And this is the front of the house, the picture.
And this is the refusal letter that we received.
Okay. You have all three refusals, 25 feet, 30. Okay.
And this is a project information form and this is a zoning permit that is
we applied.
This is a hearing letter that we received and we have to appear for this hearing today.
and i do have the um rco letter that uh jack sent this morning
it's it's not it's not a uh letter this is what uh um jack sent that this morning i believe
mr chairman i uh what does it can you summarize it yeah they just saying that they did not have
they did not hear the presentation of the application to conduct a vote um do you have
a letter from the councilwoman's office or the councilman's office no i don't i don't have
anything this is all jackson okay mr chair this is hillary um in light of this information um
i would suggest that we have a resumption here resumptive hearing on this matter um since it
It does not appear that there was, at least the RCO is saying there was not a meeting.
I know the applicant is indicating that he did attend a meeting, but I think we should
have a resumption, resumptive hearing at which time we can take public testimony on this
matter.
We could take the Planning Commission's perspective, the recommendation today, but I think we need
to have a resumptive hearing for public testimony in this matter.
Totally agree. Okay, so we'll continue through, Jojo, and we'll go ahead and hear the case out
and we'll hold it to hold a presumption hearing. Okay.
You have anything else you want to share with us before we move on?
So, I mean, all I have the other one is just a screenshot of that
a zoom meeting that i took you know uh because i could hear i mean i can show you
all right good enough questions from the board
no mr chairman no no mr chairman questions from the virtual audience
i see no hands chair planning commission this is uh ron bednar city planning property is indicated
for residential on the city plan we have no objection to granting events right uh so we're
going to actually hold this case sir uh we're going to have a presumption hearing uh so we can
actually get some some unanswered questions answered uh so hillary should he reach out to
get a new court date the new date i was just going to ask lakeisha if we had a resumption date
available sorry to put you on the spot lakeisha um um no what can um he can just uh reach out to
office and he can just be required
to post again. Okay.
We will do that.
Thank you. All right. Thank you, sir.
So going back
to the regular list,
number 2, MI-2022-002118.
2305 Peloton Street.
2305 Pelletron Street.
Xin Jin is the attorney.
Mr. Jin is coming back in as a panelist.
Thank you.
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon.
Please state your name and spell it for the record.
Yes, my name is Xin Jin, Z-H-E-N, last name J-I-N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard,
suite 1838 Philadelphia PA 19103 here on behalf of the applicant. Thank you. You've already
sworn yourself in, counsel. Can you please give us your advice and give us a client?
My client is the Commonwealth Improvement Fund LLC. The representative for that is here with
me today, Mr. Gitterman. Thank you. Our board member, Thomas Holliman, has a few questions to
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal?
Did you email all of the exhibits and documents as required five days in advance?
Did you meet with the RCO and do you have an RCO letter?
Yes, yes to all questions.
Thank you.
please proceed and share your screen thank you i'm going to share with the board the
exhibit package that was previously submitted can the board see my exhibit on the screen
yes thank you so we have submitted a copy of the refusal this is an application for the
erection of a new structure at this location to be used as a two-family dwelling this property
is zoned RSA 5 and therefore it was refused for the purpose of RSA 5 zoning district does not
permit multi or two-family household living. We did meet with the community with regard to this
application. The community issued a letter saying they do not support. However, if you look closely
at the way the community's letter is written, what the community's particular concern with this is
They have concern over local hiring and high rent and increase of taxes in the area.
From a developmental standpoint, some of the opposition actually stated that they would support the application provided we hire residential union carpenters or partner with carpenters unions, sponsor carpenters from the neighborhood or involvement in apprenticeships or sponsor a neighborhood child in addition.
Now, my client actually had no objections to these requests. At the time of the meeting, we gave the contact information, my client, to the neighbors who brought up these issues. However, unfortunately, until the letter came, no one actually reached out to my client to work with him on that particular request of condition.
Again, the neighborhood's particular expression of opposition isn't as directly in the particular use that we're requiring or requesting, but rather their main concern is that developments in the area has not been generating work for the local residents.
However, it does come out as a not support in this particular case.
I want to point out that this property is located a few blocks away from American Street.
It is on Pellethorpe, which is between West Dauphin and York Street.
This is an area that has actually quite a lot of vacant lots.
Development in the area is just starting.
And this kind of a development, unfortunately, with the single family development would actually
be just as, if not more difficult to have a rental value or rental price that would meet
the community's concerns. My client actually wanted to do a duplex partly because it would
split the size up and hopefully make the rental value a little more palpable. It is unfortunately
still not the case, but that is part of the reason a duplex design was proposed. This is also one of
the wider lots. Right before the corner, it is actually 18 feet wide rather than 16 feet wide.
The proposal is to have a new construction with brick facade. The property would be used as a
duplex. It actually would be split into two units. One unit would be the second and third floor. One
unit would be the first floor and cellar. This is again a wider building and the entire building
would have the necessary open space as normally required by code and meet the height
requirements under the code. The proposal isn't super dense.
requirements under the code. The proposal isn't super dense. One unit would be a one-bedroom
unit with the living space in the basement, and the second unit would be a three-bedroom unit
above. And that's generally, I'm sorry, a two-bedroom with a unit in the basement and a
upper floor unit with three bedrooms total. So that is the essential proposal here.
again with the area that we're in a single family development would be difficult and certainly would
not be very rentable with the size of the building that would be created from that development my
client again is here to answer any questions verify my testimony and i'll be happy to direct
to any portion of the exhibit for the board if needed thanks client uh thanks counsel let's get
your client on the screen. Sure. Mr. Gitterman, can you please raise your hand? Yes, how are you
everybody? Good evening. I'm sorry, Chair, I believe you're muted. Oh, I'm on mute. Please
state your name and spell it for the record. Yes, my name is Joseph, J-O-S-E-P-H. The last
I'm Ms. Gitterman, G-I-T-E-R-M-A-N.
Do you swear to tell the truth,
the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed, Council.
Thank you.
Mr. Gitterman, did you see my presentation
and hear my testimony before the board?
Yes, I did.
Can you verify what I represented are true and correct
and adopted as your own testimony?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
Yes, Mr. Chairman.
uh council is there two exits from the uh i i will put the uh plans back up for your reference
um i there's the first floor unit had the rear exit but the upper floor exit is through the front
my apologies
answer the question the basement doesn't have two exits uh the basement i i don't believe there's
only there's two exits thank you thank you
any other questions from the board i'm sorry i'm sorry this is the reporter could i ask
attorney jen to repeat his response sure i don't i do not believe there's two exits from the basement
no more questions from the board mr chairman questions from the virtual audience
I see no handshare.
Planning Commission.
Ryan Bednar, City Planning.
Property is indicated for residential use on the city plan or adopted comprehensive plan.
Recommends no change to existing residential single-family zoning at this location.
There's no unique physical circumstances or conditions of this lot that would prevent it from being used in performity with the code.
2329 is a new single home that was built in 2021.
Therefore, we recommend a request for variance not be granted.
MI-2022-002118.
2305, Phillip Hunt Street, I vote no.
Thomas Holliman, my vote is no.
James Snell, my vote is no.
All right.
Thank you.
Thank you, Councilor.
Number three, MI-2022-005393, 2546, page 3.
Lynn Nichols is the attorney.
Ms. Nichols is rejoining us as a panelist.
Good afternoon, Chair.
Good afternoon, Council.
Please state your name and spell it for the record.
Lynn Nichols, L-Y-N-N, last name Nichols, N-I-C-H-O-L-S.
You swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Right.
Please let us know your connection to the client that you have here.
Yes, I represent Darnell Qasim, who is the owner of 2546 Page Street.
All right.
Our board member, Thomas Holloman, has a few questions to ask.
Do you agree with the reading of the reviews and stipulates the exact same thing?
yes yes did you email all of the exhibits and documents as required
this hearing RCO and do you have an RCO letter yes to everything RCO letter thank you please
proceed and share your screen can everyone see my screen
Thank you.
Before I proceed, is there anyone on the call from the community?
May I ask?
Is there anyone in the audience for 2346 Pace Street?
I see no hands, Chair.
Thank you.
In this packet, as you can see, we have the application for appeal, the project information
form, the deed, tax clearance, the notification, the addresses that were notified, proof of mailing.
This is our community letter. Just for your information to the board,
We did have a meeting scheduled for January 24th. At that time, members from the community were not on the call. So Ms. Robinson, who is the chair of the RCO for this location, asked us to reschedule. And we did. We accommodated that so that we could have a meeting where, at her request, members from the community could get on.
She didn't know if they just were involved in other things. So we had our second meeting on Monday, February 6th at 6 p.m., at which time there was someone from the community on the meeting who at that time we didn't hear what her concerns were.
Ms. Robinson said she would reach out to the person and get back to us. Earlier before this
meeting, I emailed Ms. Robinson and asked her if she had any feedback for us and if she was going
to get on this call so that we would know what their position is. So at this time, we can't
represent what the community's position is. In this picture here, as you can see, I apologize,
This is the zoning notice. This is the other picture of the zoning notice. Here we have the refusal. This is a front view of the property. On the left to the right is a view looking across from the property. This is a view on the left here looking to the right of the property. This view on the right is looking to the left of the property.
there's a vacant lot next to the building and here we have the plans I'm going to actually
show them in a separate screen this project is a request to make this a duplex the owners of
the property are young entrepreneurs who are from the neighborhood and they recognize that there's
a need for affordable housing and the best use of this property would be as a duplex
What they propose is that the first floor apartment would be approximately 838 square feet, which would include the basement of the property, which would only be accessed by the first floor tenant.
and in the basement there would be utilities, the laundry. In the rear of the property they
proposed to have an exit door and on the second floor the second unit would be approximately
443 square feet that would accommodate a tenant to live on the second floor. They recognized that
in this area young people want to move here but they want more affordable housing. So this project
would not increase any congestion in the area, nor would it represent harm to public utilities
or in any way cause any extra congestion. And so as I stated, they're seeking to
have a duplex in this property so that they can accommodate affordable housing.
The total square foot of the property is approximately, as shown on the plans, 1,281 square feet.
So there is enough space to accommodate a duplex in this property.
At this time, I would like to call Darnell Qasim.
Mr. Qasim, is he in the virtual audience?
Yes, he has to mute himself, please.
Hello.
Good afternoon, Mr. Cossum.
Good afternoon, Mr. Kossam.
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon.
Who states your name?
Please state your name and spell it for the record.