ZBA Hearing - April 30, 2025

This variance would actually not be required at all in the I-1 rather than I-2 district

or along the nearby ICMX and CA2 zoning districts.

However, I-1, I'm sorry, I-2 does require a variance

for a building identification sign above the second floor windowsill.

Here is a aerial of the neighborhood,

again, showing the commercial corridor of Allegheny Avenue.

It's a major arterial.

along uh this st hugh and fair hill neighborhood and here are site photos again um in short we

submit this small variance um would you know allow a small sign to fit um just above the window so

to afford reasonable visual identification of this existing building um particularly as you can see

in the top left here on a broad streetscape of Allegheny Avenue. It has bike lanes and

several bus lines along the avenue. Here in the bottom left, you can see the scale of this building

relative to its neighbors. Again, here in the top right, this building right across from Hancock

Street is Casa Caribe. It's five stories tall. Across the street on the other side of Allegheny

is Hancock Manor. That's seven stories tall. And this large building also next door in Allegheny

is the two-story Salvation Army with a slightly larger tower. So certainly we said

is the two-story Salvation Army with a slightly larger tower. So certainly we submit that the

Thank you.

building identification signage on this one building that stands alone on this block

is appropriate, reasonable, and a minimal modification of the code at issue. Here again,

you can see a street level photo of where the building stands. And here is the site plan and

design of the signage. I'll pull up the signage design specifically. As you can see, each sign

has static illumination from within, so they can be turned off at night. Nothing blinks or draws

unwarranted attention. Below the sill is the word ASEE, backlit with wall-mounted acrylic letters in

blue, about one foot tall and four inches deep. Above the sill here is the five by seven ASEE logo,

which is very well known here in Fair Health, where it's placed on all of these four

Caribe development buildings that I'd be remiss not to note with Maria Gonzalez on the line

that Ossie and the city have worked together over the past three decades to transform several

blighted lots in the Fairhall neighborhood into about 200 units of affordable senior

and community space, including 81 units here at Villas del Caribe. The 7th Ward RCO met virtually

on March 12th, with 23 individuals in attendance, voted unanimously as an enthusiastic and unqualified

support of approving signage for V.S. del Caribe, again, to afford reasonable visual identification

of this pre-existing standard bearing center for community and affordable housing in Fairhill

and North Philadelphia and across the city of Philadelphia. Mr. Chair, for all these reasons,

I'll just pull out this photo again.

We submit that the grant of this variance is consistent with the spirit of the code,

represents the least possible modification of the regulation of issue, will not alter

the character of the neighborhood, and will rather benefit, not detriment, the community

with no adverse impact on congestion, safety, transportation, welfare, and the environment.

And with that, bring your client on.

Absolutely.

Absolutely. My client in the audience is Maria Gonzalez.

Sure. Thank you.

Ms. Gonzalez?

can you hear me i can i can could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer

yes maria n gonzalez m-a-r-i-a n-g-o-n-z-a-l-e-z 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 mr chair uh

good good evening maria i have just a few questions um first have you heard my testimony

in the description of this application today yes i have and the information that i provided

is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge yes it is and would you now adopt

and affirm this testimony as your own yes i do thank you very much questions from the board

questions. Yeah, just about the, you said that these will be internally illuminated

signs. Is that what I heard? Yes, that's correct. Okay. And then, is this going to be

are they on a timer? Is this going to be 24 hours a day? How is the illumination going to work in

terms of, you know, how they're not, you know, will be? Yes. Thank you, Chairman Gaston. So

they're, they're internally lit so that they can be turned on and off. And as I mentioned at night,

They can be, you know, it's on the Allegheny Street corridor, but, you know, they can be turned off to, you know, keep the lighting.

Do you have a plan for that? I mean, is it going to, like, come on at dusk and go off it, you know, or is this going to be an all day, all night?

you know or is this going to be an all day all night thing or how is this going to work

so i don't believe it was raised at the community meeting but um you know maria's we discussed this

she's happy to turn the lights off each evening um at you know at dusk no i'm just i'm just asking

if there's a plan for it or whatever I don't I don't know whether it will be a problem for

the community or not but just you know if there's a plan for you you have the lighting so the question

is you know is there a plan for um I see these signs will be illuminated and Maria I see your

a timer or whatever just asking yes how are you miss gonzalez hi how are you good to see you again

good i'm good um yes we do plan to have a turn off switch um just to make sure that yes we are

saving energy as well and we plan also to have a timer so it just gives us various options to turn

up the lights when we need to, for whatever reason, is it repairs, you know, to replace

bulbs and things like that.

All right.

Thank you.

I have a question.

It looks like there's a number of single-family homes across the street.

Just wondering if they attended the community meeting, and specifically if you know if they

gave their support.

um i'm not aware as to whether the the neighbors across the street attended the community meeting

and and maria um jump in if you are aware as to whether any of those neighbors attended

i understand you know the sport was unanimous but i don't know if they were in attendance

right um we did invite the residents across the street um i do not have the signing sheet to

affirm whether um some of those residents did attend um i know that we do uh actively and widely

um inform the community about meetings especially as it relates to zoning issues but i can't really

definitively say whether they um you know they attended they were invited but i don't know if

they attended okay thank you all right other questions from the board questions from our

attorney, Hillary Emerson. Not at this time, Mr. Chair. Questions or comments from

the virtual audience?

Planning Commission.

Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan recommends no change

to the current I-2 medium industrial zoning at this location. The existing

building corner sign and configuration

would not allow the sign to be placed in conformance with the zoning code.

Therefore, the Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant the requested variance for sign height.

Thank you. MI 2025-000-392-167 West Allegheny Avenue, I vote yes.

Michael Johns, my vote is yes.

Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.

Ioan, my vote is yes.

Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.

Thank you, Counsel.

Thank you. Thank you all for your time.

Number 12, MI-2025-000394-2026 South 5th Street.

I'm going to do back-to-back here.

Okay.

Hi, Vern. You've already been sworn. Just for the record, state your name.

Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Vern Anastasio. On behalf of Mohammed El Saeed.

Okay, and just for a point of information, we're going to hear you back to back. You have another one that's one away, but we'll hear you, your two right away, together.

Yeah, the next one is a hear and hold, by the way.

Yeah, I agree. All right. Our vice chair has a few questions.

Good evening, counsel. Do you agree to wait to read another refusal or stipulate towards accuracy?

Good evening, I do.

Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's 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.

And I see the council member, Squilla, is in non-opposition.

Yep, he sent a letter of non-opposition.

Yep, he sent a letter of non-opposition.

I'm sorry, this is the wrong property.

As did the community.

Overwhelming support.

Vern, just for a point of information, we do not have...

You got the letter from the community?

No, we do not have the letter from the community.

I think Council Member Squilla's office does, but we do not have it.

Okay.

I'll forward it to you if you'd like.

All right, thanks.

i thought they sent it i'm sorry that's okay i have it here and i'm going to move this into

evidence 55 pages 54 pages here's the letter from the rco you never get a leader from an rco to

actually put pen to paper and it's very clear that the applicant here says it's quote presented

a well-rounded case members of the community who were not present who are present spoke highly of

Mr. Mohamed dedicated to the community. Structure needs no new modification.

And they voted overwhelmingly on his behalf. So that's that's that document.

And let me show you here. We've got the letter of support with the vote breakdown.

and as you said you already have councilman council member squill is a letter of non-opposition

the application is for a two-family dwelling in an existing structure

and it's a two-family dwelling already so that's that's pretty much why why we're here

so let's show you the plans i'll pull out

and i'll pull in a little bit okay so we have uh the basement here is basically mechanicals

hot water heaters hvac there is a restroom down there and just a powder room and some

closet and some storage space the first floor you come up the stairs uh into down the hallway

you can go up the stairs to the second floor unit or you can make a right in this case let's

for now let's take a right go into

unit number one

and you'll see a living room a kitchen you'll see a bedroom in the front and a bedroom in the rear

and a full bath

and then unit number two 860 square foot two bedroom apartment again the center is the living

dining, eat-in kitchen sort of area. And then you've got a bedroom in the rear and a bedroom

in the front. Go down here. Here's some of the photos. Very well appointed.

proof of posting here's the letter that was sent to all immediate neighbors

here's mr squilla's letter here are the addresses that were mailed

i've already been through that and here's 181 individual households that got our notice

Here is proof that the property is being taxed as a multifamily property and assessed as a multifamily property to family.

And, of course, we've got the tax clearance in our deed.

And then we've got aerial shots.

And here, for those who could not attend, we've got a full page and a little bit extra of everybody in the immediate area.

both Mercy, Emily, McKean, and Fifth Street.

So it's all there, and my client used the addresses

given to him by the Planning Commission to go door-to-door.

And with that, I'm going to ask my client, Mr. Mohamed Elisi,

to raise his virtual hand.

What's the rest of the neighborhood look like?

Is there multiple?

yeah there's uh yeah well it's fifth street right so and as i'm sure you know down there at least

uh the numbered streets are where the where the apartments are for the most part right so it's uh

there are single family homes on fifth street but there's also two three and four family dwellings

up and down south just like six seven eight nine

Up and down.

Just like 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th.

And I hope Mr. Muhammad's still here.

It's been a few hours.

He's coming in as a panelist.

Great.

Hello.

Hi, Mr. Muhammad.

Could you please state your name and spell for this phonographer?

Yes.

Muhammad Elasi.

M-O-H-A-M-E-B.

Last name Elasi.

E-L-L-A-I-S-Y.

You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Yes.

Please proceed, counsel.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Alessi, did you hear my presentation to the board today?

Yes.

True and accurate to the best of your knowledge?

Yes.

Are you adopted as your own testimony?

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

Mr. Chair, I have nothing else.

Questions from the board.

I have a few questions.

One, at what point was this subdivided?

Because all of the documentation for L&I as recently as 2024 show it as being approved as a single family home and only having a rental license for a single unit.

Correct. Mr. Alessi, do you want to talk about your history with the property?

Yes, I purchased the property in 2023 and with a squatter in it.

That took me a very, very long time to get him out.

Can you guys hear me?

We can hear you.