Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
Thank you.
all right is everybody able to see that we can sir thank you um members of the board this is
also a request for a variance to use the one unit within a two unit property as a excuse me
visitor accommodation for the purposes of short-term stay um i will try to go through this
one fast since it is a similar request. This property is zoned RM1. We are requesting that
the upstairs unit be granted this variance for use as visitor accommodation. As in the last one,
we are once again totally understanding and would be accepting of the provisors for both
the amount of time that this variance can be in existence and even under this ownership only.
I'll just take you through some pictures of the properties. A few things that I just want to let you know. This property, the upstairs unit, actually has a separate entrance. Trash at this building is stored in cans in the courtyard and then brought out front, so there's no trash stored at the residence.
You can once again see that this is certainly an upscale unit. I'm sorry, my computer has been a little.
This unit, much like the other one, is also used by Mr. and Mrs. Weiler when they have more family in town than can support.
once again you'll see that this property is certainly not in as much of a commercial area
as 1604 spruce but similarly in an area that has some commercial buildings certainly surrounding it
our project information form
our application
mailers
why don't you bring your client on and have your testimony adopted please
sure any clients already been sworn just have her state her name
miss weiler if you could just come on the line again
hello i just state your name you've already been sworn
uh elizabeth weiler i go by beth weiler proceed counsel thank you miss weiler you you heard my
testimony regarding 1721 lombard street just now yes and you adopt it as your own yes and just
quickly uh would you say that you run this property exactly the same as the one we previously
discussed with as much discretion as uh regarding who you rented to yes okay questions from the board
no mr no chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, we have Mr. Wade Albert with his hand up, Chair.
Counsel, just state your name, please. You've already been sworn.
Thank you. This is Wade Albert again.
Proceed, sir.
Thank you. So, just like the prior case, CCRA took the position of opposition here for the exact same reasons that we believe that, well,
the applicant appears to be a good proprietor, that we're not comfortable with a variance that
run with the land, and again, that we believe that there has been no showing of hardship.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair. Planning Commission. Thank you, sir. David Fecto with the City Planning
Commission. Mr. Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the
multifamily zoning at this location. There is no unique physical characteristic or circumstance of
this property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code. We also
note that a variance adheres to the property and not to the owner of the property. The City Planning
Commission recommends the board deny the proposed use variance. Thank you. MI 2022-005-204-1721
Lombard Street. I vote yes with proviso. Temporary variance expires 3-1-26. Only visitor accommodation
is used is limited to unit number two. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with proviso.
James Snell, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is no.
Thank you.
number 10. Thank you, members of the board. Thank you. Number 10, MI 2022-005-742-127
Queen Street. William Mafuchi is the attorney for the owner. Letter of support from Queen
Village Neighbors Association. Letter of non-opposition for council member Squilla.
Mr. Mofaci has been promoted here.
Thank you.
Counsel, could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
It's Mofaci.
I've been called worse than Mofaci, though, so you can call me Mofaci.
Thank you.
It's M as in Michael, A, F, F as in Frank, Frank, U, C, C, I.
I'm at the law firm of Semenoff Ormsby at Greenberg and Torsha at 2617 Huntington Pike
in Huntington Valley, Pennsylvania.
You swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you identify your client in the relationship to the property?
My client who's here is Kazimir M. Toslosky, is the owner of the property.
He's owned it with his mother, first with his mother, and then in his own name since 1969.
And our vice chair has just a few questions for you, sir.
Good morning, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits into our offices five days in advance to this hearing?
I have.
Thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen.
Okay, the first one. Yes, thank you, Chair. We are here to ask that the board legalize a use
that has been continuous for 53 years on a small vacant lot, the northeast corner of Queen Street
and South Hancock Street. The lot used to have a residence upon it in the late 1960s.
The city directed that the residents be removed.
It was removed.
The prior owner, Mr. Kramer, began using it to park individual lots, his cars on the lots.
My client, Casimir, lives about 150 yards away down South Hancock, up South Hancock Street.
He lived there then.
He lived there now.
It's the home he's been in all his life.
He purchased the lot in 1969.
Casimir was at that time in boot camp with the Marines.
He was serving in the Vietnam War.
So originally the deed took title in his mother's name, and then she conveyed title to him in 1976.
But Casimir has used the property for on-light parking of his cars continuously throughout that time, throughout the rest of the 70s, all of the 80s, all of the 90s, throughout the 2000s, and almost all of 2010s.
Casimir has used the property for online parking of his life.
And the city has known about this use. The city has not objected during the first several decades. To the contrary, the city asked Casimir to maintain the lot, to remove conditions that might attract criminal activity, bushes and whatnot.
He's done that. He's paid taxes, countless thousands of dollars in taxes and maintenance over the years. Late in, I guess, just before the pandemic, Casimir received notice that he had converted the lot into a non-accessory parking, which is not permitted in an RSA-5 district.
um that's the you know we you know we first appeared before the we the ellen i appeal board
and they directed us to come to the zoning board um we believe uh that's for the reasons outlined
by the supreme court uh pennsylvania in marshall uh versus city of philadelphia uh the hardship
exists here because of the circumstances the fact that this was a residential this was a residential
structure. It was removed at the city's request. It's very small. We'll go through the size in a
moment. The parking in this neighborhood is at a premium, and there's never been any opposition
to Casimir's use of the lot to park his two cars. We've asked a local contractor licensed
in Philadelphia, Matt McMahon of Aaron Construction, to prepare an estimate of what it would cost
to construct a residence, to basically reconstruct the residence that the city took down
in the late 1960s. His estimate, which we'll show shortly, is that the base cost would be about
$400,000 to $450,000. There's only about 50 feet of floor space. So literally, you know,
The cost to put a residence on this lot would be about $1,000 a square foot.
And we think that using the phrase or the logic or the law in Marshall v. City of Philadelphia, that would be a prohibitive expense that constitutes hardship.
And for that reason, coupled with the fact that Casimir has complied with all the city's requests, paid taxes on this property for 53 years, we are asking for a variance for the continued use for private parking by Casimir.
Casimir has permitted has recently permitted a neighbor who is actually just two lots away at
120 at 131 Queen Street one of the cars shown is Casimir's one is owned by Casimir and his neighbor
Diane Crowell Diane has multiple severe problems that affect her mobility and
And it would truly be some old school hardship for her not to be able to park on this lot.
So I'd like to share the second step, Brittany.
First, we have the deed by which actually Casimir's mother, well, this is the deed in 1976 by which Casimir's mother conveyed the property to him.
The conveyance to the mother is recited at the end.
Move it on, move it on. This is just my layperson's attempt to graph the space.
Again, there's just two small spaces, one nine foot, each by nine foot by nine inches.
You know, the sidewalk space and then a row of bushes.
Photographs of the posting. We had, we checked the posting every three days. Everything is, everything is there.
A letter from the Queen Village Babers Association, a letter of support, and finally, a letter of non-opposition from Councilman Mark Epsquilla.
Finally, here's the letter from DMAT McMahon, and I believe that he is participating today.
If you have any questions for him, you can certainly ask them of him.
His estimate, again, is that to restore our residence, you know, we're talking a base cost of between $400,000 and $450,000.
Go to the next.
uh then just to flip through the rest of our rest of our packet
Then just to flip through the rest of our packet.
uh first is uh it was the app the application that we made for the
for the zoning permit uh the oni refusal is next again the non-accessory parking is not permitted
in RSA 5. Our appeal packet. The project information form. This was actually the original
tax clearance certificate that we got. It is expired. I will show you we have obtained a new
confirmation that CAS has complied with its tax requirements.
And then finally, there's the proviso plan, which is just a statement that we're not doing
anything to the property.
We're just continuing to use it.
We understand that the city would likely require a curb cut.
We would certainly put in the curb cut approved by the Department of Straits.
Is there anything else on this page?
Okay, then go to the last one. It's just the tax clearance confirmation that we obtained yesterday. We couldn't get the certificates. Both Casimir and I got confirmation, so I just took a screenshot of the approval.
I'd like, may I have Casimir testify himself, adopt my testimony?
Please.
please. Mr. Casimir, if you're in the audience, can you raise your hand? Yes, ma'am.
Hi, could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Yes, sir. Kazimir Toslowski. Kazimir, C-A-S-I-M-I-R, Toslowski, T as in tango, O-C-Z-Y-L-O-W-S-K-I.
You swear or firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Yes, sir.
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you, Chair. Kazimir, you were here when I testified. Do you adopt my testimony?
Can you tell the board a little bit more about why you and your mother purchased this property in 1969?
Yes, the owners of the property lived around the corner from me.
I live on 2nd Street, and the rear of our property exits onto Hancock Street, which is the street in which the bulk of this property exists.
And the owners lived on Catherine Street, and they approached me one day and expressed an interest in selling it to me to be used as a parking facility because it was currently being used as parking.
And I purchased it because my mother, who is, although at the time was an excellent driver, she was a little challenged with the city of Philadelphia parallel parking.
So I purchased it to enable her to have easy access to going forward and reverse to park her car without having the obstacles and the challenges of parallel parking.
And she continued to park there until she determined that she shouldn't be driving anymore.
And in about that time, my friend Diane Cronell became disabled, and she and I subsequently purchased a car and joined owners of a car.
And she is the one who lives at 131 Queen.
And, for example, last week she had three, each week she has various medical appointments.
and so there would be a real hardship for her
if she were denied the ability to park her car there.
And then, Kazmier, in all the years that you, your mother,
Ms. Crowell, have been using the property,
have any neighbors ever expressed any opposition to your use of the property?
No, sir.
Thank you. Those are all the questions.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman.
David Fechter with the City Planning Commission.
Chair Bergman and members of the board,
the comprehensive plan recommends no change
to the residential single-family zoning at this location.
This appears to be a legalization
of a longstanding undocumented condition.
The City Planning Commission recommends
the board grant the variance
for two non-accessory parking spaces.
Thank you.
Thank you. MI 2022-005-742-127 Queen Street. I vote yes. Proviso. Streets Department review of curb cut required prior to issuing of zoning permit.
MI 2022-005-742.
Thomas Holloman. My vote is yes with Proviso.
James Snell. My vote is yes with Proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed. My vote is yes with Proviso.
Thank you, Council.
Thank you, Chair. Thank you, members.
Number 12, MI 2022-002-559-2238 North 4th Street, Zen Jin, letter of opposition from Nara Square Community Alliance.
Mr. Chair, this is Hillary.
We've also received a letter of opposition from Council Member Lozada.
Thank you very much.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter?
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.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client and the relationship to the property?
Yes, my client is 4th Street LLC. Mr. Gitterman is here as representative for the company.
Our vice chair has just a few questions, sir.
Thank you.
Good morning, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Good morning, and I do. Thank you.