Are you a neighbor?
Please proceed.
As I said, I'm a near neighbor.
I reside at and own the property at 1736 Manton Street, and I wanted to express my support for the variance application.
at 1209 South 18th Street, so that they may continue to utilize the property as a short-term
rental unit for Unit B. I've been here for five years, and echoing what Oren just said,
I have absolutely no complaints. I have, you know, nothing negative to say about
the use of the
unit as a
short-term rental.
Thank you very much for taking the time to call us.
We appreciate it. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Do you not see any further answers, Mr. Chair?
Planning Commission.
Ron Bednar, City Planning.
First name Ron, R-O-N.
Last name Bednar, B-E-D-N-A-O.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth and nothing but the truth? I do. Please proceed. This property is indicated for
residential use on the city plan or adopted district plan recommends no change to existing
zoning at this location. There's no unique physical condition or circumstances of the property that
prevent it from being used in conformity with the zoning code. The city planning commission
recommends that the board deny the proposed use variance for visitor accommodation.
Thank you. So MI 2024, 000-442-1209 South 18th Street. I vote yes for a temporary variance that will expire 5-22-27. Also proviso apartment B only.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with proviso.
Emily Persego, my vote is yes with proviso.
Congratulations, you have your you have your votes. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we're going to go to number number one. MI 2024, 000112707211 Federal Street, Taundang, Taund, Dawn Tang, Grady, and Clemente Amazon are the attorneys.
there's a letter of support from the residents organized for advocacy and direction
good afternoon counsel could you please could you please yeah could you please state your
name. It's spelled for the stenographer. Of course. Clemente Amazon. That's spelled C-L-E-M-E-M-T-A.
Last name is spelled A-M-A-Z-A-N. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
nothing but the truth? I do. Would you identify your client in relationship to this property?
Of course. My client is the owner of the property, 2707 Federal, LLC.
our vice chair has a few questions good afternoon council do you agree to
read the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy
Good afternoon. Yes, I do.
afternoon yes i do have you emailed then all the required documents
Have you emailed then all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen, Councilor.
Thank you. And if I could also have Agatha Reister promoted as a panelist, she's the architect for the property.
Why don't you start, Mokita? Are you going to testify? Question him right from the beginning?
I'll be doing it.
No, I'll be doing the presentation, however, for the sake of efficiency, if the board has questions.
All right, we'll bring him on as soon as we think we need him.
Sounds good to me.
I'm going to full screen mode here.
Again, my name is Clemente Amazon.
I am the attorney for the property owner, and I'll be presenting 2707-11 Federal Street.
During my presentation, I will go through the refusal.
We do have a letter of support for this property.
we did also enter into a community benefits agreement. I'll go through the plans, exterior
photos of the property, surrounding area photos, the notice that we sent out to the community
regarding the meeting, our certificates of mailing, the application for appeal, project
information form, these showing that my client does in fact own the property as well as our
certificate of tax clearance. So the property is zoned I-2. The proposed use that we have here is
for multifamily living with nine residential dwelling units
and four parking spaces.
As you will see in this presentation,
although this area is zoned I-2,
it does not match the character of the neighborhood
as it stands currently.
It is a residential block.
So having an industrial use here,
which would be allowed by Wright,
does not fit the character of the neighborhood,
which is also reflected by the fact
the community has supported this project.
Board has granted similar variances of multifamily use
along this block.
So we did meet with the community on March 6, 2024.
We did receive this letter of support indicating unanimous support for this particular project.
As for the background, we've worked pretty closely with the RCO to create a project that
would fit the character of the neighborhood at this point.
Originally, our proposal was to have two single-family homes, however, the community had concerns
regarding the size for a lot of this nature.
This is three consolidated lots, 2707, 2709, as well as 2711 Federal Street.
And they requested instead that we have multifamily use here.
So we went back to the drawing board, and we did create the current proposal that we have before the board currently.
We met with the community.
They provided us with unanimous support.
And we are also, or excuse me, we have entered into a community benefits agreement where we will be providing two affordable units.
Affordable is going to be dictated by the AMI for this particular region.
And this is just a copy of the community benefits agreement that we executed in April 2024.
And here we have the plans for the property.
This is a five-story structure.
We do also have a roof deck.
The only refusal that we have is for the multifamily use.
There are nine units in total.
The first floor, I believe, has one unit.
That's two bedrooms, two baths.
And the remaining floors each have two units, and it is a mix between three bedrooms, two baths, as well as two bedroom, two baths.
They range in size from 972 square feet up to approximately 1,200 square feet.
So they are well-sized units.
My client's very proud of the product that he put together here in collaboration with the community.
So these are the floor plans indicating that there are about two units per floor.
so we have five stories along with parking that was made available there is an existing structure
that we will be demolishing in order to create the new structure that we have proposed for the
forest here's a view of the front of the property so zooming in here you can see that we have posted
the property and it is these once it's a single structure however it's three lots along here on
federal street and it is full lot covered so the front of the property is along federal street
However, the rear of the property is Long Annan Street, which is a small one-way.
And here we have a view of the rear of the property.
Here we have Federal Street to the left of the property.
You'll notice that there is residential use throughout this side of the block.
And here we have a view to the right of the property along Federal Street.
Again, we have multifamily use that you will see later in my presentation.
And this is just another view along Annan Street.
This is a very tight one-way.
It's in between Grace Ferry Avenue and Federal Street.
Very small, but it is the rear of the property, and I'll just zoom out here.
And here we have 2700 Federal Street, 2702 Federal Street, and 2704 Federal Street.
All of these properties are residential in nature.
2700 Federal Street is a single-family home.
2700 Federal Street is a single-family home, 2702 is a two-plus, and I believe 2704 is also single-family.
2702 is a duplex.
Again, showing that this is an area that is primarily residential in nature.
It doesn't have much in the way of industrial use.
Excuse me.
Get to the next slide here.
As I mentioned, the board has previously granted similar variances that we have proposed.
We have 2731 Federal Street, which was recently granted by the board for six family units.
So this is multifamily use that is very close to the property.
Similarly, 2738 Federal Street, which has also been granted by the board.
There are 24 units that were previously granted.
Here we have the notice that was sent out regarding the community meeting.
A copy of the refusal.
Again, the property is zoned I-2.
However, we are requesting to have multifamily use here in collaboration with requests that
were made by the community.
We are providing two affordable units as well.
A list of the properties that were notified of the community meeting.
Our certificate of mailing showing that we did, in fact, send out notice for the meeting.
Our application for appeal.
The project information form.
And the D showing that my client does own this property, again, is three consolidated lots, 2707, 2709, and 2711 Federal Street, and our Certificate of Tax Clearance.
So with that, I believe Michael Carousel is on to my testimony.
They have been allowed to speak.
Sir, could you please state your name and spell for this phonographer?
Hello, my name is Michael Carosella, C-A-R-O-S-E-L-L-A.
Do you swear or affirm, tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you.
Michael, did you hear my presentation today?
And was it true and correct?
And would you adopt it as your own testimony?
Yes, I would.
Thank you.
and council council your only refusal is multiple family in an i-2 zoning district
yes it is okay thank you questions right questions from the board
no chair no mr chair questions or comments from our attorney hillary members
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
I do not see any hands, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
This is Ron Bednar City Planning.
While this property is currently indicated for a medium industrial use on the city plan,
our adopted comprehensive plan recommend a change to single-family residential at this location.
Multifamily is not allowed in the current nor proposed zoning.
Therefore, we recommend the requested variance not be granted.
Thank you.
M-I-2024-000011-2707-211 Federal Street, I vote yes.
Ms. Mashae, my vote is yes.
Emily Perseco, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
Number three, MI 2024-000077-606-66th Avenue, Vern Anastasio is the attorney.
No RCO letter or summary, but notice was given to nearby neighbors with proof of mailing.
Meeting was held 5-1-2024 in the Oak Lane Community Action Area.
The applicant provided a petition in support by approximately six neighbors, four from the block, two from the adjacent neighborhood.
Counselor, you've already been sworn once in a, just for the record, state your name.
Sure. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Vern Anastasio, on behalf of Kristen Pfeiffer.
And our vice chair has a few questions, sir.
Thank you.
good afternoon council do you agree a way to read another refusal or stipulate to its accuracy
yes sir have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to
proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing yes i have thank you council
please proceed and share your screen thank you i'm just about sharing it now mr chair just
point of the record, the letter, the petitions in support are of seven.
The record, the letter, the petitions in support are of seven immediate neighbors, but it's close to six, so thank you.
Anyway, it's a 108-page exhibit package that I'm submitting today.
It's a pre-existing, non-conforming use of a three-family dwelling.
I want to direct your attention right now to page 96 of my exhibit packet, where, in fact, City of Philadelphia approves the property 1965 for a three-family dwelling.
And that is being submitted into evidence today for the application.
And, of course, all of my pages have now gone blank for some reason.
I'm not sure why.
Let me restart.
Yeah, I'm afraid I might have to.
I'm sorry.
I did reboot just before the hearing.
See if I could just reshare, and that might help.
It doesn't seem to be working right now.
I'm going to close out and come back if that's okay with you, okay?
Sure, why don't you do that?
Thank you.