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