Have you 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.
Thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen.
Let me call it up.
Let's see.
Share screen.
Share.
Let me...
Ah, let me call it up.
Sorry.
So Chandler, if you're having a hard time getting this up, why don't I move on and I'll
come back to you, okay?
Okay, thank you.
All right, so we'll come back to you, sir.
I could share.
right you don't have to you're gonna have to log off there a minute now we'll come back okay
Number 11, MI 2023-003-481-4329 Westminster Avenue.
Cheryl Gaston is the attorney.
Recommendation of support from the West Belmont Civic Association.
Cheryl Gaston has been promoted, Chair.
Good morning, Council.
Could you unmute, please?
Okay. I'm unmuted. And start my video. Thank you.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Okay. Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
Okay. My name is Cheryl Gaston. I'm an attorney with Spruce Law Group.
My client is Unity Properties, LLC, with the principal being Liliana Delpen.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good afternoon. Good morning, counsel. Do you agree the way the reading of the refusal to stipulate towards accuracy?
Have you 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, I did.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Okay. Could I have my paralegal, Christine Schlosser, promoted so she can help me with that?
You can.
Thank you.
She's coming back in as a panelist.
Thank you.
Please proceed.
Yes. This concerns a property at 4329 Westminster Avenue, and you may recall that on December the 20th, we had a companion case to this one, 4313 Westminster Avenue, and we have the same situation as Mr. DeMarco.
This is a property that was zoned RM1 when my client purchased the property, and during the course of applying for permission to use it for multifamily use, which would have been permitted in RM1, it was changed to RSA5.
um so i'll go through the documents and i guess probably the best way to start is to go to
the notice of refusal thank you and you can see where it says zoning districts rm1 change
to rsa5 so this happened during the course of uh the uh approval for uh this particular use
and going back to the documents which we are required to produce we'll start with
i have the agreement of sale and deed um maybe it's overkill but it just will happen we had both
documents so can we go back yeah um and uh so uh can we just go through scroll through please
Christine, this is the agreement of sale, and then there is the actual deed, and it is noted on the notice of refusal that the owner of the property is my client, Unity Properties, LLC.
see. And then we go back to the notice of refusal, which is again for the multifamily use. We also
you can go to the plan now. Thank you. So this is what the property looks like or will look like
when we get done with it. Next page, please. This is the plan that was submitted. What we're asking
What we're asking to do is to add a small addition to the second floor and the third floor so that the rear of the property is the same for all floors.
to do is to
Next page, please.
This is, again, pictures of the property as it exists now, and it's in pretty poor condition.
But next page, please. Again, this is what we are planning to do with it. Next page, please. This is showing the additions. There's a third story addition and a second story addition on the rear of the property.
So we don't have any refusals with respect to your rear yard depth or anything. It's just that the properties are now able to be used per floor for the proposed use.
Next page.
And this is what the units, what we're proposing in terms of the units.
There'll be two bedrooms, one bath, kitchen, living room, little dining area per floor.
And there are slight differences in terms of the square footage, but basically they are
about the same in terms of square footage.
Next, please. And what we're showing here is as part of the
request from the community group, although they didn't put it in the
meeting summary, they had asked us to add a trash enclosure. So we have done that. And we did that with the 4313 Westminster property as well, because although they asked us for it and we agreed to do it, when they sent the meeting summary, they didn't put it in there.
And we checked back with them to just make sure that we were doing what they had asked us to do.
Next, please.
This is the picture of the posting.
And next.
That's the Google map that we put in.
And then next, we have the, this is the meeting summary where this was approved, and both of these were approved by the West Belmont Civic Association and Belmont Alliance Civic Association on the same date.
We had the hearing on October 18th, and they approved them both at this time.
Next is, this is the email from the Planning Commission informing us of the RCO, coordinating RCO and the RCOs involved with this property.
and they were the same this is the addresses because they're just they're on the same block
and just a little distance from each other was basically the same addresses the same
community RCOs the same coordinating RCO this is our zoning notice letter that went out
We actually had to do two. We didn't get notice from them about a date, so we sent out one without
a date and then we got a date from them. And then these are their certificates of mailing.
And again, our issue problem is that when purchased, this was RM1 and then in the midst of
trying to get the approvals, it was changed to RSA 5. The multifamily use is what had long time
been the zoning for the area and more appropriate considering that this particular block has a
a number of other multifamily uses on this block,
including two by my own client.
Is your client here?
I hope so.
I hope so.
Liliana, are you here?
When you bring your client, I want to adopt your testimony.
Liliana, can you raise your virtual hand?
I don't see her there.
So, counsel, you're an officer of the court.
We will gladly take your testimony.
Questions or comments from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
No, Haines, Chair.
Planning Commission?
Thank you, Chairman and Board Members.
Good morning.
David Fecto with the City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single-family zoning at this location.
The zoning maps were changed here in 2023 from residential multifamily to residential single family during a community requested map change.
Under the prior zoning, three dwelling units would be allowed by right.
The City Planning Commission recommends the board grant a proposed use variance for three dwelling units.
Thank you. MI 2023-003-481-4329 Westminster Avenue. I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shkahi, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you, board members.
Thank you.
That completes my business, Mayor B.
All right, thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Number 12, MI 2023-003-441-5201-19 Winfield Avenue.
letter of non-opposition from the Winfield Residents Association.
Zen Jin is the attorney.
Zen Jin has been promoted to panelist.
Good morning, counsel.
Good morning.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
My name is Zen Jin, Z-H-E-N, last name J-I-N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard.
Suite 1838, Philadelphia PA 19103 here on behalf of the applicant.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
My client is the Fairview Apartments LLC.
They're the owners of the property.
And our vice chair has just a few questions for you, sir.
Good morning, counsel.
Do you agree to wait the reading of the refusal to stipulate towards accuracy?
Have you 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?
I have.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you. I will share with the board the documentation previously submitted.
Apologies.
So I have up before the board the refusal. Can everyone see my exhibit?
We can, sir.
Thank you. This is an application for essentially an expansion of an existing use or a change of the existing use within a large apartment complex that is zoned in RSD-3.
However, historically, this property was previously approved for this use for a long time.
And one part of that approved use was a medical office and 43 dwelling units back in 1988.
Since that time, the medical unit has decided to move on.
And because of that, my client would like to change the space that is taken up by the medical unit previously into three separate, I'm sorry, four additional residential units, making this a total of 47 units from the 43 medical office use.
So the RCO did not oppose our request.
This is a large apartment complex that has existed here for some time.
Although one neighbor did mention some issues with trash,
we had put her in touch with the manager of the property to work out those particular items.
So as a result, we've had received non-opposition to our request.
To better understand the exact nature of our application,
This is the building in question on the map, and this is an overhead view of the existing apartment building.
So the application itself is only for a small portion within the apartment building.
Application itself is only for a small portion within the apartment building.
Once you enter the units, it's actually a portion of the building that is in the one corner entering through this entrance that is now empty and will be refitted into residential units.
It's essentially before it was a larger unit, all taken up by the medical use.
And now we will divide it into smaller uses of individual apartments, which would be consistent to the rest of the building, which are all apartments as well.
So here are the actual refit out of the spaces.
As you can see, they will come up the hall and you have the individual units accessed.
and it only takes up a small part of the corner of the overall building this is essentially
a expansion of an existing use and it's not a major change even though it is zoned rsd this
this is a use that's been here for many years so we do not believe that it would cause any new
hardship or change in hardship to the community and given its historical approval for
the number of units already there, and at one point prior to the medical unit, it was actually
approved for even more residential units, so we would ask for the board's favorable consideration
in this request. I do have the manager of the property as well as Mr. Nathan Ward, a representative
here, to verify my testimony. Bring whoever you want, bring on a verifier, and my understanding
I mean, this is an addition of four apartments, am I right?
Yes, it's just addition of, so changing what was the medical office.
Yep, yep, I got it.
Yep, okay, thank you.
Mr. Ward, can you raise your hand to be identified?
I've raised my hand.
Good morning, Mr. Ward.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Good morning, Chair.
Good morning, board members.
Ward, W-A-R-D, 18 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA, Suite 1400B.
Right. Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Mr. Ward, did you see my presentation to the zoning board as well as hear my representation to the zoning board?
Good morning, counsel. I did. There is only one thing that I would change.
We are proposing to revert the usage to three units as opposed to four units.