All right, we'll keep working with Tom.
We want to start.
One second, Chair.
The attendees are still coming in.
well okay okay yep you can start sorry all right morning everyone my name is bill bergman and i
will be chairing this morning's zba hearing um first and foremost we're sorry for uh we were
late um we we try not to do this but we're going to move the case along and thank you for
bearing with us. With me today is our vice chair, Ismael Shahid.
Present, Mr. Chairman. Also, Leonard LeBaron Palmer from the Division of Development Services
serving as our alternate board member. Present, Mr. Chairman. And hopefully in a
short period of time, Mr. Holloman will be on. Also here is Hillary Emerson, our attorney,
and Tanya Sunkett, our executive officer. Here's our virtual format. The proceedings are being
recorded. With your participation, you agree to be recorded. The video will be available by
contacting tanyasunkett at phil.gov. For our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to
identify themselves before testifying. If you're participating via phone, press star 9 to raise
your hand and star six to unmute. To enter an appearance statement call, 267-270-5548. Leave
your email address and the address of the property in question. And finally, the question box on the
screen is not for comments or testimony. All comments should be directed to our executive
director, Tanya Sunken. Let's look at this morning's list and our schedule.
Number three. MI 2022-007-359-7105 Grays Avenue, Vernon Anastasio. Are you in the audience, Mr. Anastasio?
Good morning, Chair. This is Yvette Benton. I'll be your co-host for today.
Thank you.
Mr. Anastasio has been unmuted and allowed to speak.
Mr. Anastasio, could you state your name and spell for the court sonographer?
Good morning, Mr. Chair.
Vern Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Number three, 7105 Grays Avenue.
I understand you want a continuance.
Could you please give us an update?
In fact, I've reconsidered, and I think I'll just withdraw and resubmit a new development scheme.
um mr anastasio thank you very much you're welcome so mi 2022 007 359 7105 grays avenue
this case has been withdrawn number four mi 2023
002 377 2655 south hutchison street this case has is continued
Number six, MI 2023-004-486-7201 Marsden Street. This case is continued.
Number 8, MI 2023-004-531-9877 Breed Road, this case is continued.
And number 17, MI 2024-000-642-742 Christian Street, this case has continued.
Are there any other requests for continuances?
Chair, we have Devin Ukta with his hand up.
He's been unmuted and allowed to speak.
counsel could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
yes chair devin d-e-v-i-n uqd-a-h right do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes chair counsel you're here for 31 13 north 16th street yes chair could
you tell us the status yes i recently took over this case and i'm still getting updated with the
client in a form of counsel so i'm asking for a continuance uh while i get all the documents in
So I'm asking for a continuance while I get all the documents in order.
order okay so
So this is the fifth listing.
This has to be heard the next time.
Yes, sir.
And we still on our end here, we still have no exhibits for this.
So make sure you get the exhibits together, too.
Okay, so MI-2022-001-943-3113 North 16th Street.
This case must be heard.
This case next time will be the last time we have this case.
Thank you very much, sir.
Any other requests for continuance?
Chair, we have a phone number ending in 3552.
Caller, you have been unmuted and allowed to speak.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Hello.
Hello, this is Adrian Fernandez.
Okay, Adrian, do me a favor.
I know, could you state your name again and spell for the court stenographer, please?
Okay, sorry.
Adrian Fernandez, Swampoodle Neighborhood Positors Association, RCO.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth?
All right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
And what case are you here for today?
I was calling about 3113 North 16th Street, but the new attorney, we haven't met the person at all.
They came on and asked for another must-be-heard hearing date.
So, yes. All right. I knew that he took this over from another attorney.
We're going to give him one more. The next hearing date must be heard.
That'll be the last time we're going to do this case, okay?
OK, thank you. Oh, thank you. Right. Any other continuance request?
Chair, I see no hands at this time. Right. So number 10, MI 2023-004-605-4820 Brown Street.
Martha Inyang is the owner applicant. It's pro se. We have no exhibits. This is the second listing.
chair i see no one in the audience by that name we have no exhibits this is second listing
no one appeared the last time we called this case chair we do have another hand up but it's
not the name you call it looks like the name is howard cohen let's let's see if that's for
that's for another case mr chair that's for one that we'll be proceeding later
All right. Thank you. So MI2023-004-605-4820 Brown Street. Second listing. No one appeared last time. We have no exhibits. I vote to dismiss.
Mr. Chair, I just wanted to clarify for the record on this one. We continued the case last time. No one appeared, but someone did appear later, just to clarify for the record. But no one is here today.
Okay, thank you. We're still going to move this ahead to dismiss. LeBaron?
I'm here, Chair. LeBaron Leonard Palmer. Vote to dismiss. Vote to dismiss. Thank you.
Aish, no. Shaheed, my vote is to dismiss.
Thank you.
Number 16.
16. MI 2024-000-603-2113 Shelton Avenue. This is the first listing and we have no exhibits.
Angelus McKinney and Kanye Investments is the listed owner.
Chair Angelique McKinney has been unmuted and allowed to speak
Good morning, Angelique
Good morning
Hi, could you state your name and spell, please, for the court's sonographer?
Angelique McKinney, A-N-G-E-L-I-Q-U-E, McKinney, M-C-K-I-N-N-E-Y
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Okay, we have no exhibits
We didn't receive any exhibits from you for this case.
What to do?
Enter your meeting.
We don't have any exhibits for your case.
Exhibits for our ass.
This is my first time doing any of this.
Okay, so here's what you should do.
Call our office.
They will tell you everything you need.
We're going to continue this today so that the next time you'll be ready to go,
and the staff will work with you and explain to you what you need, okay?
Okay. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Chair, I have a couple of questions.
Mr. Chair, I have a couple of questions for Ms. McKinney.
Ms. McKinney, are you the owner or the tenant of this property?
I'm the owner.
Okay. So you own it under Coinenia Investments, LLC?
No, that's who I bought it from.
Oh, that's who you bought it from. So you own it in your individual name?
Yes, ma'am.
Okay. I just wanted to make sure because according to our records, it was the owner is an LLC and then an attorney would be needed. But if you own it solely in your name, not in any business entity, you can represent yourself before the board.
Thank you.
Thank you. So MI 2024-000603-2113 Chelton Avenue. This case has been continued.
Okay, and then number seven, MI 2023-004-487-523 Pine Street. Daniel Ward is the attorney. Is Mr. Ward here?
chair i see no one in the audience by that name and no hands are up
okay so um mr ward has been in contact with us that this case excuse me chair
yep a hand just went out with the phone number ending in nine one seven six okay let's see
caller you have been unmuted please wait for the chair
Good morning. Could you please state your name?
I believe that may be board member Holloman.
Mr. Holloman, is that you on the phone?
Paula, with the phone number ending in 9176, you've been unmuted.
it seems like they may be having technical difficulties all right thank you so thank you
so so number seven mi 2023 004 487 523 pine street this case has been withdrawn and number 14
MI 2024-000-592-336-South 17th Street, this case has been withdrawn.
We're going to do one of the cases in our add-on list.
Number three, MI 2024-00148, 8430 Busselton Avenue, TA-224608.
The vote in this matter has been rescheduled to June 26, 2024 at 9.30 a.m.
The other add-ons we will do later.
We're going to our regular list, and we're going to start with number five.
MI-2023-002-921-2018 East Ontario Street.
Almeido Solis is the owner applicant.
It's pro se.
We also have a Spanish interpreter for this case.
Chair, we have several hands up.
We have Bedita Cadeo with their hand up, and we have a Stephen all day.
Yeah, I was going to say, Ms. Cadeo, I believe, has the applicant with her for this case.
I see we have two hands for a Spanish interpreter.
We have two cases that require interpretation.
I'm not sure which interpreter was assigned to which case, but this is 2018 East Ontario Street.
spanish interpreter hello hello judge this is hello chair this is uh leonel this is a spanish
interpreter okay good morning could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
yes sir my name is leonel it is spelled l-e-o-n as in nancy e-l last name gillen g-u-i-l-l-e-n
you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
I swear
could you please call for us Almedo Solis
el señor Almedo Solis
está presente
Almedo Solis
Lock, lock, lock.
Hello, could you please have this person state his name and spell for the court stenographer?
Muy bien, usted por favor puede decirme su nombre y deletrearlo para el stenógrafo de la corte, por favor.
Olmedo P. Solis Torres.
Me lo deletrea, por favor.
O-L-M-E-D-O-P-I-O-S-O-L-I-S, Solis.
Gracias.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
¿Usted jura que va a decir la verdad, toda la verdad y nada más que la verdad?
I swear I'm going to say the truth and nothing but the truth.
Thank you very much.
Our vice chair has...
Excuse me, Mr. Chair.
Sorry, excuse me.
Can we have the interpreter provide his last name and swear him in, please?
Thank you.
Yes, yes, of course.
I did.
Chair, you did not swear me in.
Pardon me?
You did not swear me in.
I just spelled my name.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Do you swear?
I thought I did.
Do you swear?
for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth oh well yes i do i think i did
actually yeah you think you're right i think i think i know what's what is your last name
it is gillen spelled on g-u-i-l-l-e-n yes you did okay thank you so much sorry for the
oh that's that's okay all right our vice chair has a few questions for for that mr solos okay
Nuestro vice-director tiene algunas preguntas para el señor Solís.
Yes, 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?
Muy bien. Usted ha enviado todos los documentos requeridos y las exhibiciones que se necesitan para este procedimiento cinco días antes de este procedimiento?
Se mandó todo el paquete.
Yes, I sent all the packets.
Thank you.
you can proceed and share your screen
and just for a point
this application is for the use
as two family household living in an existing structure
ok solamente que para el punto de referencia
esta aplicación es para el
es para uso de
esa estructura es para el uso de dos familias
en una estructura existente
correcto
correcto
and the proposed use to family
household living is prohibited
in the RSA 5
zoning district
y lo que usted propone
lo que usted está proponiendo, o sea que esto es para
el uso de dos familias
eso está prohibido en el
RSA 5 del
distrito de zonificación
excuse me excuse me mr chair can we start by asking about the rco meeting because when this
case was scheduled last month the council office advised us that the applicant had previous had
left the previous meeting early
so there the meeting hadn't been
completed.
Thank you.
Interpreter, could you ask about
the RCO meeting? We have information
he left the RCO
meeting early.
Entonces,
déjame preguntarle
sobre la reunión de RCO
de la oficina del consejo
parece que tenemos información de que usted se tuvo
que ir temprano
en la reunión anterior
interpreter
señor cadillo
señor solís
nos fuimos para que nos dieran los votos
yes we left
so they could give us the vote
to get the votes
does he have a letter
from the RCO now
tiene una carta del RCO
lo presentamos
y tienen que mandar
ese es el intérprete
puede repetir por favor
que nosotros presentamos
yes we presented
did the RCO give him a letter
no pero el RCO
le dio una carta
ellos nos mandan directo
They say.
they sent us directly
where's the letter
y donde esta la carta
tienen ellos
they have it
ok alright
here's what we're going to do
we're going to hear this case
we'll hold the vote
until we hear from the RCO
muy bien esto es lo que vamos a hacer
vamos a escuchar el caso
y vamos a esperar a la votación
hasta que obtengamos información del
correct
please proceed
proceda
we see that
podemos verlo si
he venido hoy día
a hacer
el nuevo uso de mi
propiedad
yes i came here today to uh ask for the new use for my property okay moving
okay yes because when i bought this in 2006 the house was a duplex
Muy bien.
Ask them, is the utility, are the utilities separated?
Okay, y los pagos de, los pagos de las utilidades, ¿están separadas?
Todos están separadas porque cuando se compró el 2006, estaba todo separado.
Everything is separated because when we bought this in 2006, it was all separated.
And he's been using this as a duplex since?
¿Y esto lo está utilizando como un duplex desde entonces?
Desde el 2006 cuando yo compré la propiedad que era legal, un duplex legal.
Since 2006, since 2006 when I bought the property, when it was a legal duplex.
okay so my question is since 2006 to now has he been using it as a duplex okay mi pregunta es
desde el 2006 hasta la fecha de hoy lo ha seguido utilizando como un duplex
si yo vivo en el primer piso y el segundo piso siempre yo he rentado porque yo he tenido licencia
Yes, I live on the first floor
and the second floor I've rented it
because I have a license to lease, to rent.
All right, all right, thank you.
Questions on the board.
Preguntas de la Junta.
No, Chair.
No, Director.
LeBaron, no Chair.
Questions or comments from our attorney,
Hillary Emerson.
Preguntas o comentarios de nuestra abogada
Hillary Aberton
Not at this time, Mr. Chair
No en este momento, Director
Washes or comments from the virtual audience
Preguntas o comentarios
de la audiencia virtual
Chair, I see no hands at this time
No veo manos levantadas
Planning Commission
Comisión de Planación
Good morning, Amy Boyd
with the Planning Commission, AMYBOID
Muy buenos días
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
Are you sure to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single-family-attached RSA-5 zoning at this location.
The proposed use for true family is consistent with documented...
I'm sorry, Amy.
Can you allow the interpreter to interpret quickly, just maybe one sentence at a time?
Thank you very kindly.
Sure, go ahead.
Muy bien.
Entonces, la comitiva de planeación recomienda no hacer ningún cambio
de acuerdo a la propuesta de zonificación de RS5.
The proposed use for two family is consistent with documented prior use.
El uso propuesto es consistente con el uso previo.
Therefore, the planning commission recommends that the board grant
the requested variants
for two-family residential use.
Es por eso la Comisión de Aplanación
solicita que se le autorice
que hacer el cambio de las variantes
para el uso de dos familias.
Correcto.
Correcto.
Thank you.
This case is going to be held
until we hear from the RCO.
The case is closed
The case is closed
other than the information from the RCO.
other than the information from the RCO.
Muy bien.
Muy bien.
Este caso se va a sostener,
se va a mantener
hasta que obtengamos información del RCO.
Este caso ya está cerrado
para recibir información,
al menos que sea información del RCO.
And the response from the applicant.
Y la respuesta del aplicante.
Y la respuesta del aplicante.
Hillary, do we want to give this a date?
Tenemos que darle una fecha, Hillary?
Why don't we say two weeks?
Digamos dos semanas.
June 26th at 9.30 a.m.
We will vote the case.
June 26th at 9.30 a.m.
We will vote on the case.
Muy bien.
Junio 26 a las 9 y 30 de la mañana.
Correcto.
Thank you.
Interpreter, thank you, Interpreter.
Interpreter, are you doing this next case too or no?
um if you need me to and if you do not have another interpreter i can we have another yeah
yes we have another interpreter for the second case all right thank you very much thank you
all right thank you for your services
number 12 mi 2023 007 038 228 west tayoga street
At Bethanio Andelis is the tenant applicant.
There's a letter of support from HACE and a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Lozada.
Would the interpreter please come on?
And this is the interpreter on the line.
All right.
Could you please state your name?
Is there a way we can get the other person off the line here?
I think, I believe the applicant, Ms. Cadillo, is the second applicant with you as well?
Oh, maybe not. I think we'll just have to have the interpreter come on and then call for the applicant.
All right. Interpreter?
She said that she had both applicants, but let's bring her back in as a panelist.
he's been promoted to a panelist again chair okay interpreter yes i'm here on the line hi hi could
you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer yes my name is steven s-t-e-v-e-n
bain a-u-b-a-i-n do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Yes, I do.
Could you please call for me Epiphanio Andelis?
Y Epiphanio Andelis puede entrar a la línea.
The interpreter will be Epiphanio Andelis, si puede entrar a la línea.
Chair, Badietsa Gadillo should be coming back in as a panelist.
Okay, thank you.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Chair, this is Tanya, but Disa, if you can hear me, please accept
so that you can come back in as a panelist with the customer.
Thank you, Chair.
You're rejecting.
Thank you kindly, Chair.
Go ahead.
I'm sorry.
Could you have that, Mr. Gaddillo, state his, no, I'm sorry, Mr. Andeliz,
state his name and spell for the court stenographer.
Así que puede dar su nombre, por favor, y teletrearlo para la corte, por favor.
Sí, buenos días.
Mi nombre es Epifanio Andeliz.
E-P-I-F-A-N-I-O.
And the list.
A-N-D-E-L-I-Z.
So the first name is spelled E-P-I-F-A-N-I-O.
The last name is spelled A-N-D-E-L-I-Z.
Thank you.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Jury afirma decir la verdad, toda la verdad y nada más que la verdad.
Sí, seguro.
All right.
So this application is for use as a takeout restaurant.
Y esta aplicación es para utilizarlo como un restaurante de sacar comida para afuera.
With existing retail sales of food, beverage and groceries.
beverage, and groceries.
...y con el uso de aceleración.
The proposed use
takeout restaurant is prohibited
in the RM1 zoning district.
And our vice chair
has a few questions for him.
Uno de los miembros de la Junta tiene preguntas para usted.
Good morning.
Have you emailed Dan all the required documents?
¿Y usted ha enviado por correo electrónico todos los documentos requeridos?
Sí, lo enviamos todo.
Yes, we sent them all.
Please proceed.
Por favor, de proceder.
Estamos aquí porque el motivo es una bodega y enviamos todos los documentos presentes.
so we are here because it's a bodega but we send all the information in and documents
for the zoning
we send them the application and we have the meeting with the city
and we acquired the signatures from the city and they're all in agreement that we can build a
kitchen in the, um, uh, store. Okay. And, uh, signatures from the community.
And he has a lease agreement too. Am I correct? Correct. Correct. Here's pictures of the place,
right so yes um and here are all the pictures of the place everything is in order and all we need
is the approval for the zoning so that we can proceed with the kitchen okay um
and he also has
the support of
here as I said
of HACE
y usted también tiene el apoyo
del HACE
do we have his tax clearance
his tax clearance
y tenemos
aclarado los impuestos
si, está todo al día
yes, everything is up to date
does he have photos of
his putting up
the notice of the posting
of the signs
for the day's hearing
does he have a photo of that
me puedes repetir
si el poster está todo puesto
yes the poster
is put up
but I see a picture of it
y puedo ver una imagen de eso
si aquí lo estamos poniendo
Are you able to see it? We're putting it on the screen.
No, I don't see it yet.
No, no lo puedo ver todavía.
Okay, un segundito.
Lo vamos a poner ahora mismo en pantalla.
Give me one second and we'll put it on the screen.
All right.
All right.
Thank you.
Gracias.
Great.
Questions from the board.
¿Y preguntas de la Junta?
No, Chair.
No questions, Chair.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson.
Y preguntas de nuestra abogada, Hillary Emerson.
Just a clarification, Mr. Chair.
Y solamente para clarificar.
So the applicant has an existing grocery store and wants to add a takeout restaurant to that existing use.
Is that correct?
Así que para verificar el aplicante tiene una tienda existente
y le quiere añadir un restaurante de comida exterior.
Eso es correcto.
No es un restaurante.
Es solamente una cocina para caliente, para bodegas.
Yeah, so just a kitchen for hot food in a bodega.
um hot food in a botega okay thank you um and is there uh um an apartment above that is still
Okay, thank you.
going to be there yes the apartment's still there but um it's still individual okay thank
Thank you very much.
Muchas gracias.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience.
Pregunta o comentario de la audiencia virtual.
Chair, we have a phone number ending in 3780.
Caller, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Así que tenemos un número de teléfono que termina en 3780
y que está haciendo la llamada.
Por favor, quitarse de silencio.
Could you please state your name?
Por favor, dé su nombre.
My name is Gail Mapp, but I would like to know exactly what location is this establishment.
Wait a minute, ma'am.
First of all, state your name and spell for the court stenographer.
Así que primeramente diga su nombre y de la entrega.
It's kind of like Gail, Gail Mapp.
And now we have a translation one.
Do you speak Spanish?
Yeah, no.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
yes but i would like to know the location of this establishment 228 what are you this is 228 west
tayoga street okay thank you no comment okay thank you ma'am um any other questions or comments from
the virtual audience can we let the interpreter explain that the person who called in didn't have
So I don't know who that person was.
Thank you very much.
Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission.
The Comprehensive Plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from residential multifamily R1 to commercial mixed-use CMX1.
Así que la zona te propone un cambio comprensivo de zona residencial R1 a zona comercial.
The proposed use is prohibited under both zoning designations.
Y el uso de esa propuesta es prohibido bajo las dos secciones de la zona.
However, the property has a documented use of food sales and preparation on the first floor.
Pero como quiera la propiedad tiene un historial de buena venta en el primer piso.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the proposed use variance for takeout restaurant.
Y la ciudad propone que la Junta acepte la zona propuesta.
MI 2023-007-038-228 West Tioga Street.
I vote yes.
Y para el MI202300703.
Excuse me.
Sorry.
Sorry.
Excuse me, Mr. Chair.
um can you um put the proviso into the record just clarifying me
because the the the refusal the refusal was um written um in a confusing way
so you want to use it in your yellow okay um below that yep wait a minute
approved use okay thank you so the vote on this sorry mr obane
Así que solamente para explicar lo que está ocurriendo, querían poner la orden provista, la querían someter correctamente.
So, MI 2023-007-038-228 West Tioga Street. I vote yes.
Así que para la MI-202-3007-038-228 West Tioga Street. Go ahead.
Right. With proviso, approved use is a take-out restaurant.
Así que lo provisto de el uso de utilizarlo como un restaurante de comida para sacar.
With existing retail sales of food.
Y con el uso existente de venta de comida.
Beverages and groceries on the first floor.
Y bebidas y compras en el primer piso.
Y bebidas y compras en el primer piso.
Shingle.
Single-family household living use on the second floor to remain.
Y el uso de una, este hospedaje familiar, de familia, este, de una familia en el segundo piso.
LeBaron?
LeBaron?
Sorry, LeBaron, Leonard Palmer, my vote is yes.
proviso thank you interpreter and thank you thank you thank you i'm sorry okay
number nine mi 2023 004 600 11 55 daily street fong ho is the owner applicant
pro se. This application is for use as a two-family household living in an existing
attack structure. Hi, Chair. This is Tanya again, as usual. Tom, can you speak and see if we can
hear you? I'm trying to make things work for Tom, Chair. Okay. I don't think it's still working,
chair. I'll get back to you. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you. So, Fong Ho, please.
Fong Ho, if you're in the virtual audience, please raise your hand.
Chair, we have someone with their hand up, but the name is not Fong Ho. It's Howard Koan.
That's fine, Mr. Chair. I believe the applicant has been emailing under that name.
Thank you.
Thank you.
They're coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
Thank you.
Mr. Ho.
is he coming on
my name is
Juan Ho
P-H-U-O-N-G
last name Ho
do you swear
do you swear
or affirm
to tell the truth
the whole truth
and nothing but the truth
Yes, sir.
This application is for use as a two-family household living in an existing structure.
The proposed use two-family household living is prohibited in the RSA 5 zoning district.
There is a letter of support from the Lower Moy-Mencing Civic Association and a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Squilla's office.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good morning.
have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed and required to
proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing yes i did thank you please proceed
should be the green button at the bottom of the screen okay
There you go.
Okay, so why don't you do this?
Why don't you tell us what you're trying to do?
I'm trying to change to a duplex.
And how long is, you can't, only one person can testify, right?
So it's only Ms. Ho can testify.
So, Ms. Ho, could you please tell us, has this been a duplex for a while, or you're just changing it now?
It's been a while, so.
And you have it rented out as two places?
I rent it out for the second floor.
Okay, and you live on the first floor?
No, I do not live on the first floor, so.
Who lives on the first floor? Is it vacant?
The second floor is somebody rent and the first floor is vacant.
All right.
Show us all your documents.
Don't implement.
I'm sorry, Chair.
This is time.
I hate to be a bother, but may I ask that the gentleman working with you speak do not.
But may I ask that the gentleman working with you speak, do not speak.
If you need interpretation services, we can assist with that.
However, we must not hear his voice.
Thank you ever so kindly.
All right.
So show us your documents.
So that's your refusal.
I see it.
We have all these documents.
Why don't you show me some photos?
So give me a minute.
that's your
you posted
it's a corner property
all right
and that's the first floor
then the second floor
you have rented already
the second floor
is being rent
but not the first floor
and what was on the first floor before
uh is um it's been like this since i bought it so okay and you've never rented it before
when did you buy the property uh in 2004 okay and could you could you show me um
why don't you put up now the letter you received from the rco okay so
okay okay all right and i know you also have a letter from the council person's office
we have that we have that letter we're we're okay okay so questions from the board
no chair no questions for me chair questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr questions or comments from the virtual audience
i've seen no hands at this time chair planning commission
amy board for the city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change
and zoning from the RSA-5 single-family residential zoning at this location.
Given the unique physical circumstances of the site, we recommend that the board grant
the requested variance for two-family household living.
Thank you.
So MI 2023, 004-600, 1155 Daly Street, I vote yes.
LeBaron Leonard Palmer, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
thank you you have your votes thank you so much uh everybody thank you all right thank you
all right thank you so number 15 mi2024 000601 2115 mckean street clinton james is the owner
applicant this is a pro se um the application applications for use as a visitor accommodation
in an existing structure.
The proposed use of visitor accommodation
is prohibited in the RM1 zoning district.
There's a petition.
James, please raise your virtual hand.
He's coming back into the panelist now, Chair.
There's a petition of support
signed by 79 residents.
Good morning, Mr. James.
Good morning, everyone.
Mr. James, could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court stenographer?
Clinton James.
Clinton, C-L-I-N-T-O-N, James, J-A-M-E-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Mr. James?
Mr. James, please unmute yourself.
Unmute.
Mr. James, you're still muted.
Can you hear me?
We can.
All right.
So, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do confirm and tell the truth.
Nothing but the truth.
All right.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you, sir.
Good morning, sir.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed and required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
I did. Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen. Mr. James, what RCO did you go in front of? I believe it was the Point Breeze community. And do you have a letter from them? Yes, I have an approval letter, 100% approval letter.
That's it.
Thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen.
but could you why don't you start by showing us the letter i'm sorry this is kanya again mr james
i'm sorry mr james do you have on two devices yeah i think yeah we're getting an echo thank
you very kindly sir i'm sorry chair you can continue thank you thank you mr james could
you start with showing us the letter from the rco all right did that help me with this that
she can share her screen and show the documents that we put together what's that sir i work with
an expediter that she's she can share her screen and show the documents that we put together all
right so she can show the screen but she cannot testify correct all right okay do is she there
with you yes yes please put it up on the screen mr james what's your expediter's name mia mitchell
She's coming back in as a panelist now, Chair, so she can share her screen.
All right, please.
Ms. Mitchell, you can stay muted. Just put your screen on.
Ms. Mitchell, please unmute yourself.
Good morning. My name is Ms. Mitchell. What's the document that you would like to see?
First, I want to see the RCO letter.
it's the
it's the green share button at the bottom
of the screen
keep going
Say how they voted here.
Go back up.
I want to see how they voted.
Nine votes total.
39 yes.
All right.
Thank you.
Why don't you just show us some photos of the property?
Thank you.
We have photos of the property.
Mr. James, do you have photos of the property?
yeah um i actually she should have my ex the daddy should be sharing that with you guys
she's probably trying to get him mr chairman i'm sorry i am sharing my screen are you available
to see the screen i i see i just don't see the photos okay so i'm going to stay on for a second
can you see this photo right here that i'm sharing i don't see any photos i don't either
okay give me one moment please
yes you would need to stop
sharing and then reshare
okay let's see all the photos
mr james have you mr james have you been leasing this out already yes i have how long have you
Mr. James have you
Mr. James have you been
at least
done this i've been doing this for six years as a short-term rental okay have you had any complaints
not not none at all over 600 visitors actually never had a complaint okay and and i see that
rco is back to you and also you have a uh petition from 79 different people okay yes all right what
questions from the board no chair no questions share questions or comments from our attorney
hillary emerson i just wanted to note for the record um mr james we did not receive the letter
from Point Breeze, so if you could
please forward that to
us at your earliest convenience so that we
have that for our records, that would be greatly
appreciated. Thank you. I will
do that. Questions or comments
from the virtual audience?
I see no hands at this time,
Chair. Planning Commission.
voted with the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change
to the existing multifamily residential
RM1 zoning at this location. The applicant's hardship is not supported with evidence of
unique physical circumstances or conditions of the property that would prevent it from being
used in conformance with the use requirements of the code. Therefore, we recommend that the
board deny the requested variance for visitor accommodation. Thank you. MI 2024-000-601-2215
mckean street i vote yes for a temporary variance that expires 6 12 27.
what liberal enter calmer my vote is yes with proviso
shaheed my vote is yes with proviso
you have your votes
sir so this is for temporarily you said
For three years.
Oh, for three years?
That's what I said.
6-12-27.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right.
Thank you.
All right.
All right.
Let's go to our regular list.
Number two.
MI 2022-002-822-6701, Rising Sun Avenue.
David Orphanides is the attorney.
There's a letter of unanimous non-opposition from Long Crest Community Association with unenforceable provisos.
Mr. Chair, we also have a letter of support from Council Member Phillips.
Thank you.
Mr. Orphanides, please raise your virtual hand.
He's coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman.
Good morning, Counsel.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Certainly.
David Orphanides, O-R-P-H-A-N-I-D-E-S.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify a client in a relationship to the property?
Certainly.
My client is L&L Financial LLC.
That's L and like the ampersand or plus sign, L Financial LLC, and they're owner of the property.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you, counsel.
Certainly.
Good morning, counsel.
Do you agree to wait to read another refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Mr. Shahid, I do for both.
have you have you emailed in the required all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to
proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing uh mr shaheed yes we did the only
thing that was added just this morning uh to our submission was the letter of support from uh
council member phillips office we just received it minutes ago so i'm glad that hilary uh got it
as well and advised you of that great thank you please proceed and share your screen certainly
uh confirm you can all see my screen yes great again my name is david orphanetes with the law
firm of orphanetes and toner here this morning representing lll financial llc the owner of the
property in question which is 6701 rising sun avenue um you can see here from uh the zoning map
that the property has three frontages, rising sun.
that the property has three frontages, Rising Sun, Unruh Avenue, it's at the corner of Unruh
and Rising Sun, and then Martins Mill Road. Historically, the property was a gas station.
You can see your zoning permit from 1948, where it was a service station with grease and wash bays.
sometime around 62 auto repairs no body or fender work was added it remained a service station
I think along with auto repairs it looks through the 70s you can see here in 73 or 73 74
somewhere around well in 74 they added the rental of cars well that's what the zoning board variance
you can see here with the calendar number uh 77 was rental of cars in an auto sales lot with an
accessory office uh that was confirmed uh in 86 this memorandum and then in 96 you had auto sales
lot with the repairs or uh of the autos that were held for sale or rental with no body or fender
work. So you see that historically, this was a property dating back to the 40s that was utilized
as a gasoline station. We have here Sanborn maps also, 1927, showing it was a vacant lot.
And by 47, you have a gasoline station. You can see here, 50, it's a filling station.
And then in 70, 70 or 86, you see the change to auto sales.
The application is for to add the repair and maintenance of personal vehicles for those vehicles that aside or other than those that they sell or rent.
Our client came to us. We've known this client for a while that a number of their customers that buy vehicles from them with their auto sales come back and want repairs, as well as other people in the community wanting repairs for their vehicles.
So it's number one to provide a service to people in the community, prior customers.
And then there's a financial hardship as well. The sales and rental business, to some degree, isn't what it was, particularly the rental side of things. And this is necessarily to keep this longstanding business in operation.
As mentioned, we do have the letter to not oppose from Long Crest.
You will see, the client came to us after the community group meeting.
See the letters dated back in 22.
The person, and I'll have my client adopt my statements, the person who handled, my client went to the meeting, but who handled the 14303 notice no longer works for him.
So we didn't have a certificate of mailing.
So we did, our office did another mailing at the end of May. I communicated with Long Crest Community Association, with the head of the group, Mr. Grutzmacher, and we agreed that we would send out a notice that basically re-notified everybody what was happening, that there was going to be a zoning board hearing, and that if they had any issues or concerns, they should contact Long Crest.
At this point in time, we confirmed with Mr. Gurtzmacher yesterday that they have not received any notification from any members of the community based upon the mailing that we did at the end of May.
Here's the address list from the Planning Commission's link and a certificate of mailing.
So I just wanted to point that out in regards to Longcrest's letter.
We weren't present.
You do have the 45 to 0 vote in favor with the proviso that the chairman had referenced that all work is done on the property.
Um, and, uh, we did reach out to council member Phillips office and just this morning received his letter, um, urging the zoning board to approve the application.
Again, the, uh, the, the refusal is because personal vehicle repair and maintenance is not permitted in the CMX two zoning district.
You can see here the, um, zoning table, uh, CMX two is a second column from the left.
and you can see down here, personal vehicle repair and maintenance, as well as sales and
rental are not permitted. But again, the sales and rental has already been approved by variants
of the zoning board. We did, I did include a copy of the deed for the property with our submission
that shows our client as the owner. He does have a tenant, which in the property right now,
which is L&L Automotive, LLC, you can see their sign on the building.
on the building. These are current photos that we just took. You can see the existing sign.
There's been a face change with L&L Automotive. Interior photos we did include. You can see here
the bays. You saw doors to the outside on our exterior photos here. So we included both the
deed and the lease. Our tax clearance is at tab eight. And then the posting, we posted the
property. Here is the copy of the notice for today's hearing. And then the posting at each
of the frontages of the property here at Unruh, Martin's Mill, and then Rising Sun.
Again, my client is looking to provide a service to the community that they need and they want,
um both from his prior customers and other members of the community and again we believe
there's a financial hardship to justify the use of this property um given um the current market for
auto rentals and that um and uh we do again have the long-standing automotive use of the property
for resident or for automotive purposes and this is very much in keeping with its past approval for
repair and maintenance of vehicles, but just expanding it to
additional customers. And with that, I would ask my client to
identify himself, Roger Santos, and have him adopt
my statements.
Roger Santos has been allowed to speak. Please unmute yourself,
sir. Good morning. Could you please state your name and spell for the court
stenographer?
We have a Andrea Solomon with their hand raised, um, Rogers and those seems to be having a
Thank you.
I'll have that person.
We have a hand up.
Andrea.
good morning chair mr santos advised me that he was having trouble with his speaker on his phone
i believe he dialed in on his phone number as well okay thank you um counsel uh you're an
officer of the court we will take your testimony questions from the board
no questions chair no no chair questions or comments from our attorney hillary
Mr. Orphanides, I just wanted to clarify who your client was, because I think there's a tenant in this case.
And I think the tenants previously contacted the board to request a continuance.
Are you representing the owner or the tenant or both?
We're representing both.
They're essentially the same person.
Oh, okay.
Individuals.
And you notice that in the name.
They're both L&L, L&L Financial LLC, L&L Automotive LLC.
They're very similar.
So, yes, for a variety of business-related reasons, which I don't need to get into with the board, but it's essentially the same person.
But the application, I believe, was submitted on behalf of L&L Financial by Julio Tetsugo.
But either way, we are representing essentially both parties.
Thank you so much for the clarification.
Yeah, that's why I did provide the deed and the lease with our exhibit book.
Thank you.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair, Strawberry Mansion has been allowed to speak.
That's not Strawberry Mansion.
That's not Strawberry Mansion.
I mean, I'm happy to hear from them, but that's not Strawberry Mansion.
They have their hands raised.
All right.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
No, Chair.
Okay. Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change the commercial mixed use CMX2 zoning at this location.
The property has a history of personal vehicle repair and maintenance.
Therefore, the City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the proposed variance for personal vehicle repair and maintenance.
Thank you.
MI 2022-002-822-6701, Rising Sunland Avenue.
I vote yes.
LeBaron Leonard Palmer, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
You have your votes.
Thank you.
That concludes my business, may I be excused?
Yes, sir. Thank you.
Yes, sir.
Thank you.
Thanks.
Thanks. Have a good day.
Have a good day.
So number 11, MI20...
So number 11, MI 2023-005-846-6150 Lebanon Avenue.
William Thompson is the attorney.
There's a letter of opposition from the Overbrook West neighbors, 16 to 1 vote.
Mr. Thompson.
William Thompson, if you're in the audience, please raise your virtual hand.
William Thompson is coming in as a panelist.
mr thompson
very there they are okay
Mr. Thompson.
It's not muted, Chair.
It looks like he's having technical issues.
We do have an Igor.
Here's Mr. Thompson.
Sorry.
Hi, good morning, Mr. Thompson. Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
William F. Thompson. Thompson spelled P-H-O-M-S-O-N.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client in relationship to this property?
Yes. It's Modern Living LLC is the owner. Igor Andruska is the manager of that LLC.
I don't know. Vice Chair has a few questions for you, sir.
Good morning, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case
five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, we have.
Thank you, counsel. Please proceed and share your screen.
We're looking for our client on here.
what is your client's name Mr. Thompson Igor Andruska is the person
well but do you have the documents Mr. Thompson yes I do I have them all I can share my screen
with well that's what I'm looking for is that what you want yeah we want you have to make a
presentation off your documents. Okay. I'll do that. Okay. There you go. Okay. So we're sharing
our screen with the documents that we have. Okay. So that's your posting, right? Yes. I'll walk
through them if that's okay. Sure. Okay. So we have a posting and copy the posting on the property.
Aerial shot, that's the front of 6151 Avenue, side, rear, backyard, also another picture of the rear.
This is a building that's about 500 feet from the property, which is Overbrook Tower front, which is a huge multi-unit building, about 94 units.
Another picture of that.
You can see in the background, that's the building, and the foreground is the property in question, 6151 and Avenue.
These are pictures that were requested of my client of the unit itself as it exists.
As it exists, this is the basement unit.
This is the basement unit.
All pictures of the basement unit.
Next documents we have are, which we'll share.
Absolutely.
so mr thompson there was three units right that's correct it's there's a variance approved
in 1961 for three units now you want four units that is correct sir and you put the fourth unit
in the basement actually the unit existed in the basement when he bought the property
when did he buy the property in 2018 okay
so he's trying to legalize the apartment in the basement excuse me sir he's trying to legalize
the apartment in the basement that is correct he bought it he was unaware it was in violation
L&I came out, told him it was a violation.
And through a little torture process, he figured out that he needed to file for variants for the fourth unit, which is currently occupied.
Right.
And my understanding is that when you went to the Overbrook West neighbors, they voted against you 16 to 1.
That is correct.
What I saw, and I didn't get involved in it during that time,
I got involved in it after, I guess, they said he needed an attorney to make this presentation.
So I don't really know much about that, except I'm seeing what you see in the RCO as everyone was opposed to it.
Do you want to bring your client on?
I just want to show the rest of the documents here, if I could.
the certificate of tax clearance we have that and you have the rco yeah and uh the deed
here's the deed for the property for modern living and
that pretty much are the documents that we have and i would like to call mr andrewska to testify
if i may so mr thompson let me ask you this what what's the rest of the block look like how many
units are in the block on most places uh i i believe they're all similar uh homes to what um
what what's depicted in uh 61 50 lebanon then you go up the street 500 feet and you've got these
these large uh yeah i saw that yeah and that that's pretty much what the neighborhood is
but mr andrews could speak to that uh better than i could bring him home please okay
Mr. Andruska, you've been unmuted. Please wait for the chair.
Why could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes. Good morning. This is Igor Andruska, I-G-O-R, Andruska, A-N-D-R-U-S-T-A.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed, counsel.
Mr. Angruska, the chair just asked a question about the 6100 block of Lebanon Avenue to describe the properties that are adjacent to yours or near your property.
Yes, the homes are similar homes, which are twin homes, and some of those are multi-units. Some of those are single-family use.
um now based on the documents that we've submitted already into uh evidence it appears
that you purchased the property in uh 2018 is that correct yes and you purchased it from a
mortgage company is that correct yes and was that the subject of a foreclosure yes i believe so
And when you took over the property, tell the chair about the condition of the property.
Well, the property had four units.
We did some renovation, and we rented it out.
It was vacant at the moment, but it did have the four units.
It was vacant at purchase, is that correct?
And there were already four units in the property, is that correct?
and you did some renovations and then you you rent it to property is that right
that's correct now are all four units now currently rented yes you have tenants and all
four units now currently rented yes you have tenants in all four units
yes tell the chair what the monthly rental costs are for those four units
um the third floor is 1100 second floor is 1200 first floor is 1200 and the lower unit
or the ground level unit is
and that includes
everything except the electrical
does the ground
unit have its own entrance
you can see it on the
picture
thank you
with regard
to the
the units that are currently in place
with four units
if you were not able to rent
the basement unit
what would the result be for you?
as I said
the cost of rent
it's a lower cost rent
i consider as i can see in the area there are higher rents this way i am able to keep it lower
cost and uh it's easier for people to pay that way if i'm not going to have the fourth unit i'm
going to have to rise uh the the cost for for rents of the other three units what's going to
happen to the space in that basement unit like what are you going to do with it well yeah it's
It's either going to have to stay vacant, storage, or I'm going to try maybe to use it, expand the first floor, expand it to the basement.
And would there be an expense involved in that?
Of course, yes.
We're going to have to get work done.
What's the viability of being able to rent it as storage in that area?
No, I'm not going to be able to rent it as storage.
I don't think so. It's not that much of usage as a storage.
It's going to be pretty much dead space at that point.
That's correct.
And there's a tenant in that basement unit now, is that right?
That's right.
Were you at the RCO meeting?
And there were some issues raised in that meeting that I want you to address with the chair right now.
There were some issues with regard to cleanliness of the property.
How do you address those issues when they arise?
Well, I said that I tried my best to keep it clean and we definitely did work on having it cleaner than it was. We did a lot of work on the outside and we always tried to clean.
You know, I always try to fix the issues with the tenants towards the trash.
We did a separate area for the trash cans.
And we always try to manage with the tenants and ourselves to keep it clean.
Do you have a maintenance crew that goes out on any kind of regular basis to make sure that it's clean?
With regard to parking, in the photographs there's a garage depicted. If this was approved, this variance was approved, would there be any issues with regard to that garage that you might be able to do to work out parking?
Yes, I could provide a garage for a lower unit tenant. And as I stated in the RCO meeting, we provided that parking blocking the garage in the back for the lower unit as there are other neighbors that are using that back alley for their parking.
and we provided that parking for a lower tenant usage.
But I was told at the RCO meeting
that that alley is not a parking.
That alley is not a parking alley and that it's not a good space, which I replied that I can do the garage and all of that, whatever I needed to do to provide an extra parking space.
Are there any other things that you would address if this variance request is approved with regard to the basement?
basement were there other renovations or things that needed to be done or that you intended to
do in order to uh convince the chair and the board members to approve your variance
yeah so they said if we are approved i'm gonna do a uh egress windows we do have
they they almost as a egress window they just need more expansion on the outside as it required
I believe 36-inch egress opening on the outside, we're going to need to expand that space.
But we do have windows that I believe as an egress, they just need more space on the outside to provide an egress fire exit additional.
So would you again tell the chair what the hardship would be to you if you're unable to continue to use this unit as a rental unit?
well the the the biggest hardship is a financial one because i like i said it's lower cost uh
apartments or living and we do get we do get sometimes well a lot of time one of the tenants
is being short on the payment and it's so it's always an issue like that so that i'm this way
i'm able to let it keep and let it work out if i'm not gonna have that unit it's gonna be a
financial hardship for me and for the times because i'm gonna have to rise up uh the rental cost
so all the questions i have mr chair thank you questions from the board uh questions from the
board no chair no questions chair questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
just a quick clarification um so the part any parking that would be available on the property
would be in the existing garage can you tell me how many spaces that would be
Mr. Andruska, did you hear that question?
Mr. Andruska, please unmute.
In the photos, it looked to me like a one-car garage.
It is a one-car garage.
I think it could be expanded if necessary, but now it is a one-car garage.
The building that's right down the street, 500 feet with 94 units,
It has no parking.
I can't indicate him to it.
All right.
All right.
Okay, there was just a refusal for parking,
so I just wanted to clarify how many spaces were existing.
That's what it is.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Gregory Allen with their hand up.
Gregory Allen, please unmute and wait for the chair.
Good morning, sir.
Could you please state your name?
It's spelled for the court stenographer.
Good morning, Mr. Chair.
My name is Gregory Allen.
g-r-e-g-o-r-y
last name
a-l-l-e-n
right do you swear or firm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do are you a neighbor
i i am
we represent the rco
okay please proceed within 250
feet but after
my um testimony i
would like for some of our near neighbors
to be heard specifically
miss olivia gillison
All right. So why don't you give me your testimony first? Yes, sir. So chair and board, you hit it. You hit the nail on the head with your first statement that the owner is trying to legalize the property after seven years of operating it illegally.
In fact, at $950 a month renting this property, he has earned nearly $100,000, and now only because he had to renew licenses does he now come to do it properly or legally.
our concerns i'll let the neighbors the near neighbors speak to the concerns of the owner
and how he maintains the property our concerns are two one the process that
The process that the owner used to notify the community was non-existent.
the process
According to ZBA guidelines, he should have sent a postal mailing to everyone within 250 feet.
He did not do that.
In fact, the near neighbors only learned about the RCO or the ZBA because we notified them.
And he didn't do that until January when we raised the issue with the ZBA.
This came out on Friday, October 13th of 2023, and he didn't contact us at all until we raised it some 90 days later on January 16th.
Secondly, and this is my only other issue, Chair, driveway parking is not allowed.
So for him to want to bring it up to code now, that just doesn't pass the test for us.
So that's that's all I have. Let me let me see if any of the other allowed to speak.
Let me see if there's any other neighbors in the audience. Yes, sir. Thank you.
And counsel, I'll give you a chance to respond to this after we get some other neighbors in.
Any other comments from the virtual audience? Chair, we have Victoria Gillison.
OK, Victoria Gillison, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
good morning could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
yes good morning my name is victoria v-i-c-t-o-r-i-a last name is gillison g-i-l-l-i-s-o-n
you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes i do are you a neighbor i am a neighbor um i am in the immediate area and my sister is the
owner of 6152 Lebanon Avenue. So I spend a majority of my time at her house. Are you in
favor of this project or against? I am against this project. Could you tell us why? Yes. So I do
spend a fair amount of time. Like I said, my sister is the homeowner of 6152, which is right
next door, particularly with the parking issue in the back already with the unit being occupied
illawfully there my sister has had trouble accessing her garage which is right next door
because not only when the residents park back there which they are not supposed to do they
often have guests over who also park there and have often even blocked access to her drive or
to her garage entrance she has asked them previously to stop and sometimes it works and
other times other people come by and park there and we cannot get access to her her garage which
has caused access in and out of her property to be an issue. Additionally, the property,
although I have heard the owner say that they have a maintenance crew come out, my sister has
received citations from the city's sanitation department because that unit, the units in that
building have not picked up their trash in a timely manner. And she has actually received citations
and then has to go through the process of saying, these are not my trash cans. These are the trash
cans of um of the neighboring property and um so we've had to go through at least i believe at once
definitively i believe it has happened twice now where we where she has had to spend her time
asking the city to please remove her citation violation as it is not her unit that she is
being cited for and lastly uh while i spend a number of my time over there as well those the
The neighbors are the tenants of that. None of those units have been participants in any of the neighborhood cleanups that that block often has on a monthly basis.
They've never come out to help clean up. I actually live around the corner with my parents and I've gone over to help and clean up because I'm in that neighborhood often.
And it is routinely pretty like the trash ends up swirling around and we like to keep the block clean.
other units on the building or on the street are multifamily but they are at most triplexes there
are there's to my knowledge there is not another quadplex on that block particularly because
parking does become an issue and although the units at the end of the block like the counselor
said is a large high rise that does not provide parking that's also was built in a different time
and people who are living there are not expecting to have parking so i believe that is a different
issue. So for these reasons, I am against this. Thank you for taking the time to call us. We
appreciate it. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience? Chair, we have Elaine Gillison.
Chair, we have Elaine Gillison.
Elaine Gillison, please unmute and wait for the chair.
Elaine, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes, Elaine, E-L-A-I-N-E, last name Gillison, G-I-L-L-I-S-O-N.
We're affirmed to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but it.
You live next door?
I am the mother of the woman that lives next door.
I'm here.
I'm representing.
So I know you're representing.
Is there anything else you could say that your other, that was your other daughter that testified?
That was.
All right.
Is there anything else you could say besides what she said?
I'm representing the RCO as well.
So I represent other near neighbors, and our major concern has to do with the safety of the individual that is living in the basement.
Right now, there is only one way in and one way out.
If there is a fire that should take place on the first floor, the person that is downstairs would be trapped.
There's no way for her to get out.
Thank you.
The windows are guarded with hard plexiglass, and she can't get out.
They are secured from the outside of the facility, not the inside.
So she doesn't have access to be able to get out.
I understand.
We voiced this concern at the RCO meeting, as well as the other neighbors that live right there on the block.
and his comment was really about his personal financial hardship okay now i everybody has a
financial hardship one way shape or form if this unit did not exist he could use that area for
storage and offer it to the residents that live in the other three apartments because those
apartments are small. I have spoken to two of the other residents that live there, and they would
love to have a place where they could store some of their items. So I don't agree with the owner
manager that he would not be able to use that as a storage facility for the existing people.
However, it is critical that no one in any part of this city live in a basement unit that only has one way in and one way out.
Thank you very much. We understand your comments and we appreciate your testimony.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Chair, we have.
Could I ask how many more hands you have?
Just two, Chair.
Okay, thank you.
We have a caller with the phone number ending in 9176.
Caller, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Hi, could you please state your name as spelled for the court stenographer?
Caller with the phone number ending in 9176.
Please unmute yourself.
Chair, they may be having technical difficulty.
Go to the other hand.
Chair, the next hand is Olivia Gillison
Olivia Gillison, please unmute and wait for the chair
Hi, Olivia?
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes, O-L-I-V-I-A-G-I-L-L-I-S-O-N, Olivia Gillison
Right, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
And obviously you're a relative of the two prior people?
Correct.
I am the homeowner of 6152 Lebanon Avenue.
So your sister and I guess your mom offered us reasons why.
Are you for or against the project?
I am against the project.
Is there anything else that your sister and mother did not say that you could offer?
No, I just wanted to voice opposition.
And as the homeowner of the property adjacent, it has been, you know, I've lived here for five years now, and it has never been a safe or, you know, really well-maintained property.
So I'm against it.
That's all.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Thompson, do you have any response to what we've heard?
Yes, I do, Chair.
just briefly the any issues with regard to requirements of putting
Any issues with regard to requirements of putting egress window in can easily be resolved by putting that in the variance and requiring that be done.
With regard to maintenance issues, they could be resolved by requiring that he have someone out there at any period of time that it be done.
The parking issue could be resolved because you could require that you create that one-car garage, which most likely there's only going to be one person in that unit anyway, which shouldn't alter the parking.
We have no way of knowing whether who's parking in front of this driveway.
There's plenty of other residents on the block, so I'm not sure that they're all from this property.
But at the end of the day, none of these issues that were raised can't be addressed in the variance and approved.
And one other piece, which is most important, is although the space can be used for storage, just who's going to pay additional rent for that storage right?
I don't think anyone's going to pay for that.
And those are issues.
Okay, thank you.
Planning Commission.
Amy, board for the Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing residential single-family RSA-3 zoning at this location.
The property has a documented history of three-family dwellings dating back to at least 1961.
The fourth unit in the basement was a unique physical circumstances of the property upon purchase.
However, the appellant has not shown that there are unique physical circumstances that would prevent providing the required parking.
The Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant the requested variance for the fourth filling unit and deny the requested parking variance.
Thank you.
LI 2023-005-846-6150 Lebanon Avenue.
I vote no.
lebaron it's no shaheed my vote is no
sorry about that lebaron leonard palmer my vote is no thank you thank you counsel
we can move to the next case here
number 13 mi 2023 007
212 102 north 50 street vernon anastasio is the attorney
there's a letter of support from the 44th ward rco
mr anastasio is coming back in as a panelist now chair okay
morning sir well i swore you earlier in today please for the record just state your name
good morning mr chair vern anastasio uh on behalf of my client all right and could you identify
that client a relationship to the property yes uh second here it's i'm trying to get the correct
pronunciation it's uh okay and he is the and he is the owner okay and our vice chair has a few
questions thank you good afternoon have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that
is needed and required to proceed this case five days in advance of this hearing yes sir thank you
And please proceed to see Ms. Brayner.
Okay, Mr. Chair, my client is here because he has a legal four-family dwelling in the past,
and he added a rear addition to make that space just more livable and to create more spacious rooms,
convenient mobility and an opportunity for slightly extra access waste spaces the property
encompasses a large area at the back and the front of the basement location of the property
is in the university area and it's very well it's very well maintained and cared for and that's one
of the reasons why the rco is in strong support of the application as you can see it's zoned rta1
The continued use as a four-family dwelling would be consistent with what was all previously
approved. And we're just here for the rear addition. And with that, I'm submitting the
application and the project information form. Here are the elevations, and I'll pull out so you can
Here are the elevations, and I'll pull out so you can see.
So here was the rear addition placed on the property.
As you can see, there's front step and a covered porch, and still an ample rear yard that is almost nine feet.
here's some photos that show
the space as well
and there's access to the to the basement there here's the basement some photos we also have
submitted to evidence lots of interior photos the entire exhibit packet of evidence is 100 pages
and I'm submitting this
and entering this into evidence today.
Here's the rest of the block
where there are other multifamily dwellings.
Here's the front.
Each unit will have interior trash storage.
What was added one to the rear?
Could you show us that?
Yeah, it was a rear addition.
this section here and that's a covered porch you said the covered porch is in the front
oh okay all right thank you
and the rear addition by the way is still consistent with most of the homes on the block
let's see a picture of the rear i'll show you that again
so it was four units before it's still four units yep we're not changing any of that use
uh the only thing we're trying to legalize now is the addition because of the uh because of the
open space and this will allow for more comfortable rooms uh and uh more larger bathrooms one will
be able to be accessible if need be for a tenant and we also have interior photos of the rehab
so the use is consistent because the use is consistent with the history of the property
because the rear yard is still consistent with the size of other properties on the block
uh as is the use itself and because the rco strongly supports this okay we respectfully
request our appeal be granted why don't you bring your client on
to say if can you please raise your virtual hand
there's one other refusal pursuant to decks these are what the l and i examiner are calling decks
but they're they're not they're more like a covered terrace on each of the units
just to say by isa
you could please raise his virtual hand
sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes i do please proceed counsel thank you sir did you hear my presentation
to the board this morning.
I'm doing.
Is it true and accurate
to the best of your knowledge?
Do you adopt it as your own?
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm going to end with the letter
from Mr. Willie Jordan,
who's the ward leader,
44th Ward, Democratic RCO,
in support,
so long as we have some provisos
that I believe are,
some of them at least,
are enforceable
with additional rear lighting.
uh and making the balconies uh more secure with railings um questions or comments from the board
no chair
lebaron
no questions chair questions or comments from our attorney hillary
no questions chair questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands at this time chair planning commission
amy wood with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to
the existing multifamily residential RTA-2,
sorry, RTA-1, zoning at this location,
for-friendly household living
is consistent with prior variances.
The applicant's hardship for deck setback
and occupied area are not supported
with unique physical circumstances
or condition of the properties
that would prevent it from being used
in conformance with the requirements of the code.
The Planning Commission recommends
that the board grant the variance
for four-family household living, but deny the requested variances for deck setback and occupied
area. Thank you. For the record, there are no decks, Mr. Chair. There's two balconies in the
rear and the covered porch. I think they're considering that the flat above that porch
as a deck, but it's not, and he didn't put it there. Okay, thank you. MI 2023-007-212-102 North
50th Street, I vote yes. Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
LeBaron Leonard Palmer, my vote is yes. You have your votes, counsel. Thank you. Thank you.
All right. Number 18, MI 2024, 000644, 1414 South 18th Street. Sean Whalen is the attorney.
letter of opposition
from the Point Breeze Community Development
Coalition. There were two
meetings.
Sean Whalen
is coming back in as a panelist now,
Chair.
Still good morning, Board Chairman.
Almost.
Could you just state your name, please, and spell for the courts that aren't for me?
Certainly. Sean Whalen, W-H-A-L-E-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you identify your client and relationship to the property?
Certainly. My client is Andrew Lai and Sin Su, the owners of the property.
And our vice chair has just a few questions.
Certainly.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
I do, and I would simply make a note that we've actually cured one of the three refusals, but I'll walk through that in a minute.
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?
Yes, I did.
Thank you, counsel. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you very much.
As I stated, my name is Sean Whalen from Vintage Law, here on behalf of 1414 South 18th Street.
What you see now, I can actually zone this in, this is the Philadelphia Atlas map.
The property in question is a corner property.
It is 16 feet wide and 57 feet long along Garrett Street, right at the corner of South 18th and Garrett Street,
with the major cross intersections being Reed and Dickinson.
This is Google Earth image and I'll show you in a second. This building was recently demolished
because it became unsafe and so there was an existing building here that was 100% lock covered.
what you see here is the zoning map we have this is an rsa5 district as you can see it's
mostly rsa5 but there are cmx1 uh sort of commercial corner uses uh rife throughout
the entire neighborhood and essentially that's what that's our proposal here today
there's even one right at the corner right at the end of our block down at dickinson
so again here's the existing conditions this is the vacant lot here on the corner
we would be proposing what is now a three-story building with one apartment and a first floor
commercial which would be a local cafe owned and operated by the family that's going to be
owning the property you can see this is just the existing conditions of looking up
You can see this is just the existing conditions of looking up and down South 18th Street.
So I'll leave it there.
Again, some additional photos here from the architect.
You can see the surrounding neighborhood.
A lot of multifamily in this area with a lot of the corner commercial uses.
So again, we have four refusals. One refusal for the eating and drinking establishment being
prohibited in RSA 5. Again, we believe that this should be appropriately CMX 1, just like
the numerous other CMX 1 lots that are all around at the corners. We also received a two-family
dwelling unit is prohibited in RSA 5, we have actually cured this refusal. So I'll walk through
in a second what we did, but we are now only seeking one apartment above the commercial use,
not two. So that refusal goes away. And then finally, we are proposing to continue the
prior existing 100% lot coverage use. So we have refusals that 20% open area is required
and a nine-foot rear yard is required. So what we originally had was the first floor commercial
here. This is a view from Garrett Street. South 18th Street would be on the left.
and then we had two apartments with a four-story building. We went to the RCO for an initial
meeting. That meeting was very well attended and the vote was actually
11 yes and 11 no. So it came out dead even with four stories and two apartments.
But the overwhelming statement that we heard from the community in the opposition was the building was just too big and overbearing at four stories and two apartments.
So what we did, we have a proviso plan submitted for one page proviso plan, and we've reduced the proposed structure from four stories down to three stories, and we've reduced the residential number of units from two units down to one.
So this is the proviso plan that was submitted in advance. And again, you can see significantly reduced height here. And again, we will just have one two-bedroom unit, so a larger unit encompassing bi-level unit on the second and third floors with an outdoor space for that unit, both on this balcony roof deck and at the roof deck at the top of the building.
and again we are still proposing a essentially local cafe coffee shop on the first floor.
I should also note you can see the as I'll point out later with regard to any imposition from the
continued use of this as 100% built out. Again this was 100% built out and
generally speaking was abandoned because we had to demolish that
build, but only because the building became unsafe. Otherwise, we would have been by right
at this first level to continue the full build out. This build out, we have a three and a half
foot alleyway in the rear. And as you can see both up here and I think in my site photos,
the rear of our property actually goes up to the side of the adjacent property behind us.
So we are not, and there are no windows or breakages whatsoever in that wall.
So what we have is, you know, we are seeking to continue this 100% lot coverage, but that
100% lot coverage does not impinge or impose upon anyone's light, air, or quality of use
in their rear yard.
So again, reduced it down to three stories.
And here's what you have.
The issue has been now the commercial space. Garrett Street is along the bottom here. You can see this is the three and a half foot wide alleyway, 100% build out. And then this is that side building that I just showed you with no windows.
So South 18th Street is on the left hand side. Again, there will be a separate entry on South 18th Street going up to the bi-level apartment.
separate entry on South 18th Street going up to the bi-level apartment on the second and third
floors. And then there will be a commercial window here, an entryway on the commercial space.
The real commercial frontage here will be along Garrett Street. There's a label as bicycle
storage, but this is intended for the customers and employees to be able to put their bikes
and strollers and whatnot into this area will also be used to, you know, in foul weather to
keep coats and things like that, keep all that sort of stuff off the street and out of the right
of way. This extension also and a proviso that we would accept is to allow us to build out a trash
room. So instead of maintaining the trash outside in an open rear yard, we can have a separate trash
room with a separate door. And we would be using private trash collection at a minimum of two times
a week to make sure that there are no issues with that. And then, you know, this is all ADA compliant.
You would have another entryway right in here. This is a small space. It's only about 400,
450 square feet and so you know we would be limiting this to no more than 20 people and we
would agree to a proviso of that sort the intended use here is for a local coffee shop with limited
simple breakfast and lunch offerings and then we are seeking 7 a.m to 10 p.m hours which again we
would also agree to a proviso of the later hours after the lunchtime so again this would be this
is intended to be kind of a local community coffee shop with those it's not going to have a commercial
kitchen it's going to have a limited kitchen so it'll be sort of similar to the offerings you can
get at your local coffee shop like a starbucks or other things of that nature in the evenings
the owner is hoping to have some small cooking classes or tastings, and those would be periodic
and limited. So there is no intention to serve full dinners, but that is why we're requesting
the 10 p.m. I would note also, and we would accept a proviso, there is no liquor license here,
and we are not serving any liquor here. So none of the standard nuisance issues will apply or be
involved here. So getting into the hardship, we had 100% lot coverage. We are seeking to do that
again only on the first floor. Here we go. You can see that we have the full setback on the
second and third floors. Again, we reduced it in working with the RCO from four stories to three
stories and from two units to one unit. The second RCO meeting we had was not very well attended,
but people were very appreciative of us working with them and kind of hearing their concerns.
We did get a no vote at that meeting, but there were only six people
who voted at that one as opposed to the 22 at the original meeting.
Sean, the basement, is that used by the cafe?
Oh, I'm sorry.
Yes, the basement will be commercial space storage.
It's approximately 350 to 400 square feet for, let's see, I'm glad you asked that because
I had it up right there.
Actually, if you're interested, Hillary told me to ask, so I didn't think that through
it was Hillary to ask that question, so thank you.
All right.
Well, excellent idea, Hillary, and wonderful execution board, Chairman.
Yeah, so you can see the commercial space, the commercial cellar actually ends.
It's not going to extend the full length of the property as the first floor build-out will.
So, again, it'll be accessed by – it has no access to the exterior.
It will be accessed only through the local cafe going down these stairs.
You want to bring our client on?
Certainly. Can you see if Andrew Lye is on?
Mr. Lye, please raise your virtual hand.
Yeah. And while he's coming on, I would say that this is going to be a family owned and operated building with they have extensive extensive experience in restaurants.
But what they are doing here, this is their first entryway into owning and operating their own restaurant.
uh owning and operating their own restaurant uh so they're very excited to become a part
So they're very excited to become a part of the neighborhood.
of the neighborhood here and and start this small uh small cafe
hello i'm here hi could you please state your name and spell for this stenographer
first name's andrew last name is lai l-a-i right do you swear or affirm to tell the
truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes please proceed counsel thank you very much uh
Mr. Lye, you're the owner of the property, correct?
That is correct.
And did you hear all of the testimony that I already presented in this case?
And all of the provisors I said that we would be comfortable with?
And do you believe them to be true and correct to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief?
And would you adopt them as your own?
Questions from the board.
Thank you very much, board chair.
Sarah, I neglected to state it. As I said, we are seeking essentially to convert this to one of the corner CMX1 uses.
We see no detriment, which we would have to prove for a hardship to the community.
We are going out of our way to make sure there's no nuisance capability here.
We would also agree to a proviso of no grocery sales.
So this is not intended to become a corner store of any sort.
um i believe i've already stated the bases for a hardship and this is the least minimum variance
because we're seeking only the first floor in a continuation of the size that it used to be
and there historically was uh dating all the way back to the 1950s a uh a commercial use
on this first floor and in fact that's why it was built out uh 100 so thank you with that i offer
questions from the board
no chair
no questions chair
questions or comments from our attorney
Hillary Emerson
just briefly
Mr. Whalen so just to
clarify because the
refusal only broadly
refused or refused
the broader category of eating and drinking
establishment you're requesting
specifically a prepared food shop for this location on the first floor and basement.
Is that correct?
Yes, this would be a prepared food shop with limited seating, no alcohol, and no takeout.
It would be just for breakfast, light fare for breakfast and lunch as kind of part of
a local coffee shop.
Okay, thank you so much.
Thank you.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have a call-in user
Call-in user, please unmute yourself
And wait for the chair
Hi, Tiffany Green
Hi, could you please state your name
And spell it for the stenographer, Stephanie
Yeah, Tiffany Green
Tiffany
T-I-F-S-A-N-Y, Green
T-I-F-S-A-N-Y, Green
T-I-F-S-A-N-Y, Green
T-I-F-S-A-N-Y, Green
Hold on, hold on, hold on
I'm sorry, go ahead
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth
And nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed, Tiffany.
We have a concern here in terms of the testimony, a real concern.
And so first I want to start off with Sean mentioned about the 11-11 vote.
I'm not familiar with that vote.
I have a letter here from Point Pre-CDC dated June 5th that states that the community did not support it.
Point Pre-CDC did not support it, and we're not supporting the project.
And so I don't know where that other vote came in at specifically.
And even so, this is the official letter from Point Breast CDC coordinating RCO.
I'd say all that to say that the community definitely was opposed to this,
if you look at the comments on the letter.
And we're saying that because, one, is that we've had quite a few already somewhat in the area,
they said, and breakfast shops, and it seems to be an overusage of the breakfast cafe piece
within this small residential area. You have one at 17th and Reed, going to be a breakfast place.
20th and Reed is already a breakfast place called Eagle. You have 1300 South 18th Street,
which is a by-right, something that they could not really stop. They weren't interested really
there, but it's a by-right corner property. And so Garrick Street is a very small, small block.
And so to want to build this out on Gabbard Street, this is not a main street, is one of the other concerns of the community.
And the fact that they did not want no cafe or type of store at the bottom, they want to keep it RSA 5 residential at this time.
And so therefore there's no real hardship for that.
He could build to code and still have a property that is viable at this point.
have a property that is viable at this point.
And so we don't feel that every corner in the community
and so we don't feel that every corner
has to be a first-floor commercial with a residential on top.
And so basically we are opposing this property,
and we're asking the board not to because we don't really even know
all about these proviso plans that he has proposed.
And talking about 100% lot coverage, he's asking for provisos
that I don't remember really being discussed at the meeting.
And so I guess he's taking his chances down here at the ZBA. And so this is not fair to the community. So we're asking you to oppose this project. And at this point, we're not having the support of the community or the RCOs. Thank you, Chair.
Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?
Chairman, you're muted.
I know. Thank you. Thank you.
Okay. All right.
Okay, Chair. I was wondering what happened.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Chair, we have a caller with the last four digits, 3780.
Caller, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the court's sonography?
Gail Ratt, C-A-I-L-M-A-T-T.
I'm a resident at 18th and Reed.
And I'm opposing this.
Hold on one minute, one minute.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
All right.
And are you in favor of this project or against?
I'm opposed.
Do you want to tell us why?
Yes, I can tell you why.
because we have enough cafes in our area.
We overpopulated with the cafes.
We overpopulated with the parking.
As far as I'm concerned,
it should be a single family dwelling.
All right.
Thank you very much.
No, thank you very much
for taking the time to calls.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Chair, we have a Stephanie Ostrov.
i could you please state and allow to speak i could you state your name is spelled for the
court stenographer hi yes uh stephanie s-t-e-p-h-a-n-i-e ostroff o-s-t-r-o-f-f
all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes are you in favor or against this project i'm against this project and could is there other
reasons why you're against it than what we've already heard? Yes. Specifically the 10 PM closure
for the business. I'm over on 18th and Garrett, just a few houses down from the project. And I'm
concerned about noise in the evenings, if they're going to be hosting classes. And I also concur
with others who've spoken about sort of the oversaturation of coffee shops. I'd prefer that
it were just residential. Thank you very much for taking the time to calls. Is there anyone else in
the virtual audience. Chair, I see no further hands at this time. Before I go to Planning
Commission, Mr. Whalen, do you want to respond? Certainly. Thank you, Chair. So I guess globally,
I re-shared my screen just to make clear. We had two RCO meetings and two RCO letters.
Both of them referenced the votes that were taken at those meetings. Both of them referenced
the specific requirements, not requirements, specific issues raised. Point Breeze CDC actually
does quite a nice job with that. So the first meeting was held back in March. There's an April
3rd, 2024 letter that I'm showing now. They had 22 votes. It was very well attended. And the meeting
was 11 yes and 11 no. I have it highlighted here on the screen. It essentially goes down through
each and every, excuse me, each and every issue here. Most of the issues, as I described them
before, and we could go one by one if the board is interested, revolves around it's too big of
an overbuild. And Mr. Lai was at that meeting, but it's actually Sin Su, who I also have on this call
in order to address any issues, who's going to be operating the restaurant and the cafe rather.
And so people were concerned that they didn't get enough information with regard to that cafe.
So again, we went back to Point Breeze CDC. This is when we presented at the second meeting,
we presented the scaled down plan. We told them specifically we are going to go to
the scaled down plan. We told them specifically, we are going to go from four stories to three
Thank you.
stories. We were going to go from two units to one unit above the cafe use and have the full
build out on the first floor. This was actually widely received well because we were working with
the community and they appreciated that. They ultimately voted, no, there were only eight votes
at that second meeting. And again, they go into the main reasons that you hear today,
which we've already gone through, which are they would prefer to be strictly residential because
there are too many cafes in the neighborhood, too many of these similar uses that they're stating
in the neighborhood. Again, what you see here, going to the east, there are a lot of CMX1
uses. Going to the West, where we are, there are almost no corner uses for CMX1 smaller shops.
So again, we offered all of the provisos that I stated today on the meeting. We offered to
include as provisos at the second RCO meeting. They were not offered at the first RCO meeting,
just to be clear again. And again, this is a smaller shop. This is not going to be generating
vehicular traffic. This is going to be a small corner shop cafe with limited offerings for food
for breakfast and lunch. And we would even be open to a proviso that there is no dinner service here
with a limited number of, you know, days a week that we could offer those nighttime or evening
classes. Those are not intended to be extensive. Those are just offerings that sort of Miss Sue,
who can, I would actually, I guess, because I've testified so much more, I would ask that she be
called to adopt my testimony as it is. She'll be operating personally the cafe and what she has
heard and worked with the community is that um they are missing a community space and uh have
artists come in and do some small cooking classes and things of that sort that's not a use that is
anywhere else in the community um so that was something she was hoping after the main business
which is breakfast and lunch and having people you know sitting and working at the cafe uh to
then allow for uh this you know evening use um okay so so i guess because i went so far
beyond what i originally did i i would uh respectfully request that i can call sin
sue to adopt my test why don't we bring her on just to adopt your testimony thank you
do we share her hand sin sue has been unmuted and allowed to speak chair hi could you please
state your name and spell for the court stenographer? Hi, Sin Su, S-I-N-S-U. Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes. Please
proceed, counsel. Thank you. Ms. Su, if this project is approved, you will be part of the
ownership group, correct? Yes. And you will personally be operating the first floor cafe
as I've described it, correct? Yes. And did you hear all the prior testimony that I presented in
this case? Yes. Do you believe it to be true and correct to the best of your information and
belief? Yes. And do you agree with all of the provisos that I've set forth already? Yes. Okay.
And would you adopt that testimony as your own? Yes. Okay. Thank you very much. Chair,
I often miss you for any questions. Right. Planning Commission.
Amy Board for the Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing single-family RSA 5 zoning at this location. The applicant's hardship is not supported with evidence of unique physical circumstances or conditions of the property that would prevent them from being used in conformance with the use requirements of the zoning code, as well as dimensional requirements.
The board denied the requested variances for multifamily living, eating and drink in an establishment, open space, and rear yard setback.
Thank you.
Mr. Watt, what we're going to do with this, and I'm going to hold this for two weeks.
We will vote on this two weeks on Wednesday, which is, what's that date, guys?
Today is the 12th, 19th, 26th?
Yes, the 26th, Mr. Chair.
We will vote on this at 930.
the case is closed
and I just want a time to
go into executive section and try to
go into executive section and try to work through this okay thank you certainly uh chairman if if i
work through this
may um i appreciate the board's consideration of this uh i did just confirm with my client
given some of the concerns of the community my client would accept a three-year temporary
variance in order to get this approved and show show what a good use this will be for
the neighborhood and for the community um well we'll take that into consideration when we talk
about that thank you very much chair thank you thank you very much uh is mr holliman on
okay is there mr chairman can you hear me i i can i can um hillary what i want to do is
handle those add-ons?
Yes, Mr. Chair.
Tom, what we're going to do
is the issue we talked about later, I'll do it
at 2 o'clock, but I have two or three
add-ons I want to do right now.
No problem, Mr. Chairman. Okay, thank you. So, number
one is MI2024
101 Bethlehem
Avenue. I vote
yes, proviso.
Her supplemental findings of fact and conclusions of law adopted by the ZBA on June 12, 2024.
Thomas Halvin, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Thank you.
Number two, MI 2024-000637-105 Bethlehem, Pike, I vote yes with proviso per supplemental findings of fact and conclusions of law adopted by the ZBA on June 12, 2024.
Thomas Holliman, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with proviso.
And number four, MI 2024, 00317, 2400 Oakdale Street.
I vote yes with provisos.
Interior trash stores, maximum two dwelling units.
Thomas Howellman, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with proviso.
Is there anyone in the virtual audience whose case has not been called?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Thank you, everyone. See everyone at 2 p.m.
Good job, everyone.
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this afternoon's meeting.
With me is our Vice Chair, Ismael Shahid.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also here is LeBaron Leonard Palmer from the Division of Development Services, who will be serving as our alternate board member.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
And also Thomas Holloman is here, our board member.
So everyone knows, today is Mr. Holloman's last day on the zoning board.
he's been on the board for eight years and if you think about what this board has accomplished in
the last eight years is just unbelievable I mean there's literally parts of the city has been
really just remade so Tom we want to thank you for your service thank you for your advice thank
you for your expertise as an architect and Tom thank you your personality allowed you to become
a part of a team. And Tom, you were always the first one when we had a complicated case to say,
hey, let's go to executive session. And an executive session, you really knew how to
define things and work with people and really come to, I guess, conclusions on where we wanted to be.
So for Tom, I got to tell you, I enjoyed working with you. You're just a great person that was on
this board. I know you're going back to your work even harder on your own practice. Everybody wants
to say something, Tom, but as usual, we always, always listen to Tanya. So Tanya just wants to
say a couple words about you. Thank you so very kindly, Chair. I just wanted to say it's been a
pleasure. I had no worries. I don't think I've talked to Tom over the past eight years too often
about making sure that he was available to be at the board meetings or to be here for hearings.
I just want to say it's been a pleasure for me and the staff to work with Tom and his professionalism is always appreciated.
And his professionalism is always appreciated.
So thank you and enjoy the rest of your life, sir.
So thank you and enjoy the rest.
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, Tom.
Can you hear me, Tanya?
Yes, I can, Tom.
So can the rest of the people.
Thank you, Bill, for those very kind words.
And thank you, Tanya.
I've been on the zoning board for eight years.
I was 70 when I started.
I have enjoyed the opportunity over the years to serve the public.
I want to thank everybody for supporting me to be here so long.
I want to thank Kenyatta Johnson, now council president, for recommending me to the zoning board.
I want to thank you, Tonya, for letting me know what I should or should not do as a zoning board member.
I want to thank Hillary for her excellent summaries in order to prepare us for all of the zoning cases.
I want to thank Bill for his wisdom as chairman of the zoning board.
I want to thank the zoning board staff for making sure my loud voice is in check.
And finally, I want to welcome all of the new zoning board members.
God bless.
Thank you.
Thank you, Tom.
Thank you, Chair.
Bye, Tom.
I'm sorry.
You have questions.
All right.
So as I continue, also present here is our attorney, Hillary Emerson, and our executive
director, Tanya Sumpkin.
Here's our format.
The proceedings are being recorded.
With your participation, you agree to be recorded.
Video will be available by contacting tonyasunkett at phillis.gov.
For our court's sonography, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before they testify.
If you're participating by phone, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
To enter the period of statement, call 267-270-5548.
Leave your email address and the address of the property in question.
And finally, the question box on the screen, it's not for comments or testimony.
All comments should be directed to our executive director, Tanya Sunkit.
Let's look at our schedule before we start.
Number three.
MI 2024, 001-411-1104 North 42nd Street.
That case is continued.
Number seven, MI 2024-001-795-4999 Linden Avenue, that case is continued.
And number 11, number 11, MI 2024-001-813-5025 North Fish Street, that case has been continued. Are there any other requests for continuance?
good afternoon chair this is yvette benton i'll be your co-host for today
thank you no hands at this time okay and then number 13 mi 2024 001 846 2546 and one half
north 32nd street that case has been withdrawn we're going to go to our add-on list excuse me
chair yep we have a peter mcdermott with their hand up okay they have been unmuted and allowed
to speak i'm mr mcdermott could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
yeah it's peter mcdermott it's m-c-d-e-r-m-o-t-t all right what case do you want to hold on do you
swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do sir what case do
you want to talk about? Good afternoon, Chairman Bergman. I was on the call, and my other partners
were all on the call, related to 4999 Linden Avenue. You just stated that the case was
continued. Do you have a date? We do not yet. Let me see here. Only because the summer's coming up,
sir. No, I do not have the date, but we will figure out where that is, and you can contact
the office and we'll let you know but we do not have it at this point thank you sir all right
thank you for much for calling in you got it thank you is there anyone else in the audience has
containers for a question chair we have a caesar lawyer with his hand up they have been unmuted
and allowed to speak hi sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
Hey, how you doing? Can you guys hear me?
I can.
My name is Cesar Loya, 5025 North 5th Street.
Could you spell your name, please, for the court sonographer?
It's C-E-S-A-R, last name Loya, L-O-Y-A.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Great. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
What case?
What case are you interested in?
So it's the case 2024-001. I have a different numbers.
What's the location?
It's 50-20.
Oh, I see. Yep. Yeah. So, yeah. So we didn't have all the submitted. All the packages weren't in on a particular by 5 p.m. on 6-11. They had to be here.
and they were not here, and we have a chance to look at it,
we have to continue that case.
So I just have a couple things to say because...
Well, hold on, hold on.
If you have things to say, what I want you to do is call the office and tell them.
He's been muted, Chair.
You can continue.
Thank you very much.
I appreciate it.
Okay, so we're going to go to our add-on list.
Let's see here.
Number one, MI 2021-005-028-234-230-West Topahokin Street. Appeal denied.
Thomas Holloman, appeal denied.
Ishmael Shahid, appeal denied.
Thank you. Number two, MI-2022-007-347-224-230 West Topahokan Street. I vote no.
Thomas Holloman, I vote no.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is no.
Number three, MI-2023-001-213-301 Delmar Street. I vote yes with proviso.
Revised plans, one-paged, stamped by ZBA on June 12, 2024.
Thomas Coleman, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Dishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Number four, MI 2022-007-475-2120-22 West Tioga Street.
I vote yes with Proviso.
1. Interior Trash Storage. 2. Temporary Variants to Expire. 6-12-27.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with proviso.
This is Shimon Shahid, my vote is yes with proviso.
Number 5, 2023-000112-812 North Uber Street.
I vote yes with proviso.
Her amended refusal dated 5-28-24.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with proviso.
Number six, MI 2023-000113, 814 North Uber Street.
I vote yes with proviso.
Her amended refusal dated 5-28-24.
number seven mi2023 007031 4714 brissom street the vote in this matter has been rescheduled to
Wednesday, June 26th at 2 p.m. Number eight, MI 2024-000806-439 West
Burke Street. Hold on. I vote yes with proviso. Revised plans, one page, stamped
by ZBA June 12, 2024, the new MIN Overlay District Applicant Acknowledgement Form must
be reviewed by the Planning Commission prior to permit issuance.
I'm a columnist.
My vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed.
My vote is yes with proviso.
And number nine, MI-2023-004-268-6600 Lansdowne Avenue, I vote no.
Thomas Coleman, I vote no.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is no.
Thank you.
We're going to go to our record list.
Excuse me, Mr. Chair.
Our Mr. LeBaron, messing up your name.
LeBaron needs to vote on that last one instead of Mr. Shahid.
LeBaron, I'll call it again.
And by 2023-004-268-6600 Lansdowne Avenue, I vote no.
6,600 Lansdowne Avenue, I vote no.
Thomas Holliman, my vote is no.
LeBaron Leonard Palmer, my vote is no.
Thank you, LeBaron, and thank you, Hillary.
We're going to go to case number one.
MI 2024-000-424-4301 Bybury Road, number A.
David Tusty is the attorney for the owner.
there's a letter of support from milbrick civic association a letter of non-opposition from
council member o'neill
david to shitty please raise your virtual hand
he's coming back in as a panelist now chair okay chair i'm sorry i just wanted to make sure
mr halliman is no longer necessary i said we're fine thank you we're fine right hillary um we
will need him for a reconsideration hearing at the end of the 2 p.m list okay thanks thank you
good afternoon counsel could you please state your name and spell for the courts sure uh
David Schutte, last name is spelled T-S-H-U-D-Y.
I am with Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP,
and we represent Walmart Real Estate Business Trust, the applicant in this matter.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Our vice chair has just a few questions for you, sir.
Good afternoon, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the written of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
I agree to that.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed and required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I did.
Thank you, counsel. Please proceed and share your screen.
Certainly. Let me share my screen.
And also with me is also also on within the virtual room right now is Kelly Halstead, lead counsel for real estate for Walmart, if she could also be brought in.
Is she going to testify or you'll bring her on to adopt your testimony?
She's going to be brought on to adopt my testimony.
OK, thank you.
Sure. This is an application for special exception for the property at 4301 Byberry Road.
The property currently measures 11.7 acres and is currently improved with about 180,000 square foot Walmart store,
which has received all the necessary permits to allow for retail sales of consumer goods at the property.
The applicant has owned the property since 2012, and the property is located in the CA2 zoning district.
Recently, Walmart has started an online tire sales program in its stores nationally, in which its customers are able to order tires online for their vehicle and then pick those tires up at the store.
Several months ago, when this program was being rolled out in Philadelphia, Walmart requested a business license for tire sales.
And it was that time that it realized that a special exception is required for the use of vehicle equipment and sales supplies rental in the CA2 district.
Going through the exhibit booklet, a referral was issued by L&I on December 27, 2023.
Thereafter, an application was filed with this board on January 22, 2024, requesting the special exception for this use.
The exhibit booklet also includes Exhibit 4, which is the vesting deed into the applicant's ownership, again, dated November 16, 2012.
Uh, property was properly posted, uh, two times, uh, once prior to the April hearing and then prior to this hearing.
And that, uh, that's evidenced by exhibit seven and exhibits nine, 10, and 11 evidence the proper notification of the nearby property owners.
And we'll get down to there.
Uh, and then, um, let's see.
Let's see. On March 26, 2024, the applicant and I met with the Millbrook Civic Association, and following that meeting, the Millbrook Civic Association took a vote of 27 in favor and 6 not in favor of the special exception application.
And as mentioned earlier, Councilman O'Neill has also issued a letter of no objection.
Again, this application is to allow for the online tire sales use.
Again, this use does not include any vehicle repair on the property or in the parking lot.
And it does not include any higher disposal within the parking lot either.
Rather, there is no expansion to the existing building contemplated by this application or any new improvements required by this application or requested by this application.
The application meets all of the specific criteria for this use.
In the zoning code and also meets the specific requirements as to the detrimental impacts on the neighborhood, as it will not cause any congestion to the public streets or transportation system, cause any overcrowding or impair any adequate supply of light or air to any adjacent properties, burn any water, sewer, school park or other public facilities.
or impair or injure any use adjacent to this property
and nor will endanger the public health, safety, or welfare of the community
and is not inconsistent with the comprehensive plan of the city.
Why don't you bring on your Walmart rep and adopt your testimony?
Okay. Kelly, I think you need to raise your hand to be brought in.
Please.
Kelly Halstead has been unmuted and allowed to speak.
Good afternoon.
Could you please state your name and spell it for the court's sonographer?
Hi, my name is Kelly Halstead, K-E-L-L-Y-H-A-L-S-T-E-A-D.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Please proceed, counsel.
Kelly, did you have an opportunity to listen to my presentation and review the exhibit booklet that was submitted?
I did.
And did everything I say true and correct?
And would you adopt my testimony to this board as yours?
I have no further questions.
All right.
Thank you.
Questions.
And by the way, could both of you stay after this case is over?
Because you have another case right after this, right?
So questions from the board?
No, Chair.
No questions, Chair.
Questions from our counsel, Hillary Emberson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
i see no answer this time chair thank you planning commission
hi this is john lavicar from the planning commission uh last name l-a-v-a-c-c-a-r-e
right do you swear or affirm do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth is
nothing but the truth john i do please proceed the comprehensive plan recommends no change
uh sorry i'll start my video here the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing auto
oriented commercial zoning the proposed use will not cause detrimental impacts beyond
what might normally be expected the city planning commission therefore recommends that the zoning
board grant the special exception thank you mi 2024 00424 4301 bybury road number a i vote yes
the baron linda palmer vote is yes ishmael shaheed my vote is yes so case number two
mi 2024 000 425 1675 south christopher columbus boulevard uh counsel you've already been sworn
just state your name for the record david david shuddy right um could you identify your client
the relationship to the property. Sure. My client is Walmart Real Estate Business Trust and is the
fee owner of the property. Council, this is, and by the way, there's a letter of non-opposition
from Penn Sports Civic and a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Squilla.
Counsel, could you just – it's the same thing, Tyres?
Council, could you just, it's the same thing, Tires? Exactly the same thing.
Exactly the same thing.
Why don't you do this?
Why don't you just give us a brief outline and say it's all the same as the last time?
This property is located at 1675 South Christopher Columbus Boulevard.
This property is located in the CX3 zoning district.
It is – the property itself measures 11 acres and is currently improved with 150,000 square foot Walmart store.
Again, Walmart has owned this property since 2008.
And here's the exhibit booklet for this one.
But the same situation as the last hearing, only in this case we're requesting a variance because the vehicle equipment and supplies sales and rental is not a permitted use in the CX3 zoning district.
We went through the same process. We did meet with the Append Support Civic Association, received their support after that meeting, and also received a non-opposition letter from the city council person.
Why don't you bring your Walmart rep back on as she's still on the line?
Sure. Kelly, are you still on?
okay um if she just if she got off that's fine you're an officer of the court we'll accept
your testimony questions from the board
no questions chair
questions or comments from our attorney not at this time mr chair questions or comments from
the virtual audience. Chair, we have Kelly Halstead. They have been unmuted in the last week.
That's okay. We're okay with that. Okay, Chair. Thank you. Questions or comments? Planning
Commission, please. John? Hello. The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the CMX3 zoning at
this location. The proposed use is in accordance with the site and the surrounding area. Therefore,
PCPC staff recommends granting the variance request. Thank you. MI 2024-000-425-1675 South,
Christopher Columbus Boulevard, I vote yes.
The barrel in a former, my vote is yes. Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes. Thank you,
counsel. Thank you very much. Have a great afternoon. Okay. Number four, MI 2024-001-512-1433
Diamond Street. Alan Nockamson is the attorney.
Do we see Mr. Nockamson?
There he is.
There he is.
I see him.
I see him.
Mr. Nockamson, could you please state your name and spell it for the court stenographer?
Alan Nockamson.
A-L-A-N, last name Nockamson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, their relationship to their property?
Scott Miller, the owner of the property.
Mr. Nackamson, before our vice chair comes on, do we have an issue with the tax office?
Yeah, we're still waiting for a tax clearance certificate, so I would ask that the board hear this presentation, hold it until we provide a tax clearance certificate.
Okay, and our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
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?
We have.
Thank you, counsel. Please proceed and share your screen.
before i give my presentation i too wanted to say some words to mr holliman i appreciate your
service to the board um well i have not always agreed with every decision you have made
um i think every decision you have made has been thoughtful and in the best interest of the city
so i do applaud you for your many many many years of service and um i hope to see you
Many, many, many years of service, and I hope to see you sometime in the future, not as a board member, but as an architect.
I want to make sure he gets your words. He left already, but I would tell him what you said to him. Thank you very kindly, Alan.
Oh, you're welcome. All right, so I'm going to share my screen.
Alan, will we remember those words, too? Like, if you disagree, they're thoughtful,
worth being thoughtful. You know what? As long as you provide a fair forum,
I tell the community groups, too. So, but yes, thank you.
All right. 1433 Diamond Street. So this is a really nice project. You know, and it's a historic,
we're in the historic section of Philadelphia. So we have historic requirements, which we still
have to deal with um but um you'll we'll review this project first with the notice of refusal
then the correspondence from the uptown entertainment and development corporation
which is a letter of support uh let's get rid of that uh and then nearby uh comparable rm1 density
one of the refusals has to do with an additional unit requesting aerial view of the property so
this is a vacant lot it's been a vacant lot for some time we'll review maps of the area and
photographs of the property in the surrounding area. Our plans and drawings, our RCO meeting
notice. We had a meeting with the community in person recently. Our application for appeal that
we filed on Mr. Miller's behalf. Our deeds of property showing that Mr. Miller owns the property
and our certificate of tax clearance. Because of the Jewish holidays, Mr. Miller could not
attend today's hearing, but his son, Ari Miller, would be able to verify the factual assertions I
make in my presentation. Notice refusal. So this is an R1 property. We're not trying to convert
an RSA 5 property into multifamily use. We're trying to put seven units here, right? So we
have multiple variances, which are explainable. First, we're in an overlay, which requires us
to have 425 square feet of loss size per unit.
You know, typically with RM1,
it's 360 square feet of loss size per unit
for the first four units
and then 480 for each additional one.
So we're only asking for one additional unit
and we're in this overlay.
The second refusal has to do,
again, we're in this overlay
where the NCP overlay district A,
which technically requires us to have parking which makes absolutely no sense here we're half
a block away from broad street right on the broad street line and it would be out of character to
require us to have parking you know we're in a historic district there's no parking off street
parking of this sorts and so all we're trying to do is mimic what was previously there from a
physical standpoint and then the third refusal has to do with the height you know typically it's
tough to establish a hardship in terms of height. We have 38 feet as requirement. We're asking for
45 feet, 6 inches. We're mimicking what was there before and what's adjacent to us as well. And
you'll see, and, you know, the Historic Commission would require us to mimic that as well.
So we did meet with the community, and as you can see here, we do have a support letter from them.
We would ask for two provisos, which we promised them.
We also are trying to enter into a community benefits agreement, which I drafted and presented to them.
But the two provisos, which I believe are enforceable, is commercial trash pickup, which we're required to do anyway because of the size of the building.
But, you know, we would agree to that in the zoning permit and trash stored in the rear as well.
So those would be the two provisos.
and then um what we're asking for is now of character in terms of a density in terms of
density as you can see 1423 west diamond street also had seven units at one point
in an aerial view of the property you can see we're here open field here um it's been that way
for as long as you can see uh on street view on google so maps of the area again we're just off
Broad Street here on Diamond. And Broad Street's here. And, you know, we're an RM1 property. So
multifamily use is allowed. Given our requirement to meet the historic requirements, it's very
expensive endeavor. We're asking for one additional unit to make that endeavor a possibility. This
property has been a vacant lot for the longest period of time. And you can see here we're just
off the Broad Street line.
So having one parking spot
makes absolutely no sense
Makes absolutely no sense, given that we have ample public transportation.
given that we have ample public transportation.
But you also...
But you also see, given the history of the property, given the surrounding properties,
it makes no sense to have off-street parking.
In addition, we would be taking a parking spot off of the street.
So we take one parking spot off.
We take one car off the street, but we're taking a parking spot off of the street as well.
So it really just makes no sense whatsoever.
the photographs of the property here is our property here and this is our property in 2009
so we go as far back as we can with this property so for the last 15 years this has been a vacant
lot it's really hard given the historic district we're in to build anything and this is our
hearing notice that we've posted you know three weeks before today's hearing and this is our
property you know we looked at it from a historical perspective but you can see our roof line here
matches completely the roof line to the right that building structure is no longer there
and then this is you know diamond street to the right of the property as you can see there's
really no off street parking diamond street to the left of the property and you can see there's
these beautiful brownstones here and what we want to do is just mimic the brownstones that
are there. And again, rebuild what was previously there. So you see the roof lines matched
previously, and that's all we're trying to do here, which is requiring us to have a height
refusal of 45 feet, six inches. And then, you know, in terms of our living, we have seven units here.
There's actually a separate egress outside in the rear for the lower level unit. And then there's
two units on every single floor, the first, second, and third floors as well.
No roof deck. We met with
the community on May 14th at 6 p.m. in person. We
emailed that notice well before the meeting to the RCO and the
relevant parties. We also mailed that notice to 87 addresses.
Here are the list of the addresses. Here are the
certificate of mailing, proof of mailing to those addresses. Our applications
for appeal that we filed on Mr. Miller's behalf.
And then finally, the deeds of property
showing that Mr. Miller has owned it.
And just another thing,
he owned this property prior to the creation of this overlay,
which is creating two of the refusals.
So I'm just, you know, again,
he purchased it without that restriction of the overlay.
And then, you know, so I think that goes kind of to our hardship as well.
There have been further requirements placed upon him since his purchase.
And, you know, we don't have a tax clearance certificate.
So, you know, we would ask the board to hold this to allow us the opportunity to get one.
You want to bring his son on to adopt?
Mr. Miller, can you virtually raise your hand?
Do we see a hand?
Mr. Nockmson, you're an officer.
The court will gladly accept your testimony.
Questions from the board?
And yes, Mr. Miller is available to speak.
Okay, good.
Mr. Miller, please state your name.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell it for the court stenographer?
Ariel Miller, A-R-I-E-L-M-I-L-L-E-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed, counsel.
Oh, yeah.
Mr. Miller, you heard everything I had to state today about your zoning matter.
Yes, I have.
And is it true and correct?
And do you adopt it as your own testimony?
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No questions.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Remberson?
not at this time mr share questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands at this time chair planning commission
hello the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rm just for john just for the record state
your name so mr no you are too hi john love a car from the planning commission here uh the
comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rm1 zoning at this location the proposed variances
for dwelling units and height are not de minimis and pcpc staff recommends denying these variances
however staff has no objection to the requested parking variance thank you um this case will be
closed and mike right hillary and uh yes aside from aside from the information for tax compliance
And yes, aside from aside from the information for tax compliance, when we hear the tax compliance, we'll get back together and we'll vote on this as soon as we hear.
OK. Thank you. All right. Thank you. And Mr.
Knacken, stay right there, please.
please. So MI 2024 001-515-818 South A Street. There's a letter of non-opposition from Bella
Vista Neighbors and also a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Squilla's office. Just for the
record, you've already been sworn, just state your name, please. My name is Alan Occamson. I am
actually going to defer to uh mr goldberg from okay all right sure sure sure okay mr goldberg
we see mr goldberg's hand he's coming back in now thank you
waiting for me chair mr goldberg we're waiting for there he is
mr goldberg could you state your hi could you say your name is spelled please for the sonographer
Yeah, Alex Goldberg, A-L-E-X-G-O-L-D-B-E-R-G.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, a relationship to this property?
Yes, my client is James Lowry, and he is a representative of the estate of Jane Bocklin, the owner of the property.
Okay, and our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good afternoon, Councilor. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and 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 have.
Thank you, Councilor. Please proceed and share your screen.
see my screen mr chairman we can we're good yep um so i'm here presenting for 818 south 8th street
uh this is a rather straightforward one what you see on the screen is a mixed-use property
with two dwelling units above an existing pilates studio at 818 south 8th street
unfortunately the prior owner of this property jane laughlin passed away in november of 2023
At that time, the representative was appointed to her estate.
That representative was Mr. Jim Lowry, who was a longtime business partner of Jane's.
Mr. Lowry lives out of state.
They weren't interested in holding on to this property or the estate, and they needed to formally change the zoning prior to selling the property as a legal two plus one.
It's now zoned RSA 5 when Jane purchased the property in 1987.
It had recently changed from C2 to R10.
She got zoning approval for two dwelling units and a doctor's office.
That doctor's office existed at this location until 2016.
And then the use in the commercial space changed to this Pilates studio, but the zoning for that Pilates studio was never obtained.
so this has been a mixed-use property for about 40 years and you know we're sort of trying to
put a bow on the uh the zoning aspect of the property so that that it can be sold so here's
the table of contents when we originally applied for the zoning permit application
jim had just uh you know gotten possession of the property was not aware of the term of the lease
of the existing Pilates studio tenant.
So when we originally applied,
it was for a vacant commercial space.
We were going to let the next owners sort this out.
It turned out that there was more time in the lease
for the Pilates studio than we thought.
So we amended the zoning permit application
for personal services
instead of a vacant commercial space
to be able to honor that lease.
And that's why you see an original
and an amended refusal.
We have a letter of non-opposition
from the coordinating RCO, Villa Vista Neighbors Association, as well as the council member.
Property history, zoning maps, we have pictures of the inside of the commercial space and the
residential space, as well as the surrounding area. Basic floor plan, and then finally the meeting
as well as the surrounding area, basic floor plan, and then finally, the meeting notice, application for appeal, the deed, and the tax clearance.
Here's that notice of refusal. That original one was for the vacant commercial space on the first floor of an existing structure.
It was then amended to show personal services on the first floor of an existing structure with the existing two-family household living on the second and third floors.
um this is an rsa 5 zone property uh which i guess i would object to the accuracy of the
specific refusal identifying it as rm1 nonetheless we're seeking refusal for the commercials
and here are the authorization letters sent to the board and then received to amend that
zoning criminal application here's the letter of non-opposition from bella vista neighbors
association they're not opposed uh there were no votes in opposition three in support from
the community members and six uh unanimously from the board and then here's the letter of
non-opposition for the council member's school's office here's the property history so this is the
zoning uh when it uh from from the late 80s showing the doctor's office and the two family dwelling
which again operated there until 2016. The zoning map showing this is an RSA 5 property just off
of the commercial corridor on Christian Street, and parts of that extend up 8th Street, just not
quite to our property. Google Maps perspective as well. Here's the interior of the Pilates studio.
the interiors of the residences both units are occupied
here's the front of the property this is the property from 2009 it's quite blurry but you
can see you know it was mixed use in nature and there's a sign here uh advertising that
podiatrist office was located here here's the notice poster giving notice to the nearby neighbors
at this community meeting to the right of the property on south 8th left very basic floor plans
there's two entrances the room on the right is for the commercial space you can see they have access
to the rear yard and the basement storage purposes as well as a half bathroom on the left side there's
shared vestibule that takes you up the stairs uh to two separate units uh this one bedroom one bath
and this two bedroom one bath in the top floor gives the rco me notice we have a bellavista
neighbors on may 7th again receives a letter of ground authorization from them notified 130
with properties these of those addresses mailing certificates
here's the deed to the property uh quite old she purchased this in 87
it's followed by uh the registers of wills documentation from kent county in delaware
showing that James Lowry, otherwise known as Jim, is personal representative of the estate,
the death certificate for Jane Laughlin, and finally, a certificate of tax clearance.
So with that, I would call Mr. Lowry without my testimony.
We see Mr. Lowry's hand.
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Mr. Goldberg, you're an officer of the court.
we will take your testimony um questions from the board
no chair no questions chair questions from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands at this time chair planning commission
hello again john love a car from the planning commission
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA-5 zoning at this site, the proposed uses in alignment with other properties nearby, as well as the site's history of mixed-use commercial and residential.
Therefore, PCPC recommends granting the variance.
Thank you.
MI 2024-001-515-818 South A Street.
I vote yes with proviso per amended refusal dated 531-24.
LeBaron Leonard Palmer, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
Thank you, Mr. Goldberg.
Thank you, Mr. Goldberg.
Thank you, Mr. Shannon.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Okay, number six, MI-
Number six, MI 2024-001-651-8701-Tarsdale.
Ronald Patterson is the attorney.
There's a recommendation of opposition of Upper Holmesburg Civic Association.
A 10 to 9 vote.
Chair, we have someone by the name of Charlie Dorsanio with his hand up.
I don't know.
That's someone else.
Yes, that's someone else from Mr. Patterson's firm.
He'll be handling the case?
He may be.
He did send in the exhibits.
Okay, I'll promote him to panelists.
Thank you.
Yes, Charlie Orsanio here.
could you state your name again are you are you going to handle the case yes i am
could you um state your name again and spell for the court stenographer yes my name is charlie
dorsanio c-h-a-r-l-e-y space d-o-r-s-a-n-e-o do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
truth and nothing but the truth i do so i notice you have two cases we're going to hear them
separately because we're and then we'll hear this and move right on to the other one okay
okay that's fine we're starting with 8701 yeah and could you yes we are could you identify your
client relationship to the property yes uh my client wolf investments corporation number seven
is the equitable owner of 8701 torresdale avenue and our vice chair has just a few questions for
sure good afternoon council do you agree to
the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy
i do have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is
needed to proceed with this case bob is happy thank you thank you please
proceed and share your screen let me just get my screen share
green button on the bottom yes i think i have it here you go you're coming up you're good
so may it please the board with the property uh in question today is 80701 toursdale
Avenue. And the request is mainly for special exception uses for personal vehicle repair and
sales of this property for four tenant spaces. And for two of those tenant spaces, we are also
requesting vehicle paint shop uses with the final space requested for commercial vehicle repair uses.
So, here is the refusal and referral. Are you seeing the whole screen?
I'm okay. Yeah, we're good.
So, the refusals and relevant tenant spaces, as you can see, most of them are for vehicle repair and maintenance, personal vehicle repair and maintenance.
with two of those spaces, CNR also requesting vehicle paint finishing shop
and commercial vehicle repair and maintenance just for one of those spaces.
So when we met with RCO, we met in person on May 16th.
The impression we received is that the opposition to the extent any existed
was limited to the paint shop use.
Of course, the vote was taken on the entire application.
As you can see, it's quite a split vote, three support, three against,
and then for the board, and then nine, four, and ten against.
Just quickly go through the posting photographs.
It's this property on the right, the building to the right, both rights of way.
So as you can see here, the property is set back from Torresdale Avenue, the street and
borders the other property we'll speak about today.
It's also downhill from the street.
It's another view.
This is a view of across the street.
And then it is a long industrial building in an industrial area.
So this giving you a few extra views.
So this is giving you a few extra views.
Just a deed showing ownership of the property.
We have a payment agreement for the tax clearance.
The zoning map shows the neighborhood properties or ICMX.
And notably, I have with me the representative owner from the property, John Wolfe, who'd
like to testify about his history of ownership of the property, as well as the past and current
or past the proposed uses.
Do you have photos of the inside place that you're using?
Can I see the photos?
And what's in the building again now?
So there's a variety of industrial and storage uses.
again show let me pull this back up
in these uses they are they are in these tenant spaces they are actually already in use the right
the client the client called us he essentially wanted to legalize all these uses he's okay okay
and he wanted to do everything the right way so that's why he gave
right so let me see the inside of the building that he's using
you see it now yeah yeah right
okay all right do you want to bring him on yes please
john can you hit the raise hand button
i just raised my hand hi john could you state your name please and spell for the sonographer
John Wolfe, J-O-N-W-O-L-F.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed, counsel.
John, just first questions.
Did you hear my testimony?
Yes, I did.
Do you adopt my testimony as your own?
Yes, I do.
And to your recollection, was it testimony true?
Absolutely.
Could you give an explanation for how long you've owned these properties, the types of uses you had, and any possible issues you may have had with neighbors or not?
Okay, I will do.
We actually owned a property at 8301 Torresdale Avenue, which we recently sold.
We also owned this 8701 property and then 8801 to 8835.
So they're all very close proximity, 8301 Barsdale.
We just sold about a year ago, and it had probably 40 tenants in there, which after we sold it, they, I don't know exactly what use they're going to do, but they basically, as the leases came due, moved all the tenants out of the spaces.
Um, in these tenants, I think we've had this, that building we had over 40 years, the one at 8701 over 30 years. Um, they've been multi-tenant use buildings. Um, we've had, I think in the 8301 Tarsdale property, I think we had seven auto mechanic, uh, uses, and we had three auto body spray uses.
um i've we've been a good landowner in the in the area we've always tried to do whatever we could
that you know to keep everybody in check um and i thought we've always done a good job of it i
don't i don't remember any time having a problem or issue with any city or neighboring person
with issues with any of these uses.
A lot of these people were tenants of mine.
Some of them wanted to stay in the area
and wanted to move to the building up the street.
A few of them are in the automotive business.
And I just said, you know, we have to go through,
do this the legal way for the city.
In a couple of the spaces that are,
we're asking for spray uses,
they both have spray booths in them currently because the previous
They both have spray booths in them currently because the previous uses, one was a helicopter parts.
They were subcontractor for Augusta, and what they did was spray parts for Augusta when they had overflow.
They used a spray booth on a regular basis, you know, every day for many hours, just spraying helicopter parts.
The tenant that wants to move in that space is after hours, auto body guy that have they have jobs somewhere else and they do side work that they want to do in this shop.
The other auto motive where they would do spray is a tenant that had a large spray booth there.
Their tent, that tenant was in depth.
they made sceneries for like museums and they also did like stuff for sesame place and they
did a lot of spray painting in that booth for their scenes and different things that they did
for their contracts um you know we've been a good landlord i think and a good person in the
community and we've really never had issues and i mean like anything else i have to keep all these
tenants happy, they're neighbors to each other. And if this spray issue, which the Community
Civic Association voted very narrowly against us, would have an issue, the tenant next door
would have an issue. I mean, if the tenant next door has an issue, they're not happy, I'm not
happy, I would move the tenant out. They want, you know, they're going to have spray booths,
they're going to be filtered, and everything's going to be done, you know, the way it's supposed
to be done and we don't want to have problems and i don't i'm not aware of really having problems
in the last 35 years so i think we've been you know shown a good track record of obeying the
city rules and doing doing the right thing and i would like to john just to ask you a couple
questions sure so you've owned these properties then uh before these uses required a special
exception you've had prior tenants where you received a zoning permit without coming to the
board right correct um and those uses you mentioned before the helicopter parts uh paint uh and other
use and trucking uh use those would be more intense than the proposed uses right no there'd
be more spray paint or there'd be more paint use there'd be more traffic uh essentially they were
larger operations as well weren't they they were larger operations um you know most of these
automotive guys they do repairs to vehicles they're not like a mako where they're spraying
a full car they're spraying a fender they're spraying a bumper and they have to do all the
work get all the parts put it take it apart put it together and then they have the process of
painting the painting is a very small process it's you know a half hour an hour and that's
that's the gist i know i know people don't like the whole idea of spray painting but
it's a very small portion of what they do in these spaces
okay i i do just want to show the board this picture i pulled up just to show you know these
the surrounding uses. There's a lot of truck storage. There are other automotive uses nearby.
I highlighted the building here where these proposed uses are, where the arrow is at the
other site, which we'll discuss. But this really is an industrial area where there aren't going to
be any impacts to the neighboring properties, no additional congestion, overcrowding of
light or utilities or otherwise, especially as these uses are less intense than some of
the otherwise permitted uses here.
That's correct.
Also, just as a footnote, I know the neighborhood had issues with other mechanic shops in the
area because of parking all our parking's on site so we're not impacting impacting
the neighborhoods parking by any stretch of the imagination everything's on our own property
okay um counsel do you want him to adopt your earlier testimony yes uh
oh he didn't he already I thought I did okay I don't okay that's fine that's fine uh questions
from the board no questions here okay questions
no questions here okay questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands chair planning commission
oh i have one can i say one more thing uh mr wolf go ahead yeah i was just going to say you know we
have a whole row of neighboring houses across from the building, which is probably, I don't
know, 100 feet from the curb and probably to the other side of the street.
I noticed that.
Yeah, I saw that.
About 150 feet away.
None of the neighboring people came to the Civic Association to state having any issues.
And when we were at the Civic Association, most of the people there didn't even know
where the building was.
That was the most of their questions is, where is that building?
so just as you know a footnote thank you mr wolf thank you planning commission
hi john lavicar planning commission uh the comprehensive plan recommends i2 zoning in
this location the proposed uses in character with the site and the surrounding area
due to the community concerns pcpc staff recommends temporarily granting this variance
okay um i'll put it in here
my dates here set right okay 24 okay um so mi 2024 001 651 8701 tarsdale avenue
them. I vote yes. Temporary variance that will expire 6-12-29.
LeBaron Leonard Palmer, my vote is yes with proviso. Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes with
proviso. Okay, counsel, why don't you stay on here? We're going to go right into the next one.
Cancel? Okay. So MI 2024-001-796-8803-35-Torresdale Avenue.
Yes. Could you just state your name? You've already been sworn.
My name is Charlie Dorsanio on behalf of the equitable owner. It's Torsdale Plaza LP of 8803-35-Torresdale Avenue.
And our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon, 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 and required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
I have.
Thank you, counsel.
Please proceed and share your screen.
Counsel, explain to me, is this basically the same thing?
This application is actually a more simple application.
It's just for personal.
Okay, so why don't you do that?
Why don't you just over-
Yeah, okay, please.
So this is for zoning permit application for two tenant spaces at 880335 Toursdale Avenue.
It requires special exception approval.
I can just, just to quickly go through it.
it's the the refusal letters here just for vehicle repair and maintenance and uh the rco voted the
same way it seems to have been part of the same vote uh is there painting involved in this one
there's not painting involved okay and just here's the back to the site photo uh it's actually
a space here and here, which is backing up to the rail line in I-95. There are really
no neighbors down here. This building is set back 700 feet from the property line
and those neighboring houses, at least. You have to zoom in really to even see. It's around
this corner here here's a picture from the back this is just vehicle maintenance and repair am
i correct that's right and if if john's still on i can just have him why don't you get him to adopt
your testimony john are you on
if he's if he's no longer on his testimony yes of the other building i think okay well
you're well you're an officer of the court too we can take your testimony okay um
You're an officer of the court, too. We can take your testimony. Okay.
Hillary, should we list those two places separately as a proviso?
Those two spots?
I believe they're listed on the refusal, so we don't need to do that.
Good. Very good. Thank you.
There's a key plan as well.
All right. Questions on the board?
No, Chair.
No questions, Chair.
Questions for our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have John Wolf with his hand up.
All right.
You can let him in.
He's been unmuted and allowed to speak.
You can just get him to adopt your testimony really quick.
Mr. Wolf, you've already been sworn.
did you hear my presentation to the board yes i did was it accurate to the best of your knowledge
yes it was and do you adopt it as your own testimony yes i do thank you anyone else in the
first audience i see no future i share okay planning commission
hi john levicar planning commission the uh very similar to the last uh hearing comprehensive plan
recommends i2 zoning in this location the proposed uses in character with the site in the surrounding
area uh staff recommends uh temporarily granting the variance um mi 2024 001 796
80 to 8803 to 35 tar cell avenue i vote yes
lavera leonard palmer my vote is yes ishmael shaheed my vote is yes thank you counsel thank
you thank you okay thank you sir number nine mi 2024 001 797 80 80 11 castor avenue michael
McElhenney is the attorney. There's a letter of unanimous support from Ron Hurst Civic Association and a letter of non-opposition from Councilmember Squilla.
Mr. Chair, I just want to note for the record, we have a letter of non-opposition from Councilman O'Neill in this matter.
Okay. All right.
Counsel, could you just state your name for the record, please, and spell it?
Michael McElhenney, M-I-C-H-A-E-L, M-C-I-L-H-I-N-N-E-Y, attorney for the owner.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Can you identify your client and their relationship to this property?
the client is z square llc and the member's name is neural n-u-r-u-l okay our vice chair has just
a few questions sir good afternoon counsel do you agree to wave the reason of the refusal or
stipulate to its accuracy i do 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 thank you counsel
please proceed and share your screen. Okay, on the screen is our pre-marked exhibit packet with
12 exhibits. Preliminarily, Exhibit 8 is our zoning appeal. Exhibit 9 is a photograph of
the property with the zoning poster on the front window. Exhibit 10 is our neighbor notice. We met
with Ron Hurst Civic Association on May 2nd, and they did provide that letter of support.
That notice also has the proof of mailing and address list attached. My client's deed is
Exhibit 11. My client acquired the property on June 9th, 2022, and our tax clearance is at Exhibit 12.
As Chairman mentioned, we do have a letter of support from the Ron Hurst Civic Association,
and that's at Exhibit 1. Our refusal is Exhibit 2. This is an application for a sit-down and take-out
restaurant in the existing structure. The property here is zoned CMX1. Although commercial uses are
permitted in CMX categories, restaurant uses actually require a variance. So we do have
the refusals for the restaurant use at the subject property. There's no building or
construction as part of this application. Exhibit three are just some maps of the property,
the zoning maps and aerial maps. The first map is the zoning map, the property zone CMX1,
The property zone CMX1, as are all of the properties on the 8,000 block of Casterd Avenue and the 7,900 block to the south.
as are all of the properties on the 8,000 block of Casterd Avenue.
And the remaining surrounding properties are RSA3 single family.
And I'll skip down, I know we're short on time.
Skipping down to page three, which is an aerial view just showing the commercial strip where my client's property is located on the east side of Casterd Avenue.
And the other surface parking lot to the south, which also has a pizza hut and the other commercial uses.
And that'll be better seen on the site photos from the ground view, which I'll scroll to now.
Which is Exhibit 4, the site photos.
Picture 1 is the existing structure, 8011 Castor Avenue.
It's a two-story structure, ground floor commercial, a residence at the second floor level, last used as a discount grocery store.
The second photo is the rear yard.
As part of the project, my client will be renovating and cleaning up the rear yard.
the properties to the south of the subject property as i mentioned there's a pizza hut next
door and fronting the next road to the south is ron street the buildings to the south also
allows a grocery store and a mailroom store farther to the south aft beyond ron street
is a pizza shop and then a bunch of other commercial uses and restaurants on the east
side of Caster Avenue. On the west side of the 7900 block of Caster, we have a Rite Aid on the
corner. And then the 8000 block on the west side, we have other commercial uses and restaurant type
uses. The bakery is on the corner. The second use is the Ron Hirsch Pub, a bar restaurant.
And the remaining structures on that block, we have a beauty salon, insurance office,
a restaurant and catering building, and a food market, Fernandez's Food Market.
and at the corner going to the north
is another building under construction
that's approved for a sit-down restaurant.
Turning the page, and I'm going to go to page five,
this is a photo of the front of the property
and the neighboring properties
on a buddy, my client's property.
Immediately next to us is Lipkin's Bakery
that's been there for generations.
They're actually closed at this point,
but the property is permitted for a takeout food use.
And then further down the block,
we have Smoke Villa and Goodwin Plumbing Supply. And farther to the north are other
office uses. I do have some interior photos. The first photo at tab five, exhibit five,
is the inside of the property. It's a complete shell. This is a vanilla box that has to be
completely gut renovated to fit it out for the restaurant use. The second photo is looking at
the second half of the front of the property towards the rear wall, towards the back door.
And then I have three photographs of the basement, which is, again, just a complete shell of a building that has to be fitted out for the restaurant use.
Exhibit six is the floor plan.
And on the note, Mr. Chairman, as we part of what the community requested is that we clean up the outside of the building on the side.
My client's going to clean up and repaint the side of the building and work with the neighbors to deal with the trash on the side of the building.
The floor plan is pretty basic where it's a small space.
My client's going to keep the existing front door that goes to the upper second floor residence.
And on the ground floor, they're going to install a new door at the front of the building,
which allows for a reception area and some tables and takeout seating at the front.
The main service area for food preparation and service is towards the center.
We do have two ADA bathrooms in the center.
and then at the rear is the sit-down, dine-in, eating area
that's currently sketched out
for about 10 tables, four seats per table.
And I'm not going to go through.
Exhibit seven are all the zoning archives
for the other properties
on the 8,000 block of Caster Avenue.
That's a 200-page exhibit
and I know we're behind schedule.
We're not going to go through all those.
But as I noted on the site photographs
for the neighborhood properties,
this block of Caster Avenue is full of other restaurant type takeout uses, similar to what
my client's requesting here. Especially with the Pizza Hut next door on one side of us and the
bakery to the opposite side, we're sandwiched between two takeout restaurant type uses.
The request here is a lease modification. It is an unnecessary hardship not to be able to use
this property for a restaurant like the other properties on this 100 block. It's a lease
modification possible. It's not going to cause any congestion in the streets.
And we'd submit that it would be a benefit to the neighborhood, which is why we have a letter
of support from the community and a non-opposition from the council person. With that, Mr. Chairman,
I would call Neural to raise his hand so that he can adopt my statements.
Neural Khan has been unmuted and allowed to speak.
Hi, sir. Could you please state your name as spelled for the stenographer?
Sir, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer.
Good afternoon, members of the board, Mr. Chair, and members of the PCP.
My name is Nurul Khan. That's N-U-R-U-L-K-H-A-N, Khan.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Please proceed, counsel.
Mr. Khan, did you hear the statements that I presented to the board today?
And were they true, correct, and accurate to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief?
Yes, that is correct.
And would you adopt my statements as your own?
Yes, I would.
No further questions, Mr. Chairman.
Questions from the board?
No questions, Chair.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Armisen?
um just quickly mr mckelhenny um mr khan was a representative of the owning entity of the
building that's correct he's a member of the lc z square llc all right thank you
why should i check comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands at this time chair planning commission
hi john love a car planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to
the CMX1 zoning at this site. There is a documented history of the site's usage as a retail food
establishment, and the proposed use is in accordance with the surrounding area. Therefore, PCPC staff
recommends granting the variance. Thank you. MI 2024-001-797-8011 Caster Avenue. I vote yes.
LeBaron Leonard Palmer. My vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
All right.
Number 10, MI 2024-001-799-4710 Higby Street.
Joseph Vaccaro is the attorney.
There's a letter of unanimous support received from the Wissahick and Civic Association.
Joseph Vaccaro is coming back in as a panelist now, chair.
Thank you.
good afternoon can you hear me i can mr vaccaro could you please state your name and spell for
the court stenographer sir good afternoon may please the board joseph vaccaro v-a-c-c-a-r-o
and uh to my left we have uh joshua hall one of the owners of the building okay um for you sir
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you identify your client and their relationship to this property?
He is one of the owners of the building, and then I have James Deegan to his left, and those are the two gentlemen that own the building in faith.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed, then, all the required documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, with the exception of the letter of support, which I received this morning, and I immediately forwarded that to the board.
Thank you, counsel. Please proceed to share your screen.
Thank you very much. If I may share my screen, this is a very straightforward application.
This building, this structure is zoned as RSA 5, single family. However, there is no documented history of this structure ever having been used as RSA 5.
My clients had purchased the building for the purpose of using this property as an auto mechanic shop.
They purchased the property in approximately 2010 from a carpet company.
The carpet company was running its carpet business since the 70s.
And it's our understanding that even Ma Bell had used the property since before the carpet company to park its trucks or its telephone equipment.
And it's our understanding that that use has been going on since the 50s.
So we have a history of this.
Mr. Vaccaro, move the picture up a little bit. It's hard to see.
OK. So.
Well, that's the zoning notice.
oh oh i misunderstood you so yes yeah that's good it's a single story building it goes from
the corner of higby and van dyke till about the middle of the block there would be two bays on
There would be two bays on the inside. That's the Van Dyke side. That's the
the inside.
corner of Higby and Van Dyke. Higby is to the right, Van Dyke is to the left.
A few photos of the inside. Equipment, tools, machinery, no painting involved.
They've been working there as mechanics since 2020. They had to do a lot of repair work at the time that they purchased the building, which probably created a gap in the usage.
They have all their permits with PennDOT, except for one day a city inspector came by and noticed that this property is still zoned as RSA-5 and that they don't have the proper zoning.
Violation got hit.
The building got hit with a violation, and here we are trying to correct what's been going on for many decades.
We attended the meeting with the RCO, unanimous support.
As was stated, they have their tax clearance.
I wanted to show the deeds to the property.
Do you see the deed?
No, we see what looks like neighbors.
Okay, maybe what I'll do is I'll stop sharing, and then I'll share, and I'll find the deed here.
Now do you see the deed?
We do.
So my clients had purchased the property with a third partner back in 2010 from Barry's Carpet Workroom, Inc., and then the most recent deed – scrolling down, scrolling down – the most recent deed was in April 28 of 2010 when one of the partners had left the partnership, so now it's just Joshua Hall and James Deegan.
that owned the, that owned the property.
So it's just the two of them that are the sole owners of the property.
But as you can tell here, it was, it was initially granted to the three partners from Barry's Carpet Workroom Inc.
And if you saw the refusal, there was, there was a variance granted for a woodworking shop back in the 70s.
um i i have i have james degan okay so why don't you why don't you have one of your clients adopt
your testimony sir james come closer so that they could hear you uh john i could could you
state your name and spell for this stenographer j-o-s-h-u-a-h-a-l-l right do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do please proceed counsel thank you
joshua have you heard my uh presentation i did um would you adopt it as your own testimony if
you were to testify my mistake four owners and now three my mistake uh um anything else to add
or subtract of my uh of my presentation no none and and both of them all right thank you questions
from the board questions on the board no questions chair
no chair questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
i've seen no hands at this time chair planning commission
hi john love a car planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to
the RSA-5 zoning at this site. However, the site's existing setup does present a hardship.
Therefore, PCPC staff recommends granting the variance. Thank you. MI 2024, 001-799-4710 Higby
Street, I vote yes. LeBaron Leonard Palmer, I vote yes. Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel. Thank you and wish our best to Mr. Holloman. I will, sir. Thank you.
Number 12. MI 2024-001-844-2461-83 North 54th Street. Eileen Quigley is the attorney. There's unanimous non-opposition from Winfield Residence and a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Jones.
Eileen Quigley is coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
Hi, Eileen. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Unmute, Eileen. Eileen, unmute. Thank you. Thank you, Chair Bergman. My name is Eileen Quigley,
E-I-L-E-E-N, Quigley, Q-U-I-G-L-E-Y, Ballard Spar, LLP, 1735 Market Street, Philadelphia,
19103. I'm here on behalf of
St. Joseph's University.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, to hold truth
and nothing but the truth? I do.
Our vice chair has a few
questions.
My mute button.
Sorry, chair. Sure, sure. Counselor, do you
agree to what do you agree the way the read number is or stipulate to his
accuracy no we I don't agree I believe there was a transcription error on the
notice of refusal because the notice of refusal notes that the panels are 23
feet wide and four feet six inches high but they're actually 23 feet wide by 42
feet, six inches high. So we just want to note that. I want to note that it's on a record.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed and required to
proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing? Yes, we did. Thank you, counsel.
Please proceed and share your screen. Can everybody see our screen? Yes. Great. Thank you so much.
I just want to inform the board that I am here today on behalf of St. Joseph's University.
And with me are Jason Massey, who is an engineer and project manager from St. Joseph's University.
We also have Mr. Waddell Ridley, who is assistant vice president, St. Joseph's University in government and community relations.
And we're here with Brett Rowe from Rowe Fabricators, who is part of the design and project team.
just as a side note as a note while we did not believe that these textile panels were signs
ellen i disagreed with our position and as noted we are here for a sign area the textile panels
exceed the allowable sign area so we have our exhibits as noted by the chair we did receive
a letter of non-opposition from both the rco and council member curtis jones we forward missed
council member jones's letter this morning so we would just ask that the board recognize
or add council member jones's letter of non-opposition to our exhibits packet at number 13
okay thank you
we do provide a deed of for the property noting that it is
i can't see that but let me see
it is owned by st joseph's university we have the tax clearance certificate
photos of posted zoning notices and affidavit of posting
i apologize i'm trying to enlarge this and
i'll go to the zoning map
As noted, this property at 2461 is within the Spins District.
It is part of and adjacent to the other St. Joseph's University campus, which is also within the Spins District.
Eileen, take it down so we can see the one.
And that's cloth, Eileen?
Oh, let me show you the renderings.
So here are the textile panels.
As you can see, they actually have to cover the entire floors of the parking garage to cover the openings.
These panels not only provide a means of sustaining the building facade, but also provide safety and security.
This is the artistic embellishment, as you can see.
it enhances the public realm it beautifies not only the the facade of
this building but the the streetscape the commercial strip along North 54th
Street
these panels will be right here they're going to be within the property line so
they were they're going to be attached to new framework that's going to be
new framework that's going to be installed or in the process of being installed now
installed or in the process of being installed now
because the original framework that was on this building was deteriorating
and St. Joseph's University through its examination and maintenance of its buildings
recognized that it was deteriorating and chose these textile panels
which are really engineered to protect buildings and protect these openings
as well as act as a filtration system for the fumes from the cars within the parking garage
we believe that this application does meet the criteria for grant of the variance
there is no congestion in the in the public streets it doesn't adversely impact adjacent
properties it also does not endanger the public health safety or general welfare
we believe that this application and granted the variance is aligned with the spirit and
intent of the code because it does act as a beautification and preservation of the public
realm and to deny the variance really is to prohibit or limit st joseph's university from
beautifying its own spaces protecting its facilities and buildings as well as providing
a visual nexus between its buildings throughout the winfield community within the spins district
we do have as i said if there are any questions we have
people here on our saint joseph university team that can answer those questions
you know obviously these drawings were shown to the uh winfield neighbors association right yes
okay okay why don't you bring some on from st jones to adopt your testimony
jason massey can you raise your hand
jason massey please unmute and wait for the chair
do we see him he's been unmuted sir could you please state your name and spell for the court
stenographer my name is jason massey j-a-s-o-n-m-a-s-s-e-y right do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do please proceed counsel
thank you chair bergman uh mr massey you heard my presentation yes and would you say that the
presentation was accurate it was um one one point of clarification um as you know i'm obligated to
say that it's not that um the mesh filters the the exhaust i mean in the sense that it lets it
out of the space and that's what's important but it's not like some sort of special technology
but that's it everything else was was good thank you for that clarification and if you were to
testify today would you adopt my presentation as your testimony yes i would thank you why shouldn't
on the board no chair no chair questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr chair there's a comments from the virtual audience
chair i see no hands at this time planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the zoning at this location
the signage requested is appropriate given the use and location therefore pcpc staff recommends
granting the variance mi 2024 001 844 2461 to 83 north 54th street i vote yes
the baron leonard palmer my vote is yes ishmael shaheed my vote is yes thank you counsel you
have your votes? Chairman Bergman, may I enter our exhibits into the record? You can. Thank you.
That concludes my business. May I please be excused? You can. Thank you very much. Thank you.
All right. Number 14, MI 2024-002081-4234 Market Street. Joseph Consul is the attorney.
um there's a letter support from west patten saunders park rco vote was 16 to 6 in support
the five affected neighbor neighbors present for the vote were all in support
couch inling got the a has taken a position of non-opposition mr console good afternoon
could you state your name please and spell for the court stenographer
Could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court stenographer?
yeah it's joseph console that's
Yeah, it's Joseph Consul.
That's J-O-S-E-P-H, last name Consul, C-O-N-S-O-L-E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Do you identify your client, the relationship to the property?
My client is 4234 Market LLC.
Franklin Todd Ryan is the owner of the property and will be, or the representative of the
owner of the property and we'll be on this call.
Attorney General, Vice Chair has a few questions for you, sir.
Good afternoon, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its act?
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?
Thank you, counsel.
Please proceed and share your screen.
All right.
My screen should be up.
44234 Market Street.
This property is owned by my client, and he's owned it for a little while.
There was, if you look on Atlas, an attempt at development a bit back during the pandemic.
Some funding didn't work out, and this is coming back around to a new project that he has all approved funding for
and is going to be building a ground-up property.
uh the lot let me show you a lot what you're seeing here it's surrounded by the presser
building uh it also um abuts the social security building and another building that was owned by
presser that for a while he believes was a dialysis center um we are here because
this is zoned CMX3. He has by right 15 unit property with commercial space on the first
floor. The issue that we're dealing with is twofold. One, he's seeking a 90.5%
lot coverage versus the allowable 85%. And he's not providing any parking spaces for
the three spot for every five units you need one parking space so therefore three are required
and he's not able to provide them i will address those in one second
as mentioned we went in front of the rco twice um the first meeting we reviewed uh everything
and while there was no complaints about anything regarding the number of units or the parking or
anything like that as laid out it was more um what's the right word uh aesthetic they didn't
like the way it looked the initial exterior design wasn't to their liking um and so we returned
after and uh so originally it had um looked i'll go back around to those like this sort of a more
modern design uh actually no this is that's that's the updated design originally it was more modern
uh with siding and things like that they wanted to have it uh brick so my clients came back
with a redesigned building the second meeting was when they took a vote and when we um got the
support of the RCL. So there's going to be a commercial space on the first floor. Everyone's
lobbying around, different ideas for it, though nothing's been settled on yet. The plans that we
included contemplated potentially having a restaurant there, although that may not work
out where, again, he's going back and forth. They also talked about having a pharmacy there,
which they thought might be better for the community. So the plans we included show the
layout, the basement, the first floor plan, and then the second and third through eighth floor
plan. So the third through eighth floor plans all match. The second floor plan is a little bit
different because it contains the egress. Now the egress to the back of the property
uh goes to the uh coverage of the lot we're supposed to be at 85 percent we are in my
opinion just a minimus above that at 90.5 percent however we're providing full uh required egress
by the code and um you see on atlas all of these properties are surrounded by a city uh five foot
wide alley. So we've got egress on the back of the property anyway. So in addition to the space
provided by my client, even though it's not the full 85% lock coverage, there's an egress as well
as an alley that will exist in perpetuity for the necessary escape out of the back of the building.
will exist in perpetuity for the necessary escape out of the back of the building should should
they need that regarding the parking my client and the community agreed that with the abundant
public transportation available and the parking in that area that not having those three spots
was not detrimental and the width of the building itself is less than 18 feet uh so
the ability to provide a drive aisle and parking the lot is less than 18 feet so the ability to
provide a drive aisle and parking is not um is not something that he could do on this property
with with any kind of um uh ability there just wouldn't be a way for him to provide those three
spots that will be required here. So we believe that that is a necessary hardship, as is the
amount of space that we need to occupy the property, because in order to have two functioning
units on each floor, we just need to take up a little bit more space. And we believe that that's
appropriate. We spoke with the community about a mural program. We are fully aware that one of
sides of the building is going to have a neighbor um soon enough the side you don't see and that'll
be developed so we talked about uh of your own the the one side of the building that you do see
and we'll be working with them in the future to develop that also incidentally this is in a middle
income overlay so uh 20 of the units are required by code to be middle income and uh on our call
we had um the councilman's uh assistant who uh helped elucidate what that meant and the
the neighbor seemed pleased um with with that then i got there that's that's their letter
also included in my packet
various other renderings and all the other documents that are required the tax compliance
as well as the deed.
That pretty much covers it.
These are all one bedroom units with one bathroom.
And again, the number of units is allowable by right.
We have an elevator as well as the required two stairs for egress.
And our photos showing the posting.
and the last thing i guess would be that uh one block down right on the other side of 42nd market
there is a comparably sized building in height and so we believe and as the neighbors believe
that there wasn't much of an issue in terms of the height of the building although that wasn't
something that was on the variance block or anything like that although we do note that
that's bigger than the presser building, obviously.
With that, I'll call my client, F. Todd Ryan,
to raise his virtual hand and adopt my testimony.
F. Todd Ryan has been unmuted and allowed to speak.
Mr. Ryan, could you please state your name
and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, Franklin Ryan, F-R-A-N-K-L-I-N,
ryan r-y-a-n swear affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do yes council please proceed good afternoon mr ryan did you hear my testimony just now
regarding your project i did do you agree and adopt it as your own i do is there anything you'd
like to add to the board not at this time okay thank you nothing further questions from the board
no chair no questions chair questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands at this time chair planning commission
hello john lavicar planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to
CMX3 zoning at this location. Considering the site's location on a major corridor and adjacent
to the Market-Frankford line, the proposal is appropriate for the context, and PCPC staff
recommends granting the variances. Thank you. MI 2024-002-081-4234 Market Street, I vote yes.
LeBaron Leonard Palmer, my vote is yes. Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
you have your you have your votes counsel thank you chair thank you um hillary uh
asian lebaron are both involved in this right um yes and mr chair what we're gonna do um because of
Yes, and Mr. Chair, what we're going to do, because of the technology issues that Mr. Holliman's been having today, you will hear this case, and we'll just hold the vote for you to watch the video of the original hearing.
the technology
Absolutely. Thank you very much.
You're welcome.
Do you want me to put that in the official record that we're – so MI 2024-002-911-3105?
to North 16th Street. This case is continued.
Is there anyone in the virtual audience?
Mr. Sher, we can hear the case today.
Oh, okay.
We can still hear it. We'll just hold the vote so you can watch the video of the original hearing.
Sure. Okay. All right.
We have a quorum to hear it today.
Okay. So, all right.
So, the order of reconsideration I see, but should I read into the record, Hillary,
the whole the testimony and evidence etc or no yes please mr chair so the testimony and evidence
from the february 28 2024 hearing on this matter are incorporated into the record for this hearing
the scope of this hearing is limited to taking testimony from councilwoman bass's office
regarding the proposed project as well as discussion of any changes made by the applicant
since the original hearing then we go down here to your order right
yes mr chair update from applicant if any
uh good afternoon mr chair alan knockamson of knockamson pc i represent
slc real estate llc uh the owner of the property uh and in the virtual audience uh is one of its
members, Stacy Cooks. We have no updates to the project. We received community support
to reduce the unit count from three units proposed to two units proposed. I think the issue was due
to the late hour, the board did not hear the recommendation from the city's council member
um and you know charles richards okay so so we do have a letter we have an email if he's mr
richardson's non-diversal audience but we do have an email uh confirming the non-opposition
of this project as a duplex mr richardson mr chair i just wanted to interject um quickly um today we
did receive a petition in opposition from
Quampoodle Neighborhood Parcels Association. That petition was
in opposition to three dwelling units, although it was noted they
wanted to preserve the single family usage of the property.
So I just wanted to note that for the record. Thank you.
Mr. Charles Richardson. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair. How are you, sir?
This is the first time I've seen you today. It's kind of late. Yes, it's the first time today.
state your name please and spell for the court stenographer
charles richardson r-i-c-h-a-r-d-s-o-n
office of councilwoman cindy bass room 508 city hall
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i certainly do please proceed sir the councilwoman has no opposition to
granting the variance thank you very much i appreciate taking the time to call
um planning commission are there any updates
yeah the planning commission would state it's uh it's recommendation for granting the dwelling
unit variance due to the several three dwelling unit properties in close vicinity
um but would state that there is no hardship for the requested addition uh so recommends
this portion be denied thank you um so we're gonna hold this until I get a chance to watch
the whole film right the video and then we'll vote yes all right other than that it's closed hillary
can i just respond to the city planning's commission um recommendation yeah
just in terms of the addition i did look at google street view earlier today i would state
that there is uh an extension on the second floor uh similar to what we're requesting
as part of our project.
So I think that what we're trying to do
is mimicking what is in the neighborhood.
And there was an approval of similar circumstances
for 3103, which is next door to us
for the similar type of variance requests.
Thank you very much.
I appreciate it.
This case is closed.
Am I correct, Hillary?
Except for the vote.
Thank you.
That is correct.
Is there anyone in the 2 p.m. list in the audience whose case has not been called?
I see no answer this time.
I see no hands at this time.
We're going to take a five-minute break.
We're going to take a five-minute break, and we'll come back and do the 3.30 list.
Thank you, everybody.
Good afternoon, everyone.
My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing the 3.30 list.
With me is our Vice Chair, Ismail Shahid.
President, Mr. Chairman.
Also, LeBaron Leonard Palmer from the Division of Development Services will be serving as our alternate board member.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also, here is Hillary Emerson, our attorney, and our executive director, Tanya Sunken.
Here's our format.
Proceedings are being recorded.
With your participation, you agree to be recorded.
A video will be available by contacting tanyasunken at philo.gov.
For our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you're participating by phone, please press 9 to raise your hand and 6 to unmute.
To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548.
Leave your email address and the address of the property question.
And finally, the question box on the screen is not for comments or testimony.
All comments should be directed to our Executive Director, Tanya Sunken.
Let's look at our list for today.
Number one, MI 2023-004-200-509-West Springer Street. Case has been continued.
And number five, MI 2023-004-398-1113-Mt Vernon Street. That case has continued.
Are there any other requests for continuances?
Good afternoon, Chair. This is Yvette Benton. I'll be your co-host for this afternoon.
We have Charles Richardson with their hand up. They have been unmuted and allowed to speak.
Mr. Richardson, you have already been sworn.
Yes, sir. Charles Richardson, Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass, room 508 City Hall.
With regard to Springer Street, the applicant has never reached out past August of last year.
And then she had said, and I forwarded something to both Hillary and to Tiffany, just to, she was letting us know that she was not interested in moving forward with it, but she's never formally withdrawn her application.
So I'm just wondering where it stands with the continuance who made that request.
It was received from Elisa Maliki, who is the owner, on 6-11-24.
And, Mr. Chair, I can shed a little bit of light.
Yeah, go ahead.
Mr. Richardson, initially the applicant had indicated she was interested in withdrawing.
She later changed her mind and submitted some exhibits for the hearing today
and then realized that she had not met the RCO meeting requirement,
so she then requested a continuance okay not a problem all right thank you are there any other
requests for continuances all right i see no other hands at this time chair so number six
n i 2023 004 400 49 south eismanger street this case has been withdrawn
all right we're going to go to our regular list and we're going to start with number four
MI-2023-004-397-1006 Fairmount Avenue.
Christopher Dean is the attorney.
We do not have an RCO letter at this point.
Meeting was held in a second.
Chair, Christopher Dean will be rejoining as a panelist.
mr dean how are you sir could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
good afternoon mr chair members christopher dean it's d-e-a-n
you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes could you identify your client relationship to the property yes v llc is the property owner
and present today is josh kravitz who's a member of the llc our vice chair has a few questions sir
good afternoon counselor do you agree to waive the read another refusal or stipulate towards accuracy
um so actually the refusal will be um i'm sure hillary can
The refusal will be, I'm sure Hillary can tie in some more comments to this, but it will be, there was a, we realized there was a technical error on it.
It does indicate only 10-0-0-6 Fairmont Avenue.
It should read 10-0-0-6.
This is a consolidated lot, five lots.
So we plan on getting an amended refusal.
Right.
We have that.
We're going to hear the case.
We will hold that.
and we'll hold the vote at the end of the day okay and mr chair this is hillary just to just
to jump in in addition to the unfortunately the lot consolidation was omitted from the refusal
that needs to be corrected but um mr dean's client has also suggested um some changes and
so those will be incorporated into the amended refusal as well um i've advised mr dean to
present everything as it was to the community and as it will be on the refusal to the board today
very much understood but have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed
and required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing yes thank you council
please proceed and share your screen okay okay hopefully everyone can see my screen yep okay so
I have the pleasure to present 1006 and 10012 Fairmount Avenue.
We're seeking a two-fold variance, which go hand-in-hand, an 18-apartment, multifamily use, stretching five lots, as well as a height variance.
The height variance was, in addition, which will go into my client's initial application to meet the community's parking needs.
So that is because of a parking garage that we barely eclipsed the height requirements in the RSA 5 district.
Mr. Chair, we have entered into a community benefits agreement, which was submitted.
which was signed by the registered RCO.
I'll go through, but if for some reason it wasn't,
if it was omitted from my packet,
we can certainly submit it again.
Thank you.
So let's go through the exhibits
and then we'll get into the nuts and bolts of the project.
This was my client's deed.
Tax clearance.
Go through July 6th.
The project information form.
The initial application for appeal, the community meeting, which was held on May 2nd, the proof
of mailing of that meeting, today's Zoom meeting, proof of the mailing of today's zoning board
meeting and i want to stop it here so the community benefits agreement um we entered into
with the 14 community organization um so my client um well a year in advance of even applying for this
um initial initial application met with the community three um four times actually um to
develop this project he listened to the community um we we had them screen we actually met a total
of twice with counsel and six times total without counsel to enter into this agreement.
So my client is a developer who, he's hands-on, he's a general contractor, and he develops,
he doesn't seek permission before or after developing. He does the opposite. He likes
to see what the community wants before he gets involved in a project. So the key highlights of
this um project i will get into i just want to show um provide a visual so here's a lot now the
five the the consolidate approved consolidated lots i did send um board council a copy of the
board of surveyors approved consolidation um this is what we're proposing so it'll be an 18 18 unit
dwelling place we intend to beautify the area um we will have secure there is a secured parking
lot garage we are adding nine um nine parking spots for 18 units as well as six six bike um
six bike spots as well as there's going to be public bike spots as well in front of the building
for any any take care of any any visitor so we with this design it's actually we're actually
going above i believe three times what would be required even in an rm an rm district um so we
are taking the community told us parking was a major concern and we've addressed it and then added
The community told us parking was a major concern, and we've addressed it and then added some.
So we'll not have an adverse effect on parking in the area, as well as beautifying an area full of vacant lots on this block.
This is the rear. We intend to, consistent with the beautification, we're going to have a communal garden in the back.
This will be open to all residents, all 18, all dwelling members of the apartment complex.
uh and we intend to have communal events there uh quarterly this is the interior um this will be
accessed there will be access obviously through the parking garage or there is an elevator and
stairs that go through to each to each floor um when we met with the community we have we've
also included to have two we were mending it to have two and two of the 18 units be two bedroom
to accommodate smaller families that may be looking to move into the area.
At 1022 Fairmount Ave, there already is six condominiums.
And so in an area where we're at the end of the RS5 in the area,
it's like you make my way to the zoning map.
We're right here.
You're abutting RM4, RM1, ICMX.
So it's clearly an area that changes over time. And I believe 1022, seeing the condominiums there and all the vacant lots on this block are indicative of that.
And on 1014 Fairmount Avenue, which also is a vacant lot adjacent to my client's property, we just did receive this letter of support earlier today from the owner of that building.
so to go into the this was the refusal as you see the refusal does indicate five zoning districts
just does not have um it does not make mention of the consolidated lots
i will have this is the design um we will have my my client can answer any questions about the
design. The board or public may have. And then this is a copy of the approved consolidation
of lots. So I want to put up the backup, the community benefits agreement that we made.
So in exchange, you'll see here, it does say in exchange for the full support and 100%
affirmative vote of the RCO in support of the project, we agreed to the following terms
and conditions.
My client has engaged the GLITTER program, which does for a period of one year, he's
paying them to, I believe it's once a month, and I'll have him clarify that if that's
incorrect.
They do clean the entire surrounding block, not just right in front of the project.
So it helps by engaging with this. It helps. This is after construction is completed.
So once people are living there, their block is going to be, the neighboring lots can be cleaned through the GLIDA program.
We're going to have sufficient lighting, safeties, you know, of utmost concern for this project.
Consistent with beautifying the area, we're going to be planting trees.
there is a septic key if the septic key advantage program which is offered to some
employers is offered to landlords we've agreed that we will qualify so that will be a more
incentive for the public to use public transportation and septa when on entering an
access agreement with any any when construction does start if we do need any any access to any
adjacent property we will be entering an access green council council i i appreciate all this but
i don't i think the issue is that you have full agreement now from the rco as a result of the of
the cba you don't have to go over the whole cba okay um so at one one and one key is that we're
going to offer two affordable housing units um so and we can't so that so so one we have we have
the height the height requirement is 38 feet we could have accommodated that but in if to
accommodate that we will lose the parking and the parking we listen to the community and that's what
they wanted yeah i think you said that i appreciate that and of course the rsa5 the area is changing
there's already six there are already six condos adjacent um it's adjacent to a ton of mixed use
lots so we do think it meets the requirements needed for variants
So we do think it meets the requirements needed for a variance doesn't add any public the congestion because we have the secured parking garage does not add to that.
In fact, it only beautifies the area. So if I could have my Josh Kravitz, please.
Mr. Kravitz.
mr kravitz has been unmuted and allowed to speak i'm mr kravitz could you please state your name
and spell for the court stenographer hello chair my name is josh kravitz that's spelled j-o-s-h
k-r-a-v-e-t-s you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth is nothing but the truth
yes i do please proceed counsel hi josh are you a member of the the vllc yes okay and did you hear
all of my testimony? Yes. And was it true and accurate to the best of your recollection?
The only thing I would add is I think I met with the RCO three times prior to submitting instead
of four, if my memory serves me correct. Okay. Outside of that, everything else was true and
accurate? Yes. Okay. And would you adopt my testimony as your own? Yes. Okay. Is there
anything else you'd want to add to the board? Again, we reached out to the RCO well before
even submitting for this project. We wanted to get their input at the very beginning of the process
so they could be involved throughout the entire thing. I think it worked well so that everybody
felt like they had a voice. We were really able to take their considerations and actually implement
them from the very start. So we're very excited to continue working with the community for this
project. And Josh, one more clarification. In meeting with the community, we agreed to remove
the roof deck and pilot houses, correct? Yes, that's correct. That's one of the things they
wanted. We agreed to removing both of those. And that's what we're going to be seeking also
an amended refusal for yes the amended um refusal will uh clarify that thank you i have nothing
further questions from the board no chair no questions chair questions or comments from our
attorney biller emerson two quick things um one mr dean if you could forward that letter that you
showed that you received today to us for our records that would be great um and the rco to
your knowledge did not issue a letter of support i've obviously they signed the community benefits
agreement um that's correct they they what they they asked of us was that we prepared the they
gave us the terms that we agreed on at the meeting i prepared the agreement for them and then they
asked us to sign it and then a few days later they um philip murray the chair um returned his
signed copy okay all right thank you questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands at this time chair planning commission sir ron bednar city planning first
name ron r-o-n last name bednar b-e-d-e-n-a-o you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
and nothing but the truth i do please proceed property is indicated for residential use on the
City plan. Given the physical condition of the site, we have no objection to the granting of a
multifamily use variance provided the height requirement is fully met. Thank you. We're
going to hold the vote on this until there's a corrective refusal. Am I right, Hillary?
Yes, correct. Corrected and amended. Yes. The record is otherwise closed.
Everything's closed, and then once we get this, we'll vote, okay?
Thank you.
And, Hillary, I'll get you that document, and I will update you.
Thank you very much, sir.
All right.
Number three, MI 2023, 004362, 1218 Wallace Street.
Winter Wooten is tenant applicant.
John Zayo and Jackie Leo are the listed owners.
Winter Wooten is coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
hello hi hi could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
uh winter wooden w-i-n-t-e-r
Winter Wooden, W-I-N-T-E-R-W-O-O-D-E-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you turn on your video, please?
Give me one second.
Take your time.
All right.
You should be able to see me now.
Yeah, we see.
our vice chair
do you swear a friend
told you it's nothing about truth did I do that yet
with you yes yes
our vice chair has a few questions for you
hello ma'am
have you emailed in all the required documents
and exhibits that is needed and required
before you proceed with this case five days in
advance of this hearing
not five days in advance but I did submit
everything that I was asking for
you guys were asking for
Thank you. I do see where you see it every day. Please proceed and share your screen.
Okay. Give me one second.
Green button at the bottom of the screen.
Oh, green button. Okay. Got you.
Share.
Okay. Just give me one second.
no i have my computer i'm talking to you through my computer
uh what type of software what kind of computer i have an apple so i'm not quite sure that i
don't have a regular computer so um do you not a walker through an apple computer
i do not yes okay uh give me is my buddy there computer expert i am here however i am also not
familiar with apples yeah okay here we go wait a minute she's up she's up you got it i do apologize
um i'm not used to sharing my screen so that's your zone notice right so this is my zone of
notice here. And then this is the refusal. So the refusal was, um, there was a three-year
proviso. I'm not quite sure if I'm saying it right. Um, on the, on here and it expired. Um,
I was made unaware at the time that there was a proviso on the occupancy and that it was only a
three-year occupancy and that I had to reapply. Um, it's already, it was already going to be a
child care center um prior to me so um i just i'm just updating the proviso and um here's the
occupancy right here 12 18 wallace um has everything that you guys were requesting for
um so um we have a food prep license we have all that good stuff we're um open for business
give me one second we're open for a business and this is what the space looks like
um we're uh we're licensed from the department of DHS to have um approximately 32 children in
this space which does serve the community I met with the community um and they just want to have
a three-year proviso put back on it even though that my lease is 10 years so I'm gonna have to
redo this again they just want to make sure that this stays a child care center okay so you already
had a three-year lease you already had a three-year variance right and now you need another
they they're improving another three-year variance am i right yes i asked for it to be you know
permanent for a child care center because it's well needed in that um in that neighborhood
but yeah so um and it's it's really nice it's really uh elegant inside um the children love it
the parents love it you can see through the glass that that's a huge apartment building
it is um it's low income apartment and uh 95 of my children come from that low income
apartment right across the street and also too like we do stuff with the community so
So the RCO, they were happy to give me a three-year provance, but not past that because they are feared that this may turn into, I don't know, some type of restaurant or anything like that, but it's not.
All right.
Questions from the board?
No, Chair.
No questions, Chair.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hilliard Emerson?
Just briefly, Mr. Chair, and I neglected to jump in earlier.
Just briefly, Mr. Chair, and I neglected to jump in earlier, but just to clarify for the record, this application is for a child care center in an existing structure.
There's one refusal, and that is a use refusal for the child care center.
I did want to clarify with Ms. Wooden, this use is just on the first floor. Is that correct?
Yes, this use is just for the first floor.
Okay. Mr. Chair, I would suggest if the board approves adding a proviso, clarifying the use is limited to the first floor because there has been a use previously approved for the second floor and a note that the basement is vacant.
Thank you. Thank you, Hilary. That's a good point.
I just don't want to mess up the auditorium that's up there because it is something different as the auditorium.
I don't want to mess up the zoning up there on the next level.
That's why we're saying with the first floor.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
I don't want to mess up.
Okay, good, good.
All right.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I've seen no hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Since I run Bednar City Planning,
while this property is currently indicated for residential use on the city plan,
given the physical condition of the site and its use, documented use,
we have no objection to the granting of the requested variance.
So MI 2023-004-362-1218-Wall Street, I vote yes.
Temporary variance expires 6-12-27, proviso, first floor only.
lebaron leonard palmer my vote is yes with proviso ishmael shaheed yes my vote is yes with proviso
thank you you have your votes
okay all right thank you sure number seven mi2024 00423 1708 nordane street vernon anastasio is the
attorney, letter of non-opposition from the Center City Residents Association, and also
applicant has a petition of non-opposition support from 17 neighbors, including the adjacent
neighbor on Daudain Street, 1706.
Mr. Anastasio is coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair.
Counselor, you've already been sworn to state your name for the record.
Yep, it's Vern Anastasio on behalf of the owners, Mr. and Mrs. Murmura.
Our vice chair has just a few questions, sir.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal or stipulate to his accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed and required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, sir.
Thank you, counsel. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
Mr. Chair, we're here for this rear addition on this relatively small row home lot, and this rear addition will align with the adjacent property as well, and we're putting on a 177 square foot deck at the top.
I'm moving into evidence, 52 exhibits, including the zoning refusal, the photos of the property, the plans, the RCO notification letter and proof of mailing, the zoning poster and proof of posting, the deed.
We have a signed petition, as the chairman has already alluded to, the RCO results letter, which was a letter of non-opposition tax clearance and overhead views.
of the property in question it is zoned rsa 5 and we are here simply because it's just the
dimensional variance uh we're here because the rear yard depth required seven feet whereas this
will be again consistent with the adjacent neighbor about four feet three and three quarters inches
here's the property in question with me today is Paul from Blue Path who is the architect on the
project he'll be able to walk you through some of the plans as well here is the fence that we're
Here is the fence that we're proposing.
proposing.
Here's the infill between the buildings.
Here again, here's the existing rear yard.
And what we're proposing here.
and here's the adjacent property again aligning with that rear wall
my clients are seeking this area simply because to make the property more livable
and to not be able to do this would in fact certainly cause the property to be less enjoyable
space and since it is in complete consistency with the area of homes and those just on that block
we do believe that this will be just an added value to the property
here's some interior shots
Here's the zoning letter that was
mailed out. It's a two-page letter
inviting folks to the public meeting at
CCRA, which happened on March 26th
and also to today's hearing on June 12th.
Here are all the addresses that were mailed.
And here's the proof of mailing 167 individual households were in fact mailed.
Here's the poster, the proof of posting on the facade of the building.
And we have the deed as well.
I'm going to call Mr.
I don't know who's here from Blue Path.
Paul, if you're there, could you please raise your virtual hand?
Paul Thompson has been unmuted and allowed to speak.
Thank you.
Could you say your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
My name is Paul Thompson, T-H-O-M-P-S-O-N.
I'm the architect at Blue Path Design and the designer of this property.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you.
Paul, would you like to add anything about the actual design of the addition?
The only thing I'd like to add is that for this zoning variant we're requesting, we are not asking for a deck.
It's simply a three-story addition to the rear of the building.
as Mr. Anastasio noted, it's aligned with the adjacent addition and none of the addition will
be visible from not Dane Street, so it has no impact on the public way.
Thank you. Do you have your client? I do. Mr. Memora, if you could please raise your virtual hand.
Mr. Mamura?
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Michael Marmura, M-A-R-M-U-R-A, first name is Michael, M-I-C-H-A-E-L.
We're affirmed to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Michael, did you hear my presentation to the board this afternoon?
Is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
Do you adopt it as your own test?
I do, yes.
Mr. Chair, because we've got an overwhelming number of immediate residents who've signed a petition, as well as CCRA support for this, what really is considering the adjacent properties at De Minimis request, I respectfully request the granting of this various, thank you.
Questions from the board?
No question.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
No hands, Chair.
Planning Commissioner?
This is Ron Bednar, City Planning.
Properties indicated for residential use on the city plan or adopted district plan recommends no change in existing zoning at this location.
The applicant's hardship is not supported with evidence of unique physical circumstances or condition of the property. They're prevented from being used in conformity with the rear yard setback requirements of the code. Therefore, we recommend the request of grants not be granted.
setback requirements of the code. Therefore, we recommend the request of grants not be granted.
Thank you. MI 2024, 000423, 1708, Nordane Street, I vote yes.
LeBaron Leonard Palmer, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
Number two, MI 2023-004-322-38 South 57th Street, letter of strong opposition from the West Philadelphia Economic Development Council, letter of opposition from generationals of Philadelphia, and Council Member Gauthier has also taken a position of opposition.
Sean Whalen is the attorney.
Good afternoon, Chairman.
Counselor, you've already been sworn.
Could you just state your name for the record, please?
Certainly.
Sean Whalen, W-H-A-L-E-N.
Right.
Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
Yes, my client is Baldev, B-A-L-D-E-V, Sahunta, S-A-H-U-N-T-A. He is the owner of the property.
And our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its act?
I do not with only one caveat. I just picked up this case recently in the last month or so.
there should have been an extra refusal for the legalization of the existing office use
that's just a change in use there's there's no additional dimensional requirements or
anything else and I'm happy to stipulate that that would have been refused
and I'm not sure why it wasn't in the original refusal. Hillary? Yeah Mr. Whalen we'd have to
amend the refusal we can't the board can't do that it's not part of the it's not anywhere
in the scope the refusal would need to be amended to do that i i understand i i was hoping to be
able to just present today and then we could hold it for an amended refusal that would be fine and
just to be clear i did present the office used to the rcos uh at our rco meeting okay i understand
this is a place so okay uh so we're going to keep moving forward here yeah we're going to
we're going to hear it we'll hold the vote okay no problem um sir have you emailed in all the
documents and exhibits that is needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing
yes i have all right thank you please proceed to share your screen thank you
so as i said sean whalen here from vintage law on behalf of baldev so junta the owner of 38 south
57th street you are seeing right now an aerial uh just google view map shows you market street at
the top and chestnut street down at the bottom and we are this property with the red balloon just off
of ludlow street just to give you an idea the basis of our request today essentially comes from
what you can already start to see here we have uh we are zoned rm1 however there's really no
residential use anywhere along 57th street or near us in this corridor
so again what you start to see here we are we are the last building here the only other
still residentially zoned and used properties on the block are these three properties right next
to us. At least one of them is vacant. I don't know about the other two. I couldn't determine
when I went out to the site. The fourth one has a business in it. This property has a business in it.
This building is a church, and these are all businesses. And across the street, you can start
to see i'll show you there's a very large ride aid with a parking lot this is the rear of a fresh
grocer and you know that's just the beginning of the significant heavy commercial use
so again this this shows you we're not asking we are this property right here we're not asking for
any new construction or additions of any kind just a change of use inside the building itself
This starts to give you an understanding.
This is an auto use.
So here's Market Street up here.
This is an auto use along Market Street and a U-Haul rental facility.
along Market Street and a U-Haul rental facility.
So what you can see here, there's a lot of RM1 zoned properties going south and west of us.
However, as we know, Philadelphia is an area of blocks and more specifically located uses.
We are immediately adjacent to a very large commercial parking lot.
And as I said, this is the corner property right next to us.
I'll show you an image in a minute.
That is a neighborhood pharmacy on the bottom.
What you can see, this sort of lower left-hand square here of CIA2, that is all one Rite Aid.
This lower right-hand corner is all an existing Wendy's.
and then the entirety of the top half of this property right across the street from us is a
fresh grocer the frontage is along south 56th street which is where the the l stop is and
we are facing the rear of it and again this next block north of us that you can see
is all heavy industrial use actually i2 heavy industrial behind at the rear end and heavy
heavy commercial use at cmx3 right here butting up against market street
this is what you see as i said before these are the only uh remaining residential uses
along this block immediately our property is vacant it had previously been used uh to
to rent to a residential use that was unsuccessful for a number of reasons one of them being this
change in the neighborhood and how commercial the area had become and again this property is
vacant I do not know about the other two and then you can see this property is being run as a
business and is no longer residential. Sorry, so that's just an image. Here we go. This is
immediately, this is standing on the front stoop of the existing building. This is the large
Rite Aid property across from us. I think I actually go here. So again, here's the building.
This is the side of our building. You can see the large commercial parking lot right next to us.
This is the Rite Aid parking lot and Rite Aid.
I believe that Rite Aid is now vacant and shuttered, making it even more difficult to put in a residence there.
And again, this is the back. This is the L that you can see at the end.
And this is the back of the Fresh Grocer.
On the other side of the parking lot next to the building there, is that residential?
the other side of which parking lot well i i can't where your property is there's an apart
there's a parking lot next one right i'll show some more screens and i'm sure i'm just curious
if there's another residential block i think there is uh i i'm sure i'm sure you're correct
and i'll point out which one i think you're you're referring to um so again this is immediately
across the street this is the back of the fresh grocer um this is i couldn't actually get there
to take the image myself. So this is a screenshot standing in the middle, right just south of Market
Street. You can see this is the auto intensive use and U-Haul rentals. This whole building right
here on the same side of the block, this is all a church and the entire thing is operated as a
church. The RCO is represented that some of it may be residentially used. However, it's impossible
to tell with um you know what what the church is doing at that location and then again we're
we're right there that's the church i already described so here is this is a very large
verizon substation building no access in or out this is a very large
mercy health building the right aid is right on the left here and the wendy's is right down there
so again here this is our building right there this is to catch the neighborhood pharmacy
there are there do appear to be apartments above the neighborhood pharmacy
and i think i can show you share the neighborhood you're talking about
so if you this is uh to the left would be the right aid and to the right would be
our property, and I'm looking south here along South 57th. So when you go further south,
So when you go further south, another block or two, it does become residential again.
another block or two, it does become resilient.
And when you go west a block, it does become residential again.
So and then here we go.
So this is the front door of the building, and you can see it's relatively well kept inside.
this space is what would be used for the check caching area and just to be clear a check caching
facility does require state licensure and they would have certain requirements and demands for
how this this frontage would be built out essentially there'd be about the first 15 feet
of this frontage here would be the check cashing facility. And I know I'll get to it in a minute,
but one of the major opposition points for the RCO had essentially two major opposition points.
One was they didn't want payday lending and they view check cashing as sort of an immediate gateway
to predatory or payday lending. Those are separate considerations or separate identified uses
under 146017G1. And we would certainly accept a proviso preventing any payday lending.
There is no intention to do any payday lending. And that's not of interest. We also did agree
that if we got approval, we agreed with the RCO that if we did get approval, we would agree that
there would be no sale of goods. They were worried that this would somehow turn into a
marijuana dispensary of sorts or paraphernalia dispensary. We are not asking for anything of
the sort and happy to include whatever proviso might guarantee that. So now what I'm doing is
I'm standing at the front door with my back against the front door. Again, this is just shy
of 15 feet to the stairwell. This wall would be reinforced in accordance with Mr. Sahunta has
another attorney who is involved in getting state licensure for the check cashing facilities.
I am not an expert in that, but my understanding is basically this wall would be fully reinforced
as required, and there would be a separate door here leading into the rear office use and the
office use going upstairs. So it would just be the front portion, which is about 10 feet wide
by 15 feet deep. That would be the check caching facility. So again, this is just an image.
Mr. Sahunta is not currently using the property. There was an issue. Mr. Sahunta
is not a native English speaker. He speaks very well, but there was some discrepancy between
questions being asked directly by the RCO of him and how he was using the property. He is not
currently using the property. He just placed, he was able to obtain some office furniture and
place that to show, to kind of stage what this would look like. And again, here's the second
floor in the front. Mr. Sahunta is in a situation where prior to COVID, he owned many taxi cabs with
their medallions and numerous newsstands. And as this board certainly understands as well as I can
say it, COVID and the advent of Lyft and Uber have not been kind to those businesses. So Mr. Sahunta
is looking to begin to really focus his energies on this check cashing facility and also to
utilize this office space. As you can see, this is the rear, not even, this is the rear of the
second floor and there's no office furniture or anything there. He's hoping to, basically he and
his wife would work to do home health aid placements. That's the company that they're
trying to begin. And that's the office use that would go in here. So here are the refusals we
have. Again, I think the issue that happened was two of these refusals got listed twice and the
office use didn't get listed. So if you look here, we have the proposed check caching is within 500
feet of the nearest lot line of residential use is prohibited. And we have the proposed check
caching is within 500 feet of any residentially zoned property is prohibited um again i believe
again i believe those should have been collapsed into one and we certainly don't dispute that
those should have been collapsed into one and uh we certainly
that is a that is a single correct refusal but it is not two separate refusals and there should have
been a uh a refusal listed for office use which we will stipulate and will certainly be found by
any zoning examiner to not be permitted in the rm1 district although we also the zoning district
was listed as cmx2 rm1 so again i think we're going to need some clarification from the examiner
of of what that means and then second the proposed personal credit establishment is
expressly prohibited in this zoning district. I think the irony will not be lost on this board
to say that personal credit establishments like a check cashing, payday lending, or
a pawn shop are actually expressly prohibited in every single zoning district in the entire city,
except for I-3, which is the Philadelphia Gasworks that went up in flames a year,
year and a half ago or so, and the airport, essentially,
and a couple of outliers of environmentally tainted ground.
So the hardship would be certainly trying to put in a personal credit establishment
anywhere in the city uh is is impossible because it's not by right anywhere you can do it by
special exception in some certain um industrial locations and the other main issue that i forgot
to mention coming from the rco in opposition was that excuse me um the uh a lot of uh there used
to be a number of check cashing facilities in this neighborhood, in the extended neighborhood,
and that those have gone out of business and that they believed there is another facility
business on Market Street, certainly within walking distance, that performs at least similar
actions. I couldn't determine, and it wasn't open when I was walking the neighborhood,
I couldn't determine if it was exactly the same type of uses that Mr. Sojunto is seeking here, but it was similar.
And so the community said, no, you should have their position was we only want a single family house here.
That's how this should be built. Residential is fine.
And, you know, check cashing facilities have been going out of business in the greater neighborhood here.
So we don't want to see another one go out of business here after we approve it.
And that's really a gateway to payday lending and predatory lending, which we would agree.
And again, we would be happy to accept a proviso to say no payday lending whatsoever.
So to wrap up, you know, the office would be allowed even in CMX2, which is immediately adjacent to us.
And certainly we have much heavier commercial uses, CMX3, industrial uses, and ironically, auto-oriented uses across the street from us.
And so we believe that the change in the neighborhood and the fact that this block in particular is no longer a residential neighborhood in character or function constitutes a hardship for this property.
Again, we believe that there's no detriment here to the public health, safety, or welfare.
It is a use that requires a state license and we'll have to meet, you know, just because
we got approval here before this board, if we do, does not mean in any way, shape, or
form that that state license is granted.
This is just one of the checkboxes that has to be completed while you're seeking that
licensure.
So there are a lot of other steps, major security functions that will go into place.
security cameras, lighting, all those sorts of things.
And therefore, and we believe, you know,
there's no real detrimental impact from, you know,
the limited office space here.
And finally, it's the least minimum variance
simply because we're not seeking any additional development.
We're simply trying to activate what has been a vacant property
in which Mr. Sahunta had attempted to rent it,
had some difficulties with renting it,
But there was comments in the RCO letters that Mr. Suhunta said he had to go through the eviction process with certain tenants.
Mr. Sahunta said he had to go through the eviction process with certain tenants and that the RCOs were not able to find it.
That is because Mr. Sahunta previously changed his name about 15 years ago, and his name, Rajan Masi, is in the formal records and is in the chain of title.
So it is there that was not a misrepresentation by the client.
And this really is no longer rentable as viable residential space.
So with that, unless the board has any questions, I'll call Mr. Baldav Sahunta to adopt my trip.
Please do that.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Sahunta, please raise your hand.
he's been allowed to speak sir could you please state your name and spell for the course
stenographer my name is baldeeb last name is sahunta b for boy a for apple l for larry d for
david e for edward v for victor last name is sahunta s for sam a for apple s for harry
you for under, and for Nancy,
you for down, you for apple.
Swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth is nothing but the truth.
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you.
Mr. Sahunta, you're the owner of the property, correct?
Yes, sir.
And have you heard the testimony
that I already have given in this matter?
And do you believe it to be true and correct
to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief?
Yes. And would you adopt that testimony as your own?
Yes. Thank you very much, Mr. Sir.
Questions from the board?
No questions, Chair.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from our attorney? Hillary Anderson.
Just a quick clarification, Mr. Whelan.
um you had mentioned that you wanted to amend the refusal to legalize an existing office use
but you said the property was not in use right now can you clarify what you meant
my apologies if i said that i misstated it i meant to approve an office use at the property
there is not there is not an office use ongoing at the property
and we are seeking to approve it so that Mr. Sahunta and his wife can begin to run their
business out of that second floor. Okay, thank you. Sorry about that. Thank you. Questions or
comments from the virtual audience? There we have Kyle Simpson. They have been unmuted and allowed
to speak. Mr. Simpson? Mr. Simpson? Kyle Sampson, please unmute yourself. My name is Kyle Sampson,
S-A-M-P-S-O-N, president of the West Philadelphia Economic Development Council, RCO.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do. Please proceed.
Mr. Chairman, we've heard excuses. The gentleman doesn't speak English very well. He changed his name. We've heard so many excuses. This facility has been used as an office.
The gentleman said that, oh, we put furniture in there because we wanted to stage it for the Zoom meeting.
I've attached a document that shows that they've been incorporated for several years with the state.
They don't have a city license to operate.
And the applicant even talked about his client base.
So the building has been operating as an office for the American Way Home Care LLC.
That document was attached to what I gave you.
The community doesn't want a check cashing place and all that that brings to the community.
And the attorney was incorrect.
There are several residents on that block.
So we, I don't know, there's some feedback.
We totally don't want this in our community.
I understand.
Thank you very much.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
here we have vandalin warring they have been unmuted and allowed to speak
hi could you please state your name as bell for the stenographer yes hello chairman uh my name
is vandalin warring it's v as in victor a n d as in david e l y n last name w a r i n g
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Oh, yeah.
Are you a neighbor?
I am the lead of the generationals of Philadelphia.
That's right. Please proceed.
Yeah. So, Mr. Whalen mentioned earlier that there were no residential, there were no RM1s near the property.
um essentially i would have to dispute that there is uh neighbors adjacent to mr um to to the
applicant uh as well as on ledlow street as well as chestnut street uh especially in in addition
the church also is residential uh next to the church is residential so i understand mr whalen
is trying to make the case uh that there's commercial properties along 57th street but there
are more residential properties within proximity of the applicant's address so that this is not
quite true so the question is are you in favor of the check cashing place or against it i am against
it thank you very much for taking the time to close or anyone else in the virtual audience
i see no further hands share planning commission
so ryan bednar city planning the property is currently split zone for both residential and
commercial on the city plan the applicant's hardship is not supported with evidence of
physical circumstances or condition of the property that we've been from being used in
conformity with the code the proposed check cashing business is not appropriate in this
building. Therefore, we recommend
the request of variance not to be granted.
Thank you.
Mr. Whalen, as we said,
we're going to hold this. Is this an
amended refusal we need, Hillary?
Yes. I believe Mr. Whalen
is seeking a second use as
well. Okay, good. So we're going
to hold this until we have
it, and once we get it. Other
than that, it's closed. Am I correct, Hillary?
Yes, it is closed. We're closed
when we get
When we've received that, then we'll schedule for a vote.
All right.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience who 330 case has not been called?
I've seen our hands at the time, Chair.
Thanks, everyone.
I mean, we cleared up a whole lot of the add-ons today, and I think we really got a lot of work done today, and I appreciate it.
Thank you all.
I thank you, Chair.
You do an amazing job.
I don't know about that, no.
I love it.
Jerry, you are so gracious and wonderful.
Yeah, I know.
My God, PC.
So thank you all.
Put it this way.
Put it this way.
We got through the day.
But we did clear up a lot of old work.
And I think that was the key thing.
Thank you.
Thanks to everyone.
Thanks, everybody.
Have a good one.
Good night, all.
Good night, everyone.
Good night, everyone.
Good night, everyone.