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