Sometimes I'll just touch it, but it's not coming off what she said. Yeah, we just need to get something off the screen. We're trying to get something off the screen.
Oh, here comes Bill. Here comes Ian. I got a whole team here now.
This one?
Yeah, we get that over here.
Oh, yeah. Look at that. Look at that.
How many people in the audience?
we ready to go
good morning everyone my name is Bill Bergman I'll be chairing this
today's meeting of the philadelphia zoning board of adjustment with me is our vice chair tenetta
graham president mr chairman our board secretary charlotte gaston president mr chairman board
member michael johns president mr chairman board member tya win she will be here any minute and
our board member ryan mcshane mcadams president mr chairman also present is our board attorney
Hillary Emerson, our ZBA director, Ian Haggerty, and our board administrator. I'm sorry, Lakeisha's
not here tonight. The hearing is being recorded and will be posted on the ZBA website. By
participating, you agree to be recorded. This is an in-person meeting with remote participation.
whether in person or remote if you're called to speak please state and spell your name
and then wait to be sworn in after you've been sworn in you you will then go on to testify
to enter an appearance indicate the the property address on your zoom form speak to a staff member
Call the ZBA office by close of business tomorrow.
Call 215-686-2429.
Also provide your name, your email, and the case address.
Remote participation.
Raise your virtual hand when directed so that we can call on you to speak.
when you are called upon make sure you click the join as a panelist button
use the q a for procedural questions only do not mention the case if you are if you join by phone
press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute for in-person attendance if testifying
get close to the mic so that all attendees and the court reporter can hear you. No talking,
eating, or drinking during the hearings. Aggressive behavior will not be tolerated.
In an emergency, file staff directions. The main exit is through the doors in the rear.
The nearest stairwell is to the left. If there is an evacuation, go to Love Park,
which is across Art Street. Please remain there so that we can account for you.
So let's look at our schedule for this morning.
Number two, MI 2025, 000532, 1710 West Hunting Park Street.
The owner is Vivian Roney.
Chair, I see no hands at the sign.
This is the third listing.
So MI 2025-000-532-1710 West Huntington Street.
I vote to dismiss.
I vote to dismiss.
Michael Johns, I vote to dismiss.
Michael Johns, I vote to dismiss.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is to dismiss.
Tana Graham, my vote is to dismiss.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is to dismiss.
Tanya Wayne, my vote is to dismiss.
Thank you.
Number three, MI2025-000822-3029 North Stillman Street.
um the mal philip philippin is the listed llc also the listener owner is uh tanisha
brum brumskill yeah mr jerry i just wanted to clarify for the record females flipping llc
is the listed owner um and then yeah we have an applicant by the name of tanisha brumskill doing
business as perfect touch renovations llc okay is there anyone present this is the second listing
no exhibits chair there are no hands at this so number three mi 2025 000 822 3029 north stillman
street i vote to dismiss michael johns i vote to dismiss cheryl gaston my vote is to dismiss
it's another gram i vote to dismiss ryan mcadams my vote is to dismiss i win my vote is to dismiss
number four mi 2025 004 316 2608 swain street michael feeney is the listed owner
megan shannon is the listed applicant
chair i'll see no hands at this time um for me
so mi2025-004-1316-2608 swain street this case is continued
9 2 20 26 at 9 30 a.m
and mr chair to clarify for the record on that yeah sorry on that case um we we've received an
indication from the applicant that they wish to withdraw but we haven't received the formal
withdrawal paperwork yet all right we're waiting for a formal withdrawal okay number
number five
MI 2025
189 West Duncannon Street
that case is continued until
9-2-26
at 9.30 a.m.
number
number six mi2025 zero zero four six two one thirty seven twelve north 15th street um
this we're going to continue this one am i correct hillary um so with with this one we
have the martinez property group llc as a listed owner um eb reyes is the listed applicant um we
received a request for a draw back in march we instructed on how to okay formally file but we
did not receive the required paperwork so it can be dismissed and my 2025 zero zero four
621-3712 north 15th street i vote to dismiss michael johns my vote is to dismiss
cheryl gaston my vote is to dismiss tenetta graham my vote is to dismiss ryan mcadams my
My vote is to dismiss.
I am Wayne.
My vote is to dismiss.
Number 9, MI 2025-007-285-821-25, 13th Street, North 13th Street.
This case is continued until 9-2-26 at 9.30 a.m.
Number 10, MI 2025-007-340-621 South 60th Street.
This case is continuing until 9-2-2026 at 9.30 a.m.
2026 at 9 30 a.m and number 11 mi 2025 007 351 4243 uh chippewa
And number 11, MI.
avenue this case is continued until 95 2025 at 9 30 a.m
Just for the record, Chair, I believe that continuing state is 9-2-2026 at 9.30 a.m.
Did I say 9-2?
I'm sorry.
Number 14.
MI-2025-007-382-1817, Master Street, KKG-1-LLC is the listed owner, no exhibits, this is the first listing.
i see no hands at this time chair so mi 2025 007 384 1817 new kirk street this case is continued
to 9 to 2026 at 9 30 a.m mark must be heard just sorry mr just to clarify that's mi dash
twenty twenty five zero zero seven three eight two eighteen seventeen master street thank you
and yeah continued must be heard i think i said that but okay thank you and number
sixteen mi twenty twenty five zero zero seven three eight four seventy four eleven
tarsdale avenue first listing no exhibits sang and angie marie charles are the owners
i see no hands at this time here so mi2025 007 384 7411 tarsdale avenue this case is continued to
9-2-2026 at 9 30 a.m and mark must be heard are there any other requests for continuance
i see no hands at this time chair let's go to our add-on list number one mi 2025
five zero zero two eight two one twenty two twenty six west tioga street this case has been
rescheduled to wednesday june 3rd at 9 30 a.m number two i'm sorry a hand just went up from
oliver martinez okay mr martinez's case will be called shortly okay
Number two, MI 2026-002-424-2224 West Tioga Street.
This case has been rescheduled to June 3rd, 2026 at 9.30 a.m.
number three mi 2025 006 750 6151 market street i vote yes michael johns my vote is yes
cheryl gaston my vote is yes tenetta graham my vote is yes i mcadams my vote is yes
my vote is yes number four mi2025-003-279-2519 north 7th street i vote no
michael johns my vote is no cheryl gaston my vote is no
ryan mcadams my vote is no hi i win my vote is no
vote the next one we're going to vote number five and six together number five is mi 2025
005 709 102 west duval street and number six is mi 2025 005 712 100 west duval street
I vote yes to both with proviso revised plans one page stamped by ZBA on March 20th 2026
Michael Johns my vote is yes to both with proviso and Mr. Johns can you just certify please thank
you oh yes and I certify that I read the transcripts for both a 102 West Duval and
and 100 West Duvall.
Cheryl Gaston. I hereby certify that I reviewed the transcripts from the January 13th, 2021, and the September 28th, 2022 hearings before the ZBA in this matter, and I vote yes with provisals.
So, Gaston, I...
I, Ryan McAdams, certify that I reviewed the transcripts from January 13th, 2021 and September 28th, 2022 hearings before the ZBA in this matter. And my vote is yes with proviso.
Sorry, just to clarify, Board Member Gassner is yes to both?
Yes, to both.
To myself, yes to both.
All right, thank you.
Is that it?
Okay. All right. Our first case is going to be number 15.
Hold on. Do I get the wrong?
Yep. Number 15.
there it is
mi 2025 007 383 4401 compman street joseph consul is the attorney
mr consul could you please stay your name and spell for the sonographer
Thank you. It's J-O-S-E-P-H, last name Consul, C-O-N-S-O-L-E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, your relationship to this property?
Yeah, my client is Ms. Lisa Smith, and she is with me virtually.
Okay. Our vice chair has a few questions for you. Good morning. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing? I did. And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? I do. All right. Thank you. You can share your screen and proceed. Thanks. Okay. My screen's up. We're here about 4401 Cotman Avenue. I'm Joseph Consul. My client is the ground floor commercial tenant, Lisa Smith.
uh she is seeking to get approval for a child care center within uh this existing attached
structure um we included in our packet the deed showing the ownership by um zaodang chen the
lease between my client and zaodang valid tax clearance certificate and the other mandatory
proofs of notification and posting as you can see the property is zoned rsa5 we have one use refusal
here for um the uh use of a child care center on the ground floor there's no exterior signage as
part of this application uh we believe there's a proof of mailing
here's photos of the property we believe that this is an appropriate property for approval of
of this variance because while it's zoned RSA 5, the reality of this ground floor space
is that for decades it functioned as a neighborhood bar known as McGeehan's Rock Bottom.
The space is permanently built out as a commercial storefront with separate commercial utility
meters forcing the property owner or a tenant to convert this tavern into a purely residential
single family living space would be unnecessary and i believe in qualify as a hardship uh instead
of a late night commercial tap room my client's proposing to utilize this space as a daytime only
community service which is a high quality child care and after school program as she will testify
to she has many years experience in daycare and i believe what she's trying to do will
be appropriate for this location. This is the exterior photos.
That's what the property looks like on the inside now. She's got a traffic plan. She plans to,
instead of using Cotman Avenue, which is, as everyone knows, a fairly highly trafficked
commercial corridor, drop off and pick up will be handled on Cottage Street. That's where the
The daycare entrance is that you can see there's also a second entrance in the back that leads to the back of the property in the alleyway.
So we've got hours of operation 6am to 6pm.
She anticipates it being a maximum of 20 to 25 children, though it will depend on the measurements of the space and what she's able to do under Pennsylvania code, which she'll she'll get there when when she gets there, and she anticipates employing
And she anticipates employing five, up to five staff members, likely four to five, during the opening hours of the space.
five, up to five staff members, likely four.
The lease itself limits her to operating between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., so not that she intends to go any further than the 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. that she talked about.
I'm sorry, it's quiet hours from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. with an approval to be a daycare from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
My client's got a commercial activity license. However, her application with the PA Department of Human Services is actively in progress.
We met with the Holmesburg Civic Association at their community meeting on March 12, 2026.
We got an email from the president stating that he does not oppose the project.
There was some personal information in that email regarding his inability to write a letter.
i don't want to share that although i believe we did put it in our packet um and hopefully someone
saw that um but they they specifically noted they do not oppose uh this variance um so uh we believe
that this is recognized by the community as a potential positive use and uh an upgrade over
the previous uses in this space and uh with that i'll ask my client to raise your client's name
my client's name is lisa smith your client's name lisa smith lisa smith please
they're promoted to panelists thank you
yes good morning ms smith good morning all right um could you state your name and spell
for the stenographer yes lisa smith l-i-s-a last name s-m-i-t-h you swear or affirm to tell the
truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do counsel uh good morning miss smith did you
good morning did you hear my testimony just now regarding your lease at 4401 cotman yes do you
adopt it as your own yes would you just very briefly give a little bit of background on
your child care sort of history yes I'm coming out of school during high school
I took up the daycare inside the high inside my high school I went to William
Penn High and coming out of there I was working at different daycares one was
called Mary's Love Kingdom one was called J&H and one was called Little Mamas and
And from there, I kept saying to myself, oh, I'm going to have my own daycare one day.
I'm going to get my own daycare.
You know, kids love me.
And I'm going to get my own daycare.
And Chicken got married.
And during the time I got married, I had a husband.
He wasn't, like, with me on getting my business started and everything.
It was just a lot of chaos.
But, you know, that passed away.
So now here I am up and trying to do it now.
trying to make the kids you know you know bringing people that need help um you know to watch their
kids to teach them you know uh teach them and and let them learn different things that you know
other people you know may not be able to teach them so i'm trying to step in there and do these
things for them and let you know let their parents work and make sure they are safe and just give them
some activities to do and things to to learn and take them different places you know where they can
have fun because a lot of kids out here is not having fun they're in the house you know playing
games and on the tv and on the um tiktoks and all like that kind of stuff like i'm trying to you
know teach some other things you know when i was growing up i didn't have tiktok and tv and phones
and stuff you know so i want them to know things where when they get out here in the world that
they'll be able to say okay i'm gonna go to school and beat us i'm gonna go to school and do this
all right thank you lisa joe is it currently operated as a it's not lisa can you can you
confirm it's not currently operating no it's not currently operated all right all right questions
from the board yeah i just have a question what um what do you do for outdoor space for the young
people um i'm putting the outdoor space uh going to be in the back i'm gonna get a yard you know
fenced off in the back I don't know a good way to show that right now so your
plan is to upgrade the rear exit of the space to yeah and yes in the back of my
arm because the landlord she did give me the permission to put a gate make a
little play you know like not saying playground but a little place space
because there's a school up the street to a playground you know welcome take
them back and forth to the playground and then there's also a crossing guard you know that sits
out there in the morning time and her name is terry
in the morning time and her name is terry other questions uh-huh okay um yes um so uh
uh i think i heard there would be maybe 25 children yeah i really don't know the you know
right okay we understand okay but but that's kind of the plan so what ages are we talking about
um from from the babies like six months to like five year olds and you know when it's time for
them to go to school i'll give them a little graduation and send them on to kindergarten
okay and then this is all on one floor yes okay um and so uh the space there's a bathroom i'm not
seeing yeah actually it's a couple of bathrooms yeah we have the one here okay perfect all right
and you said like five staff members yes all right and uh they're going to be there all day
yes all right and uh you do have all the fire equipment like yes yes the provisions are pretty
stringent for daycare. Yes. And child care centers. Okay. So you have like the two means of ingress
and egress. You have the hardwired smoke detection systems, the emergency lighting,
the strobes so that, you know. Yes. Sometimes depending on the number of kids, they ask you
to have, you know, extra means of ingress and egress for those that are not capable of self
preservation. So I just bring that up as, you know, safety features that we've thought about.
Okay. Thank you. Other questions? Questions from our attorney, Hilary Emerson.
Not at this time, Mr. Chair. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
There are no hands at this time, Chair. Any commission?
thank you chairman and good morning David Vecto f-e-c-t-e-a-u with the city planning
commission do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes sir I do please proceed sir thank you sir uh chairman and board members the comprehensive plan
recommends no change to the RSA 5 residential single family zoning at this location the city
rezoned this neighborhood in 1979 and a council supported map change this property has a documented
history of brown floor commercial use child care centers are designated for 13 children or more
planning commission staff do not believe that with a bus stop at the corner in front of this
property pick up and drop off for 13 or more children can be done without causing congestion
and interfering with septus operations the city planning commission recommends the board
deny the proposed use variance for a child care center
mr council you have any comments um we don't plan to use cotman avenue uh cottage street which is
where the entrance and exit is um my client's confirmed is appropriate and perhaps my client
lisa could you address the the planning commission's comments regarding pickup and drop off
yes um there's no interest way on um cotman street so we will be using cottage street
okay all right so mi 2025 007 383 4401 cotman avenue i vote yes with proviso use limited to ground floor
michael johns my vote is yes with proviso
cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso
tenetta graham my vote is yes with proviso ryan mcadams my vote is yes with proviso
hi owen my vote is yes with proviso see you at the end of the day let's see you at six o'clock
13 mi 2025 007 374 1452 north 29th street oliver martin is the owner
they're being promoted to panelists
can you guys see and hear me okay i can could you please state your name and spell for the
stenographer my name is oliver martinez o-l-i-v-e-r-m-a-r-t-i-n easy do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes this application is for the use
this application is for the use as a multiple family household living uh dwelling
as a multiple family household living.
in an stick and an existing structure whereas the uh the proposed use in an rsa
five uh zoning district is not uh appropriate our vice chair has a few questions for you
good morning um have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing
yes okay and the chair read your refusal so did you uh waive the reading of uh further
reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy yes okay all right thank you
you can share your screen and proceed with your case
you guys see my screen we can sir okay so first i want to start off by saying good morning
i am the owner and applicant for 1452 north 29th street and i'm representing myself today
thank you for your time i'm 25 years old i bought this property when i was 24 this is the first
home i've ever owned i want to be up front i'm here without an attorney so i'm going to try my
best to be clear and honest with the board about my situation i'm requesting use variance to allow
three-unit residential use at my property and i want to say clearly i'm not proposing any new
construction no new units no additions no changes to the building it already exists as three separate
units i'm just asking the board to formally recognize that as you can see on this page
right now no construction no structural changes existing three unit configuration nothing new
being introduced. When I was looking to buy, my real estate agent brought me this property
specifically as a three-family opportunity. She told me it was a deal I couldn't pass up on and
really pushed me to buy it. The seller had it listed as a three-family. The seller's agent
presented it as a three-family. My loan officer that handled my FHA mortgage, treating this as a
multi-unit income property. And the home inspector who went through the building wrote in his report
three family slash three flat. And then there's the appraisal, which also says this. Because I
use an FHA loan to make required a completely independent licensed appraiser, someone I didn't
choose, someone with no stake in a sale to assess this property. And the form that the appraiser
uses is specifically the federal government's form. And this identifies it as a three family
slash three flat all three units individually on the floor pan labeled unit one unit two and unit
three so between my agent the seller the seller's agent my loan officer the inspector and a federally
required independent appraiser every single person involved in this transaction told me the same
thing this building is a triplex i had every reason in the world to believe him but after i closed when
i tried to get the rental license i found that that the zoning record didn't reflect three units
and at that moment um i didn't sit on it i filed with the lni right away when i was refused i
followed this appeal went through the rco process um put this together and now i'm here
so why don't you show us the property why don't you show us the property we have yeah
so this is the front of the yeah to use them in here there's three mailboxes
which still receive mail to this day unit one is on the first floor unit two is on the second floor
unit three is on the third floor i live on on the third floor this is the view from both sides of
the street this is the first floor unit living room kitchen bathroom bedroom one bedroom two
in the backyard
you need to
visit the entrance, go up some steps
living room, kitchen
bathroom, bedroom one
bedroom two
third floor, living room
kitchen, bathroom
bedroom one and bedroom two
now I want to
go through the RCO
documentation
so the community voted six to three in support of this application i appreciate that majority
vote and i take the concerns of those who voted against me seriously city records also show a
prior zba history at this property that recognize it as a three family which seems to be consistent
with everything else in this record one more thing i mentioned briefly before i live in this
building, third floor, unit three. This is where I come home every night. I share the stairwell
with the front door and everyone else in the building with the neighbors around me. I'm not
an outside investor who bought this and walked away. I'm there every day, so I have every
reason um to run this property the right way and if the board were to deny this there would be real
reason to run this property the right way.
hardship you know converting a building with three separate electrical systems three water heaters
three kitchens three bathrooms back to a single family would mean gutting it out um and financial
hardship as well i'm 25 and i have an fha mortgage i bought this as a three unit income property
because that's what every professional told me it was um so without the rental income from the
other units it would be definitely difficult for me mr martinez is the threat there the remainder
of the block are there other multiple units on the block yeah so i want to show that here as well
so um the following photographs here show mixed-use properties in the immediate vicinity
right next to me is a laundromat laundromat on the first floor two apartments on the second and third
across the street is a daycare, daycare on the first floor, residential units above.
Right across that street, diagonal from me, is a corner store with residential units above.
And there are also eight examples of triplexes, or at least advertiser triplexes nearby.
You can see here.
So these examples, you know, further demonstrate that the three-unit multi-presidential
seems to be an already established component of the surrounding neighborhood and residential
density. So again, just want to emphasize that no new construction, no building expansion,
no additional units, no increase in occupancy beyond the already existing long-standing
condition and this has operated as a triplex for as long as i know um i still receive mail
from all three mailboxes for the previous tenants questions from the board um yeah yes so go ahead
i'm sorry my question is about about trash and um is it your plan to have it stored um
in the in the front and the rear or what do you plan to have trash storage okay so
I have pictures here of on the three units the three electric panels for each
of the units and then the way trash is stored on the same street as me all the
way up the block and all surrounding streets they leave the trash cans out
front just like this so this is how I've been doing it as well and and that's can
be problematic in neighborhoods because of trash and all the other rodents that it can kind of
bring. Is there any space in the apartments to have some interior trash storage for the second
and third floor unit and that the first floor can like have rear trash storage? The first floor can
store their trash in the back if they'd like to, but no space inside the unit consistent with the
way everyone else on the block um and other surrounding streets and blocks store their
trash is right off front um same way i do so i have i have four trash cans so one for each
unit and then an extra one in case it fills up i guess the question is are you opposed to uh
having trash stored inside for the units above i know what they're doing around the neighborhood
but that's that's one of the things that's really has made the city look uh pretty bad
with trash cans around you know sitting in front of units all around the city so
do you have an issue with okay no I do not no opposition to it okay what's
what's happening in the basement the basement is just utility nothing in there
other than the three water heaters and three electrical panels and it's a
private entrance I keep the door locked or four meters or yes three and then one
for the common area yeah so so four and then three water heaters sorry thank you
and the uh the first floor unit is it a two bedroom or one bedroom and do you have to go
through the bedroom to get to the backyard yes they're all they're all two two bed oh you got
floor you've got floor plans you've got floor plans yeah and then yes you do have to go through the
master bedroom to to go to the backyard i watch i watch some recordings and i see that um you
often have you know a little bit of a problem with that but um that was how i bought it unfortunately
but um yeah they're all really big bedrooms um they're not small bedrooms a lot of air uh space
in the living rooms and kitchens as well but yes you do have to go to the master bedroom to get to
the backyard other questions what's going on with the separation between the second floor and the
third floor how do you get to the third floor apartment um so when you walk up just so when
you open the front door right to the left is the first floor you walk up the stairs to the second
right to the left is the first floor you walk up the stairs to the second floor and that the second
floor and that
floor um first the second floor entrance is right there at the end of the steps and then you just
turn around and there's a very small like one step to get up to the third floor which is my apartment
so my door kind of faces theirs um but you know three separate entrances so you enter your unit
on the second floor there's a there's a door so yeah when i opened it when i opened the door to
my to my third floor apartment there's another full flight of steps to go up to the apartment
yeah unfortunately this plan doesn't match what's there yeah um because i i bought the property um
i didn't build anything i tried my best to to to you know make out floor plans to the best of my
It's a little bit difficult without having the original floor pans, but I tried my best here.
Other questions?
Wait, I understand that.
I understand that you tried your best, but like right now, how you get into your first, how do you, where do you enter into the first floor unit?
Because you're not coming up off the steps, right?
The steps are all the way to the right and you have to have a common hallway.
so yeah so how do you when you enter this this door right to the left is the first is the first
door so go back to your plans and because you're showing the kitchen there you're showing the
kitchen wall so like where where are you entering into the kitchen yeah um this is the first floor
unit that's the front door here so as soon as you walk in that's the living room in the kitchen
this is the front door to the entrance to the yeah forget those plans they make no sense they
have nothing to do with what reality is right so it's better to you know be going to look look at
the look at the um the pictures and then is this the only bathroom on that floor
yeah one one one bathroom per unit
that's a very tight bathroom i don't even think a human like most people can't fit into that first
shower so but all right other questions can we yeah can we see the other floors here the pictures
not so fast can we go back okay yeah yeah this is this is this is the entrance okay
bathroom bathroom living area different angle first bedroom second bedroom so it's two bedrooms
per floor yes and then this is the backyard okay second reunion you walk up the stairs this is the
door this is the living room and the kitchen if you see this this hallway that's a hallway
from the entrance so you walk in here walk up this way instead of walking straight you can walk
into this first bedroom this is the bathroom first bedroom second bedroom okay third floor
there's a hallway here too so there's some steps you walk up walk through the hallway
living room this is where i live kitchen bathroom and the two bedrooms
okay all right yeah thank you questions from our attorney
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
no hands at this time chair any commission
thank you chairman and good morning David Vecto with the city planning commission
chairman of board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA 5 residential
single-family zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 2014 in
accord with recommendations in the comprehensive plan at that time this block face was zoned RM1
one residential multi-family the city granted a use permit for two dwelling units in 2011.
the appellant is seeking to legalize an unlicensed third unit if the property was still zoned RM1
their lot would be 10 square feet shy of allowing the third unit this is de minimis the City Planning
Commission recommends the board grant a proposed use variance for a third dwelling unit
and my 2025 007 374 1452 north 29th street i vote yes with proviso second and third floor
trash to be stored inside michael johns my vote is a yes with proviso
michael johns my vote is a yes with proviso
cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso tenetta graham my vote is yes with proviso
ryan mcadams my vote is yes with proviso hi i went my vote is yes with proviso
thank you you you have your vote sir all right thank you so much sure yep you did good all
with those four plans thank you tried my best i did notice he studied the films too before he
did a good job all right thank you guys so much all right number seven mi 2025 004 811
5149 brown street brian
britney hoggins is the owner applicant
um unanimous support from mill creek
advisories
good morning is that one mike one
hey how are you oh good morning morning could you please state your name and spell it for
the stenographer b-r-i-t-t-a-n-y h-o-g-a-n-s do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth nothing but the truth um this is the reporter pardon me chair could i ask the
witness to pull the microphone closer here you go try it now do i sound better now yeah okay
Okay, why don't you state your name one more time? Brittany Hogan, B-R-I-T-T-A-N-Y. And do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes. And I notice here that there's unanimous support from Mill Creek for you, and our vice chair has a couple questions for you, okay? Okay, thank you. Good morning. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing? Yes, ma'am.
Thank you. And your refusal is for multifamily living in an existing structure.
Do you waive the reason of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, ma'am. Okay. You can share your screen and proceed with the case.
hi how are you my name is brittany hogan's i live at 5149 brown street this home was inherited
it from my mom. She passed away in 2013 and I have been doing my best to maintain it since.
Over time I have wanted to grow and learn and realize that it might be best to renovate this
home and I decided to come to you guys to see if I could renovate it into a triplex.
I did meet with the RCO, we did have a unanimous decision to move forward, they did ask to
see what the utility boxes would look like on the side of the home as opposed to having
them in a way so that you had to go to two different apartments to see them so we when the
plans we did put them on the side of the home so why don't we do this why don't we um why don't you
just start with your plans and then go to the photos because we have every piece of paperwork
for you so start with that and and I understand the whole issue with the side with the utility
but why don't you show us what the building is what you want to do your plans and then photos
of what it is now okay sure okay so that's its location yes this is the front of the home
it's a two-story it's a two-story home yes and you won three units correct
one in the basement one on the first floor and one on the top floor okay
This is just the full side, proposing what we would do with the bed differently here
as opposed to what it is now.
This is what the home currently looks like, the 4 p.m.
And this is the proposed war plan.
Can we make it a little bigger? Larger. Yeah, a little larger so we can see. Yeah. Yeah, we want to see it. Okay. That's better.
Can we make it a little bigger?
Larger.
Yeah, a little larger.
Why don't you move it up so we can see the basement? Can you just move that up? You go.
So the entrance is in the front there in the basement? Is that what I'm saying?
It would be in the front.
So you step down and go into the basement?
Yes, you'll go right into the basement from the street.
All right, questions from the board.
What is your trash plan for three units for the three units?
My trash plan would be on a picture of...
You're moving away from the mic.
Okay, I'm sorry.
No, okay.
My trash plan would be on the side of the home.
And I want to pull this up so I can show you guys.
So this area is gated.
So we could put the trash, we could all put the trash on the side here or directly on
the side of the home because it's elevated up, it's not on the street.
And are there any other triplexes on the block that you know of?
my the property adjacent to me
that's right next door to you this is the property adjacent to me it's a try it's
a duplex and they this part i believe is made for zone for storage they uh dug this part up
like so that's where the
idea came from
for me so this is the house next door to me
so you'll be doing the same then
you got to dig that front up and put
an entrance in there for the basement
that's right
other questions
yeah I guess a couple comments
the basement
unit doesn't work, right? There's no natural ventilation or windows. And if you are going
to put bedrooms down there and have egress wells, that was a good picture you showed
of the side breezeway. Because if you put bedrooms down and you have to put egress wells,
you will have no room to walk on your property and get from the backyard to the front yard
because the window wells have to be three foot deep
and you appear to have only about three feet.
So there's no way you could really access through that area.
So I think it's problematic to try to do
a living in the basement for this house.
How's your observations?
Yeah, I was going to say the same
because right now the trash plan would also be to keep the trash cans on that same walkway
and that is as soon as you do the egress wells for the basement and it's still going to be very
dark down there because just to clarify though, your breezeway is elevated, right?
It's sort of in line with the porch because you have to walk upstairs to get to that breezeway
where the trash would be stored correct correct it doesn't have to be on the um
in the actual area i'm gonna i'm gonna share again so i can show you
what i mean and then is there is there a shared alleyway between you and the houses at the rear
the houses at the back no no so there's no way like you couldn't
pull the trash cans around to the front.
You'd have to bring them down the steps.
Yes, you'd have to bring the trash can down the steps.
Other questions?
Questions or comments from our attorney?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
No hands at this time.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chairman, and good morning.
David Fecto with the City Planning Commission.
chairman of board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa 5 residential
single family zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 1969 and a council
supported map change there is no unique physical condition or circumstance of this property that
there is no unique physical condition or circumstance of this property that would
and prevent it from being used in control.
prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code this is a majority single family
block base the city planning commission recommends the board deny the proposed use variance for three
dwelling units in my 2025 004 811 5149 brown street i vote yes with proviso maximum two units
no household living in basement michael johns my vote is yes with proviso
cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso tenetta graham my vote is yes with proviso
ryan mcadams my vote is yes with proviso i am when my vote is yes with proviso thank you thank you
Number one, MI 2024-001-949-2900 Steiner Avenue.
Devin Upta is the attorney.
They're being promoted to panelist.
Thank you.
hello can you hear me i can counsel could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes um i apologize i thought i wasn't going to be called to 10 54 based on the email received
are you able to go to the next case and then come back to me um we we can do that okay thank you i
appreciate it number eight
number eight
MI 2025
829 Brown Street
Vern Anastasio is the attorney
Brooklyn Street
828 Brooklyn Street
Vern Anastasio is the attorney
they're being promoted to panelists here
morning mr chair good morning counsel could you please state your name and spell for this
Yes, it's Verne Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O, on behalf of FOAC Investments and Herbert Blackwood.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I see you have a letter of support from West Belmont Civic Association, or vice chair has a few questions.
Thank you.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
I have.
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
All right, thank you.
You can show your screen and proceed with the case.
Thank you.
First, I'm going to share this photo, aerial photo, apologize for being a little blurry.
This property is a currently boarded up property here.
On this side of the street, we've count currently five vacant lots.
It's a significant historical disinvestment on this block.
There is new construction here on the opposite side of the block on multifamily.
This block was originally and historically an RM1 block, Zone of Residential Multifamily.
I'm going to pull up the rest of my exhibit binder.
In fact, when my client purchased the property in middle of 2022, he purchased it as an RM1 lot
and had every intention of putting a duplex here. So he engaged in an engineer, he engaged in an
architect, and he began the process. And then sometime in 2023, the zoning changed. We're here
because my client, of course, was not responsible for that change in classification,
and he would like to pursue the two-family dwelling.
After meeting with the RCO and the neighbors, several things came out.
A, that side of the block has experienced major disinvestment.
B, there are already properties on the block that have been converted to two-family dwellings.
And C, there's new construction that is multifamily right down the block.
This is the rendering of what we're looking to do.
This is the rendering of what we're looking to do.
Let's take a look at the interior.
Let's take
Here's the letter that went out to.
Here we are.
Apologies.
Start with the interior layouts.
Here's the first floor.
We have a living room.
Here's unit one.
Open concept living room and kitchen, dining, full bath.
There is a bedroom in the rear currently.
with access to the rear yard of the basement would have access wells to
additional bedrooms and a full bath with mechanicals and laundry then the top two
floors would be again large living open area space open concept with a rear
bedroom and the top floor being the primary with a suite linen closet walk-in closet additional
laundry and mechanicals no roof deck it's as i said that currently the property is uh has been
abandoned for boarded up for quite some time and my client would like to get in the process of
rehabbing it. This is the letter that went out to all individual households. 202 households were
mailed, as you say, as you've already put on the record and we've already submitted a letter of
non-opposition from the RCO, given the conditions of the block and other factors, including but not
limited to the fact that my client purchased this as an RM1 lot, had every intention and began
investing in and as an or in one or in one lot and was surprised to find out that he could no longer
have the duplex that he had planned with that i'd like to call miss lorraine davidson she's also a
member of foac investment to adopt my testimony and then i'll also have chris kartikoff available
he is the architect in the event the board has any questions about design thank you lorraine
davidson yeah trash storage will be exclusively interior to both of the units there'll be of
course safety lighting and camera on the exterior and uh front and rear
they're being promoted to panel thank you
hello hi could you please state your name and spell before the stenographer hi my name is
Lorraine Davidson. And spell it, please. L-O-R-R-A-I-N-E-D-A-V-I-D-S-O-N. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Counsel? Thank you, Mr. Chair. Ms. Davidson, did you hear my representations today? Yes, I did. Are they true and accurate to the best of your knowledge? Yes, they are. And you adopt it as your own testimony? Yes. Thank you. Nothing further from Ms. Davidson. I do ask that the board
uh promote mr chris kartikoff um as a panelist in the event there's any questions regarding
design thank you they declined a request
okay um can we try one more time please maybe he was confused
they've required they declined the request so why don't we start vernon and if we need it
we'll come back and try to yeah that's fine thank you all right questions from the board
Yeah. What's the depth of the basement below grade?
This is why I would like to have the architect here to discuss this.
Do you have the section or the elevation?
Let me take a look.
They accepted the request. They're being promoted.
Could you please state your name, sir?
Six feet under, Mike.
Six feet under.
So six feet under.
yet another grave six feet under uh why are we removing windows let's let's get the architect
on yep i mean i i've asked the architect to come so we could talk about design that's
they've uh they've accepted a promotion they're promoted thank you
hi sir could you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer
apologies can everyone hear me we can could you please state your name then spell it for the
stenographer christopher karakoff it's c-a-r-i-c-k-h-o-f-f do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do council one of you um thank you first i just
Council, why don't you? Thank you. First, I just want to make a point for the record. I understand Mr. Johns' apprehension in supporting any project that has a rear bedroom which leads to a yard. We are, of course, and Chris will testify to this, amenable to returning with revised plans and a resumption.
This is what makes
That said, Chris, the board has asked for clarity on below grade basements, how many feet we've got to six feet.
I believe Ms. Wynn had a question.
I don't think it was a hypothetical one.
Why are we removing windows?
But if you could speak to the depth of the basement, please, Chris.
Yes, as you can see in our zoning sheet, we are just over six feet below grade, which is consistent with the block in order to get eight foot ceiling heights.
Yeah, I understand the consistency with the existing houses on the street.
However, the existing house on the street didn't have living space in the basement.
They were used for utilities.
Once you begin to use the basement for living space, having six feet below the grade with very sort of narrow exit ways becomes problematic and lets in very little light and is not a very habitable living space.
i think additionally but i just but i just but i just understand why you did it because you're
matching the the the um the height of the first floor of the the adjacent property so i understand
what you did i just don't think it works and i think it further is exacerbated by the removal
of the windows it does look like there are currently two windows at the front and two
windows at the back that would have allowed light into those spaces and your plans are showing them
or at least one of them removed in the front and it looked like from the when when verna was going
through the drawings it looked like they're both removed at the rear and then you're adding in the
only the egress wells so there'd be this one window in the front and then the two egress wells
is that correct that's correct as we have it currently shown we do have an opportunity to
increase the window well if need if if that's the board's preference um uh certainly in the front
just the way our stairs oriented but i i think there's the issue of how deep it is whether you
can put a couple more windows we're also yeah and again as i stated we are also willing to return
to the resumption with revised plans that bring that six feet up yeah i think there's still a way
to keep the cornice consistent with the adjacent properties if in fact you want to try to do
something in the basement can you go through the placement plan sure well also mike remember this
is an existing building so the corner is already there i thought this was new no this was a new
construction well no no well no it's it's it's a it's a it's a vacant boarded up property currently
it's a it's just painted and oh i see i had clarification question on that too because the
refusal says for the erection of attached structure and when i look at the city's map on atlas it
shows a vacant lot currently i think also it's it's that on on google maps or on google earth
chris and i think it was an attached structure because of the third floor edition
which doesn't now appear to be part of this case
uh chris what's is it a vacant lot currently or is the structure still there the the structure
has been demoed i believe by the city uh you can ask what i mean that but that's that's that's how
it was it's thank you thank you for the clarity support point of clarity and that's why the
refusal reads as though it does yeah so so it's a new construction so you have the opportunity
yes and it's one of several vacant lots on the block yeah
so yep if that's if the board does in fact land on wanting us to have a less deep below grade
it's certainly something we can do with return with a revision and a proviso plan and to mr
jazz's point we could keep a consistent cornice height we you know we would just shrink likely the
the windows are on that second floor but keep the keep the corner site consistent so even
though our ground floor does not align we would we would at least keep that consistency
okay so why don't we do this one but but for the but for the change after purchase this the two
family dwelling would be by right thank you okay so why don't we move on here questions from our
Okay, so why don't we move on here? Questions from our attorney?
journey.
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
No hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission, do you want to make a comment now? Because I think I'm going to bring this back.
Certainly, I'll make a comment now.
Thank you, sir. Good morning, Board members.
David Fecto with the City Planning Commission.
Chairman and members of the Board, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA-5,
have residential single-family zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in
2023 and a community supported map change at that time this property was zoned RM1 residential
multi-family this is a majority single-family block face so the city planning commission
recommends the board deny the proposed use variance for two dwelling units Mr. chair the uh
just if I may weigh in respectfully uh to the uh with the planning commission I appreciate their
input as always. I understand they need to stick to the code. They've changed this. This was a
long-standing RM1 block. As you know, there's more than half a dozen vacant lots on the
block right now with new multifamily construction. The classification that they changed
from RM1 to RSA5 since after the purchase of this property has yielded zero single-family
home construction so the classification although maybe well intended did not yield the results that
the planning commission nor the community had hoped which is why the community supports this
proposal thank you all right so i'm going to bring this back so mi2025 007 219 829 brooklyn street
i'm going to bring this back for resumptive hearing 7 28 26 at 9 30 a.m thank you very much
Number 12, MI 2025 007355, 1931 West Pashock Avenue, Vincent Dufino is the attorney.
It is anonymous support from.
Concerned citizens of Point Breeze.
They're promoted to panelists here.
VINCENT ANTHONY ANTHONY ANTHONY DEFINO D-E CAPITAL F AS IN FRANK I-N-O
So do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
So help me God.
Mr. Tofino, could you turn on your video?
We can't see you.
Yeah, sure.
I don't know why it's not working right now.
And my tech person left to go grab a coffee.
so okay well we're gonna oh you're here okay hold on one second we're gonna get me on video it's
good don't smoke coffee would you like me to mr tofino while we're waiting for him to do that
could you identify your client a relationship to the property sure carlyn messina she's been the
owner by deed which is here since 2009 on deed but she owned the property since 2006 she's here
with me today can you put me on video sure sure our vice chair has a few questions for you
good morning have you um submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing
yes and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
yes all right thank you you can show your screen and proceed once you
can figure out your tech technology yeah it's crazy it's not working i don't know
maybe i'll go well we'll hear your testimony we just won't see your uh i can't get where's
but why don't you do this with your with your presentation can you make it a little larger too
A presentation, can you make it a little larger too? So that people will be able to say it.
so that people will be able to say it yeah
Yeah, I'm working on it now. I don't know what happens.
Okay, can they see that they said to make it larger.
And it's not moving soon, just not responding.
The share screen, it says you are share, you are screen sharing.
Mr. Dufino, why don't you start telling us about the project as you're doing this?
I'm Mr. Dufino.
I think we lost him.
Mr. Tofino?
Looks like they're still listed as a panelist, Chair.
hello I'm Mr. Dufino oh this is Dominic long yes yes it is Mr. Long are you involved in this case
with passion Cavanaugh no I wanted to testify for it okay well we'll we'll call you we'll
an opportunity to call you okay we're waiting for mr tofino okay thank you
video all right your video should be on now
you want to tell them your computer hello mr tofino yeah i'm back i i don't know
happen having difficulty um seems to be a little bit i still don't see it
share let me see here it is here kate you're it's coming up all right let me pull it up yeah
i think you just scroll on it is it this is hold on that's not it hold on where's the uh wait we
need to pull the pdf up here it is is it can you see the uh screen now we see the screen we just
don't see you okay all right so i'm sorry i don't know what happened our vice chair has if you
already talked to him right why don't you see if you can make this presentation all right so here's
the deed for the property here uh carlin messina received this property from uh her father's estate
2006 actually but the deeds 2009 here is the certificate of tax clearance and the
letter to the community with the proof of mailing and then we get into the
refusal basically this is CMX 2 and the first floor under CMX 2 has to be used
for other than commercial um and what we want to do here is put an apartment on on the first floor
there's the uh notices zoning um that we put in advance of the hearing by more than a month
and if you look here could you turn that for us so we can yeah sure i need to turn this and i need
to move. Can you move them over? Okay, good. All right. So
this is the property here. It's like that little porch front,
right? Am I correct? Yeah, it has a porch front. And as you
can see, that's not conducive to handicap accessibility. Right?
She inherited this property back in 2006. She she second
floor is an apartment. The second floor is an apartment.
correct the first floor had been some kind of office commercial right it did the first floor
was vacant from 2006 to 21 and then she had a yoga studio in there oh and then that lasted
for about two years so why don't we why don't we turn this one to yeah yeah so you could see
so why don't we why don't we turn this one too yeah so you can see it's kind of there's a
commercial area here she owns this property to the left she owns that property too correct she
owns the property to the right right her brother owns a property a couple doors down so they owned
basically a lot of the block for a long period of time so let me ask you this do you have drawings
or what do you have for the first floor for us sure i have this is the first floor here
these are the pictures i got to turn them around everything's upside down i think all right so you
kind of see you walk in there's the steps to the second floor and on the right hand side is the
door to the first floor apartment you go to the picture to the left this is the first floor
and this is the kitchen area the first floor this is the second floor apartment
that currently exists in the property here's the surrounding properties as you
there's 1943 it looks like a duplex there there's a guy in the window you see him 43 and 47 also is
a duplex so the surrounding area is conducive to duplexes in the area and that's the area and then
we have the plans here for the first floor the plans yeah sure this is the rendering
the backyard everything open area is good uh we have enough open area there and then
this is the largest large this one coming up okay yeah over here
for us okay so this is the first floor when you walk when you walk into the
property on if you're facing the building you'll be walking in on the
left-hand side you'd be walking in here the living rooms here there's a kitchen
here the bedroom is back here and there's a bathroom towards the rear of
the property there's also a hallway to the side of the bathroom and bedroom
that goes out to that backyard so you would have trash storage in the backyard
of the property then this is the second floor which is not really relevant today but you can
see the second floor this is the front of the building living room bathroom bedroom and then
we have our RCO letter of support and point breeze concerned citizens of point breeze and we had
about 15 people there and it was unanimous and we and they discussed the whole project and
they were on board with it and they understood that there was no handicap accessibility that
there's a need for housing in the surrounding neighborhood uh a lot of couple of her tenants
were there she's they they said basically how she keeps everything in repair and doesn't raise the
rant too often and um the council uh mr long from the councilman's office dominic long he's here
with us today uh he was there he witnessed the meeting and he's gonna he's gonna testify
and um that's basically it so why don't you put your client on have your testimony
sure and she's there with you right
huh she's with you yeah try to do
no it's not working okay all right
yeah carlin uh this is carlin machine carlin hold on could she please state her name and
letter is spelled for us yes my name is carlyn messina c-a-r-l-y-n-m-e-s-s-i-n-a do you swear
or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do counsel hi carlyn
uh you heard my testimony today yes i did is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge
yes it was do you adopt it as your own yes i do questions from the board
questions from the board this is a one-bedroom on the first floor that's
this is a one-bedroom one
correct correct okay you mentioned the hallway but the plan didn't show it but
it is a one-bedroom and how does the and they have access to the basement yes the
first floor has access to the basement and the basement is used for just
utilities utilities and storage okay if they need it all right thank you other questions yes um you
said that the this was supposed to be a commercial what is it our office or cmx2 yeah yeah so um
you said something about how it was vacant for a long time and then you said there was some use
for an office type use for a little bit can you yes repeat that please i'm sorry yeah sure
it was vacant from 2006 to roughly 2021 where it was used for a yoga uh yoga classes
and they would make fruit drinks and stuff like that and and then they left the property
about two years ago, and Ms. Messina put it on the market for office space or retail
or commercial or business, and there was nothing, you know, no hits, nothing.
So this is basically a residential sort of area, is that?
Yeah, there's residential, and it's kind of mixed, but yeah, this property was built
as a residential property.
gotcha okay thank you you're welcome um not a question but just a comment that um if the board
does grant this um it should include a proviso clarifying that the approved use of the property
is two-family household living so since there's already a dwelling unit there um it's not single
family it's two family thank you thank you questions or comments from the virtual audience
no hands at this time chair mr lamb's not there was that his name long hello hi mr long
yes hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer yes dominic d-o-m-i-n-i-c
last name long l-o-n-g do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth i do please proceed sir i so i'm here on behalf of the second district office of council
president keyata johnson and uh he would like to testify in support of this project
i'm so long thank you very much we appreciate you taking the time to cause
of course okay um anyone else in the audience
no hands at the sim chair planning commission thank you chairman and good morning david pecto
the city planning commission chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no
change to the cmx2 commercial mixed use zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood
in 2017 in accord with recommendations in the comprehensive plan in 2007 the city issued a
use permit for a daycare center on the first floor and the city issued a permit into in 2022
for a business and professional office so commercial use is viable here the city planning
commission recommends the board denied a proposed use variance for not including ground floor
commercial use mi 2025 007 355 1931 west peshawk avenue i vote yes with proviso approved use is to
family whole soul living uh michael johns my vote is yes with proviso charles gaston my vote is yes
with proviso tennetta graham i vote yes with proviso ryan mcadams my vote is yes with proviso
hi when my vote is yes with proviso thank you counsel thank you sorry about the uh
technical difficulties all right we're going to go back to number one um mi 2024 001 949 2900
it's not around Devin up to is the attorney they're being promoted to panelists
I'm sure
this has a tax issue right am I correct sorry good morning Mr. Chair
all right counsel could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes Devin Okada uh D-E-V
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
then i think we're losing you there we lost you dh
that's me try try yeah we're we we can't we can't see you but
here it goes devin please state your name and spell for the stenographer
D-E-V-I-N-U-Q-D-A-H.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, told truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client in relationship to the property?
Yes, the client is Zahid Khan. Can you see?
And our vice chair has a few questions for you.
good morning have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing
yes and do you weigh the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
yes all right thank you you can share your screen and proceed with your case
devon i show there was a letter of support in 1924 from tasker moore neighbors association
wait in 1924 no they supported um 2024 right 828 15 24 right yeah okay all right yes so um
yeah that's why i said it's 24.
uh are you able to see my screen
we see your screen my screen okay um so just a high level overview of this property um
this property is um set up as a um a lot to sell cars so i have some historical zoning that i'll
go through to show that in the past it actually was set up is that it looks like at some point
this property would just rezone with the entire area but it always was either like a car dealership
or a parking lot. So we're looking to just basically have it stay as a car dealership
as most of the properties on the block are. So here is the notice of refusal. This is the application
for personal vehicle sales and rental in the zoning district.
So this property is in South Philadelphia off of Snyder as a corner lot, so this is a higher overview of what it looks like on Google Maps.
If you look around, so it's CMX2, so most of the properties on this block here are CMX2 properties.
They're all usually like car dealers or car lots on this block.
this is the original zoning notice um so what i have here is basically some historical zoning
permits that were submitted for the property um i'll go through them rather quickly but it's just
to give like a circle context so that you can understand um it was originally zoned for its
use now um in like the 1950s so this is like the zoning permit um for 1951 that was um basically
approved for it to be a parking lot and then at some point it was converted in 1955 from a parking
lot to a lot for the people to sell cars on. Now I do understand at some point that my client is
the the tenant of the property so at some point the property may have been not used at all which
think probably has caused this issue. So currently, when my client came into use of the property,
we were under, they were under the assumption that it still had its correct zoning from the 1950s,
and that's kind of how we ended up here. It's the approval, just kind of how we ended up here.
So right now, this is what the lot looks like now. So it's pretty much, it's owned by one person,
and they basically run entire lot this is a car lot on the property so this is the outside of the
lot so the grounds are pretty much the same this all the signage and stuff like that that was from
prior permits so and this is the postage from far away so pretty much we're just looking to
basically maintain how it's currently set up all the stuff was already there when it came into use
the property so the uh i guess the office location and then a lot in the gates this stuff was already
up so we're not actually looking to make any i know there was a question in some of the responses
from the uh from the zba with the pictures like any changes to like the internal you the internal
property or like any like renovation so all of this is going to maintain it's going to be the
same um the gates and everything that how it looks on the outside the inside
the gates and everything, how it looks on the outside, inside, the office space, all that's
already set up by the owner. So the stuff is going to stay the same. And then here are some
pictures of the areas around it. So if you see, if we're looking to the left of the property,
there's lots up and down. This is our lot now. There's lots up and down the street. So this is
another car lot that's on the same block. So pretty much when we met with the RCO, they were
aware that pretty much this entire strip is car lots in this area or you know some type of like
parking lot or something like that something industrial so the entire you know strip is is
is another car lot as well the entire strip is just car lots so we're looking just to have our
our obviously zoning updated so what that business actually has been since the 1950s
Here's the proof of the postage that went out.
This is a meeting from when I met with the RCO, which was Tasker Morris Neighbors.
This is a letter of support from Tasker Morris Neighbors.
I don't think we had any people in opposition.
They were pretty aware of the community and what was going on in the area.
Here's a picture of the postage.
this is a picture of me backed out so you can see where it's posted as personal like the outside
gate where people would enter onto the actual property and that's pretty much it um i am
attempting to get a tax certificate from the owner so my client is the it's a renter so that
that is an issue that is outstanding hold we'll hold the vote for all to do that okay all right
you want to bring your client on and doctor yes so yes um his name is zahid khan muhammad zide
are you in the audience there's no one in a virtual audience audience with that name perhaps
if they could raise their hand i think he was supposed to be calling in let me um one second
devon that's right off the expressway there am i right yes could i can i just go on mute to
just call him to make sure he might have dropped off but just going to call him if you can do it
right away please sure
hey um i need you to dial back in can i give you the phone number to dial in
No, you got a Dalvik this phone number. I'm going to text it to you now.
All right.
All right.
Is he calling in, Devin?
Devin?
yeah thank you thank you froze yeah um can i take my screen down to just give
hear me devon did did you get him
do we see anybody coming on
Devin on mute Devin you're muted I don't see any new attendees at this time all right Devin
you're muted can you hear me I can hear you now Devin you're an officer the court will accept your
testimony okay questions from the ward yeah the rco meeting did any other issues um come up that
the community wanted the business up uh to address uh since it's uh during this operations did any
other issues come up no um it didn't i think the they were pretty aware i think they explained it
they knew that it was always a car lot right there so nothing else came up um they thought
it was pretty straightforward from when i recall that i mean the entire like i said the entire
strip is pretty much all car lots um i think so they didn't have any any questions about how he
was operating no parking on the sidewalks or anything like that nothing nothing okay all right
thank you the current is your client currently operating yes
Is your client currently operating?
He is?
Okay, because it looks like from most photos online that this is a contractor that's moving, building materials.
So I think my question is, like, where is the work on the cars being done that does not appear to be a garage?
And what's going on with the utility hookups?
So he's not a, what do you mean a contractor?
He's a car salesman.
I understand what you said.
i said that currently the photos online that are available of this property make it look like it is
a used building supply like there's big pallets of drywall and it looks like that is what has been
being sold as building materials you may so it may be a lot next to it he doesn't he doesn't
sell building materials he sells cars okay he doesn't sell like like like for like renovations
he doesn't do that at all correct so is there any any more uh accessory buildings being added
or he's just this we're just no legalizing what's already there we're just legalizing what's already
there okay all the questions questions from our attorney hillary emberson um no questions but just
want to note that we can, um, we can set the vote date for this at June 17th at 930. Thank you.
What was it again? June 17th at 930. All right. We're coming back then. Okay. All right. Okay.
Um, all right. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
No hands at this time, Chair. Planning Commission. Thank you, Chairman. And good
Good morning David Vecto with the city planning commission chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from CMX to commercial mixed use to ICM x industrial and commercial mixed use.
The city last rezoned several parcels in this neighborhood in 2002. However, the zoning and the majority of this neighborhood, including this block dates to 1933.
33. the proposed use personal vehicle sales and rental would be allowed with a special exception
in the recommended icmx zoning the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the
proposed use variance for personal vehicle sales and rental thank you um devon we're going to hold
this to june 17th at 9 30. okay all right thank you thank you very much is there anyone else in
audience whose case has not been called from the 9 30 list no hands at this time chair body at 2 p.m
all righty
how many in the audience 29
we're ready to start good afternoon everyone my name is bill bergman i will be chairing this
meeting of the philadelphia zoning board of adjustment with me is our vice chair tenetta
graham president mr chairman our board secretary charl gaston president mr chairman board member
michael johns president mr chairman ty is here now ty win she'll be here in a little bit and
And Ryan McAdams is our hearing.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
So here is our attorney and also our zoning board director, Ian Haggerty.
This hearing is being recorded and will be posted on the ZBA website.
By participating, you consent to be recorded.
This is an in-person meeting with remote capabilities.
whether remote or on zoom if you're called to speak please state and spell your name
and then wait to be sworn in after you've been sworn in please mention your name each time you
testify to enter appearance indicate the property address on your zoom webinar speak with a staff
member call the zba call the zba by the close of business tomorrow call 215-669-2429
and please provide your name the email address and the case address
remote participation raise your virtual hand when directed so that we can call on you
When you are called on, please click the join as a panelist button, use the Q&A questions for procedural issues and not the case.
Use the Q&A questions for procedural issues and not the case.
If you're called by phone, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
For in-present panelists, if testifying, get close to the mic so that we can hear your testimony, that everyone hears it, and also the court reporter.
No talking, eating, or drinking during the hearing.
aggressive behavior will not be tolerated in in the case of an emergency follow staff instructions
the main exit is through the doors at the rear the the stairs are to the left
if we have to evacuate go to love park which is directly across art street please remain
here so we can account for you so let's look at our schedule
Number one, MI 2023-005-621-254 South 54th Street, Zen Jin is the attorney.
Good afternoon, counsel. Could you please state your name and spell it for the sonographer?
Yes, my name is Zen Jin, Z-H-E-N-J-I-N.
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do counsel could you give us an update on this case yes uh my client unfortunately would request
a withdrawal of this matter uh primary reason is that he has had a lot of issues with family
overseas and hasn't been in the states and therefore couldn't process the paperwork that
is required by the board so rather than delaying further he feels that a refiling in a later date
when he's ready would be a better avenue thank you very much so 254 south 54 street that case
has been withdrawn thank you right number two mi 2025 003 648 1000 north 40 a street that case
This is continued until 8, 5, 2026 at 2 p.m.
Number, here it is, number four, yep.
MI, oh, that's two, I'm sorry.
four mi 2025 zero zero five zero five nine nine 21 11 wallace street that case is continued until
eight five twenty six um excuse me i'm sorry that case was withdrawn oh it's withdrawn okay
cases when withdrawn bye we're gonna any other requests for continuance
we're going to go to our add-ons good afternoon mr chair this is jason hand i will be your
co-host for the session i do have one hand up from rachel pritzker i will allow them to speak right
now okay good afternoon hi counsel could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer
Yes, Rachel, R-A-C-H-A-E-L, Pritzker, P-R-I-T-Z-K-E-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Your case?
I'm here for 1030 North 48th Street requesting a continuance.
I just did it.
I just did it, Rachel.
Okay, I'm sorry.
I might have missed that.
You have it as 1000 North 48th Street, not 1030.
Hi, Chair. This is Ian Haggard, Executive Director. Hey, Ms. Pritzker, the case in our
docket is in fact 1000 North 48th Street, but it's the same appeal that you were talking
about.
Great. Thank you so much.
All right. Thank you. Anyone else? Why don't you come up?
is meredith one the line please murder
they've been about to speak mr chair okay i'm here hi could you please meredith we'll start
with you could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer meredith ferliger f-e-r-l-e-g-e-r
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes i do okay um let me get this open first what's the case number for this
what's the case number for this this is 6100 wissahick and avenue yep yep i'm pulling it up now
this is 6100
and sir could you please state your name is spelled for this photographer
my name is sydney ozer can't hear you can't can't hear you okay
Go ahead, Sidney. Thank you.
My name is Sidney Ozer, S-I-D-N-E-Y, last name O-Z like zebra, E like echo, R like Robert.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
So, counsel, I believe he's going to request a continuous, so I'm going to let him go first.
So why don't you tell us where you stand with this case?
Thank you, Chair. We are lucky enough to be working with Meredith Berleger and her client, Nidal Hassan, for 6100 WSIC and Avenue, and we're very, very happy that we've made an enormous amount of progress.
We had a community meeting on April 20th, where we met with the developers team and our community was a zoom community meeting.
And then after the community meeting on a separate time, we had an online vote for a few days with our community.
and uh the community voted including the near neighbors and the uh rco zoning board and the
issues of importance that we identified were the storm water issues a very very important issue
the building height no higher than three stories above grade sight lines and aesthetics and we
We put this in a note to the developers group, and the applicant did address the majority
of our concerns.
We're very happy that there was a beneficial relationship with us and the developers team,
and we're able to move forward on these issues, particularly the stormwater issue, which was
particularly of concern to the friends of the Wissahickon.
However, the applicant would not reduce the height to three stories above grade.
The Bluebell Hill Civic Association requested the applicant
get a continuance so the community could be notified of the height change above three stories
above grade and then the community would be able to vote on that so that we could hopefully
come to a mutual agreement. The applicant denied our continuance, so as a result of that, the Blue
Bell Hill Civic Association, the RCO, requests continuance as a result of that opposition.
And we hope understanding can be achieved, particularly we think we can achieve understanding
with the applicant if there's time for us to discuss this matter. All right, so why don't we
let the attorney head. Meredith, could you please comment? Sure. Mr. Chairman, we wholeheartedly
I swore you in, right, Meredith? Yeah, you swore me in. We wholeheartedly agree with the
representations made in terms of the developer seeking to work with the community to the best
of his ability. But just in terms of the timing here, this matter was already continued once.
It was originally scheduled for a hearing in February.
Prior to even that date, already two meetings had been held with this particular RCO group.
The developer had agreed in February to a continuance to facilitate a third meeting,
which was held and which did result in many of the changes that Mr. Ozer represented to the board today.
But unfortunately, at this point in time, as the board will see this afternoon,
No further changes can be made, and we believe that the board will understand why that is the case
when you hopefully hear the case later this afternoon.
So at this point, we do not believe that a further continuance would be fruitful
other than to facilitate another vote in the matter.
It would not be any form of substance, at least in terms of any modifications being made.
So we believe that the community's position can be made clear on the record.
It was made clear in the email that was sent to the board outlining the changes that were made.
And we would ask for the matter to continue.
So we're going to hear the case today, and we'll take your consideration.
If you want to stay, please stay.
And we'll give you another opportunity to give us what you said and anything different.
Okay, but try not to make it long because we've got a lot of cases here.
we have uh support for the request for continuance also is from the 21st war
21st Ward Democrats, neighboring RCO, as well.
democrats sure bring rco as well a very interesting
A very interesting one is from Zhang Zha, which is a neighboring child care center, literally adjacent to the property.
And they have asked, including in one of our public meetings, that the developer reach out to them.
Why don't we do this?
You can raise that at the hearing.
Perfect.
The hearing should be, I guess, about 45 minutes, maybe?
I think the hearing will be about 45 minutes.
Thank you.
You looked forward to the opportunity to discuss this morning.
I'll see you in 45 minutes.
Thank you very much.
it right that's it for continuances right we're going to go to our add-ons our first one will be
handled by um our uh vice chair thank you chair um add-ons mi2026000214 1946 north grant street
my vote is yes with proviso maximum four dwelling units michael johns my vote is yes with proviso
cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso i voted yes with proviso
number two our board secretary will handle that
Thank you, Chair. This is MI-2026-000204, 1931 North 18th Street. My vote is yes, with proviso. Maximum four dwelling units.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes, with proviso.
sire one my vote is yes with provide thank you okay number number three mi2026 000 291 4714
griscom street i vote yes with proviso maximum two dwelling units no household living in basement
michael johns my vote is yes with proviso cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso
ryan mcadams my vote is yes with proviso i own my vote is yes with proviso
number four mi 2025 007 387 147 west loray street
i vote yes with proviso maximum two dwelling units michael johns my vote is yes with proviso
cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso ryan mcadams my vote is yes with proviso
number five oh i'm sorry i won my vote is yes with proviso all right number five mi2024
zero zero three eight seven one fifty uh champlose avenue i vote no
michael johnson my vote is no cheryl gaston my vote is no tenetta graham my vote is no
my vote is no
number six
MI 2025
North 18th Street
I vote yes with proviso
must obtain a certificate of
occupancy
Michael Johns my vote is
yes with proviso cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso tenetta graham my vote is yes with proviso
hi and when my vote is yes with proviso
we're going to go to our regular list we're going to go to number five first
MI-2025-005-400-7789 Craig Street.
Eric Sierra is the owner.
There's a letter of non-opposition from the Civic Association.
Home, Home, Home, Home, Home, Home, Home, Homeberg Civic Association.
Eric. Hello. Hi, Eric. Yes. Hi, could you please state your name and spell it for the
stenographer? Eric Sierra, E-R-I-C-S-I-E-R-R-A. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes. Eric, could you please turn on your video? Yes.
yes all right could you please turn on your video yes
there you go our vice chair has a few questions for you sir good afternoon um have you submitted
your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes okay and um do you waive the
reading of the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy yes okay all right thank you you can
your screen and proceed with the case the application of this is for the direction of a
rear detached accessory garage which is not allowed okay um but there would there was a
there was one there was a there was a detached accessory garage when i bought the property right
just making
yeah I got it
yeah I'm just making one more
usable for me
and to utilize my driveway
okay so why don't you
start your presentation tell us what you want
to do and then we have
all your documents so what I would recommend
you do is just show us photos
and if you have drawings of what you're doing
okay so it's just
a variance for the
maximum setback
yeah we kind of yep yeah that's that's it and um let me see so what what can i share with you
to begin well i think if you have if you have drawings of it or photos we have all your photos
i mean all your documents okay so do you have pictures of what you're doing yes um let me get
into it. Sure, take your time.
um so that's you posted your property yeah that's the posting and um just just to show
you the like the entrance of the driveway with the vehicle in there um next i can get
that's the driveway yeah that's the driveway yes
um that's the picture there of the structure so you were you were building this and they stopped
you yes yes right okay so what just just very quick why don't you tell us what you were doing
there um just building um a garage for my cars i have two older like classic cars they're small
volkswagons um and just you know a place where i could put them away from the street so i don't
take up any parking and just utilize my garage um so i don't interrupt any second floor to that
no no no second floor just one once uh it's you know just one one story garage ground level
um there's no water there's no plumbing show it shows a photo of that again
yeah okay it's just um it's just like a like a like an a-frame
Okay. Do you have any other photos?
Do you have an architect do drawing for you for this?
Oh, yes. Yes.
I see. Why don't you show us the drawings?
Top file says plenty there it goes yeah to the behind to the side the driveways there
okay questions from the board let me ask you this does anyone else on the block have this
Questions from the board. Let me ask you this. Does anyone else on the block have this?
No, I'm the only one with a driveway that pertains to the property.
Across the street, there is a driveway that is like a common driveway, common used driveway for all the residents on that side of the block.
You have this driveway, and at the end of it, you put up a garage to try to put the cars in.
yes okay questions from the board so the the garage goes uh up against the back the rear
property line was it a space after the garage they're all they're um so they're all the rear
um yards of everyone else's uh properties um they don't have any structures um there is a
there's a Ford dealership that is right behind my property as well and they you
know they have like a full building back there takes up half of that other side
of the block which is on Frankfurt Avenue is a dumpy Ford dealership and I
think that's it though there's so there's nothing else behind you like
there's no other residents or whatever on the other side or behind that you know
because of my side of the street is kind of like an awkward because um there's
only three houses on my side and they are in a church so mines faces the the
yacht the the yards that run parallel from the opposite blocks I don't know if
could like generate an idea of what that looks like um but yeah only the yards
have you talked to your adjacent property owners as well as
whoever owns the property that backs up to your um your property line yeah i did i spoke to some
of them um to be honest with you most of them are uh rentals so they don't they don't have
any problem with it because they don't own the property or anything like that and then the people
that do own that are long-term residents I speak to them on a daily basis we've talked about it
they were given the invitation to the VCO to the hearing and there's no I don't have any pushback
or any negative I mean you know it doesn't affect them negatively in any way
is there a curb cut there oh yes the property came with a curb cut
and is that how you are pulling the car up to the side of the property like we saw in one of
the pictures is that yes through the curb cut off okay and so then what you're gonna do is put this
garage so that you you won't have that access anymore correct yes yep just to utilize that
because you know it it has a you know it has a full driveway i didn't change anything other than
that just making the garage in the back bigger because there was one there already when i
purchased the home okay all right thank you other questions from the board
questions questions from our attorney
not at this time mr chair sure is there an issue with a deed okay okay all right
um questions or comments from the virtual audience or this current audience here
i do not see any hands raised mr chair any commission amy board with the planning commission
amy boyd do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
I do. Please proceed. The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the current RSA 3 residential single family. The request of deviations from the dimensional standards are de minimis. The planning commission recommends that the board grant their requested variances for setback and occupied area.
m i 2025 005 400 77 89 craig street i vote yes michael johns my vote is yes
cheryl gaston my vote is yes tenetta graham my vote is yes ryan mcadams my vote is yes
thank you sir thank you
And my 20, 25, 0, 0, 4, 4, 7, 1, 4, 10. Oh, 1, 66 Avenue.
Um, Mr. sorry, I just wanted to let, you know, um, we just got a letter.
sorry i just wanted to let you know um we just got a letter um from the rco in that matter um they
um so they are in support of a one-year temporary variance for removal of the proviso
um yeah this one here yes oh okay yes that's that's all right thank you that was uh yeah just
got that thank you I take it Andrea is not doing this case counsel could you
please state your name and spell for this than I refer can't hear you all right
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members.
Anybody want to get a little closer?
You've got all your stuff there.
Good afternoon, members of the board.
Mr. Chairman, Brett Feldman, 1835 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19103.
B-R-E-T-T, Feldman, F-E-L-D-M-A-N.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Counsel, could you tell us, identify your client, a relationship to this property?
Yes, I represent the owner, McDonald's Corporate, the owner of this property, and with me also is the franchise operator of the McDonald's.
Right, right. And you just heard the results of the RCO hot from the press here, right?
I did.
And our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, we did.
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
I think you can share your screen and proceed with your case.
I don't have to come up yet to share screen.
There we go.
We're coming back in soon.
Great, great.
All right, try that again.
Try that again.
Okay, let's try that again. Thank you. So a good afternoon. Again, Brett Feldman. Real proud to
represent McDonald's corporate. And on behalf of Alex Ortiz, he is the area construction manager
for McDonald's. He might look familiar. He's been here on multiple other McDonald's locations
in the last couple of years, as well as this location back in 2024 when we were proposing
this location, which has now been constructed. I also have Daisy Maldonado, who is the vice
president of operations for AJ Foods. AJ Foods is the franchise operator for McDonald's. I think
it's about 80 or 90 percent of McDonald's are owned by franchise operators, not by corporate,
by, you know, local companies based here in the Delaware Valley, and AJ Foods is one of those
locations, and they operate this location. I passed up Exhibits 1 through 15, which I'd asked
to be incorporated into the record. I'll get right to it. We were here back in 2024 for this location,
1401 66th Avenue. It is on a heavy commercial strip of Broad Street at Old York Road and 66th
Avenue. Let me just go to those pages here. It's owned CMX 2.5 and right next to the diner that
used to used to be there across the street um here's just kind of orient you um right next to
dunkin donuts right next to a self-storage facility across just multiple auto repair
facilities at cbs across the street and at that time the application was this had been a
this had been a pizza hut that ultimately closed it had been a boston market that had closed and
by the time mcdonald's looked to redevelop this for its uh latest uh prototype state-of-the-art
prototype, it really had become a really negative on the community that was trash strewn.
uh a really negative on the community uh there was trash strewn um there was uh people in the in
the who had got into the former boston market we had closed it up there was fires um and the
proposal uh as we came in to the board back in 2024 uh was um a massive increase in landscaping
here um use mcdonald's most up-to-date prototype uh drive-through uh with a uh interior um area
to place the two. When you move like that, you're getting away from the mic. Yeah. I think I just
lose you here. Hold on one second. There you go. And what we proposed was, as you'll see right here,
we came in, proposed all this new landscaping, new prototype location, a tremendous amount of
cameras and security, state-of-the-art lighting, and this is what we looked at here, what you saw,
what you approved. There was some skepticism from the community just because of the past
operations here, and at that time we agreed to some limited hours on the interior operation of
the restaurant that we would not have the interior operate after 10 o'clock during the week and 11
o'clock on the weekends. And we also agreed that we would not, that the drive-through would close at
2 and then would reopen at 5. So 21 hours on the drive-through. And that was, McDonald's was very
sensitive to making sure that we worked with the community. We made it clear at that time that we
would operate, we would do our best, we would try to live up to all those expectations and goals
that we set for ourselves, and then we would revisit the application once we started operating
and saw what the demand was and that's really what we're here today uh for we have um i think
it's uh without without a doubt we have lived up to um everything we said that this was going to be
we added a tremendous amount of landscaping um beautiful beautiful store cameras lighting um we
hired from the neighborhood we did everything that we said we were going to do and here's just some
pictures from our grand opening uh when we actually had the district council person uh there um you
see it almost it almost looks like a park at this corner now uh which was completely different than
what was there before and what we've learned you know i'm just going through you know these these
are these are in the fall uh when the trees were still hadn't uh you know where the leaves had
fallen but it was really a huge upgrade there um here's the picture from the from the grand opening
with the councilman and what we're asking for now is um to expect not to change those interior hours
We would still close at 10, we would still close at 11, you know, Monday through Thursday, or 11 on Friday to Sunday.
But the hours of operation on the drive-thru, instead of ending at 2 a.m., we would just stay open 24 hours on this drive-thru here.
You know, as we've learned, there's a tremendous amount of demand on this corridor from, you know, shift workers, folks in the hospitals.
We've learned that that demand, we can operate and we can do it in a safe manner.
A.J. Foods has how many, Daisy, how many locations does A.J. Foods have?
A total of 31.
31, including in Philadelphia, they have five locations.
Here's four of the locations that all operate with 24 hours without incident that have been run very well.
And, you know, we know that we can do this. We have been doing it at this location. We haven't had any issues with police there or crime at this location.
And, you know, the biggest challenge we're facing there is we now have employees who drive-through closes at 2 a.m., we clean up, then the next shift comes in at 4.30 or 5 to continue to then operate the store.
So we're sending our employees out at night.
It would be much safer for us from an operational, from an employee, to be able to keep them there throughout that shift.
And that's part of what we're looking to do here.
We have spoken with the community.
There was an initial letter of, I think the first vote was almost split.
It was like 8 to 10.
and what we were told and there's another letter that just came in i think which said the vote was
10 to 11. what we basically were told was hey you guys exceeded expectations it looks better
you're hired from the neighborhood um the cameras are are you know the work you spent the money on
that um we're just concerned about the future are you going to really continue to live up to
you know about the high standard that you've set um so what we're proposing um is would be a five
So what we're proposing is would be a five year. We would come back again in five years. AJ Foods and Daisy's company would continue to live up to these expectations. We know that we've got that that five year on us and then we would come back. I think the letter that we just received from the community was a one year with support for a one year.
problem with the one year is we basically have to file the application tomorrow to come back
in on the one year um so we don't really have a disagreement now about how well we've operated
there um and you know that's really that's kind of where we are um daisy could we could i could
go to witnesses if if you would like sure yeah you want to which who do you want to first yeah
daisy can you give the board your name i could you please state your name is spelled for the
stenographer? Daisy Maldonado, D-A-Y-S-Y. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do. Counsel? Yes. And you are, what is your role
with AJ Foods that is the franchise operator for this location? I am the VP of operations for the
franchisee. And with regards to this location, what is your responsibility? I make sure that
you know the employees are safe uh not only the employees but also the customers uh definitely
that's the top priority and also making sure that community that we feel part of the community as
well great and just just briefly i mentioned um the cameras that you installed the lighting um
all those you know safety training can you just briefly describe you know how the how the location
operates of course uh we have uh about like 36 or 38 channels uh located in the entire restaurant
it's not just inside but it's outside covers the entire property uh we have safety uh training
going on as an ongoing basis for our employees how to be escalate issues and also we um have created
a good relationship with police officers as well in the area as of right now we haven't had any
incidents um and it will look to continue that way yeah and just briefly why are you here today
to to try to expand the hours from 2 a.m on the drive through to 5 a.m so a couple of things i
will say is that number one safety of our employees i wouldn't want my people to be uh leaving the
restaurant at 2 30 in the morning but number two also it's a way to offer another choice to the
you know uh the people that work overnights and whether going for a launch shift or coming back
from a loan shift is something to be available for them great is there anything further that
you wanted to add to me no I think we are we're good okay thank you anything else no okay no
questions from the board yeah I have a question I have a question for the drive-thru if it stays
open 24 hours are individuals allowed to go through the drive-through get their
food and park in the parking lot and eat yes however as you could see in the
picture we have limited parking spots there yeah there's only I think there's
only a couple parking spaces that we we have here currently most of the most of
the business at this location is drive through. So we have not had any issues right now so far
with people loitering at the restaurant. Most of the businesses is folks coming through. It's a
tremendous amount of Uber Eats who are servicing the community and also some of the other businesses
there. So it hasn't been an issue. And that's also why we have the cameras who have been operating
there yeah that was kind of along the lines of my question like what kind of assurance this was
i think the community's concern is that it's going to be a hangout um and like what other assurances
can you give the neighborhood that at you know after two there would be you know wouldn't be a
hangout whether it's signage you know no lording or whatever yeah or a monitoring other than uh
cameras yeah what we've actually found is when we're open in the restaurant there's eyes on the
property and it's actually it's actually much better to have the the restaurant lit employees
inside um you know we we monitor the cameras remotely but we've got folks who are monitoring
the cameras right as it's open and that's it's it's almost counterintuitive that um we don't we
don't have this isn't a big parking field i mean some of the restaurants you see 30 40 50 spaces
this is i think there's six or seven spaces out there they're very tight with the restaurant with
restaurant but it's been um operating we have eyes right there employees right there um and if
there's you know any issues we're right there versus you know people coming in when we're closed
you know people coming in when we're closed um so it's been counterintuitive it's better
um so it's been counterintuitive it's better
that we're open versus not open and and that was what the community said that too it was
you know i was expecting we go to a meeting and people like oh well i know there was this issue
there hasn't been there hasn't been and at the same time i understand hey there's always the
future and that's why you you know we got into this discussion with the community we've had
I think three meetings now with the community about some different options on a temporary.
McDonald's has been tremendously supportive of this at the corporate level and at the local level
to say, hey, we're going to continue to have that condition on us that we've got to prove every day
that we'll continue to operate this store.
And that's why we're fine with that five-year temporary.
well not fine but it's it's it's you know we're trying to work with the community that's really
what we've been doing here yeah okay any other questions questions for attorney
um not a question but just um i would just ask the board if we could hold this under
advisement because i do want to look at depending on what the board's decision is
the provisos that have been requested both by the RCO and by the by the applicants so okay yep
um questions or comments from the virtual audience or this audience here
yes chair I have a hand up from Weymouth Cargill I will promote them and they should be back in
shortly.
hello hi sir could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer
sure my name is weymouth cargill 10th ward president of the rco
okay could you spell your name for the w-a-y-m-i-t-h last name is cargill c-a-r-g-i-double-l
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Please proceed.
The conversation here is somewhat of an untruth as far as our community.
Our conversation is about the community.
We had the meeting, the RCO meeting with the community present,
and the conversation came down to providing security due to the fact that
a possibility of loitering, younger kids gathering and causing all kind of, I mean,
havoc if possible. And the response was, they don't think it's necessary to have security on
property, which is, I can't see that happening or not happening if this is supposed to happen.
And we also submitted a letter regarding a, not a five year, but a one year proviso and
come back to the table to more or less discuss that. We do not want to 24 hours because, again,
I was just up there a couple days ago, and the kids were sitting on the cars in that said parking
lot that he just mentioned, just sitting on the cars, eating their McDonald's food. And that is
going to lead to loitering. It's going to lead to mischievous behavior. And there's something that
we don't want in our community simple as that and uh again we submitted the letter and what is being
done now these gentlemen and lady are more or less uh padding the situation for their betterment
not the betterment of our community and that is why we do what we do as an rco for the community
and sir um i do i we would appreciate it if you look into this on our side of the fence because
this is an issue that is going to explode as the weather
hightens and as the
folks are starting to gather. Simple as that. And we do not want this to be
an explosive matter two months down the road. And the fact that
they've been operating less than a year and not believing that
security is necessary is beyond me.
So at this time, thank you so much.
Thank you. No, hold on a minute. Do you have any questions?
Mr. Cargill, I would just say, we just received the letter, I think, 10 minutes ago, so I don't know specifically.
i just we just received the letter i think 10 minutes ago so i don't know specifically what's
in there um but my understanding was it was a one year temporary on the expansion of the
the drive-through hours which is what the whole case was about so and also security some some
security has to be on the property to monitor the loitering to let the folks know that they
it's a drive-through you come in you drive through you get your food and you move on
do you want to add anything oh hello you have not been sworn yet have you i have not i could
you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer yeah alexander ortiz a-l-e-x-a-n-d-e-r-o-r-t-i-z
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth sir i do please proceed
uh yes so what we wanted to do is to sort of address the security question um we do firmly
believe that our stance is that because of the experience that AJ Foods has in the area, 31
restaurants, five in Philadelphia, one at Lehigh Avenue, one at Grays Ferry Avenue. We've got this
one here at 66. They're working on another one here on Chestnut Street in 16th. They've got tons
of experience with understanding when is the appropriate time to consider security, but their
team has been properly trained to address those issues up front so i just want to you know we
don't default to bringing security in because listen who can run a business where you have
security running late hours a day this is one of those things where you you operate it if you see
any signs of any issues then you make adjustments but we haven't here in the past eight months and
in their experience at lehigh avenue grace ferry we've also had very few issues so thank you is
anyone else in the audience has issues with this or questions
i'd by chair i have a hand up for miss kimberly brown west i will go ahead and promote them
they should be back in shortly
do we see her she won yeah i'm here hi could you please state your name and spell before
the stenographer yes my name is kimberly west brown so that's k-i-m-b-e-r-l-y last name west
w-e-s-t hyphen brown b-r-o-w-n do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
but the truth i do please proceed um i am the ward chair of our rco um our ward leader uh weymouth
spoke. The only thing that I wanted to add is that during the presentation, it was stated that
there are limited parking spaces. There are seven in the front. However, there are parking spaces
on the other side. There are probably about five or six parking spaces over there. So there are
spaces there to loiter as well. Basically, our meeting that we had with McDonald's, we just
wanted to express a lot of the security concerns which are laid out in that letter that um we sent
the original proposal of the five years was voted against 10 to 11 however before we even got to the
vote we did speak with Andrea and uh Chris I believe was um on that in that meeting and said
that he you know all he wants to do is work with the community and if it even came down to um us
having um us look at this in a year from now we could so instead of the five year we would try a
one-year trial period come back and meet again and then we would revisit to see how things went for
that year um and that was kind of what we agreed to where we were in support of what their proposal
is and having the extended drive-through hours from 2 a.m to 5 a.m when we talked about security
they did agree to having security hired as well. And they also talked about their training
protocols for their employees as far as how do you deal with escalated situations with customers.
The other thing that was concerned along the lines of security was them speaking and having
a conversation with the police department and getting them on the police's roll call so
the police could kind of do a check especially during the after hours to make sure that things
were okay so that is what the proviso is that is what we all agreed to in that meeting and to
revisit everything after the first year all right thank you very much for taking the time to calls
mr chairman i would we would be willing you know i just spoke with daisy who is the franchise
operator we would be willing to have security for that additional period from the two the two to five
we would be willing to have security for that additional period from the the two the two to
five okay um i think we're going to leave it up to the board yep one year five years hold up hold
up is there anyone else in the audience do not see any further answer mr chair planning commission
amy boy with the planning commission planning commission will not be making statements on
removal of provisor requests what's that again we have no statements okay all right good
we're going to hold a vote on this two weeks Hillary when we come back two weeks uh we'll vote
that Wednesday 2 p.m uh we'll take it into consideration and we'll weigh everything
and we'll see where we stand and we we just wanted to also thank the community we've had meetings
after meetings with this so I think you can hear it was yeah it's been a positive conversation you
know we're trying to that that's how they want it they want to handle this all right thank you so
Thank you very much.
Right here, number 10, number 10, MI 2026, 000352, 1418 Walnut Street.
Attorney is Ronald Patterson.
There's a letter of non-opposition from the Center City Resilience Association.
Counsel, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Sure, I can. Thank you.
Good afternoon, Ronald Patterson, P-A-T-T-E-R-S-O-N, with Claire Harrison Law Firm, 1835 Market Street.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you identify your client, a relationship to the property?
Sure. There's two properties involved because it's a unity of use, but that's a buy right application request. But the two properties are the Bellevue, which is 200 South Broad Street, is owned by an LLC called 200 South Broad Property Owner LLC.
And we're here today for 1418 Walnut Street, which is owned by 1418 Walnut Landowner LLC.
Pretty simple names, but it's all under the Lubrit Adler group.
And hard to say, but if you want to see the flow chart to prove that they're all our vice chair.
I figured it off. Good afternoon.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have.
and do you waive the reading of the referral and stick related to its accuracy yes i do
all right thank you you can share your screen and proceed with the case okay thank you
and mr patterson i just want to note for the record because i did see
your email about the the address they have the wrong address and the refusal
says 220 yes yeah so and it looks like that's how um it is it was input into eclipse oh really go
back to so when you go back to l and i if this is approved make sure that okay that that is all
updated that's the sporting club 220 garage yeah okay exactly so i just wanted to let you know
that there just yeah there does be appear to be a mistake on there so we can't we can't fix that
i understand all right thank you okay if i may um so this regards 1418 walnut street the picture
you see here is walnut street and broad street um the building here with the blue arrow is the
former building that housed tiffany's um it's connected to the bellevue uh there's breach
wall breaches it's always operated as if it were one property although there are two legal addresses
and by this application as i mentioned then the application was for a unity of use so
There's really two parts to this application. The first part, again, is to have it be considered as one lot per the zoning code, and that's because combining the properties allows you to accumulate FAR for every ratio in case we would exceed that, which we don't.
there's another picture for walnut street
so the Bellevue has been undergoing massive and complete renovations
conversion to a hotel conversions of residential apartment units
conversion to a hotel, conversions of residential apartment units, the conversion of the grand
ballroom. The lower floor in the lobby has two lobbies, one for residential, one for hotel,
and there's a few restaurants that are coming soon. On the first floor, what we're here for
is called the bathhouse use, and if you remember the food court, this use is occupying, call it a
the lobby area on the first floor, the entire lower level where the food court was and then the sub-level.
Total is about 30,000 square feet, but more on the bathhouse later.
Let's go through these photos.
So this is the sub-basement, and Jason's here.
He's going to talk about the bathhouse use.
So the application here is regarding the bathhouse.
So we have a by-rate permit for the bathhouse use in the Bellevue portion under personal services.
And so what we're desiring to do today is use the roof deck atop the former Tiffany building as an auxiliary and a passive amenity to the bathhouse.
And so the reason why we're here is because our use of a roof deck throughout the city for anything other than a residential use requires a special exception.
So that's why we're here.
the zoning is in cmx5 and as i mentioned about the roof deck and so um it will be operated by
the same entity both in the bellevue on top of 1418 we believe again there'll be a quiet passive
amenity so jason if you could introduce yourself can you please state your name is spelled for the
sonographer sorry sorry i'm sorry no it's okay i have a brother yeah right go ahead uh jordan
j-o-r-d-a-n hummel h-u-m-m-e-l do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
but the truth i do counsel uh have you've heard my presentation you agree it's true and accurate
so far and we do not for this if you were your own yes absolutely okay so can you tell us uh
give you a two-minute corporate pitch of what the bathhouse is sure good good afternoon everyone
uh thanks for having me uh my name is jordan hummel and i'm the vice president of real estate
at bathhouse we operate wellness focused bathhouse facilities with three locations currently
operational in new york and have additional locations underway in chicago los angeles
nashville minneapolis and of course here in philadelphia bathhouses are 5000 year old concepts
we are a modern take on old world russian and turkish bathing and thermal spa practices but
with contemporary design and hospitality guests can enjoy hot and cold pools saunas steam rooms
and treatments alongside elevated food and beverage offerings all in a thoughtfully designed
communal environment we're both a restorative escape and a social experience accessible through
day passes and memberships we've secured as ron mentioned 30 000 square feet of interior space at
the valve view for our core use which includes thermal bathing and contrast therapy again saunas
steam rooms cold plunges and spa treatments in addition to the interior program we're seeking
a special exception for roughly 3,500 square feet of roof deck. I want to be clear that this is
intended as a quiet and passive amenity, more akin to a relaxation space than an active or
nightlife-oriented use. Our music is ambient, not amplified, and we're being very thoughtful about
hours, visibility, and how it interacts with neighboring properties. So, Jordan, if I may,
if you look on the screen, so this is a view of the deck, I mean, of the roof, which is not a deck
yet and it's bounded by two buildings one on each side one is the bellevue and the other
building is vacant but it's owned by the lubridado group is that correct that's correct
and so one one of the frontages is facing wanna street the other is facing the chancellor street
garage correct okay um let me find this okay so is this this is a rendering of what we're proposing
here that that's right describe what what would happen on the deck here certainly so uh it's an
extension again of our our interior programming here you can see uh basically a conversation area
um as well as um in another photo you'll see that we'll have one pool uh on the deck as well
and here's the is that the pool yes it is
and here's the is that the pool yes it is is there um live bands dancing music there is not
and what would be the days and hours of operation uh 8 a.m to 10 p.m so is this you have to be
uh a patron of the bath house to use the deck is that correct yes by purchasing a day pass at
bathhouse you get use of interior and exterior space it's all included in the same so it's only
accessible through to through the spa yes correct okay anything else you'd like to add no okay
i have one more question for our architect sure good joy if you could get close to the mic pull
the mic right off to you sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
luke synopoly l-u-k-e do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
Counsel?
Luke, you've heard my presentation so far.
Would you agree it's true and accurate?
And you would adopt this if it were your own?
You're familiar with the plans?
You helped draw them or prepare them?
Correct.
I just wanted to touch on something was raised in the community meeting about the safety of patrons along the front of Walnut Street
and how we comply with the code being set back five feet in a buffer before the guardrail.
Could you explain what's happening here on this photograph or the rendering?
That's correct.
What you see here in the illustration is a guardrail as well as a tall planter.
Each of them no less than 42 inches per minimum code,
and they are also set back five feet from the extreme face of building along the right-of-way per code in the city.
And that's the same way on the Chancellor Street side as well?
On the Chancellor Street side, we actually have a full wall, which is about 10 feet tall.
More for screening, but provides the same effect.
I have no further questions.
Questions from the board?
Yes, what's the hours of operation?
Jordan?
Our hours of operation are 8 a.m. to 1130 p.m.
On the rooftop, it would just be from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Okay, all the questions. Yeah. So what space was this?
Was this where Santa bar of blue was, or is that the deck space or the bath house? It's on the, where the food court was.
Okay, it's not on the blue side. It's the other side where the food court was. Is that what you're saying?
I don't remember where the Sands of Bar was.
Because it was off of like Broad Street.
Oh, are you asking that there's an entrance through Broad Street that way?
Mm-hmm.
That entrance is closed now, right?
On Broad Street?
Because you said it was a subspace.
Yeah, so when you used to go on the first floor and go down the escalator and it was the large food court there.
Right, yeah, the food court there.
Is that where it is?
Because I thought there was a spa and something.
There was.
There was a spa in the corner.
you're correct but that the floor has been completely demolitioned and demolished and
renovated okay great and then um how much square footage is it going to be for this bath house
and is it like a is it like a spa is it like so maybe we explain more move up please i mean you're
so it's really trying to explain that yeah jordan so it's 30 000 square feet and how do you get
closer to the mic too. And the amenities include sauna, the wading pools, if you want to describe
that. It's what's called contrast therapy. So steam room, saunas, cold plunges, hot pools,
et cetera. We do offer massage treatments as well. Okay. All right. So it's, I guess,
like a spa, the founders of our company don't like to call it a spa, but it's like a spa,
but more of a social uh atmosphere so our saunas uh for instance uh fit uh you know 50 people
whereas some saunas might be only eight to ten so it's a a larger scale and you mentioned that
day pass so it's not like you go in for a facial and leave it's more like a an experience is that
what you're going for that's correct guests um aren't limited in the hours that they can enjoy
so some guests come uh in the morning before work or and after the gym and spend an hour and other
guests come maybe as a special occasion and spend four or five hours or an afternoon and do you are
you having any food that's what that was my next question yeah yeah we have uh prepared food um so
we're food is a uh very very small portion i would say of our business but we do offer prepared food
on site okay and is there like cooking with this food or how is that gonna work um we historically
it's been just prepared food so we bring it from off-site to to ours i think we do have
to ours um i think we do have the ability to to prepare food uh but for the most part again
the ability to to prepare food uh but for the most part again
restaurant is not our business it's a very small portion of our business we really have it just as
a amenity for our guests okay and then the deck how is that i mean you're going from this bottom
level where the uh uh what do you call bath house yes so how are we getting there's an elevator
They're both elevators and stairs, but there's an elevator from direct directly from our space up to that roof, which is on the third floor. So again, the building is connected. So when you're inside the space, you have no
no idea that you're walking into 1418. It's completely an open span. So when you're on the lower level, you walk towards, we'll call it to the north and there'll be an elevator there. It'll take you right up
To the roof deck. Okay. And then you have like a check in and all this kind of thing. Yes, that's correct. There's a lobby or reception on Walnut. The photo that was shown is where that check in will be. Lockers, you might have, yes, separate men's and women's locker rooms.
okay all right yeah um any other questions yep real quick so the deck is intended
to be used year-round or it's just seasonal year-round so uh but there's no proposed covering
uh there won't there will not be covering but we have we'll have heated pavers which we have at all
of our other facilities as well all right thank you questions from our attorney not at this time
mr chitians or comments from the virtual audience no hands at this time planning commission if i may
should i uh summarize sure okay so we're asking for a special exception again is this a passive
use we believe it will create no adverse or detrimental impacts of the public health safety
welfare or traffic uh no sounds will be heard beyond the property line um it's again open to
walnut street and chancellor street and we believe it will cause no greater impacts than would be
expected from uh permitted use on the roof deck which would be your residential roof deck thank
you planning commission amy boyd with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no
change to the current cmx5 commercial mixed-use zoning the appellant has demonstrated that the
proposed use will not have detrimental impacts beyond what would reasonably be expected
the planning commission recommends that the board grant the requested special exception for
non-residential roof deck mi 2026 000 352 1418 walnut street i vote yes michael johns my vote
is yes cheryl gaston my vote is yes tinetta graham my vote is yes ryan mcadams my vote is yes
great thank you thank you for the accommodation thank you very much
And by 2025, 007-735-2313, North 11th Street, Murr the Furliger is the attorney.
which one is this? 2313 North 13th Street. 11th. Okay. I'm sorry.
Council, could you please, I swore you went already. Just state your name for the record, please.
My name is Meredith Ferlger, F-E-R-L-E-G-E-R.
Could you identify your client, a relationship to the property?
My client is 231511 LLC, and that entity is represented today by Dennis Schifrin.
There's a recommendation of support from the 37th Ward RCO.
Thank you.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon.
Do you have submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I did.
And do you waive the reading of the refusals and simply to the accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Great. Thank you. You can share your screen. Proceed with the case.
Thank you.
all right uh mr chairman members of the board uh the property before you today is 2315 north 11
street in north philadelphia just by way of background the board did grant recently similar
relief just two lots away from this however this development is admittedly a little bit larger so
However, this development is admittedly a little bit larger, so I will walk you through
I will walk you through everything.
everything in detail.
The exhibit packet includes 17 exhibits, including an overwhelming vote of support from the 37th
ward at exhibit 17.
Tax clearance is included at exhibit two, and the deed showing my client's ownership
is at exhibit three.
Before I introduce the neighborhood and the project, I thought I would start first with
a rendering of this project just so the board can get an early visual here of the project that we're
going to be presenting today as my client will share towards the end of the presentation the
aesthetics of this building are directly responsive to the history of the property
as you can see here the proposal is for a new four-story building with 20 dwelling units and
further utilizes the mixed income housing bonus to restrict two of those units as affordable
now stepping back for a moment uh the zoning map is shown up on the screen at exhibit five
as you can see here this area is a mix of rm1 and cmx2 zoning although here the cmx2 zoning
is relatively incomplete occupying only a portion of a few blocks on north 11th street
if you scan over to north 10 street to the right of the screen you will see a similar
several block radius of cmx2 zoning for which this board recently granted variances to accommodate
an exclusively residential pha project and then across the street in the other direction across
11th street you can see is predominantly zoned rm1 cmx2 and then there's a large swath that's
zoned i-2 this particular property sits at the corner of north 11th street and west dakota street
i did also include aerial views of the property in the area at exhibit eight
looking from the east the board can see here that the only act of commercial use
really in this entire area is the church that's directly across west dakota street from this
property directly across the street that large industrially zoned parcel that you saw a moment
ago is a large scale community garden that abuts the septa regional rail lines directly behind it
because of the trees in the aerial i believe that the street street level images here give
you a little bit better context uh to the area so i'm going to show you some of those
photographs that are at exhibit nine the first photograph i have here shows you the property
from north 11th street which you'll see here is in a fairly dilapidated state with the last use
being uh some form of an automotive use having ceased really some time ago at this point
i did also separately include the permitting history for the property at exhibit 14
if the board has any interest showing that the property has received many variances dating all
way back to 1955 predominantly as i said to support automotive uses such as assembling and
bonding of brakes and general auto body and fender repair flipping in the opposite direction you'll
again see that community garden that i mentioned a moment ago and then looking south along north
11th street you'll see here again that this street is devoid of any active commercial use whatsoever
ever really devoid of any active use altogether the next adjacent property along north 11th
street is a privately owned lot and then next to that at 2309 is land bank owned uh and then next
to that at 2307 is a soon-to-be developed lot that this board recently saw i believe just maybe
a month or two ago and then again flipping in the opposite direction here again you can see
the lack of dominant commercial uses except for that church next door and you can see the pha
towers off in the distance just to better orient you to this area and then again just moving
further in that direction north there's the church and otherwise exclusively residential uses
in this next view from west dakota street which is that intersecting corner street
you'll see the side of the building here that is proposed to be demolished and then you can
see that that very popular community garden off in the distance here and then finally this final
view shows again the exclusively residential nature of this area once you really get past
the exclusively residential nature of this area once you really get past the church to the left
and then this particular formerly automotive property on the right here
and then as always i did include our timely posting
at exhibit 10 we have the zoning site plans and we do also have renderings elevations floor plans
at exhibits 11 and 12 i will summarize and then i can call on our architects from design blends
who should be on the line if the board has any additional detail questions
so just in terms of the orientation of the zoning plan here again you can see it's oriented north
11th street is to the left here and west dakota street is up at the top this proposal is for a
A new four story multifamily building with 20 residential units.
All of the existing curb cuts that surround the site will be filled in and restored to clean paving.
The building itself is detached with an 11 foot rear yard along Dakota Street, and then a 5 foot side yard perpendicular to North 11 Street, and I'm just indicating that location with my cursor.
I will bring up the floor plans to show you in more detail, but on the right-hand side, you can see a layout of the general ground floor layout here, which has a lobby and mail space directly to the left here, and then a trash storage room that can be directly accessed in the building here.
this building will have an elevator which allows for the building to be entirely type B accessible
throughout in terms of the renderings at exhibit 11 the building itself is a mix of brick at the
ground floor with metal siding and architectural embellishments surrounding the building and the
color here is important just in terms of trying to bring in some of the history of this building
Because of the setbacks that I pointed out earlier, all sides of this building will be able to have windows.
And then on the floor plans at Exhibit 12, this again gives you a little bit better detail in terms of the ground floor design.
so the building overall has six different one bedroom unit types which range in size and layout
generally from 486 square feet to 710 square feet with most of them falling between 500 and 600
square feet the building has a front and a back staircase as well as an elevator towards the front
the building there is a basement proposed for this building but that will as i'm showing on
the screen here only contain mechanicals and utilities as well as a designated bike storage
area because the elevator goes all the way down to the basement this provides efficient access
to that bike storage area as well and then like i mentioned our architect is on the line as well
well, and he can walk you through any additional details that the board requires.
In terms of the refusal itself, the refusal shows that two variances are needed for this
particular proposal.
First, even with the inclusion of the mixed income housing bonus, the maximum unit density
for this lot is 13 units, where 20 are proposed.
second cmx2 requires a non-residential use along the ground floor where none is proposed
in terms of the ground floor non-residential space there are are a multitude of hardships
that support the board's grant of relief in no particular order as i mentioned the board did just
grant earlier this year identical hardship relief at 2307 north 11th street clearly establishing
that this board has already concluded that it would be a hardship to institute a non-residential
use along the ground floor, given the context of this particular block. I did include that
variance history here at Exhibit 7. Likewise, as the board saw in the earlier photographs,
this block and the general area is devoid of traditional cmx2 ground floor uses
and does not yet have the density that would be necessary to support those types
of smaller commercial uses that are often intended for pedestrian oriented traffic
With the exclusively residential PHA development, just a block over this area has been steadily transition transitioning to a predominantly multifamily residential neighborhood.
with the exclusively residential pha development just
This is further supported by numerous maps that the city maintains that I've included at exhibit sex.
very briefly the first map here is the commercial corridor map showing that this particular block
is not within a commercial corridor and sits many blocks from either the north broad or
germantown avenue corridors shown on the map the city also maintains a map of business licenses
and you can see that there are essentially no record of business licenses here except for
daycare a couple blocks away piling on the land use map here is also illustrative showing a
nearly complete devoid of red commercial uses except for this property which happens to be
mislabeled since it has been vacant for many many years and in fact the only history of this
property was for traditional industrial use not commercial otherwise the property is surrounded
by either vacant land or other residential uses and then again the next map further shows the
proliferation of vacancy in the area further supporting the hardship and establishing a
viable commercial use and then finally i did also include a map showing new construction in the area
since 2020 which again is exclusively residential showing that there is clearly an established
hardship that does not support the cmx2 required non-residential ground floor use
in terms of the density as the board has seen today this is a meticulously designed building
that includes the somewhat rare investment into an envelope into an elevator that would not be
required or necessary with a lower density the elevator itself will support the availability
of additional accessibility into the building, which happened to be a hugely favored feature
of the building among community members. Although the area surrounding the property has seen
significant multifamily development, there have been very few buildings that would trigger the
investment into an elevator. Furthermore, the area surrounding this property still suffers from
economic distress but is steadily improving as more and more investment is made the development
will significantly activate the corner which is especially critical with the well-loved garden
across the street the additional units in the building not only do not cause a reduction in
the quality of the proposed units but also allow for the inclusion of two required affordable
units at the low income level that will create two deed restricted affordable units to supplement the
significant affordable developments that are occurring just a block over by PHA I will spare
the board the analysis on this unless necessary but in my memo of law I do provide a few examples
of variances the board granted in the area that allowed for more density than the code would
allow with densities ranging per square foot from 187 per unit to 286 square feet per unit for some
of the larger projects in the area in this case the proposed density equates to 226 square feet
per unit which is entirely consistent with similarly dense projects as a reminder the
board did grant a variance just two doors down which not only eliminated the commercial space
but did also approve an increase in allowable density which is reasonably
comparable to the one proposed here on a bigger lot given all of the evidence
we've presented we submit that the variances represent the least minimum
request for relief and in addition as further outlined in the memo of law at
Exhibit 13 the proposal will not increase congestion harm neighbors
properties or impair light and air no dimensional relief is needed for this particular proposal
I'd be happy to go into more detail on any of these points and would ask at this point to have
my client unmuted for two quick questions so if the administrator could look for Dennis Schifrin
hi Dennis could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
Dennis Schifrin, D-E-N-N-I-S, last name S-H-I-F-R-I-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Council?
thank you uh dennis you are authorized to speak on behalf of uh 23 1511 llc correct yes
Thank you.
Dennis, you are authorized to speak on behalf of .
and can you just in a sentence or two explain to the board the actual aesthetic inspiration that
came into this building yeah so the the building was part of the garden um the founding of the
garden. We have spoken on numerous occasions with the members and the leadership of the garden.
As you guys saw, when looking at the existing structure, there was a components of red in the
fence and in the building itself. This was one of the things that we kind of wanted to carry over
as well. There was a sentiment from the garden that they wanted to retain some of that color
because originally I think the garden was actually founded and some of the organization early in its early days was held in this building.
So having that color meant something to the garden across the street.
And then just very briefly, can you just explain to the board how you intend to manage the property,
including, importantly, how trash would be removed from this building?
Yes, so as I'm speaking right now, my office, my business office is located two blocks away
from the property. I'm currently speaking walking distance from the property. We do have
several buildings in the area. I do personally manage
the property. So we do have some staff that is responsible for cleaning up the sidewalk of this
building. I know that also the folks from the garden have also reached out about engaging in
terms of maintenance and of the building once it's constructed. So that's something we would
want to explore. But as far as the trash, Meredith, I don't know if you can pull up the plans. We do
have a dedicated trash room and we would be hiring a commercial trash removing company to ensure
that that that trash is removed uh by them and dennis have have you heard all of the additional
testimony and evidence that i presented in front of the board today i have and do you agree that
testimony was true and accurate and would you adopt it as if you had provided it to the board yourself
is that a yes we didn't hear you yes yes yes sorry yeah i would yes happy to answer any questions
questions from the board what's the units unit mix
uh the unit mix it's all one bedrooms and then there are a couple one bedrooms with
dens so they are uh essentially uh just a variety of different layouts uh for one bedroom units
and are there uh trash chutes on upper on the upper floors because i don't see access
is to the trash room from that from there's no there's no current trash
shoots we've been exploring so I don't know Meredith it's I apologize I don't
know if you have all the floors with you so the the impact of the trash
shoots would diminish the dens on the upper floors so it is something we're
open to consider and it's something we've been having a conversation about
so it's definitely being explored yeah because i mean the way you have it laid out now there's
if folks are taking their trash they have to come out the building out the front or out the back
and walk around the corner and go into the trash room because there's only access from the for the
to the trash room from the outside yeah it is it is something that um if if the board would like i
could bring on the architects that is something that uh we had actually discussed in advance of
this hearing i know they are looking into exploring the options including potentially a trash chute
uh or allowing for access within the building itself uh so i mean again the building itself
has this is a very large trash room in comparison to many others so there is ample space here to
accommodate a more efficient way to have tenants deliver the trash into the trash room and the
trash chute is one of those options that they're exploring all the questions what about uh what
what about uh storage for the units is there additional storage for the units in the basement
or is this just what they have in terms of closets in the units just the bike storage
yeah we proposed it as a bike storage but we could we could definitely consider this as a
as an alternative for additional storage yeah i think just based on the amount of space that's
available it's likely dennis can you confirm this is probably more space than you would need
uh dedicated to the utilities and that there would likely be more than sufficient space to
dedicated to the utilities and there would likely be more than sufficient space
also accommodate tenant storage down here that is correct so the company that i run in the area is
a plumbing company i think that looking at that water utility and electrical room um there's
definitely room for us to maneuver and add additional storage everything but the pico
vault in the elevator uh is is up for uh additional review questions do we have washers and dryers in
these units each each come with a washer and dryer yes yes okay all right a real quick question just
about the uh the density i know that there's um a bonus for the affordable housing yep but just
justifying the particular hardship whatever for the density of the up to 20 yeah so again i mean
there's there's a couple of things so so first of all um as as this board has seen there there is a
precedent in this area for supporting additional density uh and just in comparison to some of the
other requests the the one that i included in the exhibits is two doors down but there have been
other similar requests in front of this board so we were we were able to compare the density
that's proposed here to the density that was approved for some other similar projects
and on a per uh on a lot square footage per unit this falls right in the middle um but just just
you know logistically speaking here um you know again this this is a a large building the elevator
is you know again it's a significant investment that is triggered by additional density but it's
also something that provides a real benefit particularly in an area where most projects
are smaller and don't have the need for that kind of an investment so again it's really just a
combination of the building itself supports the number of units it is as you can see here
on the second through fourth floors here it's five units per floor and it is a corner property here
with windows on all sides so there's really a combination of you know just general context
density in the area really trying to bring some additional density back to this area
the building layout itself and then of course you know again trying to provide some of that
additional type B accessibility, which was something that the RCO was really, really happy
to see. Other questions? Questions from our attorney? Not at this time, Mr. Chair. Questions
or comments from the audience? Come on up. We're going to testify one at a time?
all right who wants to go first sure take a seat please and if you would get close to the
microphone so everybody can hear you I'm going to open my phone so I have some notes pulled up
could you turn on the mic please yes this is better could you please state your name and
spell for the stenographer sure my name is elizabeth o'caro e-l-i-z-a-b-e-t-h last name
o'caro o-k-e-r-o do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do are you a neighbor um i am a neighbor not adjacent to this community but i do um live a few
blocks from where this property will be and i'm also the executive director of the non-profit
organization directly across the farm that was referred to as a community garden so why don't
you start your test yes thank you so much um all for hearing us today and i just want to say i'm
joined by two of our neighbors on dakota street which is the street that this will be cornering
on on 11th street um since this property was first acquired it has sat vacant for a very long time
it's caused a lot of issues for the homeowners on that street from things over growing growing into
their yards difficulty communicating with the property owners i do know dennis i've been in
communication with him um he bought this property from the family of someone who helped found the
farm so i wouldn't necessarily say it was like a a good thing when it happened it happened very
quickly it sold um kind of under the feet of the previous person who was living there
although it was owned by his family so i just like want to state that for the record and
And also that some of the largest concerns that we have, for me, number one, is that
there are five generations of families.
five generations of family so miss teresa who will speak after me she is a fifth generation of the
So Ms. Teresa, who will speak after me, she is a fifth generation.
jordan family who's been living on dakota street and they're all homeowners and that's a really
important thing when we think about our community members our our black homeowners in philadelphia
in north philadelphia i think it's important when we're thinking about making community
connections if we're building new properties to be reaching out to those folks five generations
is a long time to be living in on one block of Dakota Street and not be
communicated once by this developer despite the RCO meeting happening there
needs to be connections made with the people's whose houses this is going to
be abutting this structure will be towering over their homes Dakota Street
is all two level homes other than I believe two new developments that have
happened on either side just to give you perspective of you know like this will
be completely blocking the sunlight this will have a significant um physical appearance and
and take up space uh i didn't realize i was timed i'm so sorry i just have a few more points that
are really important and i can make it quick okay but i mean the point is you're not for the project
i'm not for the project but i just want to say these last few points that are very important
that was more of a personal thing because i think us as humans it's important to also identify how
how this is gonna affect elderly homeowners on the block.
20 apartments is a lot.
The trash is not sufficient.
This small trash room that they're saying
is sufficient enough to hold trash
for a 20 apartment building,
which I'm assuming will not be all
be singular occupied apartments.
It will not do it.
We have seen dumping at an exorbitant rate
in this community and the people who are taking care of it
are the people at the garden that they're talking about.
The people across the street are folks
who are from the community, community organizers
and beautification members
of our community who take care of that area.
Before there was nobody else taking care of it, we were.
They say that they're taking care of the property
that you saw photos of.
We've been taking care of the outside
to make sure that our neighbors on Dakota Street
aren't just looking at trash, accumulate,
and the dumping that you know is prevalent in our city.
It's a real problem.
Next, I just want to say that the parking is a huge issue.
If the aerial footage could be pulled up again,
you can see that where the farm is,
we have our own parking lot.
that parking lot is part of our property we allow the church across the street which is an active
church to park in that parking lot that is it we've had stolen vehicles come and be dumped there
we've dealt with that a lot a lot of police presence because we've had to deal with the fact
that people are dumping cars they're thinking that it's an unused parking lot when really we're an
urban farm functioning and we allow the church use that space we need to have some way to know that
there's going to be parking enforced parking laws enforced or what will be
done about you know 20 units of people if they have cars where are they going
to park the first place that they will see is the parking lot across the street
we have a food pantry that as we speak right now is about to open that runs
every Wednesday from 4 to 6 right at the end of that parking lot we need that
area to be free so people can walk up to the food pantry we're serving our
community there um you know when we talk about the the density that's the word that is continuously
being used right now and um the neighborhood's seen a lot of change i don't know that this
building is a positive change and um i want to you know honor that you gave me an extension
of time and just make sure that our neighbors can speak thank you thank you so much thank you so
much do you have any questions um just just just one um were were you present during the recent
hearing for 2307 north 11th street just a few doors down no i was not so you didn't object to
that that particular proposal which also had identical requests albeit a lesser density but
same same type of variance and let's be specific when you say lesser density what's the difference
it it's just a yes or no question where you density matters 20 apartments in a three-story
building is a lot different i just asked if you were present or objected to that i wasn't
wasn't it didn't affect the neighbors that i've known for all the years i've been there thank you
next person please
how are you could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer sure my name is theresa
marie jordan t-h-e-r-e-s-a-m-a-r-i-e-j-o-r-d-a-n do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth and you're what the timeline is when we we always try to give the
first person more time so she can lay out the issues um you have two minutes and if you would
start off by saying whether you're for it or against it i'm against it okay and then give
us a few minutes of the reason i'm against it is because of as was stated earlier the parking
as was stated earlier the parking okay and then there's also limited parking on 11th street
okay and then there's also limited parking only
because of the street signs that are there currently now on the same property that's
being spoken of it's 11 it's the 2315 and 2317 which is the corner and it's only you're only
speaking of 15 those are two different addresses that's how big that property is and it goes on
down to the next end now for the next part of it is that there's a driveway on that same property
that could be used for parking for those residents who's going to be in this building if it's approved
but also if it's going to stay at a three-story building what was the original plan it should be
still in that parking area because that was actually a driveway where the cars used to go
through when it was repair work being done there all right my family has been there over 40 some
years so we've seen stuff come and go and this just for this to have changed from what it was
originally was to what it is now and the question she asked was whether anybody received did she go
to the meeting for the 2307 our residents did not receive any information pertaining to 2307
for us to even have a discussion about right all right thank you very much ma'am thank you for
spending the time here sir how are you sir you got a smile on your face i'll tell you that
could you could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer andre mitchell
a-n-d-r-a-m-i-t-c mr mitchell do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
but the truth so mr mitchell are you for this or against it i am against and you're a neighbor yes
i'm a neighbor i've lived on it is there anything you can add that you haven't already heard no
nothing but it's just 20 units is all right thank you very much mr mitchell we appreciate it um
any other persons in the virtual audience yes chair i have a hand up from tina love
i have a lot of hands do you have just that one mr chair okay thank you
Tina Love, please unmute and wait to be sworn in.
Tina Love, are you there?
I'm here.
I'm here.
Hello.
Hi, Tina.
Could you please state your name as spelled for the sign?
My name is T-I-N-A, last name Smith, S-M-I-T-H, hyphen love.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Are you a neighbor?
And my mother is on that block as well.
Hold on.
Hold on.
Are you in favor of this or against it?
Against it.
Is there anything you can add that you haven't heard?
I just want to add the capacity of the space.
Dakota Street is a very small street.
um it's all two-story properties on that block the original properties are two stories like
uh my neighbor said we all been on that block for over 30 years and the congestion i sent you photos
of the opposite side of the street on dakota street where uh the representative attorney
was speaking about they're building house apartments on the opposite side of the block
So where's everybody going to park?
The concerns are the trash, increased trash, lack of parking.
Ms. Love, I think we've heard testimony about the parking and the trash from the three people prior.
Is there anything else you could add?
Overcrowding of our neighborhood.
We don't want them there, simply put.
You don't want them there.
Thank you.
Is there anyone else in the audience?
One more hands, Mr. Chair.
No more.
Thank you.
do you want to respond quickly or not if it's going to be long i i i can't keep no it's not
going to be long and mr chairman we were going to suggest uh scheduling a resumption hearing
um i think you know the the concerns relative to trash are certainly well heard particularly
board member uh john's comments so we're happy to schedule a resumption hearing uh to ensure
that we can better address that particular concern um but you know in in terms of in terms
of parking i mean you can see here this is a corner property it would require a variance to
provide parking and even if you could provide it it would be maybe two spaces so that's that's
that's certainly not going to provide any form of material impact um but we were going to suggest
scheduling a resumption hearing um we'll probably have a resumptive hearing you want to take a
position now or do you want to wait the resumptive hearing we'll wait okay thank you so we'll have
the resumptive hearing on 8 18 20 at 9 30 p.m at 9 30 p.m no 9 30 a.m i'm sorry
we go much longer it'll be nicer but i will not all right oh you would be here thank you um you
um you have another case okay right yes okay and let me just grab my water number six
We have another case.
Right?
thank you for coming down by the way
MI 2025-005-993-6100, Wissahickon Avenue.
Meredith, just for the record, state your name.
Meredith Ferliger, F-E-R-L-E-G-E-R.
Right, you've already been sworn.
Could you identify your client and relationship to the property?
Sure thing.
My client is Hornet93LLC, which is the owner of the property, and represented today on Zoom by Nadal Hassan.
Right, and we had some testimony earlier about what the support of the RCO.
At this point, there is a letter of opposition, as I understand.
Understood.
Vice Chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, we did.
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
yes i do all right thank you you can show your screen and proceed with the case thank you all right
uh mr chairman uh in addition to the property owner nadal hassan i also have in the room with
me today our civil engineer gabrielle butcher and rhett chileberti who are right behind me
i'll bring them up momentarily i do also have on the zoom our architect carl emberger
and then i do also have alex bruno with leak engineering wait give me an idea i'm just going
to take because seriously we can't i can't do another 45 minutes from now it's it's probably
45 minutes we're here's we're going to be you you have 45 minutes yeah and then it's what's cut
i hear you all right and we'll take it to a presumptive hearing understood please yep understood
The request before the board today concerns 6100 Wissahickon Avenue. You have an exhibit packet in front of you that contains 25 exhibits. To summarize the basis for today's request, this application requests the erection of a new structure for use of 16 dwelling units, including two reserved as affordable through the mixed income housing bonus program.
only one refusal was issued for this project which is required due to the disturbance into
steep slope areas that surround the site for a variety of reasons that the board will see today
this project and this property meet the textbook legal definition of a true and legitimate hardship
such that if relief were denied would completely foreclose any development of this lot whatsoever
As you will see, that is not an exaggeration for effect.
We are, of course, however, aware of the letter of opposition that was submitted to the board that does acknowledge that this developer addressed the majority of the requested changes, barring one.
We will address those concerns during the presentation in the hopes that the board will assign the appropriate weight to the community's position, both in light of the considerable hardship and the
relationships as well as the material changes that my client made seeking to appease the
community's wishes tax clearance is included at exhibit two I did just submit that to the
board this morning and the deed to the property is included at exhibit three showing that my
client purchased this at sheriff's sale just last year I'll start first by introducing the area and
And then we'll invite some of our design team members to walk you through the project.
Exhibit 5 shows the zoning map of this area.
As you can see, the property location is indicated with an arrow at the corner of West Walnut Lane and Wissahickon Avenue and is zoned CMX1.
From the map, you can also see that the property sits just west of Lincoln Drive and is largely just engulfed by parkland.
i've also included some overhead aerials at exhibit six this first image looks north showing
the vacant corner property that is at issue if i zoom out just a little bit more in the next
image you'll start to glean that this is a relatively mixed single-family neighborhood
with some larger apartment complexes interspersed the parkland itself creates a natural buffer for
the neighborhood the south and the south and the west looking aerials further show
how this property is largely surrounded by significant impervious surface as well as
some additional large apartment complexes as well the property itself sits between west walnut lane
the property itself sits between west walnut lane which is 80 feet wide
which is 80 feet wide.
and then wissahickon avenue that is 60 feet wide and then it adjoins a commercial property that
you can see here that occupies nearly a hundred percent of its lot as well as parking on the
opposite corner as well although this case does not involve any variances that pertain to use
I did include at Exhibit 7 a map of the surrounding density just to show the general context of this neighborhood that does have a multitude of multifamily buildings nearby, including two directly across the street, one for 32 units and one for six units.
again we don't have any burden with a steep slope variance to establish the appropriateness of the
use itself but we do believe it is important to establish just the overall reasonableness
of this proposal in light of many many complicating factors exhibit 8 shows photographs of the site
where you'll immediately discern what brings us before the board today the entire site is
surrounded at the edges by an existing slope this photo is standing right at the corner of the
intersection looking at the site the next photo here shows the site itself is already downhill
from the neighbors along wissahickon avenue to the northwest and you can see that slope down
along wissahickon avenue although not a refusal item the height was a concern to the community
you can see here in the photograph the relative height of the opposing corner
which again does sit at a higher elevation than this property if i zoom out even further you can
see the the stark con contrast of the slope of this site to everything that surrounds it
including the park across the street which has a much more gradual slope to wissahicken avenue
Moving further southeast on Wissahickon Avenue, you can see that the sloping conditions generally dissipate entirely.
And then looking towards Walnut Lane, again, we would point to the significant impervious surface that sits downhill from this site.
the sloping condition to the southeast again you can see in this photograph you can see the
significant slope that extends all the way down Wissahickon Avenue and then you can see here the
apartment complex property extends essentially all the way to the corner it's a little hard to
see in the photograph but the property line for this apartment complex does extend to the corner
as well and then that adjoins some single-family homes and then i have included a couple of
additional photographs from from walnut lane again showing the steep conditions that border
this site and you can see those here uh looking up towards wissahick and avenue
and then this is the apartment complex that i mentioned across the street
on walnut lane and then this is as you move north of the property this is that corner
that i mentioned that sits at the higher elevation and just some of the additional
homes that sit on wissahickon avenue and then i did also include the zoning posters
i do have several exhibits that essentially establish the same thing
so i will note a few details on each of them quickly
if i start at exhibit 15 you can see a general topographic survey of the site
if i zoom in a bit you will see the elevation markings and i'll pick one particular area
hopefully so you can see here
you can see here that the uh that the slope uh is is fairly gradual in the middle of the site here
and then becomes quite steep as you move towards the outer edges of the site itself.
It's just an issue.
Your people you're going to bring in, they're not going to cover this too, are they?
So you're covering the sloop.
Okay, thank you.
They'll cover the hardship aspects of it.
I'm just giving you some background.
the site itself is over 5300 square feet with roughly 58 feet of frontage on wissahickon
avenue and 162 feet uh and change on west walnut lane it is as you can see here a highly irregularly
shaped parcel which would alone render construction more difficult even absent the
which would alone render construction more difficult even absent the considerable intrusion
of the steep slopes more directly if you refer to exhibit 16 again you can see a visual representation
of the steep slopes in terms of the zoning code itself so the white areas in the middle
have no slopes at all the light gray areas have slopes of 15 to 25 percent which are permitted to
be developed with the submission of an earth moving plan and then the dark gray areas which
is why was which is ultimately what brings us in front of you today uh represent slopes of more
than 25 percent which are not permitted to be disturbed under the zoning code and you can see
here that these slopes surround the entire border of this site the parcel does sit within the
wissahick and watershed shed overlay but contrary to the steep slope restrictions the property is
a category 5 which means that there is no zoning code restriction relative to the impervious
coverages so it's somewhat of a conflicting restriction which further illustrates both
the hardship and the project's compliance with code requirements before i bring up the design
team to walk you through the more detail i would like to just bring up the zoning code sections
that outline the standards that this board must apply to steep slope variances in addition to
all of the other standard variance provisions i'll bring up the relevant one here we go
section 143038 i is shown at exhibit 23 the applicant must demonstrate that the
application meets certain criteria as certified by a licensed professional engineer number one
that the variance will not result in an increase in stormwater runoff
the shifting of earth to adjacent buildings or uh properties down or upslope
or an increase in likelihood of loss to the property number two the applicant must submit
an earth moving plan and then in terms of overall scope of review the commonwealth court has
clarified that steep slope variances are not properly characterized as use variances but
should be subject to a less stringent hardship requirement so at this point i'd like to bring
up uh first carl m burger our architect sir could sir could you step back and sit on the
thing let her put her witness there is this person online okay
carl is that his name carl yeah carl and burger
and just while he's coming on i will note that we do we did submit revised zoning plans and a revised
zoning plan proviso form i'll have carl address those changes in his walkthrough all right carl
hello my name is carl emberher with canary architecture carl could you please spell
your name for the stenographer yes it is c-a-r-l and then um e as in edward m as in mary b-e-r-g-e-r
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth told truth nothing but the truth
i do counsel uh thank you uh carl you you already mentioned but you are the architect on this
project is that correct that is correct um so i have up on the screen now exhibit 11 which is
our revised zoning plans from these zoning plans can you just briefly walk the board through the
project envelope and the impetus behind this particular building envelope that is shown
yes um the project is a four-story building with a basement for 16 units um the lowest level um is
actually considered a basement because of the changing grade across the site
but that lowest level will be our entry level there's four apartments um per upper floor
um and the reason we arrived at the um the footprint that we that we finally arrived at
was that um we were trying to minimize its incursion into the steep slopes dimensionally
speaking does the project comply with the zoning code yes it does and then what about in terms of
the occupied area of the site itself does the project seek to maximize coverage of the site
Does the project seek to maximize coverage of the site?
No, as I just had noted, we were looking to minimize the footprint to minimize the incursion into the steep slope.
So is it correct that the zoning plans reflect an occupied area of 66% where the code would allow for 80% for a corner?
That is correct, yes.
And what about in terms of rear yard requirements?
the rear yard well um the rear yard is greater than um far greater than what we are required
okay uh turning to the floor plans i have up at exhibit 14 just if you can talk through uh first
the entry level plan and then we can move to the upper levels sure um so at the entry level uh we
We have the main entrance to the building, a mail and package room, a bike room for six
bike spaces.
Utilities are to the far left of the plan, a utility room for incoming utilities.
In the center of the plan, we have the stairs and the elevator and a trash room.
And then to the right of the plan, we had what was formerly a retail space.
but we have since changed to an amenity space for the building and then before I
leave this plan how does the trash get from the upper levels to the trash room
the trash comes we have a trash chute planned for the middle of the building
so there is a they will the residents would have access to the chute from the
corridors and that would you know deliver the trash to the first floor I
I mean, to the lowest level, excuse me.
Thank you.
And then can you just briefly explain the layout of the first floor through fourth floor?
So the first floor through fourth floor is four units a piece.
It's a mix of one bedrooms and two bedrooms.
And they range from 615 square feet in size to almost 885 square feet in size.
um the the layouts are essentially the same from floor to floor um the elevators and the stairs
are centralized um and again the trash chute you can see in the center of the plan as well
from this image here there are some red dotted lines indicated on the floor plans what does that
what does that indicate? So we have opted to all the units are type B units as required by code
but through the process of discussing the project with RCO there was a specific request to have an
accessible unit in the space so we now have an accessible fully accessible unit and those red
lines represent the clearances and then what is the plan for the roof uh we are planning to have
a roof deck um to the wissahick inside of the um site and and um down towards the west walnut lane
side of the site as well um and there will also be um uh compressors or i'm sorry condensers for
the for the heat pump units or the heat pumps in the units so carl i'm bringing up uh renderings
of the building at exhibit 13. can you just briefly describe the design and as you do
try and address aspects of the building that were modified in response to the discussions
with the community okay um so we are showing a um the design is showing a red brick um red brick
facade we have a mix of um window types and sizes um there was concern expressed um from the rco
that um they didn't want just like a box that a boring box building so um there's a mix of units
or i'm sorry mix of window sizes we also introduced juliet balconies which were specific requests of
the community um we reduced the um floor to floor height and pushed back the parapet wall to the
edge of the roof deck um so that um the building appears less massive from the um from the from
the corner okay and then just by way of comparison um i have up on the screen a part of exhibit 10
does this does this show what the original design was for the building yes that is correct okay
all right so this is somewhat reflected in the rendering itself but
This is somewhat reflected in the rendering itself, but can you talk about, I want to bring up one of the elevations, can you talk about the height of this building in relation to the single-family homes that are on the opposing corner at Naomi Street?
um yes we um there's a yeah it's the next page actually is it so this is a cross-section for
through the um through our site parallel to um with the hick and aft um what we have been able
to determine from a mix of publicly available um information and our own survey of the of our excuse
be of this property it's 6100 with bank and avenue um we have determined that naomi street is is
roughly 16 feet above west walnut lane um and the peak of the roof at the corners which were shown
those houses were shown earlier in the presentation is roughly another 40 feet above that so
um it is the peak of those roofs are actually taller than our building on the site
but not taller than the elevator overrun which you can see in this image okay and in relation
and in relation to the concern that the community expressed relative to the height I don't I don't
recall you specifically addressing this how did you seek to address the concern about height of
the building um so previously we had the standard 10 foot floor to floor um that generally apartments
get built with um that allows for a nine foot ceiling in the units um we have reduced each of
the floor to floor heights of the apartment levels um by seven inches each to get that that overall
height down the other thing that we did was we took about two feet off of the the lowest level
the entry level um so in all the building really lost um has has shrunk by about six feet um of
total dimension however because of the grades um the overall building height really is only um
as it's measured from average grade it's only reduced by about two feet
so the community had requested that the building be reduced to three stories in reviewing that
particular request what would that design require in terms of the building itself
um so so we did study a um three three-story scheme earlier in this project um it what end
uh ends up happening is we're much closer to what we were i think at that 80 coverage area maximum
um so we basically would increase the incursion into the steep slopes by um providing a similar
program but reducing the height of the building so ultimately then is it fair to say that the
goal here was to try and address the community's concern by reducing the overall building height
but not creating more incursion into steep slope areas is that yes yes um and then just in terms of
a summary much of that design consideration that you talked about today is summarized at exhibit
22 is that correct that is correct carl in a typical variance case we're required to show
the board that the lot suffers from a unique and unnecessary hardship putting the steep slope
aside does the shape of this lot in your professional opinion alone create a hardship
no it does not in in light of the lot shape and the steep slope did you analyze whether any
development or of any use or any size can be built on the lot by right without variances from this
board in my opinion there's there's no building that could be proposed on this site without having
some some form of incursion into a steep slope by the by the sole fact that um the the flat part of
the site is to the to the back to the side and to the rear so um basically to get into the building
you would have to go through, you would have to, you know, dig in and put, you know, retaining walls,
pathways, stairs, ramps to get up to that flat part. The other challenge that would then be
presented is that we would not be meeting the front setback requirements. And so we would then
be asking for a variance for the front setback. And then what about in terms of parking?
front for the front setback and then what about in terms of parking did you explore the viability
of putting parking on the lot and if so why is that not viable um we we did look at um putting
parking on this on the site um it it would either increase the incursion into the steep slope again
by putting surface lots on there um or it would result in an incredible amount of excavation
because of this steep slope if we were trying to get it below grade um the other challenge
that it presents and we've had this um issue on other projects where this has been requested is
that the amount of space that you end up losing on the street parking quickly offsets any space that
you're on um any spaces that you're gaining on site so because we have to make a curb cut or
because um especially with a surface surface lot that's just a kind of pull in um you would end up
losing almost an equal number of uh on-street parking spaces so carl in your professional
opinion do you believe that this development disturbs as little of the steep slope as possible
i do all right um that's all i have for carl i'd like to bring up my next yeah yep how many more
witnesses do you have how much time of peace um because i'm i'm we're gonna have to do a
result of here we're we're really behind where we should be understood mr sheriff and that's
i want to wait wait a minute and um we're going to give this another date i know you testified
I think we understood everything you said, but you're free to come back.
All right. So this is going to be a resumptive hearing on 818, 20 at 930 AM.
Okay, yep.
And thanks. Thanks for staying so long, sir. We appreciate it.
Thank you.
Spring Street, right?
Oh, there you go.
yeah spring your community palace right yeah i remember
he was here before
so mi 2025 006073 1700 spring garden street frederick boindexter is the attorney
counsel i'm sorry we're so long but we appreciate you waiting back there would you please state
your name and spell for the stenographer if you would get close to the mic sure it's frederick
poindexter f-r-e-d-e-r-i-c-k p-o-i-n-d-e-x-t-swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do you tell us identify your client a relationship to the property yep
community college of philadelphia here with me is eve markman uh the assistant vice president of
brand management and operations uh online they also have we also have uh two members in the crowd
shannon rooney the vice president for enrollment management strategic communications and chuck
longager from city sign okay and we have a non-opposition from logan square neighbors
association our vice chair has a few questions good afternoon have you submitted your documents
and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes with the exception that i neglected to send
the proviso plans form but i did send the revised plans so i sent the form this afternoon earlier
this afternoon okay i don't know if you got the email that i sent you but we will need to just
hold the vote because i'm going to need to review the plans with l and i to see what the board would
need to stamp because there's a different number of pages from what was submitted to l and i for
what was submitted for the reviso plans form and so i just i got to get that sorted out and so i
don't want to just throw a number out there and then it's wrong so if you'll just indulge us we'll
vote on this on on june 3rd yeah we're happy to accept the case okay thank you but we can hear
we can hear everything else today we're going to do it and do you waive the read another refusal
and simply to its accuracy yes i do all right thank you you can show your screen and proceed
with the case thank you thank you so much chairman members of the board uh as we've stated i'm here
I WILL MOVE THROUGH THIS QUICKLY.
SO YOU MIGHT HAVE NOTICED OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS, COMMUNITY COLLEGES PHILADELPHIA
HAS REBRANDED AND SPREAD ACROSS THE CITY THE NEW PLACEMAKING AND VIBRANCY OF THE COMMUNITY
BUILDING.
YOU MIGHT BE ASKING WHY YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THAT ON CAMPUS ITSELF JUST YET AS THE ENTRYWAYS
AND THE BIG PICTURE VIEWS OF CAMPUS LACK THE SAME LOGO AND BRANDING.
That's partially because we've been undergoing this process for the last two years or so trying to get approvals for this for these zoning permits.
We've accidentally been issued a zoning permit that which was revoked last year we've been going through this process.
accidentally been issued a zoning permit, which was revoked last year. We've been going through this process for the better part of two years now. Lots of work with L&I and the community.
So I'll skip right to the community aspect of this. We have a letter of non-opposition, as you've said. That took lots of collaboration with LSA members of the Planning and Zoning Committee, both formal meetings with the community and informal meetings with the staff of LSA.
AND I WOULD LIKE TO PRESENT THE ORIGINAL PLANTS WHICH THEY WERE NOT OPPOSED TO TWO, THREE OF THE ORIGINAL SIGNS AND WERE OPPOSED TO TWO OF THEM SO I'LL START WITH THE THREE SIGNS THAT THEY WERE NOT OPPOSED TO ORIGINALLY.
All right, so these are the new logos for the community college and these are, these
logos here are located on the garage on either side of 17th and 18th Street where the garage
is located.
And I'll scroll up to give you a big picture overview of that, of the campus so that you
can understand where these are placed.
So, if you look here where my pointer is, the garage signs are going to be located on 17th there and are closer to 18th there.
We don't want that to happen.
This is what happens when you try to move quickly.
Apologies.
Okay. So here are the signs on the garage facing 17th and the other side facing 18th. And you can see here the locations on the overview. The community was not opposed to these signs. They do require variances for the height and size. The same with the Lion's Den logo. This is an illuminated logo internal to campus along 17th Street. It's not facing the neighborhood. It's across the street from another campus building.
Again, this is about sort of highlighting the activity center, athletic center for the student body.
Right now, there's a banner sign there, which doesn't really have the presence and placemaking that the community college would like to present for its students.
You can see here, it's an illuminated sign.
And again, the community was not opposed to the Lyonsden sign.
Here we have the original versions of the 17th Street Bridge sign, which were the subject of much of the discussion with the community.
The original proposal was a large format logo sign over 17th Street. There were concerns about
the size of it and being a distraction to the community along the highly trafficked area.
And this is the other sign that was opposed on the south facing wall of the main building. It's
sort of looking south to center city. It's an illuminated sign. Again, very large and the
community had concerns about not only its size but the illumination so we have gone back to the
drawing board to the signage plans and here is the revised sign that's been agreed to with the
community a smaller format much more much less window coverage and the community sort of was
more felt this is more appropriate for the entryway into campus
and the large format illuminated sign on the south facing wall has been reduced by 10 percent
so that was one of the concerns that we addressed with the community is that the size of the signs
was uh more than what was required by you know the placemaking and the sort of branding recognition
that the college was looking for so they reduced the sign by what they felt was the most that they
could with what they were the space that was available there and the mechanics and engineering
of the signage. And you can see here these views which highlight the illumination at night time.
And also you see views here looking out to Center City and looking from Center City into that south-facing wall.
So the relief requested, of course, is for the revised plans for the south-facing logo sign,
the 17th street bridge sign uh revised and the three signs two on the garage and the lines and
sign on the athletic center and just i'd like to ask that at the conclusion of our testimony that
the materials here be entered into the record and i would like to ask eve markman to answer
one question hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer my name is eve
Markman, E-V-E-M-A-R-K-M-A-N. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
nothing but the truth? I do. Counsel? Thank you, Eve. Can you just describe the importance of the
placement of these signs on campus and that why these are the least modifications possible to
and that why these are the least modifications possible to your buildings for that brand
your buildings for, you know, that.
recognition and entryway to campus that you're looking to create. Yes, thank you. So as Fred
said, we rebranded in 2024 and previously we have had almost no signage on campus and have been kind
of known as the best known secret in Philadelphia. People don't know where we are. We should call it
It is the Mint. We have the third U.S. Mint is our main building. And what we found, if you look at Temple, Drexel, Penn, Jefferson, all the other campuses, they have this welcoming environment, and we feel that our students deserve that same pride of place and feeling.
the window decal across 17th street that's the main entrance into our campus and we're trying to
create an entryway where you know you're coming onto our campus many people say they don't know
where our campus is the p's on the um the parking garage are really just pretty internal but they
give people an idea that this is part of our campus it's kind of in the center we're sort of
two square blocks 16th to 18th spring garden to callow hill and then the lion's den we have
championship athletics teams and we want people to know that we have basketball games going on
we have volleyball we have things happening there um we want our student athletes many of which who
transfer to four-year schools and get to play um at at the four-year collegiate level like their
pride in place and then finally the lit p is really for the city to know where we are if
you're standing in the comcast center and you look out you can see many places with lit signs and we
want people in the city not just our students to know where we are thanks eve uh the could the
uh administrator look for shannon rooney and the sure shannon yeah shannon shannon please
thank you thank you welcome
hi there can you hear me i i can could you please state your name is spelled for this
stenographer sure it's shannon s-h-a-n-n-o-n rooney r-o-o-n as in nancy e-y do you swear or
affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do if possible could you turn your
video one oh sure yeah sure council sure thanks for joining chan uh one question for you can you
please describe the link between the importance of this signage and the growth and health of
your student body and why that it matters to the future of campus absolutely and thanks for the
opportunity so one of the primary reasons in addition to the ones that eve described in terms
of pride of place and student kind of feeling of pride the bread and butter in terms of the
financial vitality of the institution is really tied to our enrollment and our enrollment growth
for some time our enrollment was in decline we're fortunate that the last few years enrollment has
been growing year over year and the enrollment revenues actually come out to more than 40 of our
operating budget annually so it is extremely important for us to make sure that students are
aware of the opportunities that are available to them at the college and part and parcel of that
is just making sure that we have enough visibility within the city so our hope is with signage kind
of to to this extent we will be able to ensure that students not just at neighboring schools
but city-wide understand the opportunities that are available to them at the college
thank you shannon yep anyone else no chuck longacre is available to answer questions
questions from the board um what i guess a question um in terms of just the the time that
the illumination will begin there was some uh feedback from the rco that they wanted the time
limit is that something that you all are amenable to or correct we've agreed to the proviso that
the sign will be lit at dusk and turned off at midnight through 6 a.m thank you any other questions
That was actually my question.
I'm not sure if I'm seeing all five of the signs.
So there's the one with the writing, and then the others are just the logos on different buildings.
Yeah, so the five signs there are two on the garage.
Yeah, there's one on each side of the garage.
Sorry.
there we go so one on either side of the garage on 17th and on 18th you can see here
and the lines inside the one internal to campus on the athletic center and that faces the other
side of campus right this is the other side right faces right across them right yeah and
And then you have the large format P on the south facing wall as revised, and also the bridge sign over 17th Street as revised here.
then you have the large format p on the south face
Those are the five signs, which is really four.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you.
Any other questions?
Questions? Well, I think our attorney has already spoken about this.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I don't see any hands raised, Mr. Chair.
Any commission?
amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in
zoning at this location from the current spins special purpose institutional the proposal
completed as our commission in august 2024 the our committee's advisory recommendations are not
an expression of the city planning commission's recommendation or opinion regarding zoning
variances special exceptions or other discretionary approvals associated with this proposal
the appellant has demonstrated the proposed signs are necessary for wayfinding
the planning commission recommends that the board grant their requested variances for sign
area and location all right thank you hillary we're two weeks we're going to be
yeah right so uh tuesday it'll be 2 p.m vote right okay thank you i appreciate it i'm sorry
we took so long no worries thank you chairman members of the board a great afternoon we're
going to go to number nine, right? MI 2026-000-350-5912 Ridge Avenue. William O'Brien is the attorney.
Mr. O'Brien, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman. William, W-I-L-L-I-A-M, O'Brien, O-B-R-I-E-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
Yes, my client is Baker Street Partners, and Steve Oshesky, one of the managing members, is in the virtual audience and will be listening and hopefully adopting my testimony.
And our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents in advance five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have.
And do you waive the reading of the referral and simply to its accuracy?
i waive the reading of the referral and the refusal however there is one
error and there's a letter of support from the central roxford association
okay thank you you see your screen
oh you might need that now
Thank you for your patience.
Thank you.
okay okay thank you um so the refusal uh is on pages of two and three uh this is
one of a number of properties that was selected or identified, I should say, by the Civic Group
years ago that was likely to become the subject of some redevelopment. And to make sure that that
process went through the Civic Group, this was one of those properties that was rezoned
to RSD1. I'll have an image of the immediate area and you'll see that, I mean, Ridge Abbey is one of
immediate area and you'll see that I mean Ridge Avenue is one of the most vibrant or the most
the most vibrant or the most
one of the two most vibrant business districts in northwest Philadelphia and you'll see that
most of the block most of Ridge Avenue is CMX2 or 2.5. This was one of those properties that
was zoned RSD1 to make sure that whatever happened with this property was relatively scrutinized.
So many of the refusals are dimensional refusals because the RSD one dimensional requirements was applied to this.
These dimensional refusals would not be present if it was zoned RSD 2.5 like the rest of Ridge Avenue.
the uh as you mentioned mr chairman the civic group the central roxford civic uh issued a
letter of support i just want to call out the final paragraph of their letter the civic group
appreciates the effort of baker street partners has put into designing the new structure that
closely adheres in front to the original house of 5912. We also appreciate the commitment to use
to the use of WISHIC and Schist as shown in the renderings presented at the RCO meeting.
This is that image and you can see all the pink that's along Ridge Avenue it's all CMX 2.5. The
The exceptions are the Leverington Cemetery here, the large piece on the top right.
It's RSD-1.
Here is the subject property down at the bottom that was rezoned RSD-1.
And then this is the former home of Interac, a nonprofit.
It's a large historic property on a very large lot, as you can see.
And that is also protected by this RSD-1 zoning.
So this is the subject property. It sits on a lot. It's about 17,000 square feet. The building is built in 1901. There was an addition to the rear, but the building is considered contributing to the Ridge Avenue thematic historic district.
it is since 1984 it has was granted a variance to allow an orthodontist on the first floor and
one dwelling unit on the top two floors so it's two uses one apartment one dwelling unit and
one orthodontist office this is the setting of that structure so you can see it's got an open
area to the right that's used for parking now across the street where my cursor is that's a
curb cut to a parking lot for a wendy's restaurant across the street is uh another curb cut for a
parking lot or a i think now closed rite aid um behind the building behind the subject property
You see this white structure, three, three, four story structure.
That is 27 apartments.
And just in terms of density, those 27 apartments sit on a lot that is smaller than these two lots.
These two lots, the property now is about, as I said, 17,000 square feet.
The proposal is to subdivide.
Once it's subdivided, if the variances are granted, there'll be a total of 12 apartments.
So it's less, less, more than half as dense as, as the, as the building behind it.
This is what is proposed again on the left, uh, you see the existing structure and what's proposed on the right, uh, again, three stories, uh, well below the 38 foot height limit.
It matches the height of the existing structure on the, on the, on the left.
And it is set back the same depth, and it's also set back the same depth as the house, existing house on the right side.
And again, you can see the Wissick and Schist and the porch.
This is a close-up of the entrance, so there are actually three entrances, and I'll go through that.
This entrance, where the stairs are, that will access nine of the apartments.
There are front doors on the porch that will access the other two.
uh this is the planting plan um because of location of the orientation of the existing
structure the shape of the lot we wanted to use the existing curb cut and driveway
which we did but there were several trees that had to come down we were able to introduce the
planting beds separating the residential districts from the parking lot however we were short on
replacing all of the trees so we have the plan which you can't see but i'll read
what that planning schedule provides is planting 25 new trees 45 new shrubs
and 26 perennials however that was still short of what the code requires so we requested a waiver
September of last year we were granted that waiver one we were able to get some relief on
the depth of those planting beds that secondly in lieu of the replacement trees we couldn't put
on the lot. We're agreeing to pay in lieu of fee of $11,175. And then finally, there are two trees
that are heritage trees that are being removed. That's the referral.
And those are in the materials on page 41. There's a wild cherry tree. If you notice the letter,
the last paragraph refers to two torches trees 11b and 19b 11b is a wild cherry tree
which the arborist reported is bifurcated it's in bad shape poor condition and then the number
9b 19b rather is a norway spruce which is also an unbalanced crown and also in poor condition
if you want I can show you those two trees
so this is the bifurcated wild cherry
and this is
this is the Norway spruce
which is ensconced in vines and rated in poor condition
so we're asking for a grant
a special exception so that they may be removed
almost finished
the zoning plan
age 13
of the materials. So once again, the proposed structure will have 11 units, three on the first
floor, four on each of the second and third floors. The proposed use of the existing structure does
not change. It'll be an orthodontist or some doctor's office on the first floor and one dwelling
in it. We're able to put in 16 parking spaces. So one of the refusals was that the new structure
doesn't have enough parking uh on phases 67 to 74 is the proposed deed of uh subdivision which
includes in perpetuity a cross easement so that the parking spaces on both lots can be used by
both buildings that includes the ninth survey district approved language for the subdivision
for the meets and bounds uh easements as well as a a plan depicting those to those easements
so we have 16 parking spaces and if you see the refusal i mentioned was incorrect uh on
the first page of the refusal parcel a it says that one of the refusals is not having the required
one accessible parking space. And you can see right here, there is one accessible parking space
for parcel A. There's also one for parcel B. So both are compliant in terms of ADA requirements.
Finally, the elevations and then briefly the floor plans. So the two doors that you see on
the porch are actually the entrance to two of the units on the first floor two one-bedroom units
they're shown in the front of the building uh and then that's that entrance on the side with
the stairs i showed you in the rendering uh takes you to a hallway there's an entrance to the first
It takes you to a hallway. There's an entrance to the first floor rear apartment, which is a two-bedroom, and then as you go up the stairs to the second floor, there are two one-bedrooms in the front and two two-bedrooms in the rear, and the same thing on the third floor.
for rear apartment.
So again, total, we have 11 in this, one in the other, so 12 proposed apartments and 16 parking spaces.
um that finishes my representation or my presentation i request that the remaining
documents i haven't referenced be included in the record what do you bring
what are your clients on yes if steve ashefsky could raise his hand
I'll be coming back in as a panel, sir.
Thank you.
hello there hi sir steve could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes it's uh uh steve osjeski it's spelled s-t-e-v-e o-l-s-z-e-w
S. K. I were a firm to tell the truth, told truth, nothing but the truth.
Council.
Mr. Chesky, are you the managing member of Baker Street Partners?
Were you in the audience during my testimony and did you hear it?
And was my testimony truthful?
And do you adopt it as your own?
Questions from the board.
Trash.
how is trash being managed for the site the units um i can bring up the zoning
plan again well it's on this plan as well this is the planning plan and you'll see
this is a trash area here and that will be shared by both buildings
so the the there's no interior trash storage in the units for the tenants no okay
All the questions.
Yeah, question, how many accessible units are there?
There's one.
The first floor unit in the rear, this unit is accessible.
Okay, that's the accessible unit and the accessible parking space is next
to that column but the ramp is over to the right that's a lot for someone in a wheelchair to have
to traverse parked cars if there are two other cars parked next to them there's almost no way
they can get around that car to get into that ramp so you might want to consider reversing
the location of that spot uh is chris karakoff in the audience
if he is could he raise his hand
he's coming on now i'm here can everyone hear me hi could you please state your name and spell
fridge photographer it's chris karikoff c-h-r-i-s c-a-r-i-c-k-h-o-f-f where affirm to tell the
truth told truth nothing but truth i do counsel uh did you hear the last question regarding the
location of the existing handicap parking space relative to yes i did um and i could speak to that
we actually have remedied that uh i believe we had a proviso plan bill i'm not sure if you have
that in your packet or not uh the rco had requested a uh an update um where we have the we do have the
handicapped space all the way on the right hand side um and we actually have direct access into
the unit okay so thereby i'm going to be supplementing the materials with a proviso plan
yeah that addresses your comment exactly because that was the same issue
yeah yeah that addresses your comment exactly because that was the same issue so it is it's an
11 foot wide parking space it would be you know shifted to the right we adjusted the column it's
not affecting the uh the access at all and then they can go directly into their unit without
even having to go up the ramp actually we've lowered the unit because oh good the door is
actually covered and protected from any environmental conditions so um and because
that is the only that is considered the accessible uh level the other units are not accessible
does that mean that the ramp is removed correct no longer needed uh there is a direct access into
the unit and so i'm just because we're not looking at it and yeah so it's going to be the unit that's
on the bottom it's that one bedroom unit with the balcony that's at the bottom of the plan no uh it
is on the top left of this plan and if you can see where the entry door is uh it's actually uh mirrored
and now on on the uh the wall you know if you park straight ahead um that wall and um there's
additional striping uh where you have full access straight into the unit from there
um okay that's helpful so i think my question is then with this unit sort of being
functionally off the rest of the plan what's going to be the plan specifically for that units
trash and for that units um mail including like package deliveries because it seems like everybody
else in the building is going to have some sort of shared common spaces or like where their mailboxes
are. So how is that now fully accessible unit going to? There is some shared mail accessibility
for the floors, second and third floors. They will have a shared lobby. However, the three units on
this ground floor all have their own entrance from the exterior. So they would have to have
their own mail delivery directly to their unit. And are you, are those going to be denoted just
because I know having lived in multiple places before, if they're not specifically called out
and that's not run through OPA, they're not going to have a legally separate address. It's hard to
get the mail separately delivered when they don't look like row houses with separate addresses.
um i don't know that i necessarily have an answer to that um i don't know if the owner
has thought that through or um we're certainly amenable to to address how best you feel yeah i
think that we'll definitely have a lot of signage and wayfinding uh that'll be able to point towards
where every location will be we'll make sure it's very clear and explicit for anybody that's
delivering packages or mail to where those units are.
Well, this is like a, so I would encourage that you guys go talk to OPA.
This is like a USPS OPA, the way things are addressed in Philadelphia specific process
that usually happens when you do your address review.
So, I mean, short of saying, while it sounds good, I just don't know that it's going to
work out that way for the units on the first floor because typically mail carriers are told
if it's a multi-unit building they put it in the mail room and if the now accessible unit does not
have access to the rest of that space in the building it it could be an issue all right yep
the questions
questions from our attorney but i assume they're going to hold this now um yes there are revised
plans we'll just we can hold for two weeks and we just send them in and we'll review them so
questions or comments from the virtual audience or this current audience here
you don't see any further hands mr chair the commission any void with the planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning to the existing rsd1 residential single
family i won uh one family dwelling in a doctor's office was granted a zoning permit in 1940 the
appellant has not shown that the property cannot otherwise be used in conformance with the zoning
code the planning commission recommends that the board deny the requested variances for parking
dimensional standards unit count and special exception for heritage tree removal okay so we're
to hold this till two weeks from now um and we'll vote at 2 p.m thank you thank you
number 11 mi 20 26 000 442 102 east mermaid lane
So you're going to take this one, I think, right? You're going to take this one. So I got it. So I'm going to recuse myself from this. I've done a lot of business with this particular Congress.
you're going to take this one
hi could you state your name and spell it for the record please uh good afternoon uh thank you for
having us today my name is meredith trego m-e-r-e-d-i-t-h of 735 market street 51st floor with
ballard spar um and do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth is nothing but the truth
i do okay and can you identify your uh client yes i'm here on behalf of mermaid lane associates lp
who's the applicant and the property owner for the site at 100 and 102 east mermaid lane
okay um all right so we have some letters of support from the chestnut hill community association
as well as a letter of support from the chestnut hill conservancy um with some
provisals that i believe are unenforceable but um our secretary has some questions for you
Good afternoon. Did you submit your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
I did.
And do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy?
We do waive the reading of the refusal. We don't stipulate to the accuracy. There is one refusal that was listed that we do not believe applies. We're going to address that in our presentation.
That's fine. You can share your screen and begin your presentation. Thank you.
Thank you. Good morning. Thank you for your time today for staying late.
We are here today with a request for a few variances related to the redevelopment of the vacant institutional property located at 100 and 102 East Mermaid Lane, which will be transformed into 28 new single family residential dwellings.
I'm here today with our project team, specifically Mr. Stephen Bonitatibas, our architect, and Alexander Tweedy, our civil engineer, who are going to testify today.
I'm also joined by Kevin Trapper, a representative of the property owner.
The project proposes construction of 28 single-family residential units, including 24 twins, and four detached single-family residential dwellings.
One of those four detached dwellings will result from the rehabilitation of a vacant meeting house that exists on the property at the 100 East Mermaid Lane parcel.
Ultimately, a condominium regime will be imposed on this development after construction, where there will be a separate condominium unit for each residence.
the existing 190 000 square foot parcel contains a formal institutional use
building that was used for educational purposes as well as a large surface parking lot
our request for relief relates to the fact that the 28 single family dwelling units will be located
on a single zoning lot rather than the subdivision of the parcel into smaller parcels and the
The existence of steep slopes greater than 25%, all of which are manmade, as well as relief from a few design criteria contained in the neighborhood conservation overlay for the East Chestnut Hill NCO.
We note that we have worked extensively with the community in the creation of the proposal that we will share today.
um and i know further that all the exhibits including our proof of neighbor notices our
tax clearance certificates have been submitted to the board and we also have several letters of
support in exhibit 16 including from the coordinating rco the chestnut hill community
association the chestnut hill conservancy um a letter we have all those documents wonderful
just go ahead and start presenting um okay so i would just like to state up front that we satisfy
the criteria for a variance because of the unique physical circumstances of the property
including the existing man-made steep slopes and there is no detriment to the public health safety
or welfare that would result from these variances and they represent the least minimum relief
that could be requested we will do our best to be very efficient with time so i'm going to go
ahead to the project maps so this right here is a aerial of the site the site is 190 000 square
feet it is bounded by mermaid east mermaid lane private property to the southwest and the northeast
as well as regional rail tracks to the to the northeast it includes two parcels which i
mentioned which will be consolidated as part of this application
turning to the zoning map the property is located in the rsa3 zoning district which allows for
the proposed single-family detached and single-family attached uses by right.
the proposed single-family detached and single-family attached uses by right the site is also
located in the steep slope protection overlay the wissahookin watershed overlay the nco the
neighborhood conservation overlay for the chestnut hill lower east and the eighth district overlay
turning to the site itself these images show the existing conditions of the site the top images
show the existing vacant institutional building, some aerial photos that demonstrate the impervious
coverage on the lot occupied by both the building and the surface parking lot.
Moving down, we have some images along East Mermaid Lane that show there are two existing
entrances into the site, some existing stone retaining walls, as well as the existing vacant
meeting house that exists at 100 East Mermaid Lane.
just briefly describing the site so I mentioned we are proposing 28 single family residential
dwelling units 12 of 12 of the building so 24 units will be twins and the remaining four will
be single family detached those single family detached exist in the bottom center of the site
plan that we are looking at the red single family detached shows the rehabilitation of the existing
meeting house structure i'm just going to briefly scroll through some of our elevations
um the center section of mermaid lane
the east section of east mermaid lane
some of the the parking will take access from the internal part of the site
and so each each house will front onto these common muse that will serve for both sort of open
space for the residents and provide stormwater management and driveways for each unit will
come off of the that internal circulation
and just scrolling through and then some elevations of the single family residences
and the rehabilitation of the meeting house
and uh generally speaking these will include both uh brick and stone bases um stucco above uh three
stories and a rendering from east mermaid lane just um all right so i will now um i would like
to ask Mr. Steven Bonitatabas from Bonitatabas Architects to come up and answer a few questions.
Yep. Let me swear you went first. Could you state your name and spell it for the record, please?
Stephen Bonitatapas, S-T-E-P-H-E-N-B-O-N-I-T-A-T-I-B-O-Y-U-S.
Okay. And do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Okay. Thank you. Counsel, you can proceed.
Thank you. So, as I mentioned, this project seeks relief related to the construction of multiple single-family residential units on a single parcel.
Mr. Bonitatapas, can you tell us how large this parcel is?
Approximately 193,000 square feet.
What is the minimum lot size for a residential lot in the RSA 3 zoning district?
2,250 square feet.
And roughly how many residential dwelling units could fit on these consolidated parcels using that minimum lot size?
Somewhere around 70, allowing space for roads and circulation.
And again, how many residential units are proposed on this site?
28, which is significantly less than the 70 or so.
That would be allowed by right.
Can you tell us more about how the site will operate and how the residential units will function?
Even though there will be a condominium regime, these will function pretty much like any single family,
semi-detached or detached house on their own parcel.
Likewise, they'll have private rear yards, semi-public side and front yards, and they'll share the common space in the center of the muse.
Can you explain the reasoning behind not subdividing and using a condominium regime instead?
Well, the goal of the project was to preserve the existing vacant meeting house and the landscape buffer that extends all along Mermaid, including the heritage trees and the stone walls.
And the two access drives that that kind of define the center section of the site.
If we if we had to make out these are all individual lots.
We'd have to destroy all those features and and completely rework the site, which we're trying to protect.
Thank you. How does the lot coverage and the open area of the proposed plan compare to the existing site?
as his chart so the uh the coverage is uh significantly less than what it was before
The coverage is significantly less than what it was before, which is over 85% and the open area is much greater. Thank you moving on to the next set of variances.
which is over
The neighborhood conservation overlay also imposes certain design criteria for the project.
We are seeking relief from a requirement to provide porches on all homes along Mermaid Lane, a requirement to set back the third story, either eight feet or impose a mansard roof on the third story, as well as a request for relief from what the code requires as a limit on a height relative to neighboring three-story buildings, which is the refusal we believe does not apply here because we are not adjacent to a three-story building.
But I'll walk through these refusals in turn.
Mr. Banatadabas, first, can you please briefly discuss the inspiration for the proposed homes?
Yes, the inspiration of this project is kind of we want to continue the unique architectural character of Chestnut Hill, particularly the there's a series of dozen or so kind of clustered housing projects of of attached or semi-detached and even detached houses built around landscape courts.
One such example is the one on the slide, which is very close to our our site, which is Springfield Court.
More specifically, we're inspired by the streets close to Germantown Avenue, which tend to be denser, but have a unique character.
They kind of they have a varied roof lines of a mix of gables and hips.
They're usually a mix of materials like stucco and with brick bases and a mix of material of architectural elements of varying window types of casements and double hung or bay windows and often with balconies and large masonry chimneys.
I mean there's a lot of character that it goes into these and that we're trying to kind of work with.
Great. Thank you. Beginning with the requirement in the neighborhood constant conservation overlay to provide porches on all homes fronting East Mermaid Lane.
Does the project include homes with porches?
It does for the Western section, and specifically we did it there because the grade is steeply banked.
uh it really is an existing bank we're we're building on a little bit uh it also we wanted
to pull back and and uh protect the there's huge uh um heritage oak trees along mermaid that we
wanted to we are protecting and we want to to do a minimum amount of uh incursion in the kind of
ground there so there are porches along these along the two on the two western um uh twins uh
and as shown in this illustration on the eastern next oh
so then uh did you want to say more about yeah on the eastern side i think we okay on the eastern
side we didn't provide porches because it's already that that part of the site is already
raised over seven feet above the uh the street and putting porches on those would have uh kind
of made them too imposing but instead we have a varied uh streetscape and we mix it with uh
uh hip and gable grooves um dormers uh patio doors and bay windows and balconies so there's
we keep the variety of like we're trying to do on the other uh western part but we don't use porches
thank you um that's a good segue into the next variance we are requesting relief from under the
uh neighborhood conservation overlay um there's a requirement that uh where a property abuts a
building with only two stories that the proposed building set back any third floor by eight feet
or incorporate a mansard roof um we are requesting relief from that requirement
uh mr bonita bus does the project site abut a building that contains two stories
it does to the uh the exist the new meeting house on the west of it has two stories okay
Thank you. What type of roof lines are proposed in lieu of an eight foot setback or a mansard roof?
What we're doing is is mixing hip roofs and gable roofs to add visual interest, but also to recall those examples that I suggested earlier.
Thank you. And lastly, the neighborhood conservation overlay has an additional requirement that the maximum height of a building shall not exceed the height of an abutting building that has
that's on the same frontage that contains three stories of habitable space.
This is the refusal item that we disagree with.
this is uh the refusal item that um we disagree with um simply because we don't believe we abut
a three-story building there is a property up the road on mermaid lane that is four stories
and the meeting house to the south of us is two stories um but even if we assumed this uh
provision of the nco applied to the property due to the abutting four-story building um can you tell
Mr. Boneterebus how tall are the proposed homes the proposed homes are 31 feet tall and how do
the proposed homes compare to the height of the adjacent four-story building which is shown in
this image on the left well we didn't actually measure it it from this photograph it's clearly
more than 31 feet um did the i'm gonna ask one more sort of follow-up questions did the neighbors
participate in discussions about the design of the project they did from the very start of this
iteration. We met initially to talk about project goals and to kind of map out how to accomplish
them. And then we met about a half a dozen times kind of reviewing and fleshing out the design.
So they were okay with the NCO issues that you had. Okay. And you're using the meeting house
as a reference instead of this unit right here that you got on the screen.
correct so this the in terms of the designs the um you mean a reference for the two stories
yeah you want to use the meeting house as the budding it's not yes well and the the provision
and the zoning code applies to a three-story building and there's just not a three-story
a budding um so we just don't believe that that applies in this instance um we don't believe
we're taller than the than the four-story and the other building is not three stories
um and yes your question about them being okay with the nco sort of deviations they they participated
significantly in the writing of those of the nco itself um and have weighed in heavily on the
designs of this project and the representatives here who will address correct okay you'll have
time to do that all right all right well lastly mr bamatadabas in your professional opinion do you
agree that there is no detrimental impact public health safety and wealth welfare that would result
from the uh grant of these variances i agree and do you agree that the request of relief represents
the least minimum variance yes i think the minimum yes thank you um next i'd like to uh invite mr
alexander tweedy our engineer uh from lancor engineers as um to join us
Are you going to talk about the steep slope?
All right.
Does he need to be sworn in?
State your name and spell for the record.
Alex Tweedy, A-L-E-X-T-W-E-E-D-I-E.
Okay. And do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
I do. Okay. All right. Thank you, Council. Thank you. Mr. Tweedy, can you please describe your role in this project?
I am the civil engineer responsible for the grading design and say, along with the architect.
Okay. Can you briefly summarize your professional background?
Yeah, I'm a professional engineer in the State of Pennsylvania, 25 years experience, and have testified before this board before.
next i'd like to introduce mr tweedy as an expert in civil engineering um does this project disturb
land whose slope ex well actually i'm going to back up and just note that we do have steep slopes
on this property uh we are on the steep slope overlay and we have what our existing man-made
slopes that were there on the property that are a result of the existing building um mr tweedy
does this project disturb land whose slope exceeds 25 yes um are the steep slopes that exist on the
property today naturally occurring or man-made they're man-made in fact many of them are
structural retainer retaining walls themselves that are man-made um stone features as was
discussed by the architect fronting on terminally and i'm showing on the screen some of those stone
walls that exist on the on the property um so those actually the zoning code does not
distinguish between man-made and naturally occurring steep slopes uh mr tweety can you uh
please briefly describe the interventions and improvements as shown on the earth moving plans
that we submitted in exhibit nine yeah as noted with the goals of the project and the frontage
improvements we saw photos of a lot of the slopes occur along mermaid lane there are walls uh up to
seven feet high in that road there are two existing driveways that we're maintaining as part of this
and then there's the existing meeting house itself um that sits
that sits in the middle of the site we tried to maintain the existing driveways and are using those
we have to widen one of them slightly but as you get to the rear of the property we then have to
redesign regrade and recirculate those private driveway the private roadways through to get
private driveway the private roadways through to get access to the site so from the steep slope
access to the site so from the steep slope perspective
perspective our goals were to maintain the frontage walls and the slopes and the trees
along mermaid lane and then up into the entrance but as we get into the site and regrade those
driveways we do have to regrade some of the retaining walls themselves and the slopes above
and beyond some of the slopes are also in and around directly abutting the existing building
the institutional building that's being demolished. So obviously those slopes will be disturbed
when we take down that building and then regrade the land to install the new roads and buildings.
Thank you. How will the steep slope condition compare to the existing conditions after completion
of the restoration project? Yeah, like we said, we're going to maintain a lot of the existing
slopes and walls in the front, and then we will remove those features in the back. We will remove
some of those steep slopes um similarly to the existing site a lot of the some of the steep
slopes on the existing site um is natural mamma grading in between tiered parking lots we're going
to have similar issues here where in between units there'll be individual grading in between but it's
traditional you know site grading for a residential community such as this site and can you uh
describe the protections that will be in place for the project for erosion control and yeah i mean
obviously there is uh the subject regulations with pwd for stormwater so there are drastic
improvements to stormwater and drainage on this property one of the biggest problems with this
property historically has been there's very little on-site drainage infrastructure so a lot of the
water drains into the large parking lot and goes to a very small inlet in the lower corner we are
installing all new drainage systems installing new connections out into mermaid lane increasing pipe
We have a lot of different type sizes connecting all that through our stormwater practice, which has seven basins, which we work through with Pwd on our zoning approvals for Pwd sign off.
And then, similarly, during erosion control, we will have all necessary self fence and diversion socks to control runoff and directed to that, you know, new storm drainage infrastructure.
Thank you. The zoning code of Philadelphia requires that disturbance of steep slopes meet certain criteria listed in code section 143038 I.
Mr. Tweedy, is it correct that you're you submitted an affidavit concerning the steep slope disturbance and that that's included in exhibit nine?
Yes, I did. And yes, it is.
And is it correct that the proposed earth disturbance will meet the requirements for steep slip variances contained in section 14 303 38 I, including that the disturbance will not result in an increase in stormwater runoff?
Correct. As noted, there is a large reduction in impervious coverage as a result of this project and will actually improve stormwater runoff in the property.
And is it correct that the proposed interventions will not result in the shifting of soil to adjacent buildings or property?
yes as we noted we one of the main goals was to maintain the slopes and the existing walls
around the existing meeting house and limit the disturbance of the steep slopes um behind that
meeting house up further into the slope of the property and is it correct that the proposed
project will not increase the likelihood of loss of property it will not in your professional
opinion will the grant of the requested variance uh in any way cause detrimental impact on the
health safety and welfare of the neighborhood yeah it will not and is it correct that the
variance for steep slope disturbance if authorized will represent the minimum variance that will
afford relief that is correct uh thank you mr tweedy um i would just like to move uh applicants
exhibits one through 20 into evidence and we are happy to answer any additional questions i know i
went very quickly so nope um did you show the uh configuration of the units are they all like two
We did not show the floor plans of the building. I'm happy to have our tech come back up and discuss it.
If you have any questions, just in case the board has any questions. But you can bring your client on to adopt your testimony.
Hi, could you state your name and spell it for the record, please?
certainly kevin trapper k-e-v-i-n-t-r-a-p-p-e-r and do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth and nothing but the truth i do okay all right counsel uh mr trapper did you uh hear
what i said today i did and was it true and accurate yes and would you adopt it as your
own testimony i would thank you okay all right so um i'm gonna ask you questions for the boards but
i have one question um the border of the whole project when you showed the whole site plan um
Is it trees that are bordering or what's the border for the project all around?
I see some trees.
I see some stone walls.
Is it a mixture of both?
Yes, a mixture of both.
And along the frontage of Mermaid Lane, as was mentioned, it's maintaining a lot of the existing large existing trees.
it's maintaining the existence a lot of the existing large uh existing trees and the stone
wall that has been along there so the the existing stone wall is actually along the western segment
um the center segment and then we will be adding a stone wall there's currently a fence there and
we'll be adding a stone wall to mimic the existing stone walls that exist okay to really kind of
bring that that frontage together and unify the site thank you all right questions from the board
what's what's the uh the rectangular square boxes behind each one of the
houses what is that part of the stormwater management or what's what what are they they're
they're patios for each of the individual houses okay so those are those are just patios because
the storm the stormwater management is are these sort of swales are that are in between the
the groupings right those are in between the groupings right other questions from the board
questions from our attorney not at this time okay uh questions from the audience
come on up you know i do not see any hands in the virtual audience
okay thank you we have uh someone present here
good evening could you state your name and spell it for the record please
camille peluso c-a-m-i-l-l-e i'm sorry this is the reporter could you please
bring the microphone closer to you i can then all right say it again state your name
is spelled for the record camille c-a-m-i-l-l-e peluso p-e-l-u-s-o um and do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do okay and are you a near neighbor
i am a near neighbor i am an architect and i'm an author of the nco that we wrote for this
particular property okay all right you want to uh uh do you support or oppose the project i support
the project and um i just want to let everybody know that we work very closely with the golden
of our group and we approve everything we've done because we've worked closely together and I think
it's a model of how we should work together to provide new housing and the thing I like about
the best of it is that it has it represents a lot of the architectural details that we have
in Chestnut Hill and it is I think beautifully executed okay all right thank you thank you for
testimony anyone else from the audience here all right planning commission
amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in
zoning at this location from the current rsa three residential single family the proposed development
is in harmony with the surrounding neighborhood moreover the proposed density aligns with the
required lot size for this zoning district and therefore is in spirit of the zoning code
the planning commission recommends that the board deny sorry the board grant the requested variances
uh for multi-family multiple principal uses and buildings earth moving porches building
height and third story setback all right thank you amy mi 2026 000442 102 east mermaid lane
my vote is yes. Michael Johns, my vote is yes. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes. Ryan McAdams,
my vote is yes. Kyle Lynn, my vote is yes. All right, thank you. Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you. I believe we are scheduled for a break right now. So I know we've been going long,
so for those of you who are still on the two o'clock list, so we're just going to take a quick
five minute rest? Okay, we'll be back in five minutes. Thank you. Thank you.
Here, let me get my thing out. Number 12.
This here.
MI 2026-000-451-401 West Olney Avenue. Douglas Stern is the attorney.
I'll be coming back in as a panelist, Mr. Chair.
Thank you very much.
I'm Mr. Stern.
This is Stone, if you are available
Mr. Stern, if you're available, please unmute.
D.O.U.G.L.A.S.
Sorry about that.
I thought it was.
Sorry.
Now I'm ready.
D.O.U.G.L.A.S.
Mr. Stern, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
D.O.U.G.L.A.S.
D.O.U.G.L.A.S.
D.O.U.G.L.A.S.
D.O.U.G.L.A.S.
D.O.U.G.L.A.S.
D.O.U.G.L.A.S.
D.O.U.G.L.A.S.
D.O.U.G.L.A.S.
nothing but the truth yes mr stern we have a letter from 42nd ward rco in unanimous support
our vice chair has a few questions for you sir good evening have you submitted your documents
and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes and do you waive the reading of the refusal
and stability to its accuracy yes all right thank you you can share your screen and proceed with
your case okay um i i believe i am sharing it right now um so 401 west alany avenue is the
northwest corner of fourth and alany my client purchased this property in 2000 and it was had
it before she purchased it the first floor was commercial use it's been in commercial use and
i'll go over my exhibits um since 2009 so when she purchased it she thought the first floor was zoned
for some type of commercial use.
She's been running a nail salon.
That's her livelihood, son's hair salon, since she bought it in 2000.
The upstairs is just rented out as apartments.
So going down, what happened was we started getting notices from L&I for various violations.
She's resolved all the violations except for the one that has to deal with you needed to get zoning
to operate a commercial business on the first floor.
So we entered into an agreement with the city, and we have until August to straighten this situation out.
And these were the violations, and we did every one except for the last one, which was obtain zoning permits.
So that's what we did.
And then the refusal is it's residential RSA3, and just go down that.
So just the rest of the standard documents.
We had the meeting.
We have all your documents.
I was just going down.
What we need is if you show us your photos and maybe if there's some drawings of the project.
Yeah, it's real simple.
Here's pictures of the zoning posters that were put up, and then you can see the nail salon.
That's the entrance.
It's on the corner, so that's the other side that you see, and then the zoning poster.
And then some views looking down the block, and you see it's on the corner, it's been there, it's got the ramp, there it is at 4th Street.
You see on the other corner properties across the street, there are other commercial activities on the corner property, so it's not unusual in this neighborhood.
There's another picture of the outside.
Here's the inside. It's just a small hair salon. That's all they do is hair.
Different views inside.
Here's some of the existing floor plans showing the size and the shape. Just the first floor,
and you basically saw all the pictures. Just showing that she purchased it in September.
That's the deed from Antoine, and that name you'll see in some of the zoning documents
from before.
And so since 2009, this is what happened when Antoine Pierre had it.
He got the zoning variance to operate a commercial thing.
It looks like a multi-service business, so everything's pretty much the same.
There's some old pictures of what it looked like since 2009, see Antoine's multi-service,
so it's always been commercial and you see that the commercial properties across the street have
changed but sort of always been around there just these are old pictures back from 2000
that's basically everything um and we went to the community and they're in agreement with it
and my client would be a great hardship because she purchased the property under the impression
it was zoned for commercial and that she's done everything to comply the community's happy with
her the business um hasn't created any hardships around the community um and we just want to keep
the status quo i don't know if anybody has any questions did you have do you have your tax
compliance i was having an issue getting that submitted every time i go on it i either got her
name not proper or the opa i had to i was going to go to tax clearance tomorrow morning to get that
i know all the taxes have been paid i did check the record um but every time i go on and put the
name and it says you know gotta try back in 10 minutes i don't know if her name's back we uh
I don't know if her name's backwards.
We believe you're compliant.
we we believe you're compliant
All right. So why don't you do this? Why don't you bring your client on
and have your testimony adopted?
Yes. Okay.
Okay. Two, if you're there, raise your hand on that button.
Somebody's there. They don't want to hold on.
Let me just text her. Wait, let me just text her. Can you hit the button to raise your hand so they
can let you into the meeting mr stern yeah i know i'm texting my client i thought because she okay
it's such a long thing she was up she went back to the alany street address and she's on her
cell phone i told her all right so i i hope she knows how you're an officer of the court
we will accept your testimony okay thank you questions from the board
questions from our attorney not at this time questions or comments from the virtual audience
there are no hands raised mr chair planning commission amy boyd with the planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change the current rsa3 residential single family zoning at
this location the property has a documented history of commercial use since at least 2007
the planning commission recommends that the board grant their requested variants for personal
services 2026 000 451 401 west alony avenue i vote yes
michael johns my vote is yes cheryl baston my vote is yes tenetta graham my vote is yes ryan mcadams
my vote is yes my vote is yes uh counsel you have your vote thank you thank you thank you
for hanging around so long we appreciate it yes thank you bye bye mi 2026 000 454 4001 ridge avenue
do Richard DeMarco is the attorney
that we were joining as a panel sir
good evening Mr Chairman good evening hi Mr DeMarco could you please state your
name and spell for the stenographer? Yeah, Richard DeMarco, last name D-E-M-A-R-C-O.
Be swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes, yes. DeMarco,
could you identify your client in relationship to the property? Yeah, the client's called Pave
Rocks Development LLC. Patrick Gibbons is a managing member that's here tonight. Okay,
our vice chair has just a few questions for you. Sure. Good evening. Have you submitted your
documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing? Yes, I have. Okay. And do you waive
the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? I do. All right. Thank you. You can
share your screen and proceed with your case. Thanks, everybody. All right. Let me even get
this up on the screen. Sorry we're so late, by the way. No, no worries. You guys gave me an email
that gave me the heads up. I appreciate that. So does the client. I'm not billing. So I'm not
billing for three hours. Anyway, Mr. Chairman, we're here for a, it's a use variance, but that's
not the full story. I'm putting the refusal up on the screen. This is an existing structure that was
constructed about 10 years ago with variances granted by this board. It's a mixed use commercial
first floor use and then units above. You see it right here in the note to the ZBA. So this is an
existing commercial space. I'll show you in a minute that the commercial spaces have kind of
shifted, but they have been unable to get a viable tenant for quite a while. So we believe there's
a clear hardship. As you'll hear from Patrick Gibbons, they have rejected multiple uses out of
worry that they were too intense for the neighborhood. So they have found an office use
that will be very low impact it's a state farm office and uh what you'll hear from actually what
mr gibbons will confirm is that a lot of it's online anyway these days they're using apps like
crazy but there will be some some desk and some offices um some you know some office use but it
would have very low impact and uh because there is some parking issues in the neighborhood
We did attend a RCO meeting on Saturday, and the vote was in our favor.
It was a close vote.
I think there was actually a little bit better vote for us.
I saw some more hands than Rose Cooper counted.
Rose Cooper counted but either way we do have support so let me show you some photos and then
But either way, we do have support.
So let me show you.
I can very quickly move to Mr. Gibbons um uh let me get to the good stuff here give me
I'll use this here
against State Farm Office um low impact use hours of operation nine to five so the parking will not
overlap with residents coming to and fro here's a good um front view let me rotate this for you
so just to clarify for the record why the so basically i put the original floor plans in the
exhibits but the the the it used to be that the lobby would be here they move the lobby to here
as i'm indicating to the very right side so the commercial spaces are now together along this
frontage here. This where you see the paper, that's the new State Farm Office. This was a
little while ago, so I have updated photos. Let me show you that so you can see. So here's how
we'll look on the inside. And again, Mr. Chairman, they have turned down other intense uses such as
sandwich shops and restaurants. They were not going to move forward with that with the neighbors
because they work closely with this particular neighborhood group, and they promised that they
would not use an intense use like that so it's basically a state farm um office so let me go
ahead and ask Patrick uh Gibbons to raise his hand and he can accept my testimony all right
sure Mr Gibbons and while he's doing that I'll just put up on the uh so you can see the original
site plan while he's coming on board. There you go. So while he's doing that, Mr. Chairman,
the commercial spaces have been put together and then the lobby moved to the right.
So you with us, Mr. Gibbons? Yes. Yes. Mr. Gibbons, could you please state your name and
spell for the stenographer? Sure. It's Patrick Gibbons, P-A-T-R-I-C-K-G-I-B-B-O-N-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, sir?
I do. Counsel? Mr. Gibbons, did you hear my initial presentation and can you adopt it? Is
it true and accurate? I heard it and yes, it's true and accurate. Okay. And can you adopt it
as your formal testimony in this matter? I do. And can you confirm that you have actually been
attempting to rent this property for almost 10 years and that you've turned down some more intense
uses in order to get a less intense use like the one we're proposing tonight. So it's been about
five or six years. We started building in late 16, early 17, and then around that time.
But the renters came in around the end of 2020 and 2021.
But prior to renting anything out, there was interest, retail interest from the business community, mostly along the lines of cheesesteak shops, delis.
There were even some what they call dark kitchens, which is they really supply food to the like the Uber Eats and DoorDash.
And that would be constant movement of cars in and out of the neighborhood, picking up orders for for people that are ordering them off of those food apps.
So we didn't want to get involved in any of that.
So we felt we didn't find the right the right renter.
That that helped us with revenue, but also consider the unique needs of the neighborhood.
Right. And you've been working closely and you were with Rose Cooper and you were with me at the meeting on Saturday, right?
Yes, I was in attendance. Right. And then there was some parking concerns.
But we discussed how the traffic would be kind of timed with when the people were coming back from work, the office would be closed. Right.
Yeah, it's a five-day-a-week, nine-to-five. So really, the lowest possible impact you could have while still renting it out to a going business concern.
And commercial trash pickup and basically office trash, and you have a dumpster, and you have commercial trash pickup, right?
That's correct.
And it's stored on site, correct?
It is stored on site.
Mr. Chairman, that's it. And if you have any questions, then we're happy to.
um before we start council is this last comment hillary has on the bottom is that okay
yeah okay all right good um questions from the board yeah i have a question is uh is this
commercial space is it the all of this commercial space on that or it's just
is there a unit number or something so it it's under commercial space one is what we we call it
So it's under commercial space. One is what we call it.
And the second commercial space, we have no intention to use it as commercial.
It's really a lounge for the residents.
Mr. John, basically the lobby flipped closer to the elevator and the commercial space moved to the left.
Okay. Yeah. Gotcha. All right. Thank you.
Other questions? Additional questions for our attorney?
not at this time questions or comments from the virtual audience
all hands mr chair planning commission amy boyd with the planning commission the comprehensive
plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from the current rsa 5 residential
single family to cms commercial mixed use the proposed use would be allowed under the recommended
zoning further the proposed use is in harmony with the 2018 variance for a vacant commercial
space at this location. The Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant their requested
variance for business and professional office. MI 2026-000-454-4001 Ridge Avenue. I vote yes
with proviso. Unit number one only. Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso. Cheryl Gaston, my vote
is yes with proviso. Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso. Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with
proviso i am when my vote is yes with proviso thank you mr chairman have a good evening number 14.
um uh we have a few people that are recusing themselves i will be your president chair and
i'll be i'll be recusing also i'll be recusing also
mi2026 uh 000479 1749 north 30 31st street alan knockamson is the attorney mr knockamson could you
please state your name alan knockamson a-l-a-n last name knockamson n-o-c-h-u-m-s-o-n you swear
or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do could you identify
your client the relationship to the property yeah my client uh is uh joe quinones uh he's
under agreement with uh phdc to purchase these properties and i believe he'll probably be coming
in he's coming through the door now yeah exactly perfect timing and um our board secretary has a
few questions thank you uh good evening good evening um did you submit your documents and
exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes we have and do you waive the reading of the
refusal i i do i will say that the refusal the first refusal is kind of confusing but i do waive
it okay and stipulate to us accurate i do okay um then you can show your screen and begin your
presentation let me just make sure i have the right screen up i do uh oh i need to be promoted
oh there i am
oh that may be rain okay
hi uh doing 1748-56 north 31st street this property is in the strawberry mansion section of
Philadelphia. We are taking two lots, consolidating them or merging them together to create five
single-family dwellings here. Previously, these were five lots, so we're just recreating
history here. We have 13 exhibits, and we'll go straight through them. At the conclusion
of my presentation, Mr. Quinonez will be asked to be sworn in, and I'll have a few questions
for him so the refusal is this again we're taking two lots merging them into together
then subdividing them into five single family lots we have two refusals the first is the lot
size does not conform with the philadelphia zoning code that's the first refusal the reason
for the refusal is kind of confusing but let's just keep it simple i'll show you a drawing which
shows that this was five lots at one time the size of the lots are not out of character for
neighborhood will show you some we'll show you some uh screenshots of atlas nearby properties
second refusal has to do with our side yard two reasons why we have this refusal the other lots
are a little bit more narrow in width we're just create this is a tourniquet project we're creating
the same floor plan over and over and over again so it just makes it easier to have the same
architectural plans and drawings from a construction standpoint. Also, there is an infringement on our lot to the one building.
Also, there is an infringement on our lot to the one building structure that is on that side of that block. So we couldn't do anything anyway. You'll see why we had to, you know, create that side yard. It is a hardship.
We've got a letter from the Strawberry Mansion CDC, unanimous support, again, a turn-the-key project, as we've presented before here, Strawberry Mansion wants home ownership, and this program, Turn the Key, will provide affordable home ownership to nearby residents, as well as city employees, because city employees are also eligible for Turn the Key.
Petition, well, you know, circulated petition of people in support. Property history. So again, just to show you again, there were five lots here at one point. We're recreating those lot lines.
And then are there nearby comparable properties? You know, yes, there are of lot size. And we just wanted to show the board that as well of nearby parcels.
And then aerial views. Again, this is the only parcel that has a building structure on our side of the block on North 31st Street. Where are these others? Again, not out of character. They have single family with lot size of this size.
and then these are RSA 5 properties we're keeping conformity having single-family parcels here
photographs of the property the front on north 31st street since 2009 these have been vacant
lots as far as back as we can go in google street view this is the side of the property
from the secondary street proof of posting this is north 31st street to the right of the property
to the left of the property uh secondary street to the right of the property and to the left of
the property our plans uh and drawings and again we have uh uh jesse smith of jls architects who
can ask answer any technical questions here these are all properties built on slab there's no
basements these are two-story structures and you know just to kind of highlight what i'm talking
about this infringement on our property this parcel which is not included 1758 north of 31st
street was built onto our property and they're regularly shaped as well we wanted to give some
setback to you know so we didn't connect on a like this irregularly shaped building um also again
the other lots you can see are a little over 16 feet wide ours is 19 feet 0.25 those other parcels
So that's where we gain that 2 feet, 10 inch setback, side yard setback.
And these are just pretty basic two story structures.
We are height wise 22 feet high.
The occupied area is well within conformance with the Philadelphia zoning code as well.
Let me just go to the floor plans.
All right, here are the floor plans. Pretty basic floor plans here. You walk in, you have a kitchen, living room, dining room, living room. You go up a flight of steps. You have three bedrooms, two baths.
we went with the community on April 23rd at 6 p.m we emailed the notice that we mailed out to the
community a few weeks beforehand to show proof of mailing to 124 addresses these are the addresses
we mailed it to proof of mailing to those addresses our application for zoning variants
our notice refusal and project information form we also have the and you know we've shared all
this information with Ms. Emerson, just to make sure from a standing perspective, we have an
agreement of sale with the Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation.
I think it's a long agreement, and eventually you will see a tax clearance certificate for
these parcels. While I'm going through this, I know the board's running late today, so I would
just ask that Mr. While I'm showing the rest of my documents, I would ask that Mr. Quinones be
uh sworn in as a witness so canis could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
counsel uh oh sorry yeah you have to press that sorry oh okay i i think they heard you so um joe
you heard everything i had to state today about your zoning matter yes is it true and correct
And do you adopt this in your own testimony?
Absolutely.
Specifically, this project is for tourniquet, correct?
It is.
And this is providing five affordable single-family units to the Strawberry Mansion section of Philadelphia.
Absolutely.
And you understand that you're required to sell those units up to a certain price point.
to sell those units up to a certain price point that's exactly right to people within a certain
That's exactly right.
income stratosphere that's exactly right all right thank you questions from the board
questions from our attorney not at this time questions or comments from the virtual audience
i do not see any hands mr chair planning commission amy boy with the planning commission
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the current RSA 5 residential single family zoning at this location. The proposals for certified affordable housing. The citywide vision recommendation 1.2.3 is to promote new affordable housing units, prioritizing infill of vacancies.
the planning commission recommends that the board grant the requested variances for side yard and
lot size mi 2026 000 479 1749 north 31st street i vote yes with proviso per refusal dated may 20th
2026. cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso ryan mcadams my vote is yes with proviso
hi owen my vote is yes with proviso thank you thank you all right uh but let me get our
thank you very much all right thank you
that's not good
hey it's gonna be a that's gonna be a wet way in the back way back no umbrella
MI 2026-000-482-2124, East Lee High Avenue.
Alan Nockamson is the attorney.
Mr. Nockamson, you've already been sworn.
Could you just state your name for the record?
Alan Nockamson.
Right.
And Mr. Nockamson, could you identify your client in relationship to this property?
Central Capital Group, the owner of the property.
And in the virtual audience is F.A. Sarkowski.
uh oh okay here you go and we have uh go ahead you want to finish oh who's one of its uh
representatives okay and we have a recommendation of support from east kensington neighbors
association a letter of none opposition from um council member squilla our vice chair has a few
questions good evening have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of
this hearing? Yes, we have. And do you waive the reading of the refusal and simply to
accept your seat? I do. All right. Thank you. You can show your screen and we'll see with the case.
I lost my
panelist. I need to be
promoted as a panelist again. We'll take care of that for you. Oh, wait. No, I am.
I'm sorry. I am. I'm sorry. There you go.
All right.
all right well we're in the middle of the presentation so let's get
all right let me just get to page one
okay let's try that one more time all right all right so we're here to present 2124 east
lehigh avenue uh you'll see uh that this is a dilapidated building that my client purchased
um not out of character to have multi-family nearby we're on lehigh avenue if anyone knows
this part of town having single family would be completely out of character
um and uh especially since we're located next door to i guess was last a salsa dancing venue
or venue i'm going to say venue but bar um but you know so it would be completely out of character
to have single family there uh so we have 12 exhibits and then at the conclusion my presentation
i would ask that fv be sworn in and i'll have a few questions for her rsa 5 property um but it's
a rather large lot of 1257 square feet we're asking for three family dwelling here as the
board knows from a building code perspective by having three family dwelling will be required to
And so I was actually surprised and Alex even said Bernie voted for this one, and he thought there was a lot in front of our projects so Bernie's pretty tough.
and so I was actually surprised and Alex even said Bernie voted for this one and he thought
there was undo because he will say what's the standard undo hardship and he this time found
on due hardship and he this time found in our favor so i'll use bernie as an example of you
in our favor so I'll use Bernie as an example
know what he thought of of us meeting our legal burden and then council member uh squilla also
sent a letter of non-opposition this is our petition uh again this is the dilapidated
property the next door neighbor to the right also wants this developed
and you know again we're across street from icmx there's some cmx2 again really out of character
to have single family right here and photographs of the property very pretty three-story structure
but you'll see the back end there is no structure essentially um this is zoning hearing notice
poster easily high avenue to the right of the property to the left of the property
does as you can see really wide street this would not be appropriate for single family use
existing conditions that's the rear of our property so and you know we we spoke to miss
emerson just making sure because this is only a use application but all we're doing is building
the wall back up um i just want to make sure that we're not going to be here a second time because
you know this is solely a use application she indicated if we're just building straight back up
we shouldn't have an issue in terms of of that Hillary says it it's then exactly it's what's
gospel there you go um so you can see the existing conditions it is really in need of some tlc to say
Middle East.
And it's good because FE is like good about taking care of or renovating some dilapidated
properties and there are some just examples.
One on Tasker Street and then another one on Granite Court as examples.
That one was not as bad.
And then Delancey Residence as well, and Bainbury Place as well, and, you know, so on and so on.
Straightforward, we've come up a common entryway.
We can make a right.
We have unit number one, which is a one-bedroom, one-bath buy level here.
We have the unit number one has a trash area in the back.
There's a washer and dryer in the lower level.
Instead of unit number one, you go up to unit number two, which is a two-bedroom, two-bath, and we have the washer and dryer back here.
We also have a ventilated trash area here, and then the third unit is on the third floor, and it has the same floor plan.
Ventilated trash area, washer and dryer are right here.
We met with the community on main third.
What else is in the basement?
Oh, there's a washer and dryer. It's just an open floor plan. Yeah. It's just an open floor plan. We would like to use that as a secondary office area, storage, things like that. But the only thing down there is the washer and dryer.
We met on May 13th with the community. We emailed that notice a few weeks beforehand to the community leaders, showing that we mailed that to 135 addresses that community noticed, list of the addresses, proof of mailing to those addresses, our application for zoning variance, project information form, notice of refusal, deeds of property showing central capital group, LLCs, the owner of the property, and then the certificate of tax clearance.
we actually have, we pay too much in taxes. I would ask that Effie be sworn in. Hi, Effie,
could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer? It's Effie. Get real close if
you can. It's Effie Chukowski. It's E-F-E-C-I-E-R-K-O-W-S-K-I. Do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Yes. Counsel? Effie, you heard everything
i had to state today about your zoning matter yes is it true and correct yes and do you adopt this
your own testimony yes i do specifically those pictures that i showed of the back of the property
those are current photographs yes they are and in order to do the work that you need to renovate
that property the minimum amount of units that you would really require are three yes correct
and and you also heard my testimony about what's next door regarding the previous use as as a bar
yes and also testimony regarding just lehigh avenue in general that it's not really a residential
block yes correct questions from the board yeah and i meant by the way residential block i meant
uh single family block yeah yeah can i just see the floor plans sure again please
can you see them do you want me to expand somewhere where where would you like me to
expand just like here uh here we go oops too much now i can't see them is that good or maybe i can
okay you want me to go slower through the floor plans
okay so you go through the front door right you make a right right you get an economy vegetable
area you make a right and then you come down a long hallway and you have a living room
and a kitchen area we just passed the bathroom right here as you can see the bathroom is
equidistant on the first floor between because I know your question right so what question is that
we don't know that what question we all have to we all have to go to the bathroom at night
and I get it and you were right next to the bedroom and if you fall asleep on the couch
you're right and and and I I'll say that here too the bathroom's right in the middle
basically you have the two bedrooms hugging the front of the property and then you're right near
the delivery room and the bathroom's right here and then it's the same floor plan right here
can't can't hear you sorry i don't know i'm sorry so the uh basement and this first floor is a bi
level it is a bi level the only thing down there like is it's it's the washer and dryer we would
like to use it for both storage and you know maybe a secondary office area okay all right thank you
all the questions questions or comments from our attorney not at this time questions or comments
from the virtual audience mr chair i do not see any hands raised planning commission amy boyd
with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning to the current rsa
five residential single family zoning at this location the appellant has not demonstrated that
there are unique physical conditions or circumstances that would prevent the
property from being used in conformity with the zoning code the planning commission recommends
that the board deny the requested variance for three family dwelling quickly um i did ask the
witness about showing the condition of property how it would not be feasible to have a single
family that the minimum amount of units would be three units and that if you look at the pictures
of the nearby properties it would be out of character given where we are on lehigh avenue
to have single family use mi2026 000 482 21 24 east lay i have no i vote yes michael johns my
vote is yes cheryl gaston my vote is yes tenetta graham my vote is yes ryan mcadams my vote is yes
I am when my vote is and now thanks for hanging around. We thank you. All right.
Thank you. We know you're not here. You see this late at night.
Yeah, that's fine. Thank you. All right. Sure.
Is there anyone in the audience who's that their 2 p.m. case has not been called?
Do not see any answer. We're going to head right into our 330 list and it's it's only 615.
so that's not bad good afternoon everyone my name is bill bergman and i will be chairing this meeting
of the zoning board of adjustment with me is our vice chair tenetta graham president mr chairman
our board secretary cheryl l gaston president mr chairman board member michael johns president
mr chairman board member tya winn president mr chairman board member ryan mcadams president mr
chairman also present is our attorney hold on i got a voice um lynn let me get a root or uber is it good
and our um zba director ian haggarty hearing is being um recorded and will be posted on the
ebay website by participating you consent to be recorded this is an in-person meeting with
remote capabilities whether in person or on zoom if you're called to speak
please state your name spell it and and then wait to be sworn in after you've been sworn in
in, you should identify yourself each time before test voting.
To enter an appearance, indicate the property address on your Zoom webinar, speak with a
on your zoom webinar speak with a staff member
STAFF MEMBER.
call the zba office by business by the end of business tomorrow 215-686-2429
and provide your name email and the address of the property in question remote capabilities
raise your virtual hand when directed so that we can call on you when we call on you make sure
that you click on the join as a panelist button use the Q&A for procedural issues only and not
cases and if you're joining by phone press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute so
let's look at our schedule number one mi2025-005-975-2253 north 33rd street that case is continued
until 8-19-2026 at 3.30. Number two, MI 2025, 005-980-3400 Goodman Street. That case is
continued until 8-19-2026 at 3.30. Chairman? That's the date he gave me, I think. He just
date. Oh, he gave you different dates. Is that right? I'm sorry to interrupt, Mr. Chair. This
is Ian Hegarty, Executive Director. The continuing state for 3409 Goodman Street will be 819-2026
at 930 a.m. That's what I gave it. Oh, I'm sorry, 930. You're right, right. We moved it to 930.
so it's 8 19 20 26 9 30 a.m you're right thank you number three mi 2025 007 385 1304 west
huntington park um that's the first listing we have no exhibits um marion tobias is the listed
owner, and Marion M. Ambelow is the listed applicant. Any hands?
Good evening, Mr. Chair. This is Jason Hand. I will be your co-host for the session.
I do not see any hands raised, and I do not see the individuals in the virtual audience.
MI 2025 007 385 1304 West Hunting Park Avenue. That case is continued until 8 19 2026 at 330 and Mark must be heard.
Number four MI 2025 007 394 6417 Dorset Dorset Street.
owner is rose jute beren bernard is the listed owner pro se no exhibits first listing
once again mr chair i do not see that a person in my 20 25 007 394 64 17
door con street that cases can you continue to 8 19 20 26 at 3 30 and mark must be heard
case number five
mi 2026 000 574 51 12 willows willows avenue joseph
Consul is the attorney, and I believe there's another attorney who should be putting his hand up.
Eric Rosenfeld has their hand raised. They have been promoted to panels, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Consul, and what's the other lawyer's name?
Eric Rosenfeld. I see him.
Yes, I think I just checked in as panelists.
Mr. Consul, can you first state your name and spell it for a sonographer?
eric rosenfeld eric r-o-s-e-n f-e-l-d right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth and nothing but the truth i do could you identify your client a relationship to the
property it's uh michelle payne who is a neighbor and homeowner and objector
Okay. Mr. Consul, could you please state your name and spell it?
okay mr council could you please state your name and spell it
It's Joseph Consul, J-O-S-E-P-H, last name Consul, C-O-N-S-M-L-E.
You were sworn sometime way earlier this morning.
Yeah, here I am.
This is a resumptive hearing.
That's correct, Chair.
Yeah, well, Eric, do you want to make a comment to start this week?
I do. Thank you. And I appreciate the time here to speak. I would ask for a brief continuance
on my client. Oh, pardon me. Reconsideration. Okay. I'm sorry. I believe Eric's posing a
continuance request. No, console's not. Console's ready to go.
right here no i know that right right if you want to continue please state that sure yes um we are
seeking a continuance i was retained um i guess late this afternoon or mid-afternoon um in part
because uh uh michelle pain uh has been uh sick throughout uh the day progressively um i've you
know been tracking and she was at the doctor i have not been able to confirm uh when she will
be available. I don't know if she's still at the doctor's, but I have not had meaningful
opportunity to review given the change in development and retention, and I believe
a short continuance would be a reasonable request and be happy to respond to any other
concerns, but that would be my request today. And Mr. Counsel, your response?
We object to that. Ms. Payne put her objection on the record for a more onerous variance. We have lessened our request and we're granted the reconsideration. And we don't see why hiring an attorney at the 11th hour should delay further.
um this person has been i i'll just say bothering my clients in in a way that we feel is is
inappropriate and we believe that this is an attempt to just delay things further and i'll
leave it at that so we're going to go on with this tonight um and uh mr consul will start with
you uh is it my turn already chairman uh hillary has a preamble you should probably read you want
me to read the preamble before yeah sure
the evidence and testimony presented at the november 5th 2025 hearing in this matter are
included into the record for the hearing on re consideration
The scope of this hearing is limited to the protestant, the presentation of supplemental evidence and testimony only.
Okay. Joe.
Thank you. So I'm going to share my supplemental evidence and then describe it real quick.
So we were in front of the board for 5-112 Willows Avenue, my client Mark Pagano, and myself in November of last year.
To refresh everyone's memory, this is a 20-foot wide RSA 3 lot.
RSA 3 lots are 25-foot minimum by zoning code, so this is five feet smaller than that.
My client was attempting to build on this 20-foot lot without any sort of side yard.
RSA 3 requires an eight foot side yard.
We were trying to build building to building,
touching each of the two properties on the side.
The RCO was in support and emboldened by that,
we brought that in front of the board.
The board rejected that.
My client went back to the drawing board
and added a four foot side yard to that project.
So now it's a four foot side yard
and a 16 foot wide building,
which, you know, given the fact that this is not a full 25 foot wide RSA 3 lot, we believe
coming down to 16 feet is a completely reasonable compromise in order for my client to be able to
build and use this property as a single family home. So the variance before was no side yard
versus a required eight feet now we're seeking four feet to go four further
feet would require him to build a 12 foot wide property on an RSA 3 lot and
that's not not tenable we believe that four foot wide yard is appropriate here
uh wide yard is appropriate here and it'll be a semi-detached property which is appropriate
and it'll be a semi-detached property which is appropriate
under the code uh and my client mark mark pagano uh and the plans up he can describe uh any
anything that you are looking for you want to bring mr pagano on yes all right please mark you
available they'll be coming back in shortly
hey I'm here I could you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer
yes mark Pagano m-a-r-k p-a-g-a-n-o do you swear or firm to tell the truth the
truth nothing but the truth yes uh mark did you hear my testimony just now regarding your revised
plans for this property yes uh could you describe the changes that were made and um talk about how
this would be the the minimum size lot or the minimum size property that would be that would
make sense practically on a 20-foot wide lot yes so originally we were we were trying to build this
20 feet because the neighborhood properties both had existing side yards so we thought that maybe
um this could be built to fill length because the neighbors already had existing side yards
the rco is okay with that we made a few changes um we were denied which is fine uh we came back
to the drawing board to make this match the neighborhood a lot more um every house in that
on that side of the block i think has a 3.6 foot side yard our side yard is going to be four feet
a little bit bigger with a 16 foot house we think this is a um would be very nice addition
to the neighborhood we think it matches the twins and the semi-detached on the block
um and that's kind of where we are right now nothing further from art
uh eric do you have any questions um if i may uh briefly respond um uh first i just wanted to
acknowledge um you know council's uh statement about uh my client um i think the word you know
bothering um there was an earlier uh email about harassing um i just i don't think these are
appropriate to uh have into hearing but since he did introduce it i just want to say you know that
i object and i think this is um inappropriate um and i think also then with regard to the um
uh structure itself i recognize that there are some uh revisions um i would still note that um i
I don't believe this retains the the character of the the other properties neighborhood.
I'm particular with regard to the proposed height.
And I still think that that further changes would be required to have it conform to necessary and reasonable expectations of any development that would be allowed to go forward.
okay thank you uh questions from the board
now the roof deck was that part of what was on the plan before i kind of don't remember a roof
deck before yes mike it was and that was something that the community was okay with
because i don't see any roof decks any place else in the area yeah so the community yeah so initially
initially the original plan didn't have the setback uh so um kathy and sean from cedar park
asked me if we would be willing to do the eight foot setback so we changed that and they were okay
with that um it always had a roof deck it just had a um yeah it always it always had the pilot
house and the roof deck on the original plans we just set it back eight feet because initially it
went straight up okay because that's the building go ahead no no finish mic i'm sorry no i was
because the building on the the other new building I guess the building that
has addition third floor addition is set back on the third floor it doesn't have
a roof deck and that's the only other other other residential that looks like
it's has a three-story next question is the porch the same depth as the porch
that's adjacent to it that's going to be attached to yes that was not a look at
okay yeah it'll look like a twin it'll look at yes it'll look almost like a twin yeah that
was the other recommendation the um neighbors association asked if we could line it up with
the house to make it all the same level so we did make them changes as well to make it uh the roof
lines match and you can see it on uh right there on that uh first uh thing there we made it match to
at 5114 or 10 whatever that side one is there okay right just wanted to confirm that the rco
saw the new plans and um were continued to be in support yeah yeah they were not
yeah yeah they were not yep they said that they were they didn't have to change the letter they
yep they said that they they didn't have to change the letter they didn't have time
didn't have time to give me another meeting when i reached out to them uh two months ago um but
they were in support of either the 20 foot with the setback or the side yard they had
no opposition on either on the original letter i confirm that we don't go to the public for this
do we um we would we would go to the public only on the new information if there is anything
Okay, so on the new information we just received right there anyone in the part of the audience.
The hand up from velvet how I will promote them.
Again it's limited to what was just on what we've heard.
what was your first name
velvet howell okay hello hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
sure my first name is velvet v as in victor e-l-v-e-t howell h-o-w-e-l-l you swear or
firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do are you a neighbor i am the
owner of the adjacent property that's okay hold on hold on hold a moment and so what we want is
the testimony that you just heard we want your response to what you've heard just now
i object army or i resist reject i'm not sure the proper time okay thank you very much for
taking time to call us call and we know it's kind of late is there anyone else in the audience
no further hands mr chair planning commission you want to change
amy boy with the planning commission we have no further comments other than what was said in the
original hearing right so um is council so long the other council um may i um yes this is eric
Rosenfeld. Okay, so let me tell you where we are. We're going to hold this, and we're going to leave
it open, and then we'll vote on it in two weeks, but both of you will have an opportunity to send
in comments on a memo, okay? Okay, super. Thank you. So where Hillary told me, Eric, that you can
make sure you copy Joe, and Joe will copy you, but send us in as soon as you can your comments and
where you stand and then we'll make a decision on the wednesday two wednesdays from now that's
right okay right and you know what thank you we'll do it at uh 2 p.m thank you very much okay and
thank both of you thank you board good night all right and i'm sorry uh to interrupt this is ian
hegarty executive director just to clarify the record is closed uh right now no the record's
open hillary wants it open no no understood i understood it's open but only for uh additional
written testimony from both councils who are currently present not from it was open because
eric could could uh respond i appreciate it and may i just confirm that is june 3rd i believe you
said two wednesdays from today yeah okay great yeah all right thank you all right okay thanks
everybody and then joe we started the day with you and we end with you so we just
what could be that what could what could be better i'm not in a suit anymore but
is there anyone in the audience who's uh 330 cases now from call
do not see any further hands mr chair um thanks everybody for the staff i want to tell you i'm
sorry that we kept you a little bit later tonight uh we appreciate your work uh planning as usual
thank you we're glad you're back um and we'll see everybody in two weeks