Thank you.
Chair, we have 40 attendees. You can proceed as you can.
Ready to start?
Good morning, everyone. My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this morning's EPA hearings.
With me is our Vice Chair, Ismail Shaheed.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, Thomas Holliman.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
And our Board Member, James Snell.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also present is Hillary Emerson, our attorney, and our executive director, Tanya Sunkett.
Here's our virtual format.
Be advised the proceedings are being recorded.
Video will be available by contacting TanyaSunkett at phil.gov.
For the benefit of our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you're participating by phone and you wish to testify, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548.
Leave your email and the address of the property question.
And finally, the question and answer box on the screen is not for comments or testimony.
All comments should be directed to our executive director, Tanya Sunken.
Let's look at our schedule for this morning.
Number four, MI 2023-005-953-5646 Cedar Avenue. That case is continued.
Number nine, here we go, number nine, number nine, MI 2023-003-440-1624-Napfall Street, that case is continued.
Are there any other requests for continuances?
Good morning, Chair. This is Doreen Blakey, and I will co-host this morning, and I have a hand up by the name of Stephen Rowley, and I will allow him to speak.
Good morning, sir.
Oh, no. I think I'm frozen.
Do you see him?
Pardon me.
There he is.
Can you please unmute yourself, Mr. Riley?
Good morning.
Good morning, Mr. Riley.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Mr. Riley?
Chair, he's unmuted, but he's
not responding. Mr. Riley?
His hands up.
Mr. Riley, please unmute yourself, please.
My computer,
It's fine, Doreen. I'm assisting you right now. I've unmuted him, so he's allowed to speak right now.
Mr. Riley?
So it just appears that he's having technical issues.
All right. Thank you. Is there anybody else who has a request for a continuance?
No more hands, Chair.
Okay. So number five, MI 2023-003-382-6340 Musgrave. Troy Pratter is the owner. There's
no exhibits. This is the first listing. Mr. Pratter.
Mr. Pratter, can you raise your virtual hand if you're in the audience?
there's no Mr. Prater
there's a William
There's a William.
no he's gone chair
No, he's gone, Chair.
there are no hands up
There are no hands up.
Okay, so thank you.
So MI 2023-003-382-6340, Musgrave.
This is the first listing.
This case is continued.
Mark must be tried.
Number six, MI 2023-003-477-4231-61, North 5th Street.
Walter Tolliver.
We have no exhibits.
This is the first listing.
Walter Tolliver, if you're in the audience, please raise your hand.
No, Walter Tolliver, Chair.
Okay, so MI 2023-003-477-4231-61 North 5th Street.
This is the first listing.
This case is continued.
Mark must be heard.
And number 14.
Excuse me, Chair.
We had a hand that was raised last minute by the name of William, last name NNSL.
Hi, I just wanted to ask, I'm sorry that everyone could hear me correctly.
Hold on, hold on, sir.
Do me a favor, state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer.
William Luskiewicz.
I'll spell it L-O-S-K-I-E-W-I-C as in cat,
t is in tom z is in zebra i just had a hold on hold on hold on hold on do you swear a firm to
tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do what case do you want to talk
about sir uh 231 dickinson street philadelphia pa191 okay well we're not we're not even close
to that yet sir yes no that that i just had a quick question i just wanted to make sure everyone
could hear me properly because i was having no way my time comes all right thank you thank you
you're you're going to be you'll be heard second so yes we we hear you loud and clear thank you sir
and number 14
M.I. 2023-003-495-3911-19 North 5th Street.
No exhibits, first listing.
Augustina Marina is listed applicant.
S&S Realty is the listed owner.
Augustine Marina is not in the audience here
Okay, thank you
So MI 2023-003-495-3911-19
North Fish Street
Cases continued
Mark must be heard
We're going to go to our add-on
That we have for this morning
MI 2023-003-495-3911
303-083-3100
Frankfort Avenue.
I vote yes.
Jim, you vote next.
Sorry, Chair.
My vote is yes.
Thank you.
We're going to go to our regular list
and we want to start with number 10.
MI 2023-003-493-3320, North 16th Street.
Rachel Pritzker is the attorney.
Letter of support from Nicetown-Tioga Improvement Team.
Rachel Pritzker is coming back in as a panelist.
Good morning, Chairman, members of the board.
Good morning.
could you state your name please and spell for the court stenographer yes it's rachel r-a-c-h-a-e-l
pritzker p-r-i-t-z-k-e-r um 1521 locust street suite 605 philadelphia pa 19102 you swear firm
to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes could you identify your client a
relationship to this property yes so my client is ramnack 1 llc and i have one of the members
Nadal Hassan in the audience okay and our vice chair has just a few good morning counsel do you
agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy yes I've emailed in
all the required documents and exhibits that is needed and required to proceed with this case
five days in advance of this hearing yes thank you please proceed and show your screen
Thank you.
Can you see my screen?
We can.
Great.
So this is 3320 North 16th Street.
This property is zone RSA 5.
It's 1,750 square feet.
has been vacant since at least 1996, according to sort of our available records on Philadelphia's
website. This is the refusal. We basically have a refusal for use. We're proposing a new structure
on a longstanding vacant lot for eight dwelling units, and then a small de minimis dimensional
variance for, instead of nine feet rear yard, seven foot rear yard. I'll go into why in a minute.
I just want to give the board an aerial of the block that we're on, just so you can understand sort of the amount of vacancy and sort of light, if you will, on this block.
There has been one new construction project on this block in the last couple of decades, and it was through a variance granted by this board for seven units back in 2021.
this is again an existing vacant lot 27 of the over 48 properties on this block
are vacant with no active zoning or building permits for any construction the last I guess
over the last at least decade or last five years I think there were about four different
permits pulled for around four or five unit buildings none of which have been constructed
So just to give a sense of sort of the economic conditions and the lack of development and construction that has been going on over here, just to show a bit of the hardship.
In addition, as I mentioned, the only other variants that have been granted where there was actual construction was seven units back in 2021 by this board.
And again, we're a little bit different economic times from 2021 with materials and labor have obviously gone up and the financial conditions have gone down in so far as viability.
The rear yard is requesting just a de minimis two-foot change in the setback just to allow for some better spatial use of the property.
In addition to, as you'll see on the plans, we're including a ramp and some ADA accessibility.
And again, with a two-foot de minimis variance, usually the case law states that I'm not even really required to establish a hardship related to that, but it's worth pointing out for the board.
We met with the Nicetown Tioga RCO in which we had a community meeting, and they voted 17 to zero in favor of this project.
I'd like to call our architect on, Carl Enberger, just to go through the plans, and then I'm happy to answer any other questions, and I have my client on as well.
The architect raised his hand, please.
He raised his hands, Chair.
Does he need to present?
Yes, please.
He's getting promoted to panelists now.
Thank you.
Good morning, Sarah.
Could you please state your name?
Unmute yourself first.
Please state your name and spell for the court stenographer.
Hello, I'm Carl Enberger.
Could you please spell your last name?
Can you guys hear me?
we can
could you spell your name please
i don't think he's hearing us
mr enberger
can you guys hear me okay i don't know oh here we go sorry i'm sorry mr enberger could you spell
your last name please he is in uh edward m is in mary b-e-r-g-e-r
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Receive counsel.
Carl, can you just go through the revised plans that we have for the project?
I can.
And Chairman, we submitted a revised plans and a proviso plan form.
okay can you see my screen we can okay um these are the plans for 3320 north 16th street um as
these are the plans for 3320 north 16th street um as rachel stated the plans um include
eight dwelling units um at the top of the sheet is the um overall site plan um it this is um
twigback is noting the seven foot rear setback um the buildings on this block or there's not many
of them but there are two adjacent to the property so we're infilling a vacant lot between two row
houses. The current setback is about 25 feet on the site and that we're using that setback to
include a ramp down to the lower floor so that we have accessible units on the lower floor
and then the upper three floors would be accessed via stairs to a porch.
We are trying very hard to match what's out there on the site,
so we are picking up on the current articulation of the facades
and trying to keep our porch in line with the porches to the left and to the right of us,
So we're the middle and the darker, the more saturated colors.
So to the south side of the site, we have the ramp going down into the north side of the site.
We have the stairs going up to the first and first, second and third floors.
So the each floor is basically split in half.
There's a stair in the center.
we have dwelling units to the front and dwelling units to the rear. I think that is the gist of
the project. So again, the variances for the multi-use, the eight units, and for the seven-foot
rear setback. Variance request, excuse me. Rachel, you want to have your client come on, please?