but we'll also leave the record open
if the RCO wishes to
permit a letter. Otherwise, the record
is closed. Ms. Emerson,
just one thing. Judith Robinson
of the 32nd Ward
said that she sent a letter
in today to
the ZBA and I asked her to send me a copy
which she did just before 930
and it's part of my package
I have not
seen that yet so if you're able
to forward that to me as well um i don't know that but that has come to us so if you could
forward that um then we'll just leave the the record open um for the amended plans
um then we'll just leave the the record open um for the amended plans only the amended refusal
rather only understood thank you mr emerson thank you mr yep so mr clinton mr clinton we'll hold
this uh case until the uh rco letter comes in and then also this case is going to be held because
of the amended on the curb cuts of the street understood thank you sir all right we're going
back to number eight mi2022005212 2025 north fourth street steve masters attorney for count
Mr. Masters is coming back in as a panelist.
Thank you, Letitia.
Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the board.
Good morning, Mr. Masters.
Please state your name and spell it for the record.
Steve Masters, S-T-E-V-E-M-A-S-T-E-R-S.
I'm with the law firm of JustLaws.
Do you agree to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do. Thank you. Please give us a little bit of information on your client.
Sure. I represent Letitia McCracken, who is with us in the virtual audience today. She's the property owner of 2025 North 4th Street.
Thank you. Mr. Holliman is going to ask you a few questions.
Good morning, counsel.
Good morning.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Did you email all the exhibits and documents as required?
Five days in advance to this hearing, did you meet with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
Yes to all of your questions.
Thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen.
All right.
Thank you so much.
I'm going to share my screen.
Good morning again, Mr. Chair, members of the board. We are here on a zoning variance application to legalize a triplex at 2025 North 4th Street.
The refusal here is simply one use refusal. The zoning district is for single family at RSA 5 and we're proposing three families, which is not allowed in that district.
We have a letter of support from the North Square Community Alliance. And we had a very good meeting with the RCO. As we'll see in a moment, the character of this block has changed profoundly since the early days when it was a single family block.
And for the most part, the properties that are surrounding our property here are either all multifamily or they're vacant. And there's just not any viability for creating or building a single family home on this block.
For that reason, the community voted unanimously to support the project, and they did have a, they had some specific concerns with the open vacant lot right next door to our property.
They asked our client to clean the adjacent lot, I'm going to make this a little bigger if people can see, to remove all the construction debris, to restore, replace the existing fence, and to follow rules and regulations on trash collection day.
We'll see in the photos that that has all been done, and that was done within days of the RCO asking us to do that.
We have petitions in support, and these were attached to the RCO letter and we also have them separately in our exhibit binder. We have 14 petitions in support. Many of these residents are on the exact block that we're talking about today.
Okay. And this is our, our exhibit binder or a tab with the petitions. So in terms of the plans, I'm going to make these bigger here. So we're not proposing any changes to the, there's no construction or renovation. In fact, the, the, the, the, the renovations have, have occurred.
So we have the basement is just for utilities.
We have the basement is just for utilities on the first floor we have unit a it's a one bedroom bedrooms in the back, the living room is in the front, the second floor, we have two studio units studio unit C is in the front studio unit B is to the back.
and um the third floor we've designated as a multi-purpose recreation room and that is
available to all three of the units in the building um to be shared um it will have a
little bit of an area for for people who want to have you know some kind of a social gathering for
that's a little kitchenette it has a it has a bathroom um and uh that's uh that's what's going
be happening on the third floor. For our elevations, we have
this is the side, the front on view, I'm sorry, and then this is the side view of our elevation
drawings. This is the existing facade.
And then a series of photos here. So again, the existing facade, this is the lot that we'll see
has been cleaned up. We're going to start with the basement with the utilities, and then it's an
unfinished basement. It will remain unfinished. From the basement, we go up the stairs to the
first floor. The first floor has a living room, kitchen area, a hallway, bathroom, and then this
is the hallway ends up in the in the bedroom. The first floor also has a private patio area in the
rear this is the closet in that bedroom a view from the other side of the bedroom
now we go up the stairway to the second floor unit b is a studio on the second floor
that's where the bedroom would be the bathroom
another view of the bedroom and that's the stairway that'll go up to the
to the multi-purpose room
going through this hallway we get to unit c it's the area for the bedroom
and the kind of like the everything's going on in there there's the kitchen
bathroom and then the third floor this is the multi-purpose recreation room
this is another view from the back wall this is the bathroom in that third floor
here we have the fence that has been restored as requested by the RCO and the debris has all been
removed. Another view showing that all of the debris has been removed.
Some more views showing everything was cleaned up.
And then our zoning posters, these are on the front window.
These are the close-ups.
So in our RCO presentation, we presented this chart that shows all the multifamily zoning
variances that have been issued for that block 2001 to 2020 North 4th Street.
Anything that's in the light blue is a duplex. The vacant lots are magenta and a triplex is indicated in yellow. So starting at the beginning of the block in 2001, we have a vacant lot. Then we have a duplex. We have two duplexes.
we have across the street a vacant lot then on on the even side again we have a duplex
all of these um have the zoning calendar numbers and the year that they were granted
by the zoning board uh the the corner uh properties are um are their accommodation
rmm1 and cmx2 the rest are the rsa5s we have two vacant lots of 2007 and 2009 and then
We have two vacant lots of 2007 and 2009.
And then we have more duplexes at 2017 and 2020.
We have more duplexes.
Chart continues on the second page for the portion from 2021 to 2057 North Forth.
We have more vacant lots at 21 and 23.
Our proposed triplex is right next to, as we saw, the vacant lot at 2023.
Right next door to us is a legal duplex that was created in 2000.
And then we have five additional vacant lots that are to the other side of us.
We have our tax clearance.
Our deed.
Scroll through that a little bit more.
Our project information form.
And this was the RCO notice, it was an in-person meeting, and we mailed it to 214 addresses,
And these are all of the addresses that were part of that mailing.
I'm going to conclude my presentation and ask for my client, Letitia McCracken, to raise her hand to be acknowledged.
I see no hands at this time.
Wait one second, please.
I have Sloan Foulkes.
Mr. Foulkes, you're free to speak.
Good morning.
This is Sloan Foulkes, Office of Councilmember Ketsy Lozada, 7th District.
My name is called S-L-O-A-N-E-F as a fire or L-K-S.
Okay. Can you hear me?
Okay, sorry about that. You swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Yes, sir, I do.
All right.
The applicant having met with the according RCO and receiving a letter of support, the council member has no opposition to this request. Thank you.
Thank you, sir, Mr. Folks.
Is Ms. McCracken available?
She's out there.
There's no hand raised or no one with that last name.
Oh, excuse me.
I see her.
I can make her able to speak, but her hand wasn't up.
Ms. McCracken, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Ms. McCracken, please state your name and spell it for the record.
Ms. McCracken, you're still muted. Please unmute yourself if you would like to speak.
Okay, Mr. Masters, you're attorney of the court. We can accept your testimony.
Okay, yes. I'm not sure what the technical issues are for my client, but if she had been able to
to testify she would have adopted
and my testimony today
and affirmed that it was true and correct.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Shahid.
Ian Hegarty on behalf
of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
Board members, the proposed use
is consistent with the comprehensive
plan recommended zoning of rm1 city planning commission recommends that the board grant the
variance mi2022005212 2025 north 4th street my vote is yes
thomas holliman my vote is yes james snell my vote is yes
all right thank you council congratulations thank you so much
all right so anyone out in a virtual audience case have not been heard as of yet
i see no hands chair all right thank you all thank you smooth morning uh see you all at two
o'clock okay great job mr chairman yes great job thank you
Thank you.
You can begin, Chair.
Good afternoon. My name is Ishmael Shahid and I will be chairing this
afternoon's EBA hearing.
With me is board member Thomas Holliman.
Present, Mr. Chairman. Also board member James Snell.
Present, Mr. Chairman. We all have, we also have
the Baron with us from the city
office. Also present with us is Hillary Emerson, our board
attorney, and
Lakeisha Dandy, ZBA hearing supervisor. Before we begin,
here is our virtual format. Number one,
please be advised the proceedings are being recorded. A video
will be available by contacting Tanya Sumpton
at tinyasunctit at phila.gov number two for the benefit of our court stenographer
we ask that all attorneys and witnesses to id themselves before testifying number three
if you are participating by phone if you wish to testify please press nine star nine to raise your
hand and star 6 to unmute. To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548. Leave your name
and email address and someone will get back to you to answer your question. Lastly, the question
answer box on your screen is not for comments or testimonies. All comments should be directed to
our executive director, Tanya Shunkett, and we will begin the two o'clock list, starting with
continuances. Hillary? Yes, good afternoon, Mr. Chair. We have a few continuance requests for
the GPM list. One moment, please. The first request is number 7 MI-2022-005-219. That's
4212 Parkside Avenue. This is the first listing.
Let's continue that case.
All right. Thank you. The next case, number eight, MI-2022-005-210-4206 Parkside Avenue. This is also the first listing.
This case will be continued as well.
And number 11 on the list, MI-2022-005-205-4204 Parkside Avenue. This is also the first listing.
Okay, we will be continuing this case as well.
Okay, great. Are there any other requests for continuance in the virtual audience?
Good afternoon. This is Fatina L. I see no hands at this time.
Thank you. Moving on to the no exhibits case, Hillary.
Yes, we have we have one case and I see the attorney for the case, Mr.
Vaccaro, raising his hand on that case.
Number nine, MI-2022-005-231.
You can bring on Mr. Vaccaro. Mr.
Vaccaro, you're free to speak. Okay. Good. Good afternoon.
Thank you very much.
Please state your name and spell it for the court recorder.
My name is Joseph Vaccaro, V-A-C-C-A-R-O, attorney for the applicant.
You swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please give us a brief description of your client.
My client is an individual named Kakaberi Kubidinze, the owner of 90 Red Lion Road.
This application was meant to be withdrawn. There was a mistake in the underlying application. We refiled it in September of 2023, and it's actually scheduled to be heard on February 22nd.
So this individual case that scheduled for today was was intended to have been.
So this individual case that scheduled for today was was intended to have been withdrawn.
I guess it just never got withdrawn. So, council, we don't have any exhibits on file as of yet.
When can we look to see them? But we're going to have to contain continue this case.