Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Mr. Knocklebson, could you stay on for a minute, please?
So number three, MI-2022-005-267, 2314 Delancey Street.
Letter of non-opposition from the Center City Residents Association.
Applicant provided 11 form letters of support from neighbors on the 2300 block of Delancey.
Mr. Nockmson, you've already been sworn. Just state your name for the record, please.
Yes, Alan Nockamson, A-L-A-N, last name Nockamson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N.
Mr. Nockamson, could you identify your client in relationship to the property?
Yes, in the virtual audience should be Patrick and Shanley Campbell, the owners of the property.
Thank you. And our vice chair has a few questions.
Mr. Nockamson, do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
Have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have.
Thank you. Please proceed and share this kind.
Thank you.
So this is a pretty straightforward project.
Actually, this is technically an RM1 property that was originally a four-unit apartment building.
My clients purchased this property a couple years ago as their personal residence, and over the course of the last year and a half, they've renovated the property as a single-family residence, and now they're looking for relief from the zoning board to allow them to use the rear of their property on Panama Street for access for two off-street parking spots.
so during our presentation we're going to review the notice of refusal the letter of non-opposition
from the center of city residents association we do have revised plans and you know we provided
those to miss emerson before the hearing so she has reviewed it and we gave her additional
commentary so she understood exactly the changes we made i also have in a virtual audience
or when dry the architect for the project.
So if the board feels so inclined to ask some technical questions
in terms of the differences between the original drawings
and the current drawings, he can answer those questions.
I have the streets approval showing that the streets approval
has reviewed this requested off-street parking.
I have letters to support from nearby neighbors
on the 2300 block of Valancy.
You'll see from the next exhibit, 2316 and 2318,
Delancey Place. It's not uncommon for properties that on Delancey Place, which those properties go
street to street from Delancey to Panama, and in the rear of Panama, there's no allowable on-street
parking. So it's not uncommon to have rear access for parking for these properties. And then we'll
see that on the next exhibit, 2300 block of Delancey rear accessory off-street parking.
Then we'll review maps of the area, photographs of the property, our plans and drawings, our RFCO meeting notice, our application for appeal, our deed to the property.
Again, Patrick and Shailene Campbell are the owners of this property.
They plan to use it as their personal residence.
And then our certificate of tax clearance showing that we're in good standing with the state of Philadelphia.
So first, our notice of refusal.
Again, the use is allowed as a single family.
we're actually decreasing the density because originally this was a four-unit before we
purchased it. We're just trying to get the off-street parking in the rear. We have two
refusals because of that. First, because we are not accessed through a shared driveway or rear
alley, we have that technical refusal. Although we're not taking any public parking off of the
street because there's no public parking allowed on Panama. And it's not uncommon, as you'll see,
through similarly situated properties and then how we're creating there's a almost like a catwalk
from the parking area to the to the side of our house of how the property is sloped um we are
having uh vertical support posts uh that hug the party wall on the basement level of our property
which makes it more structurally sound also according to my understanding through
when we drive the architect, we're going to have a staircase that goes from that deck to the lower.
We're going to have a staircase that goes from that deck to the lower level.
And in order to accomplish that and have a proper landing for that staircase, exterior staircase, we need a vertical supports to have no distance from the party line as opposed to the requirement of one feet, six inches.
So that's, again, another technical refusal as well.
So our letter of non-opposition, we actually met with the Center of City Residents Association last night, and, you know, they are not in opposition of our plans.
And then, again, if the board feels so inclined to grant our zoning, pending zoning appeal, we would ask they do it by way of proviso, one plan, one page of plans, which are these plans here, which the community group also saw yesterday.
And then here's our streets approval showing that they, that the streets department reviewed our plans and has no issue with them from a streets department perspective.
And then the 2300 block of Delancey, here are letters of support. Again, we have a significant amount of support. We always focus on the people most directly impacted, meaning the people that are to the left and right of us and behind us.
And as you can see, my client received support from all those individuals.
And then there's the backup letters for the petition.
And then what we're proposing is very similar to what's 2316.
So as you can see, just from this, this is from our deck at 2314.
But 2316 and 2318, you can see no one uses their rear yards for living.
they use it for parking and you know they have roll-up gates which is similar to what we're
asking for of particular note is we're mimicking 2316 you can see we have a landing for the
parking space and then there's a like almost like a side deck that leads you can't see it from here
but leads to a doorway along the breezeway side of the building structure and that's what we're
doing exactly. And then there's staircase that leads to a lower level as well, which we're
exactly mimicking. And then not uncommon to have rear accessory off-street parking, as you can see
here. These are, again, 2316 and 18. This is us in the middle of construction, obviously not using
it yet, but hoping to work all granted. And then again, you see from 2308 through 2312 to Lancy
Street, again, off-street parking. Then 2301 and 2303 Delancey Place, again, off-street parking.
2305 Delancey Place, off-street parking. 2317 and 19 Delancey Place, off-street parking.
And then again, just Google map, excuse me, zoning map of the area. We're not trying to
change the use in a way that would create another zoning variance from a living perspective just
to use the off-street parking in the rear.
And then this is where we are, too.
You can see Fittler Square is exactly towards our rear.
We go from Delancey to Panama.
And then photographs of the property.
This is the front of the property.
This is basically the catwalk
and what I was talking about here.
You know, again, this is a temporary measure here.
Obviously, if we get, you know, the ZBA's approval,
we'll have something more permanent in nature.
but you see where these double buckets are this is our which we hope will be our side door towards
our kitchen so here's the landing uh for the uh for the parking pads and here's the catwalk or
the deck um it'll expand out a little bit more than what's here now but this is just a temporary
measure and then here's our zoning notice poster uh facing delancey and then facing panama and
And then here's Delancey Place to the right of the property, Delancey Place to the left of the property, Panama Street to the right of the property.
As you can see, there's a long row of off-street parking, but you also can see that there's no on-street parking here.
People are parking on the sidewalk here.
And then architectural plans and drawings.
Again, two cars, which are within code with this dimensions of the, you know, that's allowed by the zoning codes.
And then here, again, you can just see what's the plus sign.
It's almost like a catwalk type of thing, but it's really a deck.
And you can see the steps that are leading to the lower level.
And then our RCO meeting notice, we met with the community last night, 118 addresses were notified. It was actually a very well attended meeting.
118 addresses were notified. It was actually a very well attended meeting, list of the addresses, proof of mailing to those addresses, our application for appeal that we filed with the ZBA, along with the notice of refusal and the project information form, our deeds of property showing that Patrick and Shanley own the property, and our certificate of tax clearance.
Same thing, there shows a balance, but those monies are not due until later this month.
So with that being said, I'm going to stop sharing my screen.
I would ask that Patrick virtually raise his hand to be sworn in.
Mr. Campbell, could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter?
My name is Patrick Campbell.
It's P-A-T-R-I-C-K.
Campbell is C-A-M-P-B-E-L-L.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Patrick, you heard everything I had to say about your zoning matter.
Is it true and correct?
And do you adopt it as your own testimony?
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chairman.
No, Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair.
Sarah Bond, Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
S-A-R-A-H-B-A-N-H.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing residential multifamily zoning district at this location.
The proposed variance is a similar condition to many neighboring properties and is related to the lot configuration.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the variance.
Thank you. MI 2022-005-267-2314, Delancey Place. I vote yes, proviso. Revised plans, one page, stamped by ZBA on March 1, 2023.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes, with proviso.
James Snell, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
Number four, MI 2022-006-011-4927 North 5th Street.
Rachel Pritzker, Brandon Savron are the attorneys.
Letter of support from the 42nd Ward RCO.
Brandon Savron is coming in as a panelist.
Thank you.
Good afternoon.
Hi, Mr. Saverin. Good afternoon. Could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court
reporter? Yes, my name is Brandon Saverin. It's spelled B-R-A-N-D-O-N, S as in Sam, A, V as in
Victor, R-A-N as in Nancy. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth? Yes, I do. And could you identify your client and relationship to the property?
Yes, the property owner is my client. His name is Ernst Gessner Daphnis, and he'll be on to adopt my testimony.
Thank you. Our vice chair has just a few questions for you, sir.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stay in the equity?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed all the required documents into our offices to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Good afternoon, members of the board.
So I'll be showing you some images on my screen.
These, with the sole exception of some support letters by neighbors,
were all submitted as part of my exhibit packet about two weeks ago.
I'm not going to show you the entire exhibit packet, just certain key selections. So the
property I'm here to discuss is 4927 North 5th Street. This is the notice of refusal that we
received upon making our zoning permit application. You'll see on the bottom here in the text
called Notes to the ZBA that this is a property on North 5th, which I'll show you images of in a
second. That's a main commercial corridor in this area above and below Roosevelt Boulevard.
This property historically was a triplex. It was three apartment units. The permitting had
probably lapsed over time, but my client purchased this property, I believe, about four years ago,
But my client purchased this property, I believe about four years ago, five years ago, has pulled permits to renovate it and in the process obtained a new zoning permit that took it down to two residential dwelling units.
five years ago.
So that two unit use is already approved. That was by right. And what we're here for today is to discuss the ground floor level, because the second floor and the third floor are the two apartments that we already have permitted and have been there forever, basically.
So we're talking about the first floor here. And because we're on a commercial corridor, my client felt that it was not going to be very marketable to try and rent that space out as a renovated apartment.
It's really in an area that's like mostly commercial storefronts. So we want a commercial use.
And the commercial use that he's here to apply for is assembly and entertainment.
That would be the regular version of assembly and entertainment, not the nightclub, private club version.
So we have the code is sort of explicit that that caps you at having events with 50 people.
We also made a commitment not to have larger events than that in our RCO meeting.
In any event.
See, I'm just going to start by showing some images of the property and the block.
So this is the property right here. As I mentioned, my client undertook some legally permitted renovations already.
He's just not permitted to occupy the ground floor until we get this variance.
But it's set with a rebuilt frontage. He has a security grate down since it's not in operation currently and assigned.
So this is the space. These are the apartments above it.
you can see the neighboring properties are typically mixed use with retail or commercial
use on the ground floor and apartments or offices above. We're pretty much trying to be the same
thing in that sense. This is the direct opposite side of 5th Street from our property, pretty much
more of the same. This is looking south along 5th from our front door. This is looking north along
fifth from our front door, just to give you a sense of what the area is like here.
So I just want to speak about hardship for one moment. So our property is zoned RM1. Interestingly,
the entire other side of the street is zoned CMX 2.5. So kind of a weird situation where,
as I showed you, the block is kind of the same on both sides, but the zoning designation is
different. So if we were on the CMX 2.5 side, this assembly and entertainment use would be a use
that's permitted by special exception. Whereas on our side of the street, which is not physically
different in any way, it's a prohibited use and we need a variance. Essentially, I already mentioned
that putting an apartment in that space or the direct front door to the street, it's not going
to be the most comfortable, marketable place for someone to live. And that's why we went this
direction. And I'll also just note, although you'll hear from the Planning Commission directly,
that upon my review of the Upper North District plan that covers this area, there are maps in
that plan. Actually, I think I have an image of them here, right here, that discuss changing