.
Was that her case?
Stephanie. Okay. So what, what we'll do is let's hello. How are you doing? Can you hear me now?
Yeah, I hear you now. I'm sorry. We were going so long. Um, just for the record,
state your name. You've already been sworn. How are you doing? Um, my name is Stephanie DeVore.
Okay. So could you share your, could you share your screen with us? Okay.
can you see it now yeah it's coming up now yep okay perfect i got it i had to get the ipad
um hold on one second go to my documents okay so um i'm looking to get a change of use um
zoning for 6147 market street right now is zoned as a dance studio so i want to get it zoned as
an event space um this is my refusal letter so it said that i need it um
I need a special expectations approval and this is my project information form so you can see
everything here I'm zoned in a district four I also have hold on I'm trying to exit out this part
so I did have my um my RCL meeting which is here I know that you guys asked for the proof of all of
that uh so at the zoning at the um rco meeting well first i did have a 121 um signatures so let
me show you that first i did um have a lot of support from the community um i did actually
enjoy knocking on each door and getting to know each other even though it was cold but
i did enjoy that because i get to know the people and they get to know me too
um let me see am I missing anything else okay I know you guys want to talk about your meeting
with the RCO okay so so with the RCO meeting um they supported me with stipulations so now I can
I can uh hold on because I actually have everything written down so I have to be in
attendance of each um event i have to provide security i also um won't be open to the public
it would be private events only uh let me see sorry i'm nervous a little bit um it was also
timeline yes so the timeline is from um on during the week it'll be open till 10 p.m and on the
weekends up until 11 p.m so yeah so um i did make an agreement with the
So, yeah, so I did make an agreement with the RCO neighbors, because they also are neighbors.
They live close by.
I even made agreements with a few of the neighbors on the block will agree to keep the neighborhood clean and things like that.
So I'm trying to see.
Can you show us the phone for the place, please?
So this is the floor plan.
Can you guys see it?
Okay, so I'll show you photos of the place also.
Okay, so they did ask me to get, this is the sign and stuff on the door.
This is my business information.
They did ask me to get a fire system, which I got that installed.
So this is that picture of that.
It's all the way through.
so it's three exits is the front door is the back door and I also have an exit through the basement
also um this is how it looks when it's decorated and stuff I also make dresses so I made the dress
in this photo um this is how it looks when it's um decorated this is how it looks when it's empty
as you can see I'll show both of these again so it's um a little under a thousand square footage
so and my occupancy is only about 55 um yes
um and that's that's about it that's what i have so far okay questions from the board
yes do you live on the property no my mom do she lives upstairs and then um so do you have
relationships with both the tenants on the second and the third floor yes i do
and in terms of your event like how you're planning and operating your event space what's
your plan uh for one trash and then also uh noise so um we did discuss noise um I only have one
speaker there so it really doesn't get that loud but if they do because like I said my mom she
lives on top and she's six years 60 years excuse me she's 60 years old so she will let me know if
the base i know it's the base usually could be the problem but we did discuss that and i don't
have any problem with turning it on a little um also trash i never really had problem with trash
before but um trash goes out every tuesday night so i always make sure i put the trash out and i
have large trash cans in the backyard also okay and then so you're saying that you have one speaker
so do you not allow any of your renters to bring their own sound systems on site or are they
required to use yours um well it's really up to them so if they would like to use mine usually
they do um I'll let them use my speaker and if they would like to bring in their own that's fine
also and then when you do your rental agreements are they responsible for any trash that's created
during their events or is that something that your business is handling so I actually handle it so
So before and after each event, I clean and I have a cleaning crew that comes in and cleans also.
Other questions for the board?
What kind of activities are you going to have there?
It's an event space.
What kind of events are we talking about here?
So it could be religious meetings.
It could be book signings.
It could be baby showers.
It could be weddings.
I did host a wedding reception here before.
so um all different things like that okay and is there a kitchen of some sort in this space
no so I don't have a kitchen okay so all all the food will be prepared at um their homes and then
they could just bring it I do have tables that they can put the food on okay and you have some
kind of way for people to clean the place so do you have some kind of sink do you have some kind
of what do you have for purposes or outside of the bathroom which I'm assuming you have
yes so so I do have um I do have a bathroom I do have um mops and everything like that there
um buckets and everything that we need to like clean up properly um I do leave trash bags but
usually I'm there. So if anyone needs anything, I'll be there. I'm always, you know, at everybody's
service. So I know that does help too. But is there a separate something outside at the bathroom
for purposes of providing water for cleaning and what have you? Is there anything like that?
No, no, I don't. I usually just use the restroom.
No, no, I don't. I usually just use the restroom.
Okay, thank you.
Questions or comments from our attorney?
Hilary Emerson.
Excuse me, just briefly, Mr. Chair.
Ms. DeVore, there was some provisos that were referenced by the RCO.
One of them is that it only has private events, which is the zoning that you're seeking.
um they did ask for hours of operation proviso can you confirm that you're in agreement with
that proviso yes I am I'm in agreement with it okay and what in terms of can you just explain
what constitutes weekdays and what constitutes weekends for the so okay so um weekdays would
just be Monday through um Thursday and weekends will be Friday through Sunday okay all right
And the last thing is we still have not received proof of tax compliance for the property. It is showing that it does have delinquency for a couple of prior years. So the board is not going to be able to vote on this matter until we receive proof that the property is compliant, either paid in full or in a payment agreement.
okay um so i did contact the owner of the building i don't own it i rent so i did contact
them and ask them uh could he send it in actually let me see if he could send it in to he was
supposed to send it in this morning so he either needs to to pay off some balances or get to an
agreement and he may not be able to do that immediately so we may have to hold the vote
on this until that's been addressed okay okay questions from the audience questions from the
virtual audience there are no names chair planning commission
amy board with the planning commission amy boyd do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth and nothing but the truth i do please proceed the comprehensive plan recommends a
change in zoning at this location from CMX2 commercial mixed use to CMX3. The appellant
has shown that the proposed event assembly facility will have no detrimental impacts
on the neighborhood beyond what might be expected. The Planning Commission recommends that the
board grant the proposed special exemption for event assembly facility. Thank you. So
we're going to hold the vote on this until we have the tax information. This case will
be closed other than the tax information. So thank you very much. Okay. So after I get the
information from the owner, then I can just let you guys know. Yep. Okay. All right. Thank you so
much. All right. So number 13. Thank you. Number 13, MI 2024-005-791-2226 East Venango Street.
Sean Ward is the attorney. There's a letter of unanimous support from the Harrogate Civic Association with Unenforceable Provisors.
Sean Ward is coming in as a panelist.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Sean Ward on behalf of the owner applicant, Matthew Rispo.
My name is spelled S-H-A-W-N, last name Ward, W-A-R-D.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Of course I do.
Please share a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
it wasn't exactly five days in advance but everything has been submitted
through the zba portal and the exhibits have been accepted fair enough council thank you
please proceed and share your screen. Thank you very much.
I'm just confirming my screen is shared. It's coming up now, yep.
Excellent. I want to make it just a little bit bigger, Sean. Yep.
Attached is my typical exhibit packet. Second. There we go. Again, I represent Matthew Rispo,
R-I-S-P-O. He is on the call today in the virtual audience, along with Agata Reister,
the architect from Landmark Architects. My typical exhibit packet includes A-1 is the notice of
My typical exhibit packet includes A1 as the notice of refusal.
refusing
This was an application to permit the erection of an attached building to include a roof deck, roof access structure,
one off-street parking space for use as a two-family household living at floors two and three,
along with a business and professional office on the first floor.
Mr. Rispow operates a downtown mechanical, HVAC mechanical company, and he would occupy not only the first floor office space and the storage in the basement, along with one of the dwelling units above.
Resulted in three refusals, multiple principal structures and buildings and uses.
the business and professional use is not permitted as well as the two-family use is not permitted
this is RSA 5 I believe yes so we're seeking variances for the uses today A2 is the ZBA
application of appeal A3 project information form A4 is proof of ownership copy of his deed
A property was purchased in or about November of 23.
A5 is proof of tax clearance.
There is a small balance due, but that is not due until March of this year.
It's like $688 or something to that effect.
A6 is the zoning site plan.
A7 are typical floor plans.
And A8 is the renderings and photos as provided by Landmark Architecture.
A-9 are photographs of the posting, subject property, some street views and some aerial views.
A-10 is the RCO meeting notice and certificate of mailing.
A-11 is the RCO letter from Harrogate, which, again, as the chair mentioned, unanimous support for this application.
And A-12, if received, it would be a letter from Councilman Driscoll.
As an officer of the court, I can confirm that I clarified with his chief of staff, Tom Forkin, and his zoning liaison, Stan Sawinski, that the councilman has no objection or opposition to this application.
A13 is, I looked for relevant zoning history, but could not find any in the archives.
A14 is the zoning map, and A15 is an arrow photograph.
So briefly, we have the refusal, the application, project information form,
the deed. As you can see, he also owns 2224 East Venango,
and as well as the subject property at 2226 East Venango.
So again, there's the tax balance, $688, not due till March.
This is the elevation and site plan.
This is currently a vacant lot.
He proposes a three-story structure with a roof access structure for a roof deck.
The roof deck would serve the top apartment unit, which would be occupied and used by Mr. Rispo and his wife.
The second floor has a proposed deck out the rear for outdoor recreation area for that unit.
And then obviously the first floor would be the office.
Again, here is the site plan.
Let me blow that up so you can see it better.
So, the top floor would be 1,016 square feet, be a two-bedroom apartment with access to
the roof, that deck.
Second floor apartment would be 850 square feet, according to the floor plan.
Again, two bedrooms, two baths.
There's a common entry for the apartments shown here on the plan to the left of the office space.
The commercial office area is approximately 923 square feet, includes a conference room in the back, an ADA accessible restroom, a little kitchenette for the office workers.
We anticipate two employees on site at any given time.
um here's some photographs as you can see it's the fenced-in lot as depicted in the
photographs we have some other photos of uh some of the adjoining properties and other
We have some other photos of some of the adjoining properties and other properties on the street.
This is an elevation rendering of the front.
Again, you would have the office door to the right, the entry to the apartments on the left, a typical brick facade, which would be incorporated into the aesthetics and whatnot of the neighborhood.
Again, another copy of the site plan in elevation.
photographs of the posting
it's got the poster and the refusal
clearly visible on the front fence
this is the corner property
used to be Big Al's Deli
I'm not sure what's there now
and the structure to the right
is 2224
East Venango also owned by
the Rispos
another copy of the poster
these are some google street photos that i downloaded here's an angle from google earth
you can see the property located where the red dot is another google aerial
the letter from arrogate as you can see it was 14 members in attendance
voted in support zero members in non-opposition
copy of the rco meeting notice the addresses that was sent to
the certificate of mailing through m3printing.com
this is the zoning map it is zoned rsa5 and just another google aerial that is the sum and
substance of our application uh if the board has any questions i'd be more than happy to answer
or bring Agata on or Mr. Rispow in any event.
Why don't you bring the owner on and adopt your testimony?
Very good.
Matt, could you raise your hand and I'll let you speak.
Matthew Rispow is promoted.
Mr. Rispow, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Rispow, M-A-T-T-H-E-W-R-I-S-P-O.
Do you swear or affirm to tell...
Did I swear you in once today?
He raised his hand earlier in the day by accident.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Matt, you've heard my representations to the board?
I know.
Are they true and correct to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief?
And would you adopt them as your own testimony?
very good
I'm sorry excuse me this is the court reporter I apologize
I did not hear his last two responses could you please repeat
the representations I made are true and correct
to your best of your knowledge information and belief
okay and do you adopt them as your own testimony
thank you
counsel do you have parking on this location
parking Matt is there is there parking on this garage there is a garage okay first floor
is that entered from the front that is okay thank you all right questions from the board yeah um
how tall would the
building be with the roof deck
and are there any
other three-story
buildings on the block?
There is
other three-story buildings. I'm not sure.
I don't have the drawings right in front of me
showing with the actual
final height.
Here's that the
structure
36 and a half feet
to the roof line
and then there's a
three foot six inch railing
on top of that
is that the pilot house
roof or the actual
no that would be that would be the
the roof of the building
not the not the pilot house
elevation
oh yeah sure
a second
so let me blow that up a little bit for you
so as you can see here it says 36 feet 5 inches uh maximum height would be 38 feet
So the height complies with the code. We're not seeking any variances for the height, nor the roof deck and pilot house.
so the the height complies with the code
Other questions?
Are there any other buildings on this block that have the garage at the first level? And have you already gotten approval for your curb cut from streets?
i would defer to uh agata on that one can uh she be uh elevated
no there there is other buildings on the street with the garage door on the same block
agada yes agada is coming in there okay thank you doreen and then just while while they're coming
i guess i'm trying to confirm because when you showed the plan it looked like
the what you're now saying is the garage door looked like it was a big room for the office
and that the car
was at the rear
and that's different than what
you verbally testified
and it doesn't quite match the drawing
so we're just trying to get clarity
Right there is the garage door
and that's where the car could be parked
right there in that square
and the back
because I don't know if you're mistaken
at the conference area
Agata Reister
can you please unmute yourself
yes good afternoon Agata Reister
landmark architectural
design
could you state your name and spell for the stenographer
Agata Reister
A-G-A-T-A
R-E-I-S-T-E-R
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
You've heard my representations to the board?
Are they true and correct to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief?
I guess with the correction of the access to the parking space, Matthew runs an HVAC company,
and what he wanted was an office that he can also bring in materials,
potentially park a vehicle if possible.
The space will be finished.
What you see in the front elevation is a garage door with the man door.
Occasionally there might be a unit that will have to be delivered
and stored temporarily in there.
Sometimes they are larger than 36 inches.
He will be able to then open the garage door up and store the material
and then bring the material out.
but it is intended to be a nice finished space
with basically having the flexibility
to accommodate his professional business
that he has right now.
It's really, it's like storage and loading dock
more than it is permanent parking space.
Like, is your truck going to be in there every day?
No, no.
Only when you have to load and load things out.
Any other questions on the board?
Questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions from the audience?
Questions from the virtual audience?
There are no questions, Chair.
Amy Board with the planning commission.
um the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa 5 residential single-family zoning
at this location the city zoned this property in 2018 in accord with recommendation from the
comprehensive plan at this time the zoning of this property had been single-family since 1972.
this is a 1636 square foot lot neither unusually narrow nor unusually deep there are no unique
physical circumstances or conditions that would prevent the property from being used in strict
conforming with the zoning code this is a primarily residential single-family block face
and we also note that they may be missing a parking refusal for front loading in rsa5
the city planning commission recommends the board deny the proposed use variances for multiple
principal uses to family use and business and professional office mi 2024 005 791 22 2060
Finagle Street, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Iowan, my vote is yes.
Mr. Milo Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Mr. Chairman, have a great day.
Number 14, MI 2024-005-826-1222 South Harmony Street, Henry Clinton is the attorney.
we clear this coming in as a panelist
thank you mr chairman i can counsel could you please state your name and spell for the
court stenographer? Sure. Henry Clinton, H-E-N-R-Y Clinton, C-L-I-N-T-O-N. Do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? I do. Mr. Clinton, could you identify
your client or relationship to this property? Sure. My client is Cormac McAleer, C-O-R-M-A-C
McAleer, M-C-A-L-E-E-R. And he's on the call. You have unanimous support from the Grace Ferry
coalition and our vice chair has a few questions good afternoon counsel do you agree to wait to
read another refusal or stipulate to his accuracy i do mr shaheed have you emailed in all the
required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case five days in advance
of this hearing i have thank you counsel please proceed and share your screen thank you
is that visible mr chairman it is sir great again good afternoon mr chairman members of
the board, Henry Clinton, on behalf of Cornick McAleer. This is a proposal for a single-family
home in an I-2 zoning district with a garage on a block that is primarily residential,
although I'll show you there's some industrial, and several of the homes on the block already have
garages and a curb cut and directly across the street. The industrial buildings also have curb
cuts. I'll walk you through the presentation. Table of contents A1 through A10, which I ask
be admitted. Refusal being the key document. This is in an I-2 zoning district, and I'll show you
the zoning map. The whole area is I-2, but it's primarily residential. We have refusal for
proposed use. Single-family household living is prohibited in the industrial district,
and our rear yard depth is supposed to be eight feet. It's only six,
but we are matching the depth of the houses on either side.
And as the chairman mentioned, we do have support from the Grace Ferry Coalition of Neighbors.
Photographs. So this is certainly an interesting part of the city.
This is the furthest point you can go in South Philadelphia until it becomes West Philadelphia.
This is the Grace Ferry Avenue Bridge. Once you cross that bridge, you're then in West Philadelphia.
And this is known as the Crescent.
Those familiar with the bike path, the bike path is going to wrap around this crescent, jump over a bridge and head all the way out to Bartram Garden.
So that's a little bit of background. But this whole area was industrial at one time.
But you can see there's all single family homes to the south.
There's a FedEx building to the west. And then the Pennovation Center is right here at 34th and Grace Ferry.
And then there's an incinerator trash area for trash trucks right here.
So the property is right here.
This is a close-up.
It's a vacant lot right now.
This is the residential properties on the west side of the street.
You can see the three homes that are to the north, actually constructed by my client,
are going to be basically reflected in the same type of home that he's going to build,
hopefully on this vacant lot.
This is a shot looking south on Harmony Street,
looking north on Harmony Street,
and then showing you the industrial slash commercial buildings
that are across the street.
Proof that the signs were posted, giving everyone notice.
And here are the plans.
So for this particular structure, instead of using metal siding on the front,
Mr. McAleer has decided to go with the standard red brick, which is preferred in the Bryce Ferry
neighborhood. One door to enter the single-family home and a garage door. There will be no basement.
This will be built on slab. We do have streets approval. This is a stamp at the bottom of this
plan indicating there's ample turning radius to get in and out of the garage. And I'll address
And I'll address the rear yard right now. So you can see that we're equal to the depth of the house to the north and we're less than the depth of the house to the south.
the rear yard right now. So you can see that we're equal to the depth of the house.
So our rear yard is six feet and then there's a three foot alleyway behind that.
Floor plan, relatively straightforward. I'll start from the left and move right.
First floor is a garage, as I said, slab on grade, a powder room, rear door to get to the yard.
You would come in the front door, go up to the second floor, have a living dining area and the kitchen in the rear.
Third floor, two bedrooms and a bath and our access to the roof for rooftop deck.
This is just, again, showing the turning radius in and out of the garage and also the sight lines from the middle of the block down to Wharton Street.
This is our application for appeal, project information form, our tax clearance, zoning map.
Again, as I mentioned several times, you can see this whole area was one time was industrial, I-2, but it's more residential now than it ever was, and it's continuing to trend in that direction.
The deed indicating ownership by Mr. McAleer, notice letter to the community, advising of the community meeting in early January, as well as the ZBA hearing today, proof of mailing, and that's really the presentation.
So what we're asking for is a single-family home on a block where there are numerous single-family homes already across the street from some industrial properties.
The facade will be all brick.
It's going to be in between two homes, a two-story on the one side and an existing three-story on the north side.
We're basically in harmony with, maybe not in harmony with the code because of the I-2 zoning district, but in harmony with the uses on the block, primarily residential.
We're not impacting any adjacent properties, light or air.
We are also not impacting any type of open air space or height.
We're all in conformance with that.
The request is basically a residential use in an industrial zoned area with a front loaded garage.
That's my presentation, Mr. Chairman.
Certainly, I'd ask my client to unmute himself.
Mr. McAleer, if you're still on the call, can you unmute yourself to adopt a testimony?
I know he was on the call starting at 930, so I don't know.
Counsel, we will gladly accept your testimony.
Is that Mr. McAleer now?
Yeah, he's there.
He should be coming in now.
Mr. McAleer, could you put your video on, please?
Mr. McAleer. Yes. Hello. Hi. Could you put your video on?
That's on. Okay. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do. Please proceed, counsel. Mr. McAleer,
were you on the call when I presented your project at 1222 South Harmony Street?
yes and did you hear what i said about your project
yes and if you had the opportunity to testify would you adopt my testimony
as your own and as true and correct
yes thank you mr mackalair questions for the board did you confirm that there was a full
uh support for this project well the support from the community group yes yes uh
three three um where is here it was three support none against okay so only three folks okay
any other questions questions from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the audience questions or comments from the
virtual audience there are there are no hands chair
with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this
location from i2 medium industrial to rsa5 residential single family this neighborhood
this neighborhood still carries the original zoning from the 1933 zoning maps the proposed
still carries the original zoning from the 1933 zoning maps the proposed
zoning of rsa 5 would allow single-family use and the proposal for six foot deep rear yard
matches the character of the other homes in this block base the planning commission recommends that
the board grant the requested variances for rear yard and single-family dwelling thank you mi2024
MI 2024-005-826-1222 South Harmony Street, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Tyowin, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shahi, my vote is yes.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Is there anyone in the audience whose 930 case has not been called?
We're going to go to our 2 p.m. list.
Good afternoon. My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this meeting.
We're going to take a moment of silence at the beginning for the terrible airplane crash that the city experienced and the response from the city and all the people who were there and from the police to the fire to the utility workers.
So we're just going to take about a one minute break.
Thank you very much. With me is our Vice Chair, Ismail Shahid.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, Cheryl L. Gaston.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, Tenetta Graham.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, Michael Johns.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
And our Board Member, Taya Nguyen.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also present is our Attorney, Hillary Emerson, and Ian Haggerty, our Executive Director of Zoning.
Please be advised that this meeting is being recorded. Your participation in this meeting indicates your consent to be recorded. A video will be posted on the ZBA website approximately one week following the meeting.
The meeting is held in person with remote capabilities, meaning that individuals can participate either in person, at the hearing room, in the one parkway building, or remotely over Zoom.
When you're recognized to speak by the board, please state and spell your name for the court reporter, then wait to be sworn in.
If you're in the hearing room, you must speak into a microphone so that everyone in attendance, including the court reporter, can hear you.
If you're participating remotely, please turn on your camera and unmute yourself when you're recognized to speak.
Once you've been sworn in, please state your name each time before testifying, whether you're in person or remote, so the court reporter knows who is speaking.
Please mute yourself or turn off your microphone when you're not speaking.
If you're participating by phone, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
mute. If you're participating by phone, please call 267-270-5548 to register your appearance
or close the business day after the hearing. You must provide an email address and the address of
the property you're interested in. All others can enter your appearance through the Zoom
registration. For individuals participating in person, a QR code is available to register your
appearance. For assistance, please see a staff member at the back of the hearing room. If you
have any questions about how to enter your appearance, please contact RCOZBA at phil.gov.
If you're in the hearing room, please refrain from talking or engaging in conversation while
the hearings are preceded. Please note that eating or drinking in the hearing room is prohibited.
In addition, verbal and physical aggression will not be tolerated. If you're participating
remotely, remember that a Q&A on the Zoom platform is not for testimony or comments.
Any concerns related to the hearing operation should be directed to ZBA Executive Director
at phil.gov. Before we begin, our Executive Director, Ian Haggerty, has an important safety
announcement. Ian? Thank you, Chair Bergman. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the ZBA
hearing room. In the event of an emergency, I want to remind everyone, please pay attention
to the announcements that come over the loudspeaker. If no announcement is heard, please just follow
the directions of security officers or the ZBA staff. The main exit is through the double doors
at the rear of the room where you came in. If an order is given to evacuate the room for any reason,
the stairway is to the left outside the double doors. If an order is given to evacuate the
building for any reason, the rally point will be at Love Park. That's directly across the street
from the main entrance to this building please remain at the rally point so that we can account
for you as a reminder restrooms are located right across from the elevators and there's a water
fountain just outside the double doors to the right thanks and welcome thank you so let's look
Thank you. So let's look at our schedule.
at our schedule number 11 mi20
Number 11, MI 2024, 006-674, 4611 Emory Street.
That case is continued until June 11th, 25.
Number 12, MI 2024, 006-677, 3028 North 15th Street.
That case is continued, Attorney Moving Party.
Are there any other requests for
contingencies?
We also have
a hand
Bern Anastasio has a hand up.
He's been promoted.
Good afternoon, Bern.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the board.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes, sir. It's Vern Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Is the case you want 2315 West Cumberland?
No, sir. I'm prepared to put that case on today.
Okay. What case?
It's 2021 Stenton Avenue.
Bernie, number 13 is 2021 Stenton.
We have no exhibits.
This is the first listing.
Yes, sir.
We are in the process of trying to meet with the RCO.
As a request, I'm asking for a continuance today.
Thank you.
Okay, fine.
So MI 2024-006-699-2021 Stanton Avenue, cases continue to June 11th, 25, at 2 p.m.
Thank you.
Anyone else?
There are no more hands, Chair.
I'm going to vote on three cases, and we have an add-on.
So MI 2024-006-40045 West Seymour Street.
MI 2024-006-40149 West Seymour Street.
And number three, MI 2024-006-465-47 West Seymour Street, I vote yes to all three.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes to all three.
Excuse me, Mr. Chair, there is at least, there's two provisos for those cases.
what what um it's a revised plans this is for all three of them um revised plans one page
stamped today february 5th 2025 and then a maximum of four dwelling units revised plans
um today's date one five double two five twenty five and one page one page maximum four units
John, my vote is yes with provisos.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with provisos.
Tana Graham, my vote is no on all three.
Tywin, my vote is yes with provisos.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes with provisos.
Thank you.
We're going to go to our number one case, MI2024, 002258, 2315 West Cumberland Street.
Bernan Anastasio is the attorney.
Bernan Anastasio is returning as a panelist.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the board.
Counsel, you've already been sworn.
Just for the record, could you state your name?
Yes, Vern Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O.
Could you identify your client in a relationship to this property?
I represent Mr. Jerome Wichit on this particular case.
For a point of information-
I'm sorry, Derek Atkinson, my apologies.
okay for a point of information i have a letter of opposition from strawberry mansion community
For a point of information, I have a letter of opposition from Strawberry Mansion Community.
concern.
concern and also a petition in support with 19 signatures our uh vice chair has a few questions
thank you good afternoon council do you agree to wait to read another refusal or stipulate to
exact person i do have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed
to proceed with this case five days in advance this hearing i have thank you council please
proceed and show the screen thank you mr chair i represent mr derrick atkins excuse me mr anastasia
i just wanted to note one other update for the record that um we also received a letter of
opposition from councilmember young so thank you sorry very good thank you 23 uh 15 west cumberland
Street. Derek Atkinson is my client. I have a 73-page exhibit binder here, and it includes
the assigned petition of immediate neighbors in support of the legalization of this pre-existing
use. The last exhibit in my binder are MLS listings from Reddit and Zillow, showing that
the property was marketed and sold as a two-family dwelling. So 2315 West Cumberland Street,
the application was to legalize the pre-existing use. It's been refused because the underlying
zoning classification is in fact RSA 5. As you can see, it was refused because the two-family
dwelling is not allowed in an RSA 5 district and with that I'm going to share my plans
first let's get to the basement area here
no living space just a water heaters and storage
a first floor unit will be entered through the porch then a vestibule and then of course
into the first floor we have a living room full bath
a bedroom and a study the kitchen in the rear that is eat-in and trash storage for the first floor
unit the second floor unit is very much the same up the stairs into the living room eat-in kitchen
with a trash closet that is sealed with an exhaust fan outside for trash storage,
a full bath, a den, and a bedroom in the rear.
I'm going to pull this out.
Oh, everything just went blank on me for some reason.
I'm going to stop sharing and I'm going to reshare.
My apologies.
Something's going on here with the.
I stopped sharing.
I'm going to reshare my screen.
Okay, we went through the refusal and we went through the plans.
And I'd like to share some photos.
Property in question.
Included in the exhibit packet is a long history of the property being used for commercial
being used for commercial on the first floor
on the first floor and a one-family dwelling above.
and a one-family dwelling above.
When my client purchased this property,
it had been separated as a two-family dwelling.
And these are the photos that you're seeing here.
This was at purchase.
to kitchens, to electric meters.
Here's the letter that went out to the community,
inviting folks to the public meeting November 14th.
And of course, the hearing that was postponed previously.
Here are the addresses.
everybody was notified which is uh the result of our meeting 174 individual households
were in fact notified here's the poster that was posted inviting everyone to today's hearing
it's the proof of posting on the property
And then the aforementioned history of the property for a very long time.
It was a funeral parlor on the first floor since 1940 with a one family residence above.
At some point prior to my client's purchase, the funeral parlor was converted into a separate apartment with the basement being vacant.
There was an application at some point for a two-family dwelling.
and as you can see here
this too speaks to the two family dwelling the youth certificate
This letter is sent to the zoning board saying that the property had been in continuous use as a funeral parlor and a one-family dwelling above.
Here's the deed that shows that my client purchased it at the end of 2023 in its current condition.
And all of the associated documents with that.
Here's a bird's eye view of the property and a zoning map of the property.
As you can see, it's extraordinary long as compared to the homes behind it.
Here is signatures of everyone who lives on West Cumberland in support of the legalization of the two family dwelling.
They know the history of the property. They know that the previous owner converted this property and sold it to my client, marketed as.
As you can see here, property is currently vacant and set up and zoned as a duplex.
And this is the information that my client relied upon at the listing.
And then, of course, based on the information that was provided by the realtors, he purchased the property because it presented itself as a two-family dwelling and learned last year that it was not zoned correctly.
and as a result have asked me to take this before you
to get the legalization of the non-conforming pre-existing use.
As such, because of the long history of the property being anything but a single-family home,
because the conversion of the two-family dwelling was done by the previous owner,
and because my client reasonably relied upon the MLS listing and the marketing of this property as
The MLS listing and the marketing of this property as a legally zoned to family dwelling.
I'm going to ask that the board respectfully grant the variance in this particular case.
And with that, I'd like Mr. Derek Atkinson to raise his virtual hand.
And so it has been promoted.
Mr. Atkinson, could you please state your name
and spell for the stenographer?
Mr. Atkinson?
Yes, how are you?
Hi. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, sir. Derek, D-E-R-R-I-C-K, Atkinson, A-T-K-I-N-S-O-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Atkinson, did you hear my presentation to the board this afternoon?
Yes, sir.
Is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
Yes, sir.
And you adopt it as your own testimony.
Yes, sir.
Just to be clear, you saw the MLS listings in 2023, more than one, several listings, promoting this property as a legally zoned two family dwelling.
Is that right?
And you purchased it at the end of 2023.
Is that right?
Thank you.
Thank you.
Nothing further, Mr. Chair.
Questions from the board.
Has any work been done in the unit since purchase?
I was going to say nothing that requires a building permit,
but I will also defer to Mr. Atkinson.
That wasn't my question.
My question, has any work been done?
Mr. Atkinson, has any work been done in the property upon purchase?
um yeah he did some cosmetics okay thank you
and then to be clear um you said that the the what is the specific hardship that we're
claiming is that it was uh assumed as a duplex at purchase based on its listing in zillow and
therefore it cannot be returned to a single family use it can't be it can't it would have
to be gutted and returned to a single family home, which of course would put the property
upside down financially. The property presented itself as a two-family dwelling. The history
certainly supported that. And more importantly, on every occasion, the MLS listing and every
realtor that marketed it marketed it as a legal two-family dwelling. And our exhibit actually
proves that. So for those reasons, he just would like to be able to purchase what he thought he
bought. Obviously, he bought it at a premium thinking that it was illegal to family. And that
would further, you know, damage his interests, if you were unable to actually realize what he
purchased. And, you know, and the price he paid was based on that to family.
And what was the price that was purchased for in 2023?
I don't know. In the least, though. Let me take a look.
Well, according to records that are public and available online, it was purchased for $89,000.
Well, it was listed for $212,000.
I know. That's why I asked.
And it says sold for $89,000. Yep.
Correct. So it was purchased for $89,000. Okay. No, I have no other questions.
Other questions from the board?
questions or comments from our attorney
Hillary Emerson
not at this time Mr. Chair
questions from the audience
questions from the virtual audience
Chair I have Tracy
L with a hand up will be allowed
to speak
hi Tracy hi can you hear me I can could you please state your name and spell for the court
sonographer hi my name is tracy eel e l right t-r-a-c-y tracy okay do you swear or affirm
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes
Yes, I do.
Tracy, are you a neighbor?
Yes, I live directly across the street from this property.
Please proceed.
I'm concerned about some of the, first of all, one of the documents that he had there
said 2315 East Cumberland Street.
It didn't reference West Cumberland Street.
and I don't remember it being a funeral home
and I've lived in a neighborhood, not on Cumberland Street,
but I lived in the neighborhood for the last 60 years or so.
And I like to say that in terms of the integrity of the block,
it's always been a single homeowner's single family homes
And just the culture of the block is one that encourages single-family homes.
Duplexes start encouraging other types of activity on the block in terms of just crowding in, just crowded conditions at this point, crowded parking conditions, crowded living conditions.
um the the initial um the initial request was to turn it into two two bedroom apartments but
they just renamed the rooms a den and they renamed it another name but they intend to use it as a
bedroom but it's not set up officially because the space is not there a bedroom has to have a closet
But they're not accounting for some of those things. So I'd just like to say that in terms of the culture of the block, it's always been a single family. And we, the neighbors, we signed petitions also. And we got over 30 signatures to say that it should be kept single family home.
Okay. Thank you for taking the time to call. Mr. Anastasia, do you have any questions?
Not for this witness, Mr. Chair. Again, this was physically set up, marketed, promoted, and sold as a two-family dwelling. Page 72 of my exhibit shows that.
The plans are for two one-bedroom apartments in order to reduce the concerns about density that some of the folks at the community meeting had.
However, overwhelming majority of the folks on the block support this, which is why we submitted our petition.
Thank you.
I'm sorry.
Good question.
How many other duplexes are on the block that you know of, Vern?
Thank you.
They may not all be legal, but there are more than three, two and or three family dwellings.
Thank you. Anyone else in the audience?
I can't speak to how many were marketed and sold as that. I can only speak to this one.
Thank you.
This was a legally marketed, sold duplex.
Planning Commission. Two more hands. Okay.
The first one is Strawberry Mansion Community Concern has been promoted.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
They're coming in now.
Hi, can you hear me?
I can.
Please state your name and spell for the stenographer.
Bonita Cummings, B-O-N-I-T-A-C-U-M-M-I-N-G-S.
Strawberry Mansion?
Community Concern and RCO.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
I just wanted to also state that the petitions are dated after our community meeting.
None of that was presented at the time of the public meeting.
and none of those residents on that petition that was demonstrated today were present at that
meeting. The members that were present at that meeting did have also, they do have also a
petition. There was some technical difficulty with getting it where it could be loaded up to
the zoning board. So, you know, this, the idea of pitting neighbors against one another after the
fact is very harmful, and they have to live in those blocks together. None of those people were
in attendance, as you can see from the dates, to the concerns of the residents who did take the
time to participate in the public meeting. Also, there were renovations. We went out to do
Also, there were renovations. We went out to do visits to that property. We witnessed, which we did reach out to L&I, I'm not sure what their position was, of renovations being done to accommodate what they are indicating was already available.
The last known family in that property was in that property as a single family property, not as a duplex.
And so I just wanted to indicate those things and that there is no demonstrated hardship for this property.
And the preservation of the neighborhood character for that particular block is what is trying to be preserved.
And it is one of the better blocks and a good block, family block, in the Story Mansion community.
Thank you. Thank you for taking the time. Mr. Anastasia, you have any questions?
Just again, to point to the history of the property, there is a history showing from several decades ago that the property was attempted to be converted to a two family dwelling.
and that if we asked the witness how many members of the immediate block who are mostly impacted
attended the RCO meeting, she would have to tell you that there were very few, less than a handful,
which is why we went door to door on the block, showed everyone the refusal and the plans,
asking for their support, and they wholeheartedly...
One more person, Verna. I'm going to move on to the next person.
Yes, the next one would be a person calling in with the last four numbers, 3552, will be promoted.
Aye, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
This is Adrienne Fernandez, Swampoodle Neighborhood Process Association, RCO.
Adrienne, just for the record, state your name and spell for the stenographer.
Adrienne Fernandez, and my last name is spelled F-E-R-N-A-N-D-E-Z.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
This house can be rented out successfully as a single-family home.
In our wider region, single-family home rentals are very successful.
And for the extra couple hundred dollars a month that the owner is seeking, it's not worth violating the preservation overlay or the character of the neighborhood, which I'm very familiar with because my family has had friends on these blocks since I was a child.
I had no idea that house was being used as multifamily, and the proper information about the type of zoning was easily available on many free city records, Philo.gov records, but that information was available.
That was not a multifamily address.
We are definitely opposed to it being changed to multifamily.
Also in this area, in that particular small area, we have a lot of the oldest.
We have a highest concentration of like centurions, like a lot of the oldest relatives, oldest, excuse me, neighbors in our area.
And increasing occupancy in the homes is not to their benefit.
Many of these neighbors sell their homes to each other.
And that's information I know from our family friends in that area.
so um i'm opposed to it okay um it should stay a single family and also um if the board votes to
allow multi-family i would add which i hope not but i would ask that um provisos would be that
it's limited to two apartments there's no basement living the trash has to stay indoors
Okay. Thank you very much. Is there anyone else in the audience? Planning Commission.
Amy Wood with the Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the existing single-family residential RSA 5.
The appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique physical circumstances or conditions of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance to the zoning code.
The Planning Commission recommends that the board deny the requested variance for multifamily.
Thank you.
This case is being held for discussion in executive session and vote on February 12th at 2 p.m.
Thank you.
Mr. Chair, if I just could just briefly comment on the Planning Commission's recommendation.
Mr. Chair, if I just could just briefly comment on the Planning Commission's recommendation.
Thank you.
The unique physical condition is that the property is physically set up, presents itself as a two-family dwelling.
My client did not convert this.
He did not create this hardship.
The property was physically set up.
it was marketed, as my evidence shows, it was sold, and it was purchased as a physical two-family
dwelling. And all the evidence suggests that that's exactly what happened here. As a result,
we're not asking to change anything. We literally want to legalize the pre-existing non-conforming
use that was set up, marketed, and sold and purchased as a two-family dwelling. And thank you.
Thank you. And as I stated, this case is being held for discussion and executive session and vote on February 12th at 2 p.m.
Number two, MI 2024-005-504-2300 North 18th Street.
Al Nockmson is the attorney.
so knockamson could you state your name and spell it for the stenographer
uh yes uh alan a-l-a-n last name knockamson n-o-c-h-u-m-s-o-n do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do thank you there's a letter of
conditional support from all in the family group associates the rco wants specificity regarding the
proposed commercial use um our vice chair has a few questions for you good afternoon council do
you agree to leave the reading of the refusal or stipulate to attack this i do have you emailed in
all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case five days in
advance of this hearing yes we have thank you council please proceed mr knockamson before you
start so um hillary has a note here you may need to request updated revised plans could not locate
egress wells on plan to jason to proviso form i think there was a i think there was a yeah that's
a note to me because i think the i think the original plans are with the proviso form in the
packet so it's just a note to be to make sure if this is granted that the correct plans are stamped
okay so yeah because i think i think they're late maybe later on in the packet
but they weren't with the proviso form it looked like the original plans so but that
yeah that's just a note for me for later all right all right getting feedback i don't know why but
let's see um let's see i'm going to share my screen
Hi, so I'm here to present 2300 North 18th Street. This is a project that was actually recently approved by the board, not recently, a few years ago, for two residential units above and a commercial unit on the first floor and a lower level. This is a CMX1 property. What happened is my client used an architect who...
Hey, can you speak up a little bit? It's a little hard to hear you.
I'm going to put it as close as possible. They butchered the drawings. And so when they discovered it, we were outside the 18-month administrative review process. So we have to go through this whole process again.
The only change is that the building structure now takes the full width of the property before it was like a few inches off and that was discovered at the building permit application stage.
So this is something that the ZBA has seen before or another aeration that ZBA saw before and approved.
So during our presentation, we'll review the notice of refusal.
As the chairman stated, there was conditional support for this project.
the condition is they want us to make sure that we use the commercial unit as cmx1 zoning which
we have no objection to so we wouldn't object to a proviso limiting the commercial unit to cmx1 uses
second uh the third um exhibit is the revised proviso plan form at the request of the community
we put an egress well in the back for the commercial unit.
There's no residential units in the lower level.
Then the property history, which includes the zoning permit where the ZBA approved two units above and one unit on the ground floor in a lower level.
And then it's not uncommon to have this type of nearby nonconforming multifamily use.
There's multiple instances of multiple residential units on this block.
Then we'll review maps of the area and photographs of the property or plants.
Then we'll review maps of the area and photographs of the property or plants and drawings.
I have Chris Johnson of 24 seven design who designed this project also in the virtual audience should be.
It's the owner of the property, Brian Wise, and he'll adopt my testimony.
Then we have the RCO meeting notice where we'll show proof that we mailed notice of the community meeting to addresses within a 250 square foot radius.
Then our application for appeal, our deed to the property, and our certificate of tax clearance.
Again, this is what this board has seen before. Again, we had a technical issue at the building
permit stage. That's why we're back here, but the notice refusal is simple. It's straightforward.
It's a commercial unit vacant on the first floor and lower level, and we would agree to a proviso
limiting us to CMX1 uses. I mean, this is a CMX1 property, and we're asking for two
family dwelling above. Because we're next to an RSA 5 property, we're only limited to one unit
above, residential unit above, and that's what our variance is about. And then we have a de
minimis variance in terms of occupied area. And then the correspondence, it's a long letter,
but ultimately, we laid our cards on the table. We're like, yes, we want to limit ourselves to
CMX1 zoning, or the uses for CMX1 zoning, and if we seek something above and beyond
that, we're going to have to come back here and get a variance, and that's basically what
their letter states, too, and then they put out, like, what is the maybe applicable CMX1
zonings that they're going to, you know, potentially see for this property, and then these are
revised plans and again notation that we added the egress well in the basement for for the basement
uh that was at the request of the community and then we'll confirm it if we have the latest
installment of those plans obviously we don't want to have to come here for a third time
uh property history again as you can see here we met with the zba um on october 26 2022 and was
again for multifamily two-family dwelling with a commercial on the ground floor and in the lower
level and there were two provisos which we would also ask that would be part of this matter as well
commercial trash pickup as well as trash stored in the rear and then you can look at the history
of this property this was a two plus one even before we got the approval a few years ago and
there's nearby uh properties 2302 north 12th north 18th street is two family dwelling uh 22
uh 55 north 18th street is a two-family dwelling 2248 north bouvet street two family dwelling and
goes on and on um we're at the corner of dolphin and 18th street here photographs of the property
from North 18th Street, from Dolphin Street, proof of posting for today's hearing on both sides of
the street. This property has been a vacant lot for the longest period of time as far back as
Google Street View goes here in September of 2009. This is North 18th Street to the right of the
property, to the left of the property, Dolphin Street to the right of the property, to the left
of the property our plants and drawings again pretty straightforward simple architecture
nice brick facade uh the commercial unit has a lot a lot of nice light and air to it
and then as you can see because we're a corner property we can take advantage
of everyone having access to their rear yard which we're hoping to store the trash
and then just our floor plans simply um on 18th street you come in for the commercial space and
then there's the lower level where's the basement the commercial units actually uh come in through
dauphin street right here and then each of the units are it's on its own floor and as you can
see here ample size living room and kitchen windows in the living room there's two bathrooms
again each bedroom has windows as well and the same thing for unit two on the third floor
rco meeting notice we met on january 13th proof of email of that notice to coordinating rco and
relevant parties we we showed them that we mailed it to 258 addresses these are the addresses we
mailed it to, proof of mailing to those addresses, our deed to the property showing 2300 and
18th Street Holdings LLCs, the owner of the property, application for appeal we filed
to the ZBA along with the notice of refusal and the project information form, and then
and the project information form and then our certificate of tax clearance
our certificate of tax clearance.
i would ask that mr wise virtually raise his hand and be sworn in
thank you
Mr. Wise
Mr. Wise
Mr. Wise should be coming in
Good afternoon
Hi Mr. Weiss could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
Bryant Wise
B-R-I-A-N-W-I-S-E
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
The whole truth and nothing but the truth
Yes I do
Please proceed counsel
Yes Mr. Wise you heard everything I had to say today about your zoning matter
Yes I did
And is it true and correct?
Correct.
And do you adopt this as your own testimony?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
Yeah, could you just give me the height of the building?
The height of the building is 32 feet high from the roof line.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Other questions from the board?
Are you doing trash pickup?
Yes, that would be one of the provisos that was requested last time from the ZBA,
and that would be a proviso this time as well.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Wait a minute.
What's in the basement?
It's just a commercial unit,
and then the first floor and the lower level of the commercial unit.
There's no basement.
There's no what?
Basement.
It's a basement, lower level, but yes.
I mean, there's a basement for the commercial unit.
And what's in it?
The commercial unit.
All right.
No, it's okay. Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
I just wanted to note for the board that I did note the prior – on your summary, the prior provisos from the previous case, if you do wish to incorporate those, the commercial trash pickup and trash sorting rear.
As well as the revised plans that are proposed.
Anyone in the audience?
Anyone in the virtual audience?
No hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Amy Ward with the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the existing commercial mixed-use CMX1.
The appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique physical conditions or circumstances of the property.
They would prevent it from being used in conformance to the zoning code.
The Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny the requested variance for multifamily and max-occupied area.
Thank you.
MI 2024-005-504-2300 North 18th Street.
I vote yes with proviso.
Revised plans, one page, stamped by ZBA, February 5th, 2025.
Commercial trash pickup stored in the rear.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.
up. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with provisos. Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with provisos.
Tywin, my vote is yes with provisos. Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with provisos.
Mr. Knocklebson, could you stay for number four? Yes, thank you. So MI 2024-006-582-1113
lee park street mr knockamson just for the record could you state your name yes alan knockamson and
there's a letter of support from the fish town neighbors association vote was 28 in support
for an opposition letter of non-opposition from council member squilla the applicant also
has a petition of support with nine signatures seven from the building um
well a very share has a few questions good afternoon counsel do you agree to
wait to read another refusal or stipulate towards accuracy i do have you emailed in
all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case
five days in advance of this hearing yes we have thank you please proceed and share your screen
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
All right. To my left is Irvin Dowdy, the owner of the property. He actually developed this
five-unit development. It's three units on Leopard and two units on Downton,
and it's the downtown side that he's where he lives actually the upper unit where he's looking
to put like an extension of his pilot house so if you see right here this is where the pilot house
is and he's doing an indoor outdoor uh deck arrangement where he has extending the out
the indoor arrangement to make it into a four season room here and then obviously then have
more of the outdoor here as well and updating it um so as indicated we met with the fishtown
neighbors association there was overwhelming support um in the in the letter itself it stated
that the community voiced no concerns or questions regarding this matter this was pretty straightforward
so we'll review the notice of refusal we have a letter of support not only from the fishtown
neighbor neighbor association we also have a letter of non-opposition from the council member
as well we have a petition of nearby neighbors to most people people most directly impacted as well
who are both you know tenants in the building but also nearby neighbors we also had verbal
communications with the neighbor to the right who would be the most directly impacted while he didn't
sign a letter of support he indicated that he had no objection to this matter uh we have a zoning
permit um in the as exhibit four which shows the allowance for this development we're not developing
this from scratch we're just adding we're enhancing essentially our roof deck aerial view of the
property in the surrounding area so across the street uh the board granted uh uh an apartment
building that's actually 58 feet high our proposed use for the pilot house is 50 feet high because
You know, we have the pilot house and now because of the expanded massing on the on the upper level, we're now count that that massing is counted as part of the height.
So we're 50 feet high, but across the street at 1120 Frankfurt Avenue, which casts a much larger shadow, it's 58 feet high.
So we're not out of character in the neighborhood itself.
um then we'll review uh both the zoning map and photographs of the property and surround the area
our plans and drawings our rco meeting notice and proof of mail in that notice our application for
appeal our deed to the property showing that urban's company mne properties llc is the owner
to the property and then our certificate of tax clearance and then at the conclusion of my
presentation i'll ask urban to hit that button so he's green not yet and then he'll be sworn in
And then I also have the architect from Evolve, Sam Turner, who can answer any technical questions you may have.
So our notice of refusal is pretty straightforward.
This is not an increase of density.
All we're trying to do essentially is blow out the the pilot house area, make an amazing deck, you know, for urban.
He lives there. He developed this property.
It's a nice property. And, you know, he's been a responsible landlord and he just wants to have a little bit more living arrangement.
on it on the deck area the only refusal we have is the height is you know because the
pilot house now is essentially expanded in in width and in length now that pilot house is
counting as part of the or the whole area is counting as part of the height of the building
which is 50 feet 11 inches again the building across the street at 1120 frankfurt avenue is
58 feet high. We have a letter of support, overwhelming support. There were a few people
who did not support it, but 41 people either supported or abstained, and only four people
opposed from the community and the board at large. And then even here, it states in bold,
during our community discussion part of the meeting, there were no questions or concerns
voiced um and they screened the project two weeks earlier and they had no issue either
and then here's a letter of non-opposition from council member squilla our petition of nearby
neighbors our zoning permit showing that this property was built uh pre you know by way of
zoning permit and then obviously a building permit our aerial view of the property so this is what
got it off of google street view this is an older version of the uh of this 1120 frankfort avenue
you'll see from the street views how high that is in comparison to the other properties and
how high that is in comparison to the other properties and actually shadows us but where
actually shadows us.
we are we're in the heart of fishtown this is gerard avenue this is our two properties leopards
and uh dunton street uh and this is uh east gerard avenue and this is frankfurt avenue
and then maps of the area again heart of fishtown and we're just right off of 95 as well
and then photographs of the property this is the property from the front on leopard
from dunton these are the zoning notice posters and posting them leopard to the right of the
property leopard to the left of the property dunton to the right of the property and then
this is the building that's really considered 1120 um frankfurt avenue which is 58 feet in height
architectural plans and drawings pretty straightforward here this is the old pilot
house and we're just building around the pilot house right here to have an indoor area and then
obviously this is the outdoor area and we're set back here as well by way of code and then this is
more from an illustrative point of view of what you're going to see there to help you guys out
and then we actually did a shadow study as well to show what was existing versus what it you know
there from a shadow perspective and what's proposed so really not much of a difference
and the people who were directly impacted did sign that petition or were communicated with and no one
had objection to that and then we also did the chef so we did a shadow study in the summer
and then the winter as well not much of a difference in terms of what would happen if we
if irvin built uh this uh expanded roof area
proof of uh our uh community notice we met on january 7th 2025 we emailed that notice to the
group and other relevant parties we told them that we mailed that notice to 94 addresses these are
addresses we mailed them to proof of mailing those addresses our application for appeal that
we followed to the zba along with the notice of refusal the project information form the deed to
their property showing that uh mne properties llc is the owner of the property and then finally
a certificate of tax clearance um i would ask that um urban be sworn in
sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer um my name is ervin and
mike you'll know mike on your microphone is it on oh yeah okay now you're heading down
name is ervin dowdy e-r-v-i-n the last name is dowdy d-a-u-t-i do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do please proceed counsel uh yes ervin you had
you heard everything i had to state today about your zoning matter yes i did and is it true and
correct it is and do you adopt as your own testimony i do thank you uh alan so this will
just be for the owner yeah it's it's above that's above his property it's above his his unit that's
right just for his all right questions for the board oh i have a question can you go back to
the rendering of the um the roof deck um my question is so just trying to get a clarity here
the the part that the pilot house and the front portion the outdoor portion that's already there
like you're already using the pilot house and the outdoor portion you just want to add the back part
the end the interior portion is that correct i think there's like a better i'm trying to find
the better drawing let me just why can't i find it now oh here it is so think of these stairs
that's this area this is where the pilot house is and then this you see these walls that are here
this is an this is basically he built around it the same height as the pilot house and that's an
interior section of the deck did I answer your question so it's already done no no this is what
we're okay right that's what I'm saying okay I mean this is what we're hoping to do okay I was
about to say wait a minute permission but okay so the question is so where the patio the outdoor part
that's what you're currently using right right well no yes that's right and i would think and
there's no increase on a high yeah i think like that and urban are you also using this area as
well you see right here that would be the indoor area or are you just limiting yourself to this so
far i just want to be what's it look like now yeah what does it look like now what if i walked up
to the pilot house what do i see looks like the outdoor area the whole thing is just a pilot house
Looks like the outdoor area, the whole thing, it's just a pilot house existing.
Exceeds
There is nothing there.
Yeah, so you used the whole...
There's no plan of existing of the roof plan?
If there is any picture?
No, there's no nothing.
It's just...
No, I'm saying there's no plan of the existing roof that shows the existing pilot house.
That's my question.
Well, I think what we have here is if we go a little bit earlier in the presentation,
I have the approved plans that were that are listed on Atlas.
That's all I have.
I should have probably brought a picture of the roof conditions.
So, yes, I know.
Is Mr. Turner on?
Sam, are you on?
He's the architect for the project.
Maybe he has something on his computer that could be helpful.
Mr. Turner.
so but we're just saying is the only thing that was existing was the
pilot house which is the just the stair to get up to the roof that's correct and he's currently
using the roof that the roof he's using the roof deck he just wants to enclose a portion of it but
i mean that's the question yeah i mean what what when he uses the roof deck what's there is there
like a patio i mean what does he sit on out there just sits on the roof no i'm assuming he has
chairs and yeah there is some chairs there is an outdoor yeah he just used his chairs and table
all right he just wants to create a portion of it as a four season use up there okay any other
questions from the board questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
yeah to me yeah i just wanted i did want to note um for the record that it appears as a refusal
missing because this is increasing the the floor area of a use that was approved by variants so
technically there should have been a refusal for that as well but i'm just noting it for the record
that we don't need to change anything but i just wanted to note that for the record
that's a different refusal than the height because that's kind of right no just because
the uses that are there the multi-family uses those were approved by variants and because
you're expanding the the those uses at the property you need another variance in order
to expand them so that what that was just a missed refusal but it's just just for the record okay
questions or comments from the audience questions or comments from the virtual audience yes chair
i have one by the name of robert everett will be promoted yeah it's the neighbor association mr everett
he's coming in now
Hi, Mr. Everett. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the stenographer?
I'm sorry. It took me a while.
No, that's okay, Mr. Everett. Just state your name and spell for the stenographer.
Sure. First name is Robert. Last name, Everett. E-V-E-R-E-T-T.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, Mr. Everett?
Please proceed, sir.
Just here to confirm the RCO vote for Fishtown Neighbors Association in support of the project.
Mr. Everett, thank you. It's usable for calling in. We appreciate it.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Alex Goldberg has his hand up.
Alex Goldberg.
Maybe he has some cleanup. Maybe we have a picture of the roof deck.
His hand has went down.
Mr. Goldberg does have his hand up.
Yes. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. Planting commission.
Chair, Mr. Goldberg has been promoted.
Okay. Mr. Goldberg. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman. I do have an aerial if you'd like me to share my screen.
Mr. Goldberg, could you first identify yourself and spell your name for the stenographer?
Sure. Alex Goldberg, A-L-E-X-G-O-L-D-B-E-R-G.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, told truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, Mr. Goldberg.
I've never done this before.
I know.
I'm waiting to see the cross-examination of you, by the way, but that's besides.
I'll let Alan take it from here, but there's your aerial of the existing roof deck.
So, there you go.
there you go there you go so it has i i think we use the full scope of the uh roof deck currently
right okay mr goldberg thank you very much for uh helping your uh superior colleague
planning commission
amy wood with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in
zoning at this location from the existing single family residential rsa5 the proposed addition is
on the interior of the property and will not exceed the height of the existing pilot house
and is in keeping with the heights of the surrounding buildings it will not injure the
use of adorning properties. The Planning Commission recommends that the board grant
their requested variance for roof building height. Thank you. So, MI 2024-006-582-1113
Leapart Street, I vote yes. Michael Johns, my vote is yes. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes. Dianne Wynne, my vote is yes.
Dishmael Shahid, my vote is yes. Thank you. Thank you. Have a great day.
Thank you. Thank you, everyone.
we could we could probably start we had we got enough yeah we're good all right
mi 2024 006 407 719 samson street rachel pritzker is the attorney
this recommendation of unanimous non-opposition from washington square civic recommendation of
anonymous non-opposition from society hill and a letter of non-opposition from council member
squilla rachel pritzker has been promoted okay
good afternoon hi council you've already been sworn in could you just for the
record state your name yes rachel pritzker and could you identify your client the relationship
to this property? Yeah, my client is Catherine and Anthony Backos on behalf of the estate of
Nicholas Backos. Okay, our vice chair has a few questions. Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree
to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to attack the scene? Yes. Have you emailed in all
the required documents and exhibits as needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of
this hearing? Yes. Thank you, counsel. Please proceed and choose. Thank you.
Okay. Can you see my screen?
We can.
I'm going to go right to the refusal. As mentioned, this is 719 Sansom Street. This property is owned CMX5, and we are proposing the use to legalize an existing single family household unit on the second floor of an existing structure with other previously approved uses.
we have one refusal which is for single family is not permitted in cmx5 this is a commercial
mixed-use building it has a jewelry store on the second floor and has a sushi restaurant on the
first floor if we were proposing three or four or five units here that would be by right but
given the small size of this we're only proposing one unit and that's determined by the code of
single family so despite this being commercial mixed use because there's only one multi-family
unit, it's considered single-family, and that's what generated the refusal here.
I'm just going to scroll down. There are several other properties in the block that are made up
similarly. 717, 715, and 720 Sansom. As the board is well aware, Sansom Street is a smaller street,
so typically find smaller properties with less units, even despite the CMX5 zoning.
As you can see, the whole block is CMX5.
Aerial view.
Front photos of the property with the zoning posters.
So as mentioned, it's got jewelry on the second floor.
As you can see, 719, the door to the left, and then a sushi restaurant on the ground floor.
It's a portion of the code.
Single family is not allowed.
However, if we were doing multifamily, three press units, we wouldn't be in front of the board.
We met with collectively Washington Square West Civic Association and Society Hill on the 26th of November.
As mentioned, we have unanimous support.
This is Washington Square West's letter, 14 in non-opposition.
And then we have a secondary letter from Society Hill, six of their members in non-opposition to our application.
we also have a letter of non-opposition from councilman marks willa um here are just floor
plans um our architect uh carl um should be in the audience if we can promote him to panelist
just to go through the existing plans
the existing plans
can you hear me i can could you please state your name and spell it for the court stenographer
and would you please turn on your video yes um
he's coming back in
as a band
Do we see his hand?
Okay, thank you.
Okay, sure.
Carl, please unmute yourself.
Hi, Carl, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Carl Enberger, Jr. It's C-A-R-L-E-M-B-E-R-G-E-R, and Jr. is J-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do. Counsel, please proceed.
Carl, could you just go through just the plans? I'll show the interior photos after, but just if you could walk the board through the plans.
Okay. I'm going to share my screen, if that's okay.
Okay. Let me just show the interior photos before you do that, because then we don't have to switch back and forth, if that's okay.
okay yeah um just so the board has some visuals on this it's a small uh unit as you can see
um these are the interior photos of the site of just this unit kitchen living room
front entrance small bedroom closet bathroom
Okay. You should be able to share your screen.
Okay. All right. Okay. I am showing currently the second floor plan, actually. The, as Rachel stated, the.
My mouse. Okay. You guys can see my screen. Okay. Is that correct?
I can see it can the board see the screen
okay I'm gonna go ahead so the second floor plan is
I'm sorry, the bottom of the plan, let me back up here, is Sansom Street. Again, as Rachel said, there are jewelry stores, jewelry offices that are on the, or I'm sorry, associated with offices on the second floor.
The apartment is to the back of the second floor
So it's actually on Ionic Street
There are two means of egress for the apartment
There's the fire escape to the back
And then the main stairwell down through the building
And then on these
These are the other plans
Again, it's a restaurant on the first floor
There's the back half of the basement
Is also restaurant space
Or it's restaurant storage space
The front half of the basement is currently in a vacant office space.
And then on the third floor, there's also more vacant office spaces.
So it's a three-story space plus the basement.
Again, the apartment's on the second floor to the...
Again, the apartments on the second floor to the rear of the building.
Thank you.
Rachel, I don't know if you want to add anything to that.
Chairman, I don't think we can hear you if you're talking.
This is the reporter. I am not hearing the chair.
Hear me now?
Yes, Chair.
Okay. Rachel, my question is the department's already there.
Yes. So this is the estate of somebody who has passed and we are legalizing this space, but correct.
Questions from the board.
Questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson.
Not at this time, Mr.
Chair.
Questions from the audience or the virtual audience?
No hands in the virtual audience.
Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the existing
commercial mixed use CMX5.
The proposed single-family use would not injure the use of adjoining properties, which are
conforming.
The Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the request of violence for a single-family household living.
MI 2024-006-07719 Sampson Street, I vote yes.
My vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Violin, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, Counsel.
Chairman, just because I didn't get to swear my client in and have them adopt my testimony,
would you mind putting on the record just as an officer of the court as an officer of the court
absolutely it was your we accept your testimony thank you okay we're going to move to number five
mi 2024-006-590-2502 north 10th street murder ferlicker is the attorney
there's a recommendation of support from the 37th ward 15 in support one abstain and a letter of
non-opposition council member young
has been promoted
chairman
council could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
meredith ferliger f-e-r-l-e-g-e-r
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do, yes.
Could you identify your client in relationship to the property?
My client today is 2502 North 10 LLC, represented here today by Dennis Schifrin.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
I do, yes.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I did.
Thank you, counsel. Please proceed.
Thank you. Mr. Chairman, members of the board, you'll please forgive me.
I have the flu, so if I'm a little bit difficult to understand, I apologize.
I'm going to do my best to get through this as quickly as we can.
um uh mr chairman members of the board the request before you today concerns 2502 north
10th street you have an exhibit packet which contains 16 exhibits which we do request be
moved into evidence at the conclusion of the presentation today okay to summarize the basis
for today's request this application requests a variance for the elimination of a required
ground floor, non-residential space, as well as to permit two additional units beyond what
the code would allow in this location. Additionally, a small dimensional variance is
also requested. As Mr. Chairman indicated, this application received overwhelming support from
the local RCO, the 37th Ward RCO. With that in mind, let me first orient you to the location
With that in mind, let me first orient you to the location of this property.
of this property.
As always, the deed and tax clearance are included at Exhibits 2 and 3.
As you can see here on the aerials I have up on the screen at Exhibit 9,
this property sits on 10th Street, one property in from the corner of West Cumberland Street.
I'll highlight a few important geographical notes for the Board's consideration.
First, from this north view, you will see that this block extends off of Germantown Avenue,
which is directly to the north of the property.
As you can see here, this section of Germantown Avenue is more industrial in nature, which
you will also see on the zoning map as well.
You'll also notice that this block of 10th Street on this side of the property is largely
barren of any structures except for the one at the corner.
You can see these conditions as well, looking from the south.
From the east, you'll see that across the street is largely occupied by one main child
care user.
The barren conditions of this block are shown most clearly in this view from the west, where
even across Cumberland Street is currently largely vacant at the moment, being the future site of a
PHA Fairhill development that is slated to bring roughly 130 units to that site.
The described conditions are shown more clearly in the photographs that I have also included at
Exhibit 10. The property before the board is the empty lot that is directly to the right of the
existing corner structure, which is occupied by a typical corner takeout restaurant.
This next image here is from the Cumberland and North 10th Street intersection, where again you
can see the relationship of this property to the soon-be-built dense PHA Fairhill complex
with the apartments to the, to the rear. Again, looking at this block of North 10th Street more
clearly in this next image, you'll notice that it is devoid of any active use or structures.
These conditions are more likely than not to remain on this block, as most of these lots are
either owned by PHA or the Village of Arts and Humanities, which operates art parks in the area.
The next photograph here is oriented along North 10th Street facing towards North York. And again,
you'll see that slated PHA development in this image as well. Across the street from the property
is that child care center which I pointed to earlier that occupies much of the property but
fronts on Germantown Avenue. There was previously a laundromat at the corner
but that does not appear to be operational. Also across the street is the is a photograph
showing the office of a podiatrist which again you will notice has no entry or exit onto North
10th street these are both small non-pedestrian oriented commercial uses
that do not have any form of activation on north 10th street
the final view i've included looks northwest on germantown avenue where again you'll see
this section of the avenue is not the core of the commercial corridor attracting cmx2 type of uses
We did also include photographs of the zoning posters, which were timely posted.
Referring to the zoning map at Exhibit 6, you'll see that this property is zoned CMX 2.
Consistent with the photographs that I showed you earlier, you will notice that the intersecting
portion of Germantown Avenue is zoned I-2, not any form of commercial designation that would render it
viable to really continue that commercial use down the smaller side streets, particularly since it's
only North 10th Street that has that continuation of CMX-2. The proposal for 2502 North 10th Street
is shown on the zoning plan at Exhibit 11
and includes one new three-story structure.
The building will contain four dwelling units.
The building will contain four dwelling units.
As you can see on the elevation, the structure is elevated so that the lower level is roughly four and a half feet above grade.
As you can see,
Turning to the floor plans, the proposal includes four units, each a one-bedroom, one-bath unit.
The units are each roughly 800 square feet.
Units A and B are bi-level.
Unit C occupies the second floor, and Unit D occupies the third floor.
There is also a common roof deck.
Each unit has its own washer and dryer, and trash will be stored interior to each unit.
The rear yard connects with an alley, as you can see on the zoning plan, out to Cumberland, and the cans will be stored in the rear.
My client Dennis and his maintenance staff are responsible for all of his property's trash maintenance, which includes putting out and cleaning up the trash after collection.
By way of example, at Exhibit 13, we have included a photograph of another recent development that my client constructed nearby, again just to give you a general sense of aesthetic rendering.
Regarding the refusal, I'll start first with the dimensional refusal, which is relatively
minor. If I flip back to the aerials, you'll begin to start to glean the basis for the requested
dimensional refusal to exceed occupied area just slightly. 75% coverage would be permitted for this
lot or 792 square feet, and this proposal covers just over 86 percent or 912 square
feet of the 1,056 square foot lot.
As you can see, the corner property is currently nonconforming and occupies what appears to
be 100 percent of its lot.
This variance, this dimensional variance, will enable the new structure to more closely
align with the contextual relationship of the only one other structure on this block.
Despite exceeding the occupied area limitation, the proposal still includes a fully compliant
rear yard depth and area.
Next, because this lot is zone CMX2, it would require a ground floor non-residential use.
Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons the board has heard this afternoon, that is entirely unrealistic and not viable for this location.
At Exhibit 7, I've included an image showing the documented location of the Germantown Avenue commercial corridor.
Despite the zoning classification of this block of North 10th Street, the corridor does not extend down North 10th Street.
The zoning classification of this section of Germantown Avenue further renders commercial
use of North 10th Street extraordinarily unlikely.
As I highlighted earlier, this section of Germantown Avenue is zoned I-2, with uses
that are in line with that classification.
It is difficult to imagine that a bustling, pedestrian-oriented block can or will ever
be supported here, given it does not transition logically into a more established commercial
corridor. Even if Germantown Avenue in this location transitioned to a more traditional
commercial corridor, this property is over 200 feet away and is not visible from Germantown Avenue.
It is quite literally off the beaten path as it relates to any possibility of supporting a
commercial use. Finally, the conditions of the block itself rendered a considerable hardship
to support a ground floor non-residential use. As the board saw in earlier photographs and aerial
views, this block is largely devoid of any structures whatsoever. Complying with the code
here would mean establishing a 480-square-foot commercial space on a block with abject vacancy
and no means of supporting the new commercial use. Even the doctor's office and child care
center across the street have their entrances along Germantown Avenue, not from North 10th
Street, further deactivating this block.
Finally, this application requests a variance for the proposed density.
This application requests a variance for the proposed density.
By right, this lot would allow two residential units and one commercial unit.
This application requests four residential units.
While I was unable to locate any historical permits, historical maps shown at Exhibit 8 established that this lot seemingly maintained a three-family dwelling dating back to the 1960s.
This also supports the aforementioned arguments concerning the commercial space, as there is no evidence to suggest that this lot ever maintained a commercial use.
The density restriction on this lot is driven by two main factors.
First, the property sits in the north-central overlay, which requires 425 square feet of lot area per dwelling unit.
Furthermore, this property sits in the 5th District overlay, which prohibits the use of the mixed income housing bonus that would have allowed a bonus for the proposed density.
Given the conditions of the surrounding area and the degree of vacancy, additional density is required here to support the proposed development.
The owner purchased this lot in 2021 and has attempted to formulate a buy-right development scheme, but has been unable to support such construction for nearly four years due to the unique circumstances that burden this particular lot, leading to all of the hardships that we have described this afternoon.
Given the ownership of the remainder of this block of North 10th Street, it is not unreasonable to surmise that this may be the last development built for many, many years, and as a result, it is critical to encourage as much density as possible to further enliven the area and to further support the tenants who will actually be residing here.
This is especially true in light of PHA's large new development, soon to be constructed across Cumberland Street.
We submit the proposed number of units as the least minimum, as the density proposed is most appropriate for the interior layout of the proposed structure,
and will represent the antithesis of overcrowding given the conditions on this block that are ripe for any added density without the risk of any crowding.
Given the historical use of the property for three units, this proposal is a mere deviation from its historical use.
Absent the overlays, this density would be by right and is consistent with density often supported around the city on lots of equal dimension.
The dimensional variance is minor and is required to align this structure more closely with the limited contextual surroundings.
We submit the proposal will not increase congestion, harm neighbors' properties, or impair light and air.
The structure is proposed to be shorter than the code would allow, and there are frankly no structures around that can be negatively impacted by any aspect of this proposed development.
This area will also benefit economically from the proposal by creating new residents in the area to minimize vacancy and support the more vibrant sections of the nearby commercial corridor.
More detailed analysis is provided in the memo of law submitted to the board at Exhibit 14, and I'm very happy to touch on any particular point in more detail, if you can bear to listen to me any further.
At this point, I would ask if Dennis Schifrin could raise his hand to be unmuted.
Dennis Schifrin has been promoted.
Dennis, could you state your name
and spell for the stenographer?
He should be in
in a minute here.
Dennis
do we see him
okay looks like he's coming back in
Mr. Chair, while we're waiting, I'm happy for you to adopt my testimony as an officer
of the court.
And if there's any questions, then we can certainly bring him in.
We will adopt your testimony.
Questions from the board.
I have one question.
Do we know if there are any other residential uses on the first floor in any of the properties
on that block?
There are no first floor of residential uses
because there are frankly no structures on the block.
The only other structure on the block
is the one at the corner.
And that has a takeout Chinese food restaurant.
But aside from that,
there are no other structures on this entire block.
All right, thank you.
Are you able to hear me now?
I'm sorry.
Are you able to hear me now?
Thank you very much.
Questions from the board.
I'm sorry.
Dennis, we can hear you.
Dennis, state your name and spell for the stenographer.
My name is Dennis Schifrin.
My last name is S-H-I-F-R-I-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
nothing but the truth i do please proceed counsel thank you uh dennis have you heard all of the
testimony uh that i have offered in front of the board today i have and do you agree that
that testimony is true and accurate and would you adopt it as if you had given it yourself
i would thank you are the other questions from the board
okay so this would only be the second property on this block is that that is that is entirely
correct as you can see here from the aerials there is one structure on the corner that fronts
on north 10th street the rest of this block all the way up to germantown avenue is vacant there
There are a few structures on the opposing side of the street.
This is the podiatrist's office that I referenced.
But again, that entrance is directly from Germantown Avenue.
There was previously a laundry map at the corner here, but it does not look to be operational.
So this is really, truly a fascinatingly unique block that really has nothing there at the moment.
and then and am i looking at this correctly like across the street there there's nothing either is
that what uh do you mean across 10th street or you mean across cumberland across cumberland
that's for pha's building right where that that's that that is exactly correct uh board member
So this is where there is currently a PHA Fairhill development that is approved.
It's going to be, I believe, 130 units.
So it's coming.
I don't see building permits, but I believe that they are very much actively moving forward with that development.
So eventually there will be a little bit more life here, and we're hoping to add to that.
Okay. All right. Thank you.
Other questions from the board?
questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr chair
questions or comments from the virtual audience
planning commission
amy boyd with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in
zoning at this location from the existing commercial mixed use cmx2 the absence of
commercial space is consistent with the surrounding area, and the Lower North District Plan recommends
concentrating commercial uses to commercial corridors. Two dwelling units would be allowed
by right, and the proposed four units is not the least minimum, and the property has a history of
three families. The Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant the requested variance for
no ground floor commercial, grant the requested variance for a four multifamily with proviso
for three units and deny the requested variance for max occupied area thank you mi2024-006-590-2502
north 10th street i vote yes michael johnson my vote is yes tennetta graham my vote is yes
taiwan my vote is yes shaheed my vote is yes meredith uh it's obviously that you're not
feeling well would you would you want to rest for about 15 20 minutes or do you want to go
for about 15, 20 minutes, or do you want to go handle the other?
handle to your other mr chair i
Mr. Chair, I wouldn't mind getting it out of the way, if that's okay, if you wouldn't mind hearing my next case.
Just give me a moment to switch over my exhibits.
MI 2024-006-668-1215-Wood Street.
Meredith Verliger is the attorney.
The Calahill Neighborhood Association supports
the project there's a letter of non-opposition from council member squalor
murder just for the record state your name you've already been sworn
sure meredith ferlinger f-e-r-l-e-g-e-r our vice chair has a few questions
counselor do you agree to wave the read another refusal or stipulate towards accuracy
I do, yes.
And you have emailed in all the information that's required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing.
I did, yes.
Thank you. Please proceed.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Chairman, members of the board, my client today is Haverford Square by Metropolitan 3 LLC, represented today by German Yakubov.
By way of background, if this address is giving the board a bit of deja vu, it is because the board heard and approved this proposal in full back on April 24, 2024, at MI 2024-000791.
That full record should be deemed incorporated into the hearing today.
Following the Zoning Board's April approval, the applicant moved forward to apply for a building permit.
During the construction design phase, a fairly minor change was made to the interior mezzanine levels, as I will show.
Unfortunately, although that change is entirely interior to the previously approved building,
it does result in an increase in overall GFA that was too large for L&I to handle either via
amendment or administrative review. Ergo, we are back in front of the board today to request that
you re-approve this updated design. In respect of your time today and considering that the board
already thoroughly reviewed this proposal and determined that the applicant was entitled to
relief, I will focus today's presentation on the changes and will, of course, address any questions
that you have. Our exhibit packet does still have all of the standard information required by the
board and as was presented back in April. I'm very happy to represent any aspect the board requires
today. As a reminder, the board previously approved this project, which proposes a new
21-unit loft-style apartment building in the city's Callow Hill neighborhood,
which received unanimous support from the Callow Hill Neighborhood Association.
Callow Hill did review the proposed changes and did reaffirm its support.
To refresh your memory, the property is located at 1215 Wood Street and is zoned IRMX, as shown on the zoning map at Exhibit 9.
The existing building extends all the way back to Carleton Street, as you can see on the aerials up on the screen here.
you might recall from these aerials that the existing building sits on 100 of the lot
and was erected around 1900 and is over a century old additionally you might recall from the interior
photographs that the building historically contained six condominium units with a unique
loft style design that you can see in the images here that retains considerable historical character
from the industrial use that existed in the space in the early 1900s. And you can see some of that
reflected in these images here, including some of the industrial gear work in the ceiling.
At the hearing in April, we illustrated the owner's commitment to preserving the existing building
while erecting a new three-story addition on top of the existing building
that harmonizes with the massing of surrounding new construction.
that harmonizes with the massing of surrounding new construction.
Including the six existing units which will remain, the proposal still includes a total of 21 units.
The plan that the Zoning Board approved back in April is shown here at Exhibit 6.
I will highlight a few things on this plan relevant to today's amendment request.
The proposed GFA at the time of the original approval was 27,477 square feet or 665% FAR.
On the elevation, you might recall the interior mezzanines, which are intended to expand the unique loft design throughout the entirety of the new addition.
You can see those mezzanine levels reflected on these elevations.
Although interior to the building itself, mezzanines are specifically counted towards the building's overall GFA.
I would ask the board to focus your eyes on the elevation as I quickly switch back and forth between the original approved design and the design that is in front of the board today.
As you can see, if I switch back and forth quickly, you'll start to notice where the change in the elevation is made.
This proposal seeks to enlarge the mezzanine loft areas to add additional square footage to each of these units.
Furthermore, as shown on the zoning plan, the design has been updated to add exterior
bays, as I will show on the renderings that we have.
These bays also increase the GFA.
Importantly, although this change increases the GFA to 30,833 square feet, representing
a 746% floor area ratio, this change does not impact the previously approved building massing,
height, or overall envelope. Aside from the bays, this is a purely interior change that will have
significant benefit to the future residents of these units. Overall, this change only represents
an increase by roughly 3,300 square feet, or about 10% more GFA.
The exhibits include new renderings to show the board the value of the proposed changes,
particularly from the exterior. At Exhibit 7, you'll see how the design has progressed.
The first image was the rendering at the time of the original filing.
By the time that we presented the case to the board, the rendering had been slightly updated
to the image that's now shown here on the second rendering. Now, on the third rendering,
you'll see how considerably this design has progressed to now incorporate the bays shown
here along Wood Street. As I mentioned, these bays will also be along Carleton as well.
We have also provided a rendering looking in the opposite direction.
I do have a couple of other views as well that I can scroll through, but again, the board should see here how significantly this design has been updated, at least from the exterior.
And again, this is just looking from Wood Street.
The bays, as I mentioned, will also be on the Carleton frontage to maintain the consistency
and design.
In terms of floor plans, we do have updated floor plans in the packet at Exhibit 8.
Where the originally presented units were 1 and 2 bedroom units of between 658 and 1,043
square feet, the expansion of the mezzanines has allowed the broadening of the unit types to now
include one, two, and three-bedroom units, ranging from 790 to just under 2,000 square feet.
The average unit size will now be about 1,300 square feet.
Although the project was previously approved in April, upon filing this application,
L&I issued the identical refusals that were already approved by the board in April.
The only refusal that has now changed is the refusal for the FAR.
And I can show you that here.
I can show you that here. The industrial use refusal hasn't changed. The height refusal hasn't
These, the industrial use refusals.
changed. The parking refusal has not changed. And you can see here where the FAR has now been
updated to 746%. The zoning code here would limit FAR to 500%. The argument supporting the
applicants' requests for GFA variants have not changed. Two of the mezzanines currently exist in
the building, and the proposed design will respect the historical and unique character
of this formerly industrial building while expanding the loft size for residents.
The mezzanines will have no impact whatsoever on the exterior massing of the building,
which was previously approved. As I noted earlier, I'm very happy to walk through all of the refusals
if the board does require clarification on any point, but unless the board desires otherwise,
I will not repeat the arguments given in April on all of the other refusals which have not changed
and would remain approved under the approval granted in April.
At this time, I would ask for German Yakubov to raise his hand to be unmuted.
German Yakubov has been promoted thank you
hello hi sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer sure German Yakubov
G-E-R-M-A-N
Y-A-K-U-B-O-V
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth is nothing but the truth?
I do. Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you. German, have you
heard all the testimony and evidence I've
offered in front of the board today?
I have. Would you agree that that
testimony was true and accurate and would
you adopt it as if it were your own?
I do and yes.
Thank you. I'm happy to answer
any questions. Questions from the board.
yeah what's the ceiling height on the mezzanine area
sure so the ceiling heights um vary ever so slightly but as you can see here on the
elevations they are just about nine feet a couple inches below and that has not changed from the
original. The ceiling heights for the mezzanine levels are actually slightly larger than they
were on the original. As you can see, 8.86, 8.11, 8.10. Now they are 8.9, 8.88, 8.9. So just around there.
so the substantive change at this point is mostly the the expansion from on the facade
the bays obviously are going to add square footage and then it's also the lengthening
of these mezzanines to now go almost wall to wall that that is exactly correct yes just to expand
the essentially the lofts that are in the building currently that the design that they'd like to
carry throughout the rest of the building it's to make much more usable loft space
and these the the units are already built we're just no they're they're not so this was a change
that they made uh while going through the building permit process to actually get building permits
for the originally approved design so the building permits uh are essentially on hold pending today's
case. Other questions from the board. So are there other other buildings near there with the
same sort of Balkan mass? Oh, absolutely. Let me bring up the aerials. So as you can see on the
aerials here, there are many, many other buildings in this area that have a similar mass.
um let me yeah this is this is a good view here so this the the building is actually directly
behind this one in the foreground uh so many of the other buildings in this area have similar
mass which we did go through in april and i believe was uh part of the basis for why the
board had granted the the mass of this building in the first place
uh you said there was unanimous support
from the from from callow hill yes
Other questions?
Questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson.
I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman.
Oh, sure.
Is there a balcony?
I'm sorry, Meredith.
No, there's no balconies.
Let me just bring these up.
These are.
I'm sorry.
Did I, was there some sort of outdoor space? Like was there a roof deck or something? Did I
miss it on this one or? I do not believe that there is a, I don't believe.
There's no roof deck. It's just for mechanical access only.
Okay. All right. Thank you.
Questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson.
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
On the virtual audience.
there are no commission
amy boyd with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in
zoning at this location from the existing industrial residential mixed use the process
between two narrow streets wood and carlton streets which are both narrow the absence of
industrial or other non-residential uses on the ground floor is appropriate due to the existing
building adding parking spaces is not feasible however the appellant has not demonstrated that
there are unique physical circumstances or conditions of the property they would prevent
it from being used in conformance with the zoning code for height and maximum floor area ratio
in fact the appellant could have used a mixed income housing bonus to increase the allowable
farm the planning commission recommends that the board grant the proposed variance for no ground
floor commercial and parking but deny the requested variances for maximum height and floor area ratio
Mr. Chairman, if I could just address that as a reminder, the board approved these variances in April.
So this is just requesting to modify one of those refusals ever so slightly.
MI 2024-006-668-1215 Wood Street, I vote yes.
Chair, could you repeat that for some reason? Everything went out for me.
oh sure mi 2024 006 668 1215 wood street i vote yes michael johns my vote is yes
charlie gaston my vote is yes tanetta graham my vote is yes i own my vote is no
dishmael shaheed my vote is yes thank you thank you and thank you for for moving out my second
case i appreciate it thank you right number six mi 2024 006 sheriff i'm sorry to interrupt you um
can we take a five-minute break yeah sure sure okay bye
We're going to continue here.
Number six, MI 2024, 006-648-766 South Front Street.
Henry Clinton is the attorney.
Henry Clinton is returning as a panelist.
good afternoon mr chairman members of the board council just uh you've been sworn just state your
name for the record please or henry clinton right and for a point of information there's a letter
of non-opposition from the queen village neighbors and a letter of opposite non-opposition from
council member squilla could you identify your client in relationship to this property
Sure. I have two clients, Lindsay, L-I-N-D-S-E-Y, Scannapico. That's S-C-A-N-N-A, P as in Phyllis, I-E-C-O, and Alexander Machin, capital M-A-C-H-I-N, and Ms. Scannapico is on the call.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to read another refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case, Bob, these in advance of this hearing?
I have.
Thank you, counsel. Please proceed.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
This is a request to construct a two-story accessory dwelling unit, an ADU, of 680 square feet on the largest lot on South Front Street, the 700 block.
This lot is 5,326 square feet.
The ADU will have a garage on the first floor and two bedrooms on the second floor.
I'll walk through the presentation containing exhibits A1 through A10, which I ask to be admitted.
containing Exhibits A1 through A10, which I asked to be admitted.
Here's a refusal.
So this is an RSA 5 zoning district, which permits ADUs.
We already have one single-family structure on the property,
and the request is to build another structure on the property, an ADU,
accessory dwelling unit.
The refusals are, whereas no more than one principal building is allowed per lot
in the RSA 5 zoning district. But again, this is an ADU. And the second refusal has to do with a
front-loaded garage in an RSA 5 zoning district. And as you'll see from the community's letter,
that this curb cut has been in existence for decades. Henry, could you hold on one minute?
Hillary, do you think we're lacking a refusal here? No, I had to, Mr. Clinton, I just had to
double check the refusal because it was very oddly written for an adu um it's it's fine except there
is a refusal missing because this is a new construction of an adu and they're only in the
code they're only in existing structures but that that's not something that we need to to rectify
for the board to make a decision on this matter thank you all right thank you mr emerson
so this is the rca uh rco letters of non-opposition which your chairman referenced
and here the lot already has a curb cut for two open air parking spaces
and they were concerned that a deed restriction has to be in place if the owner is going to
have an adu on its on its property and the deed restriction is that the owner must reside in one
the two dwellings on the property either the new one or the existing one
non-opposition letter from councilman squilla so let me give you the context this is front street
uh the property is here where the red balloon is all residential on that side
what you see in the background this is an older aerial photograph this is when my clients
constructed a single-family home in the rear of the property again when i show you the zoning map
it's a rather large property as i said it's the largest one on the block just some more perspective
that the homes are two to three stories high some have dormers on the second floor some have dormers
on the third floor the majority do a few do not have dormers we do have a dormer to try to match
up this is a photograph of directly across the street indicating that there's a curb cut there
with the pens landing dentistry this is the front of our property right now there's already a gate
for cars to go in and park there and there's a curb cut
again just some more photographs of the joining homes for a perspective
uh and between the property to the south and our property which is now a a driveway a brick
driveway there's an easement to allow access for the adjacent home to the south to get to the back
and to the side of their home
this is just looking from the the rear of the property across the street and then you can see
I-95 in the background. This is the proposed structure. It's more of a modern structure.
The structure matches the context and the look of the single-family home in the rear,
and the community group understood why we did it. I can't say that they were 100% behind the fact
that there wasn't a lot of brick on it, but they understood because of the nature of the home in
rear this the property in the front really provided some unity of look and unity of context
for the property here's the garage door the easement is maintained on the side of the property
this is the structure in the rear again more of a modern look which is consistent with the building
in the front all right so this is a historical plan just showing you the the length of the lot
it's like a flag lot it goes all the way back i think it's it's well over 200 feet deep
so this is existing there's a garage excuse me a driveway brick driveway with a brick walkway
leading to the home in the rear and here's the easement alleyway for access to the property at 768
just again give more perspective so the new structure will be in the gray area here
just again give more
see if i can and the first floor will have a garage parking spot stack parking the easement
alley is maintained the entrance to the adu is here switch back steps to go up to the second
floor. The next photograph I'll show you is the second floor. But adjacent, we're keeping an open
area here because the property at 764 has some skylights along the side, and we didn't want to
block that light off. So we provided a little alcove here to bring some light and air into
the property next door. And again, as I said, we maintain the easement alley between 768 and 766.
Here's the second floor of the property.
Again, 768 here, 764 above.
You would go up the switch back steps, which I referenced in the prior photograph, into the living dining area.
And here's an outdoor deck, again, bringing light and air into the skylights.
or it almost looks like a garden area below where these lates are on the adjoining property.
But again, we just try to be cognizant of what that structure was.
You move the living dining area into the kitchen, into one bedroom in the front,
and in the rear of the property, there's an office and a den with one bath,
and the mechanicals are also on the second floor.
again just some more site plans this is existing brick driveway existing home in the back some
trees which we have to maintain as many trees as we can in fact at the end i'll show you a landscaping
plan this is a cutaway of the first floor again proposed two-car garage on the first floor
with the single-family home remaining in the rear.
And here's some of the plannings that have to be replaced and or maintained.
Just to give you perspective, again, how the house is situated in between the two existing
homes that are there on the block, and this is the cutaway showing the homes on either side.
You can see that the house to the south kind of dwarfs the height of our property.
again we try to keep it in context if possible we didn't want to overbear the site with a high
or a tall building again it's a modest one bedroom adu adjacent to two single family properties
just showing the turning radius that it's ample turning radius to get in and out of
the garage we have the streets department approval at the end of the presentation
And this is the landscaping, indicating the landscaping and the trees that we will have to replace or maintain in between the ADU and the existing single-family property.
This is the street's department approval, indicating that the attorney radius worked to get in and out of this garage when constructed.
like this, the PIF form, the tax clearance, and again, this is really good to understand how deep
this lot is. You can see that the lots vary in size, width, and dimension on Front Street,
and our particular lot is a huge flag lot that goes almost halfway between Front Street and
and the street to the west.
Deed indicating ownership.
Our notice letter and certificate of mailing
sent to all the properties in the area.
So I'm asking the board to look upon this project
and to consider it for an ADU.
We have the support of the community
or rather non-opposition.
We also are not impacting the light and air
of any adjoining property.
As I said, our height is far less than either property
on either side to the north and to the south.
We are not, have any issues with open space, rear yards.
We're basically in harmony with the code.
This is a residential property
consistent with other residential properties on the block.
The curb cut has been there, I said decades in the beginning.
And I think I incorrectly said
that the RCO's letter mentioned decades.
RCO's letter mentioned decades. It didn't. That was mentioned during the meeting that the curb cut has been there for some time and is used for parking now and will be continued to use for parking.
It didn't.
That was mentioned during the meeting
that the curb cut.
We also understand that the owner, Ms. Canapico, Mr. Matcham, will have to have a deed restriction if the board looks kindly upon this application, that they have to live in one or two, one or the other, the house that's already in existence or the ADU in the front.
So that is the presentation. I asked Ms. Scannapico if you could unmute yourself.
I know she's on the call.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair. This is Jason Hand. I will be your co-host for the remainder of the sessions.
Ms. Scannapino has been allowed to speak. She has been promoted to panelist.
Hi, how are you?
Hi, good. Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Lindsay Scanapico, L-I-N-D-S-E-Y.
Last name Scanapico, S-C-A-N-N-A-P-I-E-C-O.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, Henry.
Ms. Scanapico, good afternoon.
Were you on the call when I presented your project?
Yes, I was.
And is it true that you live in this single-family home at the rear of this property?
Yes, I do.
Okay. And if you had the opportunity to testify, would you adopt my testimony as your own and as
true and correct? Yes, I would. Is there anything that you wanted to add that I may have missed?
No, I think you covered it all. Thank you, Ms. Canapico. Thank you.
Henry, just, I mean, I know it's about how you use the building, et cetera, but could you explain
what that substance
is? Is that
wood? Is that in the
front of the building?
The facade. Let me go back
to it.
Do you know
what kind of product that is?
Just out of curiosity.
Ms. Ganapiko, is this, the architects
on the call too, Steve and Alito.
I don't want to misstate anything.
Steve, can you unmute yourself?
M-I-L-E-T-O?
Hi, I'm happy to answer. Stephen's had the flu, so I don't know if he's able to speak. So this is a zinc material. It's more of a kind of a natural material, so it will show age over time.
The idea was very much to kind of respect that traditional architecture in terms of the dormer,
as well as the kind of chimney. That's not an actual chimney. It's something that's kind of
meant to be a reference to this kind of historic condition, but done within a contemporary material
and palette. Thank you. Questions from the board? Yes, I was wondering if you could
let me know if you know the square footage of the yard space now of the yard space or the
or the property the yard space okay the yard space i believe is 20 by 20
maybe it's 30 by 30 yeah yeah 35 by 34 right
33 33 and will the whoever's staying in the adu will they enter the adu from
the front and have access to that yard space is it like a shared yard space
no the existing yard you would have to access through the existing house but there is a kind
of front courtyard that exists between both buildings essentially and they would have access
to that space and then for the original the current principal building how will they enter
the property so through the easement yeah through the easement okay okay other questions from the
board questions for attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr chair questions from the virtual
audience i do not see any hands raised mr chair planning commission amy boyd with the planning
commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the
existing single-family residential rsa5 the proposed additional building would restrict
access to a small shared alley risking the health and safety of those in the existing
rear dwelling the parking from the front um is an existing condition of the rear of the rear
property the planning commission recommends that the board grant the requested variance for parking
and deny the requested variance for multiple principal buildings okay henry do you want to
for multiple principal buildings. Okay. Henry, do you want to respond to this?
response.
Yeah. So if you look at the L&I requirements for an EDU, requirements are that it has to be
under 800 square feet. We're at 680 square feet. The requirements for the size of a lot,
it has to be a lot in excess of 1,600 square feet. We're at 5,386 square feet. It has to be
in an RSA 5 zoning district, which we are. It can't be in an overlay, which we are not.
And is the principal structure has to be on the lot? Is it detached? And the answer to that
is yes. So I think we meet all the hallmarks of this new animal under the code, which is trying
to increase the housing in the city of Philadelphia on large lots. So they just are not all going to
open space. Henry, what about
the walkway?
Let me go back to that.
Well, the easement is going
to be maintained to get
from the sidewalk to the rear property.
That's right.
We're not going to do away with that. It's going to be
tidied up a little bit, but you're
certainly going to have a walkway, like any
other alley, to access the rear property.
okay mi 2024 006 648 766 south front street i vote yes well john my vote is yes
cheryl gaston my vote is yes tanetta graham my vote is yes hi owen my vote is yes
shaheed my vote is yes thank you henry thank you mr chairman have a great day okay number seven
MI 2024-006-658-1420, Point Breeze Avenue.
Rachel Pritzker is the attorney.
This is a use of a letter of unanimous support
from the Point Breeze Community Development Coalition.
Mr. Chair, they will be coming back in as a panel shortly.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Good afternoon again.
Counsel, you've already been sworn, just for the record, state your name.
Rachel Pritzker.
Could you identify your client, the relationship to the property?
So my client is Ampersand Health Management, PA LLC, which is owned by City Life Health,
and we have the executive director on, Brenda Myers.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good afternoon.
Counsel, do you agree to weigh the read and other refusal or stipulate who is accuracy?
Yes, it's a referral.
This is a referral.
Have you emailed in all of the required documents and exhibits as needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Thank you. Please proceed to show your screen.
Can you see my screen?
We can.
Okay. So this is 1420 Point Breeze Avenue. It's a CMX2 property, and we have a referral
for a special exception for the proposed use of group medical dental health practitioner
within an existing structure. This use is not permitted without a special exception.
just gonna go to
page 57 this is the site it's a large cmx2 property in the middle of point breeze avenue
it has an existing building that has multi-family up top and a vacant commercial space
below. As mentioned, City Life Health, we're proposing for a group medical dental health
practitioner in this existing structure. City Life Health is a healthcare provider focused
on ensuring quality healthcare and equity and access to high quality primary and urgent care
in underserved locations. And this is, again, just going to be on the ground floor
of an existing structure that has residential above. This is in line with the comprehensive
plan as Point Breeze Avenue is there's an opportunity to sort of revitalize and recreate
additional commercial opportunities on Point Breeze Avenue. And the comprehensive plan
discusses sort of encouraging the extension of this activity and commercial activity
further along Point Breeze. So as you can see from here, this is the vacant space on the ground floor
where we're proposing this use. The residential above. The code doesn't allow for a group
practitioner without a special exception. We met with Point Breeze Community Development Coalition on November
We met with Point Breeze Community Development Coalition on November 25th, and they submitted a letter of non-opposition.
There was seven total votes, seven yeses, zero noes.
This was their letter they submitted.
And I believe someone from Council President Johnson's office will be on to orally give their testimony.
This is just a floor plan of the space. As mentioned, it's an existing building. There'll be exam rooms, triage rooms. It is just for urgent care and primary care. So in neighborhoods where the only alternative would be going to Jefferson or Penn, this provides a different health care resource where they can get, you know, if you need stitches or you need a vaccine or you have something in your eye and you don't need to go to an emergency room for that level of care.
They also have primary doctors there, so people can get used to and comfortable with going and seeing the same doctor, like many of us are accustomed to.
This use will not cause any more impact than any of the by-right uses, as it's, again, a group medical dental health practitioner, which requires a special exception.
This is the current space.
so as you can see it's a pretty large vacant commercial space at the ground floor and will
be nicely set up for the exam rooms offices triage um and the like um if i could bring on um brenda
Meyers. Okay.
They'll be coming back in as panel goes shortly.
Thank you.
Brenda, could you please state your name and spell for the
court stenographer brenda meyers myers do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes please proceed counsel brenda do you have the authority um on behalf of
city life health um for this matter yes have you heard my testimony that i've given in front of
the board do you believe it to be true and accurate and do you adopt it as your own
yes and yes thank you questions from the board
okay what kind of hours are we talking about for this facility sure brenda are you able to answer
i'm currently looking at uh eight to six monday through saturday it might be shorter on saturdays
we're not, you know, depending upon the need.
Okay. So, um, all right.
Gotcha. Okay. Thank you for the questions from the board.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson.
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Question or comment from the virtual audience?
Yes, Mr. Chair. I have a Dominic long with the hand raised.
I would love them to speak.
hello hello hi hi how are you could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes uh dominic long d-o-m-i-n-i-c-l-o-n-g right do you swear or firm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do please proceed sir all right so um i'm from the
second district office of council president johnson and i am letting you know that he does support
this project thank you very much for taking the time to call us we appreciate it is there anyone
else in the virtual audience no further answer mr chair planning commission amy board with the
planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location
from the existing commercial mixed-use CMX-2.
The appellant has demonstrated that the proposed use
would not cause such eventual impacts
beyond what would reasonably be expected.
The Planning Commission recommends a board grant
the requested special exemption
for a group medical and dental health practitioner.
MI 2024-006-658-1420 Point Breeze Avenue.
I vote yes with proviso.
Use limited to first floor.
For John's, my vote is yes with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Thia Nguyen, my vote is yes with Proviso.
ishmael shaheed my vote is yes we're provided thank you council thank you number eight mi
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
Number eight.
2024-006-661-2815 grays ferry avenue peter kelson and eric bodson are the attorneys
there's a letter unanimous support from road rco mr chair eric bodson is the attorney in this matter
ERIK BODZIN, E-R-I-C-B-O-D-Z-I-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
Yes, my client is Harry Feldman on behalf of Gray's Ferry Partners LP, doing business as Corman Commercial Properties.
Thank you. Our vice chair has just a few questions, sir.
Good evening, counsel. Do you agree to wait to read another refusal or stipulate to his accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits as needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have.
Thank you, counsel. Please proceed and you may share your screen.
Wonderful. I will pull up my screen in just a moment.
Okay. Does the screen appear clearly in front of you, members of the board?
Yes, it's fine.
Thank you so much.
uh good afternoon or good evening um i am here as i mentioned with harry feldman of corman
commercial uh properties uh corman is the owner of the subject gray's ferry shopping center at
2815 gray's ferry avenue you may recall several similar use variances of this property over the
years, all because of the legacy I-2 zoning designation of this 50-year-old shopping center.
These approvals date back to the board's original approval for the development of this shopping
center in 1976 and its continuous use as a shopping center since that time. Most recently,
the site has been approved for clothing sales in 2019, a restaurant in 2020, and retail sales
of food and beverage in 2021. The subject refusal today, you can see here, is also for retail sales,
excuse me, in this case of consumer goods, so that a Verizon store can move into a small
vacant space in the shopping center. Again, here's the copy of the refusal for retail sales of
consumer goods in I-2. That is the loan refusal. As you might expect, the City of Philadelphia's
comprehensive plan for the South District has for some time recommended that this property be
rezoned to CMX 3, the commercial district, in light of the longstanding commercial use of the
shopping center and this area, as Mr. Clinton mentioned earlier this afternoon. Retail,
including the sale of consumer goods, is permitted in the CMX 3 district recommended
by the Planning Commission.
As you can see here,
here's a map of the Gray's Ferry Commercial Corridor
showing on the bottom the legacy zoning in this area.
And in contrast, the actual current use of the corridor,
which consists of this shopping center
as well as various restaurants, businesses,
and an animal clinic on Gray's Ferry Avenue.
Here is a nice aerial from the east.
You can see the lot is self-contained by a local access road and the north side of the Graysbury Avenue.
Here are some zoomed-in photos of the site.
The application is for the Verizon store to fill the vacant space that was formerly H&R Block, as you can see on the bottom of the screen.
Here's the key plan for the shopping center.
The proposed Verizon store is to occupy the small space, hopefully you can see it, letter F.
From left to right, the other tenants in this very full and active shopping center are the Fresh Grocer is labeled A, and then from left to right, you have PA Fine Wine and Spirits, the U.S. Postal Service, Healthy Tools, Curling Care, Chase Bank, and then McDonald's on the PAD site, all of which have been previously permitted within this 50-year-old shopping center.
From left to right, the other tenants in this very full and active.
The Verizon store to occupy that small unit F is just one of two spaces that are currently vacant on the shopping center.
And Corman has, in fact, kept the shopping center full for many decades, which is no small feat and owes to the fact that Corman has engaged long-term tenants, including the Verizon store.
that also specifically serve the community.
And we've been pleased to work once again
with the courting RCO,
the Grays Ferry Coalition of Neighbors,
in particular to confirm the Verizon store's commitment
to local hiring through their operator, Victra.
Here is the floor plan of the proposed site.
It's a 1,600-square-foot vanilla shell space.
Here are the posting and interior photos.
I'll go back to the floor plan.
Again, minimal size at 1,600 square feet, one of the smaller spaces in the shopping center.
Minimal fit-out is expected or is required for Verizon to provide its standard wireless products and services.
Same ones offered by other Verizon stores in the city.
commercial trash and recycling
services and storage in the rear
all per the shopping center leases
through Corman. The store as I mentioned is to be operated by
Victra which maintains 1600 Verizon stores in all
50 states. The store will operate 7 days a week
in keeping with the very active nature of this shopping
Center, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays. The store will
employ about 10 to 15 staff members, about two to four staff per shift, and as I mentioned,
with the emphasis on hiring from the community. Here is the unanimous letter of support from the
community, which met with the applicant initially on November 20th, and then for a vote on December
11th. Cormans had several representatives in attendance at this hearing today. Suffice to say
their fifth generation team has really enjoyed working with the Grace Ferry community over the
years and is grateful for the neighbors' continued support. I'll pull back the key plan and summarize
briefly our request for relief due to hardship. Case is rather simple. This is a 50-year-old
shopping center and the development of the shopping center and uses that we've brought
before this board over the years cannot, of course, strictly conform with the I-2 industrial
district. Oops, I'm sorry. But while strict conformity is not possible, this is the least
possible modification of the regulation at issue, specifically activating a small retail space
that was previously, recently, and repeatedly approved for similar retail and commercial uses.
As I mentioned, the grant of relief is consistent with the board's prior approvals dating back
to the shopping center's development in 1976. And as I've detailed, I'm happy to elaborate upon,
grant of relief will not alter the neighborhood's character, congestion, health, and safety,
adjacent properties, public facilities, and the environment. All as per the code. To the contrary,
we're pleased to bring this proposal before you with community support to keep the shopping
center and the corridor full and active for the benefit of the community. For these reasons,
Mr. Chair, members of the board, I respectfully ask for your support of this application. Thank
you for your time this afternoon. Mr. Feldman is here with me to adopt my testimony. Good.
Thank you, Mr. Feldman.
Thank you.
Is it Mr. Chair?
They should be coming back in as Panama shortly.
Hello?
Hi, Mr. Feldman, could you please state your name and spell it for the court stenographer?
Hi, Mr. Feldman.
Could you please state your name and spell it for the court stenographer?
Yes, Harry.
Yes, Harry Feldman, H-A-R-R-Y-F-E-L-D-M-A-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Hi, Harry. How are you this afternoon?
I'm doing well, Eric.
I see Greg behind you. I'm adopting and affirming you, Harry, but I should note that Greg Masiatano,
So sitting beside Harry is here on behalf of Corman Properties as well.
Mr. Feldman, can you confirm that you've heard my testimony and description of the application this afternoon?
And this information, is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
Yes, it is.
And would you adopt my testimony as your own and affirm my testimony as your own?
Thank you so much.
questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
uh just a quick question um mr bodson do we need to specify the unit or does that
not matter in this case because the owner is the applicant
i don't believe uh the owner is the applicant and i don't believe we do not need to specify
the the unit number okay thank you questions or comments from the virtual audience
i do not see any hands raised mr chair planning commission
amy boyd with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends a changing
and zoning at this location from the existing industrial i2 to auto oriented ca1 the proposed
use would be allowed by right in the recommended zoning the planning commission recommends the
grant their requested variance for retail sales of consumer goods.
Thank you. MI 2024-006-661-2815-Gray's at Gray's Ferry Avenue. I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Tywin, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you for your time.
Right, sure. Number nine, MI 2024, 006-667-7770 Dugan Road. Gary Perkis is the attorney. There is a letter of unanimous support from the Burholm Community Town Watch and Civic Association, a letter of non-opposition from Council Member O'Neill.
They will be rejoining us apparently shortly, Mr. Chair.
Do we see Mr. Perkis?
Good afternoon.
Hi, counsel.
Could you turn the video on, please?
It's on.
It's okay.
I believe it is on.
Yeah, you were fine.
Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Yes, my name is Gary Perkis, G-A-R-Y-P-E-R-K-I-S-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Do you identify your client, the relationship to the property?
Yes. My client is Bethel Deliverance International Church, Inc. With respect to the property that's the subject of this appeal, my client is a sub-lessee of the property.
Thank you. Our vice chair has a few questions, sir.
Good evening, counsel. Do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have.
thank you council please proceed and share your screen uh members of the board uh good afternoon
or good evening um there's a little bit of a history to this excuse me share your screen
with the presentation
we see your exhibit list we're good yep you're good can i proceed please uh so there's a there's
a bit of a history to this property i just wanted to make sure that the board was aware of the
background uh my client bethel deliverance international church inc first leased space
First leased space in the Strip Center, which is 7770 Dungan Road is a Strip Center in Northeast Philadelphia.
in the strip center, which is 777.
It is zoned I2.
There's four different business uses in the center.
One is a children's daycare center.
One is a dollar store.
One is an adult daycare.
And then my client, the church.
All of the uses are nonconforming to I2.
My client first entered into a lease for unit number two on March 1st of 2013 and has been
in the property ever since.
My client subsequently leased unit number three in April of 2016, and my client entered
into a sublease for unit six on May 1st of 2024.
With respect to unit two, my client obtained a use variance on July 19th of 2013 to allow my client to use the space for religious assembly.
And then on September 21st, 2016, my client obtained a similar use variance for unit number three.
So the process started to obtain a use variance for unit number six.
As we can go through the exhibits, I think I can lay the rest of it out that way.
First, here's the original application that was submitted by my client's architect, John Tietz.
He's here now if we need him.
The next exhibit is the refusal.
And if you note, the refusal says a nonconforming use that is located in a conforming building
shall not increase the area occupied by the nonconforming use by more than 10%.
With respect to the percentages, the combined space of units two, three, and six that my
client occupies is 15,390 square feet. The total square footage of the center is 47,795 square
feet. And unit six is 5,862 square feet, which represents 12.26% of the entire property.
The next exhibit is the application for appeal.
And then the project information form, which was submitted as well.
And here's a copy of the sublease.
and uh there's two authorization letters one from uh dungan heights associates who's the owner of
the property and the other from grope go brands inc who is the um sublessor
here's a copy of the tax clearance certificate that we we obtained and here's a copy of the
plans that were submitted if you notice here's the square footage that I just referenced
it's just a little bit larger then so you have
15,390 for the three units that are occupied by my client
and the fourth, $47,795, which is the complete improvements to the property.
The purpose of the expansion, and I'll show you some pictures in a minute,
is to expand the sanctuary and to add more office and activity spaces in the property.
And there's a floor plan that has been submitted for the for the entire renovation.
The next group of exhibits is the copies of this zoning poster that was put in both the back and the front of the property.
It was timely placed.
Then notice that I sent out to the neighbors of the meeting with the RCO.
uh which was conducted on december 12th of 2024. here's proof of mailing and then
And here's the letter of support right after that, which was submitted by the RCO this week.
here's the letter of support right after that
And then here's, this is two pictures of the sanctuary as it exists now.
And this is in unit number two.
And then, as you'll see, the next photo is unit number three.
that's at this at this point is not used, but it will be renovated to put it to expand the
sanctuary. And then the next two pictures are from unit six, which is really the subject of
the appeal that we're here for today.
and then the witness list that's that's that's all the exhibits that we have to submit
um we're not there's not going to be any change in the use of the property it's only
we're only here really for purposes of approval of the use of uh unit six um uh with respect to
expansion into that unit. You want to bring your client on and adopt your testimony?
Yeah, that would be good. It's Pastor Baldwin in the audience, Tim Baldwin.
Tim Baldwin. They'll be coming back in as a panel shortly. Thank you, Jason.
hello hi hi pastor could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
yes timothy baldwin t-i-m-o-t-h-y b-a-l-d-w-i-n do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth nothing but the truth yes uh proceed counsel uh pastor baldwin um did you hear my
presentation to the board? Yes. And was the presentation true and correct to the best of
your knowledge and information and belief? Yes. All right. Do you adopt my presentation as your
own? Yes. And is there anything that you would like to add to say to the board in support of
the application. I think you pretty much covered it all. Thank you, Pastor. I do have architect
John Teets. If the board has any questions, we can bring the board has any questions. We'll bring
Mr. Teets. Okay. Questions from the board. Yeah. Could you clarify for me if these spaces are
contiguous? They are. Thank you.
Other questions from the board? Can we
see that? You went through
the plan, but can we see where those spaces are?
I'm sorry, you had some.
Yeah, let me go back to where the plan
is. If I can reduce
it down for you so that you could see it better um okay so here's a plan like this but it was
it was a little bigger please
yeah can we can we make that bigger um sure i i there's a second plan as well
yeah sorry i saw yeah i thought i saw where it was like larger
okay so i that's about the best i can do um so this yes can you make it yeah wider so we can
so the air the area to the to the on the left side is unit two uh unit three would be um
towards the center or on the on the left side of center and unit unit six is all the way to the
right. The first unit is roughly 7,000 square feet. The middle unit is roughly 2,500 square
feet. And then the unit to the right, unit six, is 5,682 square feet.
Thank you.
The architect, John T, can answer if you need that breakdown.
We're okay. Questions from the virtual audience?
I do not see any answers, Mr. Chair.
Questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Hillary, question, seriously.
Should this be six only? Because two and three already have variances. How do we word this for proviso?
Should this be six only?
Because two and three already have variances.
How do we...
I think we just leave it as it is, because one of the uses that's there previously, it's a religious use, but they have it categorized as assembly and entertainment.
So it might be better. They may be kind of changing that, but it's already, I don't think the use is actually changing. I think there's the category.
I would just vote it as it is, because I think the refusal covers everything.
Thank you for cleaning.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the existing industrial I-1.
This property is a strip mall hosting commercial and other non-industrial uses
and had a variance for religious practices in the past.
The proposed use is consistent with the surrounding area
and will not ensure the use of adjoining properties.
The Planning Commission recommends the board grant the requested variance
for increasing non-conforming use of a religious assembly.
Thank you.
MI 2024-006-667-7770 Dungan Road.
I vote yes.
Michael Johnson, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Ty Owen, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you, board.
Is there anyone in the virtual audience whose 2 p.m. case has not been called?
I do not see any hands, Mr. Chair.
okay we're going to move right into the 330 list okay six o'clock
we're going to move on to the 330 list
good afternoon my name is bill berkman and i will be chairing the meeting of the philadelphia
Zoning Board of Adjustments. With me is our Vice Chair, Ismail Shahid. Present, Mr. Chairman. Our
Board Member, Cheryl L. Gaston. Present, Mr. Chairman. Our Board Member, Tanetta Graham. Present,
Mr. Chairman. Our Board Member, Michael Johns. Chairman. And Board Member, Taya Nguyen. Present,
Mr. Chairman. Also present is Hillary Emerson, our Attorney, and Ian Haggerty, our Executive
Director of Zoning. Please be advised the meeting is being recorded. Your participation in this
meeting indicates your consent to be recorded. The video will be posted on the ZBA website
approximately one week following the meeting. This meeting is being held in person with remote
capabilities, meaning that individuals can participate either in person, at the hearing
room, in one parkway building, or remotely over Zoom. When you are recognized to speak by the
board, please state and spell your name for the court reporter and then wait to be sworn in. If
If you are in the hearing room, you must speak into a microphone so that everyone in attendance, including the court reporter, can hear you.
If you are participating remotely, please turn on your camera and unmute yourself when you are recognized to speak.
Once you've been sworn in, please state your name each time before testifying, whether you are a person on remote so that the court reporter knows who is speaking.
Please mute yourself or turn the microphone off when you're speaking.
If you're participating by phone, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
If you're participating by phone, please call 267-270-5548 to register your appearance by the close of the day, the business day after the hearing.
You must provide an email address and the address of the property you are interested in.
All others can enter their appearance through Zoom registration.
For individuals participating in person, a QR code is available to register your appearance.
For assistance, please see a member at the back of the hearing room.
If you have any questions about how to enter your appearance, please contact RCOZBA at phillip.gov.
If you're in the hearing room, please refrain from talking or engaging in conversations while the hearings are proceeding.
Please note that eating or drinking in the hearing room is prohibited.
In addition, vertical and physical aggression will not be tolerated.
If you are participating remotely, remember the Q&A on the Zone platform.
It's not for testimony or comments.
Any comments related to the hearing operation should be directed to ZBA.
Any comments related to the hearing operation should be directed to ZBAExecutiveDirector at phil.gov.
Let's look at our schedule for this afternoon.
Number two, MI 2024-005-841-4010 Palmetto Street.
That case is continued until February 19th at 2 p.m.
Number three, MI 2024-005-959-1300-202 Harrison Street.
That case is continued to July 23rd, 25th at 9.30 a.m.
And number four, MI 2024-005-964-1444 North 2nd Street. That case is continued to July 23rd, 25 at 9.30 a.m.
Is there any more requests for continuance?
Good evening, Mr. Chair. This is Jason Hand. I will be your co-host for this session.
At present, I do not see any hands raised.
Thank you very much.
And number five, MI 2024, 005-972-4530 Blankston Street.
No exhibits for this case.
This is our first listing.
The listed owner is Elvin Epina-Diaz, and Libio Matos is the DBA U.S. Remodeling Construction.
Is there anyone in the audience for that case?
Mr. Chair, I do not see any hands raised for that matter, and I do not see the individuals
in question. Okay, so MI 2024-005-972-4530 Blankinson Street, that case is continued,
Mark must be heard. And the date on that, Mr. Chair?
0-7-23-25 at 9.30 a.m.? At 3.30 p.m. 3.30 p.m. Yes, all the cases from 3.30 are continued to
3.30 p.m. on the new date. Okay. All right, okay. Right?
No, not. Okay. All right. We'll talk about that later. All right. And number one, MI 2022, 007, 458, 5218 Arch Street. That case has been withdrawn.
Mr. Chair, we do not have a letter for withdrawal.
We just had a notification that the attorney intended to withdraw,
but it has not been officially withdrawn at this point.
I don't know if Mr. Upton is in the virtual audience and can do that on the record.
Is Devin Upton, the listed attorney, or Trina Lovetta, the listed owner?
Is either one here?
Mr. Chair, I do not see either in the virtual audience.
Do you want to continue this again?
The board's options are to continue or to dismiss.
All right.
So MI-2022-007-458-5218, Art Street, I vote to dismiss.
Michael Johns, my vote is to dismiss.
Gerald Gaston, my vote is to dismiss.
Tannetta Graham, my vote is to dismiss.
Iowan, my vote is to dismiss.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is to dismiss.
Thank you.
At number six, MI 2024-005-973-247 South Warnock Street, Cody Cowper is the owner-applicant. It's a pro se.
Non-opposition from Washington Square West and non-opposition from Council Member Squilla.
They're coming back in as a panelist, sir.
Thank you.
Hi, Cody, could you please turn your video on, please?
Yes, one second.
Take your time.
Cody, could you please state your name
and spell for the stenographer?
Cody Cowper, C-O-D-Y-C-O-W-P-E-R.
Cody Cowper
C-O-D-Y
C-O-D-Y
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
All right.
This application is for the erection of an addition at the rear third floor level of the existing attached structure.
In the RSA 5 zoning district, the minimum rear yard depth for lots equals two or less than 45 feet in depth shall be seven feet, whereas the proposed addition provides five foot eight inches rear yard setback.
This is a proposed extension of an existing nonconformity.
Our vice chair has just a few questions for you, sir.
Good evening, Mr. Calvert.
have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibit that's needed to proceed with this
case five days in advance of this hearing yes i believe so thank you sir you may go ahead and
proceed and share your screen okay and uh probably not shocking but this is my first time ever doing
this so hopefully that's a green button at the bottom of your screen share button try to open
up your files before you hit the button please okay um i have shared before i've just never uh
presented to the zoning board so hopefully it's what is uh expected and i'll i'll do my best to
answer any questions that might pop up okay so share screen i think that's the easiest
okay you're coming up now okay um so this is a little presentation i put together that i think
covers some of the requirements um and then um i have some other files that i can pop up
as part of the submission so as we already said this is for 247 south warnock street this is
between kind of 10th and 11th and Spruce and Locust Street.
So as was stated, the refusal was for a setback.
The requirement was that it's seven feet
and the proposal would result in a five foot,
eight inch rear setback.
So this is the notice of refusal from L&I.
This is the notice that was provided
to all neighbors within the required distance.
I have the letter of non-opposition from my RCO.
I don't have that in this presentation, but I can bring it.
We have a copy.
Just for context, this is the front of the property,
not where the project would be.
um and then this is the rear of the property so as you see there's a uh an alley um behind the
property lines of the of um of the properties on warnock street and alder and um this picture
on the left uh my house is directly on the right side of that so that's i tried to take these
pictures to demonstrate that so if you were to pivot and turn you would see the rear of my house
which is this house with the arrow pointed at it and the proposed project is above that second
floor so the third floor wall that you see now would be pushed out to match the current wall
of the first and second floor in depth the width of it would be different but in depth
it would be exactly the same as the first and second floor
um here are the plans there there is some proposal for some other work within the house
um but none of that requires a variance so um as you can see the in the middle drawing here
The third floor, this is where it would be pushed out and it would be contiguous with the second and first floor's depth.
And it would be the same width as the entire structure.
Moving on, these are the plans I believe were what was submitted to zone or LNI that were
ultimately denied because of the need for the variance.
I don't know if there's any questions I can leave this up.
I don't know if it's been kind of clear, the description of the project.
And have you talked to your immediate neighbors, Cody?
and have you talked to your immediate neighbors Cody uh yeah my I mean
Yeah, my immediate neighbors are both in support of it.
I don't have letters from them.
One immediate neighbor did show up to the RCO meeting and voiced their approval for the project.
Okay, questions from the board.
questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
i do not see any hands mr chair planning commission this is uh ron bednar uh city
planning first name ron r-o-n last name bednar do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth and nothing but the truth? I do. Please proceed, Ron. The property is indicated
for residential use on the city plan. Given the physical circumstances of the site, we recommend
the request for variance be granted. Did you say that again, Ron? I didn't hear that.
Whole thing, I'll... No, not the whole thing. Just... Okay. We recommend that the requested
Thank you. So, MI 2024-005-973-247 South Warnock Street, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Iowan, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Sir, you have your votes.
Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
Thank you. Thank you for your presentation.
Is there anyone else in the audience whose case has not been called?
Chair, Mr. Chair, I do not see any further hands.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thanks, everybody.
We did make our six o'clock time.
But, of course, they moved the storm instead.
So they did close the schools.
They did close the schools.
Virtual learning day.
Well, this is the last day.
Go, birds.
Congratulations.
jewelry