Process Association, RCO.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
This is a resumptive hearing.
We know where the RCO stands.
Do you have any additional information for us from the last time?
Allegheny West Civic Association is one of multiple RCOs, multiple affected RCOs for this address.
We have four provisos.
They are based on this street.
On the southern side is District 5.
On the northern side is District 8.
With other affected RCUs, we have conducted more meetings, more public meetings on the southern side of the street.
And we were asking for provisors that are consistent with what we did achieve for those properties.
Some of them, I believe, Mr. DeRizio was the applicant attorney for.
If I can just read the five provisors.
We don't have a problem with there not being another meeting unless the neighbors wanted it, because one of the ward leaders, and we're always in touch with several of the committee persons over there, and we have been for like 10 years, so they're familiar with the provisors that we all make together.
So why don't you read your provisos?
The first is a limit of two units, as we asked for, with 1514 and 1518 Wesley High Avenue.
Also, all trash and recycling to be stored indoors with no commercial trash collection, no basement living, and no rooftop deck occupancies, mechanical use only.
Thank you very much for taking the time to call us.
We appreciate it.
You're welcome.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I do not see any further hands in the audience.
Planning Commission, do you have additional comments?
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends a change from CMX2 commercial mixed use to R1 residential multifamily,
The absence of the ground floor commercial and CMX2 properties is characteristic of the surrounding neighborhoods.
Under the RM1 zoning, this parcel size would allow three units by right.
The appellant could use the low-income option of the mixed-income housing bonus to achieve the extra unit, which they elected not to pursue.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the zoning board grant the variance for no ground floor commercial and unit count with proviso three dwelling units.
Thank you.
So number eight, MI 2023, 004-549-1515 West Lehigh Avenue, I vote yes with proviso. Trash stored in yard.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with provisos.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes with provisos.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
All right, so number nine, MI 2023, 005-760, 1333 North 21st Street.
Alok Sokoloff is the attorney.
There is a letter of support from Brewery Town,
charged with Community Civic Association, WIP Provisos.
They'll be coming back in as a panelist, Mr. Chair.
Good morning, Mr. Sockloff.
Mr. Sockloff?
We can't hear you, sir.
We can't hear you, sir.
Mr. Sokoloff?
Maybe having audio difficulty, Mr. Chair.
He's going to call.
Are you able to hear me?
We hear you now, Mr. Sokolov.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
My apologies.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Oleg Sokolov, O-L-E-G-S-O-K-O-L-O-V, Rabinovich Sokolov Law, on behalf of Mr. Alan Perkins
for 1333 North 21st Street.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you, sir.
Good morning.
Good morning, counsel.
do you agree to wave the reading of refusal or stipulate to his good morning mr shaheed yes i knew
thank you 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 i have thank you council please proceed
and share your screen thank you very much
all right is everybody able to see that we can sir okay wonderful um as stated this is an
application for 1333 north 21st street this is a request to use the property for the purposes of
visitor accommodation as you'll see here that's the singular refusal that's issued it's just a
use refusal. Here's the deed to the property. This property was purchased just July of 22.
This is the property in question. It is right near Girard College. It's between North College
and Master Street, so basically a bust Girard College. The feedback has been that, you know,
this area is a difficult area to find rooms in, so when people visit family members in the
Gerrard College area, it's very nice to have places to stay for short terms.
You can see the property is very well apportioned. Let me just switch the view quickly a little bit.
this is actually all furniture that mr perkins had in storage so this is how the property is staged
mr sokoloff how many units in the building just one unit okay thank you
You can see here that it is near some commercial districts, obviously on Ridge Avenue.
And this down here is the college.
Our application for appeal, our project information form, our RCO notice letter.
The meeting was held on March 21st with the full RCO.
Certificates of mailing, zoning posters at the property for today's hearing, and then
And this is just a map showing the lack of proximity, I'll say, of hotels in the area.
Really, there's really just the Divine Lorraine here, the Conwell Inn a little further up on Broad Street,
and then further down south here, there's one more on Spring Garden and 27th Street, I believe, or 29th.
That's the Maj Hotel.
We also included, and these were some things that we included in our RCO meeting,
the proposed rules that we would have for the property. Obviously, a non-smoking property,
no noise and loud music. Maximum stay that we propose to the, or pardon me, maximum number
of occupants and minimum length of stay that we propose to the RCO. And then lastly, this is
something that people in this business have been using. It's a management system for remote
properties. So it monitors noise, smoking detection. It monitors the amount of people
It monitors noise, smoking detection, it monitors the amount of people that come in and out of the door to make sure that we prevent some of the concerns that come up with, you know, Airbnbs and some of the issues that have happened.
We were not, for some reason, able to pull the tax clearance certificate, but as you'll see, there's a zero tax balance on this property and everything is paid for.
And then this was received late, so I apologize if it wasn't part of the exhibit, but this is the RCO letter of support.
You'll see here that they support the project after both the zoning committee and the community meeting.
And here's a further letter.
With the proviso of this being a three-year grant of this variance.
Mr. Sokoloff, do you, Mr. Sokoloff, do you, your client agree to that?
Yes, he did. It was. Thank you. Yes.
Why don't you bring your client on? Yeah. Mr. Perkins, could you raise your hand, please?
I don't see him in the audience and I know he was. All right. Mr. Sokoloff, you're an officer
of the court. We gladly accept your testimony. Questions from the board? No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions from? No, no, Chair. Thank you. Questions from our attorney, Ryan McSherry?
No, Mr. Chairman. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
There are no hands raised, Mr. Chair. Planning Commission.
Hello, Amy Board with the Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan recommends no change to
the residential multifamily zoning at this location. There are no unique physical conditions
or circumstances that would prevent this property from being used in conformance
to the zoning code. The City Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny the proposed
use variance for visitor accommodation. Thank you. MI 2023-005-760-1333 North 21st Street.
I vote yes for a temporary variance that will expire by 627.
7. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes, with proviso. Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Thank you, counsel. Thank you, board members. I'll see you guys this afternoon.
Number 11, MI 2024, 000258, 5434 Pine Street. Tracy Saller is the attorney.
we do not at this point have an rco letter but the notice was sent to nearby neighbors with
proof of the mailing meeting was held may 6th that we were joining as a panel thank you
good morning counsel could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
Yes, good morning.
It's Tracy Soller, T-R-A-C-Y, last name S as in Sam, A-U-L-E-R,
counsel for the applicant in this matter.
Do you swear or affirm, tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client in a relationship to the property?
Yes, my client is the owner of the property.
It is a company, Chloe Univest.
And our vice chair has just a few questions for you.
Good morning, counsel.
Do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
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?
I did, with the exception of the letter from the community, which was emailed over to the board last night upon receipt.
Thank you, counsel. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
Counsel, what was the position of the letter?
Non-opposition.
Thank you.
And I'll go through that letter with you as part of this presentation as well.
Can everyone see my screen?
We can.
All right.
So this is the property here on the corner of 5434 Pine Street.
This is an application for a variance to use this property as a two-family household living in an RSA 5 district.
This is a variance for a legalization of a use that was there prior to when my client purchased the property, and it was set up as a duplex.
I will go through some photographs of the property for you so you can see how it's currently laid out.
If you see here on the front of the property, there are two doors.
The one on the left goes up to the second floor unit.
The one on the right goes straight into the first floor.
The first photos that I'll show you are pictures of how the first floor unit is laid out.
The first photos that I'll show you are pictures of how the first floor unit is laid.
The first floor is vacant.
It has been vacant.
The second floor is currently rented with a rental license.
So the first floor here, living room, dining room, bedrooms, bathroom, dining room, kitchen.
This is a 698 square foot property.
So it's certainly large enough to accommodate a duplex.
Now we're going to go to the second floor property. This is the living room,
two bedrooms in each property, kitchen, bathroom.
We received the notice of refusal, which is here. We sent notices out to the community as required
and met with the community. Cobbs Creek was the community leader at that point for the meeting.
proof of notice
and then I'm going to go back up to show proof that it was posted
on the front and the side of the building.
We also have a copy of the
deed for the property as well as proof that
the taxes are paid in full. I'm just going to switch
over to the community notice that was received yesterday from the community. As I stated, we met
with Cobbs Creek community neighbors or Cobbs Creek neighbors on May 6th for a meeting. They
stated that they are not going to oppose to it because it's a legalization of an existing two
family use. There's no construction. And also they noted that the property is in good order.
It's very clean. It's kept well. And the neighbors don't object. The characteristics of this
community. A duplex is consistent. There are duplexes. There are a few duplexes on the same
block, on the same side of the street, also with the RSA 5 zoning and have variances for those.
My client was having problems getting on the Zoom for some reason. So if I can speak for her.
You can.
As an officer of the court, we'll take your testimony.
questions from the board
questions or comments
from our attorney Ryan McSherry
and counsel do we have
a copy of that letter
questions
let me just
double check to ensure we do
Thank you.