here is a picture of a neighboring property that is um of similar size and is a multi-unit um property
this pictures of the block with a was showing multiple multiple address
multiple properties are multi-unit on the block
again a neighboring property that's already multi-unit
and another this is property 1241 west tayoga that was granted a permit variant to be considered
multi-unit which is also on the block similar here
this is 1243 45 west tayoga also has a zoning change for it to be multifamily
we held a meeting with the rco
uh at the time there was a different attorney but he helped well he held the meeting with the rco
this is on tayoga improvement yes
this is a copy of the notice of the bookman notices that were mailed out
this is a letter of support from the rco
showing that the vote that seven other there were seven votes yes and no no votes
okay all right so i just have one question uh council um understand that there is a
a proviso that is looking to be enforced um do you all have anywhere where you're going to be
throwing the trash at on this property?
We will.
We have talked about it.
We don't have an exact plan now,
but I think more than likely
we're going to get like some type of
like bin or some of the sort
in the back of the property.
Okay, because this is an enforceable
proviso of no trash
under the front steps
in front of the property.
Understood, Chair.
all right questions from the board no mr vice chairman no vice chair
questions from our attorney hillary emerson i just like quick clarification um mr ukta is
your client in agreement with the proviso suggested by the rco yes okay thank you
any questions from the virtual audience
i see no hands at this time vice chair planning commission sorry excuse me mr vice chair did
mr okta want his client to adopt his testimony i believe he said his client was present in the
i believe he said his client was present in the audience okay yes yes um let me see if if i see her
audience okay yes yes
tanya are you in the are you on the zoom at the moment i know we were talking this
morning i'm not sure she had to hop off tanya jefferson has been okay
tanya could you yes i'm here yes i agree can you please can you please uh for the court reporter
tanya jefferson t-a-m-y-a-j-e-f-f-e-r-s-o-n uh do you swear to tell the truth the whole truth
and nothing but the truth yes i do please proceed counsel hi have you heard my testimony
Yes, all of it.
And you agree that it's true and accurate?
And will you adopt my testimony?
Yes, I will.
Thank you.
All right.
I'm going to move on to the Planning Commission.
Thank you, Vice Chair.
Good morning, David Fechto with the City Planning Commission, Vice Chair and Board Members.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single-family zoning at this location.
In 2015, the city changed the zoning map in this part of the block from commercial mixed use 2 to residential single family 5, in accord with recommendations in the comprehensive plan.
The application for a multifamily dwelling appears to match the character of the block.
The city planning commission recommends the board grant the proposed use variance for three dwelling units.
Thank you.
MI-2023-003682-1215, West Hyelda, my vote is yes, with proviso.
No storage under the front steps.
Thomas Holliman, my vote is yes, with proviso.
James Snell, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Thank you.
Number eight, MI-2023-004870, 5702-04, Chu Avenue, Giuseppe and Adam Marino.
Giuseppe or Adam Marino, please raise your virtual hand.
mr vice chair this is a case for which um we received no exhibits it is the first listing
yeah so we're going to go ahead and continue this case is no one raised their hand
there are no hands up at the side vice chair all right we're going to continue this case
mi-2023-0048705702-04 true avenue this case is being continued
Next case is number nine.
MI-2021-002827,
2132 North Darien Street,
Rachel Prickster is the attorney.
Vice-Chair Rachel Prickster is coming back in as a panelist now.
Good morning, counsel.
Good morning.
Please state your name and spell it for the court recorder.
It's Rachel, R-A-C-H-A-E-L, Pritzker, P-R-I-T-Z-K-E-R.
You swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Can you please tell us about your client?
The client is, I'll just pull up the full name of it, Urban Real Estate LLC, and that's the owner of the property.
All right.
Our board member, Mr. Holloman, has a few questions to ask.
Good morning, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulates to its accuracy?
Did you email all the exhibits and documents as required five days in advance to this hearing?
Yes. Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen. Thank you. I'm going to let the board
know today is my 35th birthday. Oh, happy birthday. Thank you, but I'm glad I get to share it with you
all. I very unsarcastically will tell you are some of my favorite people in the city, so it's a good
way to start my day. Great, great, great. So this is for an erection of an attached structure,
a roof deck and a roof deck access structure for use as a two-family household living.
as a two-family household living. Correct. So my screen, you can see
Correct.
2123 Darien Street. It is a vacant lot. It is on a block that has over 50% of the lots vacant
and in an area that has a lot of vacancy as well.
The property is a middle lot.
And I'm just going to bring up our refusal.
The property is on RM1.
So it is zoned for multifamily.
We generated two refusals.
And as mentioned, we are looking to erect an attached structure,
roof deck, roof tech access structure, and for two units. RM1 has certain dimensional requirements
that doesn't allow for two units on the site, although it is zoned RM1. So we're asking for
some dimensional variances and a use variance to do the two units and also to only provide
five feet for rear yard instead of seven. And as mentioned, this is a small lot. So some of this
is just obviously given the size of the lot and although it is zoned from a use perspective
for RM1. I'm just going to go to the zoning maps. As you can see, all these blocks are RM1
and as mentioned earlier, I think 45 of the lots are vacant land according to Atlas and
And clearly, with the amount of vacancy and not having single-family home development, the lease modification of the code, we believe, is two units, again, still in character with the nature of the block.
And just given the particular nature of this property just being kind of short and squatty, it doesn't allow for two units by right.
So that's what we're here for, in addition to, again, asking for some relief about two feet for a five-foot rear yard instead of a seven-foot rear yard.
just gives the board a good idea area of the sort of vacancy on this block and some of the lack of
development. And again, just asking for two units for a viable project. And again, only dimensionally
asking for the rear yard to be five feet. I'm going to go through the plans. The architect
wasn't able to be here today, but so I'm going to do sort of my best. As you can kind of see,
this is the project on Darien Street. We sort of have set out our project, again, just rear yard
dimensional variance, and then, which I believe is de minimis, just two feet, and then the proposal
for the two units. Every other part of this project is going to be complying with the code as far as
dimensional requirements for height, side yard, and dimensions. And you can kind of see we're
proposing a four-story structure, not to exceed 38 feet in height with a brick facade as well.
I would like to bring on my client, if possible, Salim Payne, while I go through just the RCO
process. We met with APM, and they offered us a letter of support, which I will bring up here
of the zoning posters, just also shows some of the conditions of the site. So development will
definitely add to the neighborhood, help bring some revitalization, eyes on the street on this
block in particular. And our design is sort of in character with the adjacent buildings that
do have structures on them. Here's proof of mailing. This was the letter from APM. We met
them back in October and they submitted, as you can see, support for our application.
Okay, let's get your client on if we can. Yeah, is there a Salim Payne in the audience?
Salim Payne, if you're in the audience, please raise your virtual hand.
I see no one by that name, Vice Chair.
You and I, we can accept your testimony.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Vice Chairman.
No, Vice Chair.
Any questions from our board attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Vice Chair, but happy birthday, Rachel.
Thank you.
Any questions from the virtual audience?
i see no hands at this time vice chair planning commission thank you vice chair
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Vice Chair, and good morning, David Fecta.
and good morning david vecto with the city planning
With the City Planning Commission, Vice Chairman and Board Members, the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning its location from residential multifamily to residential single family.
This neighborhood still carries its original 1933 zoning.
This is a 558-square-foot lot.
We would argue that this small lot size presents a clear hardship requiring the proposed variance for rear yard depth, and the large number of vacant lots makes judging the character of this block very difficult.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the proposed dimensional variances for lot area and rear yard depth.
Thank you.
uh mi-2021-002827 2132 north darien street my vote is yes thomas holloman my vote is yes
james snell my vote is yes thank you birthday thank you
uh number 12 mi-2023-005627 uh 2856 south sydenham street
uh attorney henry clinton henry clinton is coming back in as a panelist now vice chair thank you
good morning mr vice chair good morning council how are you good doing well please state your
name and spell it for the court reporter sure henry clinton h-e-n-r-y clinton c-l-i-n-t-o-n
you swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i know uh can you please
uh let us know your relationship to the client sure the client is francis f-r-a-n-c-e-s
janelli j-a-n-e-l-l-i she is the owner of the property and she is on the call thank you um
our board member uh mr holliman has a few questions to ask good morning counsel do you
agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy i do mr holliman did
you email all the exhibits and documents as required five days in advance to this hearing
i did except recently within the last couple days i sent in the tax information from revenue
thank you please proceed and share your screen thank you mr halliman
is that visible mr shahid yes it is all right again good morning mr vice chair members of
the board i'm here on behalf of francis janelli concerning 2856 south sydenham street this is the
table of contents containing exhibits A1 through A10, which I will walk through for the board.
First is a refusal. This is a single-family district, and we're asking to put a third
floor on the property. Ms. Janelli has owned the property since 2008. She's married. She has two
children. She wants to keep the house, remain in the neighborhood. Her family is all in South
Philadelphia, many within walking distance. And as you've seen in other neighborhoods in the city,
typically in Point Breeze and Graduate Hospital, there is a move afoot to put thorough stories on
some of these smaller homes in the neighborhood because people like the blocks they live on,
they like the neighborhood they live in, and they want to stay in the city of Philadelphia.
So that's the background. The refusal, there's two refusals. The first one
concerns the open air occupied area of the property and you'll see when I show you the
site plan that we're really not shrinking the rear yard. What we're doing, we're cantilevering
a little bit on the upper floors and when you cantilever and the zoning examiner looks at the
code, that's considered a shrinking of the rear yard but in actuality we're really not shrinking
the rear yard. So the real issue today is we have two-story homes on either side of the property,
and we're asking to put a third story on an existing two-story. And you'll see later,
in addition to the support of the RCO Broad Street West, which was five to zero, we also
had the support and we have a signed petition from neighbors on either side.
So, Ms. Gianelli went to the neighbors, talked to both neighbors on either side, and neither one of them have any issue with the property.
This is the letter of explanation from the RCO indicating that the third story would be permissible.
These are letters, excuse me, petition of support.
And you can see we are 2856, and you can see 2854 and 2858.
Both are in support of this third floor addition.
In fact, you know, as an aside, during the meeting, there was one person at the meeting who asked for the name of the architect because he's interested in putting a third floor on his home.
asked for the name of the architect because he's interested in putting a third floor
on his home. So this is an area of photograph, just to give you some perspective. At the bottom
of the screen, where my cursor is, that's 15th Street, and you can see other people in the
neighborhood have put third stories on their homes where my cursor is. Sydenham is one street
west of 15th. It's a little bit wider than some of the streets in Graduate Hospital and Point
Breeze, like Pemberton and Cater Street. This street doesn't have parking on the sidewalk.
People were able to park right on the block. And I'm showing you the rear of the property just to
show you that people have attempted to extend the rear of their property. We're only extending the
rear by three feet, not impacting the rear yard, and we're going up one story. This is the front
of their home now. The idea is to put a third floor on and we're going to try to match the