constant winters okay ma'am hi could you state your name please and spell for the court reporter
hi my name is connie winters c-o-n-n-i-e-w-i-n-t-e-r-s right do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do are you a neighbor uh i own the property
directly across the street okay fine proceed uh i i'm unclear if this is one comment or doable i
have a chance to give a more lengthy protest when the protestants can speak or is this it for me
well this is this is what what do you want to say today well first of all i'd like to address the
petition that Mr. Masters has introduced. I also have a petition. I was ill for the last week,
so I don't have exhibits. I have the petition in front of me. I have 40 of the closest neighbors
who have signed opposing this. The 750 people on the petition were at a much greater distance
and will not be directly impacted by this use.
Okay, so should I go on with my other thing?
I think where you should be is why don't you say,
you know, what do you think of the project period?
I mean, I think that's where we,
what we want to hear is what's your concerns,
your particular concerns?
Well, I think it's unnecessary.
There are a lot of spaces further up
in the more commercial part of Shelton Avenue
that will be coming available for this type of use.
This block is not a commercial corridor. This block is primarily residential.
I own three residential properties on this block and have for the last 20 years.
And I've been working very hard to improve the quality of the tenants and the physical appearances of the buildings.
Most of the special exceptions that were agreed to by the West Shelton neighbors were voted on.
Their voting procedures for an RCO meeting require a vote only by the board members, and the board members, I think only two of them qualify as near neighbors, and they're unenforceable.
The noise, well, I won't go over all of them because Mr. Masters has presented them, but they're basically unenforceable for people who live directly across.
us. It would be a full-time job. The 12th Ward RCO meeting, I attended all of the RCO meetings.
The 12th Ward changed its position without having an additional RCO meeting. I object to that
because I could have mustered more of the near neighbors. But I think where we want to concentrate
on not you objecting to the meetings. What's your particular issues? Have you covered your issues
why you're not in favor of this? Well, I think it's going to increase noise, additional traffic,
parking's already an issue and will become increasingly an issue. The events can have
alcohol at them provided by caterers. It's really bringing something that could be operating as a
bar into a residential area which is already considerably impacted by things that are
make it more difficult for a residential quality of life. Okay all right so we appreciate your call
we thank you for your comments. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience? Yes chair we have
Charles Richardson. Good morning Mr. Richardson could you please state your name and spell for
Good morning, Mr. Richardson. Could you please state your name and spell for the court reporter?
the court reporter.
Good morning, Mr. Chair. Charles Richardson, R-I-C-H-A-R-D-S-O-N, Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass, room 508 City Hall.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, sir.
Councilwoman is actually going to leave the decision making on this up to you guys.
The proceedings have been kind of messy.
You know, as was mentioned, the 12th Ward RCO and Solo Germantown wrote letters of opposition initially for this property.
In the interim, then Mr. Masters engaged and the applicants engaged in a separate RCO meeting that actually no one was told about with regard to the other RCOs or this council office and came up with a letter of support.
That being said, you know, and we took them the task for that because of the fact that, you know, everything needs to be transparent.
In the interim, the RCO has reversed position from what we understand.
You know, what we've heard is that the young ladies that are running that space have done a pretty good job over the last three years.
Having heard Ms. Winters and, you know, and some of the things that she's talking about.
unfortunately parking is and I continue to say that in all of the zoning related issues that
we deal with parking is not a zoning issue so you know that's not and and it will not
and it will continue to be because there's other things that are coming into the neighborhood
it's a changing neighborhood that being said again we're leaving it in your hands because
of the fact that now we've had an RCO which has changed the position we've got an RCO that's
opposed and we've got an affected rco that had had another type of meeting so uh thank you thank
you for your comments already all right anyone else in the virtual audience yes here we have
allison weiss
good morning miss weiss could you state your name please and spell for the court reporter
good morning allison weiss a double l i s o n weiss w e i s s solo germantown civic association
Okay. Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
We are the RCO that has not changed our position.
We're standing by the neighbors who have been affected by this in a negative way.
And with our experience with a similar situation, not too far away, where there was a granting of a variance for a entertainment center,
which has now come back to haunt the neighbors. So these situations are unnecessary and we would
oppose. And I think in our letter, we did state that if the board were to grant this, we would
hope that they would consider a temporary variance. Thank you, Ms. Weiss. Thank you very
much for your call. Anyone else in the virtual audience? Yes, Chair. We have a calling user
phone number ending in 8122. All right. Could you state your name and spell for the court
reporter, please? Hi, my name is Cheryl Smith. I'm with the 12th one RCO. Ma'am, you're going
to have to speak up a little bit. I'm sorry. My name is Cheryl Smith. Excuse me. I'm with
the 12th one RCO. Okay. Could you spell your name for the court reporter?
I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman, this is the reporter. I did not hear that.
I know. You're going to have to speak up.
State your name and spell it for the court reporter, okay?
Hello?
Ma'am, please come mute yourself.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter?
I think it's star nine to unmute, or star, which one?
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Mr. Chair, that speaker was the head of the coordinating RCO, but it looks like she's not able to unmute herself.
But she, yeah.
All right.
Anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see no handshare.
All right.
Planning Commission.
Thank you.
and ma'am you're uh muted
Thank you. Sarah Bond, City Planning Commission, S-A-R-A-H-B-A-N-H. The comprehensive plan recommends a zoning map change to CMX 2.5 at this location. The proposed special exception will not cause detrimental impacts to the neighborhood beyond what normally might be expected for this use. The City Planning Commission recommends that the zoning board grant the variance.
thank you sarah bond city planning commission sa
mr chair before you do the vote i do want to request that as many of the provisos as possible
be added to the special exception so perhaps we can confer with board council on that but there
are definitely i think i already have and and she's given me three okay okay um just so you
know i i am going to add this the temporary special exception well mr chair we would strongly
be opposed to the temporary variance for several reasons. There's a three-year track record on
this, and there's literally been no significant complaints of any kind. Philly Office Retail
has a letter that we can look at if we didn't look at it before that is committing that every
future, and if this tenant was- I heard your testimony. Yeah. So a temporary variance would
would be financially harmful to the applicant because this is a very it's a small business
it's it's not a it this is not this is not live nation or i understand i understand so she would
have to come back in a few years and that would be that would be a financial blow to her okay and
and it's and it doesn't really respond to the the community groups that are that really want to
support this business all right okay so mi 2022 003 783 400 west chelton avenue i vote yes with
provisos um temporary special exception to expire 12 8 26 events end by 11 p.m no music after 11
and commercial trash pickup when necessary.
Carol?
Carol Tenere, I was writing the provisos.
Carol Tenere, my vote is yes with provisos.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with provisos.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is no.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Masters.
I think I'm going to see you later this afternoon.
MI number 10, MI 2022, 003-793-1003 West Dauphin Street.
Zen Jin is the attorney.
Recommendation of support from the 37th Ward.
Mr. Jin is coming back in as a panelist.
good morning good morning good morning sir how are you good did you state your name please and
spell for the court reporter yes uh zen jen z h e n last name j i n 1617 john f candy boulevard
suite 1838 felt fapa 19103 here on behalf of the applicant right do you swear or firm to tell the
truth and nothing but the truth? I do. Could you identify your client and relationship to the
property? Yes. Olympia Holdings LLC is the owner of the property. Mr. Bader, Shagai Bader, should
be here with us. He is the managing member. Thank you. And our vice chair, Carol Tenere, has a few
questions. Hi, Mr. Jinn. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy? I do. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance,
refusal referral, 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? Yes, to all questions. Okay, great. You
may proceed and begin by sharing your screen. Thank you. I'm going to share with the board the
documentation that was submitted previously. Can everyone see my exhibit on their screen?
Yes. Thank you. So we have submitted copies of the refusal, a support letter from 37th Ward
RCO, photos, plans, and related documentation. The refusal is based on a RM1 multifamily district.
This is currently a vacant lot. And the refusal here is for the total number of units based on
the calculated square foot of the lot itself. I want to point out that the actual lot size
Actual lot size of this property is pretty substantial at about 2,250 square feet.
of this property is pretty substantial at about 20.
The by right use of six units would be somewhere around 2,400 plus square feet.
It's 425 times 6, so 2,500 square feet, I'm sorry.
So we're about 250 square foot short on the overall lot size.
However, this lot is rather large, and it is located in a multifamily district.
The RCO actually, upon reviewing the plans and seeing the proposal and based on what's
surrounding the area, which is relatively underdeveloped, supported our additional unit
request. In the grand scheme of things, the additional unit does not necessarily increase
substantially the density of what is being proposed because we are trying to propose a
building that has a layout which has less overall bedrooms per unit which lays out better for the
community as far as what they're looking for from apartments in the area. As far as the height is
concerned we're actually coming in substantially less in height than what is permitted going for
a 33 foot and change building to kind of keep the building lower because of some of the shorter
buildings in the area. From the layout perspective, there are some large lots. There are some existing
residential properties. And the layout we are proposing, which is a front back layout of the
three floors, each essentially working out to be two units per floor with two bedrooms and trash
room and balconies being made available for each unit, as well as a rooftop deck for the upper
unit. The first floor unit, actually, the front unit has a trash room built in, but the back unit
also has a trash room and access to the yard. The building overall will have, in addition,
an access alley, so allowing even the other units to access the rear yard for trash storage,
pending actual pickup. So from the standpoint of managing trash, the total number of units
and layout, we're addressing most of the community's concerns when it comes to these
multifamily proposals. And from the layout itself and size, the potential cost of the units,
which were discussed at the meeting, the community is satisfied with our request for the additional
unit. While there's not a specific hardship to the land based on the layout, we do believe that
this is a relatively close variance dimensionally to what the code would otherwise allow, and we
would ask for the board's favorable review of this application for the one additional unit from the
by right numbers. I'm happy to share any additional information or screen with the board and my client
is ready to testify to verify. Why don't you bring your client on? Sure, thank you. Mr. Bader, can you
raise your hand virtually to be identified? Sir, please unmute yourself. Hello? Hi, could you state
your name, please, and a spell for the court reporter. And my name is Chagai Bader. C-H-A-G-A-I.
My last name is Bader. B-A-D-E-R. Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
nothing but the truth? Yes, sir. Proceed, counsel. Thank you. Mr. Bader, did you see and hear my
testimony to the zoning board? Yes. Can you verify what I have represented is true and correct and
adopt it as your own testimony yes thank you okay questions from the board no mr chair
no mr no mr questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no yes chair hi planning commission
thank you chair sarah bond city planning commission s-a-r-a-h-b-a-n-h
the comprehensive plan recommends a zoning map change to rsa 5 residential single family zoning
at this location the appellant's hardship claim is not supported with evidence of unique physical
circumstances or conditions of this 2,244 square foot lot the city planning commission recommends
that the Zoning Board deny the variants.
So MI 2022-003-793-1003 West Dauphin Street, I vote now.
1003 west dauphin street uh i vote now
carol tennari my vote is no thomas holloman my vote is no
thank you council thank you
okay okay okay so number 14
yes mi2022-004-470-601-41 north 46th street joseph vaccaro is the attorney
letter of support from the west pountain saunders park rco
councilwoman gauthier has taken a position of non-opposition
Mr. Vaccaro good morning how are you today could you state your name please and spell for the court
reporter certainly my name is Joseph Vaccaro V-A-C-C-A-R-O attorney for the Allegheny East
Conference Association of Seventh-day Adventists also known as the West Philadelphia Seventh-day
Adventist church, the apple. Right. Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth and
nothing but the truth? Yes, I do. And I do have my client's representative, David Gordon. Okay. So
our vice chair will ask you a few questions first, counsel. Thank you. Hi, good morning. Do you agree
to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? Yes, I do. Have you emailed the
exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal, referral, photos under