and there are no drug and alcohol rehab, there's no mental health treatment, there's no halfway
house. This is strictly individuals, very affordable units, senior, over 50 living.
I'll show you some photos. Like I said, we agree no units in the basement. There's a large rear
yard with full access by all residents for trash storage and this is the property you can see
there we go uh there are vacant lots on either side the block is challenging um that's the
posting of the property it's kind of unusual i'll rotate this lot like i said lots of vacant lots
So you see, there's no development on either side.
Anyway, we met with Judith Robinson, who is the local RCO.
She acknowledged it's well run.
And there we go.
All right.
And Shalom is here to adopt my testimony.
There's nothing on you.
We meet the standard for, oh, by the way, there was.
an incident it's fully sprinklered there was an incident with an incident with the sprinkler
system it flooded the units so he had to move out the residents to do full um full rehab of
the property but it's really nice on the inside I'll show you some before and after photos
we can wrap up quickly um like I said the residents are very happy but anyway this is
what's going on now there was extreme water damage and while I'm going through the rest of my
photos i'll ask shalom shalom if you can do the raise hand function now um
oh the other proviso was maximum 10 residents and we're fine with that maximum of 10 residents
and here's the old permit from the original case uh we're fine with those two provisors if that
and judith did not ask for that but uh we're okay if that if the board needs to continue that we're
fine with that as well. There's nothing unusual about this use that makes it more adverse
than other rooming houses. As a matter of fact, I would argue it's less impactful than
other single family, single room residences in that there is no mental health, no drug
and alcohol rehab. It's strictly senior living. So let me go ahead and ask Shalom. Shalom,
can you raise your virtual hand on the Zoom app? Shalom Atiyaz.
Could you state your name, please?
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Hi, my name is Shalom Atias, S-H-A-L-O-M-A-T-I-A-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Absolutely, yes.
Shalom, did you hear all my factual statements and testimony, and is it true and accurate,
and do you adopt those statements as your own testimony in this case?
absolutely yes sir all right mr chairman that's all i have thank you questions from questions
from the board no mr chairman no mr chairman question from the virtual audience no mr chairman
i see no further answer mr chair planning commission thank you chairman bergen ian
hegarty for the philadelphia city planning commission uh board members this proposed
uh board members this proposed use is permitted by special exception at this location uh we don't
use is permitted by special exception at this location.
believe that this use will cause any detrimental impacts to the neighborhood beyond what might
normally be expected and so the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the
special exception thank you mi 2021 004971 1925 north 19th street i vote yes with provisos no more
than 10 residents, no basement living. Carol Tenere, my vote is yes with provisos. Thomas
Howell, my vote is yes with provisos. James Snell, yes with provisos. Ishmael Shahid, yes with
provisos. Thank you. Thank you for your indulgence today. Have a good afternoon, everyone. You too.
MI-2021-003-027-2121 Dickerson Street.
Neely Bryant.
Sorry, Mr. John Taylor has his hand raised.
Mr. Taylor, you've already been sworn.
Just state your name, please.
i'm mr taylor
good morning my name is john taylor i'm counsel for the applicant um brian neely
i've been sworn in i think you were already sworn in this morning right correct right okay um
is he the owner of the property he is the owner of the property and he's present during the
hearing as well great our vice chair has a few questions for you um good morning have you emailed
the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance a copy of the refusal or referral
photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing and have you met with the
RCO and do you have a letter? We've met with the RCO. We do have a letter. Five days before the ZBA
hearing, we submitted a packet with all the documents you mentioned except the tax cert
because we did not have it. We got the tax cert yesterday and we submitted the tax cert yesterday.
okay and sir what is your name sir john taylor i'm the attorney for the applicant
okay do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
i do thank you so much you may proceed and share your screen thank you thank you
Okay, is the ZBA able to see the shared screen?
This is our presentation for 2121 Dickinson Street, Philadelphia, PA.
Attached to our presentation are the refusal, the application for appeal, the RCO letter
of support with proviso, the deed proving ownership, photographs, and plans.
Not included is the tax cert because that was not available on Friday, but I can show
that during the presentation because it was obtained yesterday.
This is Exhibit A. It is the refusal. The property, 2121 Dickinson Street, Philadelphia, PA, is located in a CMX2. Presently, the property is a vacant lot. My client would like to build a new construction on the site.
It would be a three-story attached structure, not to exceed 38 feet, with cellar, roof deck, and also a two-family household living.
This request was refused because it is in a CMX2 district, whereby the first floor must be used for commercial purposes.
There's also the rear yard depth.
We're proposing a seven-feet rear yard, and it's supposed to be nine feet.
and the required open space is 231 square feet and we're requesting 140 square feet this is a undue hardship
feet and we're requesting 140 square feet this is a undue hardship for reasons to be explained in
the presentation exhibit B will show the application as I said right now the present
use of the property is a vacant lot it is a blight it is not good for the community the
vacant lot is bad it doesn't generate any tax dollars it is not good this proposed use is
much better, it does not increase congestion, and it actually recognizes it by being a solely
residential, it recognizes the shifting character of the neighborhood from a less commercial
to more residential neighborhood.
We met with the RCO, the Point Breeze Community Development Coalition, they have offered
a letter of support.
The position of the RCO was 5 support, 0 oppose.
The position of the community was 6 support, 1 oppose.
The proviso contained in the letter is initial rent will be $1,000 for each apartment.
and out of order is the plans which is also attached here to is exhibit f
it shows the plans of the building it does not exceed 38 feet it is a residential unit multi
and here is the rear yard obviously we would like the
first floor unit to be slightly bigger to off more living accommodations
This is the deed.
It proves that my client, Brian M. Neely, owns the property.
This is a photograph of the neighborhood.
This fence is actually where the property would be built.
This is a newer construction.
The property proposed would be substantially similar to the newer construction.
as a coincidence my client mr neely also operates the storefront here he has operated the storefront
here for many years this shows the vacant lot at a different angle noticing across the street
there's a laundromat there's also another store this store is actually the story that's operated
by mr neely so that really shows there's already a saturation of commercial storefronts in the
neighborhood and as the neighborhood has shifted to more residential is
appropriate that this structure be wholly residential this is a picture of
the vacant lot has a very nice natural setting to it however it would be better
if it would be a construction you know a building a structure residential
structure clearly there's adequate space if you look here I'm circling a little
mailboxes here conforms with the existing neighborhood now these are
copies of the postings there was two zoning posters put out the first hearing
was May 8th or May 6th it was continued because the tax compliance issue which
wasn't really resolved until yesterday these are the second postings and
finally these are the print these are the building plans which were already shown previously
if i may like to show the um let's see if i'm able to
so this is what we submitted yesterday the tax compliance
at this point if i may i'd like to introduce the testimony of mr brian neely the owner of the
property can you hear mr neely can you please raise your hand the chat line
Mr. Neely, state your name, please.
I'm allowed to speak.
Would you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Hello, everyone.
My name is Brian Neely, spelled B-R-Y-A-N.
Neely, N as in neighbor, double E-L-Y.
Right.
do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes i do proceed mr neely are you the owner of the property yes sir okay have you applied for
okay have you applied for this variance yes i have and have you heard my the entire hearing
this variance yes i have and have you heard
regarding this matter i did have you seen all the exhibits that were shared with the zba
yes uh do you adopt or confirm my uh presentation or testimony to the zba today as your own yes
thank you no further questions questions from the board no mr chairman
and mr chairman questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no further hands mr chair planning commission
thank you chair bergman ian hegarty for the philadelphia city planning commission
members of the board the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing commercial
mixed use zoning on this site first with regard to the dimensional variances the applicant has
not shown that strict adherence to the zoning rules would cause a financial detriment which
is one of the required findings for a dimensional variance hardship. With regard to the use variance,
the applicant's hardship claim is also not supported with the required evidence, which is
for a unique physical condition or circumstance. The vacant condition of the lot is, of course,
not a unique physical condition leading to hardship. We'd also want to point out that
the adjacent property has been developed with ground floor commercial use, and the intention
of this use requirement is to support communities with equitable access to goods and services.
We further note that the proviso is not enforceable and should not be included in the board's
decision. If the applicant wishes to reapply and make use of the mixed income housing bonus,
an additional unit might be allowed as a matter of right in exchange for actually providing
a deed restricted affordable unit. But in this case, we recommend that the board deny all these
variances. MI 2021-003-027-2121 Dickinson Street. I vote no.
Harold Tenere, my vote is no. Thomas Holloman, my vote is no. James Snell, my vote is no.
Thank you. MI 2021-004-905-2503, Sharswood Street, Joseph Consul.
Mr. Consul has been promoted to panelist.
Mr. Consul, state your name, please.
You've already been sworn to state your name.
It is Joseph Consul.
Could you identify your client and the relationship to the property?
Yes, my client is Tamar Smith.
She is the owner of 2503 Shardswood Street.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Hi, Mr. Consul.
do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy have you emailed
the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance a copy of the refusal photos under
plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing and have you met with the rco and
do you have a letter uh yes everything okay great you may proceed and please share your screen
just uh one like little mini point is my screen up uh yeah i don't know what this
sort of you sort of got like a shopping list though oh yeah sorry that's my it's okay that's
my shopping list okay so this is what i wanted i'd like to add something to that list but go ahead
do you need do you need bread flour uh because i do so did that work yes all right perfect um
So the refusal itself is correct. On the Zoning Appeals website, it seems to state the refusal is for a two-unit building, which we're not asking for density here.
So I don't know if that's something to put on the record. I've never had that experience before, where ATLAS lists what the appeal is as something different than what the refusal says.
But I just wanted to touch on that.
I'm sorry. May I interject a thought, Chairman?
Go ahead.
Mr. Consul, what does your poster say?
Does the poster match your refusal?
The poster matches the refusal, yes.
So then everything should be good, sir.
All right, great.
Thanks.
So we've solved my shopping list.
Now let's talk about 2503 Shardswood.
2503 Shardswood Street is 25th and Shardswood, which is in Brewery Town.
The owner of the property, as I stated, is Tamara Smith. She is on this call. She runs Layla's Way Behavioral Services, which is the website that I have on the screen right now.
The owner of the property, as I stated, is Tamara Smith.
She is on this call.
Layla's Way is a leading company which provides therapeutic support services to children with autism and other behavioral health diagnoses in the city of Philadelphia.
They are partnered with Community Behavioral Health of the City of Philadelphia to provide these services to local children.
CBH and Layla's Way have determined that in order to better serve the city, it was necessary to start to work to prevent busing these children with these needs out of the city to the surrounding counties, because that's where a lot of these single-room residences are.
As Ms. Smith can explain, and I'll ask her to briefly, that way of operating has been problematic in the sense that it removes children from the communities they live in.
And after treatment, those same children return to the communities feeling a bit like outsiders.
So the hope of CBH is that companies like Tamar's, with long and positive reputations, would institute local properties to keep kids within their own communities while they receive treatment.
This also allows the parents of those children to actually visit the kids because oftentimes when the kids get sent to the counties for this kind of treatment, the parents have to figure out how to get transportation because they need to actually drive out to see them.
That oftentimes is not possible.