Good morning.
Chair, we have 27 attendees, and we can start as you wish.
Thank you.
Good morning.
My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this morning's EBA hearings.
With me is our Vice Chair, Ismail Shahid.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our board member, Thomas Holliman.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Thanks, Tom.
And our board member, James Snell.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also present is Hillary Emerson, our attorney, and our ZBA hearing supervisor, Lakeisha Dandy.
Our virtual format, be advised these proceedings are being recorded.
The 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, if 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 in question. And finally, the question 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 continuances for the list this morning.
Number two, MI -2022 -001 -765 -163 -271 West Wyoming Avenue. This case is continued.
Number four, MI 2022, 001 -943 -3113 North 16th Street. This case is continued but will be
Mark must be tried. Number seven, MI 2022 002 171 1359 Crease Street. This case is continued.
Mark must be tried. Number 10, MI 2022 -001 -991 -1239 North Allison Street.
This case is continued. Mark must be tried.
And number 12, MI 2022, 001 -934 -769 South 17th Street.
This case is continued, attorney moving party.
And number, so all those cases I just mentioned have been continued.
Is there anyone who has any comments relative to continued cases?
Good morning, Chair. This is Yvette Benton. I see no hands at this time.
Are there any other requests for continuances?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Okay, so let's look at the case that we have no exhibits for. Number one, 2022 -001 -796 -1528 Christian Street. This is no exhibits, second listing.
I see no hands up at this time, Cher.
M -I -2022 -001 -796 -1528 Christian Street, I vote to dismiss.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is to dismiss.
Jane Snow, my vote is to dismiss.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is to dismiss.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Number five, MI 2020.
Number five, MI 2022 -001 -923 -2200 Island Avenue.
No exhibits, second listing.
Chair, we have Craig Melodosian with his hand up.
Mr. Melodosian, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
good morning craig c -r -a -i -g last name melidosian m -e -l -i -d -o -s -i -a -n i'm the coordinating rco
for this matter right do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
I do. You have comments relative to this case, sir?
Yes. This applicant has two cases before us this morning. I don't think that he comprehends that he needs an LLC, needs an attorney because the ownership is under an LLC.
And he's coming in front of your RCO, you're saying?
No, we have not met with him at this time.
Okay. All right. Good. Good. Is, is the owner of the property present?
Chair, I see no hands at this time.
Okay. All right. So this is the second listing. No one appeared the first time. So MI 2022, 001 -923 -2200 Island Avenue. I vote to dismiss.
Thomas Hollis, my vote is to dismiss.
James Snell, my vote is to dismiss.
Ishmael Shahi, my vote is to dismiss.
Thank you.
Number 11.
MI 2022 -001 -934 -769.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
five. Here it is. MI 2022, number 11, MI 2022 -001 -939 -2832, Cecil B. Moore Avenue.
No exhibit, second listing. No one appeared at the first hearing.
Chair, I see no hands at this time.
Okay, so MI 2022 -001 -939 -2832, Cecil B. Moore Avenue, I vote to dismiss.
Thomas Pelleman, my vote is to dismiss.
James Snell, my vote is to dismiss.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is to dismiss.
Number 13, MI -2022 -001 -935, 1840 North Marston Street. No exhibit, second listing.
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Okay, this is the second listing. MI -2022, 1840 North Marston Street. I vote to dismiss.
Thomas Holloman
my vote is to dismiss
James Snell
my vote is to dismiss
Ishmael Shahid
my vote is to dismiss
number 15
MI 2022
001 925
1533 to 37
East Point Menching Avenue
no exhibits
second listing no one appeared at first
hearing
i see no hands at this time chair number 15 mi 2022 0 0 1 9 2 5 15 33 to 37 east
Moimension Avenue. I vote to dismiss. James Snell, my vote is to dismiss.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is to dismiss. Thank you. Number three, MI 2022 -001 -682 -160
West Somerset Street, that case has been withdrawn. Are there any other requests for withdrawals?
I see no hands at this time, Chair. Okay, thank you.
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Okay, thank you.
We're going to go to our add -on list.
Number one, MI 2022 -002 -378 -3107 Clifford Street.
This case will be voted at the start of the 2 p .m. list today instead of this 9 .30 a .m. list.
Number two, MI 2022 -005 -216 -5110 Hafferford Avenue. This case will be voted on the start
of the 2 p .m. list today instead of the 9 .30 list. Number three, MI 2022 -002 -678 -1330 East
Burke Street. I vote yes to reconsideration and rehearing. Thomas Hallowin, my vote is yes to reconsideration and rehearing.
James Snell, my vote is yes to reconsideration and rehearing. Ishmael Shahi, my vote is yes to reconsideration and rehearing.
we're going to go to our regular list number number 14
mi 2022 001 808 1718 south chadwick street maylin luo is the owner pro se
Chair, she's coming back in as a panelist now.
Thank you.
Good morning.
good morning uh my name here hi could you state your name please and spell it for the court
reporter first thing is my m -e -i last thing is low l -u -o right do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth uh you you're muted you're muted i can't
I couldn't hear you. Try again.
Can you hear me now?
Yeah, you just got to stay close.
I swear. Yes, I swear.
So this application is for the legalization of a rear addition at the first and second level
and the erection of rear additions at first and second floor level for use as a single -family household living,
size and location as shown in application plans.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
yes good morning sir did you email all your exhibits five days in advance to this hearing
yes please proceed yes i have yes please proceed and share your screen i'm sorry mr lenn can you
make sure you stay close to the mic and if you can't turn it up a little thank you very kindly
yes can you guys hear me now yes i have we can hear you now you're perfect
i'm sorry answer question yes yes we have okay start sharing your screen
you're going to have to make sure you stay close to the mic because you keep fading out okay
Okay, just stay close to the mic. I see where you are. Okay.
Mr. Lynn, we can't hear you.
Do you see the documents?
We see the document now, sir.
Proceed.
i'm sorry the uh the question was did we send it five days ago i said yes
yeah you did you said yes to all that that's fine so start shit start presenting your case now
show your documents and present your case okay yeah well the uh i mean the table
content. Yes, we do, sir.
Let her know fine that I've allowed
the John
Krasinski to
Krasinski to
speak on my behalf.
speak on my behalf.
You have to present yourself, sir.
No problem. I'm just reading page by page.
It's just showing up.
What was this?
Project information form.
Letter that we sent to the ZBA.
The refusal
that I received in the mail.
I guess a certificate of, I guess you guys received it.
Okay. And I guess some, what, what would that, that stuff is certificate.
We see that. All right. You got to talk to us now.
Okay. No, I'm looking at a screen.
Cause it's seeing like, I got two screens. I apologize. Okay.
That's where the neighbors, the, the, the other point,
East point breeze neighbors, right?
The other zooming that we had. Yes. Okay.
And councilman Johnson is in favor of it. Yep.
and this is one of the tax
clearance I went the other day to receive
just in case there's anything with vials or tax.
I'm all cleared up. You're welcome.
This is a copy of the deed.
Trapped from my brother to myself.
the plans, pictures
from the engineer.
Dark attack. I'm sorry, whoever drew that up.
Okay, so tell us what
it is you're doing, sir, so we understand.
Well, originally when my family
bought this house, we have
uh we already had this edition on right but we didn't know i never knew this was done i guess
you say illegally or without permit okay but now i'm trying to fix up this house again to to make
it i guess more uh new right to update it for me for my kid so once we uh apply to the i guess to
fix up the permits they say this edition was not legal right okay so now we're trying to bring so
if i hire these engineers these guys they're saying they're gonna help me out try to bring
off the code and this is where we're at right now all right so could you show us photos of the
property of course prepare me for a minute
so you got the front of the house yes
and then we started to do some uh work into the house already some demolition and then that's
where we came to realize the rear end of the house uh the far the third one right there above the
green that's where the room was right where you guys are uh saying that's not compliant okay so
again what else this this room was already there okay so again we didn't know until we uh we started
demolishing and filed for permits and they said oh this was not there from the original plan when
you guys when the house was purchased so when did you purchase the house 1986 i believe my family
board it. Okay. All right. Well, here we are. Okay. Questions from the board? No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands at this time, Chair. Okay. Planning Commission.
Good morning, Chair Bergman. This is Ian Hegarty on behalf of the Philadelphia City Planning
Commission. Last name spelled H -E -G -A -R -T -Y. Do you swear from the tell the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth? Yes, sir, I do. Proceed. Thank you. Good morning, board members.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the single -family residential zoning at this
location. The occupied area proposed by the applicants is within 3 % of the area required
by the code. It says variance is minimal. Likewise, the proposed depth of the rear yard is within 10 %
of the requirement. These variances are minimal and do not conflict with the purpose and spirit
of the zoning code. And so the City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the
variance. Thank you. MI 2022 -001 -808 -1718 South Chadwick Street, I vote yes.
yes. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes. James Snell, my vote is yes. Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you, Chairman. Thank you, everybody.
Thank you. Number six on our list, MI -2022 -001 -929 -2252 South Hick Street.
Zen Jin is the attorney. A letter of non -opposition from Broad Street Civic Association.
Chair, Mr. Jin is coming back in now as a panelist. Thank you.
good morning hi could you state your name please and spell for the court reporter sir
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter, sir?
yes my name is zen jin
My name is Zen Jin, Z -H -E -N, last name J -I -N, 1617 John F. Kendi Boulevard, Suite 1838, Philadelphia PA 19103.
Right.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your clients and the relationship to the property, please?
My clients are husband and wife, Mitu and Rima.
They're the owner of the property.
Thank you.
And our vice chair has a few questions, sir.
Good morning, Councilman.
Do you agree to wave the reading or the refusal to stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed all the exhibits and documents into our offices five days in advance of this
hearing? Yes. Please proceed to share your screen. Thank you.
I'm sharing the information we submitted to the board. Can the board see my exhibits on the
screen? We can, sir. Thank you. We sent in copies of the refusal, the letter from the RCO,
photos, plans, and related documentation. This property is refused for the current use because
it is zoned RSA 5. We're asking for a multifamily household living of three dwelling units.
What I want to point out initially to the board is that this property actually received non -opposition
from the community because it is what is essentially a pre -existing non -conforming
condition. The property at one time was legal for multifamily five units. It is in the historical
records of the property itself. And the community is aware as well that this property has been
multifamily as far as they remember. The property, this is not a new construction. We're not tearing
apart the entire interior. We're not redoing the entire property. I'll jump to the photos now
so the board can see better the site itself.
This is a corner property as well.
So it's a larger corner property
that actually is abutted on other corners by CMX1 uses.
The area is in fact rezoned RSA 5.
This property was vacant at one point,
which is probably why it was down -zoned to RSA 5
along with the others.
My client purchased the property
and is looking to essentially fix it up
to make it usable again.
However, the layout of the property is the five units,
even with some pretty,
I wouldn't call substantial changes,
but by taking away some of the kitchens,
walls and other things and refurbishing the layout,
a three family unit is probably the least costly way
to make this property usable again.
Again, my clients want to fix the property,
but to convert it completely back to a single family would actually require them to throw out
a lot more and actually spend a lot more money to try to make it conforming. And because it is
pre -existing in this form, in an even more non -conforming manner, we are reducing the overall
density of the use. And again, the community is in support partly because of the history of the
property. The property will be laid out very simply. There's a side entrance that leads to
a stairwell, which turns and goes to all three floors. Each floor will ultimately be one unit,
and that is essentially how it's laid out in a way now. The only difference is that
the front of the floor units actually are self -contained as their own unit, which we're
re -adopting to basically linking it to the entire back, making them each a one single unit with a
total of three units. So because of the pre -existing non -conforming condition and because of the
hardship of converting it back, we're asking the board's favorable review of this request for
use of this corner property as a three -family dwelling. My client is here to answer my
to verify my testimony and we're happy to answer any further questions from the board.
We have documented, you said it was five at one time, Mr. Jin?
Yes, I can actually share that information. Let me pull that back up.
i'm going to share that information with the board now so this is the atlas history of the
property as you can see in 55 it was five family and then in 60 60s
In 55, it was five -family. And then in 60s, later on, it was again certified as five -family dwelling. So it was historically a multifamily. There are no more recent records except for the fact that it was abandoned for some time.
Thank you.
And the city usually forces you to get a vacant property license, which automatically rezoned the property back to the most recent zoning.
But structurally, this property was set up as a multifamily as far as people can remember.
Thank you very much. Why don't we have your testimony adopted?
Sure. Ms. Rima Kanzari, is she available?
Ms. Kanzari, can you please unmute yourself and wait for the chair?
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter?
Yes, it's R -E -E -M -A -K -A -N -Z -A -R -I -A, Rima Kanzaria.
All right, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you.
Rima, I apologize for mispronouncing your last name.
can you verify that what I've represented to the zoning board and my testimony before the board is
true and correct and adopted as your own testimony yes thank you thank you questions from the board
no Mr. Chair no Mr. Chairman questions or comments from the virtual audience
here i see no hands at this time hi planning commission thank you chair bergman ian hegarty
for the philadelphia city planning commission board members the comprehensive plan recommends
no change to the existing rsa 5 single family zoning at this property however the proposed
use conforms to the prior legal documented use and to the physical configuration of the building
the City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the variance.
MI 2022 -001 -929 -2252 South Hick Street, I vote yes.
Tom, my vote is yes.
James Ishmael, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you. All right. Number eight, MI 2022 -001 -774 -4872 East Roosevelt Boulevard.
Joseph Vaccaro is the attorney. Letter of non -opposition from the 35th Ward Democratic
Executive Committee. Chair, Mr. Vaccaro is coming back in as a panelist now.
And there's also two letters of support from adjacent neighbors.
Good morning. How are you?
Hi. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Certainly. May it please the board. My name is Joseph Vaccaro, V -A -C -C -A -R -O, and I represent the owners of the property, Telmo and Brenda Santos.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you, sir.
Thank you.
Good morning, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed all the documents and exhibits into our offices five days in advance of this hearing today?
Yes, I did.
Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you very much.
Where's the share screen?
Essentially, members of the board, this is an application to legalize a two -story shed in the back of my client's property.
uh as as the board had indicated here there is a letter of non -opposition uh with various
provisos that we're not going to that my clients are not going to hook up this uh structure to
uh water and sewerage um and and obviously not rent it out here's a poster of the house
Here's a photo of the poster on the house, which I put up timely, photo of the front of the house, another photo of the front of the house, zooming in on the zoning hearing poster.
Here's the back of the house.
This is a single -family house on Roosevelt Boulevard with a back alley, and here is the structure that is the subject of this petition.
It's a two -story structure.
It was built by a construction firm, albeit illegally without my client's knowledge.
albeit illegally without my client's knowledge that it was illegal and that there were no
permits. A former neighbor, here's the swing set right next to the property, my clients, they have
two young children. One is age two, another is age 10. And the purpose of this structure is
to use it for storage and as a playroom and other activities for the family. There's no kitchen,
no dining room, nobody plans on living there and they certainly are not going to be renting it out.
It's strictly for storage and recreation. Scrolling down to additional photos of the
inside of the structure. What happened was, back in 2019, Mr. Santos's mother -in -law
had the idea of putting in this shed, and things just kind of grew out of control.
And the construction company that they hired to build the structure, unbeknownst to the Santoses,
had no permits, no licenses. And when a former neighbor called the city to complain about the
structure being built the city came in issued the violations and and it brings us to this point
the neighbor that had complained had moved out so we have letters of support from the two immediate
neighbors in support of of of this project of this structure we have the letter of non -opposition
And we'd like to ask the board to legalize what has has already been going on at this property.
You do on this photograph, I'm focusing on the on the electrical box. Yes, the structure does have electrical service so they could use it when it's dark.
Let's see here some other photographs. Again, storage since the since the house has no garage.
they're storing items and that's about it for the photographs um if I could share letters
from the two immediate neighbors we have a letter from you see this oh I'm sorry I pushed
the wrong button I apologize uh we have a letter from
the neighbor Vulan Pham at 4870
And then we have another letter of support from Marcus Harvey.
I'll show you that letter in a second.
If I could find it.
Here's Mr. Harvey's letter of support.
He lives at 4874.
And I submitted that prior to this hearing with the packet.
Here's a, I'm sorry, I keep pushing the wrong button as I could share the screen over here.
This one.
Here are the architectural plans that were created when the structure was being built.
So they did use an architect to verify and to confirm the safety of the structure.
However, unfortunately, the construction people were less than honorable in their dealings
with the city as well as with Mr. and Mrs. Santos.
With respect to the tax balance, they're current on their tax agreement with the city.
Do you see that?
I believe I'm showing you the tax balance, showing that they're current, and we do have the letter of non -opposition with provisos, all of which we would agree to.
Let me point out, let me pull up the letter of non -opposition from the community.
it's not to be used for living quarters no gas or water service to be added
and we would certainly agree to those it was never Mr. and Mrs. Santos's intention
to add gas or water service to that property so what so based on that presentation we would ask
the support of the zoning board so they so that they can proceed and finish up this project
I do have Telmo Santos. I'm sorry. Is your client present? Yes. Telmo Santos. Could we have your testimony adopted, please? Mr. Santos, did you hear my presentation? Mr. Santos, please.
Mr. Santos, did you hear my presentation?
Mr. Santos, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Hi, Mr. Santos, could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Telmo, are you there?
Yes, I'm here.
my name is state your state your name please and spell for the court reporter sure my name is
telmo santos t -e -l -m -o -s -a -n -t -o -s do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
but the truth i do sir um proceed counsel thank you mr santos did you hear and see my presentation
to the zoning board yes i did is there anything that you'd like to add or subtract to my uh to
my presentation no sir you were accurate in everything that happened and what we're trying
to finish the project and uh all the evidence that you showed is correct okay thank you and
you would adopt it as your own testimony if you were to testify in my place yes thank you
all right questions from the board no mr chairman no mr chairman
questions or comments from the virtual audience
here we have dylan mahoney mr mahoney please unmute yourself and wait for the chair
good morning mr mahoney could you state your name please and spell for the court reporter
dylan mahoney d -i -l -l -o -n last name m -a -h -o -n -e -y do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth nothing but the truth i do proceed sir uh thank you mr chair members of the board
Dylan Mahoney from the Office of Councilmember Anthony Phillips, the Councilman has received the letter of non -opposition from the 35th Ward, and the Councilmember is also not opposed to the granting of the variance. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Mahoney. Anyone else in the virtual audience?
Chair, I see no hands at this time.
Hi, Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman. Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing single -family rsa3
zoning at this location uh the shed proposed to be legalized is significantly over height
oversized and encroaches upon the required rear yards however given the expense of making the
structure compliant for the property owner and given the minimal impact the illegal structure
will have upon neighboring property city planning commission has no objection to the granting of
variants. Thank you. MI 2022 -001 -774 -4872 East Roosevelt Boulevard. I vote yes with proviso.
No household living in accessory structure. Tom? Thomas Holloman. Thomas Holloman. My
James Snell, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
I'll see you this afternoon.
All right.
Number nine, MI 2022, 001 -799 -2512 North 18th Street.
Ivan E. Lee is the attorney.
No RCO meeting held.
Applicant provided a petition of support
signed by approximately 18 neighbors
on the 2500 block of North 18th Street.
Mr. Lee.
Mr. Chair, this is Hillary.
I just wanted to clarify.
There was, we were provided with proof
that a meeting was held.
It's just that we did not receive a letter from the RCO.
Okay, thank you.
Mr. Lee, can you please raise your virtual hand so you can be promoted?
Chair, he'll be coming back in as a panelist shortly.
Thank you.
Good morning, Mr. Lee.
do we see mr lee
good morning mr chair members of the board
hi mr lee you all hear me yes could you state your name please and spell for the court reporter
yes ivan lee first name i -v -a -n last name lee l -e -e attorney for
First name I -V -A -N, last name Lee, L -E -E, the attorney for S .J. Morgan Realty.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you, and S .J. Morgan Realty is the owner, sir?
Yes, Mr. Chair.
All right.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good morning, Counselor.
do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
Have you emailed all the exhibits and documents into our offices five days in advance of this hearing?
Please proceed and share the screen.
Silurie, do you have a comment in the beginning here?
Yes, I can jump in now, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Lee, in reviewing the materials, I noticed that the petition referenced a roof deck.
The refusal for this application is only for a change of use.
There is no new construction.
So if your client wishes to pursue a roof deck on the property, they will need to apply
for a separate zoning permit because this was only a change of use permit.
there was no construction as part of this so i just wanted to to make that clear that the only
thing that's before the board today is the the multi -family or the two -family use the duplex
understood um as as the board knows uh we we are requesting to change the use of the of the
use to a a two -family use and also as referenced earlier uh we are we we were looking to add a
a rooftop deck access point.
What I'm sharing now with the board
is the drawings for the project here.
And I can make this a bit larger.
Hello, kind sir.
Can you put your documents on the screen for all to see?
Am I not sharing the screen?
No, it's not being shared yet.
Let me do that.
It's coming up now, sir.
Can everyone see it now?
We can.
Excellent.
Here are drawings and the plans for the property, what we intend to do.
Why don't you show us photos first? It'll be easier to understand.
Okay, let's do that. Hold on. Give me one second here.
is in front of the property here let's see with with a posting I can zoom in a bit here
I was thinking of the zoning notice here, I'm going to zoom back out, some additional
photos of the front of the property.
This side view of the property.
This is the inside of the property here.
Well, hallways here, a better shot of the zoning notice here, posting.
I'm posting.
Mr. Lee, do you have the information
on the rest of the block
and how many multifamily units
are on the block?
I don't
precisely know the answer to that question,
but I do have Shamir
who is the
owner of S .J.
More Than Realty and I also have our architect.
When you're ready to have your testimony adopted,
we'll bring him on.
Let's see here.
So what we're looking to do is fairly straightforward in terms of changing the use of the property here.
You know, this is a one -family dwelling unit as is, and we're looking to convert it to a two -family use.
We're not looking to do anything too major or extreme.
we're not looking to turn it into a three unit or a four or five unit or anything like that.
We don't see any detrimental or super outsized use for the property as is.
At this time, I'd like to call Mr. Morgan, if it pleases the board.
Sure, that's fine. Mr. Morgan.
Mr. Morgan, please raise your virtual hand.
Mr. Morgan, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Mr. Morgan, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Yes, my name is Shamir Morgan. That's S -H -A -M -I -R, last name Morgan, M -O -R -G -A -N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Correct.
Proceed, counsel.
Good morning, Mr. Morgan.
Good morning.
Were you present from my testimony a few minutes ago?
I was.
um would would would you be willing to uh adopt my testimony as is or do you have anything you'd
like to add or or clarify uh yes i would like to adopt and i would like to add on that um there
is approximately about seven duplexes that are already on the exact same block um which which
also that made it pretty simple when i went around and knocked on everybody's doors and
I was able to garnish the support of the community and was able to sign a petition there.
So besides that, I would like to adopt the testimony.
All right. Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Mary Jones.
Ms. Jones, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Good morning, Ms. Jones. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Yes. Good morning. My name is Mary Jones, M -A -R -Y -J -O -N -E -S, from Council President Darryl Clark's office.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
yes um i had to oh apparently there was a community letter a letter of opposition was sent
on this project in august um of last year and so i went ahead and forwarded that to hillary
um hopefully she receives it um based on based on the letter from the community
They did not want this. They were opposed to a multifamily use at this location.
Thank you very much.
Yeah. And so and then there was also a petition as well, non -opposition from North 18th Street neighbors.
I'm not sure what the what happened there. But at any rate, so I do. We do have that information.
All right. Thank you. You're welcome.
Anyone else in the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Kenesha Mitchell -McLloyd. Ms. McLloyd, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Good morning. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Good morning. It's Kenesha, K -A, it's a hyphen, N as in N -C -E -S -H -A. Last name is Mitchell, M -I -T -C -H -E -L -L.
Good morning. It's Kenesha K -A, it's a hyphen.
It's another hyphen. McLeod. McLeod is M -C -L -O -Y -D as in David.
thank you do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes i do proceed uh so i am the immediate neighbor to uh this structure 2512 and i just
wanted to express that um there are not seven duplexes on this street um and to my knowledge
the duplexes that are on this street may not be legal um also my family has been in this
neighborhood for 70 years and we've never had a multi -family um unit or household on this block
also um i just i don't see how it will work and i just wanted to express my um like i don't have
a problem with Shamir putting a deck. I don't have a problem with, you know, a single family
household. Me, as well as other members on the block, we oppose the multi -family household.
Thank you very much. Thank you. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
i see no hands chair okay planning commission thank you chair bergman this is ian hegarty
with the philadelphia city planning commission board members in 2014 the zoning map was amended
on this block from rm1 to rsa5 in accord with the recommendations from the comprehensive plan
The existing multifamily uses on this block were primarily established prior to 2014.
The intent of the zoning remapping was to encourage single -family use and infill on this block.
The appellant has not shown evidence of any unique physical circumstances, which is required to substantiate their hardship claim to show that the building cannot be used as a single -family dwelling.
And so the City Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny the variance.
Thank you.
MI -2022 -001 -799 -2512 -North18th Street.
I vote no.
Thomas, how are you?
James Snell, my vote is no.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is no.
Mr. Tom, can you do that vote again?
Thomas, could you vote again?
Thomas, Thomas, I vote is no.
Okay. Thank you, Thomas. Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
Okay. Is there anyone in the virtual audience whose case has not been called yet?
Chair, I see no hands at this time.
Okay. So we'll be back at two o 'clock. Thank you, everyone.
Great.
See yous later.
Good afternoon. My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this afternoon's ZBA hearings.
With me is our Vice Chair, Ishmael Shahid.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, Thomas Holliman.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
And our Board Member, James Snell.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also, here is Hillary Emerson, our attorney, and our executive director, Tanya Sunkett.
Be advised, these proceedings are being recorded.
The video will be available by contacting tanyasunkett at phila .gov.
For the benefit of our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you are participating by phone, if 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.
2 -6 -7 -2 -7 -0 -5 -5 -4 -8. Leave your email and the address of the property in question.
Leave your email.
And finally, the question answer box on the screen is not for comments or testimony.
All comments should be directed to our Executive Director, Tanya Sumter.
Let's look at continuances for this afternoon's list.
Number one, MI 2022, 001 -058 -332 Delancey Street. That case is continued.
Number two, MI 2022, 001 -060 -7034 North Broad Street. That case is continued.
Number four, MI -2022 -005 -976 -1113 Palmer Street. That case is continued. And number 11,
MI -2022 -005 -567 -1115 East Palmer Street. That case is continued.
Is there anyone has any comments relative to the cases I just called?
Good afternoon.
This is Doreen Blakey, and I will be co -hosting this afternoon.
And I see no hands, Jim.
And number five, MI2022, 004 -556 -2550 North Fish Street.
Arrestle Martinez is the appellant.
If she's here, please come on.
and also Mary Costello
is the attorney for the city
what was the first name? I don't see her name
Russell Martinez
Ms. Martinez
can you raise your hand please
and I have Ms.
Mary Costello
coming in
as a panelist
uh miss merit miss costello yes can you hear me miss costello could you state your name and
spell for the court reporter please it's mary costello and c -o -s -t -e -l -l -o
do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do is miss martinez available i don't see her with a hand up chair
are you an audience mr crawford are you the interpreter
mr crawford can you unmute please
hello hi mr crawford could you identify yourself please yes i'm the city of philadelphia
If you have license and inspections, code enforcement inspector.
Well, you're not the interpreter.
I have a, excuse me, I have a Consuelo with a last name, Consuelo Villa Gomez.
Put her hands up, can I allow her to speak?
You can bring her on if you want, please.
Hello, my name is Consuelo Villa Gomez.
I am the Spanish interpreter for the case.
Hi, could you spell your name for the court reporter, please?
Sure enough, Consuelo, C -O -N -S -U -E -L -O, Villagomez, B -S -N -Victor, I -L -L -A -G -O -M -E -Z.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Is Ms. Martinez available?
Señora Martinez, is it disponible?
I don't see Ms. Martinez.
No handshare.
This is the second listen.
Ms. Costello, you have any comments?
So the first listing, the appellant failed to appear,
and this is the second time that they have failed to appear.
So we would ask the board for a city or firm for a failure to appear.
So MI 2022 -004 -556 -2550 North 5th Street,
I recommend this case be dismissed.
Thomas Holloman, dismissed.
James Snell, dismissed.
Ishmael Shaheed, dismissed.
Thank you, counsel.
I'm sorry, Chair, this is Tanya.
If I could, may I ask the interpreter to please put a record in English what you stated for the person who noticed this document.
Thank you.
Interpreter?
In this case, the case MI -2022 -004556.
MI 2022 0045 56 con dirección 2550 de North Fifth Street no se encuentra presente la persona.
La abogada nos dice que esta es la segunda vez que falla en aparecer la persona en este proceso
y por lo tanto se está pidiendo que el caso sea desestimado.
Se puso a votación y cada miembro de esta junta estuvo de acuerdo en desestimar el caso.
Thank you so very kindly, Chair and Interpreter.
Thank you, everyone.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Are there any other requests for continuance?
I see no hands.
Okay, we're going to go to our admin list.
Number one, MI 2022, 005078, 1940 Wharton Street, I vote no.
Thomas Holloman, I vote no.
James Snell, my vote is no.
If no, I hear my vote is no.
Number two, MI 2022 -004 -949 -4800 -02 Ogle Street.
Jim Snell, could you certify this case that you covered it?
yes mr chairman i certified that i uh saw the video and i i'm well in tune with this case
thank you um i vote yes with proviso revised plans two pages stamped by zba on february 15th 2023
thomas holliman my vote is yes with proviso
So, James Snell, my vote is yes with provisos.
Ishmael Fahey, my vote is yes with provisos.
Number three, MI 2022 -004 -262 -3832 North 18th Street.
I vote yes.
Other people voting is Thomas Holloman, Ishmael.
I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Thank you
Number four
MI 2022
005216
5110 Haverford Avenue
This matter will be voted
on Wednesday, February 22nd
at 9 .30 a .m.
Number five
The vice chair will handle this
okay let me just bring that one up you want to read you want to read the case
so mi2022 00090 1513 to 17 pine street people voting on us is ishmael thomas hollman and james
snell mr chair this is hillary i just want to note that the the calendar number is mi 2023
in this case the rest of the digits were correct i'm sorry i'm sorry my fault
so after the correction and after reviewing all the documents and um with everyone meeting with
the appropriate folks uh ishmael shaheed my vote is yes with proviso you might want to read the
provisos. Revised plans, two pages, stamped by ZBA, February 15th, 2023.
My vote is yes with proviso. Revised plans, stamped by the ZBA, February the 15th.
Thomas Holliman, my vote is yes with proviso. James Snell, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you. Number six, MI 2022 -002 -378 -3107 Clifford Street. I vote yes with proviso.
Per amended refusal, dated 9 -8 -22, trash storage at side and rear of property, no trash stored
under front porch, commercial trash pickup, and garbage disposal to each unit. And also,
So, Mr. Snell and Mr. Holloman have to certify.
Thomas Holloman, I certify that I reviewed the video, and my vote is yes with proviso.
James Snell, I also certify that I reviewed the video, and I am very aware about this
case, and my vote is yes with proviso.
Mr. Minister Shaheed, yes with proviso.
Number seven, MI 2022 -005 -067 -814 -22, South 11th Street.
Number seven, MI 2022 -005 -005 -005 -005 -005 -005.
Voting on this will be myself, Mr. Holloman, and Ishmael.
I vote yes with proviso.
Revised plans, one page, stayed by ZBA, February 15th, 2023.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with provisos.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes, will provide those.
We're going to go to our list now, our main list.
We're going to start with number three, MI 2022, 003 -851 -7200 Marsden Street.
Vladimir Leon is the owner applicant, pro se.
Mr. Leon?
Mr. Leon?
There you go, he came up and he left, there he is.
May I allow him to speak?
Hello, Mr. Leon?
No, Mr. Leon?
Mr. Leon.
Mr. Leon, can you raise your hand, please?
Again?
Something went wrong.
Mr. Leon, if you're in the audience, can you raise your hand, please?
He was just there.
And he's coming in as a panelist.
I don't want to see him.
We see him?
Mr. Leon?
Mr. Leon?
Sir, please unmute yourself.
Sir, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Lakeisha, do we see him?
Yes, he's available, Chair, but he's still muted.
I don't know why I can't see him.
If you would like, you can just move on to the next case.
So we'll move on to the next case, then we'll get back to him.
We're going to move to number seven.
MI 2022 -003 -329 -435 West Burke Street.
Jamie Murphy is the owner applicant pro se.
Letter of non -opposition from Council Member Lozada.
letter of support from the R -Square Community Alliance.
Ms. Murphy, you're allowed to speak. Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the
court reporter? Yes, my name is Jamie Murphy. That's spelled J -A -M -I -E. Murphy is M -U -R -P -H -E -Y.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do. This application is for visitor accommodations in an existing structure,
The proposed use visitor accommodation is prohibited in the RM1 zoning district.
Our vice chair has just a few questions for you.
Absolutely.
Good morning, ma 'am.
Have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits five days in advance into our office?
I apologize.
Can you repeat the last question?
So have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits five days in advance into our offices for this airing?
I did.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Give me one second, please. I apologize. I just need to pull it up.
Thank you.
The green dot on the bottom?
The green dot on the bottom?
Share screen?
I apologize.
I just need to pull up the document.
I wonder if I wasn't sharing the wrong thing.
I apologize. I just couldn't find the correct document.
I just couldn't find the correct document.
are you able to see that we're good now yep thank you for your patience
okay so tell us what it is you want to do so i purchased a duplex about two years ago
and used it as my primary residence and then I began to experience some health problems and so
I was looking for other ways that I could use the property and still take care of myself and so I
have gone through the process of appealing our zoning so that I can use the duplex as an Airbnb
for short -term rentals and my background is an experience design and this is a passion of mine
to make beautiful spaces here in philadelphia all right um why don't you go through your
your documents here a minute i see your application right absolutely here's the application
so why don't you show us some pictures of your property you have photos of your property
yes i do
right after these okay that's your deed okay yep
okay this is the property this is the front of the structure from a top view and then also from
a bottom view okay and move it up that's good okay thank you so the brown one's yours the brown brick
correct okay and it still has no property on either side of it both are still empty lots
this is the side from the facing east and this front side faces west and this is the back of
the property. We're right beside a bus stop. And one of the ways we have invested in the community
is we have, when we first went through the RCO request process, one of the people suggested that
we find a way to invest in the community. And so since then, we have been paying $200 a month for
trash cleanup on our block. And we're particularly focusing on the bus stop area and the park area
that's right beside the house but it actually covers both sides of the street for the full block
using the glitter program here and here's your letter coming up from this from um our square
correct and this is our letter from north square there were you had one one opposed nine in favor
correct okay or eight in favor i'm sorry and and the council member has also been in support
correct we're very grateful okay um questions from the board no mr chairman no mr no mr
chairman questions or comments from the virtual audience i see no hands chair planning commission
thank you mr chairman good afternoon david effecto f e c t e a u with the city
planning commission. Oh, I'm sorry. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
nothing but the truth? Yes, sir, I do. Thank you very much. Thank you. Good afternoon, board
members. The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential multifamily zoning at
this location. To establish a hardship, the code requires the applicant to show the building cannot
be used as required by zoning. This building was built by Wright as a duplex in 2020. The applicant
has not shown that anything is preventing them from using this unit as a dwelling unit.
Therefore, the City Planning Commission recommends the board deny the use variants.
Thank you. MI 2022 -003 -329 -435 Westberg Street. I vote yes with proviso. Temporary variance expires 3 -1 -26.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with Proviso.
James Snell, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Thank you.
Thank you. We appreciate you.
Okay, let's do number six next, please.
Let's do number six next.
MI 2022 -005 -692 -9815 East Roosevelt Boulevard.
Augusta O 'Neill is the attorney.
Letter of non -opposition from Walton Park Civic Association.
Letter of non -opposition from Councilman O 'Neill.
um miss augusta she's been promoted to panelists good afternoon hi could you state your name
please and spell for the court reporter sure my name is augusta o 'neill my last name is spelled
o apostrophe n e -i -l -l right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth i do could you identify your client in relationship to the property
Sure. My client is Hardeep Chawla. He is the principal of Aurora's Encore LLC, which is the owner of the property.
Okay. And our vice chair has just a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
Have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits into our offices five days in advance to this hearing?
I did.
thank you please proceed to share your screen thank you so much I'm here this afternoon
representing the owner of the property at 9815 Roosevelt Boulevard just for context I'm going
to bring up a map of the property to orient the board to its location
So this is where our property is located. As you can see, we are on the east side of the
Roosevelt Boulevard. We're in the industrial section of the Boulevard. As you can see,
we're right in front of the Philadelphia airport. There's a number of distribution
centers that are surrounding our property. Just again, for context, this is a picture that was
taken from the property. This is looking north on the boulevard. This is the monument sign that's
outside of the property, advertising all of the medical uses that are within the property. And
this application is for an expansion of an existing space within the property that is
currently one suite, and we would be turning it into four different suites that would all
be populated with medical uses.
Again, just for context, this is going south on Roosevelt Boulevard.
Here's a picture of the property.
It's a large one -story building.
This is a section of the property that the tenants will be going into.
As you can see, there's ample parking for patients or anyone who's coming in for medical
Again, just another perspective of the building.
And again, currently, some of the tenants include NovaCare, Relievis, which is a pain
management company.
And then just some pictures again for context, this is the inside of the building, there's
a number of different medical uses that are currently at the property.
Again, just a picture of the tenant listing, again, showing the various uses that are in
there, relieves, there's dental use, there's a number of other medical uses currently at
property. So on page 21 of your exhibit package, this is a section of the zoning history for the
property. So what's currently, I'm sorry, what's listed as space A on this old key plan, we're now
going to be putting it, changing it to four different spaces, as you can see here. The
The tenants that are already going to be moving in are a dermatologist, a pain management, either moving in or already at these units would be chiropractor, dermatologist, pain management.
And it says vacant here, but that's actually going to be a pediatrician.
So this property is zoned I -1.
and so the reason that we received a refusal is because it's in the northeast overlay district
which means that any group practitioner use is prohibited and so as a result we did receive a
refusal and we sent out the appropriate notices to meet with the RCO which is the Walton Park
notices to meet with the RCO, which is the Walton Park Civic Association. We do have a letter of
Civic Association.
non -opposition to the granting of the variants. We also have a letter in our exhibit package from
Councilman O 'Neill. His office indicated they had no objection to the granting of the variants
and consistent. I would submit to you that the application that we're preparing, I'm sorry,
presenting today shows uses that are consistent with what's already at the property. There
wouldn't be any impairment to any adjacent uses and it also would not be detrimental to the public
welfare. In fact, it would be beneficial to the welfare of whoever's in the neighborhood and has
a need for medical uses in addition to what's already at the property. With me this afternoon
is Hardeep Chala. He is the principal of the LLC that owns the property, so I would just call him
forward to the testimony.
Hardeep, if you hit the raise hand button, you'll be identified.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
My name is Hardeep Chawla.
I'm the principal of Aurora Ancor, owner of the subject property 9815 Roosevelt Boulevard.
Could you spell your name, please, for the court reporter?
H -A -R -D -E -E -P, first name Hardeep, last name Chawla, C -H -A -W -L -A.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you so much.
Hardeep, did you have an opportunity to hear my testimony this afternoon?
Yes, I did.
And was everything that I said true and accurate?
And would you like to adopt my testimony as your own?
Thank you so much.
uh and mr chair we are available if the board has any questions questions from the board
no questions or comments from the virtual audience
planning commission thank you mr chairman good afternoon board members david fecto city planning
Commission, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the I -1 light industrial zoning at this
location. In November 2013, the Planning Commission recommended disapproval of Bill
130 -770, which created the Northeast Overlay District. Without the overlay, the proposed
group practitioner would be allowed by right. The proposed group practitioner is the type of
business that a reasonable person would expect to find in a shopping center, so the City Planning
Commission recommends the board grant the use variants. MI 2022 -005 -692 -9815 East Roosevelt
Boulevard, I vote yes. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes. James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes. Thank you, counsel. Thank you so much.
I'm going to go back to number three, MI 2022, 003 -851 -7200 Marsden Street, Vladimir Leon.
Mr. Leon, can you raise your hand, please?
There he is. I got him.
do we see him i saw him he's gone again there he is all right we're going to move on we'll
check back later he's he's there he's there okay okay thank you could you state your name
and spell for the court reporter please
sorry you just have to unmute
unmute is it is it okay now yes could you state your name please and spell for the court
Yes. My name is Vladimir Leon. My name is Vladimir, please.
It's D like Victor, L like Leo, A like Apple, D like David, I, M like Mary, I, R like Robert, Leon, L like Leo, E like Edward, O like Ann, and like Nancy.
Right. Leon.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
I do, Your Honor.
All right. So, this application is for the retail sale of food, beverages, and groceries and consumer goods at the first floor in the same building with an existing family household living above.
No sign on this application. Let me finish. No sign on this application.
The proposed retail sale of food, beverages, and groceries and consumer goods is prohibited in the RSA 5 zoning district.
five zoning district. The proposed multiple principal uses is prohibited in the RSA five
The proposed multiple principal uses is prohibited.
zoning district. There is a letter of opposition for the Taconi Civic Association. Our vice chair
has a few questions for you, and then you can present your case, sir. Okay, thank you.
Good afternoon, sir. Have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits into our offices
five days in advance to this hearing?
I did.
I did.
Thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen.
How do I share this screen?
Green button at the bottom of the screen.
So we're having a problem on promoting him to panelists.
I'm not sure why, but it's not promoting him.
Ms. Nikki, would you be able to try to promote him, please?
I see Nikki well I can just present if the screen is that you can't we need to see you
sir oh I actually sent it we're aware of that but you we need to see you and we need to
see your presentation yes um and should i pull it from the uh are you available
okay um why don't we do this why don't we move on we'll come back later and we can if we can find
Nikki, if she can do something, we'll try to work it out then, okay? We'll make that the last case,
all right? We'll be back to you, sir. Yes, thank you. Okay.
Number eight, MI 2022 -00509 -2552 -64 North 3rd Street. David Orphanides is the attorney.
we have a letter of non -opposition from Council Member Lozada.
Mr. Leon, go offline and we'll be back to you, okay?
Mr. Chair, I also wanted to note for the current case,
we do have a letter of support from the Norris Square Community Alliance.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mr. Orphanides.
For the record, could you just state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Certainly. My name is David Orphanides.
Last name is spelled O -R -P -H -A -N -I -D -E -S.
I'm with the law firm of Orphanides and Toner LLP.
Right.
Can you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client in relationship to the property?
Certainly.
My client is the Colorworks, C -O -L -O -R -W -O -R -K -S building, comma, LLC.
They are the current owner of the subject properties, which collectively are 2552 to 64 and 2566 North 3rd Street, as identified in the OPA.
But there are a number of individual parcels by deed.
So our vice chair has just a few questions, sir.
Certainly.
Good afternoon, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, well, the accuracy, there was something missing regarding street trees in a refusal that I've communicated with the examiner about.
The original plan didn't have the required street trees for the frontage, but in the revised zoning drawings, we've addressed that.
Okay, yeah, we'll address that as we work our way through the presentation.
Have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits in our offices five days in advance to this hearing?
We did. I did.
Okay, thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Mr. Orfanides, this is Hillary. I just had a quick question. You had mentioned 2556, or sorry, 2566 North 3rd Street. That's not a part of this application, correct? Because it's not listed as one of the addresses on the refusal.
so it is one it is one of the it is one of the ones and i've talked to um the examiner or the
examiner about that as well but if you look at the here's a survey plan and i think it's a question
of how the opa identifies the properties but there are a number of parcels he also said that
there were four into one and are actually five into one. So, but ultimately, if you look over
here on the right hand side, it's all the parcels that exist from 2552 all the way to
It's all the parcels that exist from 2552 all the way to Huntington Street.
And that's always what's been presented both to the community and to the Civic Design Review Committee.
So there's an error on the refusal in terms of the addresses that are listed.
Yeah, and again, I've discussed that with him in the street trees, and we weren't able to get the refusal updated.
um but again it's always been reflected in all the documentation that we've provided
that all the presentation materials that it went through to 66 and it physically was depicted as
including that parcel okay we we may need to to hold because i was not aware that it included
66 um so we may need to just hold for clarification from lni and ask them to
issue a corrected refusal with that information but that i can i can handle that but that that's
something that we can address fairly quickly yes but i think that we'll just need to hold that to
make sure that that everything that whatever the board does today uh there's no confusion when it
goes back because the refusal is not reflecting all of the addresses or i mean would we be able
to still have it voted today or would you hold the vote for that i would hold the vote to make
sure we have the corrected refusal so hold it till next week i think we could have it resolved
within a week yeah okay all right thank you appreciate it okay so if i may proceed uh and
i'm not meaning that as in you know i've been waiting to go hillary basically you raise a good
point so so to be clear we are here for a number of parcels uh five parcels um that have addresses
is ranging from 2552 to 2566 North 3rd Street.
As I indicated, you can see on the,
and this is a pretty massive file
because I use a lot of the CDR presentation materials,
but as indicated, our property or properties
are located on the west side of North 3rd Street,
the south side of Huntington,
and on the east side of Oriana.
They're all streets of varying different widths.
As you can imagine, Oriana is a smaller street,
small neighborhood street, and then you have Huntington and North 3rd, which are wider streets.
As indicated here on the survey plan, you have one, two, three, four, five parcels. I believe
they have a total of two OPA accounts, and where the proposal is to consolidate them into one.
I'll get a little more into the details in a couple minutes, but in terms of the letters
of support and non -opposition that you have, as referenced, we did receive a letter of support
from the coordinating RCO for the project.
As you can see here in the email
from the Planning Commission back on September 26th,
they identified our North Square Community Alliance
as a coordinating RCO for the project.
We did send out the 14303 notice
of the meeting on November 9th.
The meeting was held.
It was really good.
They ran it great.
It was a hybrid meeting.
We were in person,
but also there were people
that were able to participate via zoom they had a big screen camera worked really well um we you
know there were not very many comments that came up one of the comments that came up was a revision
to the walls fence wall the six foot fence wall surrounding the parking area uh we reduced the
height of that to cover the um to block headlights but then put in open fencing above it that was the
the main comment that came out of that. And again, the mailing was to quite a number of addresses
and 141 in total. And you can see the certificate of first class mailing here.
As part of North Square included with their letter, but we also included it as a separate
exhibit at Exhibit 2. My clients did a pretty nice, really nice petition letter here with a
good level of detail or rendering a lot more than you usually see with petitions and um they um and
they got a lot of the near neighbors to sign off on it uh they actually at one point they they're
both from the neighborhood they've done projects in the neighborhood they've worked with the the
council manic district office on other projects they had a meet and greet out at the site with
that all the neighbors attended so they've been very involved in the community um leading up to
this project and during the course of this project and getting the approvals. And then here you have
a letter from a woman that Brett Slackman, who's one of the principals, his involvement in helping
somebody in the community develop their property for themselves rather than developing it, you
know, taking it and developing it or buying it, developing himself, assisted them. So very
community oriented uh uh client that i have here uh we did receive
uh client that i have here uh we did receive um both the notice of refusal it was a heightened
use refusal uh the property's owned icmx industrial commercial and we're proposing a mixed commercial
and residential project the refusal in the application originally indicated 65 dwelling
units uh we dropped it to 64 with 21 accessory parking spaces and 22 bicycle parking spaces
We have a height refusal. The height limit in ICMX is 60 feet, and we are a little, I think it's at 71 feet. I'll show you that, and I'll explain to you why we're doing that.
We did receive a CDR referral because of the number of units, and we did complete, as you see, at 3.
They don't have their letter of completion out yet, but they did send us the email on Monday that went out to Tanya that indicated that we had, in fact, completed the CDR process on February 7th.
It was a one -and -done meeting.
We weren't required to come back a second time.
The project was very well received, in my opinion, by the Planning Commission staff and by the CDR committee.
We do have revised plans, as I indicated.
We changed the fencing.
We reduced the number of dwelling units from 65 to 64.
We made some changes in setbacks of the upper floors.
we changed there's a roof deck that was a communal roof deck at the second floor level fronting on
third street on the third street side of the property that we changed to a private roof deck
and those were the major changes that that we did make as far as the zoning we didn't include
the fencing in that that's often not sometimes they say you don't need a permit for fences but
that is the other change that we made in the revised zoning drawings i could add that to
revised provisive plan form if necessary um the project again consolidation of the lots
and then what we're proposing is a six -story building you can see sorry about that
it's such a large file it just takes a second sometimes to load there you go
and then there's a couple things i want to bring your draw your attention to in the
in this tab, this is 6A. You can see, I'm sorry, 5A, the revised drawings. You can see where we
have pulled the building by right. We have a massing diagram or plan that we have included
in our exhibits. And what that shows is that in ICMX, you could build a building that's 100 %
lot coverage, five stories, 500 far. The problem is, is if you take a look at aerials, the problem
that we saw in designing this is that here's the existing building. It's been a dye and bleaching
company business facility for decades. It's a rundown, dilapidated building. You see that we
have two -story structures to the south of us, and then a newer park. We have some three -story
buildings right across North Oriana Street on the opposite corner, on the southwest corner.
But then other than that, on the opposite side of Oriana, you have two stories.
But the main concern was budding a 60 -foot tall building up against the buildings that you see
right here. And the idea was to pull the building back to create a buffer, a physical buffer,
to reduce the impact during construction on having to underpin things of that nature,
the buildings to the south of us.
And we created a 15 -foot buffer that you see right here.
And we've located the parking.
And because some of those spaces face the buildings and face the rear yards of the buildings
and the properties that abut us to the south, that's where maintaining some solid fencing
or a fence wall there to block the headlights of people at the parking at nighttime
was something that we revision we were happy to make it also kind of opened it up a little bit
along the street so you didn't have a six foot tall wall and you could kind of see create some
additional light visual a different visual appearance for pedestrians as they walk by but
as a result of pushing this building back and creating this buffer from the properties to the
south and still maintaining a decent amount of floor area we basically what I say like to say
is we squeezed the balloon.
We took a wider balloon and we squeezed it a little bit
and we pushed it to push the building up
the additional story.
You'll see though that we didn't still go for the 500 FAR.
We actually, if you look at the zoning data table,
we're only at 489.
And based upon my calculations, that 11 % of far difference of a lot of over almost 14 ,000 square feet is about 1 ,500 square feet of floor area, which is another unit or two.
Based upon my calculations,
that 11 % of FAR difference of 11%.
So clearly my clients weren't looking to squeeze every little last thing into this building.
They pulled it away for the benefit of the properties to the south.
We've set back the upper floors that you'll see in the, you see both in the zoning drawings and both at the, you know, at the upper floor level.
And you'll see when you look at the rendering real quickly, not to drag on about this, but if you take a look at the renderings and the color elevations, and here you go, is what we've done is they, with the use of materials, you know, so here you have that buffer area to the south.
But what they did is, and this is something that was appreciated at the CDR meeting, is they made it read with the solid material.
They made it read as a two -story building and honored the heights of the buildings to the south.
And then on this side, you can see they dropped it to three to be in line, the solid material to read as three stories there,
and then dropped it to two heading to the south on Oriana to be consistent with those buildings,
which obviously they wouldn't have to do if they did a by -right building.
The ground floor is intended to all be commercial along Huntington Street and North 3rd Street.
You can see here the rendering.
Here's the private decks that are going to be located at the second floor level.
They're partially screened, both with the brickwork that's brought across from the north side to the south side
and then with planters that are going to be located there as indicated on both the revised
zoning drawings and on the these renderings you can see that street trees have been provided all
the way around the property right now we're showing two commercial units can show you those
floor plans you have a commercial unit right at the corner activating the corner of huntington
and north third and then another vacant commercial at the along huntington street they might be
consolidated into one unit. They might be broken up into smaller units, but that's a seller plan.
I'm sorry. Here's the ground floor plan. You can see, and another great aspect of this design,
we've provided off -street accessory parking, but, and Derek Spencer, who's here from Nome
Architecture, who did a great job on the design here, along with my clients, you'll see that
north third heads north, northwards, and I can show you on the, if I can get you a quick traffic
plan, where is it? Okay, it's up here. This is the transit plan, but you can see north third heads
north you got Huntington that heads west and then Oriana that um Oriana that heads heads south
here you go and so what we did and this was a great a great design by them is is that they
created essentially a closed loop with the um having the parking come in and here we go
so what they've done is parking cars come down Huntington they turn in they come through the
parking come out into onto north third there's a great design one way they've essentially created
a closed loop and what that does is it has the what we believe is it's going to keep traffic away
from the park to the south that a lion's share of the traffic will come off american come in
off of huntington come around you know park come out come on north third and then head west on
huntington so there'll be no traffic coming in and out on the small street of oriana and we hope this
will also minimize the amount of traffic coming by the newer playground at the south end of the
block on North 3rd Street. Tab 15 of my exhibit book does show the, or tab 16 shows, tab 13 shows
the zoning archives for the subject property and documents, again, the industrial use of the
property. Previously, it's our thought that given we do have commercial to the west of us,
here's American Street. You have a lot of vacant land right here. But then you have CMX2 across the
street from us right here, which is a PPA parking lot. And then you have all residential to the
south of us and then all to the west of us. And the idea is that we don't really, I think it was
probably zoning classified as ICMX remapping because of the current use of the property.
But we believe, my understanding is that the Planning Commission agrees that this use,
this residential commercial use is more fitting with the where it's located what's around it
particularly what's around it to the south and to the west um we we posted the pro
um we we posted the property photos are attached to tab 28 the copy of the notice that was posted
at tab 27 along with the notice of refusal um we the our current my my clients purchased the
property uh recently from the prior owner so the opa is not showing them as a current owner we
weren't able to run the tax compliance uh certificate but we do show that taxes have
been paid because the property was just purchased, save for the 2023 taxes. And that's essentially
ownership. Here's the deed that shows the transfer from the prior owners to my clients.
We can go into greater detail. Shadow studies real quickly show that comparing our project to
a buy rate project, that we actually shadow the neighboring residential properties less with what
we're proposing, even though we're taller. By pulling away from the properties to the
south and setting the upper floor back, we actually shadow less. And what's great, what
GNOME does is they do what we call is a shadow Venn diagram. And rather than having to bop your
eyes back and forth and compare what one looks like in the other, they show the difference in
coloring between where one shadows, by right shadows more than what's proposed. And again,
the Venn diagrams show that the by right building actually shadows more. So we believe that there is
a hardship here to utilize the property for the industrial commercial use, at least for the
industrial use aspect of it. And that is given the residential properties that are located to
the south to the west of us. We believe that the use of the property as commercial and residential
is appropriate given the residential nature of the properties to the south and to the west of us,
the brand new community park or newer community park to the south. Some of the renovations that
are happening along North American Street to support the businesses that are coming in there
to provide light and energy and people and density at a corner that you can see from the aerial
images is a pretty dead corner right now. So, and the traffic has been designed and very specifically
to reduce traffic congestion. It will actually improve traffic congestion. If there was going
to be any over a buy rate project for certain, for sure. Shadow studies show the impact upon
air and light of conforming properties is actually going to be less than it would with
the buy rate project. So for those reasons, and not to go on and on, I just think it's a great
project. Again, it was well received by the community, really well received by the community
and by the Civic Design Review Committee. I stop and answer any questions.
You want to have your testimony adopted, please?
That'd be great.
So I have Brett.
Brett, either you or Joe can raise your hand to adopt my statements as my clients, and then I'll have Derek Spencer adopt them from the architectural side of things.
Mr. Brett, he's going to be allowed to speak?
Brett Slackman.
Please.
Could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Can everybody hear me?
We can.
My name is Brett Slackman.
it's spelled b -r -e -t -t s as in sam l -a -c -h -m -a -n right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth i do proceed counsel thank you mr chairman uh brett you heard
the statements that i made to the board today correct i did and are they true and correct
to the best of your knowledge yes they are and would you adopt them as your own i would
Okay, thank you. And then Derek Spencer, real quickly, from No More Architecture.
Okay, Mr. Spencer is allowed to speak.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Yes, Derek Spencer, D -E -R -E -K -S -P -E -N -C -E -R.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Derek, you heard the statements that I made to the board this afternoon?
Yes, I did.
Are they true and correct to the best of your knowledge?
Yes, they are.
And would you adopt them as your own?
Yes, I would.
Okay, thank you.
All right.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman and members of the Board, David Fecto, City Planning Commission.
This project completed its Civic Design Review in February 2023.
The Civic Design Review Committee's advisory recommendations are not an expression of the City Planning Commission's recommendation or opinion regarding zoning variances, special exceptions, or other discretionary approvals.
regarding zoning variances special exceptions or other discretionary approvals associated with
this proposal the comprehensive plan recommended this property for industrial 2 medium industry
however in several later zoning map changes the zoning was negotiated down to industrial
and commercial mixed use the applicant's proposed ground floor commercial units comply with the
existing zoning the current zoning does not allow dwelling units the applicant also requests more
height than the zoning code allows. The city planning commission recommends that the board
deny the use and dimensional variances. Thank you. So we'll close this. Everybody correct Hillary
until we hear from L &I. Yes Mr. Chair I just need to clarify the address of L &I. That should
that should take a chance we could have this for next week Hillary. Yes I think we could have it
for next week, and the record is otherwise closed. Okay, counsel, it looks like we do,
Mr. Chair, it looks like we do have a hand raised. I don't know if that's someone related to the
project. Okay, sure. Hand raised, please state your name and spell for the court reporter.
Yes, hi, my name is Florence Morales, F -L -O -R -E -N -C -E -M -O -R -A -L -E -S, right, and I actually
live across the street. Wait, wait, wait, wait, one minute. Do you swear or affirm to tell the
truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Oh, yes. So proceed. I actually live across the
street from the factory. I live on Oriana. I've been living there for 56 years. I was born and
raised there and I've known the fact I've been right there near the factory forever.
And I oppose. I say, I think that they should knock it down. I think that what they're planning
on doing is a beautiful thing it'll be a good for the neighborhood and good for the people
um and i really really i really love the project i love it and i think that they i think that they
should do it and all the all the neighbors in our neighborhood um all feel the same way
um and we all are for each other so we think that it's it'll be a wonderful idea
well thank you very much for calling in we appreciate that thank you ma 'am your testimony
will become part of the record all right thank you so hillary we're thank you so hillary we're
closed right yes we are mr chair counsel you're okay with this yeah i mean i i've i mean i have
no problem with getting the addresses clarified and corrected so that there aren't any issues i
appreciate Hillary uh you know bringing that up and being okay thank you very much thank you
have a good day all right number nine MI 2022 -005 -460 -633 Diamond Street um
Alan Nockamson is the attorney letter of opposition from APM attached
Mr. Nockamson is being promoted to panelists okay thank you
Welcome.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the board.
Alan Nockamson, A -L -A -N, last name Nockamson, N -O -C -H -U -M -S -O -N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client and relationship to the property?
Yes, my client is ABDPH LLC, and then virtual audience should be Dimitri Gord -Odesky, its representative.
Okay, and our vice chair has just a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits into our offices since five days in
advance to this hearing uh yes i have thank you please proceed thank you very much
hi so i'm here to present 633 diamond street uh in our presentation packet we will review
the notice of refusal, the correspondence we receive from APM, letters of support from nearby
neighbors. Some of the refusals have to do with log coverage and rear yard setback. So we're
going to show you nearby properties with full log coverage, including close proximity to ours.
Nearby RM1 multifamily variances. So this is an RM1 property. We're slightly short of the
requirements for triplex here, which we are seeking, we're at 1037 square feet of lot size.
uh we're at 1037 square feet of lot size so basically we're 43 square feet short but it's
not uncommon for the zoning board to grant variances of this type in this neighborhood
so we'll have examples as well maps of the area photographs of the property in the surrounding
area our plans and drawings our rco meeting notice it as well as proof of mailing of that notice to
the effective properties, our application for appeal that we filed with the ZBA, our deed to
the property showing that ABDPH LLC is the owner of the property, and our Certificate of Tax
Clearance. Again, in the virtual audience is Mr. Gorodesky. At the conclusion of my presentation,
I will ask for him to virtually raise his hand. He'll be sworn in. He'll adopt my testimony as
his own, and we'll be more than happy to take any questions from the board. So notice of refusal.
or RM1 property. So this is not a situation where we're taking an RSA 5 property and trying to
increase density for multifamily use. This is already allowed for multifamily use. And as the
board knows, when you have a multifamily structure like this or a proposed multifamily structure
like this, and you do the math for RM1, it's one unit per 360 square feet of lot size. And when
you have uh when you're in between numbers like we are here uh you and we're much closer to i
didn't do the math and i will but where you're almost at three but you're not exactly at three
unfortunately they round down not round up so we're a hair shy of three units we're exactly
43 square feet of lot size of three units. And so we're asking for the de minimis variance under
the circumstances. Now that's refusal number one. Refusal number two is maximum lock. 75 % of the lot
can only be occupied where we're asking for 84 .47. Whether this is a two unit or three units,
Given the dimensions of this property, you know, in order to have a proper turning radius for the staircases from floor to floor, we need that additional lot size.
And it's not out of character to have an occupied area which exceeds the confines of the Philadelphia Zoning Code, and you'll see a photograph which shows that even on our block.
The next refusal has to do with the rear yard area where 144 square feet is required under the zoning code while we're proposing 110 .83 square feet. Again, not out of character to what's on that block.
In addition, whether it's a two unit or a three unit, because of the configuration a lot, we would require that de minimis variance.
And then the fourth refusal, which the second through four kind of go the same, the minimum rear yard depth is required is nine feet, where seven feet is proposed.
Again, not out of character to what we're asking for, because we'll see a photograph of a much, much smaller rear yard depth.
And again, whether it's two units or three units, we would require this variance under the circumstances to have a functional floor plan.
So we got correspondence from APM. It is a letter of opposition.
I would say that there was irregularities, from my understanding, during the vote counts, but it was four people in support and five people opposed.
My understanding is that there was one community member who owned property in the area who was refused to, they would not accept his vote because he owned a vacant lot in the neighborhood.
And they stated that someone who owns a vacant lot is not allowed to vote.
My understanding, too, is that it was basically 4 -4 when that individual was going to vote and that some community members who were not present or allegedly were community members were asked to vote and come on without hearing our presentation at the conclusion of our presentation.
So that's the first thing is I think there was some issues with the vote count and how the vote was taken.
The second thing is that I don't think they understood the project.
We're not rehabilitating, and that's in the letter, too.
In the letter, it says, developer plans to rehabilitate an existing structure into a three -unit dwelling.
That's not the case.
What we're trying to do is we have a vacant lot, and you'll see in our presentation materials, this has been a vacant lot for a very, very long time, and you'll see from our photographs.
we're looking to build a new family a new structure there and you know originally my
client was hoping to build with two units but because of market conditions increasing interest
But because of market conditions, increasing interest rates, cost of construction, he's unable to get a loan because it doesn't pencil correctly with the banks.
rates cost of construction
The only way he can build this building and to utilize this property is to have a three -unit here.
Two units don't work under the current market conditions.
So it's not to rehabilitate an existing structure into a three -family dwelling.
It's to build a new structure, and we're hoping to build a three -family dwelling.
uh the next repeat the next reason that they refuse this project is at least some members
not all the community members who oppose the proposed project express that the rent structure
is not affordable to community residents or those low to moderate income and that the area has been
saturated with new multi -family construction that does not meet our needs of the residents
again we're not taking an rsa5 property and trying to increase the density which is not
allowed under RSA 5. We're taking an RN1 property which allows for multifamily use. We're asking for
a de minimis variance to allow us to use a 1 ,000 of 37 square foot lot where 1 ,080 is required for
three units. That's a de minimis variance under the circumstances. And I think that's the second
reason why this letter is incorrect and not applicable to the circumstances.
So, Mr. Nockamson, could you do me a favor? Could you go back a minute? We're a little unsure of
your numbers. We're seeing 1440 and 1037 now. So that's a lot more than what you're saying.
Maybe I'm wrong.
I think that required for three family dwelling is 360 square feet.
Per unit.
Where did this 1440 come from?
Mr. Chair, that's my error.
I was calculating it based on the 480.
I didn't calculate it based on the 360.
So that's what the confusion is.
All right.
360 is correct.
It gave me a little skip in my heart. I was like, did I miss an overlay or something? So yes. So okay, good. So we're still on the same page. So it is 1080. So it's really de minimis. So good.
So the third the third issue they had was just in terms of general construction, saying that, you know, residents were concerned with hours of construction.
Obviously, there's regulations regarding hours of construction that L &I has, and we're going to follow those construction hours.
But whether it's a two family or three family, it's it's the same thing.
And obviously, we would buy by the of those construction hours.
Yeah, it would be a different story, Mr. Chair, if we were trying to seek a four family, just because, again, we're just short of a three family.
So that would be a greater variance request. That's why this, we believe, is a de minimis variance request.
And then letters to support. So we actually then independently reached out to other property owners in close proximity to ours.
And we have three property owners. And one of them is Andrei Yifimov. I understand him to be one of the individuals who tried to vote and was unable to vote. And he owns a property in the neighborhood at 2119 North 7th Street. And again, one of the cross streets that we are at is on 7th Street.
And then Sanjeev Nadu, which is on North Marshall Street, he owns a property.
And that's one of the cross streets as well on Diamond Street.
And then nearby properties for full -off coverage.
And I bring this one, this is more than nearby.
This is our property.
This is 637 Diamond Street.
You can see, like here, I mean, I haven't done the math, but they don't meet the nine -foot rear yard setback.
They don't meet the maximum occupied area.
So what we're proposing is not out of character for this block.
And then, again, just as an example, we have other multifamily structures or zoning designations where this board grants similar variances where you can see for lot coverage issues and for the use of the property.
Here it was 1 ,053 square feet of lot size where 1 ,080 was required.
So we're under similar circumstances at 2120 North 7th Street.
And then you can see this is a multifamily part of the neighborhood here.
Germantown Avenue, it's the commercial corridor.
We're not taking an RSA 5 property to make this multifamily to a triplex.
were allowed two point something, like really close to three, you know.
two point something like really close to three uh you know so unfortunately the zoning code
rounds that down and then you can just see from a google maps perspective where we are in the
neighborhood and then photographs of the property uh this is a vacant lot as you can see this is our
uh proof of posting of our orange notice poster and then so google earth only goes as far back as
2007 for most properties. This is our property in 2007. So this has been a vacant lot for
well over 15 years. And so it kind of shows the hardship we have because now, even so,
it would be impossible for us to even build a two -family dwelling given the market conditions.
And it's been an issue for some time with this property. And this is Diamond Street to the right
of the property, diamond street till left of the property. And then our architectural plans and
drawings. Again, pretty base. Oops. This is our site plan here. Pretty basic, you know, brick
facade, flat, you know, new construction. And then, you know, typical, you know, first floor
and lower level is unit number one. Second floor, it's its own unit. Third floor, it's its own
unit. Again, there's an alleyway here where all the units, excuse me, there is a trash plan where
the first floor unit has, you know, access to rear yards. The upper floor units have
ventilated trash rooms. And then just, you know, proof of mailing. We had a meeting on January 5th.
131 addresses were notified in the meeting these are listed the addresses proof of mailing to those
addresses our application for appeal that we filed with the zba along with the notice of refusal and
project information form our deed to the property showing that our client is the owner of this
property and then filing a certificate of tax clearance it does show a technically a balance
of 1 ,087 .64. But that's only for the 2023 tax year. As this board knows, real estate taxes are
not due until March 31st of this year. With that being said, I would ask that Dimitri virtually
raise his hand and then we can take any questions from the board. Sir, could you please state your
name and call for the court reporter? He's allowed to speak. My name is Dimitri Gorodovsky.
hi could you spell your name for the court reporter please sure first name d -m -i -t -r -y
last name g -o -r -o -d -e -t -s -k -y right do you swear or affirm tell the truth the whole truth nothing
but the truth i don't proceed counsel oh yes uh dimitri you heard everything i had to state
about your zoning matter yes uh is it true and correct yes absolutely and do you adopt it as
your own testimony yes all right thank you very much oh counsel i know it's an rm1 what's the
rest of the block look like oh it's all multifamily okay okay all right thank you um questions or
comments from the board no mr chairman no mr chairman no mr chair questions or comments from
virtual audience planning commission thank you mr chairman and members of the board david effecto
city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential
multi -family zoning at this location this is a 1073 square foot lot which by right could
accommodate two dwelling units the applicant seeks a third hand relief from rear yard area
rear yard depth and occupied area there is no unique physical condition or circumstance that
would prevent this lot from being used in conformance with the zoning code the city
planning commission recommends that the board deny the use of dimensional variances thank you
mi 2022 zero zero five four six zero zero zero three i vote yes
Thomas Holloman, my vote is no.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shahe, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel. Stay one, please.
Number 12, MI 2022 -003 -166 -4847 -49,
Haverford Avenue. Alan Notkinson is the attorney.
Haverford Avenue. Alan Nockamson is the attorney.
No RCO letter that I see. Is that correct, Hillary?
Mr. Chair, I think we skipped a case. It's also Mr. Nockamson's case number 10.
Oh, I'm sorry. Let me do that one first.
oh I'm sorry that that's my mistake number 10 MI 2022 005 414 1843 East Hazard Street
Mr. Nockamson is the attorney non -opposition from the East Kensington Neighbors Association
letter of non -opposition from council member Squilla
Mr. Nockamson you already been sworn just state your name for the record
Alan Nockmson, A -L -A -N, last name Nockmson, N -O -C -H -U -M -S -O -N.
Could you identify your client in a relationship to the property?
Yes, the owner of the property is 1843 Hazard ST -LLC, and in the virtual audience is Gregory
Guzman.
It's representative.
And our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel.
and do you agree to read the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes. Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits five days in advance
to this hearing? Yes. Please proceed and share your screen. All right, thank you. Thank you.
All right. So I'm here to present 1843 East Hazard Street. This is located in the East
Kensington area or section of Philadelphia. In my presentation, we will review the notice of
refusal, the correspondence from the East Kensington Neighbors Association, which is a
letter of non -opposition. From what I hear, the district council member, Councilmember
Rusquillo is also in non -opposition to this project.
Then we'll review maps of the area, photographs of the property, our plans and drawings, our meeting notice along with proof of mailing of that notice to affected properties,
our application for appeal that we filed to the ZBA, our deed to the property showing that 1843 Hazard ST LLC is the owner of the property and their Certificate of Tax Clearance.
At the conclusion of my presentation, I'll ask Mr. Guzman to virtually raise his hand, be sworn in, and then to answer a few questions to adopt my testimony.
We also have in the virtual audience Alex Duller, the architect for the project.
So if need be, if the board has any technical questions, he's available to answer them if I am unable to.
All right, so our notice of refusal.
So, as you can see, the zoning classification for this property is technically a mix of RSA5 and RMX.
We border IRMX, which kind of goes to our undue hardship here, where there's a mix between IRMX, RM1, and surrounding us, as well as we're next to our commercial corridor.
And we're looking to put a two -family dwelling here.
We have no dimensional variances.
were simply being denied because we have an RSA 5 zoning classification.
And as you can see from the letter of non -opposition,
this was a well -attended meeting by the East Kensington Neighborhood Association
and the members in the audience were overwhelmingly in support of this project.
Again, my understanding is through the introduction
that Council Member Squill is also in non -opposition.
And then you can see maps of the area. This is a zoning map. We're the last property facing Hazard Street with the cross streets of Jasper and Kensington Avenue.
And what you can see also is the fact that we border IRMX and RM1. Right here, this property is 1838 -42 East Huntington Street.
What is being proposed there is a 52 -unit residential dwelling, in addition to that artisan studios, where the proposed height, which there is a zoning permit for that, of well over 70 feet high.
So again, it would be out of character to have a single family structure border that directly, as well as the RM1 that's behind us.
Plus, we're on a commercial corridor of Kensington Avenue, which we hope to support that commercial corridor.
And you can see that from the map as well right here. We're half a block away from the commercial corridor there.
and then photographs of the property as you can see this is the this is a currently the two -story
uh, IRMX dwelling, uh, that it's going to have.
uh, IRMX dwelling, uh, that's going to have an addition to it, which will equal well over 70
feet in height with 52 residential units and artisan studios as well. And then this is just
our proof of, of posting of our orange notice poster for today's hearing. And then this property
has been vacant, uh, for a significant period of time. Again, Google Earth goes as far back as 2007.
This is the oldest photo we found on Google Earth and showing that this has been a vacant lot.
And for good reason, it's impossible to build something given its zoning classification and its close proximity to this IRMX property.
And then this is East Hazard Street to the right of the property, East Hazard Street to the left of the property.
And as you can see, this is not a straight single family part of the neighborhood.
You can see here and here as well.
And then it's uncommon to have, you know, these three -story structures like we're proposing and we're looking at 2552 Jasper Street, which borders us.
And then our architectural plans and drawings, as you can see, we're looking to put a three -family dwelling.
You can also see through here is a common alleyway where, you know, where each of the unit occupants will have access to the rear yards for trash storage and rear view.
And then this is just our property, you know, floor plan, pretty basic floor plan.
Unit number one is the first floor and lower level.
Unit number two is the second and third floors.
Something else to point out, that in the rear, instead of, what's it called, a window well with a ladder, there will actually, because of the slope of the property, there will actually be steps leading out to this property.
So from a safety perspective, essentially this is the safest way you can have lower level living.
And again, the first floor and lower level unit will have access to this common alleyway as well.
And then the second unit is the second and third floor.
And then our RCO meeting notice, we met with the community on December 14, 127 addresses
were notified of this meeting.
These are the addresses, proof of mailing to those addresses, an application for appeal
showing the 1843 Hazard ST LLC is the owner of this property.
They filed also with the application for appeal a notice of refusal as well as the project
information form, deed to the property, showing that they're the owner of the property, and our
certificate of tax clearance. While they technically owe $394 .74, that's for the 2023 tax year as
indicated previously, those taxes are not due until March 31st of 2023. With that being said,
I'm going to share my screen. I would ask that Mr. Guzman virtually raise his hand.
He can be sworn in.
could you state your name and spell it please for the
mute yourself please
mr guzman gregory guzman could you spell it please for the court reporter g -r -e -g -o -r -y
last name g -u -z -m -a -n do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but
the truth. I do. I see you, counsel. Yeah, Mr. Guzman, you heard everything I had to say today
about your zoning matter. Yes. And is it true and correct? Yes, everything's correct. And do you
adopt it as your own testimony? Yes, I do. Thank you. Mr. Knockerson, explain what's going next
door again. Oh, it's an IRMX. Let me, I can show you from here, but it's an IRMX building,
which currently is a two -story structure but is scheduled to have 52 residential units plus
artisan studios and it's going to be a 70 exactly 71 feet four inch high building from the roof line
and that's approved that's approved that's under zoning permit zp -2021 -006851 dated
in August of 2021.
Okay, thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning?
Thank you, sir.
David Fecto, City Planning Commission.
Mr. Chairman and board members,
the comprehensive plan recommends no change
to the residential single -family zoning at this location.
There is no unique physical condition or circumstance
There is no unique physical condition or circumstance that would prevent this 1 ,087 -square -foot lot from being used in conformance with the zoning code.
that would prevent this 1 ,087.
This is a primarily single -family block.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny the use variance.
Thank you.
MI 2022 -005 -414 -1843 East Hatcher Street, I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
thank you please stay on number 12 mi 2022 003 166 48 47 to 49 haverford avenue
mr knockamson just state your name for the record alan knockamson a -l -a -n last name
knockamson n -o -c -h -u -m -s -o -n you've already been sworn and i see that we have no rco letter am i
correct uh hillary uh mr chair we have um late received an rco letter for this one it was a
letter of non -opposition from the coordinating rco our our vice chair has a few but identify
your client please oh yes my client is pebble development llc and the virtual audience should
be mustafa lascon it's representative okay and our vice chair has a few questions
do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do
have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits into our offices five days in advance
to this hearing i have thank you please proceed and show your screen
hold on one second let me just close the door
All right. So I'm here to present 4847 -49 Haverford Abbey.
This is proposed to be a 12 -minute apartment building, which the corners are, or the crossing
streets are Haverford 49th and Bella Street. The lot size is 5 ,160 square, 67 square feet.
During our presentation, we will review the notice of refusal, the correspondence from the Mill Creek
Advisory Council, the coordinating RCO, which is a letter of non -opposition, the zoning history of
this property. So this is a consolidation of essentially three lots. Two of those lots at one
points had seven units, which is essentially half of our lot size. The other half, you know,
if you do a proportion, you know, seven units would be 14 units. So proposing 12 units is not
out of character to the history of this property. We're also located across the street from a CHOP
facility, which you'll see on the maps. You look at photographs of the property, you'll see we're
in a regularly shaped lot so that's why we have a lot of these dimensional refusals um and we'll go
over that as well uh you'll then we'll review the plans um of the project um our rco meeting notice
uh as well as proof of mailing that notice our application for appeal showing that pebble
development llc is the owner of the property and they filed that application for appeal along with
the deed to the property as well, showing proof of ownership, and our certificate of tax clearance.
Again, in the virtual audience is Mustafa Askan. It's the property owner's representative,
as well as Christopher Johnson of 24 -7 Design, who can answer any technical questions I may be
unable to answer. So this is the notice refusal. There seems to be a lot of refusals here. They're
more technical in nature and we'll go over them one by one. Uh, but what we're proposing is to
have a 12 unit apartment building, uh, built on a slab, uh, meaning that there will be no basement
living. Um, it will be ADA compliance. Um, and in addition to the 12 dwelling units, we're going to
have 12 accessory bicycle, uh, parking spaces. Um, and we will have a roof, a roof access, uh,
structure um up there but not but only for mechanical access only uh so the roof deck
access structure uh is only being used for that uh so we have the first refusal has to do with
the 12 dwelling units again this is an rsa by property and by definition we would receive that
refusal but you'll see that there's a long history of multi -family use on this property
which in proportion is consistent to its previous use.
The maximum lock -deplied area technically for this property is $4.
The maximum occupied area technically for this property is 4 ,133 square feet, which is 80 % of occupied area, or we're proposing 4 ,670 square feet of occupied area, which is 90 .2%.
As you will see, we're facing three public streets.
We're facing Haverford, we're facing 49th Street, and we're facing Wallace.
So it's an irregular -shaped lot.
There was challenges in terms of meeting the occupied area requirements.
And in addition, you'll read in the letter, too, that it was actually supported by the community to have this occupied area.
Because one of the places we have the occupied area is on Wallace Street, which is towards our rear.
And they wanted lighting and eyes on the street.
And by moving our building structure to essentially the property line on Wall Street, we did create a refusal, but we met the needs of the community in terms of light, lighting and safety precautions.
The third refusal has to do with the fact that we moved the property all the ways to the edge on Wall Street because we're getting refused because we're providing zero rear yard depth where nine feet is required.
But again, just in order to have a functional property or building structure, as well as mean the needs of the community, that was supported by them as well.
The fourth refusal has to do with the fact that part of our building structure on Haverford is slightly set back, while the property that's a few doors down is to the actual property line on Haverford, to the front property line.
We wanted to define where the front door was on Haverford, and we'll go through that part of the presentation so that everyone would know where the front door was.
We slightly set it back from a design aspect, and that was supported by the community as well.
And then the final refusal has to do with the technicality of where the roof deck access structure is.
Because we hug the rear of the property and there's no setback there, technically that roof deck access structure is being used towards the height of the building.
We're 38 feet to the height of the building, but because our roof deck access structure hugs the rear portion of our building because of the configuration of our lot, we're technically getting a refusal for that.
Again, we're not using the roof deck for recreational purposes, but just for mechanical access only.
And you'll see that on the tronics.
And then you can see from the Mill Creek Advisory Council, they're in non -opposition to this property.
um so um again it does look like they did ask for a hatch to to the mechanical space um to the to
the pilot house uh instead so i believe it's again i just got this letter too so um i didn't look at
that carefully enough but if this board feels that the roof deck access structure should be eliminated
as part of this refusal, we would agree as a proviso in that respect. There's also a reference
to, I think somewhere in there about just the lightning on Wallace Street. Let's see. Yes,
right here. So that was part of our refusal is that they were very appreciative of the fact that
we had lightning on Wallace Street to the property line. And then just the history of this property.
Again, we pulled this off from the city records.
As you can see, 48 -47 -49 Haverford Avenue was a seven -family dwelling.
That's half of our lot.
We also are including 48.
You know, we're also including another portion of that lot such that if half the lot was seven dwelling units, asking for 12 dwelling units would not be out of character.
And then maps of the area, as you can see, even though we're on what's considered an RSA 5 portion block,
we're surrounded by RM1 and CMX2, as well as the hospital that's across the street.
And you can see right there that this is the hospital that's across the street.
And there's a juvenile justice services center on the other block of Haverford as well.
So, again, and then you can also see the Haverford Center comprehensive day center, which shows, again, that we're not in an RSA 5 portion of this portion of West Philly.
So this is 4847 -49 Haverford Avenue from Haverford Avenue. You can see that this property has been a vacant lot for some time. Google Earth, you know, it goes as far as back as August of 2008 on Google Earth. And you can see it was a vacant lot at that time.
This is 4847 -49 Haverford Avenue from Haverford.
And then this is our property from 49th Street. As you can see, it's just in a regular shape lot.
And this is from Wallace Street as well. And then this is just our proof of posting as well.
This is Haverford. This is 49th. And this is Wallace. And then this is Haverford Avenue
to the right of the property. Haverford Avenue to the left of the property. North 49th Street
to the right of the property north 49th street to the left of the property wall street to the right
of the property wall street to the left of the property and then my client pebble development
is known for doing multi -family structures in the city of philadelphia i and you know and some
single family use but like i just wanted to give you an idea of the quality of finishes that you
know you you would see in in this development as well from an exterior point of view hardware
floors, stainless steel appliances, nice countertops and cabinetry. And then same thing
for the bathrooms and the bedroom as well. Nice light in there, nice tile work, things like that.
And then just more examples of bathrooms and bedrooms. And then our plans and drawings. So we
try to use a mix of materials to kind of give it a little pop. Again, this is a prominent corner
and we're hoping through this unique design
to give it a little bit more flavor.
But you'll see here,
this is where we're set back on Haverford
and there's another rendering that shows that,
but that's our refusal.
But as you can see,
what we're trying to do
is have a lot of eyes on the street for this property
and that's where we have the full lot coverage issue.
But here, as you can see,
this is one of the refusals
where we have this slight setback of a few feet
just so everyone would know where the front door is, essentially.
And then this is just the Wallace Street perspective.
Again, what we wanted to do is build to Wallace Street's rear,
again, because a unique structure of the order configuration of a lot,
plus that we're facing three public streets,
which Wallace Street does have some properties facing Wallace Street,
it made sense to have this almost full lot coverage.
And then this is the site plan.
And as you can see here,
and we'll see on the drawings too,
there's a dedicated trash room here
where obviously there'd be commercial pickup,
but there's an opening for trash to be removed
from Wallace Street,
which is the least of the active streets
in the surrounding area.
And then this is just our floor plan.
So just to walk you through here,
this is the first floor.
And again, there's no basement here.
You go into an entryway,
I'm trying to get a little bigger for you.
There's an elevator here, a mail room, the trash room, which is available to all residents,
an opening to the trash room so the trash can be removed to Wall Street for commercial pickup.
Here's the bike storage room.
Each of the units have their own individual storage area or storage room.
And then each of the floors have three units per floor.
So here's unit number one. Here's unit number two. Here's unit number three. If you go either, oops, if you go either up the elevator, oops, trying to make it small or not too small. If you go up the elevator or you can walk up a flight of steps, you can get on the second through fifth floors.
And again, you know, unit number four, unit number five, unit number six.
And then there'll be a common area, too, for the residents as well, as we can see as maybe a business center or some type of open area for a common area for the residents.
And then as you can see, each, you know, there's an additional storage facility for those unit owners as well or occupants.
And then you can see from here, this is the roof deck plan.
All we have is the HVAC condenser units up here.
And then this is where the roof deck access structure is.
And then this is our meeting notice.
We met multiple times with the community.
Last met on January 9th at 2023 at 6 .30 p .m.
66 addresses were notified of the meeting.
List the addresses, proof of mailing to those addresses, our application for appeal showing pebble developments near the property, our notice of refusal, our project information form, our deed to property showing that pebble developments near the property, certificate of tax clearance.
List the addresses, proof of mailing to those addresses.
Again, technically, we owe almost $2 ,500 in real estate taxes for this property, but again, those taxes are not due until March 31st of 2023.
With that being said, I would ask that Mr. Ozkahn virtually raise his hand so he can be sworn in and adopt my testimony, if I say so.
Sir, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Mr. Ozkahn, can you raise your hand, please?
Who is there? Mr. Ozkahn, are you there?
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Hi, my name is Mustafa Oskan.
It's M -U -S -T -A -F -A.
My last name is Oskan, O -Z -K -A -N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed, counsel.
Yes, Mr. Oskan, you heard everything I had to state about your zoning matter.
and is it true and correct yes that's correct and do you adopt it as your own testimony
yes all right thank you very much um one more thing one more thing mr chair um i do want to
state and i think it's reflected in the letter of non -opposition that we're also entering into
a community benefits agreement um you know we work diligently with the coordinating rco
to come up with terms and conditions
that were amenable to the community.
And that was shared with the coordinating RCO
prior to this hearing.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Mr. Chairman.
Yes, Chair, there are four hands raised.
Ms. Matthews, you're allowed to speak.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Yes, my name is Kiera Matthias.
It's spelled K -Y -A -I -R -R -A.
My last name is spelled M -A -T -H -I -E -S.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I affirm.
Proceed.
So I live on 4827 Haverford Avenue.
I have lived on a block for over 40 years.
I am old enough to know when that property had the seven dwelling units, when it was
tore down.
The two three -story houses, which is also placed in that lot.
So now that they're trying to build, I believe it's 15 units, that lot is currently used
for family -oriented things.
the kids. It's so much congestion around here already because of the CHOP facility, because of
the juvenile justice facility, although that parking comes on our block. And in here, the
counselor mentioned anything about where those units will be parking. So it's going to be
completely congested around here. There's going to be no place for the kids to be able to throw
their balls uh play soccer walk their dogs into the lot um so at this point we're refusing and
i'm not sure where he's getting that the community um is in um in agreements with this because i know
the community members that i have spoken with we are totally against it we don't want that unit
down here it is already super congested okay okay i i understand let me ask you did you attend the
community meeting relative to this with the mill creek group i have yes sir i have and you
express your your concerns of that group i have okay thank you ma 'am thank you appreciate your
call uh anyone else in the virtual audience yes i have enough a hand raised under the same name
miss of miss matthias okay hi could you state your name please and spell for the court reporter
Hello?
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
I'm sorry.
That was me again.
Okay, that's fine.
Okay, thank you.
Who else in the audience?
I have a person named Nicole Kershaw.
Okay. Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Thank you.
Nicole?
Ms. Kershaw, can you unmute?
Hello?
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Hello?
Hi, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
My name is Nicole Kershaw. First name is N -I -C -O -L -E. Last name is Kershaw, K -E -R -S -H -A -W.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Are you a neighbor?
Yes, sir.
Proceed.
I am totally opposed to this building of this.
uh of this um we went to the meeting um there was supposed to be a meeting on monday night
which was the 13th of february and they were supposed to discuss 48 47 through 48 49 that
was not discussed instead what was being discussed was 48 29 and we never got to oppose anything
for 48, 47 through 48, 49.
We don't want that around there at all.
So you're opposed?
Yes, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you for taking the time to call in.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see no more hands, Chair.
High Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman
and members of the board,
David Fecto with the City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change
the residential single -family zoning at this location, the applicant requests variances for
use, height, occupied area, rear yard, and required front setback. The odd shape of the lot is a claim
that the code allows when arguing for relief from dimensional variances. The setback requirement is
minimal and is likely to have no impact on adjacent properties. If this lot was a perfect rectangle
under the current zoning, the applicant would be allowed three dwelling units, assuming that they
divided their lot into three so we could support a multi -unit building with three dwelling units
which would match the allowable density in the code however the applicant proposes 12 dwelling
units the city planning commission recommends that the board deny the use and dimensional
variances thank you uh mr chair time just uh uh yeah so again if as you saw during the you know
the presentation the zoning history at one point half of this lot was used as a seven family dwelling
In proportion, that would allow us to use 14.
My client didn't think it was appropriate to use 14.
We're asking for 12.
You know, we met with the community.
They were in support of this project.
And, you know, for the foregoing reasons, I think this is not an overuse of the property.
And given its odd configuration, it'd be rather difficult to build anything there that would make sense economically other than the 12 unit.
so I'm going to close the record on this and what I want to do is next Wednesday have a
discussion with the other board members relative to the project we'll vote on this next Wednesday
before the 2 p .m before the 2 p .m hearing okay all right thank you very much all right thank you
just to clarify it Mr. Chair we'll we'll vote in the add -on list during the 2 p .m hearing
so it's not before yes thank you thank you um number five let's see if we get this done
um right with you
we have one more we got to go back to that one right
yes mr chair um mr leon looks like he he's been i don't know if he's been able to be promoted
to a panelist. I'm here. Okay. I'm here. Okay. Wait a minute. You've already been sworn and
you answered questions. Can you share your screen with us? I wanted assistance with the IT to share
the screen and also to be viewed. Like you said, the IT that had to help me get in. I'm sorry,
chair may i speak sure you can mr vladimir leon are you able to share your screen and walk through
your presentation alone that's that's me here um but the only problem is how do you share your
how do you share share screen she's been printed out yes and i'm coming up with it okay so so you
have all your do you have all your paperwork in your computer yeah i do i do uh it's just like i
have to have to pull it up for my uh i think uh i can put it up this way
uh i think uh i can put it up this way you see the share screen button yes i did i did
i did um hold on give me one second i did i did uh see it and then uh i'm i'm looking for the
file now in order to share with you.
This is from IT. While you're looking for your file, is your share screen button green, or is it grayed out?
Yes, it's green now. It's green. Is that okay?
That's perfect. So when you click on it, you can then use the file that's open. There you go.
You see the file now? Can you see it?
no can you see this yes can you open maximize the document so we all can see
maximize document yes yes very well yeah i'm sorry you can go through with your presentation
it's perfectly fine thank you kindly yes i'm just uh trying to see uh by the way your honor the uh
the uh gca approved my uh my um my request uh actually they conducted uh their own um meetings
and everything and then i have letters here that prove okay so why don't why don't you show us that
letter yes uh hold on uh proviso letter uh this is the proviso date they actually uh set up for the
property. Owners will be responsible to keep all sidewalks clean and passable during deliveries.
Workers will not disrupt the lives of the neighboring homeowners by parking cars or
trucks on the sidewalk. Deliveries must not disrupt the normal traffic patterns in the area. We
owner get exterior security cameras and register with them with the city of philadelphia safe time
program trash must be hauled by a private disposal company if it exceeds city limits or creates a
worded problem uh business can only sell items directly related related to its baking um business
Can I see where they say they approve it, where they're not opposed?
Here is a letter.
Dear Mr. Disseco, typically this section would be...
Go up a little bit more.
I want to see the final position.
Hold on.
Go up a little bit.
Here is the final position.
support with provisos attached and it says not opposed with provisos attached so we have mr
chair sorry this is hillary i this is not the letter that i received regarding this application
um so yes we received a letter of opposition i'm gonna check on the date to see if that it was
the if it was dated before or after this letter but we just i just want to note for the record
we did not receive this letter from the RCO.
Yeah, this was sent in February 9th.
Oh, it's brand new.
This is a brand new letter.
So this is a new letter, Hillary?
Yes, this is a brand new letter then.
Yes, we did not receive this letter.
Do me a favor.
Could you show a couple of photos of your property?
We'll go back to the file that I had before.
and I'll show you, hold on one second.
Should go to,
ah, hold on.
No, I wanna move this, hold on.
I wanna move this and as soon as I move this,
I'll be able to show you a couple of pictures
of the property, no, that's not that.
Where is it?
I'm sorry, exhibit M,
oh yeah yeah i'm gonna have to pull another i'm gonna have to pull uh for them if this would be
opened golden can you see this one too this is from my email yep that's fine let's just see some
photos of the place you can see that and you will see you will see i can't sorry okay yes hold on
one moment can you see that now i i can i need to see the photos the photos i will i will i'm
bringing you down, as long as you can see this file. Okay,
thank you. You will see them. Hold on, I'm bringing you down
Hold on, I'm bringing you down to them.
to them.
I'm sorry for all this, by the way.
I had to run, get my kids out of school while you were doing this.
I was stressed, everything.
For autistic children, I have to take care of.
It's not easy.
Hold on, start.
So this is Pauline. Do you have it open in one of the other tabs that you have up top?
Yeah, hold on. Every time I click on it, it seems to be giving me a hard time. The pictures
are all the way on the bottom on the uh if you just give me a little bit don't get this stress out
all right well the almost almost there
okay that's the uh that's the posting that's the thing uh okay thank you yes and uh and we're
I mean, that's the front, which is 7 ,200 Marsden.
That's the house and the property.
And if you go down, you will see the other pictures,
which has to do with the welding.
The entrance to the storage, right?
That's inside.
Yes, yes.
This is the inside where the bakery would be located,
where I would normally put the instruments.
and and this is this is the interior uh is the entrance is the entrance on the side of the
building uh on this side yes on willington it's not even on masden this is what i was going to
show you uh hold on this is where that white brick is right exactly this is where it is and
There's stairs on the back where we can do a back entrance to the home.
And this is the entrance of the store right there.
And the front is, yes.
And then there are other pictures to actually clear that up.
And the store is going to be a bakery, am I right?
A bakery, yes.
We had this bakery in New York.
in new york uh and this bakery has been there for 47 years almost 48 years baking bread yes
so i move here i move here with my four children which are autistic and i'm looking for a better
way and i bought the property the property cost me $380 ,000 because it was uh conceived as a
mixed -use property and perfect for family with autistic with children with autism because i can
just drop there the bus pick them up i can walk here i have a master's degree in sustainability
management i could walk elsewhere but the bakery has been my lifeline in order to be able to take
care of the children and that's exactly why i actually moved to philadelphia and look for the
mixtures property here to be able to uh to take care of them okay and um and this is a letter from
the uh from the um forgive me the presentation it was that that those like this is a letter from
the infinite uh mortgage which sold us the property which actually explained why actually
i bought the property they agreed upon it to look for that this kind of property for me
to be able to function all right your honor if you have any question if the board has any
okay mr land mr land okay questions from the board no mr chairman
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Mr. Chair, this is Hillary.
I just have a quick question for Mr. Leon.
Regarding the proviso letter that you showed previously, did you have a chance to review those provisos?
And are you in agreement with any or all of the provisos?
And it's because of whatever the award system would agree upon within the minutes and also with the online process where we had a lot of residents gave comments.
we had a lot of residents uh gave comments and they set up the proviso and i agreed upon the
And they said.
proviso and then that's how the tca uh allowed me to uh continue with the project okay so you
are in you are in agreement with all of the provisos that they listed in their letter okay
thank you thank you very much yes questions or comments from the virtual audience i see no hands
chair planning thank you sir david vecto city planning commission the comprehensive plan
recommends no change the residential single family zoning at this location this property
has a documented history of ground floor retail accordingly the planning commission recommends
the board grant the use variance okay thank you hillary how do we how do we want to handle the
proviso mr sheriff since um i have not uh had a chance to look at the letter and determine what
provisos could be added to a decision by the board if we can hold for one week um that will
be ample time okay so mr leon yes thank you for your testimony number one we're going to close
the record on this and then we're going to go look at the provisos and see what's appropriate
and what's not we will vote on this next week at 2 p .m at 2 p .m okay all right and thank you very
much yes if you if you could please forward the letter to us that you shared in your presentation
that would be great yes and i could ask i i could ask him i could ask um mr um uh to actually send
you that letter but if you give me the email right now that would be excellent yes yeah the emails
the emails that you have been using to communicate with with the board are the same emails you can
send the letter to him okay okay i will definitely be after the meeting right away i'll send it right
thank you thank you mr leon thank you thank you very much thank you and thank you and god bless
you thank you very very much thank you thank you yeah um is there anyone whose case has not been
called on the 2 p .m list i see no hands too okay so let's take a five minute break and then we'll
come back and we'll handle the uh the 3 30 list okay five minute break okay okay chair
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
are we looking
uh court reporter are you back yes i am thank you
Court reporter, are you back?
Yes, I am.
Thank you.
Everyone else back?
Mr. Tom?
Yes, I'm here.
So, Chair, you can begin.
Why don't we start recording?
We are good to go, sir.
Ready to go?
Good afternoon. My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing the 330 ZBA hearings.
With me is our Vice Chair, Ismail Shahid.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, Tom 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.
Be advised, the proceedings are being recorded.
The 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 participated by phone, if 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 in 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 continuances that we have for this afternoon. So number one, MI 2022, 6 ,200 Dickens.
Dickens, that case is continued. Number four, MI 2021, 004, 011, 223 East Springer. That case is
continued attorney moving party. And number five, MI 2021 -004 -012 -225 -E Springer, that case is
continued attorney moving party. Are there any comments relative to those three cases?
I see no hands, Chair. Are there any requests for continuances?
um i see mr steve masters with his hand raised hi mr masters could you state your name and spell
for the court reporter please um good afternoon mr chair members of the board my name is steve
masters s -t -e -v -e -m -a -s -t -e -r -s right do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth i do your case is mi 2022 001 771 2641 west york street
That's correct.
And you would like a continuance?
We would.
The RCOs have requested that our clients engage in certain due diligence activities concerning his plans and the various other items connected to opening up the restaurant.
And we require additional time for that.
Thank you, Mr. Masters.
That case is continued.
So MI -2022 -001 -771 -2641 West York Street, that case is continued.
Are there any other requests for continuance?
I see no more hands, Chair.
We also have a case that we do not have exhibits for.
MI -2022 -001 -767 -2544 Turner Street.
Daniel Wu is the owner.
It's a pro se.
No exhibits.
Second listing.
I see.
I don't see Daniel Wu in the audience.
Thank you.
No one appeared for the applicant for the first time, first hearing either.
So MI -2022 -001 -767 -2544 Turner Street, I vote that we dismiss this case.
Thomas Howell, I vote to dismiss.
James Snell, dismiss.
H .M .L. Shaheed, dismiss.
Okay, so we're going to go to our list. MI 2022 -001 -922 -1901 Berkshire.
Okay, so we're going to go to our list.
MI -2022 -001 -767 -2544 Turner Street, I vote that we dismiss.
Corin Wise is the attorney.
Ms. Wise is the...
Letters report from the Frankfort Neighborhood Advisory Council and letter of non -opposition from Council Member Lozada.
Ms. Weiss is being promoted to panelists.
Ms. Weiss?
Mr. Weiss?
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Yes, sir.
Corenwise, C -O -R -E -N -W -I -S -E.
Right.
Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir, I do.
Could you identify your client and their relationship to the property?
My client is Harrison Lopes, H -A -R -R -I -S -O -N, last name L -O -P -E -S, and he's the owner of the property.
Thank you.
Our vice chair has just a few questions.
good afternoon counselor do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy yes i do have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits into our offices
five days in advance to this hearing yes i have thank you please proceed and share your screen
Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, members of the board, as I share my screen, just a quick summary.
Mr. Weiss, could you speak up a little bit or get closer to the computer, possibly?
Let me know better.
That's better.
So I thought the earphones would be better.
Maybe I was wrong.
So this is 1901 Berkshire Street.
It's at the corner of Berkshire and Takawana.
and if you can see my screen I'm sharing my exhibits our application here is for a variance
for a duplex a two -family dwelling residential both units and first I want to show you my the
refusal here because you'll see that this zone is RSA 5 and we are being refused we did receive a
refusal for the application for two dwelling units but the ZBA as as is my experience they
will generally list history from the archives and no history is noted on the refusal but I did want
to show that this permit is available in the zoning archives from 1974. You'll see where
let me move up a little bit where this property was converted to a two -family dwelling
and you see in the explanation here where the applicant in 1974 erected
uh an interior partition to create um hallway directly to second floor um so this has been an
existing uh duplex in continuous use since 1974 um and here and my client mr lopes uh purchased
this in 1921 and and as is the requirement in philadelphia the seller needs to obtain an l &i
resale cert which was done and that resale cert you should see on my screen did note that this
was registered as a two -family dwelling when he bought it in 21 and when he bought it the units
were occupied he had two units upstairs and downstairs this is a two -story building with
two two -bedroom units here's my rco notice and that was sent to 137 addresses we did have that
meeting that Mr. Chairperson did note. We have a letter of approval from Frankfort
Neighborhood Advisory. That meeting actually was last week. And here's their letter in support.
And here's some photos. Let me spin that. There we go. Okay, so we're a corner property,
like I said, two -story. If you can see my cursor, this front door, this is Berkshire Street.
This front door on Berkshire, you'll see from the interior, serves the second floor.
There's a separate entrance here with stairs up to the second floor unit.
And over on the side here is a separate door servicing the first floor unit.
The first floor is a little larger.
You see a little shed addition back here.
Downstairs, we have about 900 square feet.
And upstairs, we have about shy of 800, maybe 760, 770, 770 square feet.
770 square feet. There's the notices in the window. Sorry, let me spin that. And this is,
there's the notices
in the
I'm actually taking these photos, I'm standing on the steps facing back out to that separate
front entrance to the second floor unit. And spinning back around, don't get dizzy here.
All right, so here's the kitchen upstairs, bedroom upstairs, bathroom upstairs, and now, sorry, and now, then this is actually downstairs, so now we're in the first four unit, the kitchen downstairs, and the bathroom downstairs.
and this is the front bedroom being painted at the time there's the doorway in that photo
and here's the basement and you'll see here two electrical panels I'm sorry that's upside down
but you'll see two electrical panels two gas meters and two water here's also upside down
but you get the idea here's the um zoning plans uh first floor is on the bottom here with with
here's the side door that enters the first floor unit with that bedroom in the front the middle
bedroom here living room in the kitchen in the in the back with on in that shed we saw that addition
this plan does feature that separate uh door entrance door to the steps serving the second
floor unit on Berkshire Street. And when we get up to the second floor unit, here are the steps
coming from the first floor with the bathroom in the back, the kitchen we saw in the photos,
and the two bedrooms. And I think, yes, and basement you saw is just utilities only,
no living space in the basement. This is the deed
where Mr. Lopes purchased
in November of 2021.
And then I think the last item
is the tax cert after the deed.
Mr. Wise, is your client here?
Yes, he is.
Why don't we adopt your testimony?
Thank you.
Thank you.
Mr. Lopes
Yes, sir
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Sure, Harrison Lopes
H -A -R -R -I -S -O -N
L -O -P -E -S
Right, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel
Thank you
Mr. Lopes, did you hear my testimony?
Yes, sir
And was it true and accurate? And would you like to adopt it as your own today?
Yes, I would.
Okay, thank you, sir.
All right, questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
I play any commission.
This is Ron Bednar, first name Ron, R -O -N, last name Bednar, B -E -D -N -A -R.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
This property is currently indicated for residential on the city plan, given the physical circumstances of the site and the documented use history.
We recommend the request of variance be granted.
Thank you.
M -I -2022 -001 -922 -1901 Berkshire Street, I vote yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Tom, could you vote one more time, please?
Thomas, Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Thank you, Thomas.
Thank you, counsel.
You have your votes.
Thank you, everybody.
Enjoy.
Number three.
MI 2021 002 010 2528 Lloyd Street. Tracy Saller is the attorney for the owner.
Letter of support from the 40th Ward Republican RCO with provisives.
salaries solar i'm sorry
I'm sorry.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Tracy Soller, first name T -R -A -C -Y, last name S -A -U -L -E -R.
Right.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client in relationship to the property?
Ms. Felicia Harrison, and she's the owner of the property.
And our vice chair has just a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
Have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits five days in advance to this hearing?
Yes, with the exception of the letter of support from the RCO, which was emailed over today.
okay um just we're going to check and see if we received that but please proceed and share your
screen thank you we have the letter we have it proceed counsel thank you i'm sharing my screen
now for the exhibit packet that was submitted this is in regards to 2528 lloyd street
this is for my client is seeking a special exception for to allow the property to be used
for group living specifically a personal care home for three to four adult individuals
this property is located in a rm1 zoning district and so we've received a referral
for a special exception i will go through my exhibit packet just to show you how the property
is set up starting with the exterior front of the property here. We did a shot of the right side
and left side of the street as well as the exterior of the property and then a couple of
photos of the inside of the property. She is currently living in the home although she would
vacate prior to the group home setting up. This is a three -bedroom, one -bath property. It's
1 ,024 square feet. We also have a photo of the zoning notice, which was posted.
We met with the community. This is a copy of the referral, which was sent,
and we sent that along with this notice to 93 members of the community as required here is a
copy of proof of mailing and a copy of the deed showing that she owns the property and the last
thing is the tax compliance which does show a balance for 2023 however that would not be due
just yet. All the rest is in compliance. I also go over, I'm just going to switch screens real quick
to the letter of support that we received from the community. We just met with the community
members on Monday of this week and we went over the project with them. My client's been in the
healthcare industry for about 23 years now. So this is something that is, you know, personal
to her that she would like to do this with her property. There are a couple other personal care
homes in the neighborhood. And so the community is familiar with how the process works and how
the homes are set up. They did request some provisos from her, which is one that she be in
compliance with running it in accordance with the law, that there's no basement sleeping
accommodations for which she agrees.
They also asked for a three -year term for the referral, which would give members of
the neighborhood an opportunity, if there were any issues after three years, that she'll
come back to the board and that she'll participate in the SafeCam program, which she agreed to
do and provide a Jacob's Ladder as a secondary means of exit in case of a fire or other emergency.
So this is the letter of support that we received from the community.
And I would like to move the packet as well as the support into evidence, and then I can
bring my client on. Okay.
Ms. Harrison? Ms. Harrison?
Ms. Harrison, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
You're allowed to speak.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Felicia Harrison.
Hi, could you spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Sure. F -E -L -I -C -I -A -H -A -R -R -I -S -O -N.
F -E -L -I -C -I -A -H -A -R -R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you. You heard my testimony here today, Ms. Harrison?
And is it true and correct?
Correct.
And you adopted as your own testimony?
Thank you.
My question is from the board.
no mr chairman oh no mr chairman questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands chair oh wait i have one up sorry chair a craig craig medellison
has raised his hand i'm gonna okay could you state your name and spell it please for the
court reporter. Craig, C -R -A -I -G, last name Melidosian, M -E -L -I -D -O -S -I -A -N. Right. Do you
swear? I think I swore you once today, didn't I, sir? Yes, you did, chair. Okay, proceed. I just
simply, we've worked with Ms. Harrison for quite a while on this. We have confidence in her
desire to deliver this type of housing in the area, which we need, and we are in support of her
as long as she remains in compliance with the state regs.
Thank you very much.
Thank you for calling me.
Is there anyone else in the first audience?
I see no more hands here.
Planning Commission.
This is Ron Bednar, City Planning.
While this property is indicated for residential use on a city plan,
the proposed use should have no more of an impact
than would be expected at this specific location.
there for we have no objection to the grounding of the special exception. Thank you. MI 2021 -002 -010 -2528
Lloyd Street. I vote yes with proviso. No sleeping accommodations in the basement.
Temporary special exception to expire on 3 -1 -26. Thomas Holloman. My vote is yes with provisos.
Jane Snell, my vote is yes with provisos.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with provisos.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
Number seven, MI 2021 -002 -016, 4271 North Bodine.
Joseph Vicarro is the attorney.
letter of opposition from Esperanza, letter of opposition from Council Member Lozada.
Mr. Vaccaro is coming in as a panelist.
Good afternoon. Can you see me?
Mr. Vaccaro, just state your name. We've already sworn you in. Just for the record,
state your name. Joseph Vaccaro, V -A -C -C -A -R -O. Right. And could you identify your client,
the relationship to this property? Sure. My client is United Homes, LLC,
the owner of the property. And I have in my office, Mr. Moises Rodriguez, the principal owner of
United Properties, LLC. And he's also operating the grocery store located at this property.
I'm correcting myself. It's United Homes. Right. So our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Absolutely. Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate
towards accuracy yes have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits to our offices
within five days of this hearing yes thank you except for except for one screenshot which i took
today did you get that over to us uh i i could send it right now or i could just share it it's
It's just an image from Google Maps.
That's all.
Okay, please proceed and share your screen.
Okay, thank you.
Mr. Recaro, this is Hillary.
If you would like that added to the record for this case,
just please email it to us by the end of the day.
Thank you.
Fair enough.
Thank you.
Okay, I represent United Homes, LLC.
I'm sorry, United Homes, Inc.
United Homes, Inc. is owned by Mr. Moise Rodriguez.
He does not speak English,
so I'll be making the presentation on his behalf. He is seated behind the computer screen in my
office observing these proceedings. This is an application to legalize the grocery store that
the grocery store that is currently operating at this location.
is currently operating at this location.
When United Homes had purchased, when Mr. Rodriguez through United Homes had purchased
the property, this is what it looked like. I could share the screen.
That's what I'm trying to do, share the screen.
this is what the property looked like it was an empty it was an empty grocery store hasn't
been used in about 10 years and he and he turned the property into this to find the photographs
I'm trying to show you the photographs of what the store looks like now.
Do you see this?
We, yeah, I'm not, yeah.
Maybe get acid.
Okay, so that's what it is now.
Right.
This is what it looks like.
It's a nice grocery store operating as Leslie Market, same individual.
That has the LLC that owns the property, same individual that's operating the store, Mr. Rodriguez.
It's a two aisle grocery store, fully stocked shelves.
This is the back area of the property.
It's a corner property.
Behind this gate is where the trash containers are.
Here's the back of the property again.
More photos showing the counter, fully stocked refrigerator.
He would like to serve hot food when it's permitted.
He's not doing that right now.
Another shot of the store.
Another shot of the back.
Washing sink.
Candy behind the counter.
Hot coffee.
And now we're going, we'll be going into the back area where the trash containers are stored and refrigerated.
Oh, I thought that I had the photographs of the trash container.
So this was refused. This was refused because it's zoned as single family.
Mr. Rodriguez, through his LLC, had purchased the property in this fashion.
by way of record here there was a there was a grocery store at this location until 2009
and then from 2009 for the next approximate 10 years the place was empty as I had demonstrated
in the previous photograph we did have a meeting with Esperanza on August 17th of 2021 and we and
And I was shocked and surprised to see the letter of opposition from Esperanza, considering that no one from the community other than the members of Esperanza, the council, the people that run and operate Esperanza, were the only ones that participated in this meeting.
there was no opposition voiced uh there were some fair questions normal questions as to the
hours of operation as to what days of the week um there were two and and as we as we told
as as we told the rco uh during the meeting uh there were two workers at the store
mr rodriguez and his wife uh there's always a possibility to include more workers as as the
as the demand would be necessary. They're operating seven days a week. The hours from
Monday through Saturday would be from 7 .30 to 9, and from 9 p .m. to 8 p .m. on Sundays.
Mr. Becker, could you show the letter, please?
can you see the letter now we do we do okay and it we had the meeting on august 17th of 2021 after
several misstarts uh we had the meeting um and again there was nobody from the community other
than the the core members of esperanza and i never even got the letter until the fall of 2022
And I never even got the letter until the fall of 2022.
I kept asking and asking for the letter.
I kept asking and asking.
I finally got it close to a year later, and I was shocked.
I was shocked to read the line.
And I quote, we have submitted a letter of opposition to the ZBA, as well as to Sloan
Folks, the representative for the Seventh Council District Office.
I tried to set up some new, some follow -up meetings with Esperanza, but then there were
between the upcoming elections. They couldn't accommodate us. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New
Year's, and here we are in front of the zoning board. And this matter has already been continued
several times. So we would ask that in spite of the position that Esperanza took, and again,
I'm reiterating the fact that there wasn't even a negative word said during the RCO meeting.
We had notified all the neighbors. We have the proof of mailing. We had notified everybody. And I was just shocked to find this letter of opposition close to a year later, even though it's dated September 1 of 2021.
What else can I show to support this application? There was a prior history of this type of use.
um the posters that members letter do you have that i'm sorry the council members letter i do
not have i do not have the council members letter but um at the time of the rco meeting at the time
of the rco meeting the council member for this district was maria quinones right um she has
been replaced by ketsy lozada the same individual who authored who authored the letter from esperanza
I want to share a screenshot of, I want to share a screenshot of the neighborhood where that would be serviced by this store.
Can you see?
I'm trying to show you the Atlas shot.
No, I apologize.
I'm just trying to get this screen to expand so I can show it to you.
But there are factories across the street and down the block, as well as the Esperanza School, about two blocks away.
So this store, there aren't any other stores nearby that would compete with this.
And in fact, this store can service and can provide a great value to the factories across the street, which are active. There are recycling centers across the street and up the block, as well as the Esperanza Charter School two blocks away that can be serviced by this store.
um i can also show you we have the notification of the rco meeting that's been
that's been resolved and i'm still just trying to show you the map of the area
which is just not working so i would hope that the board that the board takes my word for it as
as an officer of the court this is probably from it if you want you to try to stop sharing and then
open up your map and then you show it all right and then i'll just start that again
can you see that now all i get is this tiny screen oh
can you scroll down and there you go yeah i'm there oh sheepers okay you had it
oh my client wants to tell me something
yeah he he's telling me that he he serves a lot of the students from this from the school as well
as the people that work at the recycling center up the block is and and and the other factories
across the street and up the block is this can you see this now can you see the can you see the
map okay yes i wanted to show you so my store is this little orange this little orange rectangle
where my cursor is you have homes down the block you have some homes caddy corner and
homes across the street but then you have icmx over here and other factories and then the esperanza
center is closer a little bit a little bit further to the left of where my cursor is
the store could provide a lot of service to the neighborhood a service that's needed one of the
A lot of service to the neighborhood, a service that's needed.
One of the questions that has a school there.
questions
Yes, yes.
On the corner of 5th and Bristol.
And they're objecting to the store.
And that's what the letter says.
That's what the letter says.
There was a question about trash pickup.
But my client, he has arrangements with a private trash company.
he has arrangements with a private trash company
to handle the trash hauling
so we would ask that the board
grant us this variance
given the past history
the past use of the property
that there was a grocery store there before
operating in accordance with
with a variance
it's my understanding that there was a variance
and we asked for the variance to be
reinstated
obviously the variance had gone away
since it was not being used for
10 years
You're an officer of the court, so we'll take your test money because your client has a language issue.
Am I correct?
Questions from the board.
And the only thing that he chimed in on is that he serves a lot of people, and I just reiterated that.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission, Ron Bednar City Planning, this property is currently indicated for residential on the city plan, given the physical circumstances of the site and the documented use history, we recommend the request for fairness to be granted.
MI 2021 002016 4271 North Bodine Street.
I vote yes.
Tom Howard, my vote is yes.
yes jane snell my vote is yes ishmael shaheed my vote is yes thank you counsel thank you uh mr
bergman i just didn't hear i just didn't hear the first vote here was it all five yeses four
four yeses four yeses okay i just didn't hear thank you very much four yeses have a good day
is there anyone on the 330 list whose case has not been called
i see no handshare thanks everyone
thank you have a good night
thanks mr chairman all right good night everyone see you