and we're live
you and Tanya and
Tina we'll give you a few minutes you'll let us
know when you're ready
yes chair
Thank you.
Thank you.
Okay, Chair, we have about 49 attendees with us today, and we're ready to begin as you
One second, please.
Sorry about that.
Good morning, everyone.
My name is Frank DiCicco.
I'm the chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
I apologize for background noise.
I'll be participating in today's hearing along with our board secretary, Mr.
Professor Plaza and Board Member Mr. Thomas Holloman. Board Administrator Fatina L and Board
Attorney Ms. Sharon Saleta along with our Zoning Board Administrator Ms. Tanya Sunkit are also in
attendance. For those of you who haven't yet participated in one of our hearings I'll go
through some of the basics of what you can expect. First we will be administering oaths to individual
participants prior to their testimony. Second we'd like to advise everyone that this proceeding is
being recorded and that by participating you acknowledge your agreement to to be recorded
and that the recording will be made available to the public on the web or otherwise. For anyone
participating by phone if you wish to testify you must raise your hand by hitting star nine
and then star six to unmute yourself. I'll repeat. For anyone participating by phone if you wish to
testify, you must raise your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute yourself.
Finally, to enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548 and leave your email address
and the address of the property at issue. I will repeat. To enter an appearance statement,
call google 267-270-5548 and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue
and i'd like to remind everyone please do not attempt to testify in the chat any comments or
questions you have please direct them to fatina l or board administrator with that i will read off
If there is a case that was scheduled for 3.30 today, MI 2021-001-476-731 North Uber Street, that case will be held for one week.
There's an add-on case, MI 2020-002-483-1431 North 20th Street.
Excuse me, Chair.
This is Sharon.
If we could move that to the end of the session, I'd like to contact someone at Planning.
Yeah, okay.
All right.
We'll move that back.
Thank you.
On the 930 list, case number five, MI2021-001479, 1433 West Fisher Avenue is being continued.
Number 10 on our list, 930 list is MI2020-000282, 4625 Wayne Avenue.
And number 14 on our list, MI2020-003172599 Adams Avenue is requested to be withdrawn.
is requested to be withdrawn anyone has any comments or concerns or disagrees with the
Anyone has any comments or concerns?
three cases i read off as being continued or withdrawn please raise your hand at this time
only if you have concern about the cases i just read into the record
i see no handshare thank you i will now ask if anyone would like to request
a continuance or withdrawal to please raise their hand I see no hands at this time chair
you just want to make sure Sharon am I doing the north 20th street now
chair if you could announce ask if anyone is here for number three on the list this is the case that
has related cases scheduled for the 330 list and we'll move them all thank you mi 2021 that's
zero zero one four eight three one three four nine south linwood street is there anyone here
for this case. This is a related case to several cases that will be heard on a 330 list. I would
like to advise everyone that this case I just mentioned 1349 South Linwood Street will be
moved to the 330 list. Chair, we have one hand up. We have two hands up. The first hand is
He's been unmuted. Please wait for the chair.
Thank you, sir. Please identify yourself. Spell your full name and I'll swear you in.
Morning, chair and board adjustments. I am Minister Enoch Amarayal.
That is spelled E-N-O-C-H-A-M-E-N-R-A-hyphen-E-L.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I affirm.
Thank you. Please.
Excuse me, Chair. Before you start, could we also check whether the attorney, Isaac Slepner, is in attendance?
Is Mr. Slepner available? Hold on, sir. I'll go right back to you.
Yeah, he's there. I see him.
Yeah, I'm here.
Yeah, Mr. Slepner, please identify yourself. I'll swear you in and have some questions for you.
Sure thing. Isaac Slepner with Mattione Limited. I am counsel to the owner of 1349 South Lindenwood. Mattione Limited is 100 North Independence Mall West, Suite 5A Northwest, Philadelphia PA, 19106.
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Thank you. I don't know if you heard my statement and Mr. Amman, just hold off one second. I was going to, we were considering moving your three, the case for 1349 South Linwood to the 330 list because they're all connected to each other, related.
and rather than have people sit on the phone to hear testimony on this case and then have to come
back at 3 30 we thought we'd do it as a bundle and hear them all at the same time is there any
objection to that i don't have any objection no objection i think that's a brilliant idea thank
you okay so we'll see everybody back here at 3 30 as it relates to linwood avenue and the other
cases which i believe are wilton street cases correct correct correct all right thank you
thank you for your cooperation all right uh with that um excuse me chair we have one more
okay the hand just went down never mind all right i'm going to ask again any requests for
continuances or withdrawals for the 9 30 list um hi chair this is tanya sunkett um this is typical
um that uh i wanted to mention that the case that's being continued for
MI 2020 000282 has been scheduled multiple times since 2020, I believe February or May
of 2020. Can I make a request that this be a must be heard? I had suggested to the attorney
when he reached out to me to make sure he appeared for why he needed an additional continuance.
Which case is that? Excuse me, Chair. This is, I believe we discussed this last night.
it is 4625 wayne avenue yes it's number 10 the rco requested the continuance and the
applicant agreed to it but i agree it should be a must be heard okay so when i get to that
i'll make a note when i get to it must be heard okay i think that you've already announced it
Must be heard.
I think that you've already announced it as continued.
It has continued.
I'll read it into the record again.
MI 2020-000282-4625 Wayne Avenue is continued.
Must be heard.
Thank you.
Thank you, kindly Chair.
Thank you.
Any other requests for continuances or withdrawals for the 930 list?
I see no hands share. Thank you. With that, we can begin. I didn't leave anything off. Did I, Sharon?
So far? No, nothing so far.
1431-33 is an add-on, correct? North 20th?
Yes, you're going to call that at the end after I've spoken.
You want to wait. Right. Hold to the end. All right. MI 2021-001481, 1213 Crease, C-R-E-A-S-E Street.
mr dorizio has been promoted to panelists good morning sir please identify yourself
I'll spell your full name, and I'll swear you in.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Raymond Dorizio representing 1213 Cree Street.
My address is 2 Penn Center, Suite 520, Philadelphia PA 19102.
And the owner of the property is, he is on the call, Vincent Cianciotti.
I'll spell your last name, please, for the record.
d-o-r-i-z-i-o we're affirmed to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes i do thank you please proceed sir you will agree to waive the reading of its refusal and
stipulate to attackers i do and have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents
proof of ownership proof of tax compliance copy of the refusal or referral photos and plans five
days prior to this area? Yes. Have you met with the RCO and have a letter? Yes, we have met with
the RCO. I sent the letter a couple days after that. I received it after I sent the packet,
but we did meet. Thank you. So this is 1213 Cree Street. This is our application to legalize a
duplex. We have a refusal. If I could share my screen. I'm going to pull up
packet here. And we have a refusal to RSA five district to dwelling units in an existing
structure. That was our refusal. We did sign a timely appeal. This property is located between
East Thompson Street and Girard Avenue. My client and his wife have basically owned this since the
late 90s. There was a deed between wife and husband in 2015, which is the current deed,
which i'm going through right now um these are the plans essentially it's a two-story
unit there it's set back off the street um he's proposing the first floor one bedroom with the
second floor a two-bedroom property there is parking this is a picture of the property
it's the one on the right next to this wooden fence here uh not the one with the white car
in the driveway there. Originally, my client purchased this property and his family lived
there. He had his mother and his sister in there. And essentially what he did was he had his mother
living in there kind of as an in-ball suite with his sister and her family there. They lived there
for the first few years in the property. Here's some photos of the interior.
there are tenants in there now sorry that was upside down these are some photos so essentially
after they left is when he rented it out there was a previous I believe the community indicated
this he previously went before the community on this I'm not sure if he actually pursued his
appeal before the ZBA I don't think that he did this is my client's tax clearance
um again he's had this property for over 20 years um he's looking to try to legalize it
we did meet with the community i believe they sent a letter in opposition um based on you know my
I believe they sent a letter in opposition based on, you know, my client doing this so long ago and I guess never really pursuing it.
client
But there are other multifamilies in the area.
There's some CMX one and two on the corners of the streets here.
My client is sort of in the middle of the block.
He's about two thirds up the street towards Girard Avenue.
um and that's essentially what he's looking to do to try to legalize the property
um and moving forward from there and my client is on the call i believe
you might see uh but that in this photo are there separate utilities i believe that there
i believe that there are do you have any photos showing the uh the utilities i don't think i have
any photos no attached showing the utilities my client could could basically give more of
that information mr chatti do you hear us i do okay so you heard my oh hold on hold on hold on
One moment, Mr. Cianciotti, please spell your full name and I'll swear you in.
It is Vincent, V-I-N-C-E-N-T, last name C-I-A-N-C-I-O-T-T-I.
You swear for him to tell the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Please proceed, Mr. D'Orazio.
Thank you.
So, Mr. Cianciotti, you heard my testimony so far.
Right. Based on your knowledge, is that a true and accurate representation? And would you adopt that as your own?
Okay. Now, the chairman did have a question as far as the utilities were concerned. Are they separate in there? Is that correct?
or they are yes um they are all separate and if you view the picture that is up on the screen that
i see now to the right of the front door on the first floor level there is two electric meters
right there yeah but i can see it better now the other one was the far shot i thought it was but
i wasn't this is this makes it easier to see thank you yes and to the left to the left underneath the
concrete steps there are two gas meters under there and just just for um just for purpose
this has been this is this picture is a little older so the the fascia has been fixed up there
that was a windstorm i didn't know i sent that picture okay to the right over the door
yes to the left over the left i'm sorry
all right so so correct me if i'm wrong your family you had family members living in one unit
and you were in the other unit actually it was my mother and my sister and my mother kind of
lived downstairs my sister was upstairs we you know had newborns and she was up there but it
was like one unit like kind of like an in-law suite slash home and then my um my sister decided
to move and took my mother with me with her and then um you know i had this i had this property
that was set up like this so i decided to rent it out as a duplex and i went for i i applied for
zoning in 2004 and you know life for me in 2004 2003 just got hectic and I believe I withdrew it
or I didn't was not able to make the ZBA hearing I can't remember back that far but um you know
it's been operating you know pretty good no violations anything the city does tell me to fix
or change i do taxes are up to date um i don't bring trouble i'm not a nuisance to the block
have you been paying your rental license well that's the one thing that um i haven't been able
to do because i can't apply for it i tried to apply for it but i can't apply for it because
of the zoning so this right okay do you manage the property mr chinchot are you the person that
the tenants would call to resolve issues yes i am i am the manager and i have managed it for
years okay all right uh any questions from the board no no anyone else would like to
testify in this case please raise your hand i see no handshare waiting commission good morning
Planning Commission. Good morning, David Fecteau, F-E-C-T-E-A-U with the City Planning Commission.
David Fecto, F.
You swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir, I do. Please proceed. Thank you, sir. Mr. Chairman, members of the board,
the Comprehensive Plan recommends this property for single-family use. L&I's Zoning Archive
shows that a refusal for two units was issued for this property in 2004 there is no evidence that
the refusal was appealed we have to assume the work proceeded without permits we recommend that
the board deny the requested variances 2004 huh okay um mi 2021 that's zero zero one four eight
1213 Cree Street, my vote is no.
Confessor Plaza, my vote is no.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is no.
MI 2021-001494, 1318 Rittner Street.
Lower Moinesing Civic has sent a letter of support