have you have the aerial photos here I won't get into the specific details. Each
property is four stories. For 1809 North Bouvier the existing registration is for
three apartments. We are seeking to register the use for single-room
residences for 12 bedrooms. So in terms of density, we're very, very close.
Similarly, for 1831 North 18th Street, we have existing registration for four
apartments seeking to establish a special exception relief for 14 single
room residences to be able to better regulate student behavior through
individual leases that hold students accountable and allow appropriate
operation of the building. And moving to 1725 North 17th Street, we have existing
registration for four apartments and we're seeking to register the use for
single room residences for 16. We have, which is Michael's style, engaged in
communication with all parties who are interested. In the case of 1725 North
17th Street, there were three residents who had, did not live in very close
proximity but had concerns largely due to other operators who don't operate as
well as Michael. And they had concerns on trash and employment, for example. And that's why at
the outset, I wanted to state for the record regarding all these cases, the practices that
are in place and the practices to which we commit to for the future. Just to give you a quick sense
of these properties, here you see 1809 North Bouvier Street. This is a view of a kitchen
uh two views of the kitchen moving along you see excuse me mr labor yes that's that screen
hasn't come up yet it has not nope we still have the aerial photograph aerial shot let's see um
you still have the aerial shot okay i apologize i'm going to see if i can figure this out
I apologize I'm going to see if I can figure this out do you see the the
interior photograph now mr. chairman nope just the aerial shot all right I
apologize there must be a technical difficulty with the transmission what I
can tell you is that these photographs are all contained in the virtual exhibit packages that
I've submitted. And I apologize due to the technical issue, but I can definitely affirm
as an officer of the court that the finishes are of a very high caliber and show the way
that Mr. Al-Haddad upkeeps his properties. And they are in the record that was submitted.
The authorization of certificated relief will not alter the character of the neighborhood
or district or be detrimental to the public welfare.
The proposal fits into the surrounding neighborhood as evidenced by the support of the community.
This speaks to the granting of relief being a benefit to the public and within the spirit
of the zoning code.
The proposed special exception relief would represent the minimum modification that will
afford relief and represent the least modification possible of the regulation at issue to meet the
true intentions and needs of our city and L&I, as I mentioned earlier today, hearkening to
Commissioner Curry's statements about the importance of having all types of housing
properly regulated and licensed. The grant of certificated relief will not substantially
increase congestion in the public streets, increase the danger of fire, or otherwise
endanger the public health, safety, or general welfare, nor will this unduly affect transportation,
etc. The bulk of the residents we concede here, and as you were able to see at least with the
aerial photographs, are our students, and it is a, we believe, a win-win for everyone to proceed in
this way. With that, Mr. Al-Haddad is here. I'm happy to answer additional questions and I am
sorry that the 58-page or so exhibit packages that I prepared are not showing on your screens.
Okay. You ask your client if he adopts your testimony.
Mr. Al-Haddad, would you please virtually raise your hand?
and he's still under oath since this morning mr al-haddad are you there
michael yes i am hello thank you uh yes the chairman has uh confirmed that you're still
under oath from this morning uh mr al-haddad have you fully heard the testimony that i've
offered this afternoon on your behalf yes i did and would you adopt and affirm it as your own
Yes, I do.
The interior pictures, one of them just popped up, the kitchen.
Oh, okay.
So this is, very quickly, examples of kitchen, example of a bedroom with very nice flooring and light, bathroom finishes, washer and dryer inside the units.
there are they're set up as pods so that each of the students has an individual
room but shared shared common spaces and it's a similar situation for the for
each of the properties let me just see I beg your pardon if you want quickly
since this is working. One moment. Here's another example. This is 1831 North
18th Street. You can see a bedroom set up here and another kitchen. This one it
happens to be a little bit older, but very nice finishes, well maintained, etc.
Thank you. Is there anyone who wishes to testify on this case? If so, please raise
your hand. I should say on these cases, any of the three cases. No hands are
Ray's chair. Thank you. Questions from the board? No. No. Planning Commission? Yes, the property is located at
Planning Commission? Yes, the property is located at 1725 North 17th Street, 1809 North Bouvier Street, 1831 North 18th Street. All are indicated for credential use on the city plan. We have no objection to the granting of the special acceptance for all.
Thank you very much. Calendar numbers 39357, 1725 North 17th Street. Calendar number 39360, 1809 Beauvais Street. Calendar number 39361, 1831 North 18th Street. My vote is yes on all three.
My vote is yes on all three.
Yes to all three.
Yes to all three.
thank you members of the board have a good afternoon you too thank you thank you
calendar number three nine three one eight seven one three eight state road yes
the attorney is to all three is in oh
tom came in late tom voted yes on all three
okay that's right i'll read it again calendar number 39318
7138 state road the attorney is zenzhen
Xen Jin, you've been promoted to a panelist.
You can share your screen.
Mr. Jin, can you please put your name and address on the record and spell your name
for the stenographer?
Good afternoon.
Xen Jin, Z-H-E-N, last name J-I-N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 1838, Philadelphia
PA 19103.
Here on behalf of the applicant, the applicant is the tenant.
One second.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
I will stipulate to its accuracy, but I believe it's a referral notice, not a refusal.
Okay, and do you also swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
This is an application which is in an ICMX district and was referred to the board because
the proposed use of automotive repairs is a special exception under this district.
My client has met with the RCO and I'm going to go ahead and share the information
with the board on State Road that I have before me so what we have submitted to
the board includes the notice of hearing community letter the lease tax tax
compliance plans and the posting what I'm going to do is go first to the letter
from the community and address that so this application is a special exception
However, the community issued a letter in opposition, and they did give a pretty detailed explanation as to how they reached this opposition posture.
My client plans to do a automotive repair location at State Road.
This is actually on the corner of State and National Street.
and the space itself is actually a commercial space with a single commercial entrance door.
It was used as some kind of, I believe, gardening or landscaping company location
until my client entered into the lease to try to use this as a basic auto repair.
My client has indicated to the community that he would be doing state inspections and all work would be done inside of the shop, nothing on the apron or driveway.
He is not doing any body work.
He's not doing any painting.
There's not a body shop.
It would be mostly relating to passing state inspections and that kind of related work, which would be limited mostly to changing wipers, taillight, headlight, and possibly brake work.
But there's no major component repairs such as engine swaps, transmission repairs.
It's very limited work.
the plan is to open six days a week from Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Initially, it would only be my client in the space. He's actually working. He's the mechanic. He doesn't plan to initially have workers beyond himself. Of course, if it gets busy enough, he may hire someone to assist him. But again, it's going to be a small operation, mostly a one-man operation.
initially it would only be my client in the space he's actually working
The space itself, which I'm going to show the plans before I conclude, is not big enough
for more than at most maybe two lifts.
So even if he wants to expand, he would not be able to go beyond two lifts, and it has
just enough space, again, to allow cars to be inside to get the work done.
Now, the community's main opposition seems to be that neighbors in the area have had
problems with other businesses.
And they have had agreements with other businesses that they felt were not followed.
And therefore, they were just generally against another business in the area.
However, I want to point out that this particular location is, I'm going to scroll down to the photographs now to let the board take a look at the area and the space itself.
this particular building this is the actual building in question this is right on the corner
of state and national street as you can see this is state road and the entrance here faces national
street across the street you have two very similar type of work mechanical work type shops
they each have one way but they're two different they're part of the same business it looks like
But they take over two spots. Further down and up the street, again, this is, again, the corner of State Road. And we have some businesses and mixed in with some residential across State Road and further down National.
but the entire area on the planning map is labeled as ICMX.
So this entire district for blocks around has changed now to ICMX,
and that is the predominant use in the area for which this is not inconsistent.
That is why this is a special exception.
For impact to the community, I want to point out that my client is not in operation.
This is not a space with a history with his operation showing that there are issues with what he's doing.
He is happy to keep all work inside.
He's happy to have commercial pickup of any kind of trash that comes out of the space.
Obviously, pickup of any oil.
He is not doing tires.
There's no tire work being done.
So he's going to be doing purely mechanical work.
From the standpoint of the special exception impacts to the neighborhood, because he's going to keep all work inside and because he's a very small operation, I do not believe he would cause congestion in the public streets or transportation system.
There's no overcrowding here.
This is a one-story structure with one possibly two base in the future, and it's on the corner of a major street.
It's not a large structure, so there's no impairment of light or air to adjacent properties.
And it will not burden water or sewer because it's not, again, it's a small space with a small operation.
The key question here is whether it would injure use of adjacent conforming properties.
I want to point out they're all basically commercial properties as well.
In fact, right across the street is basically a similar type of use.
As long as he's keeping with the environmental requirements and fire code requirements, I do not believe he would be endangering public health or safety. And this is, again, consistent with the comprehensive plan, which is ICMX for the entire area.
So, despite the position of the community, I would submit that they have not raised any kind of specific objection to this use, which would qualify as a hardship to the community.
This space, again, is a commercial space in ICMX, and it used to be something called Philadelphia Turf Specialists.
So, it's not a residential space being converted.
So I would ask the board for a favorable vote on this exception request.
I'm certainly happy to answer any questions at this time.
And what are the dimensions of the building, the width and the length?
The building dimension.
I couldn't see.
I couldn't make it out on the.
Certainly.
Let me try to blow that up again.
I'm sorry for the quality of the drawing.
um from the
wow i actually i apologize
well I actually I apologize but I can't seem to get a clear focused scan on this either I do know
that be this looks like let me let me pull the deed up which actually gives us some dimensions as
well as you can see my client is a tenant in the space he entered into a
lease with the landlord
my apologies i don't have the deed information all right i do believe though that the space
itself is uh pretty substantial in size as you can see from the the view here it runs it runs
all the way to the back here on state road and the entire width here is definitely over 20 feet
if not 30 feet. This is not a small, it's not a tiny space, but it's, again, it's the entire
corner, and it's a large square corner on the corner of state and national.
Another question. Any body and fender work? No. Proposing no body and fender work. And the days
and hours of operation?
It'll be Monday through Saturday,
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Anyone else wishes to testify on this case?
Please raise your hand.
I believe my client is here.
I'll get your, yeah,
let's get your client to adopt your testimony.
Get his name and address on the record.
and who is your client it's uh mr pedro uh delgado
uh you can unmute yourself and speak can you hear me now yes mr delgado uh please spell your name
for the stenographer give us your name and address first name is pedro last name delgado d-e-l
GADO 8805 Browse Avenue Philadelphia PA 19152. Mr. Delgado do you swear and affirm to tell the
truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Yes sir. Thank you. Mr. Delgado you heard my
testimony before the board. Can you verify that it is true and correct and adopted as your own?
Yes it is. Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to testify in this case?
please raise your hand
no hands are up chair thank you any questions from the board no no no
planning commission no
Darren were there any letters aside from the Tycone any other letters in the file
no it was just a letter from Tycone that we had available
so um this property is indicated for industrial commercial mixed use on the city plan
we have no objection to the special exception uh provided that all work is internal and no
parking on sidewalk i already got okay got that thank you calendar number 39318 7138 state road
my vote is yes with the following provisos no parking on side work all work to be done internally
hours of operation monday through saturday 9 a.m to 5 p.m no body and fender work commercial trash
pickup. Yes with proviso. Yes with proviso. Yes with proviso. Yes with proviso. Thank
you. Thank you. And good luck. Calendar number 39314, 1901 Tomlinson Road.