Witness Hall with its surface-level parking, and all the properties to the north are Washington
Avenue industrial uses. Exhibit 5, and the remaining photos are just the different
directional views of the property. I'm not going to go through those. Exhibit 5 are the current
site photos for the property in the block. On the screen at page 1 is 2107 Ellsworth Street.
It's a single-family house, a pre-existing curb cut with off-street parking, and a fire
hydrogen located in front of the property.
The second photo is 2105 Ellsworth, the property to the east.
Again, single-family, existing curb cut with off-street parking.
Farther to the east, 2103 Ellsworth is a two-unit condo building with curb cut off-street parking.
And then the property on the corner, 2101 Ellsworth Street.
Again, it's a single-family house with the existing off-street parking.
And farther to the east is the Jehovah's Witness Hall with its surface parking lot.
The properties to the west of the subject property on Ellsworth Street, 2109 and 2111 Ellsworth, are the same type of structures as are on our property.
Single-family house with curb cut and off-street parking.
The remaining houses on the west side to the west of our property on the north side of Ellsworth are just existing three-story single-family houses.
And on the south side of the block, again, these are three-story single-family houses that take up the majority of the south side of the block.
The middle of the block does have 2124-26 Ellsworth Street, which is a combined consolidated lot with two units and off-street parking and a curb cut.
The middle of the block does have 21, 24-26 Ellsworth Street.
The remaining properties are just three-story single-family houses.
At Exhibit 6 is our approved subdivision plan for the proposed development.
Looking at the left side of the plan is the existing dimensions of the existing lots.
These lots are approximately 68 feet 8 inches deep by 42 feet 10 inches wide.
So very sizable parcels for South Philadelphia and the Point Breeze neighborhood.
Our proposal, turning to the right side of the Exhibit 6, is to create four subdivided parcels.
All the parcels obviously will stay 68 feet deep and going from east to west, they will end up with different variations in width because of the side yard we're creating as part of the development as requested by the community.
The first property is going to be 23 feet wide. The second ends up at 19.8 feet wide. The third property is 18.4 feet wide and the fourth is 24.4 feet wide. So again, these are four subdivided lots.
that are still quite sizable and less density than the six-unit plan that we had approved back in 2001.
Our zoning plan is at Exhibit 7.
And I'll zoom into the zoning plan.
As I mentioned, we're proposing four attached houses.
The properties themselves are 50, the houses that were in construction are 42 feet deep,
and we're leaving 26 feet three inches for the rear yard so we have massive rear yards
portion of the rear rear yard will be porous pavers and the rest will be grass
the neighbors requested that we not build to the property lines and these are with four
properties that are almost averaging 20 over 20 feet wide they're they're massive so we are doing
a six foot side yard on the east side of the the property and on the west side to give light and
to the neighboring properties and keep more of the existing conditions that have been at this
property for 20, 30 years with the existing houses. That does create this issue with the
privacy fence in the front of the property. So in order to have security and privacy along the
property, we do have a six foot fence proposed, which is one of the refusals created by the
the community's request. And turning to the second page of Exhibit 7 is the elevation,
the front elevation of the property. So the property farthest to the east will have that
six foot side yard and we're requesting approval for a six foot privacy fence that is more than
50% opaque. The building itself is dimensionally compliant, 38 feet high with a three foot six
inch parapet wall. And beyond the parapet wall, the community asks us not to do a 10-foot
pilot house, as you often see. So we have a roof stair enclosure that will be flush
with that parapet wall. So it will not be visible beyond the parapet wall.
On the ground floor level, again, the first house on the east, the easternmost unit will not have
parking, but the other three units will have front-loaded parking, which makes sense. There
is an existing curb cut for the, I'll say, with the second property and the fourth property.
The one in the middle, there is that existing fire hydrant, so there would be no parking along
the front of that house anyway, so this allows us to get an additional car off the street and
comply with what the community was demanding. As far as the floor plans, we have those at exhibit
eight. The basement floor plan is for, we have a utilities and family room in the basement with an
egress well leading out to the rear yard. The first floor is the garage for the front loaded
parking, along with the main entryway into the house, which has a powder room at the first floor
and the main living space. The living room is a, has a, it's a vaulted ceiling. So the second floor
has, is open to below. So the second floor only goes back halfway. Second floor will have the
kitchen room, kitchen and dining room and stairs leading up to the bedrooms at the third and fourth
floor level. The bedrooms themselves as a third floor, we end up with a one bedroom, one bath
unit with washer and dryer and mechanicals. And the bedrooms are sizable. It's 13 feet
wide by 13 feet deep approximately on bedrooms one and two. And then the master bedroom is on
And then the master bedroom is on the fourth floor level that has a full bedroom, full master bath, walk-in closet, wet bar, and access to the roof deck.
the fourth floor level that has a full bedroom.
And as I mentioned, the roof deck is not going to be a pilot house.
It is going to be flush with that parapet wall as requested by the community.
And Exhibit 9 is the rendering of the property.
Again, nothing in particular here other than I want to point out that the privacy fence that we're going to need because of the side yard that the neighbors requested, we are requesting permission to have that at six feet and more than 50% opaque, along with the approval for the off-street parking as requested by the community.
with that um mr chairman that those are our exhibits for this project i would request
jason kuter is on the line he is a member of both llcs that own these properties i would
request that he raise his hand okay
they've been enough to speak hi sir could you state your name and spell it please for the
court stenographer? Yes, Jason Cuter, J-A-S-O-N-C-U-T-A-I-A-R. Do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes. Proceed, sir. Mr. Cuter, did you hear my
presentation to the board today? Yes, I did. And were my statements true and correct to the best
to your knowledge, information, and belief? Yes, they were. And are you, just to clarify,
are you a member of both owners, a member of both LLCs that own each of these properties?
Yes, I'm sole member of MaidCon LLC 2107 Ellsworth, and I'm a member of 91C,
owner of 2105 Ellsworth. Okay. And would you adopt my statements as your own?
I would
Nothing further Mr. Chair
Questions from the board
No chair
No chair
Thomas
Questions or comments from the virtual audience
I see no hands Mr. Chair
planning commission. Sir, Ron Bednar, city planning property is indicated for residential
use on a city plan or adopted district plan recommends no change to existing zoning at this
location. Applicant's hardship is not supported with evidence of unique physical circumstances
that will prevent it from being used in conformity with the parking requirements of the code.
therefore we recommend your perseverance not be granted. MI 2023, 000126-2105 Ellsworth Street,
I vote yes. Thomas Solomon, my vote is yes. James Snow, my vote is yes. Ishmael Shaheed,
my vote is yes thank you counsel thank you number six mi 2023 000 277 1222 hayworth street
thomas kenny is the attorney
we do now have an rco letter am i right hillary yes mr chair um we have just received a letter
in opposition from the northwood civic association right um we have also received a letter from
council member lazada leaving this member to the board because they did receive the letter
in opposition but they've also received the petition in support submitted by the applicant
okay mr thomas kenny he's been promoted to panama sir hi mr kenny could you state your name and
spell please for the court reporter yes good good afternoon board and chairman bergman this
is attorney Thomas Kenny, K-E-N-N-Y. Do you swear or affirm, tell the truth, the whole truth and
nothing but the truth? I do, Chairman. Could you identify your client and relationship to this
property? Sure. My client is the owner of the property, 1222 Hayworth Street. She's also the
proprietor of the business that is attempting to get this change. Our vice chair has just a few
questions. Yes. Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and
stipulate to its accuracy? I would, sir. Thank you. Thank you. I have emailed in all the required
I have emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing.
documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case.
Yes, I have.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Esteem board, I also have one of my paralegals ready in case I'm a person who doesn't do this a lot.
But so if I. Walter, I'm going to ask my paralegal to also be I think I I think I just did it, panel.
I think you did it. Also, the old man, the old man has done it.
So I'm I'm proud to say, OK. Panel, thank you very much for giving us the time today.
um what we have here is the my client is not attempting to do any construction no alterations
to the property she's simply trying to change the use from what's basically a family group
a family uh to have children uh for a business and this would be become a group the difference
between a family to group goes up to six children this would be from seven to 12 children
um we have been notified we went in front of the rco um we'll get to that in a minute but these are
my the notice of refusals uh we applied for this and got refused on 12 20 the house my client lives
there she also has her business as the date this daycare out of there she's been the proprietor of
this business is 2008. She's had licensing here since 2008. She's also cross-licensed throughout
the Commonwealth as according to the Department of Public Welfare or the DHS allowing her to be
zoned to have this type of property or to say have the use and she's monitored by them and
she's in compliance with the state dictates. We have filed the application for appeal
And I would, at the end of this, I'll ask to move all my exhibits in.
We can note to the panel that we've went and had a public meeting at the RCO.
That meeting was not favorable to us, but we'll get to that in a second.
I've submitted the deed.
My client purchased the property back in 1999.
Her name today is Kelly Burnett.
She is also Kelly Lewis.
That was her name before marriage.
So that is the same person.
She purchased this property, as you see, from the Trinity Reformed Episcopal Church, a Pennsylvania nonprofit corporation back in 1999.
She's held it as same since that time.
We have all the applicable tax clearances.
We have pictures of the zoning signs.
To touch on now the community group, we met with the community group,
and there is now, as the chairman said, there was an email sent yesterday.
I got it yesterday, and there was a, of the people attending, we have supporter votes of three people supporting.
We have opposing the six people on the board, and we also have 13 people who were voting opposing it as to this change.
I can say, getting a little bit to this point, our position is we have the necessary oversight by the state, and she's a good standing business within the state and all those things.
I don't think that's the issue.
I think what the concern of the community is, and we just got a council letter.
So, Chairman, did you receive that yet?
We do.
I just got it in the last couple hours.
And I understand that they are deferring, they will defer ultimately to the zoning board because we've also supported, we've also sent in our package here, letters of support from the community.
We have our tax clearance.
And we have various things from the state showing that she's in compliance with state regulations.
We have loads of support from people that she works with, showing that this is an ongoing business.
It's been a successful business.
My client cares about kids and keeping kids out of trouble, keeping kids on the job.
My client cares about kids and keeping kids out of trouble, keeping kids on the right path as they start their life moving on to adulthood.
And this is what her only obsession is.
She's been doing this her entire life, and that's really the only concern that she has.
Getting to the community.
What the concern is, I can see, is that really it's a small street and parking has been contested and also moving up and down the street.
It's a one-way street and parking.
The complaints from the neighbors have been that sometimes the parking situation, students, children's parents park there, and then there's issues and stuff like that.
Um, we obviously acknowledge that that is a situation, but we are open and we have some other ideas in store, uh, that we think that would be helpful, uh, to the community and, and keep this business moving forward.
One of the things we were discussing, we spoke to DHS, and DHS suggested we're close to Oxford Avenue, and we could have parking there at Oxford Avenue for the additional six students, or maybe it might be less, but up to six more students.
And the DHS suggested we could park at Oxford, and then, of course, a staff member could go walk up the street and help the person come down.
We also thought about ideas of carpooling, and we've considered ideas of trying to work out different parking arrangements, actually following a different approval of the streets department another time.
But that's, it's not really, in my estimation, a problem with what my client does, and I'll call her in a few moments.
It's a worry about the congestion and things like that.
I'll note on page 49 of my packet I just put up there, there's pictures we have of other businesses on the block.
And so this is a situation where we're not the only business.
This isn't just a full residential street.
It's a twin.
We did have particular objections from our actual neighbor, and I'll address that if that comes up in a few minutes.
But this is a street that does have businesses on it, and we feel that this would be a good addition to the community.
With that said, Chairman, I would like to ask permission to call my client, Ms. Burnett.
Please.
Ms. Burnett, could you put your hand up?
i've been allowed to speak why could you state your name please and spell for the
court stenographer sure my name is amber burnett i'm not sure if you were calling for kelly burnett
or not we were calling for kelly burnett okay that's my client's daughter i'm sorry
i'll stop sharing for now
Kelly Burnett, if you're in the virtual audience still,
please raise your virtual hand and wait to be sworn in.
Ms. Burnett?
Here we go.
She just raised the hand.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
My name is Kelly Burnett.
K-E-L-L-E-Y
B as in boy
R as in Robert
N as in Nancy
E as in Edward
T as in Thomas
T as in Thomas