There he is.
Hi, Mr. Ko
Hi, Mr. Ko
there he's unmuted he might be having a technical issue
um uh what while i wait mr well you're an officer of the court we'll we'll take your testimony i
think we understand it how about the architect you want to bring him on yes please uh his name
is david whipple okay
do we see mr whipple
i'm here okay mr whipple could you state your name please a spell for the course
demographer uh sure my name is david
whipple w-h-i-p-p-l-e right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
but the truth i do proceed counsel thank you very much uh mr whipple you are a licensed architect
in the state of Pennsylvania, correct? Yes. And are you the architect of record for this project?
Yes. And did you hear the testimony that I already provided in this case? I did. And do you believe
it to be true and correct to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief? I do. And
would you adopt it thus far as your own? I would. Thank you. And you heard me discuss
the difficulty or near impossibility of moving that
pilot house, correct? Correct. If you could, in your
own words, provide an opinion for this board as to
what attempting, the hardship resulting from attempting
to move that pilot house from its current condition.
Sure. It's a very shallow lot.
I believe the house is only about 35 feet deep. So our
only option would be to move this move the third to roof stair stacked over the other stair which
would be placing it into the center of the house which would mean not only like structural issues
but we're having to reframe the entire third floor we do all the mechanical electrical and
plumbing going to the third floor we do the roof um so it'd be a fairly expensive uh
remodel to something that's already built.
Thank you very much, Mr. Ripple.
Board Chair, I don't have any further questions for Mr. Ripple, but I'm happy for the board
to ask any questions that I have.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
There are no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Good afternoon, Chair.
Peter Bernard for the Planning Commission.
Comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing RSA 5 single-family residential at this location.
We feel the applicant has a demonstrated hardship.
accordingly the planning commission
recommends the board grant the variance
thank you
MI 2023
005 890
2246 Herb Street I vote yes
Thomas Holloman
my vote is yes
my vote is yes
thank you
thank you very much chairman
I hope you have a wonderful day
did David Fecto
get back in
Yes, sir, I did.
Okay. Thank you.
Number 12, MI 2023-005-665-2121 East Sargent Street.
Alok Sokoloff is the attorney.
There's a recommendation of support from the East Kensington neighbors and a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Squilla.
Alok Sokoloff has been promoted.
Counselor, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes, good afternoon, Chair Bergman, members of the board.
Happy New Year, everyone.
Oleg Sokolov on behalf of the applicant, VA Properties 3 LLC.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Mr. Holleman has just a few questions for you, sir.
Thank you.
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon, Counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or referral and stipulate to its accuracy?
Did you email all of the exhibits as required five days in advance to this hearing?
Thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you very much.
okay is everybody able to see that yes thank you thank you very much once again members of the
board as I stated Oleg Sokolov on behalf of the applicant VA properties we are here seeking
three separate variances for a new construction of a single family residence
The refusals issued for this property, which is located in RSA 5 District, are an accessory
parking refusal, a minimum rear yard depth refusal, which is requiring a nine feet rear
However, we're proposing no rear yard and a front setback, which requires zero setback
and we're requesting a variance to 16 feet.
This property was purchased recently transferred or recently purchased by the applicant in June
of 2023. You can see the deed here. The applicant actually intends to use this property as a personal
residence for himself and his wife. This is the existing condition of the property. You can see
this property is very unique and you'll see that further when we get to the lot itself pardon me
you can see here the property as i was saying is very unique it's already very far set back from
the other properties on the block um there are some properties in this neighborhood that are
like this but the majority of properties go right to the sidewalk frontage this property itself
here you can see the zoning map and you can see the very unique characteristics of this lot
it is an l-shaped lot depending how you look at it i suppose but it it does veer off into lots
located nearby this property is located between collins and trenton street and then also between
east birth and hazard street here east birth and this here is hazard this is the east sergeant and
then we have collins and trenton down here here are plans for the property and at the end of my
presentation i'm going to have the architect of record evan litman and blow designs come on and
just discuss some of the actual property characteristics and the design characteristics
But as you will see from some of the renderings, the property that is proposed is a very unique property that utilizes this very unique lot in the best possible way to allow for this beautiful single family residence to be built.
beautiful single-family residence to be built.
And I'll just take you now through some rendering so you can see exactly what we're talking about.
This would be the frontage of the property. This is the accessory parking that we're requesting
here. It would be in the front of the property. The setback would be almost identical to the
existing setback. Now this is the L-shaped portion of it that turns into the rear yard here.
And now there is actually a rear yard.
It's just because of the zoning code, it's not directly at the back of the property.
It is utilized at the L turn of the property.
So we're looking right here in the design for this portion of the outdoor space.
Our application for appeal.
Our project information form.
Our notice of meeting, a meeting was held on December 13th.
with the East Kensington Neighbors Association and the other RCO of the New Kensington Community Development Corporation.
Our certificates of mailing, I believe we sent out somewhere in the neighborhood of 164 notices to nearby residents.
our letter of support from the coordinating RCO of East Kensington Neighbors Association.
I actually did not receive the letter of non-opposition from the council person's office,
but I appreciate the board mentioning that that was received. So here's the property once again
with the notice posters located in front. Here's a zoomed in picture of the notice poster.
And here it's showing a balance which was recently paid, however, you can see the balance
here from the tax center showing that the property has no outstanding tax obligations
and just for further evidence of that, a receipt of that payment which was made.
If I could bring on the architect, Mr. Evan Littman, to just give a quick presentation
as to the characteristics of the property and go through some of the design characteristics,
please.
Evan Littman has permission to speak.
Good afternoon, Mr. Littman.
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon. Thank you, Oleg. Mr. Littman, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Sure. It's Evan Litvin, E-V-A-N-L-I-T-V-I-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you. Good afternoon, Mr. Littman.
Good afternoon.
um you are the architect of record on this property is that correct that is correct
and and you have generated the designs that i'm now showing on on screen correct could you please
take us through the unique characteristics of this particular law and why it necessitated such
a unique design that requires these sorts of variances sure uh would it be possible to share
my screen. Let me stop sharing. Mr. Levin has been promoted.
you're up okay great thank you um well first off i want to uh point out the site is in a regular
shaped site is an l-shaped lot um what you're seeing on the site right on the plan right now
is the existing conditions. You have the small residential structure in the front and a one-story
structure in the rear, which is directly into the corner on the rear yard line. Our footprint
for the proposed structure, as you see here, very much falls in line with what is currently there.
as you see here, very much falls in line with what is currently there. We're a little bit wider,
we're taking up the full width of the site now, and we are connecting the footprint of what's in
the rear to the front portion. However, we are also providing light wells and some other relief
from the, to, for the neighbor property. Um, the, um, the front setback is, um, it is the exact
setback of the existing structure. And, um, as Oleg had said, at the rear, the idea was really to,
um, take the, what would be a rear yard and turn it. So it's, instead of it being an enlarged,
instead it's an enlarged side yard whereas 25 open areas required we're providing for over
42 here so we're actually under building the site dramatically and in terms of the
massing we are we're trying to maintain the character of what is there in a lot of ways
it's supposed to feel light on the site we're using let's get forward to the rendering pitched
roofs that will minimize the impact of light and and impact shadow on the neighbors and it's supposed
to really delicately sit into a fairly irregular site happy to answer any further questions
if i may before that just bring on the the applicant um mr antonio di tomo just to adopt my
testimony, please.
Antonio, I'm not allowed to speak.
Okay, sir, could you state your name and spell
for the court stenographer?
I guess Antonio DiTomo,
A-N-T-O-N-I-O-D-I-T-O-M-O.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
Thank you. Good afternoon, Mr. DiTomo. Were you listening to my presentation here today?
And do you adopt my testimony as your own?
And is there anything you'd like to add for the board's consideration?
No, I think we covered all the bases.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Well, I know that this is a different shape property. Is there anyone else on the block that has parking in the front?
We're not sure if on the block, there are certainly properties in the area that have very similar parking situations.
But you don't know if there's anything like that on the.
I would. I would. I do not know definitively.
Questions from the board.
No, Chair.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes chair i have three hands the um the hands are going up sorry um dan schulnick will be allowed
to speak okay all right mr schulnick could you state your name please and spell for the court
personographer. Hello, my name is Daniel Skolnick. It's D-A-N-I-E-L, Skolnick, S-C-H-O-L-N-I-C-K.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth? Nothing but the truth, sir.
I do. Please proceed. Thank you. Forgive my wavering voice. I'm a little bit nervous,
and I appreciate your time. You don't have to be nervous. There's no reason to be nervous.
Thank you. This is a beautiful house and a beautiful proposal and design, and I hope it gets built. But I am here in opposition to the curb cut and parking on the block. And I hope you will apply a proviso prohibiting those components. That's one of the reasons for the refusal.
In answer to your question, there is no other curb cuts or parking like this on the side
of the block or anywhere within eyesight of this property.
I was at the RCO meeting where there were only two neighbors.