Good morning, Chair. We have 41 attendees in the virtual audience.
Where do we get these people from?
Thank you. Good morning, everyone. My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this morning's
Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment meeting. With me is our Vice Chair, Tanetta Graham.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Board Secretary Cheryl L. Gaston.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Board members, Michael Johns.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Taya Nguyen.
Taya Nguyen.
President, Mr. Chairman.
Ryan McAdams.
President, Mr. Chairman.
Laila Beebe.
President, Mr. Chairman.
Also, here is our attorney, Lynn Reuter-Uber, our executive director, Ian Haggerty, and
our board administrator, Lakeisha Dandy.
This hearing is being recorded and will be posted on the ZBA website.
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please remain there so that we call and we can account for you at a later time let's look at
today's schedule number one mi2024-006-090 2038 hane street this case is continued until 10 14
at 2 PM. Sorry, Jared. This is Ian Hegarty. That's October 4th at 2 PM.
Oh, okay. October 4th at 2 PM.
Number three, MI 2026-000-304-3323 Ashfield Lane, this case is continued until 12-2 at 2 p.m.
Number five, MI 2026-000-317-5317 Wayne Avenue. This case is continued on 12-12-2 at 2 p.m.
number six mi2026 003
000349 6829 um chew avenue um sanista williams is the listed owner um this is the second listing
we have no exhibits there are no hands at the side chair so number six mi2026 000 349
68 29 shoe avenue i vote to dismiss michael johns my vote is to dismiss
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is to dismiss.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is to dismiss.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is to dismiss.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is to dismiss.
Brian McAdams, my vote is to dismiss.
Tyia Nguyen, my vote is to dismiss.
Taya Nguyen, my vote is to dismiss.
Layla Beebe, my vote is to dismiss.
Number 7, MI 2026, 000447, 2548 Diamond Street, this case has been withdrawn.
Number nine, MI 2026-001075, 1134 Sampson Street.
There's an attorney needed in this case.
MFG Sampson is the owner, NLLC.
There are no hands at this time, Chair.
okay so this case is going to be continued until 8 26 at 2 p.m mark must be heard
number 11 mi 2026 001 100 2817 hutcheson street this case is continued until 12 2 at 2 p.m
Number 18, MI 2026-001, 666, 2826 Amber Street.
Joseph Consul is the attorney um no hands at this time chair oh chair a hand just went up
from Joseph Consul I'm promoting him to pay us right
good morning good morning mr counsel could you please state your name and spell it for
the stenographer joseph console j-o-s-e-p-h c-o-n-s-o-l-e do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do could you give us an update on this
case yeah um we heard from the board attorney last night that while we um came in for just a use
approval and we we've got all of that um we need to resubmit the um renovation plans and there's
some concern that that will potentially generate another refusal so we're going to handle them both
at the same time with a continuance.
So this case is going to be continued until 1-13-27 at 9.30 a.m.
Thank you, Mr. Counsel.
And number 19, MI-2026-002-901-1804 North 22nd Street.
this case is continued until 12 to 12 to 26 at 2 p.m are there any other requests for continuances
there are no hands at this time chair thank you we're going to go to our add-on list
Number one, MI 2024-007-291-4005 Brown Street, I vote yes, a certificate of proviso, certificate of occupancy to be obtained.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Hey, McAdams, my vote is yes with proviso.
Hi, I win. My vote is yes with proviso.
Number two. Hold on one second. Cheryl, I'm sorry.
Yes. Oh, I'm sorry. I certify that I, I'm sorry. I certify that I reviewed the hearing on,
I'm sorry what was the date I think you're gonna certify that you watch the
video recording of the July 28th 2026 resumption hearing in this matter is
26 resumption hearing in this matter is that correct yes i did okay i so certify great so
that correct yes I did
you certify and then your vote was again my vote was yes with proviso okay great thank you thank
you thank you all right number two mi2025 zero zero six one two seven fifty eleven d street i
vote no michael johns my vote is no
tennetta graham my vote is no i'm mcadams my vote is no hi i win my vote is no
number three mi20260029734723 sheldon street the vote on this has been moved to wednesday
August 26th at 9 30 a.m. And number four, MI 2026, 002875, 4725 Sheldon Street. The vote on this
has been moved to August 26th at 9 30 a.m. We're going to go to our regular list.
We're going to start with number 10.
MI 2026 001 097 1852 Hart Lane we have a Spanish interpreter for this
chair we have a hand up from reynoso salinas okay they're promoted to panels
um hi good morning hi are you the interpreter um no i'm sorry i'm the constructor he's
trying to log in through his computer he hasn't tried to log in do we have our interpreter please
yes the interpreter is on the line chair good morning good morning could you please state your
name and spell for the stenographer yes my name is juan last time diaz i'm the spanish interpreter
ID number is in India, 803.
All right.
Do you swear or affirm that you will interpret accurately,
completely, and impartially from English to Spanish
and from Spanish to English?
Could you please call for us Martin Polanco?
Por favor, el señor Martin Polanco, levanta la mano.
He's trying to log in to his computer.
He's having trouble logging in.
Chair, this is Ian Hegarty.
I recommend that we move on to the next case so that we can keep things moving.
Thank you.
Let me explain to the interpreter.
We're going to call this back in about a half hour.
Is that okay with you?
Thank you very much.
The interpreter is fine.
Van a volver a llamar el caso en media hora.
Thank you.
Let's see here.
Number 15.
Number 15.
MI 2026-001-170-2639 Bainbridge Street.
Clay and Mary Gruber are the owner, and it's a pro se.
they're being promoted to panelists here
yes hello good morning could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
uh my name is clay gruber c-l-a-y-g-r-u-b-e-r right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do our vice chair has a few questions for you sir
good morning have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing
i have okay and you understand that um did your application
is uh you have an addition that you are trying to get approved is that correct
Yes, it's a dimensional variance on addition.
Yep, and because you've been refused because your understanding is that there's a setback
that's required.
and that's what you're trying to get a variance for correct okay all right thank
And that's what you're trying to get a variance for, correct?
All right.
Thank you.
you you can share your screen and proceed to tell us about your case okay
You can share your screen.
all right can you see my screen oh we do not it's coming up right now it should come up any minute
okay how about now um we see yeah we see 26 39 bainbridge street okay great um okay well uh thank
you for your time this morning um our project is a personal project it's my wife and my uh personal
home in a graduate hospital. We're planning to live here for a long time. The existing
condition of the building, it's an old 1925 two-story row home, approximately 1,026 square
feet. The previous owner had owned it since the 1950s, and it requires significant upgrades.
The interior is currently demoed, so on the left you see the first floor interior and on the second floor you see the interior looking towards the front.
Essentially what we're proposing is an interior renovation which has been approved, a rear extension of a number of feet which has been approved, and a third floor addition which has been approved.
What we're requesting today is for the limit of the required eight-foot front setback to receive relief.
So the only request is just relief from the eight-foot setback required.
required. So currently the section on the left is by right. You'll see the eight foot setback on the
third floor. And just the dimensional variance on the right is what we're proposing, which is just
aligning that third floor with the front facade of the first and second floor. So currently the
existing physical constraints is this is a 14 foot wide lot which approximately gives us
just about 12 and a half feet of interior width the vertical stairs are fixed and we're
have attached party walls so there's very limited you know ability to uh
or we're already constrained by the size of of the existing conditions
So the effect of these conditions with compliance to the setback is on the left, you see the third floor plan, which is a compressed usable third floor area limited by the stairs for what we can really do circulation wise.
and then a disproportionate functional limitation of space.
On the right is what we're hoping to have approved,
which is a more generous space for a coherent usable floor plate.
This does not increase the building height more than necessary,
and this does not increase the depth of the dwelling unit.
So, again, our limited relief request is this is a single family home. We'll have no changes. It's a one dwelling unit, no changes. Our permitted height is 38 feet.
We're not trying to maximize this home. We're just trying to make it usable for our family. So we're coming in at about just over 32 feet in height.
um uh were within the lot uh the permitted lot coverage um the building footprint and rear yard
will not change again just front facade alignment is our only request
within the neighborhood context you can see the top image which is a google image
There are three existing third-story homes on the block and adjacent, each with front facade alignment.
uh what we're hoping to do is stick within the cadence of the precedent set on our block
What we're hoping to do is stick within the cadence of the...
while maintaining the historic context of the block
so our impact to the neighborhood as mentioned we're not trying to maximize
the you know allowed uh what's allowed uh height wise as as mentioned 38 feet is our allowable
height we're we're coming in at just over 32 feet uh we're not encroaching on other dwellings
and uh we're there's no significant impairment to neighboring light or air
just stating again our physical constraints being the 14-foot attached row home
and the requested relief from the eight-foot setback this went to our community review to
SOSNA on April 15th we receive unanimous support from both the zoning committee of SOSNA and the
community at large there were 10 supporters including four nearby neighbors uh zero opposition
and zero uh abstentions uh so in you know summary we're respectively requesting approval of
dimensional variance for the required eight foot third story front set back to allow the third
four story facade to align with the existing front facade below mr mr grouper how are your
next door neighbors on either side are they for it yeah we've we've um had uh discussions with
them and they're they're on board all right questions from the board yeah i have a question
about the roof i know sasna has some um roof guidelines for when people do the third floor
a mansard roof and did you guys uh comply with those standards in your design yeah so we just i
i'm an architect by training uh when we went through the design of this i wanted a mansard
roof just because i think it's a very you know handsome solution to a third store roof in the
neighborhood uh so sosna where they saw that they were very pleased and uh they they mentioned that
that is what their preferred model is yeah but they have an actual design standard i just want
to know did your roof because it doesn't look like it did and it doesn't look like any of the
other ones on your block actually complied with that typical standard for the way that they do
the incline for the man start roof and like while i understand and appreciate your presentation was
very great two of the three examples that you show are corner conditions which i think are very
different than your mid-block situation where you're on a street that's majority two-story
on your side of the street outside of the corners that 2633 bainbridge is sort of the one exception