Thank you.
how do we look Tanya
they're slowly coming and we're almost ready okay
okay chair you can begin as you wish thank you good morning everyone my name is bill bergman
and i will be chairing this morning's zba hearings with me is carol tenary our vice chair
present mr chairman ishmael shaheed our board secretary present mr chairman thomas holliman
our board member. Present, Mr. Chairman. And James Snell, our board member.
Present, Mr. Chairman. Also present is our executive director, Tanya Sunkit,
and our board attorney, Hillary Emerson. Before we begin, here's our virtual format.
Be advised, the proceedings are being recorded. By participating, your knowledge agreement to be
recorded. A video will be available by contacting tonyasunkett at phila .gov. For the benefit of our
court sonographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you're participating by phone, if you wish to testify, press star nine to raise your hand
and star 6 to unmute. To enter an appearance statement, call 267 -270 -5548. Leave your email
address and the property and the address of the property in question. And finally,
the question answer box on the screen is not for comments or testimony. All comments should be
directed to our Executive Director, Tanya Sunkit. Let's look at our continuations for today.
Number three, MI 2022 -002 -815, that case is continued.
Is there anyone have any comments relative to that case?
good morning chair i see no hands at this time thank you and also case number 15 mi 2022
004 -396 -2901 grant avenue councilman o 'neill has a request for a continuation
is council adam laver present
Mr. Laver is here, Chair. Mr. Laver, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair, please.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Laver, good morning. Could you state your name and spell
for the court reporter? Yes, Adam Laver, L -A -B -E -R. Right. Do you swear for him to tell
the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes, Mr. Chairman, I do. We have a request for
continuation for your case. Yes, I'd like to speak to that briefly. I have been in touch with
Councilman O 'Neill's staff regarding this matter, and we respect very much Councilman O 'Neill and
and his staff uh in in light of their requests we are not opposing uh the continuance however
i'd like to state for the record that the hearing in this matter was held on december 2nd 2020
so almost two years ago the notice of decision was uh issued the decision was issued on that date
a request for reconsideration was filed on December 14th of 2020. The
zoning notice regarding this hearing was issued on August the 11th.
I would request that if the board grants the continuance that we have
grants the continuance, that we have certainty in this matter as soon as possible, and that I
have the opportunity, please, to work with Ms. Sunkit on scheduling an expedited hearing so that
we are not further delayed. Okay, thank you. This case will be continued, and please contact Ms.
Sunkit, and I'm sure that she'll try to do the best she can with this, okay? Thank you, Mr.
Chairman members. All right. Thank you. Are there any other requests for continuances for this
this morning? I see no hands. Okay. Hold on. Pardon me? We have someone by the name of Alonzo
Boone with his hand up. Okay. Mr. Boone, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair, please.
please note you should only be asking for a continuance right now please note any other
questions q a please thank you okay please state your name and spell for the court reporter
my name is alonzo dorsey bone lias a -l -o -n -z -o middle initial d last name b -o -o -n -e hyphen l -y -a -s
all right do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Yes. What case do you want to continue? I would like to continue MI -2022 -002759.
What's the local address? 4343 North 9th Street.
Mr. Chair, that's number four on the list. Okay.
Okay, that case will be continued.
Thank you for calling in.
Thank you.
Any other requests for continuances?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
I have a number of cases that we do not have exhibits.
Number two, MI 2022 -002349 -1129 South 51st Street.
First listing, no exhibits, Mr. Din, D -I -N -H.
Are you present?
Are you present?
here i see no hands at this time that case is first listing will be continued
Here, I see no hands at this time.
That case is first listing will be continued.
also case number five that we have mi 2022 002 348 3218 holly oaks road
Also, case number five that we have, MI 2022 -002 -348 -3218, Hollyoaks Road.
um no exhibits first listing Wayne Hoglin is the owner
is there anyone that that case 3218 Hollyoak Road first listing is continued
Mr. Chair I think Mr. Chair um I think going back to um number I'm sorry number two I
think the applicant may have their hand raised now. Okay. Mr. Dinh. Mr. Dinh, you can unmute yourself
and wait for the chair, please. Hi, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
My name is Quang Pham. Spell your name, please, for the court reporter, sir.
My first name is C -U -O -N -G, middle name is D -I -N -H, and the last name is P -X -A -M, sir.
Right, right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
We don't have any exhibits for your case. Did you mail things in, email in?
So this is the first time I ever doing this.
Okay, so here's what I want you to do. Contact the zoning office, and they will help you on what you need to do for your case, okay?
Okay, sir.
The case is being continued, but call the office, and they will help you prepare for your case, all right?
Okay, sir.
I'm sorry. Chair, hi, this is Tanya. If I may just clarify to the applicant, the zoning board office, reach out to us, not zoning,
and we will assist you to make sure you have everything you need okay yes sir and the staff
the staff will give you the number and the email address okay could you all put that in the chat
for the applicant please thank you kindly chair number five did mr hoglin ever put his hand up
no chair his hair was not up all right so that case is continued number seven
no chair his hair was not up all right so that case is continued
mi 2022 002 881 1550 lardner street josie bondagray is the owner no exhibits first listing
mr and ms bondagray if you're in the virtual audience please raise your hand
Chair, we have someone with their hand up, but it's not the applicant.
Let's see who they are.
Mr. or Ms. Yost, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair, please.
Hi, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Good morning.
Could you state your name, please?
Their hand is no longer up, Chair.
Thank you.
Lana Gray's hand is not up.
I'm sorry.
I apologize.
Can you hear me?
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
My name is Keeley Yost.
It's spelled K -E -E -L -Y.
The last name is Y -O -S -T.
Before I swear you in, are you relative to this case, 1550 Lardner Street?
i am relative to it yes i've been working on the case with the applicant all right do you
swear or affirm the tell the truth the whole truth is nothing but the truth yes okay so we
don't have any mr chair i would say mr chair now we have the applicant raising their hands um i'm
not sure what role miss yost is playing but the applicant is now raising their hand okay
all right okay could we could we have recognize the applicant please
Mr. Bonagree please unmute yourself and wait for the chair
yes hi can you guys see what could you say your name could you state your name and spell for the
court reporter my name is Joshua Bonagree and the first name j -o -s -u -e last name Bonagree b -o -n -e -g -r -e
right do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes sir uh so you're this is the first listing for your case we don't have any documents or no
exhibits yet okay so i'm waiting for i'm also waiting for my lawyer because he's like um my
lawyer's in court right now so we try to get him like on the line no no but i'm saying there's no
exhibits here you don't you have not sent any paperwork to us i mean what do you mean i haven't
send anything that shit i'm sorry i'm sorry sir tanya i'm okay okay what i want you to do
is to contact the zoning board office and they'll tell you how to prepare your case is being
continued okay okay i was just going to check and see if the documents were sent under different
names since there's a few people he's mentioning okay um who is the attorney for this matter
Mr. Bonagre?
His name is
Do you have the full name?
I have the full name for you.
Is Dion
Basil?
We have not
received anything.
Okay. This was your first listing. The case will be continued. Please make sure you or your lawyer
contacts the zoning board office, okay? Okay. Thank you.
Number nine, MI 2022 -002 -346 -450 North 61st Street.
The first listing case is continued.
And number 16, MI 2022 -002 -353 -1601 South Fraser Street.
Janice Ferguson is the owner.
No exhibits, first listing.
I'm sorry, Janice Ferguson.
Ms. Ferguson, if you're in the virtual audience, please raise your hand.
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
So 1601 South Fraser Street is no exhibits, first listing, cases continued.
Are there any requests for withdrawal?
I see no hands up at this time. Thank you. We're going to go to our add -on list. MI 2022 -002 -685 -4331 Lancaster Avenue.
I vote yes. Thomas Holloman, also Ishmael Shaheed are the other two voting. I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
We're going to our regular list.
MI 2022 -002 -687 -2429, Madison Square.
Vern Anastasio is the attorney.
Letter of support from South of South Neighborhood Association.
Mr. Anastasio is coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
Good morning, Mr. Chair.
Good morning, sir. Please state your name and spell for the court reporter.
Sure. It's Vern Anastasio, A -N -A, S -T -A -S -I -O, 2016 Spruce, Philadelphia, 19103.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, please, in the relationship to the property?
Yes, I represent owners Kelly and Rob Piasecki.
Okay. And our vice chair, Carl Tenere, has a few questions.
Good morning, Vern. Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Strike that. Strike that.
i still said i said i do okay so i'm out to lunch too so do you agree to waive the reading of
refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of
ownership tax compliance a copy of the refusal or referral photos under plans of the property
five days in advance of this hearing and have you met with the rco and do you have a letter yes
Okay, you may proceed, and your screen's up, so that's good.
Thank you.
Mr. Chair, members of the board, I'm here today for 2429 Madison Square.
This is the legalization of a non -conforming pre -existing use of a two -family dwelling, and that's why we're here today.
It is, in fact, zone RM1, but the lot size is what the issue is here.
because of the pre -existing lot size the two units would be non -compliant however it's been
consistently a two -family dwelling for just about ever here's my exhibit pack up part of my exhibit
packet i'm submitting uh exhibits amounting to 50 pages of exhibits in evidence today here's the
property parcel and the zoning map this is the the property in question right here where my cursor is
here's the plot plan and the elevation as you can see it's not very deep
here's the existing first floor with the garage and rear yard
let me pull this out a little bit
and there's the existing second floor and the existing third floor
There's some more photos of the block itself and some aerials and some rear photo.
We've got interior photos of the garage.
Please note the two electric panels.
Also in the front of the property, there are three meters already, one for each unit.
Here is the first floor apartment.
Here we go.
Here is the second floor apartment, and this is the third floor apartment, which is vacant pending approval.
Here again is the proof of the electric meters.
we got some more photos
and there's the water heater
I'm going to jump to
this is the flyer that went out
we met with SOSTA more than once
but the large meeting was June 15th
You were first on the agenda.
There is the letter that my office sent out to everyone who the Planning Commission told
us to mail to.
Here's the letter of support from South of South neighbors Association.
Here are the list of the addresses that my clients personally went and visited every one of the properties that the that they could that the Planning Commission asked them to notify at least my office to notify.
And as a result, we have an overwhelming amount of signatures from everyone who lives within 300 feet of the property.
Moving all of those into evidence.
Here is the notice of valuation that just was received in 2023 property tax.
As you can see, Office of Property Assessment categorizes this and taxes it accordingly
as a multifamily property.
We have an affidavit from the woman who lives across the street.
For as long as she has been there, since 1974, she attests and affirms that it has been continually
used as a two -family dwelling.
And with that, I think that's enough to show you today.
I want to show you proof of mailing of the 256 households, and we have a deed and a tax compliance certificate also included as part of our exhibit packet.
And with that, I'd like to have either Kelly or Rob Piasecki please raise their hand to be sworn in.
Mr. Piasecki, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair, please.
Good morning, sir. Could you identify yourself and spell your name for the court reporter?
Robert Piasecki. I'm the owner of this property. It's P -I -A -S -E -C -K -I.
Thank you. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you. Rob, did you hear my presentation to the board this morning?
Yes, I did.
Is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
Yes, it is.
And do you adopt it as your own testimony?
Thank you. Nothing further, Mr. Chair.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Good morning, Chair Bergman. Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. Last name is spelled H -E -G -A -R -T -Y.
Chair, Mr. Perry is coming back in now as a panelist.
Thank you.
Hi, good morning.
Roger Perry here.
I'm representing Mr. and Mrs. Parkes in this matter with regard to 4729 Reinhardt Street.
Could you state your name again for the court reporter and spell it, please?
Thank you.
It's Roger Perry, R -O -G -E -R -P -E -R -R -Y.
Right. Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
And the people you represent are the owners of the property?
Okay. Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Hi, Mr. Perry. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance a copy of the refusal or
referral photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing and have you met
with the rco and do you have a letter yes to all the above okay great you may proceed and begin
with sharing your screen okay okay oh i don't know where i am here but can you see my screen
no we can't don't see your screen yet ha okay i clicked on share
uh and mr perry yes mr perry did you hit the document after you clicked on the green share
button on the screen yes there it is okay it's coming up now sir okay now go into your document
because we see your desktop on the screen okay um let me see if we can
i don't see it there but uh stop video participants chat and your sharing screen
so how about you do this mr perry you're going to unshare right and then open up your document
on your computer okay so that you can see it and then share again okay all right you're welcome
Okay, I can see them on mine.
Now share.
Now hit share.
Okay, I've got to get back to you, though.
Sorry about all this.
It's okay, Mr. Perry.
The share button should be at the bottom of your screen.
Yeah, no, the only thing on my screen is my documents at the moment.
Click on Zoom, maybe?
no hover at the bottom of your screen with the share button it's not going to be visible unless
you hover or if you're sorry misanke if you're not in zoom if you go along the bottom you'll
see like a movie camera you'll need to click on that first where am i looking along the bottom
of your screen do you see a video camera it looks like
or you could just minimize the screen that you're in okay let me
okay i've minimized my document share my screen
okay are we good there we are got you very good thank you okay my technical help is not here i'm
sorry. Okay, so we've agreed to the refusal. The refusal is very simple and straightforward based
on what I can show you in the documents. The refusal is based on the fact that my clients
are requesting to build a single family home on 4729 Reinhard Street. But because there's a slight
curve in the street, and I'll bring that up shortly. The one refusal is the fact that part
of the front of the house is within the 18 -foot normal setback for this district. And I'll scroll
down to the shape of the lot issue, and we'll be able to see that. There's the deed as to the owners.
uh okay so here's the uh let's see if i can rotate this to the
okay so this is sort of the key document and we have the site plans and so forth
but right here you'll see that l and i have noted that we're within the 18 foot setback and that's
triggered by uh two issues in this case one is we wanted to have the nine foot setback
and, you know, locate the house similar to the adjacent properties on a, you know, rectilinear
site here. But by doing that, Reinhardt Street at this particular location curves.
But by doing that, Reinhardt Street at this particular location curves, and you can see the curve in the street here. And by locating this particular property in this fashion with the rear yard in compliance with the code, we've come within this 18 foot setback.
And that's why they issued the refusal, and that's why we appealed this matter and went to the neighborhood and so forth.
What we're asking for today is a variance allowing the property to be built as a single -family home with this corner to be within the 18 feet.
And you'll see we tried to maximize the setback as we went around the corner.
Let me look and see if I have what else I have.
Okay, plans for the house, multi -bedroom house and so forth, and it's all upside down. Okay, I'll come back to that. I was going to try to show you the, let's see what we've got here.
Okay, so this shows you the posting of the property, and this is essentially the location of the vacant lot.
The Farkas's are currently living adjacent to this property, a rather large lot.
and you can see this is the location of where they want to build the the house and this shows you the
oops okay this is the street itself this is where it comes in and these are across the street and
then other single -family homes in this location here go back to let's see what we got we have a
the notices that were sent
to the property.
We did have a public meeting
and there's a tax letter
and there's all the notices.
We had some of the immediate neighbors
find a petition and support
that was produced for this hearing
and also for the RCO meeting.
And there is a letter of support that the chairman noted from the Southwest Philadelphia District Services had a meeting.
And this is where the parkas is currently reside in one of the adjacent properties.
Let me see what else we have. Tax certification, afforders, letters of support.
property has built a small single family home consistent with other properties in the
neighborhood so what we're asking the board to approve today is essentially a variance for that
corner to be within the 18 foot and that's in this area here of the front yard property was
properly posted and all the properties were sent I don't know if anybody wants to see the
I'm trying to see what the house
site plan for the house
and so forth.
Excuse me, counselor.
I only see the foundation plan.
Okay, I'm just trying to see.
Do you have a first floor plan, a second floor plan?
Well, we thought those were some.
The answer is I believe so.
That's the foundation plan.
yes I see that and I can't tell you because we just forwarded the those are
the elevations those are the section in a roof plan that's why I'm just going
through them that's also when we forwarded them we thought everything was
was there I don't think you have everything there yeah that's why I'm
looking. It's possible the Farkas have it and they're here today. Yeah, I don't know what it
looks like. It looks like we set a duplicate set. I apologize. I forget. Maybe if the Farkas
Hillary, didn't you say you had plans for the first floor, but not the second?
Yeah, so, yeah, if you go back a couple of slides, you can see a layout for the first floor, but it wasn't clear what was laid out on the second floor.
So, yeah, so if you go back a couple of slides, I did see, it did show living area on the first floor, but the second floor, it didn't show really any.
living area on the first floor but the second floor it didn't show really any living area
i don't know the living area because this is um yeah this slide here you can see the the floor plan
yeah this is the uh second floor and i apologize i don't i didn't do the plans but yeah there is a
first floor plan. I'm trying to look at it. One, two, three bedrooms, open area, bathroom, kitchen
area, and so forth. And that's here. That indicates it's the first floor. It looks like
The second floor is, it doesn't have anything.
I was just trying to blow this up.
That's the first floor plan.
We don't have a second floor plan.
Well, the second floor, this is the second floor.
You have stairs to the second floor.
Yeah, and it's an atrium.
And I don't know if I can, because that's what the architect said and so forth.
I do have the Farkas, the Farkas's should be here.
If they can describe what's on the second floor, that would be helpful.
Hi, we do, Chair, we do have the Farkas with their hand up.
If you wish for them to speak.
Why don't we do that?
Why don't we have one of them?
Thank you.
And I'll swear them in.
Mr. and Ms. Farkas, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
I have done so, and I'm waiting for the chair.
Okay. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Certainly. My name is Tudor, T -U -D -O -R, last name Farkas, F as in Frank, A -R, C as in Cat, A -S as in Sam, and I am the son of Mickey and VRL Farkas, who I have here with me. I just have a better English than both of them, so I am speaking.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do, sir.
The last question.
And so I can address the second floor.
The second floor is that that's the plan for the second floor.
What the second floor is going to be is a loft with an atrium in the middle.
So what you see is the little, the cutout in the middle that will allow light to go through from the first floor to the second floor.
Because as you, it's a skylight at the top and it goes all the way through.
and then on the second floor there will be just an open living space for for my parents
okay thank you questions from the board no mr chairman no mr chairman questions or comments
from the virtual audience i see no hands at this time chair planning commission thank you chair
bergman ian hegarty for the philadelphia city planning commission board members the comprehensive
plan recommends no change to the existing rsa 5 single family attached zoning at this location
we agree the shallow depth of the lot presents a hardship to strict compliance with the front
setback requirements and so the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the
Thank you. MI 2022 003640 4729 Reinhard Street. I vote yes. Carol Tenere, my vote is yes. Thomas
Holloman, my vote is yes. James Snell, my vote is yes. Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chairman. May we leave? You can, thank you. Okay, thank you very much.
Right. Number eight, MI 2021 -004 -371 -5446 King Cessna Street. David Sprittle is the owner pro se. Letter of support from Southwest Philadelphia District Services.
Mr. Sprittle, if you're in the virtual audience, can you please raise your hand?
Chair, I see no hands up at this time.
This case is marked must be heard.
Right.
MI 2021 -004 -371 -5446 King Sesson Avenue. I vote dismiss.
I vote dismiss.
Carol Tenere, I vote to dismiss.
Carol Teneri, I vote to dismiss.
James Snell, dismiss.
Ishmael Shahid, dismiss.
Thank you.
Number 10, MI 2022 -002 -548 -2053 Christian Street.
Sarah Barney is the owner.
letter of support from South of South Neighborhood Association, SOSNA.
Ms. Barney is coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
Thank you.
Good morning.
Could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter?
Good morning.
Sarah Bainey, S -A -R -A -H, Bainey, B -A -N -E -Y.
Right. Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Hi, good morning. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, photos under plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
okay this is an application for the erection of two roof decks above the existing attached
structure for use as a two -family household living space three zoning refusals exist
the front setback for both of the proposed roof decks five feet is required zero is proposed
maximum railing height for the provised roof deck at the second floor level along south 21st street
is three feet six inches, which is permitted, four feet is proposed. This refusal appears to
be eliminated by the revised plans. The third refusal is the maximum railing height for the
proposed roof deck at the second floor level at the rear, three feet six inches are allowed,
six feet opposed. You may present your case. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning. My name is
Sarah Beaney. I'm the owner with my husband, Ryan Dutton, of 2053 Christian Street. This is our
primary residence and we are seeking a variance approval for our two rear decks. As you see
uh their pre -existing non -conforming condition that we need to do maintenance of upgrades and
repairs to uh and we bought this home in February of 2020 um with the intention of using the outdoor
space the home was uh the decks we believe were erected prior to um the current um code so they
were existing in their non -conformed way and seeking the variance as stated. So for the setback
we're proposing the zero foot setback and then the railings at the second floor level along 21st
street at four foot and then the maximum railing height of that rear deck at the second floor at
six foot. This is the application for the appeal. Just some of the required documentation, the deed.
attacks clearance with a zero balance and then here i'll just describe these this is 21st
street and this is the second floor rear deck and then at the third floor the rear deck as well
you can see and i'll i have additional pictures after this of just how the decks are deteriorating
And in a dilapidated state, it should also make note that we, our primary residence is the second and third floor.
And then there's a rental unit on the first floor street level and 21st Street with its own entrance.
And we have purchased the lower unit in July and some exterior updates to the entire building have been made.
We've had the building paint stripped.
paint stripped all the brick has been repointed and repainted and then some of the reasons for
All the brick has been repointed and repainted.
seeking the variance and to rebuild the decks along with just having general outdoor space
use is that we've had structural issues caused by the weight of the decks and the way they were
constructed as well as leaks under the both decks into our unit as well as the rental unit
The deck was actually built over a skylight that had then kind of caved in and created
warping and damage again to that lower rental unit.
Let me zoom out a bit so I can drop the tab.
Hopefully that renders appropriately.
but this is the architectural drawing again this is 21st street side and then you can see the first
deck with the what was stucco piers and probably not the best choice of materials for that
to match the rest of the house but the stucco piers and the piers are already at I think it's
at 48, and then the variance for this would be at 42, and then the, and I'll go into the second
drawing here on the east elevation, but the adjacent deck that is to the left of us, and maybe
this is a better picture, this deck, also a non -conforming deck, this house behind us is an
Airbnb. So the privacy wall that we're proposing, that is that six foot wall, the lower portion that
would meet right at this stucco pier would be the same material used along 21st Street side. And then
the excess above would be something more like lattice a bit, just to add some privacy as every
week, as you can imagine, there's different people at this home, being that it's a rental or an Airbnb.
This is the proviso plans from the RCO meeting, where we presented and sought approval from
all those in attendance that voted, they all voted in support and we took their recommendations.
On the 21st side, we'll have a planter to create almost an interior setback, not physically
from the street but within the deck it's about a two point two two foot six inches two and a half
feet um setback internally so that'll be right inside um the 21st stretch 21st street side on
that lower deck um to create a slight barrier um and then the other updates were just keeping some
the materials similar between the decks on both the 21st street side on both decks.
This is a picture that is quite large. This is just the posting of the zoning meeting on our front door.
And again some more pictures of the current state of the decks.
The dilapidated wood rotting and corrosion of the stucco materials.
This is the Sadna letter in support.
And this is, again, architectural view of the proposal.
okay thank you questions from the board
questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands at this time chair planning commission thank you chair bergman ian hegarty
for the philadelphia city planning commission um for the record it would be okay if i asked a
question you most certainly can thank you very much um ma 'am can you confirm that the uh there's
no change to the existing extent of the roof decks relative to the existing condition
no change to the extent in other words the area that they occupy on the roofs
correct okay thank you very much uh board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change the
Board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing zoning.
the existing zoning, the.
The dimensional refusals mostly stem from existing conditions here.
With regard to setbacks, as we've heard, there's no change to the existing non -conforming extent of the roof decks.
And with regard to the railing heights, the dimensional variances are de minimis and do not conflict with the purpose and spirit of the zoning code.
City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the variances.
Thank you.
MI 2022 -002 -548 -2053, Christian Street.
I vote yes with proviso.
Revised plans, one page, stamped by ZBA, September 21st, 2022.
Harold Teneri, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with proviso.
James Snell, yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, yes with proviso.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Number 11, MI 2021 -004 -547 -1030 Winter Street.
Zin Jin is the attorney.
Letter of support, Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation.
Letter of non -opposition from Councilman Squilla.
Chair, Mr. Zin Jin is coming back in now as a panelist.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Good morning, sir. Could you please state your name for the court reporter and spell it?
Yes. My name is Zen 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.
Thank you. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Sir, could you identify your client and relationship to the property?
Yes, my client is Ms. Peggy Yong. She is the owner of the property, and she is here with us today.
Okay, our vice chair has a few questions.
Good morning. Do you agree to wait the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
Yes to all questions.
Okay, great. You may proceed and begin with sharing your screen.
Thank you. I'm going to share with the board the exhibit package that was previously submitted. Can the board see the exhibit?
We can.
Yes, we can. Thank you. So we have submitted to the board a copy of the refusal, the support letter from PCDC, photos, plans, and related documentation.
This application is for the demolition of an existing building to put up a new structure for my client as a duplex to use in that particular space.
the property is zoned CMX3. It is in Chinatown. However, there's a refusal because my client
would like to build a building that is a little bit bigger and it doesn't quite meet the maximum
occupied area requirements of 75%. I want to point out that the allow percentage square footage is
only 431 .25. Naturally, that is a very small footprint for a new building by today's standards
And that is why my client's asking for a variance for a little more space, allowing the newly built building to be more conforming to what is expected of today's buildings.
PCDC issued a letter in support and pointed out as well that this building has been vacant for a long time.
In fact, since 1983, and that this would be a good use to bring this space back into use.
And the maximum occupied area difference is about 12 .1%.
And in this case, I would argue there is a hardship because of the small size of the lock.
Again, this property is located on Winter Street.
The existing building is very old and has been vacant.
The Chinatown branch of the police station is nearby there.
So a duplex use fits the block, fits the nature of the area.
There are no other refusals.
The idea here really is my client and her family would both occupy the two units.
So it is a kind of an investment into a family property to live in, and it will be used as a duplex residential.
Again, there are no opposition from Chinatown because additional living spaces are actually welcome in Chinatown.
PCDC does support this application.
I would be happy to answer any questions from the board, and certainly I can zoom into any part of the exhibit if the board would like a closer look. Thank you.
Mr. Jin, would you want to have your testimony adopted?
Yes. Yes. Ms. Jung, can you raise your hand virtually to be identified?
Ms. Jung, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Hi. Could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Y -J -U -N -G.
Okay. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you. Ms. Young, did you see the presentation and hear my presentation that was given to the zoning board?
Thank you. Can you verify what I have represented to the board to be true and correct
and adopt it as your own testimony? Yes. Thank you. Questions from the board? No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman. No, Mr. Chairman. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair. Planning Commission. Thank you, Chair Bergman. Ian Hegarty for the
Philadelphia City Planning Commission. Members of the board, in 2014, the zoning map was amended in
this area from CMX 4 to CMX 3 in accord with recommendations from the comprehensive plan.
We believe the proposed dimensional variance is the minimum necessary to make use of this
unusually small property. The City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the
variance. Thank you. MI 2021 -004 -547 -1030 Winter Street, I vote yes. Carol Tenere, my vote is
yes. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes. James Snell, my vote is yes. Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel. Thank you. All right. Number 12, MI 2022 -002 -884, 2527 Westerod Avenue,
Justin Kirk is the attorney. Letter of support from Brewery Town Shardswood Community Civic
Association. Chair, Mr. Crick is coming back in as a panelist now.
Good morning, members of the board. Good morning, Mr. Crick. Could you
state your name and spell for the court reporter, please? Yes, Justin Crick, K -R -I -K.
My address is 1500 JFK Boulevard, Suite 630, Philadelphia PA 19102.
Right.
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client in a relationship to the property?
My client is 2527 West Girard, LLC, represented by its member, Sabash Talon.
They are the record owner of the property.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good morning, Mr. Crick. Do you agree to wait the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing?
And have you met with the RCL? And do you have a letter?
Yes to all.
Okay, great. You may proceed and begin with sharing your screen.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right. Members of the board, can you see the materials?
We can.
Excellent. Thank you. So we are here today for an application to permit the wholesale and distribution, in this case, a beer distributor in an existing structure at this property.
The property is located in a CMX 2 .5 district, and therefore the proposed wholesale distribution has been refused.
That's the only refusal that's here.
And that's the only refusal as shown on the refusal dated March 29th of 22.
The property in question was previously used as a laundromat on its first floor and contains
two residential units that are currently and have been unoccupied for quite some time.
This application does not seek to do anything with the residential units on the floors above
This application does not seek to do anything with the residential units on the floors above the first.
the first.
A little bit of background where this is located.
We are on West Girard Avenue between College and North 25th, and the applicant currently operates a beer distributor about two addresses down on the same block, had presently been leasing the space.
Our subject property is located where the icon is, and my cursor is showing where the existing beer distributor, where this applicant leases the space, has been at the prior space since June of 2019.
But even before his use of the property, which this photograph shows you the laundromat, the property that is subject to this variance, and then Philly Beverage down a few doors is where the applicant currently has his business.
Um, Philly beverage, uh, has again, been operating under, um, this applicant's ownership
or lease, I should say, uh, since 2019, about June of 2019, but had operated my understanding
as a beer distributor for several years prior to that.
Here are some photographs of the front of the property.
It is, again, is currently unused and vacant.
the intent is to basically use the entire first floor of the property for the beer distributor
and nothing with these two stories above in this application
some photographs of the interior this is currently how it looks with the with the demolition of the
laundromat and is really only provided to to give an idea of the size or space that we have here
and the amount of room that is here. The renovations by this applicant are expected
to take about eight to 10 months. And when the lease expires in the other location,
the hope is to be able to move Mr. Talon's business into this location a few doors down.
We have met with the RCO and received support from the RCO. They understand that there is
what we believe to be a hardship in the ability or the inability for this applicant to relocate
essentially the same type of business on the same block that is also zoned CMX 2 .5, but is allowed
down a few doors. I will keep it brief because essentially this is a pretty straightforward
application in my opinion. We addressed parking with the neighborhood and they understand and
agree that there is meter parking on the street. Trash is handled very specifically. There is a
separate cardboard disposal system because of the nature of the business. The cardboard is bailed
and removed by private haulers. There is no food waste and no intent to serve any food in the
property. So then the other trash would just be items other than cardboard in terms of material
packaging and so forth. We did attach a copy of the deed that shows that the applicant purchased
this property in December of 2021 and has then since decided to make this application.
We have attached the tax clearance certificate and posting of the photos along the front of the
property, as well as the notice of meeting sent to the RCO neighbors and proof of mailing to all of
the required individuals. I have Mr. Talon on the Zoom to adopt my testimony, if that would be okay
with the board. It is. Thank you. Mr. Talon, if you could raise your hand. Mr. Talon, please unmute
yourself and wait for the chair. Sir, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter,
please? My name is Subhash Dailan. Please spell that. Spell for the court reporter, please.
S -U -B -H -A -S -H -T -E -H -L -A -N. Great. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
nothing but the truth. Yes, I do. Proceed, counsel. Thank you. Mr. Talon, have you had an opportunity
to hear my statements to the board today? Yes. And would you say that those statements are true
and correct to the best of your knowledge? Yes. And would you adopt those statements as your own
testimony? Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Questions from the board? No, Mr. Chairman. Questions or
comments from the virtual audience i see no hands chair planning commission thank you chair bergman
Thank you, Chair Bergman.
ian hegarty for the philadelphia city planning commission board members in 20
Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
Board members, in 2014, the zoning map was amended in this area to CMX 2 .5
in accord with recommendations from the comprehensive plan.
This proposed use is consistent with the physical configuration of the existing building, however,
so the City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the variance.
Thank you.
MI 2022 -002 -894 -2527 West Rod.
I vote yes.
Carol Tenere, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Bell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you very much.
Our number 14, MI 2022, 002 -345 -6832, New State Road.
Sean Ward is the attorney.
Letter of support from the Taconi Civic Association.
Chair, Mr. Ward is coming back in now as a panelist.
Good morning, Mr. Chair and members of the board.
Good morning, Mr. Ward. Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Yes, my name is Sean Ward, S -H -A -W -N, last name Ward, W -A -R -D, applicant's attorney.
My address is 331 East Street Road, Trivos, PA, 19053.
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I certainly do.
Could you identify your client in relationship to the property?
I represent both Greg Argentina, who is the owner of the property, as well as Mohamed Lacheb.
Forgive me if I'm pronouncing or mispronouncing that wrong.
It's spelled L -A -C -H -H -A -B, who is the tenant operating the auto repair business at the location.
Thank you. Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good morning, Mr. Ward. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do, Mrs. Tenere.
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, photos under plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
Yes, to all of the above.
thank you and i see that your screen is up so you may proceed thank you very much uh mr chair
members of the board uh again i represent greg argentina that's greg with two g's g -r -e -g -t
argentina uh and mohammed lachab l -a -c -h -h -a -b for the property at 6832 new state road
back in the day known as Wissan Oming Street. This is an application, as you can see on the
screen, for personal vehicle repair maintenance with storage of parts in an enclosed structure
and vehicles being served as parked on the lot. It resulted in a referral to the board.
That's why we heard it today, because it requires a special exception approval. So according to
we are here requesting that approval. So A1 is the Notice of Refusal. A2 is the ZBA Application
of Appeal. A3 is the Project Information Form. A4, Proof of Ownership. A5, Proof of Tax
Clearance. A6 is a plot plan pulled from the Zoning Archive. A7 is a deed map pulled from
atlas at philadelphia .gov. A8 are photographs of the subject property, some street views,
some aerial views. A9, separate from the packet because the packet was submitted prior to receipt
of SANE, but it would be the RCO letter of support, which was in fact emailed to Hillary
and the zoning board following the submission of the packet. If Councilman Driscoll submitted
the letter. I would ask that that be marked as A -10. As far as A -11, that's the relevant zoning
history. From about 1962 up to, I would say, about 2009, this was an ironworks -type facility.
They manufactured ornamental iron there. A -11 is the zoning map. A -13 is the aerial photograph.
I would point out to the board that this tenant used to be located directly next door at 6836 New State Road.
I would point out to the board that this tenant used to be.
The adjoining uses, 6836 is now vacant, and I see no current permits for use registration on file, so I believe that confirms that this property is still vacant.
6840 New State Road is Brennan Auto Body, which has been a fixture in the Tachoni community for
many years. I believe they've been there since 1954. And then 6800 New State Road is currently
used for the manufacturing of plastic products. My client's days and hours of operation are
generally Monday through Saturday, 9 a .m. to 6 p .m. for customer hours. The employees do,
however, arrive somewhat earlier at 8 a .m., and they do sometimes work into the evening.
However, there is no coming and going of customers at that point in time. So again,
as you can see on the screen, it resulted in a referral. It is on ICMX, and it is 6832 New
State Road. Again, for the use as personal vehicle repair, we have our project information form.
We have our deed. My client purchased this property in 2015.
As you can see, taxes are current through 2022 for the property. The property is approximately
30 feet wide and stretches back about 177 feet. The deed map also confirms that. Let me
shrink that a little bit. So here is a copy of our zoning poster.
Here is the photo of the subject property. It's a one -story masonry garage.
They're trading as Eurotech auto experts. To the right is the former location of Eurotech.
They moved from this property over to this property. It's a typical auto repair place.
As you can see, they do specialize in European vehicles, specifically BMW, which is, you know, I guess the ultimate driving machine.
This is the photograph of State Road facing south.
And then we have State Road facing north.
On the opposite side of the street, you will see this is the former Diston property, which basically Diston's owned the entire section of Tacconi back in the day.
And then attached to the exhibits, we have the zoning permits evidencing the industrial use at this property as a manufacturing of ironworks.
So we also have a copy of the zoning map. It is zoned ICMX, and the property lies just east of I -95 between Unruh, and this would be McGee.
um north street here is a dead end street that does not go underneath i -95 so uh that is the
sum and substance of my application we did mail out the rco meeting notice to the 24 required
uh properties here is a copy of the actual meeting notice
These are the addresses. And then Taccone Civic Association did, in fact, submit a letter.
And quite frankly, the chair of Taccone Civic was the only attendee.
Nobody, you know, nobody, nobody else responded to our meeting requests.
But he did issue a letter in support of the application.
Mr. Argentina is in the roofing business. He is currently on the roof of a building in
West Philadelphia right now. And the tenant Muhammad is running the shop right now. But
as an officer of the court, I would submit that I have reviewed with both of those,
my exhibit packet and my representations made to the board today. If they were called to testify,
If they were called to testify, they would certainly certify that my representations are true and correct, and they would adopt them as their own testimony.
they would certainly certify.
Thank you, Mr. Ward. We accept your testimony.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman. Good afternoon. Sorry, good morning, Board members. The proposed special exception, the State Planning Commission believes the proposed special exception will not cause detrimental impacts to the neighborhood beyond what might normally be expected for this use. We recommend that the Board grant the special exception.
Thank you. MI 2022 -002 -345 -6832, New State Road. I vote yes.
Harold Tanari, my vote is yes.
Thomas Hallowin, my state.
My vote is yes.
James Snow, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I will see you at 3 .30.
All right, great.
Thank you.
Is there anyone in the virtual audience whose case has not been called yet this morning?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Thank you, everybody. See everybody at 2 p .m.
All right. Okay. Everybody have a good one.
Thank you.
Hold on, Mr. Chair. We have a hand.
Mr. Chair, we do have a hand.
I'm here.
Chair, we have a Tayson DeVore with his hand up. He just put his hand up.
Mr. DeVore, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair, please.
Hi. Could you state your name, please?
Good morning, Mr. Chair. My name is Tyson DeVore, T -A -I -S -O -N.
last name before d -e -v -o -r -e right we're affirmed to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth yes i do what case do you want to talk about sir uh we were just basically trying to
get clarification on the voting for 5901 latona i know when we had the meeting last week they said
that you will reconvene once all the other board members will look at the exhibits and make a um
ruling on the vote for what case was that 5901 latona case number m1 2 0 2 1 0 0 4 5 9 2.
it was a hearing that was it was a hearing that was uh is that the ice cream place do i remember
that that was the takeout restaurant yes right okay yeah mr chair that um we have one or two
members of the board that need to review the video from that and then vote and that vote will occur
on the record at a later date. All right. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thanks for your interest,
sir. Is there anyone else? Chair, I see no other hands at this time. Okay. Thanks,
everybody. I appreciate it. See everybody too.
good afternoon my name is bill bergman and i will be chairing this afternoon's eba hearings
with me is carol tenary our vice chair
she should be on very shortly ismail shaheed our like our board secretary
president mr chairman thomas hallman our board member president mr chairman and james snell
our other board member will be on in a little bit also here is our executive director tanya sunkett
and our Board Attorney Hillary Emerson. Before we begin, here's our virtual format.
Be advised the proceedings are being recorded. By participating, you have a knowledge agreement
to be recorded. The video will be available by contacting tanyasunkett at phila .gov.
For the benefit of our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves
before testifying. If you are participating by phone, if you wish to testify, press star nine
to raise your hand and star six to unmute. To enter an appearance statement, call 267 -270 -5548.
Leave your email and the address of the property in question. And finally, the question,
the box on the screen for comments and testimony should not be used for comments or test should not
be used for making comments. Any issues relative to anything you have for this directed to our
executive director, Tanya Sunken. Now let's take a look at our continuances. Number three, MI 2021
Number three, MI 2021, 005318649 North 11th Street. That case is continued.
Number eight and number nine, MI 2022 -002 -637 -7248 Rising Sun Avenue and MI 2022 -008 -77 -7248
Rising Sun Avenue. Those cases are continued. Case number 12, MI 2021 -00 -5319 -610 -North 11th
Street. That case is continued. And number 13, MI 2021 -00 -4545 -636 -North 11th Street. That case
continue. Does anyone have
any comments relative to those
cases that have been continued?
No hands,
Chair. All right. In case number
one, MI
003179
2225 Master Street,
I believe David Orphanides
is going to request to continue.
Mr. Orphanides?
Mr. Orphanides, can you please unmute yourself and wait for the chair?
Can you hear me?
Yes, I can.
Mr. Orphanides, could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Certainly.
My name is David Orphanides.
The last name is spelled O -R -P -H -A -N -I -D -E -S.
You swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Mr. Orfanides, do you need a continuance for that case?
We do.
We've met with the community group.
We've met with them twice.
And based upon the comments we received, we're working on a redesign of the project to hopefully provide for their requests and recommendations.
And so I would ask that the case be continued and marked as attorney moving party.
Right. 2225 Master Street is continued attorney -moving parties. Thank you, Mr. Orphanides.
Thank you. May be excused.
Yes. Is there any other one requesting and continuance for this afternoon's hearing?
Chair, we have Harry Cook with his hand up. Mr. Cook, can you please unmute yourself and wait for the chair?
Mr. Chair, I'm present. Carol Tenneri.
Very good. Thank you, Carol.
hi hi mr cook could you state your name and spell for the court reporter
hi harry cook h -a -r -r -y c -o -o -k right um do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth
and nothing but the truth i do sir are you for case number eight um yes uh yes yes mr chairman
7248 right and i just wanted to make sure that both of those uh consolidated appeals were
continued not just uh not just ours no i i continue both wonderful thank you both into the
record thank you so much sir for sure anyone else would request for a continuance
i see no more hands at this time sheriff on case number four we have no exhibits
3137 Willits Road. Mark Wagner is the owner appellant. It's an appeal against LNI and we
Okay. Mr. Wagner?
Mr. Wagner, if you're in the virtual audience, please raise your hand.
Hillary, this is the first listing for this. All right. Thank you. Hillary.
I would have to check. I am not sure. I don't know off the top of my head if it is.
um miss costello is this the first listing for this uh i am not sure about that they're just
appealing a zoning violation for expanding i know so so so what we're going to do is i'm going to
um i'm going to continue this mark must be tried
okay no so 3137 wilch road case is continued mark must be tried
okay thank you all right are there any requests for withdrawals
i see no hands chair so we're going to go to our first add -on case
mi 2022 003 148 15 13 to 17 pine street i vote no
Thomas Holloman. Thomas Holloman, my vote is no.
Ishmael? Ishmael Shahid, my vote is no.
Thank you. Number two for Adelance. MI 2022 -001 -494 -2507 Amon Street,
A resumptive hearing will be held for this appeal on Wednesday, September 28th at Tube Hymn for the purpose of supplementing the record with information about revised plans that the applicant has requested to present to the Board.
Testimony from the public will be permitted, but it will be limited to a discussion of the revised plans.
Now we're going to go to our regular list.
Number two, MI -2022, 003 -183 -820 -North 40th Street, Alan Nockamson is the attorney,
letter of support from the Belmont Alliance Civic Association CDC with two enforceable provisos.
Chair, Mr. Nockamson is coming back in as a panelist now.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the board.
Alan Nockamson of Nockamson, PC, 123 South Broad Street, Suite 1600, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
California 1910. Just for the record, Mr. Nockamson, could you spell your name for the
court reporter? Yes, Alan, A -L -A -N, last name Nockamson, N -O -C -H -U -M -S -O -N. Thank you. Do you
swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Thank you. Could
Mr. Nockamson, could you identify your client in relationship to the property? Yes, my client is
the property owner, Mantua Holdings, LLC. And in the virtual audience, I have Isaac Katz,
its member. Thank you. Our Vice Chair, Carol Tuderi, has a few questions.
I'm Mr. Nockmson. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy? I do. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance,
a copy of the refusal or referral, photos under plans of the property five days in advance of
this hearing and have you met with the RCO and do you have a letter? Yes, in all respects. Okay,
great. You may proceed and share your screen. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Hi, so I'm here to present 820 North 40th Street. In my presentation packet, I have the notice
refusal, a letter of support from the Belmont Alliance Civic Association to coordinating the
rco for this matter uh maps of the area uh photographs uh excuse me i have actually the
west district plan uh philadelphia 2035 which shows that uh city planning commission recommends
that this zoning this property uh change from cmx2 to rm1 so if this was a rm1 property this
project would be allowed as a right and we'll discuss that in the review of our notice of
rapusel, photographs of the property, plans and drawings,
Photographs of the property, plans and drawings, our RCO meeting notice, our deeds of the property showing that Mantua Holdings LLC is the owner of the property, our application for appeal that we filed to the Zoning Board of Adjustment, and our certificate of tax clearance showing that the property owner is a good standing with respect to this property.
Again, in the virtual audience is Isaac Katz, a member of Mantua Holdings LLC, the applicant, as well as his architect, Tony Masso.
So this is a CMX2 property, and we're proposing to erect a five -dwelling unit building.
And we have two refusals, the first of which is that we're allowed four units, residential units and one commercial.
What we want to do is merely swap out the commercial unit for residential. We don't think it's appropriate under the circumstances. And the city planning commission believes the same by way of the 2035 plan, which we'll show you.
And the second refusal is the fact that we're proposing to eliminate the commercial components by swapping it out with residential. And then that's our second refusal.
So we met with the Belmont Alliance Civic Association some time ago in the summertime, and we received, well, overwhelming support.
And, you know, what they asked us is to make sure that we had a proper trash plan.
So we reconfigured where the trash would be and that everyone would have full access to it.
And that was very important for the group. And we'll show you on the site plan how we did that.
Here's their letter explaining that as well.
And then they have more detailed analysis of how they voted.
And then this is just maps of the area. Again, we're on 40th Street.
We're between Parrish and Reno in West Philadelphia.
here you can see where we are on the map as well as you can see it's very limited commercial use
even though this is all cmx2 there is some commercial use on the corners which is not
unexpected because typically if you have commercial units and residential nature
neighborhood like this is typically on the corners not mid -block and that's why i think
you know you know in the west district plan philadelphia 2035 uh they recommended that this
be there's only be changed from cmx to rm1 and you know we just highlighted it here but we looked at
it and according to the plan uh 820 north 40th street should be an rm1 property um we did reach
out to the andrew goodman i don't know if he's in a virtual audience he said he may but i talked to
him earlier today and as an officer of the court i will indicate that he stated that the district
council member is in non -opposition to this project first of course because the community is
in non -opposition but also because of the fact that this is not a commercial corner in any way
and according to the 2035 plan this should be an rm1 property and they're still trying to work
through the zoning change as we speak.
And then photographs of the property,
it's a vacant lot, well -kept.
It's been a vacant lot for some time.
According to Google, we took a picture.
We found the picture that goes as far back as it can.
And that's in 2007.
So for 15 years, this has been a vacant lot.
And then if you look in North 40th Street
to the right of the property,
you can see there's really no commercial components here.
North 40th Street to the left of the property,
a little commercial components, but more towards the corners. And then just an example of the work
that our property owner does. They've been in the real estate industry for well over a generation,
so they believe in high -quality work. They not only own the properties, they help with the
construction as well as the management of them. I always try to give examples of kitchens,
living rooms, bathrooms, just so you can see their quality of work. There's another bedroom.
you know, showing ample closet space, nice light in the air for the units.
And then here is our just, you know, the site plan.
Just want to pay particular attention to where they created the storage area.
So you can see the trash storage area is, I'll just reduce this a little bit, is right here.
This is something that their architect did, did not change any of the building dimensions.
So there's no reason for proviso
in terms of what's the change in the site plan.
But what we could do is proviso trash stored outside.
And that's what the community wanted as well
for all residents.
Oops, let me just move this to the side.
So, and then just the floor plans, oops.
You know, basic floor plan. There are five units here. There's a unit on the front and back, and they all have access to this alley walkway. Again, all the units will have access to the exterior trash room.
You know, basic floor plan, there are five units here.
And there's a unit in the front and back on floors one and two.
And then there's a full bedroom on the third floor.
I mean, full unit on the third floor.
And then our RCL meeting notice.
We went with the community on June 23rd at 6 .45 p .m. regarding this property.
There were 158 addresses that were notified of this meeting.
You know, here are the list of the addresses.
Now, proof of mailing to those addresses.
Our deeds of property showing that Mantua Holdings LLC is the owner of the property.
Our application for appeal filed in the name of Mantua Holdings LLC,
along with the notice of refusal and our project information form and our certificate of tax
claims showing that the entity is in good standing with the city of philadelphia as this property
pretty straightforward project project again if this was um you know properly zoned according
to the 2035 plan we wouldn't be here the community was um receptive and in support of this project
the district council member is also a non -opposition uh and with that being said i would
ask that uh mr katz virtually raise his hands to adopt my testimony and then we'd be more than happy
to take any questions from the board
mr katz can you please unmute yourself and wait for the chair
i could you state your name and spell for the court reporter please
Isaac Katz, I -S -A -A -C -K -A -T -Z.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Oh, yeah, Mr. Katz, you heard everything I stated today.
And is it true, correct?
And do you adopt it as your own testimony?
All right, thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
For a point of information, Mr. Nockmson, I have a note from Mr. Goodman saying he is busy.
Yeah, no, that's why I asked him beforehand.
He told me the same, but I just wanted to make sure that I had him verbally state to me.
And I told him as an officer of the court, I would explain.
MI 2020 -000841 -1041 -South 53rd Street, and number 11 on our list, MI 2020 -000802 -1109 -South 53rd Street.
So try to do these three cases together.
Is that okay?
Oh, yes, Mr. Chair.
Right.
And then the other thing I, when it comes time for going to the audience, I have a letter that the councilwoman once read into the record.
Again, my name is Alan Ockermson, A -L -A -N, last name Ockermson, N -O -C -H -U -M -S -O -N of Ockermson, PC, 123 South Broad Street, Suite 1600, Philadelphia, PA, 19109.
Right.
You've already been sworn.
Could you identify your client and their relationship to these three properties?
Yes, my client is essentially the parent company is B2 Properties.
They may be owned under separate companies, but it's B2 Properties.
And then virtual audience is Robert Dewey, the owner's representative.
And our vice chair, Carl Tenere, has a few questions.
Hi, Mr. Nockmson.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
I do. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, photos under plans of the property, five days in advance of this hearing? And have you met with the RCO? And do you have a letter?
Yes, I do.
Okay, you may proceed.
I'm sorry, I don't actually have the letter. Sorry, I usually go in autopilot on that. I don't have the letter, but I can tell you what I know about.
But, you know, we have support.
I just don't have the letter in my possession.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I think I'm going to read a letter from Mr. Goodman in a little bit.
And there's issues in there relative to the RCO.
It's easy to jump right in and say yes, I know.
So you may proceed and begin with sharing your screen.
Okay, do you mind?
I haven't seen the letter.
So I talked to Mr. Goodman earlier in the day.
So hopefully I'm not jumping into a fire.
no you're not you're not okay you're fine you're fine okay i was like this and honestly this is the
longest zoning matter i've ever handled in my professional career um and we worked diligently
and hard for this and i am actually very proud it's not a huge project in any way um relative
to some of the projects i do i think it's always impactful the zoning that we do for the community
and it's good that when it's it's you know we we do something good for the community
and then we were able to build at the same time so and we have worked diligently um over
over two we started this project before the pandemic so this is one of a really old project
um but we didn't give up because i thought that this made sense and i you know pushed my client
for community benefit which i think makes sense for the community as well so this is 1041 1109
1111 south 53rd street it's a pretty big packet we did submit it separately as well we were asked
to but for purposes of this presentation i combined into one so we have the notices of refusal
we always put as a placeholder the correspondence from the coordinating rco i have not received that
correspondence. I did talk to Gregory Benjamin of the 51st Democratic Board Executive Committee,
the board leader. He verbally told me and confirmed, because we knew that, that they would
issue a letter of support. I have not received that letter of support to date. So I just want
to let you know, but Alex Stolberg, who's also in the virtual audience, was at the community meeting
and heard a positive vote as well. So I just want to let you know that as an officer of the court,
that's when i'm stating so but i have not received that letter uh we have maps of the area um and and
by the way i also verbally spoke to mr goodman i know there's a letter out there that i haven't
seen but my understanding is that their office will be in non -opposition uh given the community
benefit um just so you understand it's not you know relevant to these proceedings but my client
is making a donation to help facilitate the creation of a recreation center in this portion
the city southwest it's only a small drop in a bucket but hopefully they'll meet their goals
in this community to create that indoor recreational facility um but that that's the
community benefit uh maps of the area photographs of property or plants and drawings or rco meeting
notices or application for appeal or diesel property and a certificate of tax clearance
again in the virtual audiences for opportunity of v2 properties um v2 properties well known for
their work. You know, they try to be a responsible developer. No one's perfect.
You know, they try to be a responsible developer. No one's perfect, you know, with that type of volume. But, you know, twice they have been recognized by the Philadelphia Enquirer as developer of the year.
And they're very good about infill work. And they're good about giving back in communities just like this. Here, you know, we're formalizing that by way of a community balance agreement.
and there are these are properties you can see these refusals are rather old you know we have
dated june 3rd of 2020 uh and uh what we're trying to do is put three triplexes here um
make some more affordable housing um you know we we think given that the lot sizes of these
properties it makes sense under the circumstances uh you know it's not to say that you know it
matters but these are arm one properties these would be allowed this right the density will
make the property more affordable. I know that that's not a zoning matter, but these lots have
also been vacant for some time too. So that's the one refusal. There's a refusal for 1109, which is
in March of 2020. And then here's the third refusal in March 19th of 2020. Again, all triplexes that
we're seeking to build. And then the correspondence we have as a placeholder, right? So we want to
submit our documents in a timely fashion by, you know, Friday of the week before the hearing. So
we met with the 51st Democratic Board on September 12th. We're still waiting for the correspondence,
but I did have communications with Gregory Benjamin, the ward leader who indicated their
support and then maps of the area again we're in southwest philadelphia um you know on 53rd street
all these properties are close together uh you know we you know they try to build in in areas
where they can create the density necessary uh for development purposes um also to create more
affordable uh housing as well and then there's 1109 and 1111 south 53rd street and then 1054
south 53rd street and then this is 1041 south 53rd street we're not this whole lot we're just
this little portion of this lot and you know we're trying to develop and build this lot
and then this is what it's it was like back in the day this is really the lot right here
it has been vacant for almost 15 years well since august of 2009 at least there's a picture of it
may be vacant for a longer period of time and then here's 1109 and 1111 south 53rd street are
also vacant lots and as you can see they have been vacant lots for some time they go at least
from google earth as far back as august of 2007 probably further than that and then here's a
thousand block of 53rd street to the right of the property a thousand block of 53rd street to left
to the property 1100 block 53rd street to the right of the property and 1100 block 53rd street
to the left of the property and then b2 again well known and they're very good work product they you
know i always try to give examples just like my other client today of you know kitchens living
areas so you can see the quality of workmanship uh again nice light and air hardwood floors nice
size closets nice bathrooms nice you know lower levels they try to make them functional floor plans
um and you know just you know we show more bathrooms and living rooms with nicer lights
and air and then here's just the site plan and you know we have a site plan and a floor plan
for all of them um but you know basically uh these are the floor plans we have you know unit number
one which is a bi -level unit number two is the whole uh so bi -level first floor lower level
Unit number two is on the second floor
and unit number three is on the third floor.
Each of the floors, each of the units
have a garbage disposal
as well as a ventilated trash room.
And again, they try to keep the brick facades as to each.
And it's, you know,
here's just a side level of that as well.
And then the same thing for 1109 and 1111,
you know same type of you know floor plans by level first floor lower level then second floor
its own unit and third floor is its own unit again garbage disposal in each of the units
in the kitchen and there'll be ventilated trash rooms in each of the units as well
and then we met over many meetings formal RCO meetings the first meeting I'll be honest was a
a little rough, but, you know, if you don't give up and you try to listen to the community
and find out, you know, what they want out of the situation, like, you know, there's
always an opportunity to work through those issues.
In the last meeting we met, I thought, you know, through what I heard from Mr. Goldberg in my office was they were very supportive.
In the last meeting we met, I thought, you know, through what I heard from Mr. Goldberg,
And, you know, we worked diligently offline as well with the council member's office, as well as nearby neighbors.
My understanding that there are a few nearby neighbors on 53rd Street directly adjacent to one of these properties who supported this project.
And it's taking time out of their day to express their support.
but 100 for 1041 121 addresses were notified in that meeting listed the addresses proof
of mailing to those addresses and then 10 1109 the same thing 179 addresses notified
those addresses proof of mailing to those addresses and then 1111 south 53rd street 183 addresses
you know these are the addresses proof of mailing to those addresses
And then our applications for appeal, the owner of 1041 is Golden Rule LLC, which is a subsidiary of B2 properties.
And 1109 is the same.
And 1111, actually they're all owned by Golden Rule.
And then our deeds to property, same thing, showing Golden Rule LLC is the owner of the properties.
and then just sort of certificate of tax clearance showing that there's no money owed to the safe
so with that being said I'm going to stop sharing my screen I would have Mr. Dewey virtually raise
his hand about my testimony interested to see to hear what the letter has to say I know that
there are supportive members within the community and we would love to take any questions from the
board. Mr. Dewey, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
It is Robert Dewey, R -O -B -E -R -T.
d -e -w -e -y do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do proceed counsel oh yes mr dewey you heard everything i had to say today
yes and is it true and correct yes and do you adopt as your own testimony i do thank you
questions from the board no mr chairman and mr chairman no no mr chairman
so uh mr goodman was tied up today he's requested that this letter be read into the record
mr chair members of the board we wanted to say a few words on the record for these particular
cases because they have admittedly caused some disagreement in the community this block very
much wants to preserve its single family base zoning we agree with that general self general
sentiment as well. However, in this incident, we saw most affected neighbors who lived within 250
feet radius change from opposing to non -opposition between the first RCO meeting and the most recent
the fact that these applications are in vacant lots where there would be a new construction
also plays a role as the proposed development would not tear down any buildings that make up
the current housing stock on the block all that would remain intact in addition the owner has
been willing to delay these proceedings in order to meet with the block captains to figure out ways
they could help on community goals. So for these reasons, the vote for affected neighbors,
the fact that the properties are currently vacant lots, and the commitment the owner has made
to collaborate on community initiatives, the council member has no opposition to these three
proposed variances. Thank you for your time, Andrew Goodman, Director of Equitable Development,
Office of Council Member Jamie Gauthier, 3rd District.
any other comments from the virtual audience yes sir
please state your name and spell it please my name is harrell h -a -r -r -e -l -l do you swear
or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do proceed
Proceed.
I'm representing
You're breaking up, Mr. L. Could you get closer to the mic?
I'm representing the 51st Ward coordinating RCL. Can you hear me?
Yes, we can now, sir. Thank you.
Okay. As mentioned, there were two meetings held in the community concerning these three addresses.
And the first meeting, there had to be a little over 60 residents at the meeting.
And there was some concern because, again, this is one of the community that's issues of gentrification and parking.
But these are lots that have been vacant for quite some time.
483 letters inviting community residents to both of these meetings, the last being last Monday.
their neighbors
them have changed
their minds based on
having the opportunity to meet
Mr. Notcombe and his clients over
the course of the past two years
to the point where there have been discussions
as mentioned of
community benefits
an ongoing conversation
between the residents and the applicants
the 51st
Work Coordinating RCO goes on record
in support
of this
continue to work
with it with the applicants
and Mr. Nakas
as we move forward.
I spoke with Captain on the
block and the resident
who is directly next
to one of these
addresses
and they are both now in support
of the application. So we go
on record as a coordinating
your ICO in support of three applications that are before you today. Mr. Rell, thank you for
your phone call. Thank you for your input. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see the additional hands, Chair. Planning Commission.
Good afternoon, Chair. Peter Bernard for the Planning Commission.
The zoning was updated to RSA 5 single -family attached residential at this location in 2019
after a community supported remapping the applicant has failed to demonstrate any hardship
as there is no hardship for vacant land additionally we feel bedrooms located in basements
represent a safety concern accordingly the planning commission recommends the board deny the variance
thank you peter so i'm gonna excuse me mr chair um peter um with the was that the recommendation
for all three of those properties yes
Okay. All right. Thank you. I just wanted to be clear.
I'll read the three properties into the record and then we'll vote.
So it's number five, MI 2020, 000803 -111 -South 53rd. MI 2020, 000841 -1041 -South 53rd. And MI 2020, 000802 -1109 -South 53rd Street. I vote yes to all three properties.
Carol Tenere, I vote yes on all three properties.
Thomas Holloman, I vote no on all three properties.
Mr. Shahid, I vote yes on all three properties.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Nockamson.
Let's see here.
So we're going to number six.
It's not your case, Mr. Nockamson.
I'll get back to you.
I'm sure he'll be back.
So, MI 2022 -003 -175 -225 Cobbs Creek Parkway, Jared Klein is the attorney. We don't have a letter yet from Cobbs Creek neighbors. Am I right, Hillary?
That is correct, Mr. Chair.
Thank you.
Chair, Mr. Klein is coming back in as a panelist now.
Thank you. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the board.
Jared Klein, J -A -R -E -D, last name is K -L -E -I -N, 130 North 18th Street in Philadelphia.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do. Mr. Klein, identify your client in a relationship to the property.
Sure. My client is the Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania, and they're the owner of this parcel.
Okay. And our vice chair has a few questions. Certainly.
Mr. Klein, do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, photos and or plans of the property?
a copy of the refusal or referral photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of
this hearing and have you met with the rco and do you have a letter yes to all accept the letter
from the rco um we met with them uh on september 12th but we have not received any correspondence
from the rco to date okay you may proceed and begin to share your screen thank you thank you
okay here for 225 cobs creek parkway which as i mentioned is owned and operated by the children's
hospital of pennsylvania it's one of their pediatric care centers and the nature of our
application today is is pretty simple what we're seeking is to install a fence along one of the
lines of the property along the Locust Street frontage. And the style and nature of fencing
that Children's Hospital wants to use is a little taller and a little less opaque than what the
zoning code would allow by right. Just to contextualize the board to the property,
this is the facility here off of Cobbs Creek Parkway, surrounded by multifamily uses and
single family residential here. Zoned residential multifamily. And this is the front of the building
that has our zoning posters included on it. The fence itself is going to go along Locust Street.
So this is the frontage of the property as it currently exists. The proposed fence is going
to run along locust street going down along this way and this is the area that the fence would sit
behind behind these shrubs it would then go down and front on this parking area that is utilized
by this facility for for parking the idea and purpose of the fence is to provide some additional
security for the facility and to secure their parking area which is right now just open and so
the proposal is to install a fence that will also have a swinging gate. This is a representative
sample of the style of fencing so the board can see what we're going to put in. This is not
actually at the location. This is just for representative purposes to show you the style
of fencing that CHOP had in mind. In terms of the plan, you're just going to have a fence that runs
along, and then there's going to be a security gate here. And so the new fence is proposed just
to run along this Locust Street frontage here with a swinging gate that's located in this area.
We mailed our notices to the relevant community, showing you here all of the list of addresses
to which notices were sent. And as I mentioned, we had a virtual meeting with Cobbs Creek on
September 12th. At the conclusion of that meeting, they indicated that they would be taking a vote,
But they did not announce that vote to us. We excused ourselves from from the meeting room.
My impression of the meeting was that the only real concern from the community perspective was that there were members of the community who were utilizing the parking area within the facility after hours.
So there's this parking area here, and there were people parking there after hours and were concerned that the installation of the gate would restrict that access.
We explained during the meeting that there was a security purpose for this fencing, but CHOP is committed to talking to the near neighbors about ways that we might preserve some parking access, and those conversations are ongoing.
But I did not hear any objection to the fence itself.
It was really a concern about limiting access to the parking lot and what impact that might have.
If anybody's on from the RCO, we would be more than happy to hear their position.
But we made several requests to the RCO following our meeting, did not get any correspondence.
If I might ask Jonathan Hood to raise his virtual hand so he might adopt my testimony.
Mr. Goode, if you're in the virtual audience, can you raise your hand, please?
And if he is not able to join us as an officer of the court, I will
represent the factual accuracy of my statements.
That's fine. We will take your testimonies. Fine.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands now, Chair.
i see no hands now chair planning commission
Planning Commission.
good afternoon chair peter bernard for the planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rm for multi -family residential at
dislocation we feel the proposed fence height and opacity is de minimis and the minimum necessary
accordingly the planning commission recommends the board grant variance thank you um hillary i
I think we should hold this for a week for the vote and see if we can get the correspondence.
I mean, Mr. Klein, we spoke before.
We're noticing some of the, like the 12th, it's not a lot of time yet.
So some of these RCOs have not been getting them out.
So why don't we give this a week, see what we can do, and then we'll approach this next week and have it done, okay?
Certainly.
Very good.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Is that okay, Hillary, Tanya?
That is fine.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right.
sounds great chair okay number seven mi thank you mr klein mi 2022 -003 -170 -2300 north 18th street
no letter from the coordinating rco uh mr knockamson
uh good afternoon mr chairman of the board alan knockamson a -l -a -n knockamson n -o -c -h
UMSON, 123 South Broad Street, Suite 1600,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19109.
Mr. Nachamson, could you identify your client
and the relationship to the property?
Yes, my client is 2300N, 18th Street Holdings, LLC.
And in the virtual audience is Brian Wise,
one of its members.
But, you know, we reached out to the coordinating ERCO on multiple occasions. We even asked them if they can't get a letter to, like, at least come on to the virtual Zoom meeting or hearing.
and unfortunately the community representative had a dentist appointment at two o 'clock which
she couldn't make we also you know again I think this is a newer RCO they didn't know about the
fact that you had to give a summary report we gave them an example of what the approved summary
report that the CBA requests but we haven't received anything to date I will say that
our firm handled for another client the same property. And from their similar type of response
was, we want two commercial, we want two residential and one commercial, and that's
what we're offering. My previous clients did not want to add the commercial. They just wanted to
do two residential, and that's why that project started. Unbeknownst to me, one client sold it
to another client and this client that's what they want to do but this is a cmx one property
where we're allowed one one residential one commercial so we're asking for an additional
residential unit but you'll see from from the history of the property it's not out of character
So our notice of refusal. So this is a CMX1 property. It is on a significant size slot. It's on 1 ,261 square feet. So if this was a CMX2 property, which is not, we would be allowed as of right for this project.
But all we're looking to do is two residential units and one commercial unit, and we are being refused because we're asking for that one additional residential unit.
And the correspondence we met with, you know, from the coordinating RCO, we met with them last Thursday, September 15th.
I thought it was a very positive meeting.
They haven't responded, you know, in terms of giving a formal response.
Property history, you can see it's far back as 1972.
the last use of this property over 50 years ago,
this was a two plus one.
It used to be a bar there plus two residential units.
So what we're proposing is not our character
for this particular property
and falls in line with what the previous use was
over 50 years ago.
And that's why we're asking for the relief
from the zoning boards.
Then maps to the area.
We're in the corner of 18th and Dauphin right here.
And, you know, just maps from a Google perspective
of this model. And then photographs of the property, it's a vacant lot currently, has been a
vacant lot for some time. If you look at Google Earth, the oldest photograph is September 2009,
and you can see it was a vacant lot. There were some members in the community who stated that
that's been a vacant lot for as far as they can remember, over 20 years or more. So again, this
has not been a developed property for some time. I think there's an issue with the zoning. This
be more cmx uh two you know and you know given that this was a bar one point the cmx two zoning
would make sense and if this was cmx two two residential units would be allowed as a price
and then this is just 2300 north 18th street uh from the side of the property from the
dolphin street again vacant and then north 18th street to the right of the property
north 18th street to the left of the property west often street to the right of the property
west off in street till after the property and then our plants and drawings my client you know
again no dimensional refusals here they're trying to build something that fits within the code from
a dimensional standpoint brick facade a little more modern in nature a lot of light and air
you can even see from the bay windows there's light projecting from here the windows are
pretty open to provide a lot of eyes on the street. And then this is just the most basic floor plans,
but this is just, again, the commercial space and the rear yard sample, and that's where the
trash would be stored. There's actually, the entrance is on the Dolphin Street side for the
residential there is no basement use uh and there's three floors each floor has a residential
of the upper floors the second and the third floors and each are three bedrooms two beds
and then you know we had a meeting September 15th uh it was well attended I would say probably a
dozen or so people um other than the members of the coordinating RCO and the development team were
there 258 addresses were notified of the meeting these are listed the addresses
uh this is um proof of of mailing to those addresses of the notice
our application for appeal showing that 23 and 18 street holdings llc is the owner of
the property along with the notice of refusal and our project information and our deeds of property
uh with that being said uh and our certificate uh tax credit certificate that being said i would
ask that mr wise virtually raise his hands uh to virtual audience in the meantime there were
two provisos that were requested and which i think one of them is enforceable uh would be
commercial trash pickup uh the second proviso that was requested of us from the community
that there'd be no rooming units.
And as I indicated to the community,
if hypothetically my client wanted to use this
as a rooming house,
that's a completely separate zoning classification
and that we would have to come back to the board.
But if the board is so inclined
to put that as a second proviso,
no rooming units,
we would not have any objection.
We just don't think it would be appropriate
under circumstances,
but we have no intention to making this a rooming house.
okay sure client yep mr wise can virtually raise your hand
Mr. Wise, can you virtually raise your hand?
Mr. Wise, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Mr. Wise, could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Yes, Chair.
Brian Wise, B -R -I -A -N, Wise, W -I -S -E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed, counsel.
Yeah, Mr. Wise, you heard everything I had to say today.
Yes, I did.
Is it true and correct?
Yes, it is.
And do you adopt an issue of testimony?
Yes, I do.
Now, the one thing I did state on the record was that there was no vote taken.
I did leave as soon as the meeting ended, but you stayed until the end, waiting for everyone to disperse the meeting, correct?
Mr. Wise?
Hello?
yeah brian i'm sorry you had cut out for one second i'm sorry
can you repeat yourself oh i i asked the question i stated on the record that no vote was taken but
i left as soon as the presentation concluded um and you and mr goldberg waited to the end
until the the uh community dispersed from the meeting is that correct
correct i did stay i'm sorry you're cutting it out so i can't hear everything you're saying
okay did you did you hear or see any vote taken no i did not okay but when when we presented um
would it be fair to say that the community uh was was universally positive for the presentation that
we gave oh yes they were all right thank you any questions from the board no mr chairman no mr
No, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Mary Jones with her hand up.
Ms. Jones, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Hello?
Hi, Ms. Jones, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Yes, Mary Jones, M -A -R -Y -J -O -N -E -S.
Right.
Do you swear to affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
proceed um yes i was wanted to just uh call in today um because i was able to speak with the rco
leader um this afternoon um like mr knockamson said she wasn't available to get on the call
she did reiterate that there was no vote taken however she um rather than just
it's she what she didn't want to write a letter before because she felt like the conversation
needs to be continued she wanted some other items in writing aside from the proviso more
assurances from the applicant about you know just other issues of the development and so just with
that knowledge our office is just going to ask that this vote be held until those things can be
resolved with the RCO. Okay. Hi, Chair. This is Tanya. Yep. Is it okay if I can ask Ms. Jones
to put on the record the office she represents, please? Oh, yes. Sorry about that. Council
President Daryl Clark. Thank you. Thank you so kindly. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
chair i see no hands at this time hi planning commission
good afternoon chair peter bernard for the planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing cmx1 commercial mixed use at this
location the applicant has failed to demonstrate a hardship that would require an additional
residential unit and there is no hardship for vacant land accordingly the planning commission
recommends the board deny the variance. Thank you. So, Mr.
Knackamson, to be consistent with what we've done earlier,
we'll wait until we hear from the
RCO. Hillary will give it a few weeks
to see if we can't get this done, and then we'll bring it back. Okay? That seems perfectly
fair. Okay. All right. Mr. Chair,
can we have a date, sir? And then if, for whatever reason, we have to
continue discussion at least it gives a deadline what what um
so why don't we look for two weeks tanya is that okay
that's perfect chair yep two weeks thank you mr chair sure okay that's october 5th
perfect i think mr knox is going to stay when i think we may have another one of yours
i think mr knoxin mustay one i think we may have another one of yours heard
right continued
okay number 14 mi 2022 002 963 1701 south 25th street kristin occamson that's yours
um so yep all right uh again why don't you want it well well well first of all who's your client
and what's the relationship to the property uh it's h and m development lls developments llc
and then the virtual audience is is uh is the owner's representative gazi honest right um
And our vice chair has a few questions.
Hi, Mr. Nockmson.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance, a copy of the refusal and referral, photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing?
And have you met with the RCO?
And do you have a letter?
Okay, great.
You may proceed and begin by sharing your screen.
And we'll start off, we'll incorporate all the testamentary evidence into the record from the prior hearings.
Mr. Chairman, what number is this case on our list?
Okay, so I wasn't too far ahead.
Hi, again, good afternoon.
I'm here to present 1701 South 25th Street.
A little more convoluted of a situation.
We presented in front of the board.
We actually have community support at the time for 18 units in this planning community, six single families and six duplexes in the Point Breeze section of Philadelphia.
We actually have the councilmanic support as well.
There was this issues by the planning commission of twofold, and we'll go through that.
One is the amount of units we had.
They thought that was an overuse of the property.
And I would have to agree with them looking at the situation comparing it to other projects.
12 units would be more appropriate compared to other approvals this board has given in the past
and we'll give an example as to that plus the surrounding area we're right behind south taylor
street and by a lot square footage size 12 units would be more appropriate so after the board
denied the baron's request we asked for a conspire consideration based on 12 units and we did get
support from the coordinating RSO, the Point Breeze Community Development Coalition for that
motion for reconsideration. We did meet with the Point Breeze CDC and we had discussions with many
of the nearby neighbors who were very supportive of the project, whether it's 18 or 12, they want
some type of use that's residential because this is the end of a residential area, even though it's
ICMX um and they came to the meeting uh we for whatever reason there were like 20 and 30 people
in attendance but they only had a few votes a minuscule amount of votes compared to the people
in attendance and we found out that people were not like at least based on the vote count there
was lack of support which was surprising so we we told many of those individuals on south 25th
street the situation very upset my understanding is that some of them are in the virtual audience
because it's really important to them to make sure uh that their voice is at least heard and
for the board to then hear that so when we'll go through the uh presentation we'll first look at
the notice of refusal again if this board's so inclined we would ask that there would be a proviso
maximum 12 units you'll see the course most recent correspondence from the point for east
community development coalition and you'll see the vote counts uh and it doesn't match up the
the amount of people that were in attendance
and the amounts of votes actually taken.
Then you'll see the letter of support
from the Point Breeze CDC
that was dated November 4th of 2021,
when this was 18 units.
So if people were in support of 18 units,
then how are they not in support of 12?
And then the letter of support
or more of an email from Kinana Johnson's office
in response to the original 18 unit proposal.
Then the motion for reconsideration,
which really outlines well like what we're talking about as the two issues from the planning
commission. First was their density and then the second was that this was an ICMX property and they
were hoping to preserve that industrial use but as you can see that's on if we're on the other side
of 25th street you can see there's really not as much residential and that's where the industrial
25th street you can see there's really not as much residential and that's where the industrial
belongs but on our side there's a much residential and it's a two -story block behind us
uh on south taylor street and we want to give an example of like if we built something with
maximum usage how out of character and how outsource it would look in the community
uh so um but we'll go further in the presentation with that but in addition to our motion for
reconsideration. We have nearby multifamily developments. You'll see 1501 South 25th Street.
This board approved 18 units on a lot from a per unit perspective, similar to what we're asking
for 12 units. Lots of sizes of nearby residential properties, maps of the area, photographs of the
property. What we're proposing, and then what's the alternative as of rights, which shows how
outsource it would be. Our RCO meeting notice, our deeds of property showing at H &M Developments,
LLCs, the owner of the property, our application for appeal that they filed or we filed on their
behalf, our certificate of tax clearance, and again, Ghaziada, Sevens, and the virtual audience
who can answer some questions. He's also a licensed realtor as well. Notice of refusal. So yes, this
is an ICMX property. And under the code, technically, you have the extreme amount of
block coverage you can have plus you can build up to 60 feet which would be out of sorts as you'll
see from this you know south taylor street um but originally we're proposing six single families
six duplexes utilizing a common driveway and we had four refusals first we use because it's icmx
and we're trying to do multi -family 18 units is not allowed well 12 units is not allowed either
We're trying to work with the community and the planning commission because they thought the density was too much.
If you look based on South Taylor Street, what we're asking for per unit square foot wise matches South Taylor Street.
And we're actually better.
At 1501 South 25th Street, the other multifamily planning community project this board approved matches as well.
you know there's some de minimis uh like dimensional variances that really don't affect
anyone's light and air or anything in that respect the first one is the minimum side yard
should be eight feet while we're at six and nine and three quarters and we'll show you
where we're just setting back the buildings on 25th street a little bit uh and you know we're
repurposing a common driveway in that respect so that's where that refusal is and we'll go through
the site plan to show you that. And then the minimum rear depth is nine feet, which is required.
And we're proposing like a little over six feet. Again, it's more to have like a walkway for some
of those units, those single family homes. And again, just to give more lighting there to the
neighboring properties on 25th Street. And then finally, we're required to have a common driveway
of 24 feet wide where 18 feet is proposed,
which, again, our firm handles a lot of these matters.
This is not something that's out of sorts
and is, you know, commonly approved by this board,
but, you know, we'll show you that as well.
And then here's the notice or the letter we received
from the Point Breeze Community Development Corporation.
Just want to note, you know, our firm works with them a lot.
They always provide a fair forum. And they did so here as well. It was a lively meeting, but we had probably 20 to 30 people in attendance. Don't remember the exact number. I think next time I'll take a screenshot so I can confirm how many.
but they said that seven people voted no
and two people of those two
or two are from the RCO, right?
So that means only five people
from the community actually voted.
And they said two from the RCO was included in SF.
And then they said four people voted yes,
zero from the RCO.
But again, there were so many people in the meeting.
We're going to have almost as many people
who at least said they're going to try to get out of work
to virtually attend this meeting
who are in support of this project who are nearby.
And then here's a letter of support
from Point Breeze Community Development Corporation
dated November 4th of 2021.
And the support from the community was unanimous.
And even here, the RCO,
two members of their own RCO with 18 units supported it.
So I guess for this meeting,
they only had two members of the RCO.
i mean the last meeting but the original meeting they it was split two to two so again the
divergence like we're actually proposing less density we're proposing a parking spot
per unit because there will be one front -facing garage for each of these units.
because there'll be one front facing garage
for each of these units.
So it doesn't make sense to us.
I don't know if there was an issue with the vote counts.
They do it digitally.
So I don't know if there's a system
with their computer system.
But then you'll see from France Pierre's email
dated January 18, 2022,
stating that they joined his office,
the council member's office, Johnson,
joined in supporting this project
for this proposed development of 18 units.
And then we did a motion for reconsideration,
and it was pretty lengthy.
What I wanted to point out, though,
is that the board granted a variance
at 1501 South 25th Street.
That lot was almost 15 ,000 square feet.
Ours is a little over 10 ,000 square feet.
The board granted 18 units on 1501.
So the same ratio,
the board were asking the board to grant 12 units.
because we're two -thirds the size, and that's, you know, those numbers match. But not only that,
if you look at what's behind us on the, you know, 1700 block of South Taylor Street, so on average,
1701 South 25th Street, on average, based on the lot size, we're at 839 square feet per single
family dwelling. 1501 is South 25th Street, lot size is 810 square feet per unit. Then you look
at 1700, 1702, 1704, 1706, 1708, 1710, and 1712, South Hill Street, which is directly behind us.
All those properties have a lot size well short of our 1810, or 810, excuse me, I keep saying,
excuse me, E39. They're at 670, 694, 687, 681, 686, 674. So what we're offering from a lot size
perspective makes sense given the surrounding circumstances. And then again, it's not uncommon
uh to have uh well the second argument to have like these properties as industrial zoning uh
next to residential abiding a residential component in the neighborhoods um and for
the zoning to actually change 1501 uh south 25th street is an example and we put that in our
materials as well and then here's the refusal for this property against icmx
you know we talked and went through the refusal but this was in our motion for reconsideration
and then nearby multi -family structures you can see that this project for 1501 south 25th street
was there's a zoning permit in 2019 and then the calendar number is 36580 and this board granted
18 units for 15 ,000 square foot lot. We're asking for 12 single -family homes on a lot that's over
10 ,000 square feet. And then I did, again, even looked at the lot sizes. In my motion -free
consideration, I only gave a couple examples, but I looked at all the properties on the block,
on the 1700 block, the block that's behind us. That's really a two -story structure block.
So having an ICMS property that can be 60 feet high would be devastating. It would basically form like a dark cloud over their property if we built it to maximum capacity. But if you look, on average, the lots on the 1700 block of South Taylor Street are 682 .39 square feet, while the average lot size for ours is 849 .83 square feet, which is much larger than the surrounding circumstances.
And then the maps of the area, again, we're at the beginning of industrial. There's an overpass for 25th Street, but you'll see from this, and again, this is ICMX, but again, it's not uncommon to have a residential on South 25th Street, 1501 South 25th Street is just one example.
My understanding is that Kumas Homes has a rather large development further down as well.
So having, you know, this type of residential use is not out of character.
And having the, you know, because of the overpass, it honestly makes more sense to have the ICMX
and industrial on the other side.
And you can see here, well, not here, but here is when you see more of the industrial
on the other side of South 25th Street, which is more appropriate, but when this ICMX borders
a residential neighborhood, having that type of extreme use and the height and the dimensional
allowances would be rather devastating to the community. And then photographs of the
would be rather devastating to the community and then photographs of the property again we're
repurposing a curb cut so it's not like we're taking away public parking we're actually helping
the parking situation and then here's uh south 26th street from morris street so we purposefully
directed six single family homes to face motor street to merely extend the residential portal
that's on morris street and then here's morris street to the right of the rock and then morris
retail after the property you can see here is where the new passes and then our plans and
drawings again these are all single -family homes uh they all have one parking spot you know for
a garage and let me just get this down there a little bit these are the refusals
so this refusal for uh for the side yards we're proposing six feet nine and three quarters inches
where eight feet is required so here we're proposing right here all we're doing is setting
the building back a little bit setting it back completely eight feet would be out of character
we do want to make sure that the building you know uh facades kind of match up on the south
25th street corner we thought that this would be a great opportunity for landscaping um and
but we want wide enough buildings and building structures to kind of be functional floor plans
so if we were required to have the need feeds here it would it would shrink the building structures
to the point that they would lack some functionality the other refusal is the 18 feet curve cut
excuse me not the 18 feet driveway that's here again we want functional floor plans with these
12 units we wanted to um you know not have to have the requirement of having an additional
six feet of width there we'd rather give it to the actual units themselves and then you can see from
here too. You can see here and it's a little small, but we purposefully directed six of those
units front facing from our streets, but they're not taking any curb, any public parking off the
street. Instead, we repurpose this curb cut to have all the parking in the rear for each of the
And then the same thing for these units, these single family structures here, we wanted to utilize the one curb cut that's already there for each of these units to have their own parking.
uh this is uh this back portion is where we're getting the refusal for uh the rear yard depth
is that where the code requires nine feet uh that is six a little over six feet again we're trying
to make these functional floor plans the more that the code you know asks us to squeeze the
property in a certain way, the less functional our property or units are going to be.
And then here are our floor plans. Again, these are all single family structures,
but you can, oops, minimize this. First floor, you will see each have a garage where I said
it's front facing it's in the rear but you also see that we had a responsible plan to store trash
each of the units will have a single family homes will have a little trash room in here
they will have and again no basement living here but the ground floor is going to have
like almost like an in -law suite type of thing with their own bedroom and bathroom you go up a
flight of steps. You have an open floor plan of a kitchen and a living room and a powder room.
You go up another flight of steps. There are two bedrooms. There's a bath. There's a laundry
facility. And then you go up the final flight of steps, and there is a master suite with a roof
deck. And again, what we're trying to do is have a brick facade incorporating other materials as
well. That's just more of the floor plans. And then if this was built as of right, this is the
alternative. You know, you can see that the building structure would be rather large and out
of sorts for this portion of the neighborhood, this residential portion of the neighborhood.
and you can see like this is how big it would actually be um and you know we try to superimpose
it's not obviously that big but like you know this is a two -story structure if you can allow
but like you know this is a two -story structure if you can allow the amount of lock coverage here
the amount
it just would be simply out of sorts you know instead of you know 60 you have 60 foot structure
on the block that's behind us that's probably 25 feet at best so you're probably going up three
four stories on top of the two stories that's there so and then we had a meeting and it was
well attended. Oops. It was well attended. We had it on July 25th. 134 addresses were notified.
Those are the most of the addresses. Proof of mail with those addresses.
Deed to a property showing that HMN developments LLC is the owner of the property.
our application for appeal along with our notice reviews on project information form
and our certificate of tax limits. So with that being said, I would ask that Mr. Atta7
virtually raise his hand.
Let me see his hand.
He's allowed to speak.
Okay, thank you.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Hi, my name is Ghazi Joe Arasevan.
My address is 2424 East York, Suite 100C, Philadelphia, 19125.
Could you spell your name for the court reporter, please?
G -A -Z -I, the last name is A -T -A -S -E -V -E -N.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do, sir.
Receive counsel.
Yeah, Mr. Adesabin, you heard everything I had to say today.
Is it true and correct?
Yes, absolutely.
And do you adopt it as your own testimony?
All right.
I just have a few questions.
you did personally make significant outreach
to the surrounding neighbors?
And you spoke to them before and after
the community meeting, right?
And what was the general feel you got
from those surrounding property owners?
Yeah, just I visited the families
right behind the 25th Street,
which is I think South Taylor.
so I spoke several
neighbor over there
of course they will rather
to see as long as
we're not stealing any parking
from their street
they will be more supportive than the
industrial
did you also talk
to some of the property owners
or occupants on South 25th Street
okay and what was the general feeling you got
the general feeling is they want to
this project Eyes on the Streets
because certain part of
South 25th Street
there is not
actual development
and when you pass
the I think 16 block of 25th
Street so it's
kind of they want
to kind of this project
will be Eyes on the Street
so I think some of them is over there
I think they joined it already
they made testimony
in terms of how they feel
But we reached out to the several people on 15 block of 25th Street.
They were all supportive.
All right.
Thank you, Mr. Aras.
And then, Mr. Chair, I do believe that some of those members are in the virtual audience.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair.
This is Jason Hand.
I'm stepping in very briefly.
I have a hand raised from a number and again, three, seven, eight, zero.
That's fine, Jason.
I've allowed him to speak.
Yes, please.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Yes, Gail Mack.
G -A -I -L -M -A -P -P.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
okay i'm calling in reference to 1701 south 25th street 25th yes and i would like to i would like
to keep 25th street a commercial light industry building and i would like to say no to residential
no more residential and i would like to oppose the luxury town homes
and I would like to oppose the luxury townhomes.
Thank you for the call.
Oh, you're quite welcome.
Thank you, ma 'am.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, sir.
I have another hand raised.
From Sarah Bruce.
I've allowed her to speak at this time, sir.
Could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter?
My name is Tara, T -A -R -A, Bruce, B -R -U -C -E, and I am a resident.
Wait a minute.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do swear.
And do you live in the area, ma 'am?
Proceed.
Yes, I am a resident of the Point Breeze community, and I actually am off of 25th and kind of tasker.
And so this particular, this building being residential along this corridor is not welcome for the totality of what's being developed in the Point Breeze area.
I can understand on some levels where some of the residents would want it to be developed, not recognizing how it affects the entire community.
Some of the suggestions that were made during the July meeting for other possibilities by Mr. Nakaminson himself was that it could have been storage if they do not make it residential, which possibly would be welcome considering all the developing that's going on with multi -units and everybody doesn't have basements and things like that.
Something like that might be inviting. I don't think that parking would necessarily be affected, whether it was commercial or residential. So introducing that aspect is not something that I would be for. And then the houses that are being built are not going to be low income for a low income community.
And one more property that's for someone who doesn't necessarily already reside in this area is not fair to the community as a whole, I don't think.
And I think welcoming into this, you know, whether you're saying the height variances, whatever it is, doesn't necessarily apply because height is going to be height no matter what, whether it's three stories to a two story block or seven stories.
The height is not going to make a difference. And so that is where I stand in regard to that
particular property. We did have a lot of people that did attend that meeting. I was one of them.
I'm not sure of the votes, but I also am not sure the people that attended, if they necessarily
were residents or not. I can't speak to that, but Mr. Nakaminson is correct. There were quite a few
people on the call, so I couldn't. Thank you. Thank you for your call and your input. Thank
anyone else in the virtual audience um yes mr chair i have um a jonathan dempsey with their
hand raised i have allowed them to speak okay please could you state your name and spell it
please good afternoon mr chair my name is jonathan dempsey j -o -n -a -t -h -a -n last name d -e -m -p -s -e -y
I'm a resident of the Point Breeze community.
I do believe that what -
Wait one minute, please.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed.
So I do believe Mr. Ades -Evon makes a great point
in that more eyes on the street
and that the safety of 25th Street
is very important to myself and other community members.
In this area, there really isn't a whole lot
developed on that street, particularly this block.
and it does not feel safe. Having a five -story commercial industrial building doesn't seem
appropriate and if there's residential going in that has appropriate parking, I see that as a
great value for this community and welcoming in more community members to build up the safety
of our community. All right, thank you very much for your call and calling in. Anyone else in the
universal audience. Chair, I see no other hands at this time. Thank you. Planning Commission.
Well, hold on, Mr. Chair. There are a number of hands raised that I can see for this. Okay, I'm
just. Yes, am I the only one seeing them? I see about five other hands raised. We have Mr. Bill.
So, Mr. Bill, you can wait for the chair, and I'll meet you.
Hi. Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Yes, sir. Billy Graywall, B -I -L -L -Y -G -R -E -W -A -L.
You swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed.
So, I live in the community, and this project will be a whole lot of added value to the community
be a whole lot of like added value to the community instead of putting industrial building
instead of
there because I think it better suits and better fits that community and like the rest of the
members feel who live in the community adding these homes with parking and a lot of families
moving in will add more safety we need because right now the crime is unrampant out there
so this project makes a lot of sense in that neighborhood in that block it'll be a value add
that's my opinion thank you thank you for calling in is there anyone else in the virtual audience
here we have ella may hi hi could you state your name and spell for the court reporter please
Yes. Ella May Bruce, E -L -L -A -M -A -E -B -R -U -C -E.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Do you live in the neighborhood?
Yes, I do.
Proceed.
I've attended all the meetings concerning this property, and I think it's disingenuous for Mr. Nakaminson to try to rehash
and speculate the outcomes and the voting that was done during those meetings. If the property
was opposed, he mixed so many things in, and it's, to me, in an effort to confuse the issues.
For me, there is light industrial on that block, and it needs to remain so.
What about the businesses that are already there? Have they reached out to them? I don't
I don't think so. So to introduce residential where there's already light industrial will, to me, will push out the businesses that currently are there. And not to mention the major factor is the condition of 25th Street.
And I've said this before, I'll say it again. There should be no construction, any development done on that corridor until that bridge where CMX trains ride back and forth. Nothing should be done to that street or built until that viaduct and that bridge is secured and safe.
it doesn't matter if we put hello wait miss bruce wait one minute you testified the last time right
i did and let's just so you know all that testimony is is part of the case the first
thing i did was i took all the testimony from the last time because i remember this testimony before
so everything you're saying is part of the record but to be considered in this additional
trial yes well that's not a trial we're not calling this a trial yes hearing said we have
because what's being said now is not addressing that and um so i just want to make sure that that
continue to be heard by the board okay yeah and thank you very much for calling in yeah do we
have anyone else how about if i wait okay i'll talk done is there anyone else in the virtual
audience yes chair we have betty bufort hi could you state your name please and spell for the court
reporter. Hi, my name is Betty Buford, Betty, B -E -T -T -Y, Buford, B -E -A -U -F -O -R -T. Right. Do you
swear, affirm, to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Affirm. And you live in the
neighborhood? Yes, I do. Proceed. Yes. First of all, I want to talk about the attendance of that
meeting that night. One of the board members stated the fact that there was over 30 people
there but she made a point to let them know if they're realtors they could not vote so that's
the that's the issue right there she let people know there was people in the audience that could
could if they were there they couldn't vote so that's okay so anyway i'm calling on the concern
we want this uh 2017 i'm getting confused 1701 south 25th street to stay commercial we need
commercial we have enough houses on point breeze because there's other things to do in point we
decide to build houses because there are other people that live in Point Brees we wanted to
remain commercial like commercial like commercial not residential okay I I hear you and and thanks
for calling in we appreciate your comments is there anyone else in the virtual audience
sorry chair we have Melanie last name begin with a g okay
hello this is melanie graywell m -e -l -a -n -i -e g -r -e -w -a -l right do you swear for him to
tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes proceed okay i am a resident in the
Okay, I am a resident in the community and I am in support of additional residential space on that block as opposed to industrial. I would feel better from a safety perspective, having more people around right now.
community and I am in support of
it's, you know, it's somewhat desolate, particularly off hours. There is a lot of
crime in the area, and I think that creating more space where there will not be inhabitants
is going to, you know, welcome a more dangerous element as opposed to a safer community -like
environment. All right, well, thank you very much for calling in. We appreciate your input. Is there
anyone else? Chair, we have a call -in user. Call -in user, can you please unmute yourself
and wait for the chair? Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Hello? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Can you hear me? It appears as though things are messing up on the
screen. Okay, we have it now.
Kai, could you state your name, please,
and spell for the court reporter?
Hello, can you hear me?
I can. Could you state your name,
please, and spell? Oh, hi.
Tiffany Green, Concerned Citizens
of Point Breed. Okay. Hi,
everyone. Wait one minute.
Yes. Do you swear
for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but
the truth? Yes, I do.
Proceed. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, Tiffany.
can you spell your name for us please c -i -f -f -a -n -y g -r -e -e -n thank you so much
proceed tiffany okay i'm requesting the board a little time because i do want to lay out the
community's case here uh because i i do feel like ella um that mr knockoff is not well well tiffany
do me for tiffany do me a favor could you please give us some things that's that's different i
I mean, we've heard from a lot of people, and I don't think we need the whole case laid out.
Try to give us something that hasn't been said.
I am, but I think that the community deserves an opportunity to lay out their case, the same as Mr. Anakos, and he was given almost eight to ten minutes.
And I think we deserve the same type of, you know, understanding and patience.
Well, what I'm saying is I want you to try to concentrate on things that we have.
question um my point of it is is that he was he was granted a reconsideration and uh it's always
been taught to us or stated to us that a reconsideration is based on an error of some kind
either on from an rco standpoint or maybe zba to just lower the the houses from 18 to 12
is still a residential a residential uh project and in order to get a variance okay the applicant
And we feel have not met his burden to obtain a variance because of the following.
One is that this is not an unnecessary hardship, okay, where the unnecessary hardship has to be,
where the necessity is substantial and compelling, okay, not for mere financial gain
or the fact that they want to put something different in an already strict zoning code.
so we feel that this is self -created and self -imposed the property owner knew when he
went to see the property that it was a block of almost over eight to ten businesses i went around
to each one and spoke with them they didn't even know really about the project at the time
i'm gonna object i have your objection i understand i tend to differ with mr knockerson
OK, and so we submitted in two page petition to the ZBA, two pages of nearby neighbors on the 1700 block of Taylor and 1600 block, as well as Ringo Street.
All right. I'm going to answer that as well, because I never I can't answer that because I never received a copy.
I understand. I understand. Right. Thank you.
The thing about it is, and I never received a summary letter, so I didn't see it.
The thing about it is that the businesses, I think, one or two sent in, I think,
Tile Mar and Urban Collision, which takes up almost six, seven properties on the same side as the project.
And they both said they were going to testify.
I think they may be on the phone.
And the block captain for South Taylor Street is on the phone.
She says he's on there waiting.
So, my point is that, so it's quite a few businesses on here, industrial.
So it's quite a few businesses on here, industrial.
The other blocks is down on the 1500 block.
And although they were granted, none of those blocks had seven industrial businesses comprised of almost seven, five or six automotive shops.
One is a tile shop, construction, JP construction.
And this block is very full of small businesses who depend on this for their livelihood.
and they have employees who depend on them
for their livelihood and they had a real
concern about residential because
they do not feel that what their business
does is pertaining to
the residential area
the 2035 plan calls
for this area to remain
residential
the bridge right at
25th and Mars is extremely
crumbling
Tiffany wait a minute didn't you testify to that
the last time
Wait a minute, I'm going to make a...
I'm not cutting you off, I'm trying to get to the point where...
Wait a minute, Mr. Nockerson testified exactly what he said in January.
No, I don't, I don't, wait a minute, I don't think that's true.
All I'm saying is, everything you said about the bridge, we have all your testimony, and we specifically start off by saying we have the testimony, and it's all part of the record.
So please...
I will tell you, let me finish up my point.
Because I'm trying to make my argument, sir, because if the fact, if this goes further, we have the right to lay our argument out in the testimony that may be used on the next level.
And so I think we should be given that opportunity to lay out our testimony because that is what would be judged on it.
What I'm saying, proceed.
Lay your argument out.
Okay, thank you.
So I'm saying that the property has no, in terms of, he did not prove that the property's unique physical characteristics limits his development.
in accordance with the zoning code.
Also, he has over 20 different options besides a storage unit.
He can put a dry cleaner there, a shoe repair.
He can put personal grooming.
He can do equipment supplies, building supplies, wholesale distribution.
He can do industrial supplies, urban architecture.
So it's not necessarily that it's a 10 -foot property at this particular point.
I also want to say that the councilman's office has been already stated
that the council's office will be taking CSLs to court for the Crumbling Bridge to be fixed.
So that is also in this process, which means that that area right there is extremely,
25th and March is extremely weak right there.
I know. We understand that, Tiffany.
Planning Commission?
Oh, Mr. Chair, can I just speak?
Before the planning, go ahead.
Yeah, so the first thing is, I think that's the issue with the vote count.
Someone mentioned in the version to testify that the Cornell RCO refused to allow realtors to vote.
Just because you're a realtor doesn't mean you're not, you can't, you shouldn't be able to vote if you're a resident of that neighborhood.
I don't know if they intentionally did that, but that raises questions as to the voting procedure.
if realtors can't vote my understanding is that there were few members even in the virtual audience
who attended who are realtors who but live in the neighborhoods one of which i know lives on the
1500 block of of south uh excuse me 1700 or 1500 block fish area of south 25th street like a block
and a half away they're they're being affected by this project and they should be able to not
only testify but vote if they attend a community meeting um as far as miss green um i i would ask
the board striker testimony she provided documentation directly to the board and you
know i'm required as an officer of the court and as a representative the applicant to provide all
my documents five days in advance you know it is what it is i understand i understand so i think
it's it's unfair and unjust for her to be able to send documentation directly to this board
to try to sway this board unfairly so i think her testimony should be stricken
and there there should be procedures in place when people intentionally uh do not follow rules
of the zba which are pretty straightforward it's not gonna work yeah i understand yeah and then
i think we will wait we will wait at testimony the way it should be weighed yeah and then as
far as, you know, Ms. Green stating, well, Mr. Chair, Mr. Chair, I believe Mrs. Green gave some
additional information that was needed for us as the board, the board commissioners to be able to
take this information and we'll, we will make the right decision. I got it. I got it. I got it.
today go on proceed mr knock if the money finish up yeah and and as far as the effect uh that this
project would have on you know south teller street i think it would have more of an impact to have
the icmx use um to continue on or to be reinvigorated onto our property rather than
residential um and as far as the safety of that bridge or that overpass um whether it's and i
don't you know we obviously want to build in a safe part of town um but you know they're they're
trying to push the fact that there are small businesses there if the situation is as bad as
it says well there's you know having small businesses and pushing small you know customers
there it's a lot worse than having you know again this residential use that we're asking for either
way it's if it's really bad and safe then we have a serious situation as a city that needs to be
directly taken care of but that argument did not make sense but i do appreciate your time and i
all right okay thank you very much uh planning commission
good afternoon chair peter bernard for the planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change in the industrial commercial mixed use zoning for
this property which has been intentionally applied here as a buffer between the industrial and
residential uses along an active elevated freight line this is one of several contiguous blocks of
25th street that have been maintained in their character as light industrial corridor we have
heard the applicant claiming that the intent of the proposal is to extend the neighborhood's
residential character we argue this is not the applicant's nor the board's role in making
determinations about extending neighborhood character the correct venue for this is through
zoning legislation. The proposed variance will adversely and substantially affect the implementation
of the comprehensive plan. As for the degree of variance being requested, this is a 10 ,000 square
foot lot. If the lot was zoned RSA 5, the most common residential zoning in this area, then the
applicant would only be allowed 10 units by right. In summary, we believe this application constitutes
a de facto rezoning of industrial land to residential and far in excess of the minimum
unnecessary variance to overcome limitations associated with physical conditions of the
property. While we have no objection to the dimensional variances, we recommend the board
deny the requested use variances. Thank you, Peter. Mr. Nachamson, and for anyone else who's
Give us another week. We'll look at this next week, but we need to take this back and sit and
talk about it after a lengthy meeting like this. Thank you very much for your time, and thank you
to everyone else who took the time to call in. We're going to move on to the next case. Thank you.
Number 15, MI -2022 -003 -458 -4002 -22 Ridge Avenue.
Carrie Nass Pouse is the attorney.
Letter of support from Ridge Allegheny Hunting Park Civic Association.
RCO meeting was held.
Chair, Ms. Paust is coming back in as a panelist now.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Chair.
Can you hear me?
Could you please state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Good afternoon.
My name is Carrie Nace Paust.
I'm an attorney with the law firm of Fox Rothschild.
Address is 2800 Kelly Road, Suite 200, Warrington, PA, 18914.
Right.
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you identify your client and relationship to this property?
Yes, my client is the owner of the property.
Could you identify the client?
Yes, I'm sorry.
I have it right here.
That's okay.
Oh, I'm sorry. Wait one second. The name. We don't have special entity names, so I have a lot of tries for that. Let me get the name pulled up here. It's 4002 -22 Ridge Ave Roman numeral 2 LLC, Pennsylvania Limited Liability Company.
All right. Thank you. Our vice chair has a few questions.
oh you're on mute
girl i hate it when i do that do you agree to wait the reading of the refusal and stipulate
to its accuracy yes i do have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax
compliance a copy of the refusal or referral photos under plans of the property five days in
advance of this meeting and have you met with the RCO and do you have a letter? Yes, with one small
caveat. With respect to the RCO, we did reach out to them. They did have a meeting which they held
without our attendance. However, they did issue a letter of support which was submitted with my
exhibit packet. Okay, great. You may proceed and begin by sharing your screen.
can you see my screen yes yes we're fine let's see here here it is okay all right so um i've uh
as i indicated i submitted my exhibit packet uh which includes a notice of refusal of our
application of appeal to this board completed project information deed confirming ownership
tax clearance certificate, as well as the notice to the RCO surrounding neighbors,
our letter of support from the RCO, as well as photographs of the zoning notice that was
posted on the property. This property is located at 4002 Ridge Avenue. It is bordered by the
train tracks on the south and is also located adjacent to laura hill cemetery
and across from the dobson hill apartments just bring up an aerial for you
just to give you okay here so here's the property just uh outlining it here
it runs down. This is Ridge Avenue. This over here is the Dobson Hill Apartment Building.
Property runs to the south, cuts across to the east, back down, and then is in this somewhat
triangular shape along the corner. Here's the rail line that is bordered to the south of it.
As you can see, this property was previously improved with an existing building. This
existing building has since been demolished. It was previously used as a warehouse. We did submit
We did submit photographs of the property itself. However, I will put those up as well. I apologize. Here they are. Just due to the unique configuration of the property, it is somewhat hard to get photographs of the site itself.
photographs of the property itself.
but this gives you a general sense of the street network around it.
This photograph shows the property to the left.
This property was actually previously approved back in February of 2020
to be used as a self -storage facility.
We did receive a zoning permit, which was issued in February of 2020.
um what is shown in front of you here is a copy of the site plan that was approved as you can see
the self -storage facility actually encompassed the entire property except for a small strip of
land that ran to the back along the railroad tracks and what was proposed as you can see in
the uh renderings here is they actually had along the entire first floor the ground floor
level was actually going to be parking spaces. So we were required to have 45 parking spaces,
which we did provide all 45. The gross floor area of the entire building was 90 ,000 square feet. We
had five bloating spaces and 10 bicycle spaces. So subsequent to obtaining the approvals,
an issue came to light which resulted in revising the floor plan. There were two things. One is
there's an undocumented PWD eight foot in diameter sewer line located on the property
which required a change in the foundation plan, which ran along the railroad tracks back in this
area. But then also looking at this particular use, it was really identified that 45 spaces
was excessive for this type of use, given the daily traffic that you see for a self -storage
facility. So self -storage facilities such as this typically see approximately eight to 10 visitors
per day and really has a limited amount of traffic that comes in. What the owner is proposing to do
at this time, I'm going to zoom in here for you. We are maintaining the exact same footprint of
the building that was previously proposed on the site so it would still encompass the entire
property except for a small strip of land back in here. I'm actually going to show you the next
slide. It's a little bit easier to see in a colored rendering here. So here you'll see
the yellow is actually a new concrete sidewalk that's being installed, a small strip of green
space in the back, and then the colored area is the building footprint. What they're proposing
is the area here that is speckled which was previously approved as the 45 parking spaces
is now being converted in this area to the right it's going to be a fitness center and to the left
this area here will be additional storage spaces we will maintain parking along the front in this
area there's also an office area and then here what we're having what we're proposing is
seven parking spaces where 45 would be required. We are also proposing four loading spaces at this
time, and we've also increased the number of bicycle parking spaces. 10 is required. We're
actually increasing that to 20. Just a little bit of a background here. The fitness center,
the operator of that actually was previously a tenant of this building prior to it being
demolished. He was relocated to another location within the community and has expressed an interest
in moving back to this location. So it is a fitness center that has continued to operate in
this community and serves the community. We've increased the number of bicycle parkings or
bicycle racks to accommodate users of that fitness center.
So we are requesting a variance. Because of the conversion of this area, the gross floor area has
increased to approximately 96 ,667 square feet. Due to that increase, 49 parking spaces are required.
Due to that increase, 49 parking spaces are required.
However, we do receive a credit for the number of bike spaces being provided, which brings
it down to a requirement of 45.
As indicated, we are proposing seven based on this type of use and our experience with
this type of use in similar areas.
We're also asking for a variance to allow one compact parking space.
The zoning code requires that a certain number of parking spaces be provided before you can propose compact parking spaces.
The previously approved site plan actually had nine compact spaces that were proposed, so we are still proposing to keep one.
And then we're also asking for a variance to reduce the number of loading spaces from five down to four.
So in our experience, based on this type of use, and I'm actually going to show you a floor plan
here. Here's the floor plan of what it would look like here. Here's the parking spaces
that we're proposing. This would be the storage. As I indicated, this would be the fitness center.
Again, previously, this entire area was proposed as parking. And having excessive parking in this
type of building. Again, it's covered. This type of use does not require this number of parking.
It creates a very large underutilized area that could create potential for trespassers
or other nuisances having this area remain vacant. By revising the footprint, we're now
still allowing to have sufficient number of parking spaces to accommodate this type of use,
as well as allow for a reasonable use of the property.
We don't believe that this would have an adverse impact on the surrounding area.
In fact, we think that this conversion will benefit the community by bringing the gym back in here,
allowing for additional storage space while still meeting the demands of this use.
You just want to bring it down just so you can see.
Here's the revised elevations.
So, again, this is, here's the entrance into the garage, the front door area, and then over here would be the gym.
And then we also have the, let's see if I can make this larger for you.
And then this is also a rendering of what the building would look like.
so again we do believe that hardship exists due to the characteristics of the property
and the location of the undocumented sewer line which did require a revision to the foundation
plan as well as the excessive requirement in parking for this type of use which generates a
very low traffic volume each day so we are requesting the variants that are before you
this afternoon. I do have two witnesses here. Matt Witters, who is the engineer on the project
that I'd like to call, as well as John Manley, who is a representative of the owner.
Okay, start with the engineer first.
Matt, can you raise your hand so you can be admitted?
Mr. Witters, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
hi could you state your name and spell for the court reporter
sure my name is matt whiters it is m -a -t -t -h -e -w -w -i -t -t -e -r -s all right do you swear
affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do proceed
uh mr whiters you were here uh during the statements that i just presented
that's correct and were you personally involved in the preparation of the zoning plans that were
shown to the board today i was yes and had you uh testified today yourself would you agree to accept
my statements as your own testimony yes i would i have no further questions for mr widders thank you
And were you here this afternoon during the statements I just presented?
I was.
And have you been involved in this project since it was previously approved in 2020 and now with the proposed revisions to the plan?
That's correct.
And had you testified today, would you adopt the statements I made as your own testimony?
I would.
I have no further questions for Mr.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, I see no hands at this time.
Planning Commission.
Good afternoon, Chair.
Peter Bernard for the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning to CMX 2 .5 commercial mixed use
and has not yet been remapped.
We feel the applicant has failed to demonstrate a hardship as any hardships were removed
when the previous building was demolished.
Accordingly, the Planning Commission recommends the Board to manage the variance.
MI 2022 -003 -458 -4002 -22 Ridge Avenue.
At 4002 -22 Ridge Avenue, I vote yes.
Carol Tenere, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
thank you counsel thank you very much
so so why don't we take a five minute break give our court reporter a little break we'll come back
in five o 'clock and then we'll go through the 3 30 list okay thank you everyone mr chair can we
just make sure that there's no one here we didn't miss anybody on the two o 'clock list anyone is
Is there anyone left from the 2 p .m. schedule?
That case has not been heard.
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Thank you, everybody.
See you shortly.
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Okay, Chair, we're ready when you are.
Thank you.
I'm going to mute here.
everyone good
no i i don't know
miss sunket this is john kelly uh you your voice is very faint for some reason it is
um that's better he sounds better better okay lakeisha
Okay, LaKeisha? Oh, okay. Bill? I'm ready. Okay. Sounds good, Pauline. You can record. Thank you all.
oh okay
Okay, you're ready to go, Chair. Okay, thank you.
Good afternoon. My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this afternoon's ZBA hearings.
With me is Carol Tenere, our vice chair.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Ismail Shahid, our board secretary.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Thomas Holliman, our board member.
He should be on shortly.
And James Snell, our board member.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Excuse me, Mr. Chairman.
I'm present.
Sure, that's fine.
I have you, Thomas.
Thank you.
Also, our Executive Director, Tanya Sunkit, and our Board Attorney, Hilary Emerson, is here.
Here's our virtual format.
Be advised that proceedings are being recorded by participating in a knowledge agreement to be recorded.
A video will be available by contacting tanyasunkit at phil .gov.
For the benefit of our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you are participating by phone, if you wish to testify, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
To enter an appearance statement, call 267 -270 -5548.
Leave your email and the address of the property in question.
And finally, the question and answer box on the screen is not for comments or testimony.
All comments should be directed to our Executive Director, Tanya Sunken.
Let's look at continuances that we have on this afternoon's list.
Number three, MI 2022 -002 -344 -400 East Allegheny Avenue.
That case is continued.
Number four, MI 2022 -003 -880 -5015 Cedar Avenue, that case is continued.
Number five, MI 2021 -003 -878 -6019 -35 North 5th Street, that case is continued.
And number nine, MI -2022 -002851 -2328 West Natrona Street, that case is continued.
Does anyone have any comments about those four cases that I've just listed for continuance?
here we have someone with the telephone number ending in looks like nine two three five okay
caller with the telephone number ending in nine two three five please unmute yourself and wait
for the chair hi could you state your name and spell for the court reporter
hi i was uh my name is stewart levin i was coming on for the meeting mi2022
wait one minute do you swear firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes i do what property um it is for uh james street um
he has the exact address on here number seven 73 24 yes you want to continue that case
um yeah we were sent a letter that today would be a meeting day yeah we're having a meeting
i'm saying it's not you this is for contiguities that case at this point is listed to go on
okay okay so we'll call that case and we'll let you know is there anyone okay thank you how's a
continuance chair i see no hands at this time so i wanted to list a few cases that we we don't have
exhibits. Case number two, MI -2022 -002 -641 -12094 Dupieux Avenue.
Mohamed Mottakoffloff is the owner. We do not have exhibits for this case as the first listing.
We do not have exhibits for this case as the first listing.
Sir, are you in the audience?
Sir, are you in the audience?
Yes, I'm here, Mr. Chairman.
Could you spell your name for the court reporter, please?
Yes, Mahmoud Mamakulov, M -A -H -M -U -D is the first name, last name M -A -M -A -T -K -U -L -O -V.
Right. Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
here we do not have the exhibits for your case so what we're going to have to do is you're going
to have to the best thing to do is to call the zoning board office have uh talk to people there
about how you can put your case together and things of that nature okay this is your first
listing but we're going to have to have your exhibits so the next time we'll try the case
is that all right okay so call the zoning board and just proceed from there i think if you go if
you call the zoning board you'll you'll see that they will have people help you and tell you how
to get your case prepared okay awesome well done all right thank you thank you so that case is
continued and then case number eight mi 2022 002 761 408 to 10 west chew avenue um
no exhibits first listing
Johnny
Jiang Noon
are you in the audience sir
I see no hands at this time chair
that's the first listing that case
will be continued
are there any withdrawals
i see no hands jim we're going to go to our regular list case number one mi 2022
000 305 26 25 to 33 jefferson street david ornides is the attorney um
i do hillary i do believe we now have a letter right yes yes mr chair we have a letter of support
from the Coordinating RCO, the Brewery Town Sharswood Community Civic Association,
and we've been advised by the council president's office that they are not taking the position.
Thank you. Mr. Orphanides.
Mr. Orphanides is coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
Thank you.
good afternoon mr chairman hi mr orphanages i believe i swore you in earlier this morning
yes sir you did could you uh could you identify your client relationship to this property
certainly uh my client is on the park llc they are the owner of the subject property okay um
our vice chair carl tenere has a few questions certainly i'm mr orphanages do you agree to
I waived the reading. I don't stipulate to its accuracy, but the issues haven't been addressed
by the examiner, so we'll go with what we have. Okay. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with
proof of ownership tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, photos under plans of the
property five days in advance of this hearing and have you met with the urco and do you have a
letter yes yes and yes okay great great great can you proceed now and share your screen i would be
happy to thanks thank you can everybody see my screen okay okay um so again my name is david
orphanetes i'm attorney with orphanetes and toner here in philadelphia and again i'm representing
on the Park LLC, the owner of the subject property, 2625 -33 West Jefferson Street.
As indicated at the very beginning, we did just receive a letter of support
from the coordinating RCO, the Brewery Town Sharswood Community Civic Association,
and here you see that letter dated September 18, 2022. That was following a number of meetings
with the community group, extensive interaction with the leadership of the community group for
a community benefit agreement, which is a binding document to be recorded in the recorder's office
here in Philadelphia that provides for the payment of legal fees.
um that provides for uh the payment of legal fees uh by the losing party to the winning party
uh in the event that there is any type of litigation and calls for the provision of
affordable uh using housing units uh meeting the moderate income 60 percent ami that sets forth in
the zoning code this community benefit agreement as you can see i've highlighted here shows for the
recording also shows the binding effect of the document upon the heirs assigned and successors
and transferees of either party includes remedies and here again the provision for the payment of
legal fees in the event of litigation the uh the subject property is a uh oops is a vacant lot
you can see it right here it's located on the northwest corner of north bailey street and
Jefferson Street, located right across the street from a very large park. I've taken here, you can
see an aerial image where I've clouded the extensive amount or number of vacant lots in
the vicinity of the subject property. I'm just going to change the view here real quickly.
You can see our property down here at the bottom.
there we go so you can see our property right here um you'll see in the photographs we have a
vacant abandoned structure located uh next to us to the west on jefferson street and you have a
vacant lot um here's the park that's located across the street but you can see um caddy
cornered across 12th uh north 27th street we have a large vacant lot and then other many other
vacant lots, some large, some intermediate, many corner lots, as you can see, strewn about within
a block, half a block radius of the subject property. Here's a little bit closer up image,
and you can see all the green and the areas. So we feel that this property in this case is a case
that fits squarely within the Herzberg, the realm of Herzberg, which stands for holds for the
proposition that in blighted areas, that the warrants relaxation of the requirements of the
zoning code in situations such as that. And again, here's some additional images.
The property is a split zone property. One time it was two separate parcels,
Bailey Street Parcel, and then the Jefferson Street Parcel. They were consolidated.
The RSA 5 portion is a conforming parcel. It's 18 feet wide by 87 .5 feet long. It's about 1 ,500
square feet. The RM1 portion is a little over, it's just under 7 ,400 square feet.
But because the RSA, it was consolidated, my clients purchased it as a consolidated lot.
But because the RSA 5 portion is more than 10 % of the overall lot area, it's a little bit more than 10%, I think it's about 17 .5 % of the overall lot area, the whole property gets treated as RSA 5, as kind of wild as that may seem, but that's the provision of the zoning code.
That provision for split zone lots has recently changed within the last couple of years, but as such, it leads to one of our refusals because now from a zoning review perspective, this whole lot, despite being almost completely RM1, is viewed as an RSA 5 lot, and you'll see that as one of the refusals in our notice of refusal.
But you can see from both the aerial and from the zoning map that it's clearly the largest, you have RM1 properties up and down Jefferson Street, except for the park across the street.
And then you also have IRMX properties located to the north and northeast of us.
Then to the north of us, obviously, RSA 5, where our northernmost portion of our property consolidated lot is also RSA 5.
But you can see RM1 up and down Jefferson Street, and again, clearly an extremely large lot by comparison.
It takes up almost half of the block between North Bailey Street and North 27th Street.
Historically, the property was used for non -residential use.
You can see here in 1976. In the zoning archives, it shows that it had storage and warehousing back in 87 and 88 to 92 to 94 to 96 to 98.
And then you can see in about 2002, sometime between, I'm not sure what year that was, but somewhere around between 2000 and 2002, the buildings were demolished, including the parcel, the Bailey Street parcel.
This is only the Jefferson Street parcel that's outlined.
Here's our Bailey Street portion.
here's our bailey street portion that's now part of ours that's our safe five portion
That's now part of ours.
That's the RSA 5 portion.
but so for about 20 years this has been a vacant lot and again um placing this this
property in this case squarely within uh a hertzberg consideration
uh the the proposal is and we have revised drawings or revised drawings added street
trees it was one of the things that i pointed out to the examiner uh when i reviewed the refusal
that initially the original zoning drawings did not show street trees you can see here
and this is a tab 3c of our exhibit book but at tab 3a we've provided them even though it wasn't
cited in the refusal it is required by the zoning codes we do do show and provide them
but it's the proposal is for a building that's 41 feet 10 inches tall it's just a little bit
taller than what's permitted under the zoning code for RM1 and RSA 5. It provides for 27
residential dwelling units. The total number of bedrooms are only 43 bedrooms, which is far below
what it could be at that number of dwelling units or the number of dwelling units that would
otherwise be permitted, whether it's by right or with bonuses. There is no parking required in
RM1 or RSA 5, as the board well knows, but we're providing three or six off -street parking spaces
along with bicycle parking. One of the parking spaces will be an ADA space. There are presently
two curb cuts, even though it's a vacant lot at the subject property. One is located on Bailey
Street, kind of in the middle, and the other one is located on Jefferson Street, closer to the
corner. Obviously, the Jefferson Street curb cut will be filled in. The sidewalks will all be
repaired. You'll see from the photos that the sidewalks aren't presently in great shape,
and essentially moving the existing curb cut that must have serviced the warehouse building at one
time up to the north is not going to further decrease any on -street parking on Bailey Street
will technically be increasing on -street parking on Jefferson Street. It's interesting to look at
our site plan. The RSA 5 portion, which was the Bailey Street lot before it was consolidated,
we are utilizing that portion even though we're deemed to be considered all RSA 5 because that
portion of the property consolidated lot is more than 10%. That's our open area and that is the
driveway access to get to the off -street parking. All of the building, the multifamily building,
the multifamily use is located on the RM1 portion. So no multifamily use is actually located
upon the RSA5 portion. I think that's an important fact to take into consideration here.
Our elevations, again, the refusal notes that our height is 42 feet, but both the original zoning
drawings and our, and I could zoom in, our original zoning drawings and our revised
zoning drawings show our height at 4110. There is a roof deck that's proposed for access
by the residents of the property. Again, as indicated in our agreement with the community
group. We're providing an affordable unit at the 60 % AMI, the moderate income, which if we were to
utilize the mixed income housing bonus would result, we could have a building that's 45 feet
tall. So we're clearly with the seven feet that would be permitted additionally with the use of
that mixed income housing bonus. So we're well below that. We need a little more height in order
to get the off -street parking, and I know the planning commission may say the off -street
parking is not required, but again, it's barely more than what the maximum height that's permitted.
We've expressed during our community group meetings that we would reduce the parapet
around the exterior of the building. It didn't seem to be something that made it into their
letter or something that was very much concern to the community, but if we were to reduce the
parapet to let's say 12 inches rather than the 36 inches or 42 inches we're presently proposing
we would end up with a building that's basically the same height around the perimeter of the
Max height. That's 48 inches above the midpoint between the high point and the low point of the roof, which generally puts the top of the pilot house around 51 .6. Our pilot house at 10 feet would only be at 50, 51 .10.
Here's again, I showed this at the beginning, the rendering. This is the view from the corner of Jefferson and Bailey Street. I think we could agree that that's an improvement over this.
and again photographs that we have of the surrounding area let me just switch my view
here quickly here's the abandoned building that's abutting us to the west
a few further to the west uh buildings there's a number of buildings with boarded up windows i
don't know if they're occupied or not another vacant lot to the west here's the vacant lot on
the southwest corner of 27th and Jefferson that I alluded to with the aerials the park I mean it's
great having the park right across the street from a multi -family dwelling again zoned RM1 across from
the park you want to have a population that can utilize and access the park so I think having
these units and the number of units it's perfectly situated with the park across the street there's a
charter school, the Camelot Academy, down at the other end of the block at 26 in Jefferson.
You can see again, I've highlighted the vacant properties. You have along Jefferson Street
to the east of us in Phil's. Newer construction, this building actually at the corner is taller
than us. It's 53 feet in height. Here's a view down Bailey Street. You have a mix of two -story
residences and then commercial light industrial it's a it's a really interesting mix some of them
in different states of repair or disrepair again vacant lots heading out down to oxford street
buildings in different states of disrepair large huge parcels of pieces of parcels of vacant lots
and then again non -residential kind of mixed use not mixed use non -residential types of properties
to the north of us. Our floor plans, again, we do have a cellar. We've pulled our building. Again,
it's away from the buildings that are to the north of us. We have the drive aisle to the north.
So I know this is on everybody's mind of late with some recent, unfortunately, some recent
collapses with excavation and underpinning. Our building will be away from the existing buildings
to the north of us and again there's the vacant building two -story building directly to the west
of us which you can see here. The layout that we've already shown again only 43 bedrooms which
is far fewer we're not cramming in three bedrooms per dwelling unit that we're looking and again it
would be less bedrooms than you would have as a matter of right here the whole property was zoned
RM1. Tax compliance is at tab 13. Copy of our hearing notice for today's hearing, which was
posted on both frontages of the property at Jefferson Street and Bailey Street in accordance
with the requirements of the zoning code. And then we had, again, we sent out three different
14303 notices. One went out before we had the meeting scheduled. We knew of a meeting or had
schedule with the community group, but we need to send it out within 20 days of the identification
of Brewery Town Sharswood as a coordinating RCO per the zoning code. Then we had a meeting in
April and the hearing and the notice went out for that. And then the last meeting was in June 23rd,
which resulted in the support letter that you have just recently submitted to you again
on September 18. Again, we have the drawings that we've submitted to you are two pages
or actually three pages, I'm sorry. And these have actually already been stamped off by the
streets department. And with that, I would ask both Logan Dry, who's the architect,
to be promoted to a panelist, as well as Josh Matthew, who's here representing on the Park
LLC to be sworn in and to adopt my statements. Okay.
Mr. Dry, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Hi, sir. Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Sure. Logan Dry, L -O -G -A -N -D -R -Y.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
well. Logan, good afternoon. Did you hear my statements I made to the board? Yes. And a true
and correct to the best of your knowledge? Yes. And would you adopt them as your own? Yes. Thank
And would you adopt them as your own?
Thank you very much.
you very much. And you have one other person you want.
And you have one other person you want to bring on?
Yes, Josh Matthews.
He's the representative of the On the Park, LLC.
Mr. Matthews?
Mr. Matthews, can you please raise your hand?
Mr. Matthews, please unmute yourself or wait for the chair.
Hi, Mr. Matthews, state your name and spell for the court reporter.
it's joshua j -o -s -h -u -a matthew m -a -t -h -e -w right do you swear for him to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth yes proceed counsel josh um you heard the statements that i
made to the board today yes and are they true and correct for the best of your knowledge yes
would you adopt them as your own yes okay thank you and then i've reserved the ability to call
them as witnesses. Questions from the board? No, Mr. Chairman. No. Questions or comments from the
virtual audience? Chair, we have Doris Aldridge. Ms. Aldridge, please unmute yourself and wait
for the chair. Hi, could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter? My name is Doris
Aldridge, D -O -R -I -S -A -L -D -R -I -D -G -E. Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Thank you. Proceed, please. I'm here representing the
Brewery Town -Charleswood Community Civic Center and to affirm our support of this project.
The developers have worked long and hard with our community and demonstrated their commitment to us by agreeing to the CBA, the Community Benefits Agreement that was mentioned earlier.
So I just wanted to reaffirm that we are in support of this project.
Thank you, ma 'am, for calling in, and thank you for your input.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see no additional hands at this time.
planning commission good afternoon chair peter bernard for the planning commission
proceed peter the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rm1 and rsa5 at this location
this area was re -zoned in 2014 in accordance with recommendations from the comprehensive plan and
with the support of the community we feel the applicant does have a hardship due to the split
zoning however based on the lot size under rm1 zoning the applicant would be permitted
a building to have 16 units by right. The proposed 27 units is overuse and not the minimum necessary
variance needed to grant relief. We feel the dimensional variances result from a self -created
hardship due to overdevelopment of the property and that any other hardships were eliminated when
the previous buildings were demolished. Additionally, we note that the affordable housing units
promised in a benefits agreement cannot be enforced by any city agency accordingly the
planning commission recommends that the zoning board deny the requested variances thank you
um chairman bergman i mean like i can just quickly respond so um again i appreciate the
planning commission and peter recognizing the hardship of the split zoning um i i think again
And while 16 units would be permitted on the RM1 portion, the RSA5 portion, you're looking at something, you know, a couple more units.
in three units or three bedrooms per unit. If you did have 16 units, they would be with no parking
at three bedrooms each of unrelated people, you're looking at 48 bedrooms. If you go to
any of the bonuses, you could end up with 28 units with no parking, three bedrooms each.
You're now looking at 84 bedrooms. So we feel that it is de minimis in what we're looking at
because of the number of bedrooms that we're looking to provide. We feel that that makes
affordable units can come from anywhere in the city or anywhere in the world.
RCBA has the community group having the first crack at offering somebody from the community
that meets the thresholds and meets the criteria to be rented to have people actually in the
community where this building is going to be constructed to actually benefit from the
affordable housing unit. And that's something that my client has taken on to try to ensure
and part of his other actions and endeavors to benefit the community where he's developing.
Thank you, counsel. And thank you, Peter, for your input. MI 2022 -000 -305 -2625 -33 Jefferson
street i vote yes revised plans one page stamped on zba three three september three okay yes sir
wood proviso three pages stamped by zba on september 21st 2022
carol tenere my vote is yes proviso
thank you thank you thank you thank you council maybe excuse yes please thank you
number five mi 2021 003 878 60 19 to 35 north 5th street sean ward is the attorney
drew aldinger will be filling in for um hillary emerson for this mr chair this is the one that
be continued. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. It's okay. Okay, good. Number six, MI 2021 -004 -634 -247 -48
North 12th Street. Meredith Belanger is the attorney. Letter of non -opposition from the
coordinating RCO, Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation. RCO notes the applicant
reserve four spaces in a nearby lot to address the parking issue. Counsel?
Chair, Ms. Ferliger is coming back in as a panelist now. Okay.
Good afternoon. Hi, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Sure, Meredith Ferliger, F -E -R -L -E -G -E -R. Right, do you swear for him to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do. Could you identify your client in
relationship to the property? I certainly can. My client is Jason Choi, and he is the owner of the
property. Okay. Our vice chair has a few questions. Hi, Meredith. Do you agree to
the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? I do. Have you emailed the exhibit
packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal, or referral, photos, and or plans of the
property five days in advance of this hearing? And have you met with the RCO? And do you have a
letter? Yes, to all of the above. Okay, great. You may proceed with your screen. Thank you very
much. Again, Meredith Furliver with Delworth Paxson, 1500 Market Street, Suite 3500E.
As noted, my client is the property owner, Jason Choi. Before I get started, I will ask the board
to forgive me for the lack of my normal exhibits, as I was just retained at about 430 yesterday
to handle this case. Fortunately, it is quite simple, so I will keep it brief. The applicant
did secure a letter of non -opposition from the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation,
and that was submitted to the board. The property before the board today is 247 through 49 North
12th Street. As you can see on the aerial view that I have up on the screen, this property is
located just south of the intersection of North 12th Street and Vine Street in the city's Chinatown
neighborhood. The property itself is zone CMX4. For additional context, this block is just north
of the convention center. Now this existing two -story structure that you see here has historically been
used as a funeral parlor with accessory offices on the second floor since Mr. Choi purchased the
property in the late 90s. Of some relevance to today's variance request, you will notice that
the existing building covers 100 % of the lot and extends all the way through to North Sartain
Street. Now the proposal before the board today, as the plans come up here, is to erect a three -story
is to erect a three -story addition on top of the existing building. The second through fifth
edition on top of the existing building.
floors will contain three dwelling units per floor for a total of 12 new units. The zoning
plans are up on the screen for reference. The floor plans reflect that the basement and the
first floor will continue to be used for the funeral parlor, which will continue in operation.
The 12 units on the second through fifth floors are a mix of one and two bedroom large units.
A trash room is provided on the second floor of the property, and trash will be collected by a private waste management provider.
Now, regarding the refusal, this property only received one refusal.
This proposal received only one refusal for failure to provide the required for accessory on -site spaces.
We submit that this refusal, technically speaking, should not have been issued in the first place.
As the board may know, for properties in the CMX 3, 4, and 5 zoning districts, property owners have the option of meeting accessory parking requirements by providing the spaces off -site.
This is codified at Section 148029 of the Code.
One of the requirements is that those spaces must be within a thousand feet. Now, in this case, the owner does have an arrangement with a Parkway lot at 1127 Ray Street, which just for context so you can see is this large lot here just at the other end of the block and is roughly 275 feet away.
the owner does in fact have an arrangement with parkway to lease four spaces in that lot
which does serve to meet the code minimum parking requirement so as the board can see
the owner is actually complying with the accessory parking requirements of the code
now aside from their compliance with the code requirement the owner would also submit to a
hardship in providing any spaces on site, given the existing building has been in place for
decades, and it would be a very significant hardship to demolish a portion of the building
and the existing funeral operations to provide any parking specifically on this site.
All of the other structural and use aspects of this proposal are fully compliant with the zoning
code. If the board needs further information, I would be very happy to run through a full
variance argument in accordance with 14303 .8. But given that the applicant here is actually
complying with the code, I will conclude by bringing up Mr. Choi to adopt my testimony.
So at this time, if the administrator would look for Jason Choi.
Mr. Choi, if you're in the virtual audience, can you raise your hand, please?
Mr. Choy, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Good afternoon, Mr. Choy.
Could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Jason Choy.
J -A -Y -S -O -N -C -H -O -I.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Counsel.
Thank you.
So, Mr. Choi, have you heard all of the testimony and information that I presented to the board today?
And would you agree that that testimony was true and accurate and would you adopt it as if you had given it yourself?
Yes. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm happy to answer any questions.
We do also have the architect if you have any questions from him.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Choi.
No, Mr. Choi.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, I see no hands at this time.
By Planning Commission.
Good afternoon, Chair.
Peter Bernard for the Planning Commission.
Comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing CMX4 commercial mixed -use zoning at this location.
We feel the applicant has demonstrated sufficient hardship.
Accordingly, the Planning Commission recommends the Board grant clearances.
Thank you, Peter.
MI 2021 -004 -634 -247 -49 North 12th Street.
I vote yes.
Carol Tenere, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Vishal Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you very much.
Our number seven, MI 2022 -002 -638 -7324 James Street.
Henry Clinton is the attorney.
Henry Clinton is the attorney.
Letter of non -opposition from the coordinating RCO
Holmesburg Civic Association.
Mr. Clinton is coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
We have three, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Mr. Clinton, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Henry Clinton, C -L -I -N -T -O -N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, please, and the relationship to the property?
My client is Lee Beckles, B -E -C -K -L -E -S.
He is a tenant in the property, and the landlord is James Hammond, H -A -M -O -N.
Thank you.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Hi, Mr. Clinton. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with required documents consisting of proof of ownership, tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, photos under plans of the property, five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
Yes, to all of the above, except on the sending the package to Ms. Emerson, it was four days because you were waiting for the lease from the landlord, in all candor to the court.
Okay, you may proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
can you see that all right it's on its way it's starting to come out
we see we see your uh front screen
that good we're good we're good we're fine all right good afternoon mr chairman members of the
board henry clinton on behalf of the applicant lee beckler as i mentioned at the outset
This is a special exception case for personal use of repair and maintenance of vehicles.
I present to you my evidence binder consisting of table contents AA through A11, appearance
statement, the refusal.
The refusal, we are in an I -2 industrial zone, as indicated on the zoning district above,
And the reason for the refusal is a personal vehicle repair and maintenance requires a special exception from the ZBA.
And as you know, members of the board, a special exception is a lesser standard than a variance.
A variance is basically a deviation from the zoning code, whereas a special exception is allowed when certain criteria are met or not impeded.
And I'll go through those.
this is a letter of non -opposition from holmesburg civic association we also have letters of support
from other auto users on this particular block as you can see from these handwritten notes
this gentleman lives at 7362 james street and he rents a storage area there
and he is in support of the project as is the owner of 7324 in addition to the non -opposition
from the community group.
So this is an aerial view.
This is looking west.
State Road is down here in the foreground.
James Street is right here where my cursor is,
and this is the subject property.
And this is the lease between my client and Mr. Hammond.
It's a handwritten lease, but it is a commercial lease for my client to use the property.
But I think what's most significant are the zoning records, which I was able to call from the public records.
It's 73 -24.
There's a used auto parts storage.
73 -32, existing storage of used and dismantled autos.
7336 there are some uh offices with material storage 7350 commercial personal vehicle repair
and maintenance that's exactly what we're asking for personal vehicle repair and maintenance
there's already one on the block and there's also a welding shop on the block mr chairman the
following documents are supportive of that summary i won't go through each particular item what i
think is more important is that i stress that in this special exception case uh the use does not
increase the congestion congestion on the street the use is consistent with other uses on the block
there's no detrimental effect to health safety or welfare of the neighborhood or the street
there's no endangerment of public health or safety there's no burden to the water the sewer
or public facilities in the area there's no impairment of light and air to any surrounding
property this building is 100 % lack coverage it's one story and it's not overcrowding the
land because it is an existing building with as I said 100 % lack coverage so with that I conclude
my presentation and again just mentioning to the board that this is a special exception case
not a request for a variance.
My client, Lee Beckles.
Do you want to have your testimony adopted?
Mr. Beckles, can you unmute yourself, please?
Raise your hand.
Mr. Beckles, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Hi, sir.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Mr. Beckles, can you raise your hand?
okay mr clinton you're an officer of the court
yes but i just will absolutely take your testimony i appreciate that i did speak to
him earlier he was on the call i don't know that's fine that's fine questions from the board
no mr chairman no mr chairman no mr chairman questions or comments from the virtual audience
chair i see no hands at this time by the planning commission
good afternoon chair peter bernard for the planning commission
sorry close my window
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing i2 industrial zoning at this location
we feel the proposed use would have no adverse impact beyond what can reasonably be expected
at this location accordingly the planning commission recommends the board grant the
special exemption thank you peter mi 2022 002 638 73 24 james green
mr chair i don't think we heard your vote can you just repeat it i'm sorry
MI 2022 -002 -638 -7324 James Street. I vote yes.
Harold Tenere, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Mr. Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, Mr. Clinton.
Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the board.
So I think we, is there anyone on the 330 list whose case has not been pulled?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Thanks, everyone.
Good day.
Good day, Chair.
Thank you.
Have a good night, all.
Good night, all.