Did anyone happen to hit the recording button?
Good morning.
My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing the ZBA hearings this morning.
With me is Carol Tenere, our vice chair.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Ismail Shahid, our board secretary.
here mr thomas holliman our board member president mr chairman and james snell a board
member president mr chairman also here is our executive executive director tanya sunkett
and our board attorney sherman toppen good morning mr chairman to start let me go over
our virtual format be advised the proceedings are being recorded by toward participating
you acknowledge to be recorded.
A video will be available by contacting our Executive Director,
Tanya Sunkett, at phil .gov.
For the benefit of our court stenographer,
we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you are participating by phone and you wish to testify,
press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
To enter an appearance statement, call.
call 267 -270 -5548. Leave your email and the address of the property in question.
And lastly, please note the question answer box is not for comments or testimony. Any comments,
any comments should be directed to our executive director, Tanya Sunkett. So let's look at
continuances that we have this morning.
Here we go. Number eight.
MI 2021
000360
2338 North 16th Street.
Number 9, MI 2021, 004014, 2813 North Kroski Street.
And MI, number 11, MI 2021, 004059, 3301 Princeton Avenue.
Do we have any comments relative to the continuances?
no hands chair okay are there any other requested continuances
I see no hands at this time chair and we also have a withdrawal MI 2021 004043
30 West Bells Mills Road.
That case is being withdrawn.
Is there any comments relative to that?
Here we have a Jerome Adams with his hand up.
Mr. Adams, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Mr. Adams, state your name and spell it for the court reporter.
Jerome Adams
A -D -A -M -S
J -E -R -O -M -E
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth
are you here for that case that's just been
withdrawn
I want to withdraw
my case without prejudice
thank you that's done
thank you thank you for calling in thank you sir any other withdrawals
okay i've seen all hands at this time chair i'm going to the add -on list
mi 2021 003289 101 west wyoming avenue i vote no
Carol Tenere, I have reviewed the exhibits and watched the video of the 12 -21 -2021 hearing.
My vote is no.
Thomas Holloway?
I'm sorry.
James Snell, I have reviewed the exhibits and watched the video from 2021.
My vote is no.
No, Shahid, my vote is no.
my vote is no
you're up now Tom
Thomas Holloman
my vote is no
thank you
MI 2021
005028
to 30 West Hope
Hawkins Street
my vote is
motion denied
Carol Tenere
my vote is motion denied
Thomas Holloman
my vote is motion denied
James Snell
my vote is motion denied
Ishmael Shahid
my vote is motion denied
in that case we'll need
an additional hearing
for the merits and please schedule
that sometime in the future
Mr. Chair
I'm getting a little bit of
in and out from you so if you could remain with the mic close to your mouth it fades on and off
okay thank you for that particular case that particular case will need to have a
hearing in the future on the merits
yes chair it will be scheduled thank you
case number one mi 2021 004354 1117 north hancock street rco northern liberties letter of support
with provisos councilman squill letter of support with provisos rachel pritzker
chair brandon saffron is coming back in as a panelist now
good morning morning state your name and spell for the court reporter please
yes uh my name is brandon saverin b -r -a -n -d -o -n s as in sam a v as in victor r -a -n of pritzker
law group 1521 locust street suite 605 philadelphia pa 19102 our vice chair has a few questions
i'm sorry let me let me swear you in too do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes i do our vice chair has a few questions hi mr sovereign do you agree to
wait the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy good morning madam vice chair yes i
do thank you it appears that you've submitted everything required is that correct yes it is
Okay, you may proceed.
Thank you. I'm going to share my screen to begin here.
So the property I'm here on an appeal, variance appeal for today is 1117 North Hancock Street in the Northern Liberties neighborhood.
This is a view of the front door showing the postings that we had up during the required posting period.
uh one on um the two uh street frontages of the building as shown here this is a corner property
um so i'm going to show you the refusal here um what we are here to apply for is the ability to
um make this building into a um art gallery and artist's uh studio um and um this sort of looks
like an ugly refusal, but these uses are all necessary to be applied for to effectuate that
use. So I'll quickly run through these refusals and then I will show you how we worked together
with the Northern Liberties Neighbors Association to use provisos to tailor these uses so that all
that can be conducted on this property is the intended art studio and gallery function. The
The uses applied for in the first row here are artist studio and artist and industrial so that would allow my client, Chris who I'll bring on in a moment to produce art.
The next refusal is for business and professional office that would allow him to have an office and keep files, simply put.
The next use is libraries and cultural exhibits that allows Chris to display artwork and have public gallery sessions, and the last use is retail sale of consumer goods that would allow Chris to sell some of the artwork.
Um, this, uh, there's no intent to sell anything on this property, but artwork and, um, you know, uh, further, um, as I mentioned, we worked with the RCO to sort of tailor these down.
So, um, here is a letter from the RCO, um, in support with the provisos. I'll come back to this in one moment. Here is also a letter of non -opposition from Councilman Squilla.
Here is also a letter of non -opposition from Councilman Squilla, citing the same provisos, in fact, the same exact text that was proposed by the RCO in non -opposition.
Just to sort of run through these real quickly, proviso number one is sort of just a statement of the purpose of the application.
It's for the display and sales of artwork.
So there is no attempt to tailor the, just to go back to the refusal here, the libraries and cultural exhibit use, the display.
But there is an attempt to tailor the production of artwork.
That's number two here.
So the community is requesting a proviso for the artisan industrial use to be limited to painting and drawing only and to occur only in the basement of the existing structure.
And we have no problems with those restrictions.
Two other restrictions proposed have to do with hours of operation and the maximum capacity of the space.
And we're fine with those as well.
um essentially you you could if you would so choose um you know apply all of these uh four
points as as provisos uh and we would take no issue with that we're very supportive of the
effort that was undertaken to draft these um and just to quickly give you a little more context on
the building um this is a map of the immediate area it's just below um gerard avenue on the
northern end of Northern Liberties. Across the street is the is the rear side I'll show you here
and here's the property again by the way. This is the backside of a large commercial property
that features a grocery store and a parking structure. I think a liquor store and several
other uses. The neighborhood just to back out to the map is such that it is really a mixed -use
neighborhood and that's that's reflected in both the zoning map which can be seen here
While our block is RSA 5, there is ample amount of commercial mixed use zoning surrounding the property. And this is the type of neighborhood where businesses are found even off of the major corridor.
So there's a very good fried chicken restaurant here on the corner with Wildey Street. Again, this is much like our corner. This is not a major sort of thoroughfare. It's just a corner of residential minor streets, much like ours.
So here's that restaurant I just mentioned. We are up the street from that half a block on another sort of interior corner, if you would.
Again, this is our property. So with that, why don't I bring on my client to both adopt my testimony so far and tell you a little bit about himself and what he wants to do in the building, if that's OK.
And his name is Chris Surgeon, which begins with a C.
Mr. Surchin, can you please raise your hand?
Mr. Surchin, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter, please?
My name is Chris Kirchhen.
C as in cat, U -R -C -H -I -N.
right do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do sir proceed hey chris thank you for joining us this morning um so so firstly have you heard
my testimony to this point this morning yes i have um and is it true and accurate it sounds
very accurate yes and true and would you adopt it as if it was your own yes i would okay thanks
So while I have you, just very quickly, if you would, just introduce yourself to the board and, you know, just tell a little bit about why you want to conduct an art gallery and studio in this property.
Okay. Thank you. Hello, everyone. My name is Chris Kirchhen. I've lived here in this neighborhood for 35 years.
I teach in a preschool run co -run and teach in a preschool in the neighborhood as well
and I've been an artist as well and both my husband and I are artists and we travel to
festivals to sell our work but we would like to open a small gallery space here in the house
open a small gallery space here in the house to show and sell our work and other artists as well.
to show and sell our work and other
Thanks, Chris. Does the board have any questions for either Chris or I?
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Larry Friedman with his hand up.
Mr. Friedman, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Okay. Mr. Freedman, state your name and spell for the court reporter, please.
Larry Freedman, L -A -R -R -Y, Freedman, F -R -E -E -D -M -A -N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed.
I just wanted to, first of all, it's nice meeting you, finally, Chairman Bergman.
And I was just here just to view the provisos, everything is as we understand.
And so I'm just here to say if there are any questions, otherwise we're all good.
Thank you very much for calling in, sir.
You're welcome.
Any other questions from the virtual audience?
Chair, I see no other hands at this time.
Planning Commission?
Good morning, Chair Bergman, Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
That's Hegarty, H -E -G -A -R -T -Y.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir, I do.
Proceed.
Members of the board, good morning.
In 2014, the zoning map was amended in this area, and this was done in accord with recommendations
from the Comprehensive Plan.
This parcel was intentionally left RSA five to reflect the desire to encourage single family attached infill development.
However, given the peculiar lot shape, which exposes two sides of the structure to the street and substantial changes to the surrounding built context, the property's range of uses is somewhat constrained.
And so the city planning commission recommends that the board grant these variances.
Hold on one minute, please.
am i 2021 004354 1117 north hancock street i vote yes with the following provisos
hours of operation tuesday through sunday no earlier than 12 noon and no later than ap
artisan studio and industrial use limited to painting and drawing maximum capacity 40 people
as per amended refusal to zp -2021 -004354 dated 1 19 22.
two. Harold Tenere, my vote is yes with provisos. Thomas Holliman, my vote is yes with provisos.
James Snell, my vote is yes with provisos. Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with provisos.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay. MI 2021 -002533, 116 West Rockland Street,
RCO Esparza, housing, letter of non -opposition.
Here, we have Oswaldo Quintero.
He's coming back in as a panelist now.
Please, please state your name and spell it for the court reporter.
Unmute yourself, please.
Good morning.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Waldo Quintero, O -S -W -A -L -D -O, Q -U -I -N -T -E -R -O.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Mm -hmm.
Hi, do you, no, strike that.
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with all of the required documents,
including 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 yes okay sorry i'm sorry i hate to interrupt but as well though can you
turn your volume up maybe you're a little low it is hard to hear you okay can you hear me there
better yes they're wonderful thank you so your response
Yes. You sound wonderful. Thank you.
So your response was yes, and my response was you may proceed.
Thank you.
Thank you.
okay so this is uh continuing the zoning that we have for 116 west brockland street
can you see my screen blank at this point okay here we go
All right, so what I need to do, this is the letter, refuse, right?
Okay, show for appeal, right?
This is the property by Bo, right?
And I would like to have the two apartments in there as I explain on the plants.
Here is the deed, the property, under my name.
and this is a property it's a big property in the corner
it has plenty plenty of parking space on the back the yard you come parking there about three
vehicles i'm sorry okay there we go thank you
and the idea for me is uh for my father to live there on the first floor
and that's the house in the corner
This is the house, they got it.
This is the house on the front.
You can see the whole front.
Inside, I can park up to three cars, comfortable.
I have to go slowly because the file is very heavy.
I'm sorry about it.
And this is my first time doing a zoning work in the city of Philadelphia.
yourself yes we uh we already went through all the uh the community uh nobody is opposing we
got the letters and the signature from everybody in the neighborhood that we could okay we mailed
the letters and everything, then the post, the sign, everything.
Now there's a blueprint.
Right there, right.
This is the plant.
These are the blue plants.
There's plenty of properties in the area commercial.
You have any questions for me?
questions from the board no mr chairman no mr chairman no mr chairman
questions from the virtual audience
i see no hands at the sound chair planning commission
thank you chair bergman ian hegarty for the philadelphia city planning commission
Comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing residential single family zoning at this location.
Usually, as you know, in cases like this, we're looking for something, physical hardship with the property, something that's peculiar to the lot or to the structure that requires the use that's not compliant with the base zoning.
In this case, we don't see any hardship that's supported with evidence of unique physical circumstances.
So the city planning commission has to recommend that the board deny this variance.
MI 2021, 002533, 116 West Rockland Street, I vote yes.
Carol Tenere, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
okay mr oswaldo um you can um wait for the letter to come to you in the mail with your decision you
won your case okay thank you very much thank you very good job thank you
mi 2021 -004 -054 -147 in west schoolhouse lane rco pen knox neighbors association letter of support
Sharon Harvey, attorney.
Ms. Harvey, if you're in the audience, can you please raise your hand?
Chair, I see no one with their hand up at this time.
Case continued, must be tried.
um chair this is tanya if you don't mind um would it be okay to go forward she is here
i see her here that's fine we'll just go forward then thank you chair
mi 2020 00752 1528 west erie rco 13th ward letter of opposition
requesting second hearing
chair we have harry cook coming back in as a panelist now
mr chairman hi mr cutt good morning chair your name is spelled from the court reporter please
Sure. Harry Cook, H -A -R -R -Y, last name C -O -O -K, Anastasia Law.
Mr. Cook, I see that the RCO is requesting a second hearing.
Your Honor, with respect, we've had two meetings with the RCO.
In all instances, they have a very hard line that no more than three units are going to be approved on this block.
um we've and we'll go into this in the case in chief they have a very myopic view of what
hardship is in our opinion and this is a pre -existing structure with pre -existing
units going back into the 40s i don't i spoke with mr karn i know he's here and he can give
his perspective on it but this is now the third listing for this um i spoke with mr karn yesterday
day. We've come down from six units to five in light of the cost of conversion. We've made
significant developments on trash storage and some trash plan. And at this point, I don't think
we're going to be able to get to the number that that RCO is applying across the board
as a standard, whether it's new construction or existing.
as a standard, whether it's new construction or existing structures. So we would like to move
forward on this. I have now prepped this case three times, but I leave it to the discretion
of the board. What I'm going to do is let the RCO head come on and talk to him about the
continuance. Sure. RCO representative. Chair, we have Mr. Charles Karn. Mr. Karn, you can unmute
yourself and wait for the chair. Good morning, all. Mr. Karn, state your name and spell for the
court reporter? Charles Carn, C -A -R -N, 13th Ward, RCO chairperson. And I probably have a couple
more committee members online, Austin. I can't hear the chair. I'm sorry. Do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes, sir. The only issue I want you
address today is do you want to continue this? Yes, sir. Could you state why, sir? Yes, sir.
Mr. Cook called me yesterday. And from his comments concerning the 13th Ward,
you know, from from Broad and Erie all the way down to 22nd and Erie, we have had numerous cases
of existing dwellings requesting to go to higher units.
We do understand that the buildings are large, okay?
However -
Mr. Karn, Mr. Karn, listen to me.
I want you to concentrate on why do you want to continue this today?
What happened was yesterday and previously, Mr. Cook asked me to make a decision.
i would not like to make the decision for the community itself and that's what i told him
yesterday he wanted to come on he wanted to um come on today for me to say um what he wanted me
to say that's that is incorrect i would like to go i would like all right let's continue go ahead
i would like to have a community meeting so everyone can voice it i've talked to the council
person. We didn't send the numbers in, but we did send our opposition to it. And that's the only
reason I want to make sure that I am not going to be held culpable for saying these, to say yes,
to have three, five. All right. Mr. Cook, your response?
Sure. As a point of clarification, we did have that conversation yesterday. I am aware of Mr.
Karn's position as the leader and not the mouthpiece of the RCO, and I respect that.
The issue is that the RCO is applying a three -unit limit on that block of 1500 West Erie
Street, and we're never going to square that circle.
So if the hardship argument I made previously at two prior meetings did not satisfy the
RCO, even though it was within the bounds of case law, I don't see the point of having another
meeting and vote. However, if the RCO is willing to take into consideration all of the various
ways hardship is established and look at context, and perhaps we could meet with the Planning
Commission, I would be willing to take another stab at it. It's just as...
Mr. Cook, here's... Sarah, this is what we're going to do. We're going to continue this case
must be tried thank you sir yes sir okay charles will connect
sure thank you all right
MI 2021 004 355 1627 south 20th street first listing no exhibits
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Just a moment.
A Mr. John Orr just raised his hand.
Tanya, I don't know.
Should I promote him to panelists or not?
I see.
You can allow him to speak.
Mr. Orr, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair
Please state your name and spell for the court reporter
John Orr, last name O -R -R
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes are you here for
this particular case mr or yes i'm here i'm the immediate adjacent uh property owner so here's
the thing you're we're waiting for the owner so you'll you'll have to go off and we'll call you
back if we go on with the case perfect all right thank you owner still has not had his hand up
chair we have someone by the man by the name of mr curiti he had his hand up
i don't know if he's the owner or not yes he is he is hello this is robert kaskerti could you do
me a favor state your name and spell for the court reporter yes my name is robert kaskerti
rohit right do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
Yes, sir.
We do not have any exhibits from you.
Did you send your exhibits in?
Yeah, I sent them in a little while ago before I had the community meeting.
When's a little while ago?
At least a few weeks ago, three weeks ago.
I can resend them.
Okay, Chair, if you don't mind, if we could move this forward.
ZBA staff, check for the exhibits, please, and the letter, and let me know.
Thank you kindly, Chair.
And we can ask, sir, if you could turn your video off and your audio, and we'll come back
to you, Mr. Rohat.
No problem.
Thank you.
And meet yourself as well.
I'm sorry, Chair.
I hate to interrupt you again.
I have been in contact with Ms. Sharon Harvey.
She had technical difficulties, but she is available now if you should wish to call her.
It's fine.
MI 2021 -004054, 147 West Schoolhouse Lane.
RCO Penn Knox neighbors association letter of support.
Chair, Ms. Harvey is coming back in as a panelist now.
Great.
Hi, Ms. Harvey.
Hi, Ms. Harvey.
State your name and spell for the court reporter, please.
Hi, Ms. Harvey.
good morning good morning state your name and spell for the corporate sure
uh my name is sharon harvey sharon s -h -a -r -o -n r -v -h -a -r -v -e -y i represent the applicant at
147 west uh schoolhouse lane and good morning do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth yes i do the vice chair has a few questions hi miss harvey do you
agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy yes it appears that
you have submitted the required documents is that correct yes that's correct thank you you may
proceed thank you
members of the board my client is requesting a use variance for the
property located at 147 west schoolhouse lane
the hardship to the property is that the
Oh, wow.
Excuse me, Chair, you are muted.
Ms. Harvey, we've lost you.
You might need to leave and come back in or stop sharing and then try resharing.
does she even hear you
Sharon does she do you hear us
we can't hear you
I think she went back out
Thank you.
Tanya, can we get a hold of our caller on the phone?
Yes, I'll reach out again.
Thank you.
Thank you.
chair in the efforts of time making sure we don't lose time would you like to proceed
i would thank you so mi 2021 004055 1713 south 12th street rco east pass yunk avenue letter
of support councilman school letter of support
mr anastasio jared mr anastasio is coming back in as a panelist now
good morning mr chairman good morning state your name is spelled for our court reporter please
sure it's verne v like victor e -r -n last name anastasio a -n -a -s -t -a -s -i -o
939 montrose street philadelphia one nine one zero seven four seven what do you swear
for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do. Our vice chair has a few
questions. Sure. I'm Mr. Anastasia. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate
to its accuracy? I do. It appears that you've submitted all the required documents. Is that
correct? I have. You may proceed. Thank you. You're welcome. This is 1713 South 12th Street.
The application is for doggy daycare. No boarding, no other services, no retail, simple canine social club at the first floor in the same building with other uses previously approved.
The property is zoned CMX 2 .5. This is a referral, not a refusal. And this is the plan.
My client, Jeremy Berger, has been dealing with dogs for two decades now, caring for other people's animals, and I've done so pretty successfully.
We have a holding area here for the dog at the front door.
There's the main floor.
We have a loft for the dogs and then an office for the humans.
And then there's a kennel room and a bath.
This is the exterior.
Main floor.
There's the loft for the dogs to get some indoor activity exercise.
some storage the bath the kennel room and there's the proof of posting
we met with the east passion crossing on rco and it was unanimous support
we have
a proof of mailing here from the members of the east passion crossing
We have a tax certification, and I believe you have in your records that I forwarded late yesterday a letter from Council Member Mark Squilla, also offering non -opposition to this referral.
As you know, it's a referral, not a refusal.
We do not have to demonstrate any sort of hardship.
We do have to demonstrate that we would be an asset to the community or at least not a detraction.
We've done so by going through the process, securing the support of not only immediate neighbors and the RCO, but the elected representative and city council as well.
We've done so by going through the process, securing the support of not only immediate
And with that, I'm going to ask Jeremy Berger, my client, to please raise his hand.
Mr. Berger, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Mr. Berger, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Yes, my name is Jeremy Berger, J -E -R -E -M -Y, Berger, B -U -R -G -E -R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Berger, did you hear my presentation to the board this morning?
I did.
Was it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
Yes, it was.
And do you adopt it as your own testimony?
All right. Would you like to tell the board about your hours and days of operation?
I'd be happy to. So my days of operation, the plan is to have it be Monday through Friday from 8 a .m. to 5 p .m.
Very good. Nothing else, Mr. Chairman. We're open for questions.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chair.
Questions from the virtual audience?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman.
Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
Members of the Board, this is a special exception.
The proposed use is permitted by special exception
and will have no greater impact than might usually be expected for this type of use.
We therefore recommend that the Board grant the special exception.
MI 2021 -004 -055 -1713 South Wall Street, I vote yes.
Carol Tenneri, my vote is yes.
Thomas Hallowin, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Thank you, counsel.
Okay, Chair.
Anything on our cases we're holding?
yes with um the one um rowhead i believe his name is the staff did not find exhibits if we
can request um for him to come back on so we could discuss 1627 south 20 street please mr
Yes, Chair. This is Rohit.
Okay. Have I sworn you in yet?
I don't think you have.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Yes. My name is Rohit Kaskerti, R -O -H -I -T.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
We do not seem to have your paperwork anywhere.
Okay, I can go ahead and resubmit it.
I'm sorry.
Sir, could you spell your last name as well, please?
Yes, it's K -A -S -U -K -U -R -T -I.
Thank you.
And may I ask, what email box did you submit your exhibits to?
Because we cannot find them.
And were you the one who sent the email?
I was the one who sent the email.
I'll have to verify which one I sent it to.
I sent it along to the RCOs at the same time.
there was multiple emails to the rco email box or to the rcos
um i'll have to double check on say it was there was multiple addresses i'm not sure which ones
belong to who okay so unfortunately we could not find the exhibits where the exhibit should be
and i believe this may need to be a continuance chair right so we're going to continue your
case you'll hear from us and we'll we'll ensure that we have all your paperwork done and make
sure you send it to the right box okay and any questions call call our executive director's
office okay okay thank you all right thank you okay chair we were able to get miss sharon harvey
so as you wish she would be available to continue the case
I apologize for this delay um can I share my screen have you as Colonel have you talked to
her yet yes they have let me share a few questions um she was actually presenting chair
when she got off and um right there come down okay miss harvey
I'm here. And I would like to continue the presentation, if possible.
i'm here i'm here and i would like
At this point, I would like just to briefly discuss the proposed changes.
And I would like to share my screen. Am I able to share my screen?
can you everyone see the screen
can everyone see the screen there's nothing up yet but we see that you have the screen
okay now we see it all right thank you so uh at this point at this point in time sorry
at this point in time my client is proposing a variance for a uh for two apartments
uh in the three -story building the
uh and can be found on page i'm sorry this is throwing me forward uh
page four 14 13 or 14 of our presentation
he's proposing for the first bedroom the first two
The first and second floor to be one apartment and the third floor to be the second apartment.
This property already has a variance on it and for a cottage house.
And he is proposing that the first apartment has two bedrooms and a kitchen and a living room.
And it also is two stories, the first and second floor.
The second apartment is two bedrooms with a kitchen and a living room also.
And if you can see the pictures, the pictures are
of the current state of the proposed living room and for
My client is also on the line, but it will not help if I can't get the pictures shown.
The 147 also has a carriage house in the rear.
The carriage house was granted a variance in 1935 and is a two -story carriage house in the rear of the property.
And that can be seen if you have the packet on page 16.
The proposed apartment has a backyard use for the carriage house only.
but it has a long driveway which you can see on on page 20 26 on page 26 of the presentation
that is the driveway and then the carriage house is in the back page 27 of the
of the presentation shows the street view of the property and the property across the street,
which is the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf. And we have the support of the Pennsylvania School
for the Pennsylvania school for the death and that is on page 27 and 28 on page 28 also
the property on the same side of the street as the proposed variance is the Maplewood Manor which
Maplewood Manor, which is a nursing home.
which is a nursing home.
The very next slide, number 29, takes into consideration the lighting and security for
the property.
The property will have entry in the rear of the property for the first floor and second
floor apartment, and then for the third floor apartment, it's actually in the front of the
building.
And then there are flood lights that will go along the entire side of Dill.
And then next, we also had consideration for the mail delivery and the refuge or trash disposal.
There will be a mailbox and trash containers that will be hidden in the container, rubbish containers, so that they're not exposed.
Next slide is the aerial view of the property, and you can see that the property is rather long.
it has a two -story cottage house the property at 151 also has a cottage house but it's a one -story
cottage house that you uh that is hidden by the trees but this is a very long property and has
plenty of room and here's also an aerial view of the school for the death and they have their own
parking lot and so parking is not usually a problem between the hours of four and
four p .m. and eight a .m. where because the school is out and there is ample parking
so then this is the refusal I think I've skipped several slides this is the refusal
for the for the variance the size of the of the lot is huge for a actually over three dwelling
units two in the main house and what and one in the cottage house the main house having 4 500
square feet of livable space which would be ample for the two proposed apartments in that building
I would like to have my client, Gabriel Harrison, be sworn, so to see if he adopts our presentation.
We have support from the RCO, and we received an email, I believe, last night from a second RCO, because there are overlapping RCOs.
Mr. Chair.
Have your client raise their hand.
Is your client's last name Harrison?
He's unmuted.
You can speak now, Mr. Harrison.
Mr. Harrison, have you heard everything I testified to?
Wait a minute.
Mr. Harrison, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Yes, my name is Gabriel Harrison, G -A -B -R -I -E -L -H -A -R -R -I -S -O -N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
Thank you.
Mr. Harrison, have you heard my testimony?
I did.
And do you believe it to be true?
An accurate account of what you're attempting to do?
Yes, I do.
and would you and would you adopt the testimony as true and correct
i would and is there anything else you would like to add
um well if there are any questions uh but as far as what you said it's all true
thank you
questions from the board no mr chairman no mr chairman no mr chairman mr chairman
questions from the virtual audience chair we have mr charles richardson
mr richardson you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair
good morning mr chair good morning mr richardson could you state your name and spell for the court
report
mr richardson
you need to unmute
can you hear me now we can just state your name and spell for the court reporter please
yes charles richardson from the office of councilwoman cindy bass richardson r -i -c -h -a -r -d
s -o -n room 312 city hall do you swear a friend to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth i do proceed uh councilwoman has no opposition to granting this variance thank
you very much for calling in. Anyone else in the virtual audience? Chair, we have a Deneen Brockington.
Ms. Brockington, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter please? Sure. Can you hear me
first can i am i being heard you are dene brockington that's d as in david e n e e n e
uh b as in boy r o c k i n g t o n right do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do i guess i do proceed proceed hi so my name is dene brockington and i
I am the chair of the Penn Knox Neighborhood Association, the RCO in which this property is located, and we are in support of this variance.
Thank you very much, and thanks for calling in.
Anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see no other hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman. Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. Members of the board, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing residential single -family zoning at this location. However, as we've seen, the property has a long -standing accessory structure, and the primary structure at over 4 ,000 square feet is exceptionally large for a single dwelling unit. City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant this variance.
Thank you, Anne. MI 2021 -004 -054 -147 West Schoolhouse Lane, I vote yes.
Carol Tenere, my vote is yes.
Thomas Harleman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
all. MI 2021 003972 2154 North 9th Street. No RCO letter from APM at this point. Mr. Ward.
Chair, Mr. Ward is coming back in as a panelist now.
Yeah. Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please, Mr. Ward?
Good morning, Mr. Chairman. Sean Ward, S -H -A -W -N -W -A -R -D, attorney for the applicant.
akshar patel who is present today i asked him to raise his hand when the case was called so they
can locate him quickly right do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but
the truth do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes i do our vice chair has a few questions hi mr ward do you agree to waive the reading
of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Carol, I'll waive the reading of the refusal.
There is one inaccuracy regarding the square footage of the existing lot.
I'll address that in my presentation.
And for the record, I did submit my exhibit packet, and the RCO did submit a letter, although
yesterday or the day before.
So as required, everything has been submitted?
That's correct.
i have i have a copy of the letter it's included in my uh in my presentation okay great you may
proceed thank you all right if we could confirm that everybody can see my screen
yes mr yes we can sir excellent thank you uh mr chairman i've submitted my typical exhibit packet
which includes, I'm going to get this out of the way. Okay. It's the zoning refusal.
There is one inaccuracy. However, the application is for a permit for a two -family dwelling in an existing, and I would add, a dilapidated vacant three -story structure.
There is one inaccuracy. However, the application is for a permit for a two -family.
It resulted in one refusal. The required lot area for the project is 850 square feet versus what we have is 798 square feet existing.
very quickly. The refusal indicated that it was 759 square feet. However, we submit that
both according to the deed and city records, it's 798 square feet. Therefore, we seek a variance
for 52 square feet, which is what we consider a dimensional variance. A2 is the ZBA application
of appeal. A3 is my project information form. A4, proof of ownership. A5, proof of tax clearance.
A6 is the floor plans. A7 are photographs of the subject property, aerial views, street views.
Again, A8 is the RCO letter, including the notice of meeting, the address list,
a certificate of mailing, and the RCO's letter of support. If a letter was submitted by district
counsel, I would ask that that be marked A9 for the record. I did not receive any copies of any
letters, so I'm not sure if one was submitted. A10, relevant zoning history. The only thing I
could find was that this property was vacant since at least 2014, and that was the subject of a
violation notice, which was complied back then, well before my client purchased the property.
A11 is the zoning map. A12 is an aerial photograph. And very briefly, the application proposes two apartments. Unit A would be on the first floor. It's a one -bedroom, one -bath, approximately 560 square feet.
Unit B is actually the second and third floor.
There's a loft area on the third floor.
That is a two -bedroom, two -bath unit, approximately 600 square feet of livable floor space.
The basement is proposed for storage, mechanical, and laundry for unit A.
So again, we submit that the refusal incorrectly indicates the existing lot is 759, whereas
we have 798.
The eight, the lot is 56 feet times 14 .25 or 14 feet, three inches, which results in 798 square feet.
Multifamily is specifically permitted in the RM1 district, and we are short by 52 square feet for the two units.
And we would submit respectfully that it's a de minimis variance request.
So very quickly, again, let me just zoom out.
We have the notice of refusal, copy of the deed, proof of tax clearance, the floor plans.
Again, it's a one -bedroom unit on the first floor.
Basement is for utilities and storage, mechanical.
And then the second and third floor constitutes unit B or two.
here is our notice of the meeting sent out to all of the neighbors a substantial list of neighbors
that the application and notice went to again 211 homes were mailed to by our mailing company vista
on February 9th we met with APM two of the affected community members attended
They both voted in support. Therefore, APM submits this letter of support for the project as they recognize the fact that a vacant dilapidated property is going to be restored and put to valuable residential use.
As you can see on the block in the aerial photograph, there's numerous vacant lots on the block.
Again, just another angle shot. We are this end of the existing row, certainly not the end of the
row because there's vacant lots next to us. Again, just another shot. You can see the boarded up
windows and front door. Across the street, you'll notice numerous vacant dilapidated properties.
We would submit that this block is ripe for adaptive reuse and redevelopment, and we're glad to start the trend.
Here is the zoning map. As you can see, it is in an RM1 block.
The highlighted unit right here is the subject property.
Again, city records indicate the property is 56 feet by 14 .25 feet.
I'm not sure where the discrepancy came up with the examiner.
However, we submit that it's 52 square feet short of the required square feet.
We submit that it's 52 square feet short of the required square footage.
At this point, I would ask that Akshar Patel be permitted to speak to verify and adopt.
Mr. Patel, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Yes, my name is Akshar Patel.
It's spelled A -K -S -H -A -R.
Last name is Patel, P -A -T -E -L.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Akshar, you've heard my representations to the board this morning?
Are they true and correct to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief?
And would you adopt them as your own testimony?
at this point mr chair if the board has any questions for either me or mr patel we'd be
more than happy to uh questions from the board no mr chairman no mr chairman no mr chairman
no mr chairman questions in the virtual audience
i see no hands at this time chair planning commission thank you chair bergman ian hegarty
for the philadelphia city planning commission members of the board comprehensive plan recommends
no change to the existing rm1 multi -family zoning at this location as we've seen this proposed
variance is minimal and does not conflict with the purpose and spirit of the zoning code city
planning commission recommends that the board grant the variance mi 2021 003972 2154 north 9th street
i vote yes carol tenery my vote is yes thomas hollywood my vote is yes james snell my vote is
yes mr chairman members of the board thank you very much have a great day great you too
hi chair this is tanya yep so on number nine the gentleman that
came forward at the beginning of the hearing was Jerome Adams.
He wasn't there for the last case, and he did request a withdrawal.
Thank you very much.
You're quite welcome, sir.
MI 2021 -004014 -2813, North Krosky, that's withdrawn.
M -I -2021 -004056 -5927 Hegerman Street.
No RCO at this point.
Chair, we have a Wayne Hackney who's coming back in as a panelist now.
Could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Hello?
Excuse me, sir. You need to unmute yourself.
hover on the bottom left yes got it could you state your name and spell for the court reporter
yes wayne hatley w -a -y -n -e -h -a -t -l -e -y do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes our vice chair has a few questions for you hi mr hatley i'm assuming
you've submitted all of the required documents consisting of proof of ownership, tax compliance,
a copy of your refusal or referral, photos and or plans of the property, and you have met with
the RCO and have a letter. Is that correct? I have met with the RCO. I don't know if he sent a letter
or not. But you've sent it. Yes. Okay. Thank you. You may proceed. Thank you. I was just, this is
It wasn't a refusal I got because from the original refusal I had received about three years ago, I had put a breezeway onto my house.
They wanted me to put footings underneath of it.
When I reached out to find out how much, it was just not cost worthy.
So we took down the breezeway and then I got told I had to start all over again.
So that's why I'm back to get the approval for just the shed itself.
Bill, you're muted.
Bill, you're muted.
Jared, you have this one, a computer?
Dirty, you have this one, a computer.
Could you share it with us, please?
I don't know how.
So do you have your documents up on your computer now, Mr. Headley?
I have them on a USB thing, on a USB on my computer.
So let me see.
Are they on your desktop currently where you can see them?
They will be shortly, I hope.
Okay, you're sharing now.
And you can open that up and we should be able to see your file.
Because right now we're only looking at your list of files.
That was the application?
So, Mr. Hadley?
You might need to unshare and go back into the actual documents.
We're only looking at your file list on the screen.
let me get back into it
can you see it now
no it's the same thing
can you close
can you unshare
double click and open up the exact
items you wish us to view
and then hit share
Let me try that, but in the same spot.
Okay, let's do this.
That's why I'm having trouble.
so do you have more than one monitor no i just have the one and you're working on a pc
i'm working on a laptop okay and um as msunkett said if you click on like your pdf and have it
opened before you share but that's what i tried to do and i have it open let me see if i can do
this again this way. Okay, we see your computer, we see that
you have your web browser open. Yeah. If you go to your
documents now. And if you double click on one of them.
can you see that we do yes okay so that was the application for the construction
now how do i go further
so if all of your documents are in there each time you just go in
and double click on the one that you need
zoning application for the zoning
this was my building drawing that I had done construction of the building
this was a deed to the house showing to me and to
the Deb Conover
my wife my side yard
I don't know why I won't open that. It's just a picture, but I PDFed it.
I'm sorry about that. This was the site plans that I drew for the
the shed is down here in the bottom right. This is the zoning plans that I drew for the zoning.
so it's a zba poster that i got from my rco they printed it up for me posted on my property
certificate of tax
city of philadelphia project information form
this was the rco original letter when i first started they told me he told me put this out there
because we've done all the mailings and everything from before this was the the appeal from the
zoning board and this was the refusal letter that's everything i submitted
The shed is up. The shed's been built. It's been up for about three years. I just haven't
I just haven't finished it.
finished it. I'm trying to bring up a picture of it if you want again, but
I've been trying to bring up a picture of it
if you want again, but didn't want to come up
the first time.
Yeah, so.
But we're using the shed only for, we do hobbies.
So we're using it for storage for a lot of hobby stuff.
That's about all we're using it for.
There's no power, no plumbing.
It's just a check, I can't hear you.
Questions from the board, please.
Yes, Mr. Chairman, did you get a building permit?
Yes, I submitted for a building permit.
That was the first one I put up.
I can put it up again if you want.
I believe it was this one right here.
You would have to share the screen again.
oh okay hold on let me do this
can you see it yes thank you
okay any other questions from the board
no mr chairman no my questions in the virtual audience yes sir
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman.
Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
Chair, if I could just clarify for the record, because I wasn't exactly clear on the zoning board history on this case.
Was there a prior approval granted for a structure of this size?
Right. And and then that and that structure was built, but there was a building code violation that was found.
And so the L &I is asking for the zoning permission to be renewed. Am I summarizing that correctly?
What it was is the I built a breezeway from the shed to the house.
When I went to the zoning board, I I was close to my neighbor's property because my house is right against my property line.
and they wanted me to because of the section that was close to my neighbor's property they wanted it
to go a uh to call it rain gutter that went into the water solution okay but now that i've taken
that part down now it's just a shed that's basically seven feet off the property
that's why he made me he told me i had to start all over again because i took that part of it down
and it didn't meet what everything else was but the everything else was approved before size of
the shed where it was located thank you i thank you for confirming that i just wanted to make
sure that was clear for the record members of the board the comprehensive plan uh recommends no
change to the residential single family zoning at this location given the prior approval for
the shed by the zoning board. We have no objection to this variance. MI 2021 -004 -056 -5927
Hagerman Street. I vote yes. Carol Tenere, my vote is yes. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Jane Snell, my vote is yes. Mr. Shahid, my vote is yes. Thank you, Mr. Hadley. You're approved.
Thank you, sir. Thank you, panel.
MI 2021 004353618 Washington Avenue.
Passion Civic Association, Letter of Non -Opposition.
Councilman Squill, Letter of Non -Opposition.
Attorney Michael Mano.
Mr. Mano is coming back in as a panelist now.
Chair. Mr. Mano, state your name and spell for the court reporter, please.
Excuse me. Sir, you need to unmute. Unmute, please. Unmute. Bottom left. Sorry about that.
My name is Michael Mano, M -I -C -H -A -E -L -M -A -N -N -O.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Our vice chair has a few questions for you, sir.
Yes, ma 'am.
Mr. Mano, do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
I do with one minor correction.
On the code table 148025, under reason for refusal, it states that.
And under reason for refusal, it states that there is a required minimum of 214 accessory off -street parking spaces.
And I just wanted to clarify that we only ever had 135 spaces.
Okay. And you can explain that when you're presenting.
It appears that you've presented all, mailed in all the required documents. Is that correct?
That is correct.
Thank you. You may proceed.
Okay, Board, we are applying for a variance to the two code sections referenced in the notice of refusal.
This is a commercial condominium shopping complex.
We were sued by a...
I'm sorry, Mr. Mano.
Mr. Mano, Mr. Mano, do me a favor. Could you show this up on your screen for us?
What's that?
could you you have this on a computer right yes so could you could you we wanted you to share the
screen with us okay so when you talk we're going along with you right okay sure
so what would you want me to go through each of the exhibits um so Mr. Mano if I could ask
do you have your full exhibit package available on what you're utilizing a computer maybe I do
And if you could, open up your documents or your exhibit package, press the green share screen button at the bottom of Zoom so everybody here can see your presentation package.
Okay. Let's see here.
Let's see pictures.
Are your packages open, you said?
Well, I go into my files, and I have a file with all of the exhibits.
Okay, so you could open that, then hit the green button.
Are you using a regular computer?
And then if you see on your Zoom, at the very bottom, it should be a green button that says Share Screen.
And if you click that, then click on the documents to share.
It'll come up for everyone here to see.
I do have the manager of the architectural firm that's going to testify, Michelle Kleschick, and she might be, we spoke prior to the hearing, and she said that she would, Michelle, can you hear me?
She said she would help with the presentation of the exhibits.
We have a Carolina Pina, would that be the person?
Yes, she works for that architectural firm.
Okay, staff, if you could promote her to panelists, and Chair, if you wish, allow her to share her screen.
She's coming back in as a panelist now.
And Chair, you are muted.
Carolina, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Good morning. Could you state your name and spell for the court report?
Yes, Michelle Kleshek, M -I -C -H -E -L -L -E, Kleshek, K -L -E -S -C -H -I -C -K.
Right. Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you share your screen with us, please?
Let's jump to the other screen.
I shared it.
Thank you. You want to start the presentation?
Go ahead.
Okay, so here we have Exhibit B, which is the notice of refusal. And as you can see here, we're applying for a variance so that we might restripe and reduce the number of parking places in our shopping center, which is called the New World Condo Association, New World Shopping Plaza, located at 600 Washington Avenue.
Attached to Exhibit B is a site plan, which was developed by the Parallel Associates architectural firm, which Michelle is employed by.
and she's available to answer any specific questions about how the architectural firm
came up with the design, new design for the parking lot to come in compliance with the
Americans with Disabilities Act. So as I had mentioned in the beginning, the reason why we
were seeking this variance is that it is part of a settlement of a private lawsuit whereby
We had a disabled customer come into our shopping center and was not able to access the stores in the shopping center and filed a federal lawsuit.
And as part of the settlement, we agreed to make modifications both to the interior of the various shops where they cited violations and also to reconfigure this parking lot to come into compliance.
The condo board hired the parallel architects or architectural firm to come up with the design.
So the next exhibit is the application for appeal, exhibit C.
um exhibit d is the project information form which is required uh exhibit f um is the
declaration of condominium which is our proof of ownership um it's a little bit unusual
but the board president, Mr.
Ling, Kim Ling is on the last page signing the deck,
the second amended declaration of condominium.
Moving on to exhibit at exhibit G,
we have our certificate of tax compliance.
Exhibit H is the proposed site plan. And Michelle, if you wanted to testify and explain to the board what this particular exhibit shows, we would appreciate it.
Yes, so it's a very tight parking space and it had been approved originally with way back in the 80s or early 90s, I believe. And over time, I believe it's been restriped several times and the original intent of modern sized cars, the parking lot has gotten a little congested.
So this new plan takes into account all the current regulations in regards to landscaping and aisle widths and parking.
Like if you park on an angle, how wide your width could be versus if it's a 90 degree turn.
Also, the number of compact spaces according to the zoning code that you can have less.
You're only allowed to have a portion of your required parking spaces to be compact spaces.
and because of all those because of all those constrictions is why we wouldn't meet the required
number of parking spaces on this type south philadelphia lot
i mean i don't know how technical of uh did any of the board members have any questions about the
site plan? Questions from the board? No, Mr. Chair. Okay, moving on to Exhibit J.
Well, here we have the, this is the letter of non -opposition from the RCO, which is the
Pachyunk Square Civic Association. We sent out all of the letters of notice, 378 letters of
notice of the RCO meeting and had the Zoom meeting with this particular RCO several months ago.
And you can see here that it was 7 -0 in non -opposition.
And you can see here that it was 7 -0 in non -opposition by the committee vote, and we had three community members that participated, and none were in opposition to the proposed plan.
this is uh exhibit j which is um evidence of our posting of the zoning notice and the notice of
refusal is required by uh the rules uh both on washington avenue and then if you scroll down
We also have the 6th Street side of the L -shaped shopping center, where we posted the notice of RCO hearing.
I'm sorry, notice of this meeting that we're having now.
These are pictures of the parking lot to give the board some perspective about what we're talking about.
If we could move on to the next exhibit, this is a copy of the settlement agreement
that we arrived at with this particular plaintiff.
If any of the board members would like to see what went on with the settlement
and what sort of prompted our request for a zoning variance.
and then here's my list of uh witnesses which is michelle who is uh currently working the screen
any other questions from the board no mr chairman no mr chairman are there any questions in the
virtual audience. I see no hands at this time, Chair. Planning Commission. Thank you, Chair Bergman.
Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan recommends a
zoning map amendment at this location from CA1 to CMX3 mixed -use zoning, and under the proposed
zoning district, no parking would be required for the existing retail use, and so the City Planning
Commission recommends that the Board grant this variance. MI 2021 0043536 18 Washington Avenue.
I vote yes. Carol Tenere. My vote is yes. Thomas Holloman. My vote is yes. James Snell. My vote is
yes. Ishmael Shahid. My vote is yes. Thank you Mr. Mano. Thank you committee. Thank you. Thank you.
Is there anyone in the virtual audience still waiting on a case?
Any hands?
Chair, we have someone by the name of Marsha McGee.
Ms. McGee, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
hi miss mcgee could you could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter
sure it's marcia mcgee n -a -r -s -h -a mcgee mcgee right do you swear a firm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth yes what case are you inquiring about well um
Tyson Avenue
it's not on the list this week
it was
waiting for the RCA
letter
I think you're going to have to call the office
because I don't see that here at all anywhere
all right I'll call the office to find you
okay thank you very much
right thank you ma 'am
anyone else in the virtual audience
chair i see no other hands at this time thanks everybody see you 2 p .m thanks everyone
thank you thank you chair
thank you good afternoon my name is bill bergman and i will be chairing this afternoon zba hearings
with me is carol tenery our vice chair present mr chairman
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Ismail Shahid, our board secretary.
Ismail Shahid, our Board Secretary.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Thomas Holliman, our Board Member.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
And James Snell, a Board Member.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also with us, our Executive Director, Tanya Sunkit, and our Attorney, Sherman Toppin.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
Before we start, let's look at our virtual format.
Be advised the proceedings are being recorded.
By participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded.
A video will be available by contacting our Executive Board, Tanya Sunkett, tanyasunkett at phila .gov.
For the benefit of our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you're participating by phone, if you wish to testify, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
To enter an appearance statement, call 267 -270 -5548.
Leave your email address and the property in question.
And lastly, please note the question -answer box is not for testimony or comments.
Any comments should be directed to Tanya Sunken.
Let's start looking at continuances.
This afternoon, for 2 o 'clock, I see three continuances.
Number seven, MI 2021 -002893 -312 West Coulter Street.
Number 10, MI 2021 -004816 -600 East Luzerne Street.
And number 12, MI 2021, 733 Hofnigel Street.
These three cases will be continued.
Is there anyone in the audience has any comments or questions about that?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Are there any other requests for continuances?
no hands chair okay we will start case number one mi 2021 004 759 1308 chestnut street
no cr let no rco letter from washington square rco letter from midtown village merchants
letter in support and councilman squilla has a letter of non -opposition brett fell
Chair, Mr. Feldman is coming back in as a panelist now.
Aye, Mr. Feldman, state your name and spell for the court reporter, please.
Yes, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, good afternoon.
Brett Feldman, 1835 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19103, Feldman, F -E -L -D -M -A -N.
I represent the applicant's proposed restaurant tenant.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Ms. Tenere has several questions for you.
Hi, Mr. Feldman.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
It appears that you've submitted all the necessary documents.
Is that correct?
Okay, you may proceed.
Okay, if I may share my screen.
Is my exhibit package on the screen now?
It's ready to go.
Okay, great, great.
So, again, Brett Feldman, 1835 Market Street.
I represent the applicant, 1308 Restaurant Partners Incorporated,
doing business in the city of Philadelphia
is the Craft Concepts Group
and its main principal, Teddy Sarias.
We also have architect Jose Hernandez.
Passed up exhibits one through 13,
which here I'd ask to incorporate into the record.
And if you may just go through these materials
and when appropriate,
I'll reach out to Mr. Sarias
or Jose Hernandez.
I just want to make one correction.
There now is an Exhibit Tab 10 RRCO letter from Washington Square West.
An exhibit tab 10 RRCO letter from Washington Square West of non -opposition that we now have in the exhibit package.
So let me get let me get right to it here.
So this is a proposal for a new restaurant named Mona at 1308 Chestnut Street.
We can go through some of the materials, but Mr. Sourius, it's kind of an homage to his Greek
background, Mediterranean background as far as the menu. Here's the lease. Let me just
go through it real quick. Here is the tax clearance, exhibit tab 1B.
It's the tax clearance certificate. And then let me orient the board here with an aerial photograph. I think you'll all recognize this location. So here is 13th Street. Here is Chestnut Street, Drury in the back. This is the location here. Across the street is the Macy's over here.
And Mr. Sirius has four other restaurants on this block, Brew and Tradesman and Ubon, and this would be the fourth Mona here.
It is a two -story building nestled between multi, much taller kind of mid -century skyscrapers both to the east and the west, and you'll recognize it here.
That's what it was previously with the Lux Home Furniture Store, which I guess unfortunately did
not make it through COVID. That's the front on Chestnut Street, and this is the back on Drury
Street. If you weren't the board, here are interior photographs. It's still kind of set up as it was
when it was a furniture store. And what Mr. Sirius does is take some of these old beautiful historical
buildings on this block of Chestnut Street and re -energize them, reactivate them. The zoning
case is, I guess, you know, fairly straightforward. This is a CMX5 property, you know, highest
intensity commercial. There's an overlay which requires all sit -down restaurants on these blocks
of Chestnut and Walnut Street to have a special exception referral. So we have that. And then
what we're proposing on the top is a roof deck, and that also requires a special exception.
But this is not a variance case. It's a special exception case. And we believe as a testimonial
we'll establish, we clearly establish that we satisfy the criteria for both special exceptions.
Just briefly, this is about the restaurant. We can get into certainly more detail. Mona,
It's kind of Mediterranean heritage that Mr. Sirius is looking to honor.
This is the Craft Concepts Group with seven or eight other restaurants in Philadelphia, including three other on the block.
We're looking at about 100 jobs that will be created, 60 full, 40 part time at this location.
And we've worked. This is a copy of the menu.
A lot of Mediterranean appetizers, sandwiches, main dishes, again, trying to end with drinks as well.
And here's the zoning site plan.
The building itself is, it's got a lower level and then two floors existing.
We would be utilizing those three floors.
And then with a small addition on the roof and then the roof deck itself.
the roof deck has been specially designed to meet all the full all the dimensional requirements as
far as setbacks as far as you know any of the other requirements as far as pilot houses or
anything like that this property could be as a CMX5 you could you could take it and go up to
12 or 1300 FAR we're only a little over 200 FAR on this so again minimum impacts so that is
That's kind of the zoning case. I'm going to just turn it over briefly. Our project architect, Jose Hernandez from JKR Partners, who I think has testified in front of this board probably 200 times over his career as an architect.
Jose, do you want to just briefly take the board through the kind of the special attention
we're doing the exterior, and then briefly on the interior, and then we can open it up
to any questions that the board might have.
So if Mr. Hernandez may be brought as a panelist, I'd be greatly appreciated.
Mr. Hernandez, if you're in the virtual audience, can you raise your hand, please?
Mr. Hernandez, if you're in the virtual audience, can you raise your hand?
Well, if he's not, I can take you briefly through.
We put it like the other Mr. Sereus restaurants.
Mr. Feldman, he's coming back in.
Well, I won't try to play architect.
could you could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter please
yes uh jose hernandez jose h -e -r -n -a -n -d -e -z uh principal at jkrp architects
right do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth is nothing but the truth
i do proceed please um as brett mentioned um craft concept has numerous restaurants in the area
we were we were brought into a system in developing this property the image you see before you
is the lower level of the restaurant as was mentioned the idea is to basically develop
the two the three additional floors and then a small roof deck each area kind of has its own sort
of texture feel and vibe so we'll go through we'll kind of show you some images the image
that are below are kind of inspirational images of what this lower basement level was perceived
to be. This is more of sort of in line with sort of the darker spaces, neon light, more of a
gathering space, kind of underground, similar to what they have on some of their other concepts
across next door to them. It's a small seating area with some prep kitchen. The main level is,
Again, thought to be the main thoroughfare that connects Chestnut Street all the way through to Jewelry Street.
So this is more of your typical dining area, more of a gathering, social aspect.
So many images, again, on the bottom, kind of creating a different feel from what that lower level is.
The main kitchens on this level, there's so many images we'll show in renderings.
there's there's the themes that are included in these images below are actually kind of brought
into the renderings that we're going to illustrate next level so this this is the view the inside so
this is a view from the end from the Chester Street entrance looking through to the rear of
the property so the idea is to use a lot of those images that were inspirational and kind of create
this environment that seems more of a gathering space has a lot of what is called sort of ghost
imaging of sort of uh old signage that are on building a lot of uh the artwork that would be
displayed kind of going with the sort of Mona theme the existing stair kind of is an element
that kind of goes throughout the three floors of the building and um kind of adding a lot of greenery
to this space so it would enliven the area uh the second level is more of the intimate it's more of
intimate space so the seating arrangement is um kind of uh predominantly booth seating kind
of darker materials more of a um a kind of comfort sort of environment um again a small bar area with
some fixed seating some uh tabletop seating again you kind of see the green of the element coming
through. Go to the next image. And as I mentioned, this is more of sort of a kind of intimate space,
a little bit warmer colors, warmer textures, fine dining experience. And again, showing sort
of the greenery coming from the lower levels up through the second level. One of the elements that
was really important is, I mean, obviously with the current COVID condition and everything that's
happening and that the importance of having the ability to be outside and having some outdoor
flexible space um we are seeking a small partial third floor to enclose um sort of a small a small
bar area some that's back here jose right correct it's it's it's oriented towards jewelry street
and again um there's sort of an idea of a small kind of um uh container kitchen kind of theme
and a small bar area, but again, predominantly fixed seating so that this space is an outdoor
seating area. The setback from Chestnut Street is 10 feet. We intend to sort of screen that
additional setback with greenery around the perimeter of the seating area. And that's double
the required setback, correct? Correct. With two parapet walls? Correct. That's the thickness of
the parapet. Skylight's offering some light down into that seating area on the floor below.
So next image, again, just another kind of important space to be able to be outside.
Another kind of important space to be able to be outside, to have fresh air, again, the building is, the building addition is sandwiched between a 12 -story and I think an 18 -story building.
So the impact of that small additional deck space, which you can kind of see on the image to write, would have no impact on its surrounding neighbors.
And again, it's set back far enough from Chestnut Street where it's it's not viewable or any activity up there would not be viewable from a street level.
Jose, may I just ask you just real quickly. Again, these are special exception referral cases. I know you're familiar with the different criteria that we won't be impacting more than expected from the proposed use in terms of congestion in the public streets, overcrowding the land, impairing an adequate supply of light and air to adjacent property,
burning water, sewer, school park, or other facilities, impairing or permanently injuring
the use of adjacent or conforming properties, endangering the public health or safety by
fire or other means, or inconsistency with the comprehensive plan.
I know you specifically designed this, you know, to make sure that we are, to the extent
possible, compliant with all those criteria.
Do you agree that we have, that we're not impacting those criteria more than you would
expect from a, you know, typical sit -down restaurant and this roof deck? Yes, I agree with
that. Okay. And again, as far as the height, you know, we're significantly below what could be
allowed here as far as any impacts. Many of the restaurant patrons come to the location by
mass transit, Uber, or walking, correct? Correct. Our office is fortunate enough that we're actually
directly across the street in the Macy Building, so we're frequent visitors of
the established directly across the street. Mr. Feldman, do you have a client you want to
adopt your testimony? Yes. Yes. Mr. Sarias, if you may be elevated to a panelist, that'd be great.
Mr. Sarias, you can unmute yourself and please wait for the chair.
Hi, Mr. Sirius. Could you state your name and spell it for our court reporter, please?
Sure. It's Teddy Sirius, T -E -D -D -Y -S -O -U -R -I -A -S.
Right. Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you. Counsel?
Yes. I'll keep it quick, but you've been in the restaurant business within a couple blocks of
this location basically since you are what you're in your I guess you're in your late teens correct
starting with Finn McCool's yeah 19 years old with my first restaurant didn't know what I was
doing but here we are 20 years later and and you are the main principal of the craft concepts group
correct I am and you have was it eight or nine restaurants now I think at this point there's
nine and they're seasonal we have an outdoor beer garden that's seasonal so that would be number 10
Okay. And this would be your fourth restaurant in this block, correct?
Correct.
And each one of them, you've taken vacant buildings and invested a tremendous amount of money in creating very attractive restaurants that are also historically interesting, correct?
With the exception of the first one, we've built out every restaurant from scratch, yes.
So the first one 20 years ago was a corner bar that we eventually purchased a building and built, you know, two floors of a restaurant and then slowly, you know, later on took over, you know, Chestnut Street restaurants and then consecutively opened up one after another.
Great, great. And I'll keep it quick, but you've heard my testimony, Mr. Hernandez's testimony about the way this was designed to be as code compliant as possible in terms of the sit down restaurant, the roof deck having double the setback, correct?
Yes, absolutely.
And being compliant with the special exception referral criteria that I mentioned to Mr. Hernandez, correct?
Yes, of course.
uh and do you adopt uh do uh do you find that uh testimony that we provided truthful
uh and honest and complete yep yeah i do and you uh adopt it as your own i do great great
i think with that we would uh open it up to any questions that the board might have
questions from the board no mr chairman no mr chairman no mr chairman questions from the virtual
audience i see no hands at this time chair planning commission
uh good afternoon i think i need to be smart in all right could you stay
good afternoon i think i need to be sworn in hi could you state your name and spell for the
court reporter please yes my name is ian ian last name litwin l -i -t -w -i -n right do you swear
a firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do proceed cmx 5 is the
densest and most permissive zoning district in the city in addition the comprehensive plan
recommends no change to the commercial mixed -use zoning at this location. We believe that the
applicant has shown that a sit -down restaurant with roof deck will have no more of an impact
than a sit -down restaurant would otherwise be expected to have. The City Planning Commission
recommends that the board grant the special exceptions for both the sit -down restaurant
and roof deck. Thank you, Ian. MI 2021 -004 -759 -1308 Chestnut Street, I vote yes.
Carol Teneri, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holliman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
And thank you and everyone that we work with on this.
It's really been a team effort.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Councilwoman Sanchez, non -opposition.
Zhang Yi is the owner.
Chair, King Yi has been promoted to panelists.
Could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter, please?
Excuse me, you need to unmute.
Hover over the bottom left of your screen.
Yeah, right.
Okay, can you hear me now?
Could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Yes. First name, Q -I -N -G. Last name, Y -E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Our vice chair has several questions for you.
Hi. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with the required documents, consisting of proof of ownership, tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, photos and or plans of the property,
five days in advance of this hearing
and have you met with the RCO
and do you have a letter?
Yes, I have.
Okay, thank you.
You may proceed.
Thank you.
I'm joining here today
with my husband, Jack Shao.
He's the one preparing all the documents.
I am one of the owners
of 2001 Outer Dock Street.
We are seeking a use variance
for a four -unit dwelling.
We bought this property
on April 16th.
I don't want to interrupt you, ma 'am, not to interrupt you. Do you have this on a computer? Could you put that up on the screen for us, your presentation?
I am not really familiar with the Zoom. We have sent all the information.
But you have to be able to display it so that everybody can see it. Is it on your computer?
Yes, it is.
Pauline, could you try to talk this through or time either one?
When you hover near the bottom of your screen, do you see a green share screen button?
It is, but it's somehow it's gray.
It's gray like I cannot click on it.
Let me see if you can promote it.
okay okay i see screen so you open your document and then you hit that
share screen button okay thank you so much so it's okay it is okay so um okay i'll just
container. We bought this property on April the 16th, 2021 units as its condition which is a four
unit apartment building. We later found out the property is currently zoned mixed use with
commercial space on first floor and two apartments on the upper floors. The property has been used
for unit apartments since 2002 and we are applying for the variance to make the
building a legal four unit drawing.
So this is the notice of refusal.
So this is the notice of refusal, and we have the settlement sheet here, three pages.
And here's my tax clearance.
This is the letter of support.
And this is where it located. It's at the corner of Damon Street and the Orthodox Street.
This is a 3D view.
And this is a photo of zoning poster. This is posted facing the orthodox street.
And this one is posted facing Dickman Street.
Here are some interior photos.
And also have the project information form.
Okay, and the last is the certificate of mailing.
Okay, that's my presentation.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions from the virtual audience?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Good afternoon, Chairman.
Ian Litwin, Planning Commission staff.
The comprehensive plan recommends this property for residential multifamily zoning.
The building has a documented history of commercial ground floor with two dwellings.
The proposal for two additional dwelling units is not the minimum needed to grant relief.
The Planning Commission recommends the Board grant the use variances, but limit the residential units to a maximum of two.
MI 2021 -003664 -2001, Orthodox Street. I vote yes.
Carol Tenere, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
MI 2021 -004 -662 -2001 -53 Argon Avenue.
Gerada State Residence, letter in support.
Gussie O 'Neal.
chair miss o 'neill is coming back in as a panelist now
good afternoon hi miss o 'neill could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter
please sure my name is augusta o 'neill it's spelled a -u -g -u -s -t -a last name is spelled o
apostrophe n -e -i -l -l do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the
truth? Yes. Our vice chair has a few questions for you. Hi, good afternoon. Do you agree to
waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? Yes. It appears that you've
submitted all the necessary documents. Is that correct? That's correct. Okay, you may proceed.
Thanks so much. Good afternoon, members of the board. I'm here this afternoon representing
Grocery Outlet. They are a tenant in the Oregon Avenue shopping center that's located at 2001 to
53 Oregon Avenue. Grocery Outlet, just by way of background, is a company that sells both name
brand groceries and farm fresh produce at up to 40 to 70 percent off of what you'll find in a
typical conventional grocery store. They have a history of being generous community partners
in the areas where they have stores, as you can see from the community giving information that
provided starting at page 11 of your exhibit packages. Grocery Outlet has started to branch
out into the East Coast. They are primarily a West Coast company, but they have a couple of
locations that they've opened in Philadelphia, including one on Hoarder Street, and this is
going to be one of several that they're opening. So they are trying to expand their brand presence,
like I said, over on the East Coast. So as such, having recognizable signage is, you know,
important to them as they're trying to grow their East Coast presence, which is the reason that we're
here this afternoon. The store at 2001 Oregon Avenue is going to be opening on March 3rd of
this year, so just in a few weeks. So we are here really to just ask for a very straightforward
um straightforward dimensional refusal so you can see from the refusal refusal that
dimensional refusal. You can see from the refusal that
is up on my screen we are allowed to have 657 square feet of signage we're proposing 735 .5
square feet so in this cmx2 zoning district we're just really asking for about 78 additional square
feet from what we've, from what we're allowed to have. So as you can see, this is the shopping
center where this Dollar Tree is, is where the grocery outlet's going to be. Morgan Avenue is
a fairly busy four -lane street, hence the need for some larger signs than what's permitted in
the zoning district. And just for context, up on my screen now are pictures of what the Dollar Tree
signage currently looks like, what we're proposing. So what we're proposing here is actually going to
be slightly smaller than what's currently at the Dollar Tree. These signs would have no negative
impact on the neighbors or the surrounding area. By contrast, having this store here is going to
to be a benefit to the area residents, not only because of the products that they're selling,
but also because their grocery outlet is going to be employing a lot more employees at the store
than what's currently at the Dollar Tree. We did meet with the RCO for this property,
Gear Gerard Estate Area Residents. We finally met with them after several months of reaching out.
We met with them on President's Day, so just Monday of this past week. And we do have their
support with the proviso um which has to do with traffic on the street it doesn't necessarily have
to do with the signage but i'd be happy to get into more detail if the board would like me to
um and with that i would just like to call forward luis marcelino ruiz who is my client
and the representative from grocery outlet so luis if you could hit the raise hand feature
Could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter, please?
Mr. Marcellino, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Yes, my name is Luis.
State your name and spell it for the court reporter.
Okay, and spell it for the court reporter, please.
L -U -I -S, Luis Marcellino, M -A -R -C -E -L -I -N -O.
Thank you.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
yes thank you proceed uh good afternoon louise did you have a chance to hear my testimony this
afternoon yes and was everything that i represented to the board true and accurate
yes thank you so much uh members of the board i would submit our case for consideration if
there's uh any need for rebuttal i would just like the opportunity to rebut necessary sure
question questions from the board no mr chairman no mr chairman
questions from the virtual audience
chair i see no hands at this time planning commission good afternoon chairman members
of the board ian litwin planning commission staff the comprehensive plan recommends no
change to the commercial zoning for this property the proposed sign variance is
minimal and in keeping with the character of the block the city planning commission recommends
that the board grant to propose dimensional variance thank you mi 2021 004662 2001 to 53
oregon avenue i vote yes carol tanari my vote is yes thomas holloman my vote is yes
james snell my vote is yes
thank you very much thank you thank you
so the next case will be three cases together mi 2021 004756 2046 north carlisle mi 2021
01 -004 -750 -2048, Carlisle. MI -2021 -004748, 2044, North Carlisle. No RCO letter. Their word meetings. And attorney is Alan Nockamson.
Chair, Alan Nockamson is coming back in as a panelist now.
good afternoon mr chair members of the board alan knockamson of knockamson pc
alan a -l -a -n last name knockamson n -o -c -h -u -m -s -o -n -1 -2 -3 south broad street suite 1600 philadelphia pa
Suite 1600, Philadelphia PA, 19109.
1 -9 -1 -0 -9
You swear
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
The vice chair has a few questions.
Hi, Mr. Nockmson.
Do you agree to wave the reading of the refusals and stipulate to their accuracies?
It appears that you've submitted everything required in the exhibit packets.
Is that correct?
That is correct, including a letter of non -opposition from the coordinating RCO, the 32nd Democratic Ward.
Okay, thank you so much. You may proceed.
All right, thank you. May I share my screen?
Yes, you may.
So we're here today for three properties, 2044, 2046, and 2048 North Carlisle Street.
These properties are in the heart of the Temple University section of Philadelphia.
In my presentation packet, you will see our notices of refusal. Each of these properties are SP -INS, Special Purpose Institution, and there's a reason why, because we are blocked from the Temple University campus.
Many of these properties in this neighborhood are used for the benefit of housing that's utilized by the students there.
We have correspondence from the 32nd Democratic Ward.
I believe when we initially submitted these materials last week, we were still waiting for the letter.
But we received a letter yesterday and we have updated our materials accordingly, showing that it's a letter of non -opposition by the organization.
We have examples on Exhibit 3 on the 2000 block of North Carlisle Street of similarly situated properties, which have been approved as triplexes.
Exhibit 4 are maps of the area from a zoning perspective and a Google Map perspective.
Exhibit 5 are photographs of the property in the surrounding area.
Exhibit 6 are plans and drawings.
Exhibit 7 are RCO meeting notices showing that we met with the community and proof that we mailed a notice to the community of the community meeting.
Exhibit 8 are applications for appeal that we filed to the ZBA.
Exhibit 9 are deeds to the property showing that N. Carlisle ST LLC is the owner of the properties.
Exhibit 10 are certificates of tax clearance showing they're in good standing.
With me today, I have Omar al -Sayed, the representative of the corporate entity who will adopt my testimony and can take any further questions if necessary.
So first things first, the notice of refusal, they're all the same.
We're not asking for any dimensional variances here.
We're asking just to allow each of these properties to be triplexes here.
originally this property owner did come to the zoning board to ask merely for duplexes but the
change in the environment in terms of building costs and such it just became too overwhelming
for just to allow for duplexes again these are spins so it's not common to have this type of
density on campus and it's actually encouraged by the zoning code of philadelphia so we're meeting
in line with what we're asking for instead of for group living we're merely saying for to allow us
to have three separate units for each one and that's consistent throughout all these refusals
that's the same refusal again we met with the 32nd democratic ward we had a meeting with them
on january 26th of 2022 this property owner is a known quantity in in this part of the city and to
the 32nd Democratic Ward. They embrace the situation of allowing for the increased density
to three units each, and because of that, there's a letter of non -opposition from the 32nd Democratic
Ward. Again, not uncommon to allow for triplexes on this block. Similarly, situated properties,
2031, North Carlisle Street is a triplex. 2036, North Carlisle Street is a triplex. 2038,
North Carlisle Street is a triplex. 2039 North Carlisle Street is a triplex. 2041 North Carlisle
Street is a triplex. 2043 North Carlisle Street is a triplex. And 2050 North Carlisle Street is
a triplex. Again we try to match apples to apples here so our request is not uncommon to what's
already on that block. Maps of the area as you can see this is a highly dense part of the city
Philadelphia, again, to help Temple University with housing for their students. That's why this
particular portion of the neighborhood, which is just off of Broad Street, is SPINS. We're also
uh is spins we're also surrounded by rm1 as well as cmx two and a half from a google maps
surrounded by RM1.
perspective you can see that we're just off of north broad street again in the heart of the uh
portion of you know for housing for temple students photographs of this block to the right of the
property to the left of the property and then our plans and drawings each one has their own site
plan as well as one combined floor plan but as you can see you know we are well within the
dimensional requirements of the zoning code that's why we have no dimensional variances
it's going to make this a little bit smaller we have sizable backyards we meet the rear yard
setback requirements and the height requirements all of these would be brick facades three -story
structures again this is 2046 and then 2048 all the site plans that were submitted to LNI as part
of this process and again just to quickly go through the floor plans again what we're trying
to do here is have you know again not load up this property with bedrooms uh to meet the you know
obviously we're not trying to do group living here we acknowledge that we're we are not allowed
more than three unrelated people uh so some students want their own bedroom some students
want uh to share bedrooms for cost efficiency purposes we gave that opportunity by having two
bedrooms and two baths for each of the units so you see each of the properties next to each other
each have first floor two bedrooms two baths that's you know number one and then if you look
at the second floor same type of floor plan two bedrooms two baths for the second unit
and two bedrooms two baths for the third unit
and then you'll see that you know we will be met with the community
we sent separate notices for each property
this is the notice that we sent for 2044 we met on january 26 at 2022 at 6 p .m here's our notice
of refusal we sent that notice to 115 addresses and here are the addresses
and so on and so on it's going to change up and just you know skip this just go to rd just to
show who the owner of the property is or properties as you can see it's north side rentals as well as
in Carlisle Street. And these are the deeds of the property.
And then our certificate of tax clearance, most importantly, showing that, you know,
my client Northside Rental LLC is in good standing with the city of Philadelphia as to all three
properties. With that being said, I'm going to stop sharing my screen. I could always share my
screen afterwards if needed. I have Mr. Al Saeed on the Zoom call. Mr. Al Saeed, can you virtually
raise your hand? Yes. Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Omar Al -Sayed, O -M -A -R, last name A -L -S -A -Y -Y -E -D. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I do. Proceed. Thank you. Mr. Al -Said, you heard
everything I stated today. Yes. And is it true and correct? Yes. And do you adopt it as your own
testimony? Yes. Thank you very much. Questions from the board? No, Mr. Chairman. No, Mr. Chairman.
mr chairman questions from the virtual audience
i see no hands at this time chair planning commission
i'm gonna have to noon noon chairman members of the board ian litwin planning commission staff
the comprehensive plan recommends these properties for residential multi -family use
the current zoning present represents clear hardship preventing their reuse however if
preventing their reuse however if these lots were zoned rm1 the applicants will be allowed
If these lots were zoned RM1, the applicants would be
two units in each building three units are more than the minimum required to grant relief
so the city planning commission recommends the board grant the use finances
for all of the carlisle street properties but with a maximum of two units in each building
mi 2021 004756 2046 carlisle mi 2021 004750 2048 carlisle mi 2021 004 748 2044 carlisle
I vote yes.
Carol Tenere, my vote is yes on all three.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes on all three.
James Snell, yes to all three.
Ishmael Shaheed, yes to all three.
Tanya, do we need to put a proviso in to make sure it's limited to two bare rooms, as the planning commission stated?
i'm not i'm not sure they have to do the two bedrooms i think the issue would be
that the city code says no more than three people am i right and i think that's what the attorney
so that was the recommendation of planning commission however you all get to make that
determination and the chair decided not to so it's as you all wish uh yes mr chair that's correct
thank you
MI 2021 -004 -753 -460 Lyceum Avenue
RCO letter of opposition Alan Nockamson
all right thank you Mr. Chair just state your name you've already been sworn
Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the board.
Alan, A -L -A -N, last name, Nockamson, N -O -C -H -U -M -S -O -N, 123 South Broad Street, Suite 1600, Philadelphia PA, 19109.
The vice chair has several questions.
Thank you.
Alan, do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
It appears that you have sent in all of the required documents. Is that correct?
That is correct.
okay you may proceed thank you thank you may i share my screen yes you may yes thank you
all right so i'm here to present 4460 lysum avenue in our presentation materials we'll go
over the notice of refusal the correspondence that we received from central roxborough civic
Association, permit number 289150, maps of the area, which includes the Atlas map as well as
the Google map to show where we are in Roxborough, photographs of the property in the surrounding
area, our plans and drawings, proof that we had a meeting with the coordinating RCO and the
community, as well as proof that we mailed notice of that community meeting to the affected
properties. Our application for appeal, our deed to the property, showing that Goldilocks
properties is the owner of the property, and our certificate of tax clearance showing that the
property owner is a good standing. On the line, I have a representative from the property owner,
Laura Feldman, who will adopt my testimony. So the notice of refusal. This is an RSA -3 property.
Even though this is an RSA 3 property and we're asking for two units, this property, if you look back at the zoning history, has been multi -units since 1975.
It's been a doctor's office on the first floor, and on the upper floor, it's been a residence.
Due to an unfortunate fire, the property had to go through significant structural improvements, and as part of that process, my client has desired to, instead of having a doctor's office there, put a residence there.
Pre -pandemic, she lost her tenant, the doctor's office there, and has been unable to get anyone who would be interested in making that a doctor's office.
Just a matter of background, my client purchased this property in 2014 for $170 ,000.
The Office of Property Assessment has this property assessed as fair market value of $181 ,400.
So her hardship here is that to require her to put a single family house here, which through no fault of her own is required under RSA three and prior to the fire, she had two units in there, like would be a significant hardship because she wouldn't be able to, to actually, you know.
would be a significant hardship because she wouldn't be able to actually handle all of the repair work in there.
It would decrease her value of her property significantly when she bought it for $170 ,000 as a multi -unit structure.
So all she's trying to do is really essentially swap out the commercial component with the residential component.
So the correspondence from Central Roxborough Civic Association, they did vote in opposition to this project. They did acknowledge that this property has been multi -unit for some time.
And, you know, if you look at the records since 1975, did acknowledge that there are some multifamily structures in this neighborhood, not a lot, but enough to show that it's not out of character and that we actually border a commercial corridor on Ridge Avenue, as you'll see from the photos, to help support that.
A couple other things to note, and we'll go through the maps, is that there's significant public transportation around there to allow for this density to be used.
So, again, our permit, this is 1981, this permit, but I did look on the city's website just before the hearing.
There's another permit in 1975.
So, for almost 50 years, this property has been used multi -units.
So it would be out of character to force my client, due to unforeseen circumstances, to revert it back to single family.
That would be a significant hardship, which would dramatically affect the fair value of her property.
Maps of the area.
So here's from an Atlas standpoint.
Again, we're just off of Ridge Avenue.
I think a better depiction is the Google map.
You can see that there is much, much commercial usage around here.
There's a shopping center, which I happened to go to recently, just randomly.
And I was like, oh, wait, this four -city Lycum is right here.
But, you know, there's a UPS store, a Starbucks, a diner, an Acme, multiple bus lines.
There's the 9, the 32, the 27, the 35.
So, you know, something like this, from a planning perspective, to support a commercial
corridor like this is not uncommon to increase have increased densities for multifamily use
photographs of the property again it's it's a three -story structure um all we're trying to do
is literally swap out the commercial component with residential you know like them avenue to
the right of the property to the left of the property and again if you can see on that block
There is a nearby triplex. We're not trying to do a triplex. We're just trying to do a duplex, but 471 Lycombe Avenue is a triplex.
And then just our plans and drawings, I'm just going to decrease the size so we can all see it on the single page.
But again, a couple things to note. My client has no living in the basement, has no desire to have living in the basement.
All she wants to do is convert that first floor, that was a doctor's office, into a two -bedroom, one -bath unit, and then basically rehabilitate the second unit, which is on the second and third floors, which will also be a two -bedroom, one -bath.
and again our notice that we had sent to the affected properties
but you can see that we met on January 6, 2022 at 7 30 p .m. for this property 460 Lycombe
street avenue there are 99 properties which were deemed effective properties by the city planning
commission these are the addresses of these properties and this is our proof of mailing
our application for appeal to the zba
along with our project information form,
and then our deed to the property,
showing that Goldilocks Properties LLC
is the owner of the property since 2014,
when they purchased it for $170 ,000.
And then our certificate of tax clearance
showing that they're in good standing
with the city of Philadelphia.
With that being said, I believe that Ms. Feldman is on the line. I would ask for her to virtually raise her hand. Now, I know that she's had connectivity issues, so I'm not 100 % sure if she's on, but I did talk to her beforehand.
With that being said,
I believe that Ms. Feldman is on the line.
Any hands up?
Chair, I see no hands at this time.
Okay, Alan, you're moved to the court.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Alan, what condition is the building in now?
So fire issue?
Honestly, she's waiting for the board to decide.
But right now, it's standing.
It's a shell.
And the other thing is the lot's over 3 ,000 square feet, just, you know, just to put that in perspective.
So she's just waiting for the board to decide this issue before she, you know, does the building, gets a building permit, obviously.
Questions from the virtual audience or comments?
Chair, we have someone by the name of Ms. McCarthy.
Ms. McCarthy, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Ms. McCarthy, state your name and spell it for the court reporter, please.
Mary T. McCarthy, M -C -C -A -R -T -H -Y.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
I've been a resident here for 70 years.
It has been single for practically most of our time living here.
We have already a problem of parking here.
if they put it in two that means really four more parking spaces because people from the area
come to this street and get the bus into center city every day so they come at 6 30 7 o 'clock
they will not come back until 6 30 or 7 so if i for instance i happen to be 96 years old
if i would go on an urn there is no parking spot or if i go to my church which is 7 a .m
When I come back, there is not a spot and those cars do not move until the people come out to work.
So there is a major problem here.
And I believe that it should not be put in with two families because that would be at least four more parking spots that we don't have right now.
So that's my objection to it being to two.
Since I came here, it has always been doctor's offices with one person living there.
Thank you, Mrs. McCarthy, for calling in.
Thank you very much.
Any other questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, I see no hands at this time.
Planning Commission.
Good afternoon, Chairman, members of the Board,
Ian Litwin, Planning Commission staff.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change
to the residential single family zoning of this property.
However, given the location and history of this property,
the Planning Commission recommends that the Board
grant the variance for two dwelling units.
mi 2021 004 753 460 lyceum avenue i vote yes carol tenary my vote is yes
thomas holland my vote is yes james snell my vote is yes ishmael shaheed my vote is yes
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. MI 2021 -004814, 5558 Carlson Street, RCO 12th Ward, Democratic
Letter of Support, Councilwoman Bass, non -opposition. Charbonne and Kenyatta Anderson.
Charbonne, and Kenyatta Anderson.
Are there any hands up?
Yes, and they're coming in now as a panelist.
Thank you.
hello good
can you guys hear me yeah i can state your name and spell for the court reporter
my name is charbonate anderson first name c -h -a -r -b -o -n -e anderson a -n -d -e -r -s -o -n
and you're going to do the testifying yes okay do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth is nothing but the truth. Yes, sir. Our vice chair has a few questions.
Hi, have you emailed the exhibit packet with all the required documents,
consisting of proof of ownership, tax compliance, a refusal or referral,
photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing,
and have you met with the RCO and do you have a letter? Yes, ma 'am. You may proceed.
good afternoon um the first page is a is a refusal paper and there's been three refusals
the first one stating the proposed personal service prohibited in the zoning in the zoning
district the second one stating the purpose multiple principal uses on lot is prohibited
in the zoning district and the last one is the proposed multi -family household living
is prohibited in the zoning district there that's the application for the appeal that was sent in
project information form
um this right here is the deed well not the deed but the um the sales
on the day the property was purchased.
This right here is proof that this is the building.
Also the refusal letters was posted.
This is the bell that was sent out
to all the residents in the surrounding area.
It's the overview of the property
that was sent out to everyone.
and this is the zone of refusal and the property use and property history.
We're proposing to use the bottom space for commercial space
and to be used as a beauty power and that's for the lower level, the first floor and the basement.
Also, we're going to use the second floor for our apartment, which is already two apartments,
but you just want to use it for just one apartment.
this is this is the information well these were the um the signatures for the uh neighbors
that didn't attest and they actually supported the um the business venture
or the idea so we did get a few um a few names for support
this is the the um email that was sent out we had a meeting with ted stones or rco meeting
and no one opposed um and it was held on this uh february 8th
that should be a trip okay
and uh my name is andrew menu i was the applicant assisting um charbonnet and kenyatta as the design
professional so the other documents that need to be wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute you're
not sure you can't okay sorry right let's stay with them they said they want to do it they'll stay
there so this is just typically everything is everything that we put together and this is the
zone and notice right here for this meeting and just attached with just everything that we wanted
to oppose to do the support and documents that we had from the neighbors um also the information
also the information from the RCO meeting as well okay is there anything else you want to add
from the RCO meeting as well.
into the case and do no sir okay questions from the board no mr chairman no mr chairman
questions from the virtual audience
chair we have someone by the name of douglas rucker with his hand up
mr rucker you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair
yes can you hear me mr rucker could you state your name
yes could you state your name listen to me could you state your name and spell for the court reporter
Douglas Rucker
Can you say your name and spell it please
For the court reporter
D -O -U -G -L -A -S
First last name is Rucker
R -U -C -K -E -R
Chew and Shelton
Community Development Corporation
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
The whole truth and nothing but the truth
Yes I do
Proceed sir
Yes our neighborhood is very much
and support of this project uh it is something that we we we really support because of
so there's history there there's our neighborhood is really moving forward with uh with development
and we find that this uh particular project is uh conducive to what we're trying to do
as a community and as the true and shelter community uh development corporation so
So I'm quite sure that Ted would attest to what I'm saying, that it is something that we're not opposing.
We definitely support and we wish the couple all the success that they can possibly have.
Thank you. Thank you for calling in, sir.
Are there any other comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, I see no other hands at this time.
Planning Commission.
Can I ask for a clarification? How many units are you proposing?
Proposing one unit.
Just one?
Yes, first floor will be the commercial space in just one unit.
Second and third floor will be one.
Second and third floor will be one unit.
Okay, thank you.
Okay, we can make a recommendation then.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single high rate dislocation.
This building has a documented history of commercial use.
The city planning commission recommends that the board grant advance for personal services and multiple uses on the lot.
MI 2021 004814 5558 crossing the street, I vote yes.
Carol Tenere, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
You're done.
You have the votes.
MI 2021 -004676 -626 -30 Bybury Road.
No RCO letter.
copy of an email indicating the rco is against the project
meredith ferlegger is the attorney chair meredith ferlegger is coming back in as a panelist now
good afternoon mr chairman members of the board hi could you state your name and spell for the
Court Reporter, please. Meredith Ferliger, F -E -R -L -E -G -E -R, 1500 Market Street, Suite 3500E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do. Our Vice Chair has a few questions.
Hi, do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
I agree to waive the reading. As far as accuracy, there is a slight error in the refusal that notes
a warehouse use on the property. That is not correct. There is no warehouse use. It is simply
an office. And then the request, which is before the board that we will get into for the food,
beverage, and groceries. Okay. Have you submitted all the required documents? It appears that you
have. We have. You may proceed. Thank you. You're welcome.
All right. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. Again, my name is Meredith Furliger, attorney with Delworth Paxson. The property owner is Silk Trent LLC, represented here today by Anthony Trentilodge. He should be on the call and I will call him up in a little bit.
All right. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the...
The proposed tenant is a company named U .S. Moda Foods, and we also have a representative from that company here today, Marat Simoz, or known as Mike.
The request before the board today concerns a large, over 46 ,000 square foot commercial property just east of the intersection of Busselton Avenue and Byberry Road in the city's Somerton section of Northeast Philadelphia.
Although the request before the board today is quite minimal, we do come to you today
without unanimous support of the community.
As we'll explain, the community's concerns most broadly centered around their anecdotal
traffic unease related to the busy Busselton and Byberry intersection, and the concerns
did not object specifically to the business that's before the board today.
Furthermore, so the board has some context while you are reviewing the proposal, you
will see at Exhibit 18 an email from Somerton Civic that did confirm that not one of the
30 people who voted during the RCO process, not one of them lives within 250 feet of this
property.
A third of the people who did vote did vote to support the request, which I hope the board
we'll see today represents a true and considerable hardship to my client's property. The board should
have an exhibit packet with 18 exhibits. I'll start first with some background, and then I'll
ask my client and the prospective tenant to come up and give you some additional information.
As the board can see from the aerials provided at Exhibit 7 and up on the screen,
This is a large commercial property that contains three separate buildings.
The property is surrounded to the north and west by other dense commercial uses, and to the south is a condominium dwelling, and further east you start to see a few single -family homes.
You can refer to some additional photographs here at Exhibit 17 here.
Again, this is just a frontage view of the property.
You see the two buildings here, and then there is a third building in the rear.
This is just looking towards that busy Busselton and Byberry intersection and turning the other way, heading down south on Byberry Road.
Now, historically speaking, and as reflected in the permit history that's provided at Exhibit 10, the property was previously owned by the Marvick Supply Company.
Many people know this property as the Marvick Supply Company business.
In 2017, Marvick closed up operations and sold the property to Siltrent LLC.
As Anthony will explain, since he purchased the property in 2017, he's been attempting to find new users for the existing space.
currently as you can see in the marked up aerial that I've shown up on the screen at Exhibit 8
the two western most buildings are occupied by Royal Family Remediation which is a remediation
company that has their offices in these buildings these two buildings as I referenced earlier are
used strictly as office space not as a warehouse that was incorrectly identified in the refusal
I have included some additional information about Royal Family Remediation and some photos of the interior space, but again, their use is not at issue before the board today.
The use that is before the board today is proposed for this eastern building here.
the proposals for a small ethnic foods retail market that sells only pre -packaged,
predominantly frozen goods. Now, before I bring up my clients to give you a bit more detail,
you might at this point be asking yourself why a large commercial property needs a variance
for a small retail space. Let me show you why. As you can see in Exhibit 6,
this property suffers from an extreme hardship imposed by its split zoning classification
half of the property is zoned ca1 while the other half the half that is at issue today
is zoned rs d3 single family accordingly a refusal is generated because the proposed retail use
Accordingly, a refusal is generated because the proposed retail use is not permitted in the RSD3 zoning.
Now, at this point, I would like to bring up my client to give a bit more additional detail, and then I will conclude with some notes about the community concerns and our attempts at addressing them.
So at this point, I think it would be best if I just bring them both up to make this a little bit more smooth.
If the administrator could look for Anthony Trentillage and Morat Saimaz and promote both of them, please, to speak.
I see Anthony.
Hello.
Could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Yes, sir.
Anthony Trentillage, first name A -N -T -H -O -N -Y, last name T -R -E -N -T -A -L -A -N -G -E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
And the second person?
Murad Saimaz, S -A -Y -M -A -Z.
Could you do that again and state your name and spell it again for us, please?
Absolutely.
Murad Saimaz, S -A -Y -M -A -Z.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, Meredith, to interrupt. This is Tanya. Maybe please request he spell his first name as
well. M -U -R -A -T. Thank you kindly, Meredith. Of course, Tanya. Thank you. All right, Anthony,
I'm going to start with you. You purchased this property in 2017, correct? Yes. And at the time,
were you aware that a portion of this property had a half of it zoned single family? No, not at all.
Now, to your knowledge, has this property ever contained a single -family use?
Never.
And to your knowledge, has the property ever contained any non -commercial or industrial use?
Now, since 2017, have you had much success leasing these spaces?
Yes. Very easy.
and and this building in particular um have you been able to find a tenant for this building
or has it been vacant for some time uh since we purchased the building we had three tenants a
carpet outlet a uh a mattress store and they closed up because of covid and then they had a
gentleman that was to sell vehicles online but he started doing mechanical work which he was not
permitted. Okay. So it's three tenants, four tenants. Now the community asked you to make
several improvements to the property, including landscaping and striping of some parking spaces,
correct? Yes. And you happily agreed to make those changes. Is that also correct? More than happy.
Now my last question for you. Now one of the biggest concerns that we heard from the community
was related to general traffic conditions around Busselton and Byberry. Since you've
owned this property, has there ever been an incident related to anyone entering or exiting
the property? No, ma 'am. Thank you. All right, Mike. All right, let me turn to
this photo as Mike speaks. All right. Mike, could you just in a few sentences describe
what the business is that's proposed for this space? Well, it's a
boutique grocer. It's mainly frozen halal and kosher food, prepackaged. So meaning that nothing
is uh being prepared uh at a property in the property so um and this is mainly um gourmet food
uh it's not um you know aimed at uh regular um you know crowd it's more like a religious
and gourmet food, you know, special kind of food.
Thank you.
Now, 100 % of these products are produced and packaged off -site, correct?
That is correct, in Garfield, New Jersey.
And is it correct that you only intend to have the retail space
in the front portion of this building, which is roughly 1 ,000 square feet?
That is correct.
That's the only actually available spot for it.
and that's a fairly small retail space that's that's even a lot for us we don't we don't we
don't get we don't plan on getting or have that kind of uh you know clientele um you know i mean
there's quite a bit of a but it's you know we that's more than enough for us shortly and the
that's more than enough for us shortly. And the photos that I have up on the screen here,
The photos that I have.
this shows the interior of that first floor space, correct? Correct. Now, what about the
second floor that I'll bring up on the screen? How do you intend to use that? It's an office
space. It shows itself. It's an office space. And that's going to be your office space, right?
That is correct. That is correct. And now what about this rear building here that I have up
on the screen. What will you use this for? As I mentioned, this is strictly, you know,
frozen food, mainly frozen food. So we need a storage space and that storage space has to
keep the food cold and frozen. So we intend to have a, you know, in -building cold storage.
Okay. Now, how often do you expect to receive deliveries and how are those deliveries received?
So delivery is probably, I would say, once or twice a week.
That should be more than enough because we don't need frequent deliveries because we don't intend to sell anything fresh.
It's frozen.
So having said that, that's between nine and five business hours during the week.
And those deliveries would be made via a van or a small straight truck?
Yeah, that's more than enough for us because it's a gourmet food.
We don't do like volume sale.
What we have is actually gourmet food.
So either it's a sprinter van or a box truck.
You know, that's it.
So no tractor trailers?
There's no need.
No, no.
What are your intended hours of operation?
Regular business hours, like between 9 and 5.
the 9 to 6 I would say 9 to 6 actually 6 would be a great time and what about Saturday and Sunday
um half day on Saturday and uh if you know if it needs to be and uh off until Monday
so those hours that you described they're really more akin to a an office type of hour
versus a traditional retail space that might be open say to nine or ten o 'clock at night
well that is true that's for that's true for the traditional grocer it's not Asta
we're boutique sellers so now how many employees do you expect to have I mean this is uh I mean I
this is a family -owned business is going to be so it is and uh so I tend to have
three to four max i mean there is no need because we don't have we don't we cannot have like a
volume sale so that's i would say three to four and given the nature of the business do you expect
a high volume of traffic coming in and out of the property um the people who knows the type of the
business uh i don't know if anyone have an idea um you know having a specialty um kosher and halal
frozen uh food not only that there's a bunch of might be out there but it's a gourmet food
so this type of food that you'll eat in um you know three four if not not a five star three four
star like restaurants so no we we don't expect to have a crowd like in a traditional grocery store
it's not it's not built for that this this business is not for that. Now and the community's
letter referenced their concern over traffic volume due to users such as DoorDash and Uber Eats
but your business is not the type of business that would be serviced by these types of companies
correct that is correct because you know again i'm going back to the same thing uh you know
respectfully for everyone i you know the ones that knows knows uh you know halal and kosher
food they cannot be stored in the same location with the unblessed food so we cannot we one we
do not have the need for it and second it cannot be even stored in its area without groceries and
food? So no, the answer is no. Thank you, Mike. That's all I have for you right now. Sure. So as
we hope the board has seen through the testimony presented, this property suffers a unique and
unnecessary hardship stemming from the split zoning. As the history shows, this property has
only ever accommodated a commercial and light industrial use. The history dating back to the
1900s shows that this property has had to seek repeated variances over the years because of this
split zoning. This property has always been a part of the dense commercial uses along Busselton Abbey.
This property has always been a part of the dense commercial uses along Busselton Avenue and is a part of the Busselton Avenue commercial corridor.
Because of the split zoning, the only way for the property owner to comply with the code would be to demolish the building and erect a single family home on this property.
As you can see at Exhibit 9, there are only four total permitted uses in the RSD3 district.
Single -family homes, passive recreation, a family daycare in someone's home, and a community garden.
him. Accordingly, depriving this owner of a variance would effectively deprive him of all
use of this half of the property without having to make significant investment to erect a single
family home. Furthermore, as you can see from the aerials, erecting a single family home in this
location would be quite undesirable given the proximity to the dense commercial uses.
We also do submit that this particular use is the least minimum variance.
When you consider the uses that are allowed on the other half of the property that is zoned CA1, this proposed use is extremely minimal in both size and anticipated impact.
CA -1 allows uses such as a large daycare center, large retail uses, animal -related businesses,
restaurants, and even gas stations by special exception.
By comparison, testimony given to the board today establishes that this niche use will
generate considerably less traffic than the uses I listed and accordingly represents the
least minimum variance that balances the true hardship facing this property with the community's
concern for area traffic volume. The use is considerably less impactful than the former
Marvick supply company that operated out of both buildings for decades. If the property were not
split zoned, this variance would not be necessary. We also submit the proposal will not increase
congestion in public streets or endanger the public. As you can see, this property is extremely
large and has ample space for parking. Given the nature of this business, you heard testimony that
the operator expects limited traffic coming and going from the property, which will predominantly
occur off -peak hours and will not be servicing food delivery companies. The user will generate
considerably less traffic than many of the by -right uses that could exist within the CA1 zoning.
We submit the proposal as consistent with the comprehensive plan, which did highlight this
property in the 2016 Northeast District Plan as an industrially used property. The plan also
encourages strengthening commercial uses along and around Busselton Avenue and encourages healthy
food options near residential neighborhoods. This proposal complies with all of those goals.
The proposal will not impair light and air and or negatively impact surrounding properties.
It will not place an undue burden on public facilities or utilities, nor will it cause
any environmental damage, pollution, or erosion. We submit the variance complies in full with the
provisions of section 1430380 of the code, as is further detailed in my memo of law submitted at
tab 13. Now, finally, to conclude, I have a few notes regarding the community's position.
Somerton Civic does not hold virtual meetings on Zoom to allow for a live Q &A. Their meeting
format is 100 % electronic and done through a question and answer format transmitted through
email. We do believe the meeting format Somerton is currently using did limit the community's grasp
of this particular business and the uniqueness of it. As I referenced, the primary concern we
heard from the community, which the owner and tenant wholeheartedly respect, is related to
traffic. However, their concern focuses on the Busselton and Byberry intersection, which has
been one of the busiest intersections in the city for the last 50 years, notwithstanding the actual
minimal proposal before this board. They also reference expected traffic generated from DoorDash
and Uber Eats, which you heard is not something that would be servicing this business for a
multitude of reasons. Furthermore, the community requested that the owner restrict left -hand turns
out of the property. We did inform them that we would need to engage the streets department on a
decision like that. We did speak with the streets department and they unsurprisingly noted that a
that a proposal of this extremely limited magnitude would not rise to the level of
proposal of this extremely limited magnitude would not rise to the
warranting their involvement. This is especially true given the history of this property that had
a large industrial user that operated without restriction. Furthermore, these traffic concerns
are purely anecdotal, and if given significant weight by this board, would have a considerably
detrimental impact on this property. We also did follow up with the community organizers after the
vote was taken, and as I referenced, you can see in Exhibit 18 that Somerton confirmed that no one
who lives within 250 feet of this property voted. Somerton Civic's boundaries spanned from Red Line
Road almost two and a half miles to County Line Road, and from the boulevard to over two miles
north to Philmont. Overall, Somerton's area covers about five square miles, or roughly 3 ,500 acres,
so it's reasonable to surmise that those votes could have come from considerable distances away
from this property. The burden facing this property is such that any use of this building from now
until forever, theoretically, any use of this building is going to trigger a variance unless
and until the property is rezoned to reflect its long -standing use. That is a considerable
hardship. Accordingly, we are respectfully asking this board to recognize the severe hardship
facing this property and grant the requested variances for this wonderful community -oriented
niche retail market. Anthony and Mike, I'm going to have both of you adopt my testimony. So Anthony
first. Anthony, have you heard all of the testimony given before the board today? Yes. And do you agree
that testimony is true and accurate and would you adopt it if it were your own yes mike have you
heard all of the testimony given before the board today yes do you agree that testimony is true and
accurate and would you adopt it as if it were your own yes absolutely thank you we'd be happy
to answer any questions questions from the board no mr chairman chairman no mr chairman no mr
Chair. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Okay. Planning Commission. Good afternoon, Chair. Members of the Board, Ian Litwin, Planning Commission staff.
I am so, so sorry, Chair. We did have a late hand up as Councilman O 'Neill. Would you allow him to speak before the Planning Commission?
Absolutely.
Thank you, kindly Chair.
Please unmute Mr. O 'Neill.
Thank you.
Mr. O 'Neill, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Councilman Brian O 'Neill, representing the 10th District, which includes this site.
Could you spell your last name for the court reporter?
Capital O apostrophe, capital N -E -I -L -L.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, sir.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of the board.
I'm here to support the opposition of the RCO, and in a very vigorous way.
I'm very opposed to this.
Here we have what someone could easily say is a hardship.
This is not an unsophisticated purchaser. The owner of this property owns the shopping strip right next to it that you see on the map that has several stores, and it is on the southeast corner of Busselton and Bybury.
On the northeast corner of Busselton and Bybury is a very sizable shopping center owned by the same entity.
So this is not only someone who is a sophisticated buyer, but is a neighbor and knows this area very well.
purchased this, as we were told in 2017, not with a contingency for use of the property,
but as a very knowledgeable landowner right in the immediate area. So any hardship
was accepted at that time. Nothing has changed since that time about the zoning or anything else.
And this is not anecdotal traffic congestion.
This is unbelievable, serious traffic congestion.
This is unbelievable.
And of all those movements going through on four sides of this intersection, the one that is most critically congested is right at the point where the driveway for this particular applicant's property is.
a two -way a two -way street bybury road one in each direction all of a sudden just uh where this
property is is all of a sudden becomes four lanes just on that one area and one lane is coming east
and then the westbound lane takes us to three lanes, one to turn right, one to turn left,
and one to go straight. It backs up all day. This is a business that will thrive in this area.
As the Planning Commission has stated, my district has the highest population of immigrants
in the city. That immigrant population where my district starts at the southern end of
Busselton Avenue at Cotman and goes all the way up to the county line, that is the immigrant
corridor. This business will be very successful. This isn't being put here to be modestly successful
or to have very light traffic. You cannot get out of this property and go left. You cannot do it.
It's not anecdotal. Anybody that travels it at any time during the day knows that.
All right. As you get retail customers, not like the family business that is in the other two
buildings. This is serious congestion. It's dangerous. The number of homeowners,
members of the RCO that live close is not important as it usually is. This is a Somerton
issue for anybody that lives in Somerton, cares about Somerton, and wants Somerton to be as safe
as possible. So, uh, I would ask you to support the, um, as I do the, uh, the opposition of the
RCO and, um, we will work, uh, with the owner to get a business or somehow come up with a solution
that will, um, not endanger this community to the extent that this property and this use will
endanger it uh and it's um uh a good business there's plenty of retail sites in this area
and um uh but it can't be at this time in these conditions uh uh anything but a negative
for the community of somerton and i i thank you and i i register my um strong opposition
thank you may i respond oh go ahead thank you so just on the issue of of of who the purchaser
of the property was i'd like to remind the board that a variance and a hardship is unique to a
property and by no means was our argument that you know this purchaser you know didn't know it
was zoned this way and therefore the board should grant the variance by no means is that the
argument we're intending to make here. It was simply given as a point of background. Hardship
is unique to a property, and this property, whether it's this owner or any other owner,
is burdened with this unique circumstance that will always burden this property until it is
rezoned to have one zoning classification. The issue related to traffic, as we acknowledged,
Busselton and Byberry, by all means, is one of the busiest trafficked areas in the entire city.
But as you heard testimony from Mike, the intended operator of this business, this business is not
what the community is thinking it will be. This is not the type of grocer that you go in to get
your everyday, you know, ethnic foods. This is a very specialty type of store that is only open
limited hours during the day, mostly off peak hours, nine to six. That's typically after rush
hour and before rush hour would start up again. And realistically,
would start up again. And realistically, Mike expressed the fact that they intend to make
some deliveries to their consumers, which will also further limit the number of consumers that
actually have to visit this site. It's 1 ,000 square feet. This is not a large grocer that's
going to have little packaged goods for people to just stop in and grab on their way home. That's
not what this business is intended to be. The final point is that we certainly respect the
councilman's offer to work with the property owner to try and find a business to occupy this
building. But again, this property has a very unique hardship and any business, any use of
this property is going to generate a variance. And we wholeheartedly submit that we have established
that we've established the hardship and that we've established that this is the least minimum
variance for this particular building. Thank you. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience has
comment? I see no hands at the time, Chair. Planning Commission?
Good afternoon, Chairman, members of the Board. Ian Litwin, Planning Commission staff.
the comprehensive plan recommends this property be zoned for commercial mixed use the proposed
food beverages and groceries would not be would be by right in this category therefore the planning
commission recommends the board grant the proposed use variance we're going to take this
under consideration in executive session next week and we will vote in public next week next
Wednesday yep thank you very much okay let's uh Tanya let's take a five minute break and uh
then we'll come back we have one case left the two o 'clock group and then I think we
get through the 3 30 pretty quickly okay that's great thank you chair sure
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Hi, Chair.
This is Tanya.
We're looking good. May I do just a quick check with our court reporter, Mr. Kelly? Are you here?
How are we looking?
We're looking good.
May I do just a quick check with our...
I am. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Kelly.
Okay, so we're going to do the last case that I have at this point.
13 MI 2021 -004 -754 -884 North Orkney Street.
Dusty O 'Neill is the attorney, RCA Northern Liberties Neighbors Association, letter of support.
Chair, Ms. O 'Neill is coming back in as a panelist now.
Good afternoon again.
hi miss o 'neill just you've been sworn to state your name please sure augusta o 'neill and our
vice chair has a few questions carol you're on mute unmute carol
hi miss in hill do you agree to wave the reading of refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
i do it appears that you've submitted all the necessary documents is that correct
that's correct you may proceed thank you so much i'm gonna share my screen
Yes, you know that you guys are running a little behind so I'll try and keep my comments as brief as possible.
Good afternoon, members of the board. I'm here this afternoon representing the owners of 884 North Orkney Street.
This property is zoned RSA 5. We are proposing to construct a single family home at this location with two interior off street parking spaces.
A copy of my refusal has been included in my exhibit package.
As you can see, we received a refusal for the accessory two -car parking spaces
and for the height of the building.
You can see this property is located in a largely residential area.
I would submit to the board that the provision of the parking spaces in this very densely populated neighborhood
is going to be a bonus to any of the neighbors who live near this property. We are going to be
taking what is currently an unkempt vacant lot and improving it with a single -family home,
which you can see a rendering provided at page 34 of your exhibit package. So this is what the
home is going to look like once it is fully constructed. The final plans that I've included
on page 37 of your exhibit package are what my clients have agreed to construct after several
meetings with the RCO for this property, which was the Northern Liberties Neighbors Association.
We made several changes to the plans as a result of those communications with the RCO. Some of those
changes that were made were to reduce the height of the building from 42 feet down to 41 feet.
We've increased the roof setback from five feet to seven and a half feet.
We're going to be providing some more porous materials on the parapet, on the facade of the structure.
And we've also agreed to lower the front and side parapet walls, even though that wasn't necessarily what the refusal was issued for.
But as a result of these changes, and because they think that this is a project that would obviously benefit their neighborhood,
since we're improving this vacant piece of land with a nice single -family home.
We do have the full support of the RCO for this project, which you can see
from page three of the exhibit package I provided. With me this afternoon is our project architect
Anna Green, who's available to answer any questions that the board might have about the
project, and Matt Handel, who is the owner of the property. So Matt, if you could just
raise your hand to um identify yourself with the board
or lindsay
miss o 'neill who's the person that you're looking for it's going to be either matt handle which is
spelled h -a -n -d -e -l or lindsay diaguardi
all right bye mr handle is coming back in as a panelist now thank you so much
mr handle state your name and spell it for the court reporter
hello can you all hear me yeah i can state your name and spell for the court reporter please
great matt handle m -a -t -t -h -a -n -d -e -l right do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do proceed mr handle did you have a chance to hear my testimony this
afternoon i did and was everything that i represented to the board true and accurate
it was thank you very much um members of the board as i said uh our project architect is on
it was thank you very much um members of the board as i said uh are
and available to answer any questions i'm also available happy to answer any questions that the
board might have questions from the board no mr chairman no mr chairman mr jim questions from
the virtual audience i see no heads at this time any commission
Good afternoon, Chair. Peter Bernard for the Planning Commission.
Could you spell your name, please, for the court reporter?
P -E -T -E -R. E as in boy, A as in apple, R as in Roger, N as in Nancy, A as in apple, R as in
Roger, D as in dog. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth? I do, Chair. Proceed. The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the single -family
residential zoning at this location the proposal for front parking and a non -compliant size parking
space are in keeping with the character of the block however there is no unique physical condition
of the lot that would require a fourth story to be built the city planning commission recommends
that the board grant the variances related to parking but deny the variance for additional height
MI -2021 -004 -754 -884 -North Orkney Street. I vote yes.
Carlton Mary, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is no.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes.
I'm sorry.
Thank you.
Tanya. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I got, I got you, Tanya.
With revised plans of one page. Thank you, chair. Thank you.
Thank you so much. Members of the board. All right.
First question is,
is there anyone still in the audience whose case has not been heard from the
two o 'clock listing?
Chair, we have someone with their hand up by the name of Gabriel Falco.
okay mr falco you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair
oh thank you guys so much i yeah it seems to be some mr falco do me a favor state your name
it's spelled for the court reporter yes sir um good afternoon everyone gabriel falco g -a -b -r -i -e
l g -a -b -r -i -e -l last name's falco f -a -l -c -o i'm sorry and what in what case are you you
talking about yes so i'm actually texting uh so it's mi -2021 -003831 it regards to uh 1708 north
bodine street and it was scheduled for uh 330 today my apologies for that i understand you
guys were ready to go and not know about it so whatever the court recommends i'm here for but
so sir sir yes sir yes ma 'am we're still doing two o 'clock we haven't finished two o 'clock
okay so i should just wait in the background
um that's what i'm asking for that i just said anybody in the audience was his case in the two
o 'clock listing 3 30 3 o 'clock at 3 30 oh 3 30 yeah so we're finishing up two o 'clock we'll get
for that, sir. My apologies, everyone. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Tony.
Okay. No, nobody else in the audience. All right. We'll start 3 .30. My name is Bill Bergman. I will
be chairing this meeting for the Zoning Board of Adjustment. With me is Carol Tenere, our Vice
Chair. Present. Israel Shahid, our Board Secretary. Here, Mr. Chairman. Thomas Holliman, our Board
member. Present, Mr. Chairman. And James Snell, our board member. Present, Mr. Chairman. Executive
Director, Tanya Sunkit, is you, and our attorney, Sherman Toplin. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair.
Before we begin, here's our virtual format. Be advised the proceedings are being recorded.
By participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded. A video will be available by
contacting the board, the executive director of the board, I should say, Tanya Sunkett,
tanyasunkettatphil .gov. For the benefit of our court sonographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses
to identify themselves before testifying. If you are participating in my phone, if you wish to
testify, press star nine to raise your hand and star six to unmute. To enter an appearance statement,
call 267 -270 -5548. Leave your email and the address of the property in question.
5 5 4 8 leave your email and the address of the property in question and lastly please note the
question answer box on the screen is not for testimony or comments any comments should be
referred to our executive director tanya sunken so let's start right now to figure out what
continuities we have for this 330 group. I have number two MI 2021 001479 1433 West Fisher Avenue
and I have number four MI 2021 002010 2528 Lloyd Street. Is there anyone in the audience
that has any comments relative to those two cases?
Chair, we have Ms. Darlene Threat with her hand up.
Ms. Threat, you can unmute yourself or wait for the chair.
Good afternoon, Commissioner.
Hi, how are you?
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Darlene Threat, D -A -R -L -E -N -E, Threat, T as in Thomas, H -R -E -A -T -T,
darling three associates 45 east city avenue balakin with pa 19004 thank you do you swear
affirm to tell the truth the whole truth is nothing but the truth yes i do commissioner
are you requesting a continuance for that case yes i am commissioner and no one objects and we
have our second meeting on march 14th 2022 with the civic association they asked us to provide
quite a few new items we've provided them and we're ready to meet again so maybe we can get
a more favorable letter. Thank you very much. So case two and case four are continuing. Case seven
MI 2021 -002 -016 -4271 North Odean Street. Attorney Joseph Aqueira.
Chair, I see someone with the phone number ending in 0887 with their hand up.
Let's see what it looks like.
That phone number ending with 0887.
Could you please unmute yourself and wait for the chair?
could you could you state yes can you state your name and spell for the court reporter
yes good afternoon my name is attorney joseph vaccaro v -a -c -c -a -r -o attorney id 83366 attorney
for the applicants united homes do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth is nothing
but the truth. Yes, I do. Mr. Vaccaro, we're continuing that case. We did not have, we did
not have the paperwork and time to process it. Understood. Understood. Do we have a new date
and time? You'll have, our, our executive director will look for it and she'll be in touch.
Sometimes. Thank you very much.
thank you okay case number one is a withdrawal mi 2021
401 414 1222 east columbia that case is withdrawn
anyone have any comments about that
There are no heads at this time, Chair.
All right, we're going.
We have two add -on cases that will need votes.
MI 2021 -003 -906 -1008 Addison Street.
Before we vote, we need the Planning Commission's comments relative to the case.
This is Ron Bednar, City Planning.
First name Ron, R -O -N, last name Bednar, B -E -D -N -A -R.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
The property is...
This property is indicated for residential use on the city plan.
The applicant hardship is not supported with evidence of unique physical circumstances
or conditions of the site.
Therefore, we recommend that requested variance
not be granted.
Case number MI 2021 -00.
Case number MI -2021 -003906, I vote no.
Harold Tannery, my vote is no.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is no.
James Snell, my vote is no.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is no.
MI -2021 -003385 -4321, Tyson.
The Planning Commission has already taken a position on this.
They're opposed.
We're waiting for a letter from the RCO.
The Taconi RCO has opposition against it.
Here's the important comments.
Our decision is supported by the neighbors who are most affected by this variance.
is to vote in opposition in the granting of this variance.
The use is inconsistent and puts unneeded stress
on the individuals and the surrounding properties.
I vote no.
Carol Tenere, my vote is no.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is no.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is no.
Okay. We also have two reconsiderations. MI 2021 -002 -100 -2431 North 29th Street. I vote no for reconsideration.
Carol Tenere, my vote is no for reconsideration.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is no for reconsideration.
James Snell, my vote is no for reconsideration.
Ismail Shahid, my vote is no for reconsideration.
MI, the other last reconsideration we have, MI 2021 -003 -824, 1018 Wood Street, I vote yes and recommend a rehearing.
Harold Tenere, my vote is yes for a rehearing.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes for a rehearing.
okay now we'll start the case ishmael shaheed my vote is yes to the rehearing
sorry about that i was having a little issue here uh my vote is yes to rehearing thank you
and let's see here mi 2021 1708 bodine street
councilwoman sanchez letter in non -opposition and also refers that there is an rco letter
gabriel falco
mr falco has been promoted to panelists
mr falco i've already sworn you could you state your name and then our vice chair has a few
questions. Mr. Falco? Mr. Falco. Yes, I'm sorry. It went to some other mode. I'm sorry.
I'm Mr. Falco. I do agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy.
repeat please do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
yes ma 'am i'm sorry vice chair i'm sorry tanya this is um i apologize but is this an attorney
yes i think he is oh you're not no no
thank you you're dressed up like an attorney thank you thank you tanya okay start all over
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral, photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing?
And have you met with the RCO and do you have a letter?
Yes, ma 'am.
Okay, you may proceed.
I'm sorry.
Here's where we have to pause again.
I apologize.
But it does appear that we did not receive the required documents timely.
Timely, if Mr. Falco could please explain, Vice Chair, I would appreciate it.
Okay, that's great. I would appreciate it, too.
Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you very much.
I'm not sure exactly what you mean in timely.
We had the Old Kensington Neighborhood Association meeting on February 8th.
And so about a week after that, I forwarded, following the ZBA instructions,
I forwarded the PDF to all the necessary parties right around that time, which I believe was under the five days.
I forwarded the PDF to all the necessary parts.
But what may be confusing things is today, in the event that the board or anybody didn't have the documents, I forwarded things again to all the RCO ZBA, the Suleta ZBA, and the PCPC zoning.
So that might be what is giving concern for whether the documents were put in a timely fashion or not.
So I did it today, but I did it a week or two ago, the first time.
If I could ask, could you forward the initial email to the RCO ZBA box?
We will confirm.
Right now?
If you can.
Yeah, okay.
Sure, just give me a minute.
And we can determine with Mr. Tompkins that all documents submitted are accurate before we can proceed.
Okay, I will.
All right, thank you.
I'm going to move on.
I'm going to move on.
Thank you.
MI 2021 -000333 -3353 Emerald Street.
Wayne Maynard is the attorney
no exhibits
this is the third or fourth listing
councilman Squill's office says there's been no RCO meeting
has been held
Mr. Maynard
Mr. Maynard if you're in the virtual audience
can you please raise your hand
he's coming back in as the panelists now chair
mr manor could you unmute please
yes good afternoon chairman um is your case ready to go today
no it isn't uh i intended to request a continuance um i know how important it is to the
board to get the position of the rco and i've just had no success uh getting any response from them i
I sent Ms. Suleta copies of the various emails I sent to the Harrowgate Civic Association with no response.
And also, I have made multiple phone calls to the association with no response.
So I know this has been listed a few times, but Ms. Suleta was kind enough to respond to my email
and asked me if I contacted the board with a district council person regarding my inability
to schedule an RCO meeting. I was unaware that the district council person would maybe able to
assist with that. So I would like one more continuous attempt with the aid of the district
council person to schedule an RCO meeting. This is very important to my client and I know it's
and lingering. Mr. Chair, can I ask a question? Did you submit the tax compliance deed or any
of the other things, photos and or plans of the property? I believe my client has submitted the
drawings and the other, the photos, I apologize, of the posting were just sent to me today and I
forward with them today oh wow okay it's up to you mr so so mr mayner this this has been going
on for a while and we're going to dismiss the case today you'll have to come back and
apply again some other time this is just it's one on two before
okay i i understand chairman thank you all right thank you
hi chair this is tanya again yeah um my staff has informed me that we did not receive the
documents two weeks ago as stated and mr letter says she has not received the documents so as you
wish but this should be continued so we can get the documents and view them as always mr falco
Yes, sir. Yep, I'm here. Mr. Falco, this is going to be continued. Has to be tried.
Okay. You'll be notified of a date. Get everything in. Has to be tried.
So can I just ask right now, it's my knowledge that the board and everybody involved would have all their documents.
Does anybody, is anybody missing anything? Do you just have everything at least at this?
Is anybody missing anything? Do you just have everything?
We don't have any of your documents.
We don't have any of your documents, Mr. Falco.
Really? Yeah, so I just sent an email.
Again, as stated, again, as stated, this is not the forum for the discussion. You did not send them to the proper email boxes. Therefore, we cannot proceed. The documents have to be reviewed and researched by the attorney.
Okay, thank you so much.
Yeah, no, absolutely.
Yeah, I'm sorry, but I could have those addresses
because I had the instruction forms in front of me
and I have the three.
Thank you, I'm sorry.
Thank you.
I didn't want to be difficult, sir,
but you have to reach out to the office
who facilitates all the requests
for administrative issues, okay?
Thank you so kindly, Chair.
Okay, thank you.
MI 2021 -004 -013,
3922 North 6th Street, two -family dwelling, RCO Esperanza in non -opposition, Councilwoman
Sanchez in non -opposition, Sean Whalen.
Chair, Mr. Whalen is coming back in as a panelist now.
Hello, Chairman.
Sean Whalen here.
Sean, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Certainly. Sean, S -E -A -N, last name Whalen, W -H -A -L -E -N.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Mr. Whalen, do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
It appears that you have submitted all the required documents. Is that correct?
I have.
You may proceed.
Thank you. And I know the hour is late, so I will be brief and allow for any questions, but I have thankfully a nice easy one for you. The property I'm here for today is for Naisha Lugo. She's an individual owner of 3922 North 6th Street.
you should now be able to see the refusal. We have only one refusal. We have proposed a two -family
dwelling, a duplex, and the property, as you can see here, is a mid -block existing property.
It's RSA 5 everywhere. However, Esperanza Housing and Economic Development, we met with them
and they had no opposition actually not even a single person was opposed to the use the history
here is actually important and I'll go through it very quickly this was a long -standing duplex
and the interior of the property was already set up as a duplex
so this is this is the property right here you can see the entire this actually this property
next door to us is also run as a duplex there are numerous duplexes up and down this block
the entire block is a pre is an existing two -story block both directions with no vacant lots
and we actually have a an empty church next door to us at this point so this property was
historically used as a duplex it has been vacant for some time before my my client purchased it
at the end of last summer. And all she wishes to do is to legalize the use. Again, the RCO and
the councilwoman are both unopposed. I have my, Ms. Lugo, if you'd raise your hand, you can be
brought into the hearing. Again, there's no new construction, no additions of any kind.
This is going to be simply a cosmetic fix in the interior to bring the duplex back to life, and it will actually be rented, and Ms. Lugo is proceeding to work with Veterans Assistance Affordable Housing.
So this is going to be used for affordable housing for veterans for each of the two duplex units.
Ms. Lugo, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair, please.
Ms. Lugo, are you there?
Chairman, you're on mute, I believe.
Hold on. Sarah, you'll need it.
Sarah, you'll mute it.
We still can't hear you.
I'm sorry.
You're going to have to go out and come back in.
Where's the chair?
he was having problems uh so he had to log out and come back in
i i did my best i was trying as the last case of the day to be nice and quick for you guys
we got support and everything okay he's now connecting
oh there he is okay
did he already ask you about support from um esperanza uh no but i did present that that's
i can actually share it again very quickly uh for you
Do you want me to handle it?
She, okay.
He can't get his audio to work.
I will try.
Can you proceed, please?
Thank you.
So Esperanza has submitted a letter of non -opposition.
councilwoman sanchez letter of non -opposition planning commission uh miss tenary if i could
i was just about to call miss lugo my client to adopt my testimony okay that's great
miss lugo are you there yes can you hear me yes yes we can okay
she has to be sworn in miss tenary
right now i'm in another position do you swear from to tell the whole truth and nothing but the
truth yes okay you may proceed all right miss lugo could you kindly uh spell your name for
the court reporter it's n -e -i -s -h -a and then l -u -g -o okay and miss lugo you are here today
as the property owner correct correct and did you hear all the testimony that i already presented
yes and you believe it to be true and correct to the best of your knowledge
yes and would you adopt it as your own yes and aside from the support of the community
is there anything else that you'd like the board to know
no okay thank you very much uh all yours madam vice chair okay planning commission
Mr. Bednar. This is Ron Bednar, City Planning. I'm sorry. This is Tanya, Madam Vice Chair. If we
could just make a check and see if the audience had any kind of testimony to provide. Sure. And
I'm trying to answer a call from the chair. Is there anyone in the virtual audience who
would like to speak? Yes. No, in two minutes. There are no hands at this time, Madam Vice Chair.
i noticed okay my understanding madam vice chair just for the record was that the councilwoman's
office already submitted a letter and uh miss ketsi lozada the vice president of community
organization um from the rco already submitted a letter of uh support or non -opposition so they
were not going to attend the table does the board have any questions no madam chair no madam chair
no madam chair
calendar number mi
two zero two one we need the planning commission uh planning commission please i oh ron do you know
we need the planning commission
planning commission please
i'm looking at your face and i thought you spoke go ahead uh thank you ron bednar city planning
this property is indicated for residential use on the city plan given the site's physical condition
and its documented use history we have no objections that that's what i thought you were
I'm going to have to vote this case with the
calendar number mi -2021 -004 -013 -3922 north 6th street my vote is yes
thomas holloman my vote is yes james snell my vote is yes
my vote is yes
tanya i apologize for the door barking but someone knocked at the door
no worries if i could ask a question yes and would it be okay to allow mr gabriel to speak
again because we have new information
madam vice chair i believe that my uh my case is done and i will excuse myself if that's
acceptable to you that's great thank you so much thank you i have no control of the door tanya
what was your question no worries um carol um if we could allow mr gabriel to speak again i have
new information okay and what case is that
i can't i know i can't deal with it
hang in there carol you're doing great okay i am so case number three
is gabriel falco we had um continued it but if we can um have him come forward just so i can
explain what happened mr falco please unmute yourself and wait for madam vice chair
okay so that's was that a 330 case um yes the number three case Mr Falco
okay my dog has been so shaken up I know no worries I just wanted to mention to put back
on a record that we have received the required documents from Mr Falco on 216 he forwarded
what he had previously sent however the issue is Ms. Saleta didn't receive it in the right
email box therefore we will have to continue the case and if it's okay with you Mr. Falco I can
squeeze you in for next week at 3 30 if that works for your schedule
If you're there, please unmute yourself.
He's here, but he's muted.
Over towards the bottom left of your screen and click the mute button.
so he um could reach out to me at the um rcozba email box but i apologize for the error on our
part but mr let us still did not receive the documents on the right emails to review prior
to this hearing thank you so much for your allowances mr nary oh thank you and everybody
everybody to the board to everybody else all the guests who came to this party today to listen to
my dog bark i apologize but thank you so much for participating in this meeting i'll see you next
week it's very interesting madam chair madam chair this is tanya may i ask one more question
what's the dog's name no can we just do a final check to make sure we covered all cases for today
Is there anyone in the virtual audience who feels that their case has not been called?
I see no hands at this time, Madam Vice Chair.
Thank you, Yvette.
Is that a wrap, Tanya?
Yes, Madam Vice Chair, that is a wrap.
Thank you.
We'll see you next week.
give that dog a treat carol i will i'm gonna i'll give the dog a union treat
i will i'm gonna i'll give the dog a union treat