Good morning, everyone. Sorry for the delay. We've had a long executive session. We appreciate
your patience. My name is Frank DiCicco. I'm the chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
I'm sorry, Frank. I hate to keep buttoning, but can we wait three minutes? There's not
many people in the room yet. Oh, I'm sorry. When you said go ahead, I thought that already
happened. Okay, I'll wait. No, we go live first, then we allow the door to open for
people to walk in. You got it. Okay, thank you.
Thank you.
okay chair we're ready to start thank you again good morning everyone my name is frank
tichico i'm the chair of the zoning board of adjustment i'll be participating in today's
hearing along with our Vice Chair Ms. Carol Tenere, Board Secretary Confessor Plaza and
Board Members Mr. Thomas Holloman and Mr. James Snell. Board Administrator Ms. Tanya Sunkett and
Board Attorney Ms. Sharon Saleta are also in attendance. For those of you who haven't yet
participated in one of our virtual hearings, I'll go through some of the basics of what you can
expect. First, we will be administering oaths to individual participants prior to their testimony.
Second, we'd like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded and that by participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded.
Third, for anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute yourself.
I repeat, for anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute yourself.
Finally, to enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270 and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue.
I'll repeat, to enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548 and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue.
Before Vice Chair Tenere calls our first case,
I'd like to announce the following cases that are being continued.
1524 North 4th Street, that's case number 001853.
Case number 001685, 1530 North 25th Street.
Case number 001277, 362 East Worcester Street, and case number 001278, 5247 Frankfurt Avenue.
If the applicant and or an attorney do not agree with the continuance of these cases, please raise your hand at this time.
Good morning, Mr. Chair, this is Jason Hand, Clerk 3.
I do not see any hands at this time, sir.
Thank you.
With that, I will ask now if anyone is requesting a continuance or withdrawal of an appeal for
this morning's list, please raise your hand at this time.
okay sir first off i have a miss hillary emerson i will allow her to speak right now
thank you good morning miss emerson please identify yourself with a record and i'll swear
you in good morning mr chair members of the board hillary emerson on behalf of councilwoman
sherelle parker emerson e-m-e-r-s-o-n we're in a firm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth i do um thank you um i'm not sure where this case is on the list um the
address is 1868th avenue um mi-2020-001255 number three yeah number three on our list okay i
Number three.
Yeah, number three on our list.
Thank you.
Yes, we're requesting a continuance.
I spoke with the RCO yesterday, and they have not had any contact with the applicant, and neither has our office.
I don't know if anybody here representing the applicant is present this morning, but no RCO meeting has been held to date.
And this is Sharon Sillette.
Excuse me.
We also have no exhibits for this case.
okay thank you case number zero zero one two five five one eight zero zero 68th avenue is continued
any other requests for continuances or withdrawals please raise your hand
all right so the next person's hand up is Mr. Oleg Sokolov
I will allow him to speak right now.
Good morning, sir.
Please identify yourself with a record, spell your first and last name,
and provide us with your address.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
My name is Oleg Sokolov, O-L-E-G, last name S-O-K-O-L-O-V.
On behalf of calendar number MI2020-001253, that's 5432 Vine Street.
Excuse me one minute.
I just want to swear you in.
Swear in the firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
I do. And you're talking about case number 12 on our list, 5, 4, 3, 2 Vine Street?
Yes, sir. Requesting a continuance? Yes, Mr. Chairman. Unfortunately, we've been unable to
obtain a tax clearance certificate due to some confusion with the IN number, so we're just
working that out. We have had our RCO meeting, and the RCO is supportive of our project.
so uh is there anything we can do on our end sharon yes there is we actually if you will just
go to the revenue department website and you can check the balance the real estate tax balance on
the property and print that out we will accept that okay um if you're able if you're successful
sir in doing that would you still want you still want to continue with um we have no exhibits so
there are no exhibits. I don't know where that was possible. And I do, if I could interject
a thought, Mr. Sokoloff, are you working with revenue? I have communication, but, and so is
the applicant himself, but we just, because this was an EIN number that is associated with that
person. So that's something that's more involved for them to resolve. Say that again, Ms. Saletta?
I'm sorry, Ms. Sunkit. Oh, I was just saying, I'm sorry. If it's an EIN number,
just mentioning to the board, that's something that's more involved. That has to be done
by revenue. So it could be a problem with the EIN numbers, not with the appropriate
applicant. Yeah. All right. We're unsure what it is. So I thought a continuance was best for it.
Okay. But again, if you don't need even the number, you just need the address if you go
the revenue department website if there is a zero tax balance on the property you should be able to
print that out okay great i will um i will definitely have it all in line for the next
hearing thank you all right calendar number zero zero one two five three five four three two vine
Street is continued. Any other requests? Thank you very much. Thank you.
Mr. Chair, I do not see any further hands up at this time, sir. Can we proceed? Thank you. And
hold on one second. Got my paperwork here. All right, and again I would just like to advise
everyone uh do not attempt to uh testify in the chat any comments should be directed to our board
administrator miss tanya sunk it i believe with that we can begin uh just let me uh
what am i looking for here uh i have a couple announcements before we begin
the board was scheduled to vote on 7519 ridge avenue this morning that vote will be delayed
one week and we will and will be announced at the beginning of the december 9th session
also if anyone is here for the follow-up hearing on 3929 ridge avenue that hearing will be held at
the start of today's two o'clock session. And with that, did I leave anything out, Tanya and or
Sharon? No, you can go on to the regular list now. Okay, Ms. Tennery, please call the list.
no you can go on to the regular list yeah okay please call the list okay if anyone here presenting
a case today hasn't met with the rco or has an email their exhibit packet five days prior to
this hearing please raise your hand come forward now and explain to the board thank you
looks like we're good carol okay calendar number 1264 the address is 1401 north 7th street
henry clinton is the attorney
i've made mr clinton a panelist good morning mr clinton
Good morning, Mr. Chairman.
Please identify yourself with a record, and I'll swear you in.
Henry Clinton, 1313 South 33rd Street, Queen Memorial Building, Philadelphia PA, 19146.
Turn to the firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Thank you.
Please proceed.
Mr. Clinton, do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
and have you emailed your 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 i have thank you you may proceed
thank you mr nary uh miss sunkett can i share my screen
you sure can mr clinton thank you very much
mr chairman is that visible and is that large enough yes it's great
good morning mr chairman members of the board i'm here on behalf of
the applicant 1401 3 North 7th Street and with me is a principal of that LLC
Neti Levy, L-E-V-I, who is on the call with us. So this is my exhibit package including my table
of contents with exhibits A-A through A-10. My appearance statement, this is the refusal
which I will address as we work through the presentation but basically this is a corner
property at 7th and Master Street. Historically, it was used commercial on the first and residential
above. That is both addresses. It's 1401 and 1403. And I'll show you the aerial photographs of the
corner. We are going back to what the use used to be. We were asking for commercial on the first
floor, which kind of cuts against the grain of what's going on in the city right now.
and then two residential units above.
We did meet with APM and we have a letter of support,
which is in the packet.
You can see it was a unanimous decision
in favor of the project.
They reiterate what the proposal is,
two dwelling units above in commercial space
on the first floor with some parking in the rear.
APM also went into a detail
analysis of our presentation if the board wishes to read that it's certainly there for their for
their viewing these are photographs of the site again seventh and master it's a double lot on
the corner 1401 and 1403 this is a view looking toward the west i've not been able to determine
how long the lots have been vacant i'm told they've been vacant for at least 10 years and
probably closer to 20. Another view, this is looking east. You can see across the street
is a commercial establishment, and there's two units above. These are the plans for the project.
Again, the first floor would be, this is looking at the front of the building on 7th Street. The
first floor would be commercial, so we have large commercial windows there. The height does not
exceed 38 feet. In fact, our height is 36 feet, so we have no issues with height.
This is the view of the side of the building. Again, the commercial large windows would wrap
around onto Master Street and there'll be one living unit on the second floor front and then
the second living unit on the third floor and part of the second. The parking will be in the
rear of the building. It's tucked a little bit under the building and then also some open space
it's tucked a little bit under the building and then also some open space in the back
in the back where we'll have.
where we'll have three-car parking for the commercial space.
I'll blow this up a little bit.
This is the site plan just to give the board a more
specific feel for the property. Again, it's a double-wide property, a lot of frontage on
master street we have a large area in the back for trash storage it'll be commercial trash pickup
we won't rely on the city of philadelphia for that
these are the floor plans commercial open on the first floor parking in the rear outsides
two spaces tucked under the building one spot in the open air space this is the second floor that's
to be a one-bedroom apartment the one bedroom here with the bath and then for the second apartment
you would walk up the stairs have one bedroom here and then the entire third floor will be
the second part of the of unit number two so unit number one is one bedroom and unit number two is
two bedrooms one two and there will be a rooftop deck set back from the rear of the building as
well as the front of the building. My additional exhibits include, you know, the deed, the typical
exhibit you have in a presentation, the deed, our tax certification, application for appeal,
and what I wanted, and also this is the zoning map. I just wanted to point out to the board
that when my client bought this property, it was actually zoned CMX2. The zoning has changed over
time but you can see the other two corners are cmx1 and our commercial establishments on those
corners this is our notice letter mailing the other thing i thought i would like to point out
through the board is these are the zoning records for 1401 north 7th street so back in the 60s
this was a retail meat grocery store with two family dwelling above
again going further back into the 50s was still was retail meat market and two families above
and this is for 1403 uh was a store and a dwelling above
1403 again a little bit more recent in 1972 it was a family two family dwelling and a barbershop
And then later on, it became a two-family dwelling and a church.
And again, just referencing 1403, at one time, it was also a barbershop and two families above.
So that's just giving you some background as to what this corner was used for.
Historically, it was commercial.
And as I say, despite the situation that we're in, the economy, my client wants to put commercial on the first floor.
he believes will be occupied and right now the plans are for that space to be an architect's
office which we shared with the community group and they were encouraged by that. Mr. Chairman
if there's any questions from the board I'll entertain them now and I would also like to
have my client adopt my testimony who is on the call. Why don't we have your client adopt your
testimony and then we'll move on. Okay. Mr. Levy, Ms. Sunkit, can you unmute Mr. Levy?
Sure. Jason, you have?
Yes, I have now. Mr. Levy, you are now allowed to speak. Please wait to be sworn in, sir.
Good morning, sir. Please identify yourself with the records by your last name and I'll swear you in.
can you hear the chairman mr levi you have to unmute your mic to speak
good morning now yes good my name is netany levy and can you give your address could you spell
your name first, please. Sorry. N-E-T-A-N-E-L. Last name L-E-V-I. You swear and affirm to tell
the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do. Mr. Clinton? Mr. Levy, where do you live
right now? 1319 North 6th Street. So that's in this neighborhood? Correct. And if you heard my
testimony today? I did. If you had the opportunity to testify, would you adopt my testimony as your
Roan and as true and correct. I would. Thank you very much, Mr. Levy. Thank you. Any questions
from the board? No. Anyone else like to testify in this case? If so, please.
Anyone else like to testify in this case, if so, please raise your hand.
There are no hands at this time, Mr. Chair.
Jason, Planning Commission.
Good morning, Brian Wenrick, City Planning.
We're going to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Brian, please spell your last name, I'm sorry.
W-E-N-R-I-C-H.
This property is indicated for residential use on the comprehensive plan
and has a history of corner commercial.
Accordingly, we have no objection to the granting of the variances.
Thank you.