ZBA Hearing - September 15, 2026

Ardley and Sedgwick okay and I believe it's East Sedgwick but um close enough and then

what in looking did you consider those factors that I just read to the zoning board

that are set forth in 14701, 1D, subsection, I think it's E,

and making your determination regarding the primary frontage or frontages for this property?

I look at all criteria that's necessary by code, so yes.

Okay.

Did you look at, in addition to the criteria, specific criteria that are set forth in 14701D, subsection E, did you also, were there any rule, because it mentions rules and regulations, additional criteria stated in the regulations of the commission for the purposes of clarifying or implementing this determination?

Were there any rules and regulations that you referenced, or was it only the criteria that are set forth in 14701, 1D.4?

So not only the code, but I look at deeds as well.

Okay.

And looking at the deeds, when you say deeds, is that the deeds for just this property or deeds for other properties as well?

well for the primary property but then if it is considered to be a shared easement or some other

type of shared space then i would look for the others as well okay and in this case did you look

at any deeds other than the subject property yes okay and which properties did you look at the

deeds for the three properties next to the corner property so to the left if we were looking at the

from ardly street yeah so would it be fair to say 6928 6926 the corner of ardly and sedgley

and heading towards gorges okay gotcha so for the record that's 6928 6926 and 6924 ardly street

so you looked at the three deeds for those the deeds for those properties um and what is the

reason first of all how far back did you look at the deeds like um so for this particular property

well for this for your review um for my review i'll look at the most current documented okay

and and the reason in this case you looked at those the deeds for those three properties

are um there's a shared driveway in the rear of the property okay

Okay. And why is that important or relevant?

So when determining primary frontage, you are to look at many criteria and including the deeds.

And since there's a shared driveway in the rear of the home, most of those developments require that you enter from the rear in order to have a shared driveway.

When you say enter, you mean like pedestrian or vehicular?

Vehicle.

okay and um and in this case you found that to be the case correct okay and is in looking at deeds

is that something i don't see that necessarily referenced in the zoning code is that something

that's referenced in the rules and regulations yes it's in the code yes it's in the rules not

the code the rules and regulations which one i'm sorry it's stated in the code that you must um

enter through a shared driveway through the rear of the property no i mean in the criteria

like I don't I don't see that in here in the zoning code reference about the deeds I do see

a reference to rules and regulations in addition to the specific criteria

there's a shared space or a shared easement you should always review the deeds it's just due

diligence okay but that's not in the rules and regulations that's your practice correct

um I'm unsure of that okay all right

and then in determining primary frontage again why is why is having a shared driveway to the rear

and then in determining primary frontage again why is why is having a share

of this property and the properties to the east why is that relevant I'm sorry repeat the question

why is having a shared driveway relevant why is it determining primary frontage yes oh because

in the code it states that in order to have a shared driveway you have to enter through the rear

okay so i'm sorry i'm going to ask one more time and then i'm going to drop it but

why does that help you determine it helped you determine in this case that ardly should be the

primary frontage versus east sedgwick or both being primary frontage well if that was the rear

lot line then the front would be directly opposite so ardly would be the primary frontage

okay um and I and I understand how that works with properties with that have two street frontages

that are opposed to each other but in in corner properties that's that's you can have more you

do have more than one front correct before primary frontage is determined correct

essentially yes no by definition actually it's in 14701 primary frontage isn't determined until

the planning commission so you could have two fronts but you do not have two primary frontages

can you have two primary frontages um for this application i chose one but i understand but

you can't have more than two correct again that's out of my that's okay yeah but but again in the

code that i just read it did it did reference plural correct you were here when i read it yes

okay so and you you are familiar with 14701 d again that talks about the different types of

uh properties with different types of street frontages correct yeah zoni code and you're

you're aware that there is a difference between properties that are through properties that have

streets in the front and either streets to the rear or drives to the rear versus properties that

have our corner lots correct yes or that are corner lots with the shared driveway to the rear

correct yes but before primary frontage is determined this property has two well it always

has two frontages correct two street frontages it's just you determined one was the primary

street frontage correct i determined that it was the primary frontage okay all right so other than

the shared drive and determining that because the shared drive is if i'm correct if i'm

understanding you correctly you said that because the shared drive is at the rear that opposite that

is the front is that what you're saying well the primary primary frontage okay and you're is there

you're not going to speak to any of your experience so was it your testimony today that because the

shared driveway is at the rear sedgwick street cannot be a primary frontage well there were many

items that went into that determination it wasn't just the you know the rear easement it was also

the block face and also within the deed language uh it states that the block begins at Gorgas and

ends at Sedgwick so that again went into the termination of it being the rear okay so what

this last part where you said uh something stated that the block something about the block face

starting at gorgas and going to sedgwick what what was that document though in the d it states that

there's a shared drive that begins at gorgas and ends at sedgly and all the homes are facing on

ardley it says that they're facing on ardley or i mean it's the determination of primary

you just tapped a piece of paper in front of you you're looking at a deed language yeah i mean can

you just read the deed language for us i mean i have our deed in our in my package i have the

wrong eyeglasses on I have big ones so big eyeglasses be down towards the end so uh just

for identification but for the record uh we're looking at exhibit a of the deed uh which is the

property description and it's pretty small so you want me to try it okay I mean no she oh okay

i mean read it into the record if we want to read it into i can read it into the record because thank

you uh so exhibit a property description all that certain lot or piece of ground with the buildings

and improvements thereon and erected situate in the 22nd ward of the city of philadelphia

described according to a survey and plan thereof made by john t campbell esquire surveyor and

Regulator of the 9th District of the City of Philadelphia on the 26th day of April A.D. 1948 as follows to it, beginning at a point on the southwest side of Bartley Street.

As follows to it, beginning at a point on the southwest side of Ardley Street, 70 feet wide, at a distance of 458 feet, one half inch northwest from the northwest side of Gorgas Street, 60 feet wide,

Then extending south, 22 degrees, 37 minutes, 26 seconds west, crossing the bed of a certain 15 feet wide driveway, which extends northwest and southeast from Gorgas Street to Sedgwick Street, 60 feet wide, 143 feet, 9 and 5 eighths inches to a point.

fence extending north, 63 degrees, 14 minutes, 3 seconds west, 65 feet, 5 and 7 eighths inches to the southeast side of Sedgwick Street, 60 feet wide,

fence extending north, 40 degrees, 46 minutes, 26 seconds east along the said southeast side of Sedgwick Street and recrossing the bed of the above described 15 feet wide driveway,

135 feet, 5 and 7 eighths inches to the point of a curve.

Semicolon, then extending in a northeast direction on the arc of a circle curbing to the right with a radius of 15 feet, the arc distance of 18 feet, nine and three quarter inches to a point of tangent on the said southwest side of Ardley Street, then extending south 67 degrees, 22 minutes, 34 seconds east along the said southwest side of Ardley Street, eight feet, ten and three eighths inches to the first mentioned point and place of the beginning.

together with the free and common use right liberty and privilege of the aforesaid driveway

and as and for a driveway and passageway at all times here for hereafter forever in common with

the owners tenants and occupiers of the other lots of ground bounding thereon and entitled

to the use thereof subject to the proportionate part of the expense of keeping set driveway in

good order and repair uh and then blah blah blah I don't think you need the rest of it the rest

okay but uh we can submit the copy of that sure I actually use the date already in the record

should be in the record should be in the record that's what I think I mentioned already but okay

um and do you do you know you have you been to the property no person okay but you you've looked

on Street View yes okay and you've looked for on Ardley Street from from Gorgas down to East

Sedgwick yes and you look from on Sedgwick from Ardley to Sprague perhaps on the other side of

the railroad tracks no that wasn't part of my review okay okay so you didn't go that way you

just went on Ardley no the deed stated just that block face so that's where I kept my purview okay

so in looking at the definition of block face in the zoning code which I've included and my

exhibits at tab i sub tab five uh i include definitions from the zoning code and at 14 203

um 39 subsection a it states this is the definition of a block face in the case of a

through street uh the edge of a block of lots facing up and the reason it says through street

because the other two options at b and c are a dead end street in the cul-de-sac um so um would

you agree that by definition both ardley street and east sedgwick street that bound this property

6930 ardley are both through streets for that block face okay for which block face the one

you're speaking of okay yeah okay so from from ardley from sedgwick to gorgas over tracks to

ardley is a through street from ardley to um sedgwick to gorgas that's what i looked at okay

so again so so to really cut this short you didn't look at east sedgwick street at all

was not part of my purview no okay even though um the definition of a block faces again in the

case of a through street the edge of a block of lots facing a publicly dedicated street

and that is located between two intervening streets intersecting the street in front of

the lots so by definition uh is there on between ardley street and and spray street on the other

side of the railroad tracks on east sedgwick is that not a block face by definition yes it is okay

Okay. All right. So again, you limited your review just to Ardley Street. You didn't consider East

Sedgwick Street. And the reason, again, just so I'm clear, is that you looked at the deeds and

the deeds only referenced Ardley Street and then the driveway behind it. No, it referenced the rear

and then there's driveway behind it? No, it referenced the rear driveway, shared driveway,

driveway shared

which is an easement between many homeowners, which should be taken into consideration when

determining a primary frontage, along with the front doors of every home and historical maps.

Okay. Front doors and historical maps. Okay. And the word rear, that doesn't appear in the D. That's

your use of the word rear, correct? Well, the word rear comes from the zoning code language,

would state that in order to enter a driveway a shared driveway it must be from the rear of the

home that's a that's a definition in the zoning code to enter a shared driveway it has to be from

the rear yes not a definition perhaps sorry a code standard i so what code standard can you cite that

code standard please do you know what it is i'm looking for help on knowing the exact code yeah

that point I'm sorry because that's it's it's news to me I've done well that's being looked

for real quickly just so rear is from the zoning code not from the deed you're saying correct or

from a code standard correct can I keep going and then we'll can come back to that about the

the accessing yeah yeah i want to keep i want to keep going so you mentioned um about this this

zoning code provision regarding shared driveways and you're saying that they only access from the

rear correct correct okay and then um in terms of you mentioned um and again rear does not appear

in the deed but it's in the zoning code now you mentioned front doors so can you talk about the

front doors of this property and any other properties that you looked at? The block face

is all attached, well, semi-attached, in fact, and they are all facing Ardley.

Well, that's, what about at the opposite end of, at Gorgas and Ardley?

it's the same when you say they all face hardly what do you what do you mean by face

so their their front entrances their pathways they're all facing hardly okay so

so in terms of the doors isn't it is correct and that the doors are on the side correct not

on the front of the houses um i think you should take a look i have a picture i can provide you

with a picture i think the record can reflect that the doors are stipulate that the these are all

twins on this block again city's position that the fronts of the property

front on hardly the entrances are on the side but they have sidewalks the footways to those entrances

fronts yeah all right all right okay and i'll accept that i mean you can't testify but i think

that's i'll stipulate to that but but that's true for all the properties except for the corner

properties isn't that correct i did not look at the corner property outside of the one that was

within my purview okay so on the so you didn't look at the opposite end of the block at corgus

and artly with the information that i had already compiled but that's part of the block phase correct

yes but i don't need to look at them with a microscope to find out all right so in terms

of looking at it with the but you did look at this property 6930 with the microscope correct

well with the general consideration of primary frontage okay that i would give to any property

that's put in front of me okay so let's just look at the like you said you looked at the deeds for

the three properties to the east 6928 26 24 confirm that they shared the driveway okay well

How many properties did you look at for the doors, which now is made clear on the side, on the detached side of semi-detached structures, obviously?

And you made reference to walkways leading from those doors on the side out to Ardley Street, correct?

No, you did.

okay so why don't you why don't you tell us where the walk where the walkways how you get from the

street from ardly street for the we'll call them intermediate properties the non-corner lots it

looks like from the front sidewalk okay when you say front you mean ardly street correct okay so

in 6930 is that the same thing for 6930 does the sidewalk lead out to ardly street from the door

well let me let's strike that where is the door for the 6930 ardly when i look

well let me let's strike that where is the door for the 69 30 yard leak

when i looked at the and reviewed the application it was facing our life

uh okay um i'm going to share my screen

i may um i don't you do know that the property is currently under construction

okay i'm just going to show you some pictures um i don't see in my on my zoom that i can share

we're having a hard time right

and sorry i'm not looking at you guys i'm looking for you're not uh as a panelist oh

well no that's what i was saying that's what i thought i think that was the difference okay there

you go but you did look at street view images correct yes okay all right

i gotta get rid of some of this stuff

okay all right um

I mean here I have a picture that I took of the property

last winter and I've drawn it I have an arrow that points to the property and I can zoom in

does does that look like the property you reviewed with uh your street view images it looks like the

side of the property okay do you see it so for for orientate to orient the board what street is to

the the left of the picture and what street is to the right of in the picture

council can you identify what picture oh i'm sorry i'm sorry thank you very much i really

appreciate that sorry i jumped to that so yeah this is the cover of my index book thank you very much

so it would be the first picture it would be the very first picture the first page of my exhibits

the it's called what's labeled as the bookmarks as the cover thank you

i'm sorry so can you look up on the screen i can see okay so if i for some reason the

whole thing isn't coming across it looks very shattered and kind of like if i can zoom in

it doesn't seem to be moving like mine's moving

let me find another photo for you

yeah the city will stipulate that this isn't the screen's not moving as i flipped the entrance

uh to current 6930 is faces the sedgwick but again like all of the properties on

hardly all of the entrances are on the sides of the property. So again, this property is identical

to every other property on the block. The only distinction being where the footpath is that

leads to the entrance on this end. It's actually kind of unclear on the Gorgas end, which I don't

think is relevant, but in fact, actually it doesn't look like, it looks like actually even

for the Gorgas, and that, in fact, the entrance, the footpath actually does go out to Ardley,

not to Gorgas, to the extent that's relevant, which cannot.

Well, it's the end of the block phase, but we can look at that in a minute.

So your attorney, Leonard, has stated and stipulated that the walkway does not go out

to Ardley Street, that the walkway leading to the door that faces, the door faces Sedgwick