dispute with his you know their testimony and i see the petition where there are a lot of
local neighbors who didn't attend the meeting that support his proposal my one concern is
I see on the multiple listing service that this house has been put up for sale since we had that
meeting so is your client actually going to if granted the variance go through with what they
want to do for the building or are they just trying to sell it sir sir we you can't you can
give us your comments about it you can't ask questions of the okay well my concern is if this
is granted it appears that perhaps they're trying to just resell the property having gained the
variance. Thank you very much for calling in. We appreciate your comments. I do not believe that's
intent here. I think it's more likely that if they were unable to get a variance and use it in
a way that would make sense for their finances to renovate the property, they were more likely to
so i wasn't aware that it was placed for sale on mls is there anyone else in the virtual audience
who has comments about this case
i see no hands at this time too planning commission thank you chair bergman ian hegarty
for the philadelphia city planning commission board members the conference of plan recommends
no change to the existing rsa 5 single family zoning at this location which has been in place
since 1980. This is one of four similar three-story structures, all of which were built
as single-family homes and have no record of multifamily use. We don't feel the applicant
has presented evidence of unique physical conditions of the property that present a hardship,
but is instead relying on an economic hardship argument for the use variance. And so the City
Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny the variance. Thank you. MI 2022-002-382-1246
Marlboro Street. I vote no. Carlton Aaron. My vote is no. Thomas Holman. My vote is no.
Ishmael Shaheed. Yes. Ishmael Shaheed. My vote is no. Thank you counsel. Thank you.
number 15 mi 2022 002 571 2305 north re street um henry clinton is the attorney
letter of support from nars square community alliance
good morning again mr clinton um you've already been sworn could you identify your client
and the relationship to this property sure my client is leo oslovic ios i l e v i c h and he
is one of the principals of the llc which owns the property and he is on the call our vice chair has
a few questions.
Mr. Clinton, do you agree to waive the
reading of the refusal and stipulate to
its accuracy? I do.
Have you emailed the exhibit packet
with proof of ownership, proof of
tax compliance,
a copy of the refusal or referral,
photos under plans of the property,
five days in advance of this hearing,
and have you met with your RCO, and do you have a letter?
All to the...
Okay, you may proceed
and begin to share
your screen good morning mr. chairman
Good morning, Mr. Chairman, members of the Board. I'm here on 2305 Reese Street. The
presentation package before you contains two other properties, but we're going to concentrate
on 2305 North Reese Street. With my presentation package or table of contents containing exhibits
AA to A10, which I ask be admitted into the record, appearance statement, refusal. Refusal
concerns, two issues. One is a use issue and the second is a dimensional. The use is this is an
RSA 5 zoning district and we're asking for a two-family dwelling. The dimensional variance is
the minimus as the occupied area is 81% and the requirement is 75%. So we are six percentage points
off. Excuse me, I was showing you the wrong refusal, Mr. Chairman, my apologies. Because
there's three properties in this package, I was referring to the wrong property. So this property
is 2305 North 3th Street, and there's a single refusal. We do not have any dimensional refusals.
It's a refusal because the proposal is for a two-family dwelling, and this is an RSA 5 zoning
district. We did meet with Norris Square Community Alliance concerning 2305 North 3 Street and they
did issue a letter of support. What was important to them is that they believe that this may spur
some development on this particular block. As I will show you, there's many vacant lots on this
property and on this block. You can see property currently, areas currently a bit empty and it
could spur new development. The other thing is my client has committed to sell these units
and I know that may not have any impact with regard to the planning commission, but to the
neighbors it is because having homeowners in the neighborhood is a plus as opposed to having what
some neighborhoods consider renters, which will not give stability to the neighborhood. This is
the 2300 block of North Reece Street. You can see that virtually the entire western side
of the block is vacant. Some property owners are using the open lots for parking vehicles and
a small mobile home. But on this side of the street, the west side of Reece Street,
basically there's no development whatsoever.
again here is a photograph this is looking south just to give you a perspective of what's happening
on the west side of reese street there's a large building at the corner which is multi-family
but you know granted most of the properties on this side are single family but there are no
homes to compare that against on the western side of reese street i'm going to move you to
the plans. This is the plans for the property. The basement of first floor would be one unit.
Second and third floor would be another unit. It would be open space for the owner of the unit on
the basement and first floor in the yard. And the second and third floor would have access
to a rooftop deck for their open space. The front would be composed of brick,
party board siding which is compatible with the neighborhood and which was well accepted by the
neighborhood we have no dimensional variances in terms of height occupied area open space
or rear yard as there is an ample rear yard
the rest of the documents are the as i say typically at the presentations the pro forma
documents that one would see in a zoning application, our notification to the neighbors,
our applications for appeal, our tax certifications, which are intact.
And again, the zoning map for Reed Street, one of the other factors that may persuade the board
and did persuade the neighborhood is on Dauphin Street. All the homes at front Dauphin Street
are either RM1 or CMX2, and our property is literally one lot in. So when I showed you the
photographs of North Reese Street on the west side, a lot of that vacancy actually fronts on
Dauphin, but it does affect the use on Reese Street. Again, the deed and the other documents
that were previously submitted to Ms. Emerson.
So with that, I'm going to ask
that the board will kindly apply this application.
that the board look kindly upon this application. It's a long vacant lot on a block that has many,
It's a long, vacant lot.
many empty lots, which is in need of development. I think that's recognized by NARA Square.
Certainly if other projects come before NARA Square, they certainly can elect to change their
mind as to whether they want to permit additional multifamily. But sometimes you have to spur
development with not necessarily what the area is owned for. So with that, I would rest and
ask that Leo please raise your hand and be unmuted last name is Isilovich Mr. Isilovich you can unmute
yourself or wait for the chair please Leo just state your name is spelled again you've already
been sworn hey my name is Leo Isilovich uh it's spelled l-e-o for the first name and last name is
I-O-S-I-L-E-V-I-C-H.
Good to see you, Mr. Clinton.
Mr. Solovich, were you on the call when I presented your project to the board?
Yes, I was.
And just one question, is this property, this project going to be developed for sale for residents of the community?
That is correct.
and you also have one member of your llc who has agreed to assist with helping individuals become
qualified to acquire property like this yes and if you had the opportunity to testify would you
adopt my testimony as your own and as true and correct i do thank you thank you questions from
the board questions from the board no mr chair and mr chairman questions or comments from the
virtual audience chairman we have sloan folks with his hand up mr folks you can unmute yourself or
Wait for the chair, please.
Good morning again, Sloan Folks, Office of Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez.
Good morning, Mr. Folks, you've already been sworn.
Yes, sir.
Thank you, sir.
The applicant, accordingly, in having met with the coordinating RCO, NSCA,
and receiving a letter of support from them.
Councilwoman offers no opposition to this request.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see no other hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair.
Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
In 2021, the zoning map was amended to RSA 5 on this block
in accord with the neighborhood remapping process
led by the Council Member's Office.
the intent of the single family zoning designation is to encourage single family infill
on narrow blocks such as this consistent with their historical development patterns
the applicant has not supported the hardship claim with evidence of unique physical conditions of
the property which is their charge the city planning commission recommends that the board
deny the use variants. Thank you, Anne. MI-2022-002571-2305 North Free Street, I vote yes.
Carol Tennery, my vote is yes. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Ismail Shaheed, my vote is yes. Sorry about that, Bill.
I... That's okay. That's okay. My vote is yes. Sorry about that. Thank you. Thank you,
everybody. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Number 16, Henry, stay on, please. MI 2022-002-226-3849
Fairmount Avenue. Support from the Mantua Civic Association. No explanation.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm here on behalf of Lefter, Dima, D-H-I-M-A. His daughter,
Clea, K-L-E-A, is on the call because he has some language issues, but she's here on his
behalf. That's his daughter. All right. Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Mr. Clinton, do you agree to avoid the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, a copy of the
refusal or referral, photos under plans of the property five days in advance of this
hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
I ask to all of the above.
Okay, great.
You may proceed and begin by sharing your screen.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Derry.
Mr. Chairman, is that visible?
Mr. Chairman, is that visible?
Yes, it is.
Yes, it is.
But Aaron,
Good afternoon.
Still good morning, rather.
Henry Clinton, on behalf of Lefter Dima, whose daughter here, will testify on his behalf.
Her name is Clea, K-L-E-A, Dima, D-H-I-M-A.
This property is at 3849 Framont Avenue, and I'm going to walk through the presentation
package, which contains exhibits AA through A11, which I asked to be admitted into the
record.
My appearance statement, this is the refusal, obviously the key document.
This area is zoned, this block is zoned, RSA 5.
We have refusal because the request is for a two-family dwelling.
And there's also an issue with regard to the open air, open space, excuse me.
Again, I argue that this is the minimus because the requirement is 75%
and our request is 6% in excess of that at 81%.
The other refusal concerns the front facade of the building.
The front facade of the building is brought out to the property line.
There are other properties on the block that have porches,
and because there's porches, the L&I examiner determined that this house should also be set back.
we do have an rco letter of uh of support uh from mantua civic association and we met with them
there was no letter of rationale but there is a letter of support i wanted to show the board
some photographs of the block this is a view looking north again we have a situation where
the block has a number of homes but there's also a number of vacant properties
This is the vacant property at 3849 here in between two existing properties.
And then as you move west on Fairmount Avenue, there's additional vacancies.
And then across the street, directly from this property, there are additional vacancies.
So I don't know how long this vacant lot has been here.
Could not discern that from the zoning records.
And during the community meeting, folks really didn't know how long it's been vacant.
but they know it's vacant and in need of development just trying to give you a closer
view to show you that there are some porches on the fronts of some of the properties that are
there some of the porches are actually closed in i don't know if they're living quarters
sometimes they're made into tv rooms or vestibules and there's a couple open porches
this is a view looking east on fairmount avenue you can see the street is not all residential
There's what appears to be some type of a commercial structure here.
Could not discern what that is.
There's roll-top gates on the front of the building and a cyclone enclosure out front for some trash storage.
But again, you can see the vacant lots on both sides of the street.
Here's a close-up of the existing lot.
And as I say, the refusal is generated.
One of the refusals was generated because the proposal was to bring the building out to the front of the property line.
in line with the porch, not out to where the fence is on these properties, but out to the edge
of the porch, and it would just go basically straight up.
This is a very large lot. It's over 75 feet deep. It would be a very, very large single-family home
if you were to have the proper occupancy
in terms of lot coverage.
And that's why when my client looked at this situation,
looked at the vacant lots on the block,