His name is Curtis Singleton.
He should be out there on the line.
Mr. Singleton, you can unmute yourself
and wait for the chair to swear you in mr singleton please spell your full name and i'll
swear you in my name is curtis singleton c-u-r-t-i-s s-i-n-g-l-e-t-o-n where from to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes thank you please proceed mr savran
hey curtis um so did you hear all of my testimony and can you confirm for the board that it was
accurate and truthful and would you adopt it as your own yes i would adopt the testimony thank you
thank you questions from the board no anyone else would like to testify in this case please raise
your hand i see no hands at this time thank you planning commission
Good afternoon. This is Greg Waldman, Planning Commission staff.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing single-family residential zoning for
this property. This building is a former church and has dedicated parking, drop-off, and pickup.
The addition of a child care center would not alter the essential character of the neighborhood.
Accordingly, we recommend that the requested variants be granted.
Thank you very much. MI 2021-001-768-434-North-54th Street. My vote is yes.
Jim, you're breaking up.
breaking up jim you may want to go out and come back
tom could you uh cast your vote please thomas holloman my vote is yes okay we'll go back to
jim i think he had to leave and come back so just give us a couple of minutes absolutely
Absolutely. Okay, I think I'm back. Can you guys hear me? You're back. I don't know what happened there. Sorry. My vote is yes. Sorry.
Thank you. Next case, number nine on our list, MI 2021-001800, 5122 Willows Avenue, Edward and Gwendolyn Foy, Cedar Park neighbors sent a letter of no position.
Chair, I'm about to send you more of an explanation for that letter, the RCO letter,
though in the summary they said that they did not reach an agreement.
The letter and the vote are actually negative.
They seem to be opposing it.
I'll send those to you now.
Is Mr. and or Ms. Foy available?
Mr. and or Ms. Foy available.
There is an attorney.
It is Rachel Pritzker.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Ms. Pritzker?
She's about to come back in as a panelist, too.
Thank you.
Rachel, you're still under oath.
Please identify yourself, and Mr. Snell will have some questions for you.
Thank you.
So, Rachel, R-A-C-H-A-E-L, Pritzker, P-R-I-T-Z-K-E-R, 1635 Market Street, Suite 1600, Philadelphia, PA, 19103.
Hi, Rachel.
Have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral, and plans and photos five days prior to this hearing?
Have you met with the RCO?
all right great uh finally uh do you have a letter from the rco yes great uh please proceed
thank you i'm going to share my screen
so this is 5122 willows avenue um we were refused um as this board may not remember but the board
back in 1989 granted a variance for this property uh for a duplex uh it's been as a duplex since
89 and we are going we're looking to add uh a third floor to it with an additional dwelling
unit so uh although the property is zoned rsa3 most of the refusals uh relate to um its base
zoning despite the fact that it's had a variance uh for 32 plus years um the other refusals are
for parking as the board's well aware uh in rsa3 you are required to have uh one for one parking
However, this is an existing structure. There's no accessory off-street parking capabilities for this lot.
Again, we'd have to either demo the building and set it back or do something underground.
And it also just isn't in alignment with the character of the block and the other many multifamily homes here.
The other refusal, obviously, is for multifamily. Again, the property was granted a variance for a duplex back in 1989.
um essentially besides those refusals i just want to point out to the board that there's many
properties on this block uh that are also multi-family so it's although it's zoned rsa3
it's not a traditionally rsa3 block um so our proposal for the additional unit is not out of
character um we met with the rco um here's the property and as the board can clearly see it's
across from a lot of RM1 and CMX2. I think that's why the properties have been granted
variances in the past. Again, this is the property just to show there's really no ability to do
off-street parking. And then additionally, obviously, photos of the building with the
zoning notice. We met with Cedar Park neighbors, and as Ms. Saleta mentioned, basically their
concern which I have in front of the board was mostly related to the third story as you can see
from the plans that I'm going to bring up in a second this is what we were proposing the third
story with a little bit of a setback behind the existing bay and the community essentially in
their letter didn't have issue with the additional unit it was more so the concern about adding the
third story that would change the uniform look of the block while we don't have a refusal for
the setback because it's technically a corner um we are willing to via proviso set the property
back eight feet um for the above the second story and i did confirm with miss saletta that we can do
that uh via proviso as opposed to revised plans as we were not able to pull together the revised
plans uh in time so i'm i'm hoping that um with the understanding from the community um that
basically most of their concerns, as evidenced in their letter, relate to, you know, just for the
setback for the third story. And that was really what the opposition was for, that if we agreed to
a proviso setting back the third story eight feet from the front, that that will be able to
adequately address their concerns. And just want to point the board's attention. Basically, they
said if the board does choose to allow the variance, it was recommended that the third
floor addition we set back eight feet from the front of the existing second floor which again
we're willing to do via proviso we also have in addition just to provide to the board we do have
letters of support let's see yeah letters of support we have about 15 of them
Let me see. Letters of support. We have about 15 of them that was sent from the adjacent neighbors as well. And this was even before we agreed to do the setback, which was a request from the community group.
And again, something that we're happy to do on this project. So just want to bring the board's attention that there's a lot of other letters of support for this project in particular.
With that said, I have the architect as well, Jeff Owen. I'm happy to have him on if the board has any questions related to the interior, the addition or anything architecture related. We also have the current owner, Gertie, on the line as well. Obviously, the city records haven't updated his ownership as for the confusion with the dress.
I think it would be helpful, briefly, if you could just show us some of the interior architectural issues and also where does trash get stored?
Sure. So trash would be stored most likely in the rear yard. I will have Jeff bring up the plans. These are just the these are just renderings. So the community had a better idea.
Do you see Jeff Owen on the line so that he can just quickly go through the plans and address the chairman's question about trash?
Mr. Owen, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Good afternoon, Mr. Owen. Please spell your full name and I'll swear you in.
My name is Jeffrey Owen, J-E-F-F-R-E-Y-O-W-E-N.
You swear to the friend to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed, Ms. Pritzker.
Jeff, can you share your screen and just go through the plans for the interior, for the addition, and specifically address the chairman's question of where we plan to store trash?
So, unfortunately, I'm not able to share the plans right now.
I'm actually not in my office.
I think, Rachel, you do have a set of the plans.
If you could pull those up.
No problem.
Give me one second.
let me just get them up so that the board can see them as your and i do apologize that inconvenience
to the board thank you rachel yep yeah if you just want to zoom in on that first sheet
the um the plan to the left is the existing plan uh the site plan the plan to the right
is the proposed plan as you see the the property is is is wide the um the house and uh in question
only takes up a part of the of the uh property and there is an existing fence uh and side yard
where the um tenants can store their trash uh off the streets
and then rachel if you want to go to i believe these
there there should also be a set of um floor plans if you have access to those thank you
existing building is basement plus two floors um on the front of the building is an existing porch
uh where there are two entryway doors the left-hand door enters the first floor units
and the door to the right uh enter goes up the stairs to the second floor units
we will be using utilizing the second floor um this right-hand door and the stair extending the
stair up to the uh the new proposed third floor um so the front of the building and the entry uh
porch and entryway into the building will remain as is with extension of the circulation is there
up to the new third floor. Rachel, if you want to scroll down one more. Thank you. In addition to
the third floor, we are proposing an addition on the rear of the property on the first, second,
and third floors just to increase the occupiable area within, which is all by rights.
Yes, this is the. Right. So, yeah, if you want to scroll back one more page down, please.
To the elevation. There we go. The elevations at the top of the sheet on this particular page are all existing elevations and the elevations on the bottom are the proposed elevations.
And the elevation to the far left, bottom left, is the proposed front of the building.
As you can see at the front porch, first floor, existing bay window on the second floor, and then a proposed third floor addition.
on the second floor and then proposed third floor addition and then the bottom right hand elevation
the long elevation is looking uh you know the longitudinal direction of the building and you
can see um the third floor addition and also approximately about 15 feet uh rear addition
on the first second and third floors thank you uh the addition of the third floor would bring us to
what height? 38 feet. 38 feet. Yeah, the only variances we're looking for here are for not
providing the accessory off-street parking. Yeah, and the third unit. Any questions from the board?
No. No. Anyone else would like to testify in this case? If so, please raise your hand.
chair we have andrew goodman mr goodman you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair
mr goodman please identify yourself and i'll swear you in good afternoon andrew goodman g-o-o-d-m-a-n
here representing the office of third district council member jamie gaudier room 586 city hall
Do you swear if I'm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Thank you. Please proceed.
Thank you. I'm sorry, I apologize in advance. I'm jumping in late, so I did not see the full presentation, but we had seen the email correspondence from Ms. Pritzker about the setback.
Would you like to see some of the floorplanes?
um i'd actually just like to request i don't i don't think the rco unless there's someone from
the coordinating rco here now i don't believe they've had a chance to review so i would just
ask that the coordinating rco you know still have a chance to you know to weigh in and that the you
know that the vote be the vote be delayed to give them a chance to respond but you're asking for a
resumption hearing uh to consider the rco correct and i don't know if it needs i think it would just
be a let like a written letter from them so i don't know if it needs to be i don't you know
to be clear i'm not anticipating any i'm not anticipating a strong amount of disagreement
or anything of that nature i just would like to give them a chance to respond
mr goodman if i could just clarify that the uh the setback is not something that's required by
the code there is no refusal for the setback or for the height and i believe that the rco referenced
um the setback in their letter i believe it's something that they asked for
yeah yeah absolutely and i'm not and i'm definitely not contest i'm not i don't think
there's any disagreement here i just don't believe they've had a chance to actually
see the correspondence that's taken place over the last you know couple hours
so i understood but i think the letter speaks for itself they're saying if the board were to approve
it they would want it with an eight foot setback from the existing second floor yeah and i did
email them, Andrew, just so that you're aware. I believe I copied you on that email. And I did
let them know that we would be happy to agree to a proviso for the setback. Oh, yeah, absolutely.
I did. I did see that. I just haven't seen if they've been able to respond yet. So I just
wanted to, you know, give them that opportunity to respond. Thank you. Anyone else to testify in
this case no hands at this time chair thank you planning commission
good afternoon chair members of the board my name is greg baldman the city planning commission staff
the uh the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing single family
residential zoning for this property. The board previously granted a variance for two units in
1989. We believe that three units are an overuse for the size of the lot and underlying base zoning
and is out of character for the block. Accordingly, we recommend that the requested variance not be
granted. If I may, Chairman, I just want to respond to that. There are other three units on
the block um and the surrounding area is all rm1 so undoubtedly there's the ncmx2 so undoubtedly
there's other multifamily it's also quite a large lot as you saw and we're not even taking up yeah
if they wanted to just put a third story stay within a 35 foot height and keep it as two units
you can put as many bedrooms in as the third unit would allow correct all right okay thank you
excuse me this is sharon chair can i just ask that if you do approve this with the proviso
So that you'd be specific since we don't have plans to be specific that the the eight foot setback will be measured from the front of the.
Yes, please. Thank you.
Yes, please. Thank you. All right. MI 2021-001800, 5122 Willows Avenue. My vote is yes with the
All right. MI 2021.
proviso. Third floor, we'll have an eight-foot setback from the existing second floor. Is that
right? Is that correct, Rachel? Yes, I just want Sharon to confirm. I don't want to have any issues
on her end either no that sounds that's fine thank you thank you
can i vote now frank yes yes please okay uh james snell yes yes with proviso
thomas holloman yes with proviso thank you thank you did we miss anyone did anyone not
get a chance to testify on the cases on the two clock list if so please raise your hand
i see no hands at this time chair thank you and uh any other unfinished business on the part of
the board or the administration no no okay um with that we'll see everybody back at 3 30
Thank you.
Thank you, Pauline.
Tanya?
Yeah, ready to go forward, Chair.
Just give me a second here.
Good afternoon, everyone.
My name is Frank DiCicco.
I'm the Chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
I'll be participating in today's hearing along with our board members, Mr. Thomas Holloman and Mr. James Snell.
Board members, Ms. Yvette Benton and board attorney, Ms. Sharon Saleto, are also in attendance along with our zoning board administrator, Ms. Tanya Sumkin.
For those of you who haven't yet participated in one of our virtual hearings, I'll go through some of the basics of what you can expect.
First, we will be administering oaths to individual participants prior to their testimony.
Second, we'd like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded and that by participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded and that the recording will be made available to the public on the web or otherwise.
For anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute yourself.
I'll repeat. For anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise your hand
by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute yourself. Finally, to enter an appearance statement,