anyone else would like to testify please raise your hand
no more hands chair thank you planning commission thank you chair chico eden heggerty for the
philadelphia city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no changes to
the existing residential single family zoning on this lot however it's clear the applicant's
property is uniquely shallow and the proposed variance would legalize a non-conforming use which
has not caused significant negative impacts to neighbors.
And so the City Planning Commission recommends
that the zoning board approve the variance.
Thank you.
MI 2020-00.
Excuse me, Chair.
Chair, I'm sorry to interrupt, but before you vote,
you submitted two plan, two pages of plans, not three.
Yeah, Exhibit E is apparently, I see a three page.
do you want me to resend the three pages is is it absolutely necessary to have the third page
the third page is not necessary okay then we'll stay with the two pages thank you thank you
okay mi 2020-002527 537 league street my vote is yes with the proviso revised plans two pages
approved today. Yes with proviso. Yes with proviso. Thank you. MI 2020-002573. Thank
you. Thank you. 581 Geneva Avenue. We have Vern. Good morning, Mr.
Mr. Anastasio, please identify yourself for the record, and I'll swear you in.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman.
Vern Anastasio, 1315 Walnut, Suite 1006, Philadelphia, PA, 19107.
And Anastasio is A-N-A, S-T-A, S-I-O.
And do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do, sir.
Thank you.
Please proceed.
Affirm, are you looking to wait the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
I do, sir.
Also, have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents,
proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance,
copy of the refusal or referral photos and plans five days prior to this hearing?
I have.
Also, have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
Thank you. Please proceed.
Thank you. I'm going to share my screen.
All right.
581 Geneva Avenue. This application is for multi-family household living, three-family
dwelling in an existing structure. This is a very unique property, as you'll see. It's
a corner property. It has three separate, actually four separate entrances, one in the
rear, two on the side. This already has more than one electric meter. I'm going to pull out a little
bit here. That's the front door on Geneva itself. These are the roll-down gates that it used to be
commercial space on the first floor there's the rear entrance backyard side two doors again
and there's additional space there's an entrance over here to the left that goes to the second
floor there's of course an entrance to the first floor on the side and there's the rear entrance
on the side. And there's the rear entrance to the third floor as I showed you. Here are some interior
to the third floor.
photos. It's been empty for quite some time. I spoke to the immediate neighbor right next door
and they said it's been empty for years. It's been a dark corner attracting
you know uh folks that shouldn't be hanging out on that corner also uh it's a source of trash
uh litter uh snow doesn't get uh shoveled nor does ice get removed so they are looking forward
to my client um now that he owns it uh rehabbing it we've got three units all of ample size
765 square foot on the ground level. Above that it's another 726 square foot on the second and at
the top 596. I think it's important to note as I showed you in the photos there are two side doors.
one of the doors will be an access to the ground floor apartment the other door however is going
to be for a separate common area so that all three tenants can store their trash it'll also
be a place for washer or dryer hookups as well so there is a comprehensive trash plant uh he's
you know the design is well thought out in that regard let me take a take you down
we met with the 40 the new 42nd ward rco
here's a copy of the flyer that was mailed
let me have our deed
and we met with the 42nd ward it was a letter of support it was unanimous
i have a tax certification i also have a certificate of mailing 169 properties were mailed
and um again uh i think a general consensus was folks are just happy that this is going to be
finally rehabilitated and brought back to life given the history of the property and given the
unique conditions of the property uh we respectfully request granting of this variance
and with that i i'd like to uh have pedro my uh client please raise his hand
pedro segura yes he can unmute himself mr segura please identify yourself with the record spell
your full name uh yeah this is pedro segura uh s-e-g-u-r-a firm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth yes sir thank you mr anastasio thank you mr chair
Mr. Sigour, did you hear my presentation to the board this morning?
And was it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
And would you adopt it as your own testimony if need be?
Thank you.
I have nothing else, sir.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
Anyone else like to testify in this case?
Please raise your hand.
Yes, Chair, we have Ms. Hillary.
Good morning again, Ms. Emerson.
you're still under oath from earlier yes good morning Mr. Chair members of the board um the
councilman does not oppose the requested variance for three units at this property um this property
has a history of already being uh separate units as Mr. Anastasia noted with the commercial on the
ground floor um it is a large above grade um property with separate entrances um so we believe
that three units would be appropriate at this site. The community that attended the meeting
did support with provisos, the provisos they recommended and we support our certificate
occupancy prior to occupancy and exterior lighting was discussed and Mr. Anastasio alluded to the
dark nature of the corner. And then the last proviso, which we'd recommend to just confirm
what was already planned was interior trash storage so that any future owners wouldn't
be storing trash outside of the building.
Thank you. And the first provisor, was that the CO?
Thank you. And the first proviso, was that the CO?
The CO, yes.
The CO, yes.
Okay, thank you.
Anyone else like to...
We, of course, agree to all of that, by the way.
Okay, I'll put that in as a proviso.
Anyone else like to testify?
No more hands at this time, Chair.
Thank you. Planning Commission?
Thank you, Chair DeChico.
Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
Comprehensive plan recommends no change
to the existing residential single-family zoning at this site.
We recognize the existing building is not built as a typical single-family dwelling.
However, the documented prior legal use of the property is for one commercial space and
one dwelling, and we therefore argue that the variance does not represent the minimum
variance necessary to afford relief.
We recommend that the zoning board grant the variance with the condition that the use be
limited to two dwelling units.
Thank you.
Mr. Anishazzo?
Just that there are already three separate entrances and to have one large unit, the bi-level unit, we think could pose problems with overcrowding too many bedrooms and runs the risk of end up being more of a rooming house than distinct apartments.
these are minimum 600 square feet and they are approachable price points for people in the
community it was okay the proposal was vetted pretty pretty carefully thank you mi 2020 does
000634 6756 guyer avenue my vote is yes with the following proviso certificate of occupancy to be
obtained within the nine-month period and trash in all units to be stored inside.
Mr. Chairman, that's a significant rehabilitation of the property. We may not be able to meet the
nine-month period goal. Well, upon completion of the project, the CO would have to be maintained
within nine months. Very well. Excuse me, Chair. This is Sharon Sletta. I believe Ms. Emerson
suggested that it be obtained prior to occupancy would that work
they go to be obtained prior to occupancy thank you okay thank you thank you Sharon
board vote
yes with proviso yes with proviso yes with proviso okay thank you Mr. Chairman thank you
Before we go further, Mr. Chairman, I actually have one matter that you called out and you were kind enough to continue.
It's 1925 North 5th Street.
Excuse me, Chair.
I'm sorry to interrupt again, but I just had a text message from Ms. Emerson.
she believes you may have read the last case as Geyer rather than Geneva before you voted.
She's absolutely right. I did read it wrong. Sorry about that. MI 2020-002573
581 Geneva Avenue. My vote is yes with the proviso of trash to be stored inside
all units and certificate of occupancy to be obtained at the time the project is
complete. Was that what it was, Sharon? No, it's certificate of occupancy to be
obtained prior to occupancy. Prior to occupancy. Thank you. So we need another vote on that,
gentlemen yes thank you yes proviso all right let me go to the next one that i made a mistake on mi
2020-000-634-6756 guyer avenue is there anyone here for this case
we only requesting the applicant
sorry say that again we're only requesting the applicants to raise their hand it's the applicant
here no hands at this time chair thank you and this being the third listing and a must be heard
my vote is to dismiss oh dismiss dismiss dismiss okay uh before we go to the first case that we
were putting off to the last uh on the 9 30 list uh two things i think maybe
on the 9 30 list two things I think maybe the court reporter can use a five or ten minute break
so we will come back here at 12 noon and just a word to the applicants and his or his or her
attorneys we understand that this may have some controversy we're not going to go past
45 minutes on this case because we're required to take a break uh staff has to have a break so
bear that in mind we'll be back here at 12 o'clock excuse me mr chairman briefly may i please
i wanted to i just wanted to bring up 1925 north 5th you earlier this morning uh continued the
matter, and I was to request a withdrawal. Okay, so I'll go back on the record. MI 2020-002-563-1925
North 5th is withdrawn. Thank you. Have a good day. 12 o'clock. Be back.
We're recording.
yeah Keisha we ready yes okay we're back on right uh MI 2020-002-446-428-30 West Thompson Street
all right members of the board I got a new webcam hopefully I look a little bit better than before
you look great um please identify yourself and we'll swear you in certainly members of the board
Good afternoon now.
Leo Mulvihill, M-U-L.
He is in Victor, I-I-L-L.
Address is now 1441 East Oxford Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19125.
Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Always.
Thank you.
Confessor?
I believe this is our resumption here, is that correct?
Yes, that's correct.
Okay, may proceed.
Members of the board, I just texted my client, so they weren't waiting on the line all morning.
They may be joining in a moment.
We'll be Chris Stefano and Marnie Drames.
That's C-R-I-S, capital D-E-F-I-N as in Nancy O, and Marnie is spelled M as in Mary, A-R-N as in Nancy I, and last name is capital D-R-A-M as in Mary E-S.
Leo, if you can just increase the volume a little bit.
i'm trying you know this there you know that's good that's good there we go great i got this
so members of the board last time we had some technical difficulties here's my packet
um this is a contested hearing and i don't want to waste everyone's time with
the continuing uh going over everything but last time we had a couple questions
chairman i believe from you specifically regarding um what we had with respect to
spiral stairs and sun studies and all this stuff so here's what we're going to do i'm just going
to go right to the plans because we have all the other stuff here has been submitted I incorporated
into the record by virtue of reference there's a long history with the RCO which held a vote
without us present after making us wait half an hour after rescheduling a thing without notice
that doesn't matter photos I've already shown members of the board so I'm getting now to the
end of my packet for purposes of the record for the packet that I submitted members of the board
just confirm you can see currently what I am showing on my screen single page all right I'm
going to get rid of myself I'm going to keep myself around so members for purposes of the
record we're looking at page I believe it's 80 of my packet and this is a revised plan um more or
less that's been submitted along with the proviso sheet to Ms. Saleta uh we're proposing just to
remind the board 40 foot tall single family home in a single family district in an irregularly
shaped plot. Won't belabor that point. Chairman, you asked last time about a sun study and about
spiral stairs. So let's just cut to the chase there. Where are we here? So here's our sun study
first. So this is our proposal, 40 foot tall building with no parapet. That's what we are
asking for because members of the board, as I belabored last time, if we did a 38 foot tall
building with a solid parapet, we're actually taller and are putting more shadow and matching
over everybody. So we're not doing that here. So what we have here is a sun study. I've submitted