Pico, I'm the chair of the zoning board of adjustment. We have a quorum. I'm officially
calling this session to order. In attendance is our board secretary, Mr. Confessor Plaza,
and our board member, Mr. Thomas Holloman. As you're probably aware, today is our, I believe,
fifth or sixth day of holding virtual hearings. In addition to the board members, we have our
city solicitor, Sharon Saleta, who will be joining us shortly, and our board administrator,
Ms. Tanya Sunken. While we may have to make some adjustments along the way, our plan is to call
each case and basically proceed as we would have in a live hearing. We ask that attorneys for the
applicants or other interested parties identify themselves for the record when the case you'll
be participating is called. We will then hear the appellant's presentation,
followed by any presentation by attorneys representing other parties
excuse me by representing other parties interested parties and members of the public
not represented by council will then be given an opportunity to testify we will finally then hear
from the recommend the recommendation from the planning commission at the hearing's conclusion
the board will either vote the matter immediately or hold it for discussion in executive session
the record will then be closed at that time and any decision uh that is made in the executive
session will be made in the executive session a week from tomorrow i don't have the date
um wednesday somebody can help me i'll have my calendar wednesday
we have a date for next wednesday yes sure august 5th august 5th yes thank you so that the the vote
will either take place immediately or we help be held for discussion in the executive session
that follow next Wednesday, August the 5th.
At the hearing's conclusion, I already read that part.
Any case held for discussion will be voted on August 5th.
A couple of changes related to the virtual format.
First, we will be administering oaths
to individual participants prior to their testimony
rather than to the room as a whole, since there is no room.
Second, for the benefit of anyone participating
by phone, we ask that the attorneys and witnesses identify themselves prior to speaking or
testifying. Third, we'd like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded and that
by participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded. If anyone wishes to testify,
please make sure you raise your hand so that we can know who was testifying on which case.
and I would ask the attorneys, please limit your testimony to those issues that are absolutely
necessary for you to establish a record. We will do our best to hear your case thoroughly,
but we're going to limit the case to one hour. It is impossible for us to continue to have cases
that are lasting two hours or more. So we're going to limit your case to one. And again,
please summarize and speak to those issues that are most important to
establish your record I believe I covered everything Sharon and or Tanya
anything else add so chair if I could add that all those participating by
phone if you wish to testify and be recognized you must press star 9 that
will raise your hand and then we'll be able to see that you wish to testify for any particular case
and then also those who would like to put in a parent statement you can leave a message
on a google line that we have available and that number is 267-270-5548 and you can call that line
and put in your apparent statement, and we will get the information and make sure you state what
case you're putting in a parent statement for, and you would be a party to that case. Thank you,
Chair. I have one request as well, and it seems that there was one case that was mistakenly added
to the Continuance Lips 307 Friendship. They are actually prepared to go forward, so if we could
add that to the list, please. Thank you. Professor, you were going to ask something? Yeah, those that
want to uh testify whether in support or in opposition make sure it's something new and
different okay i think that's it thank you you got it okay i think we're ready ready to go
okay uh these are for the continuance and withdrawals uh don't have a calendar number
These are for the continuance and withdrawals.
Don't have a calendar number, but address 230 South 4th Street is being withdrawn.
Calendar number 39149-2340 Orthodox is being continued.
Calendar number 39130-240 North 29th Street is being continued.
Calendar number 39341-3019 West Dolphin Street is being continued.
Also, calendar number 39277-6415 Harbinson, it's being continued.
I think we are ready to roll.
Okay, thank you.
You're welcome.
calendar number three nine six six zero one oh seven Kahlo Hill Street Michael
We'll fill it.
hello yes good morning isaac are you the attorney for this case
uh good morning good morning good morning members of the board isaac slepner uh with
matioti limited um for the uh applicant stephen maffay on 107 callowhill street
morning sir you agree to wait the reading of his refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
Yes, I do.
Mr. Slepner, please identify yourself with the record.
Spell your name.
And do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Isaac, I-S-A-A-C, last name Slepner, S as in Sam, L as in Larry, E as in Elvis, P as
in Peter, N as in Norman, E as in Elvis, R as in Robert, Slepner, Mattione Limited,
100 North Independence Mall West, Suite 5A Northwest, Philadelphia PA 19106, for the
appellant applicant, Stephen Maffay, property owner, developer, Stephen Maffay.
And my client, Stephen Maffay, is here with me somewhere.
Stephen, are you there?
I think he's here somewhere.
He was texting me.
He said he was here.
can he raise his hand okay i see it there we go yeah i don't know oh why don't you proceed and
we'll get to your client um thank you uh good morning mr chair members of the board uh everyone
again i'm isaac slepner i'm counsel for uh the property owner stephen maffay and if uh you would
allow me to walk you through my documents, I will let you know what we have going on today.
So I will call your attention to this PDF that I have pulled up on everybody's screen. Can
everybody see that? Yes. It's a table of contents and we're just going to scroll through. Okay, so
our first, I'll go slowly through the table of contents if you want and then I'll just kind of
start well if there's something really important that we need to see in that table fine if not and
go to whatever the issue i'll jump right into it um all right exhibit one is our notice of refusal
it's uh proposed is a single family dwelling in a um the property is split between an rm1 and a
cmx4 but in any event it's uh a single family dwelling proposed um seeking a variance for height
and seeking a variance for use, and also a proposed parking space
not accessed by a shared rear alley, shared driveway or rear street.
Exhibit 2 is our time-stamped application for appeal,
which you can't really see the time stamp, but it was from January 13th of 2020.
Exhibit 3 is our plan, our site plan.
I'm going to turn that around so that everybody can see that.
um can everybody see that i can expand it a little bit if we need um to the left there is a site plan
above are some sketches that's an area map and then those two photographs are photos
of the current uh sorry the current situation at the property
um the property is that vacant lot there where
The property is that vacant lot there where that brown fence is, and you'll see some more photos of the property.
If you need, I can zoom in on this a little bit if that's any help.
All right.
So I'll scroll down to Exhibit 4.
Exhibit 4 are the floor plans for the single-family residence.
It's a large single-family residence, and this property abuts I-95.
It kind of is right at Callow Hill Street, right between front and second,
right where Callow Hill is about to dip under the 95 overpass.
So it's a little bit of an oddly shaped and sized property,
and for a very long time it's been vacant.
These are the floor plans that my client plans to build at the property.
I'll scroll over here to the left.
It's a basement, ground floor, second floor, third floor, fourth floor, and a roof deck.
So it's going to be a pretty sizable property with a garage at the front, fronting onto Callow Hill.
There's already a curb cut there.
Exhibit 5 is the elevation, and you'll see there's elevations from all the directions, south, north, west, and east.
It's got some pretty sizable windows on the front, a lot of windows on the east side,
the east side being closer to the front.
107 is my client's property.
105, Calo Hill is also vacant.
So there's a number of windows out onto what will still be a vacant property,
but will be arguably better lighted and better looked after once this is built.
Exhibit 6 are some renderings.
So you can kind of see, get more of an idea of what it'll look like when it's finished.
You can see in that first rendering there, that's 103 through, I guess I would say 101 or 99 Callow Hill.
And then in between there, that empty is 105, and then ours is 107.
And then there's some more renderings.
Okay, we'll scroll down, Exhibit 7, 7A.
These are, well, 7A is a map of the area, so you can kind of see a little bit better how this property fits into the neighborhood.
So there's 107, which is ours, highlighted in blue, and as you can see, it's kind of narrow and very deep.
It goes almost all the way back to the on-ramp of 95, and it's kind of a T-shape at the rear of the property, and then 105 is vacant, 103 is another building.
um exhibit 7b is that's a photograph if you see that chain link right there
um that chain link to the left there that left half is 107 the right half is 105
um and then above you can see the ramp of 95 the next photograph i'll turn this again so everybody
can see this a little uh see this the way it's meant to be seen uh if you see this fence that
says national on it that's 107 this fence that's all overgrown that's 105 and then the building is
103. um here's another view uh of it i'll turn that counterclockwise again you can see 107 105
and 103.
And then, well,
I was going up, not down.
And then I guess that's a close-up
of it is the next one.
That's a close-up.
That's 107.
And this is just a view
down Callow Hill Street
to kind of
show everybody what the view looks like.
This is from front
and Callow Hill looking west
on Callow Hill.
And there you can see the building, the last building there, and the ramp.
And in between, you can't see much because it's vacant right now.
But the second property in is 107.
All right.
Exhibit 7C.
These are the photographs of our orange signs that were posted on July 14th.
That's our orange poster.
And our notice of refusal.
That's photo one.
Here's photo two.
You can see it's on the fence in front of 107 Callowhill and photo three.
That's also on the fence of 107 Callowhill. Here's exhibit eight.
Exhibit eight is our project information form.
I can scroll through that. If anybody wants to read it, they can. I'll go back.
We did have a meeting with the RCO.
We did have a meeting with the RCO.
Our RCO letter is Exhibit 11, and I can go through these a little bit more quickly.
Our RCO letter is...
This was our certificate of mailing from our original letter, which had been sent out on January 24th,
and this is about 10 pages because there were a lot of addresses.
Exhibit 9B is a certificate of mailing.
We more recently sent out a notice on July 21st when we finally got the date for today.
um following that will be our uh certificates of our affidavits of service this one is from
january uh from january 31st that we did the mailing on january 24th that's a copy of the
letter there's a copy of our refusal that's the address list 10b is an affidavit of service
notice that we did in July of an updated notice to the neighbors.
Exhibit B, these are the addresses that were sent to.
Here's Exhibit 11, is a letter from Northern Liberty's neighbors of May 3.
And this is a letter in favor from the NLNA board,
from the meeting of the RCO on February 24.
forth. So that's exhibit 11 of our packet. And then I'll point out that our application
today for a variance is for a single family use in a half RM1, half CMX4, not exactly
half and half, but part CMX4, part RM1, and we're applying for a variance for a single
residents with a front garage. I would point out that previous prior to this
the board had granted a variance for a multi-unit multi-family household for a
five dwelling unit building that was never built but that was proposed back
in 2015 and this is the zoning and use permit from that date in the past so
what we're seeking now is a lot less of a a lot less dense and a lot less of a
variance from the code at this point this was our refusal from 2015 exhibit
13 is a deed in favor of my client Stephen Maffei recorded in 2013 was when
he purchased the property that's the deed exhibit uh there's his tax cert exhibit 14 is a letter
from council member squilla's office stating that the councilman is in favor uh is in non-opposition
i should not misquote him um is in non-opposition of the variance and 15 exhibit 15 we had been
having trouble with the city tax cert site but we ran a search on abitair design studio and on
the property 107 Callowhill Street. And it looks like there are zero tax balances going back to
2001. So those are my exhibits. And Steve, are you there? Steve Maffei? Yes, I am. I don't know
if you can hear me, but I'm here. Yes. Steve, we can hear you. This is Frank DiCicco. Would you