yes chair we have one more caller last the numbers are ending in eight four three nine
could you please state your name and spell it for the corporate
hello are you able to hear me uh could you just speak up just a little bit yes
this is mark gambita i'm a neighbor at 1224 south 7th street it's the corner of 7th and latona
could you uh chair this is the report i will i will could you do me a favor could you spell
your name again and do it slowly yes my name is mark m-a-r-k gombita g is in golf o is in oscar
m is in michael b is in bravo i is in india t is in tango a is in alpha
you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth is nothing but the truth
i do proceed and you're a neighbor right i am i live on the corner of seventh and london correct
all right i speak out in opposition of the project um many of the two people who just
went before me covered most of the legal and zoning side of why we stand against it
the variances that have been approved to continue on and on our street have caused utter chaos
Our street is absolutely destroyed. The sidewalks are demolished. My house has up to $30,000 in damage, maybe upwards to 50 plus. I've been battling insurance companies for months.
The contractors who are doing these projects are eluding us under multiple LLCs and other types of entities.
Squila has stepped up in our defense because of the absolute nightmare that we have seen.
Trying to put all of these heavy machinery construction vehicles down our street, as well as tearing apart buildings that are intricately connected and have been in many cases for 100 years or more, have just quite literally been an utter nightmare.
I'll let the two before me stand up for what they feel in terms of the actual legal side of it.
But from an emotional side, I don't wish anyone in our neighborhood this.
Mitch doesn't live here.
If he wanted support or money for his children's college, he should save the money he's investing and use that.
He's taking this as a business opportunity in order to better his own pockets and not protect our neighborhood.
My house is covered in filth.
Our streets are covered in trash.
It's an absolute disgrace that the city could even let the neighborhood get to this level.
And I have made hours and hours in the 100, 200, 300-hour range of outcry to so many different departments.
And no one is ever willing to step up and help us.
If it gets approved past this point, there's no way to protect the citizens who live there.
And that's my biggest concern.
I hope no one else has to deal with what I have because it's been years of stress off my life.
Thank you for your call.
Planning Commission.
This is Ron Bednar, City Planning.
First name Ron, R-O-N, last name Bednar, B-E-D-N-A-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
Property is indicated for residential use on the city plan or adopt the district plan recommends no change to the existing
single family residential at this location the applicant's hardship is not supported with
evidence of unique physical circumstances or condition of the property that would
prevent it from being used and conforming with the code therefore we recommend
quest for variance not be granted thank you um mr moody i'm gonna i'm gonna take this to our
whole board and have a discussion in the executive section next wednesday and we'll vote on this at
two o'clock. Okay. All right. Thank you, Mr. Moody, for coming in. All right. Thank you.
Okay. Here we go. Number one, MI 2022-006-082.
MI 2022-006-082-1144
Frankfort Avenue.
Alan Nockamson is the attorney.
Letter of support from
Fishtown Neighbors Association.
Letter of non-opposition
from Council Member Squiller.
There's also a petition in support
signed by 13 residents.
Mr. Nockamson is coming back
in as a panelist.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members of the board.
How are you, sir?
Could you spell your name and state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Yes, Alan Ockamson, A-L-A-N, last name Ockamson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N.
You swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Do you identify your client and relationship to the property?
Oh, yes. My client is the tenant of the commercial premises N-A-L-B-L-L-C, and the representative is Michael Sobolosky.
Okay. Our vice chair has just a few questions for you, sir.
Good afternoon, Mr. Nakhlinson. Do you agree to win the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Thank you. Have you emailed in all the documents and exhibits that are required to proceed with this case five days in advance on this hearing?
Yes, we have.
Thank you. Please proceed. Share your screen.
Thank you.
Hi, so I'm here to present 1144 Frankfurt Avenue.
We're looking for a special exception for the ground floor commercial unit.
We're hoping to put a restaurant in there.
As part of our presentation, we'll first review the notice of referral.
Then the letter of support from the Fishtown Neighbors Association, where it was unanimously in support of this project, as well as the letter of non-opposition from Council Member Suella.
We did do a canvassing in the neighborhood, so we do have a petition from nearby neighbors.
We have a, the next thing that we would review is the zoning permit for the building itself,
just showing that it was approved as a multi, a mixed-use property with a vacant commercial space,
which we hope to fill up.
Maps of the area, photographs of the property, our floor plans for the restaurants,
Our RCO meeting notice showing proof of mailing of that notice to the affected properties.
Our applications for special exception, our commercial lease showing that NALB LLC is
a tenant to the property.
And our certificate of tax clearance showing that the property is in good standing with
the city of Philadelphia with respect to real estate taxes.
In the virtual audience is Michael Sobolewski, the one, the principal manager of the tenant, as well as architect as well in the virtual audience, if need be.
So the notice of referral. So we're here to just put a sit down restaurant in an existing structure.
we're here because there's an overlay the neighborhood commercial overlay north delaware
avenue overlay which requires this to be by way of referral we're cmx two and a half property which
this use would have been allowed um by right um and then you can see uh that uh the you know the
neighborhood uh in fishtown is uh glowingly in support of this project um we have a letter of
support from the Fishtown Neighbors Association, but you can see there are 33 members of the community who attended this meeting, 31 voted in support of this project, eight of which were from the RCO's executive community, and then two people voted in non-opposition.
So no one voted in opposition to this project at a well-attended meeting, and then Councilmember Mark F. Squilla also voted in non-opposition.
I'm going to I'm going to I've been having technical difficulties with my computer lately.
I think maybe the video. So if you don't mind, I'm going to shut the video off.
So I see there's a lag a little bit with my presentation.
And then we have a petition as well from nearby neighbors showing their support of this project as well.
And then this is just our zoning permit, showing that there was approval for this building as a whole with a vacant commercial space, which we're hoping to fill up.
Maps of the area showing that we're CMX two and a half.
We're right here. We're just off of Girard Avenue as we are entering Fishtown.
As you can see where we are, we're on a commercial corridor. There's Barcade. There's Source Urban Brewery here. There's Terror. And what's not showing is also Fabrica, which is another restaurant that my client owns and operates.
As you can see where we are, we're on a commercial corridor.
So, as you can see, we're in a corridor where it's commonplace to have restaurants of this sort. What we're asking for is not out of character. And this conditional approval based on this referral should be approved by the CBA for those reasons.
our photographs of the property so the building itself is still under construction and not
completed um once you know a co is obtained for the building as a whole we're looking to put our
restaurant space on the ground floor uh proof of of the posting for today's hearing and then
frankfurt avenue to the right of the property frankfurt avenue to the left of the property
our plans and drawings so this is how the building's going to look as finished and this
will be the commercial space which will be along the whole ground floor and there will be a low
level as well and then these are just our plans and drawings so there's two ways to get into
our restaurant along the side right here and right here there's ample seating there's 109 seats on
the first floor. And then in the lower level is where the kitchen area is, as well as storage
for refrigeration services and such. And then this is our RCO meeting notice. We had a meeting
on December 6th at 7 p.m. 76 addresses were notified of this meeting, list the addresses,
Proof of mailing to those addresses, our applications for special exception that was filed to the CBA, along with the notice of Pudy's own project information form, our commercial lease, again, N-A-L-B-L-L-C, is a tenant, the owner of the property is Frankfurt Collective LLC.
and our certificate of tax clearance showing that there's no money owed to the city of Philadelphia
for taxes. Just as a way of background, my client owns Terra and Fabrica, which are both on this
block. Fabrica, if you know the restaurant scene in Philadelphia, is a well-regarded restaurant
entertainment venue on the block. This concept would be for at 1144 Georgian food. My clients
are from the Baltic States, and they're looking to have a fine dining, high class of restaurant
with Georgian food. Hours of operation would be Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 10.
and noon to 10. And obviously they'll do commercial pickup as well. With that being said,
I would ask that my client's representative, Michael Sogoleski, virtually raise his hand and
be sworn in. Sir, please unmute yourself. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the
court reporter. Hi, my name is Michael Sobolewski, spelled M-I-C-H-A-E-L, Sobolewski, S-O-B-O-L-E-W-S-K-I.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do. Proceed, counsel. Yes, Michael, you heard everything I had to say today about
your zoning matter yes and is it true and correct yes it is and do you adopt it as your own testimony
i do absolutely all right thank you very much questions from the board
no mr chairman no mr chairman no chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands chair planning commission
This is Ryan Bednar, City Planning. This property is indicated for commercial mixed use on the city plan. In 2015, we remapped it from I-2 to CMX 2.5. Proposed use will have no more of an impact than would be expected to have given its specific location. Therefore, we recommend the board grant the special exception.
MI 2022-006-082-1144-FRANKFORT-AVENUE, I vote yes.
Thomas Hellman, my vote is yes.
Thomas Hellman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
Moving on to number five, MI 2022-006-109, 2356 North 20th Street.
Rebecca Cole is the attorney.
There was an RCO meeting on 1-5-23. We do not have a copy of the letter as at this point.
Ms. Cole is coming back in as a panelist.
Thank you. Good afternoon. Could you state your name please and spell for the court reporter?
Thank you. My name is Rebecca Cole, R-E-B-E-C-C-A-C-O-L-E, here with Vintage Law on behalf of client property owner of SIG Legacy LLC.
All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Our vice chair has just a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
have you emailed all of the required documents and exhibits five days in advance to our offices
to proceed with this case yes thank you please proceed and share your screen thank you so do
we counsel do you have an rco letter we do not have a letter from the rco we had a good meeting
with them and the project was well received um but we did not receive a letter was there a vote
There was a voter. Yes. Around five people attended a meeting on January 5th. Several spoke in support. No one spoke in opposition, and the vote at the end was fully in support of applicants' variance.
All right. Thank you. Prasheed.
I'm going to share my screen.
Can everyone see my exhibits?
we can okay thank you um again i'm rebecca cole here with vintage law on behalf of the client
property owner of 2356 north 20th street sig legacy llc my client tammy love is also here
on behalf of the llc we're here seeking uh a variance to legalize a duplex in an existing
long-term triplex at the property. We again had a good meeting with the RCO, resulting in their
full support of this project. As you can see from the refusal, we're seeking a duplex in an existing
structure that was, as notes indicate, previously zoned for a triplex in this same property since
1953. This property is a small rectangular lot roughly 16 feet of street frontage located at
the Blue Dot on North 20th Street just south of West York Street and above West Dauphin Street
to the south. We have a 1,200 square foot lot roughly with 2,900 square feet of interior building
area, including the basement. We're located in between York and Dauphin, and a moderately built
up residential area, as you can see from the map. There's a mix of two and three-story homes,
as well as a number of vacant lots and some apartments over commercial on the northeast
and northwest side of West York Street, a catty corner from this property.
Here are some additional photographs of the area showing the residents here along 20th.
And a larger scale photograph of the area showing Glenwood to the west.
Here's the copy of the zoning map. As you can see we are in a RSA 5 block of residential single
family, but we are very near to some CMX1 on the corners, which includes commercial and several
apartments above those commercial properties. This is a view of the property. 2356 is here on
the right. As you can see, it's adjacent to a vacant lot, and the attached unit 2354 is also
near some vacant properties. This property is an existing three-story brick structure
significantly dilapidated inside and in need of extensive interior renovations.
significantly dilapidated inside, and in need of extensive interior renovation,
which is why the client will do a full rehab of the building
and want to make it a duplex instead of the triplex it was used as since 1953.
The prior owner had used it as a rental from roughly 2013 to 2019,
and the pre-existing interior layout is designed for three units.
Again, the refusal notes that the CBA previously approved this property for a three-family dwelling in 1953.
Here are some more photographs adjacent to the property.
This is on the corner of 20th and West York Street.
This is facing north on North 20th Street.
You can see the commercial on the bottom of the properties at the northwest and northeast side of North 20th, as well as the apartments above.
You can see facing south down the street of North 20th that there are units two and three three story buildings with several satellite dishes and multiple buzzers indicating multifamily use.
and again here we have uh the front of the property
and let me just shrink this a little bit
and i think i have the same problem as mr knockamson if it will be okay for me to
you can sure that's fine thank you
okay thank you
We are seeking to legalize the two-family use in the single-family zoning district
through variance relief.
We are not seeking three-family use, despite the prior use and layout.
We are not proposing any new construction, addition, excavation, or height increase.
This project will be two residential units on floors one through three, where there were