I understand your concern,
but the immediate neighbors,
four recognized community organizations
have also gotten behind this project
to support it.
And they're the ones that are going to be,
they will also be impacted by
potential for a reduced number
of one street parking spaces.
But yet they still came out,
they came out in support of it.
And they did not invite me.
I was not made aware of a community-based meeting by any of the RCOs where I would have had an opportunity, as well as my husband, to express our concerns.
I understand, after the fact, that they represented any potential construction concerns to the bar.
They did not think about or give any consideration whatsoever to the laundromat.
and the laundromat is a business a laundromat is the business that we have a lot of drive up
traffic we understand that we understand we understand well i don't know i don't know if
you were if you were notified or not but again overwhelming majority of the people who reside
in that community did attend the meeting apparently and they support the project
but i do appreciate your your testimony anyone else to testify
no chair no one else's hands is up all right are there any questions from the board
planning commission no
this property is indicated for use on the city plan the applicant has not demonstrated
a necessary hardship regarding the requirements of the code we believe it's an inappropriate
we believe it's an inappropriate overuse not consistent with our adopted district plan
overuse not consistent with our adopted district plan
recommend the request for variance not be granted what is briefly drawn the adopted city plan
is for what not the district plan does recommend this for industrial this is being converted to
uh residential but however we do believe that intensity of residential at that location
is not appropriate. Thank you. All right, as I said at the onset, and I think Mr. Clinton and
Mr. Pierre have agreed, this board will hold this for further discussion, and we will vote on this
matter next Wednesday, August 5th at 9 30 a.m. Good luck. Just one minute to clarify, the record
will remain open and the um the neighbor who wanted to have additional input will be permitted
to either make a statement or have a statement read into the record prior to the vote thank you
sharon thank you next case please and and sharon could i also the record still remain open to me
in case i need to respond yes of course thank you calendar number three nine six four six
12 15 south 23rd street
Alan, you there?
Give me one second.
Alan, you've been promoted to panelist. You can speak and hear your strength.
Yes, can you?
Yes, we can hear you.
Can you read away from the reading of its refusal and stipulate to attackers?
Yes, I do.
Please identify yourself.
Good afternoon.
My name is Alan Ockamson of Ockamson, PC, 123 South Broad Street, Suite 1600, Philadelphia,
PA 19109. I handed you a packet of materials, which include eight exhibits. The first exhibit
is the, well, first, before I start, I have Ghazi Ada Seven as the owner's representative.
Alan, would just identify the case that you're working for, and do you swear to the firm to
tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes, I do, Mr. Chairman. The address
of the property is 1215 south 23rd street um with me is got ghazi out of seven who's
the owner's representative um i would like to swear mr out of seven in okay would they raise their
hand. Okay he can unmute himself and speak. Okay I think you can hear me now. Okay could you please
identify yourself with a record name and address spell your name for the stenographer. Yes my name
is Kazi Atasevan. I'm the representing of Maestro Real Estate Development who owns the property.
His name is spelled G-A-Z as in zebra eye, last name is A as in Anthony, T as in Tom,
A as in Anthony, S as in Sam, E as in Edward, V as in Victor, E as in Edward, N as in Nicholas.
And do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Please proceed.
Trying to see about sharing my screen, having a little difficulty here.
But, you know, I did hand you a packet of materials, which include eight exhibits.
The first is the adventure to the property, showing that Maestro Real Estate and Development LLC owns the property.
The second exhibit is the Certificate of Tax Clearance, showing that they're in tax compliance with the city.
The third exhibit is the notice of refusal.
This is an RSA-5 property.
I would also point out that we received an updated refusal,
which I sent to the ZBA's administrator this morning just to make sure that, you know,
the vote is going to be based on the updated revised refusal,
which was allowed to be submitted to L&I by way of permission.
allowed to be submitted to lni by way of permission as well but this is an rsa5 property
and we're seeking to put a two-unit condominium building in here i would note if you looked at
the lni file this property has never been used as a single family structure at one point it was
actually used as a five unit apartment building with a commercial component in it so we met with
the community group the south philadelphia homes inc uh before you know covet 19 we met with them
in person and they the people in the group as well as the zoning committee voted unanimously in favor
of the project um if you if the chairman would like i can you know go through a full
presentation or i can take questions
unless there is any questions from the board and or are there any uh folks who uh wish to testify
on the on in this matter you see any hands up tanya not at this time chair okay so
So why don't we summarize, Mr. Notkinson?
So, again, notice refusal dated for May 13th of 2020 under application number 0, Philadelphia-2020-001376.
We're looking to put a two-unit condominium in a property which would otherwise require single-family use.
property's never been you know used as a single family structure and we met with the community
and they're unanimously in support of that uh mr at a seven you heard everything i stated today
i heard it and is it true and correct yes and would you adopt it as your own testimony yes
okay thank you questions from the board no planning commission so given the property history
this property is indicated for residential use we have no objection to the granular variance
thank you ron all right calendar number three nine six four six one two one five
south 23rd street my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes good luck thank you very much
Calendar number 39447, 1325 South 15th Street. Mr. Allen, you agree to waive the reading of
its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? Yes, I do. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the
board. I'm still Allen Ockamson. I'm still located at 123 South Broad Street, Suite 1600,
Philadelphia PA 19109. And I also handed you a packet of materials which include eight exhibits
for this zoning matter as well. Along with me for this presentation are several individuals.
First, the owner of the property, Chuck Zachney, a representative of his team who's going to be
selling these hopefully condominium units, Dennis Conwell, who's a licensed realtor in town,
as well as the architect on the project, Christopher Johnson.
I would like to swear those individuals in.
Please do so.
Charles is unmuted and allowed to speak.
Is there anyone else?
They would need to raise their hand.
who uh alan who's the other names oh i'm sorry uh it's on my table of contents dennis conwell
who's the owner uh who's the uh uh the real estate agent for this project as well as christopher
johnson the architect i mean if most importantly we would need mr zachney who's the property owner
to verify what I say is true and correct.
Unless we need the architect, we'll just go with him.
Thank you.
They're available to speak.
They can unmute themselves.
Chuck Zachney, C-H-U-C-K-Z-A-C-N-E-Y, 361 Vista Drive,
Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, 19460.
Sir, do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
All right, Mr. Chair.
I'm going to try to share my screen for this one.
I'm going to see if I'm going to be successful this time.
Actually, I don't see the actual presentation materials.
Darn it.
all right well how about we try to do it i did hand in a packet of materials which include
All right.
Well, how about we try to do it?
I did hand in a packet of materials, which include...
eight exhibits the first exhibits the deed to the property showing that mr zachney purchased
the property in july of 2019. the second exhibit is the certificate of tax clearance showing that
mr zachney is compliant with his obligations to the city of philadelphia the third exhibit
is the notice of refusal this is also one where we amended the zoning appeal
So I note that the date of the notice of refusal is March 17th of 2020 under application number 105-1704.
We would request that any decision would be made be based on that notice of refusal and not the predecessor notice of refusal.
This is an RSA 5 property.
What we're looking to do is to level out the third story.
in the rear and to put three units in this RSA 5 property. I note that there's no dimensional
variances for this property or this request. The only variance we're seeking is the fact that
we're asking to put a three-unit condominium in an RSA 5 property. I will note and I would
you know we were I was here last year at this time or around about for 1317 South 15th Street
And in my Exhibit 3, I included the Notice of Decision granting, under similar circumstances, a variance for a three-unit condominium.
What I also put in Exhibit 3, you'll see is a lay of the land of, like, what other properties within the vicinity of our property.
Is there a way you can share those, Ellen?
Yeah, I'm going to try.
How about this?
I'm going to work with my assistant.
I apologize.
Hey, Nick, can you come in here?
I just – can you send – I need to, like, work on the – I apologize.
This is all new to me, too.
So can you give me the presentation materials, put it in the client file for 1315?
Because I'm not seeing it right now.
So I'm – okay, so which one is it?
Hold on.
Hold on. I apologize, Mr. Chair. I'm going to try to do this as quickly as possible.
Hold on. I'm just, let's see. I'm going to go in Zach's name.
All right. Maybe that's why. Let's see. Hold on.
Okay. Now I do see it. So I think I'm going to be able to share.
Yep. So, I think that's correct. And I think it's that one. Okay. Do you see it now?
It's just your file.
Oops. Do you see what I – you are sharing screen. So, do you see that, like, my table of contents?
you have to open up your file alan i i did so huh let's see you might have to unshare and then
share again inside of the actual document okay um let's see hold on hold on hey nick can you
come in here for a second how do i get out of this thing how do i get out of this thing
all right escape on and i'm gonna get all this document and then i'm gonna hit share
oh i want to open the document first okay there we go
this okay and his share screen this guy
do you see it now yes we do okay all right so let's just go
okay now do you see it
okay good all right so you'll see the deed to the property and then we'll go over exhibit
three that's where i was the notice of refusal and then you'll see that you know of about the
variances that have been granted over the years by this by the ZBA and if you
note you know we're 1325 South 15th Street 1317 South 15th Street which was
granted last year same request a triplex RSA 5 the lot size same exact lot size
our and the building size for 1317 South 15th Street was only 2344 where the
The size of our building would be 2807, so we're a much larger building, so under similarly situated circumstances, this is a more appropriate variance under the circumstances.
The size of our building would be 2807.
So we're a much larger.
I took pictures, just like from the last packet of materials for the previous zoning matter at 1317 South 15th Street.
You'll see the fronts of all these properties.
Again, we're two blocks away from South Broad Street, so from a city planning perspective,
It makes sense to support a commercial corridor with a mix between single-family as well as multifamily properties.
You'll see the notice of decision for 1317 South 15th Street.
It was actually granted on May 8th of 2019.
And you'll see the notice of refusal.
Again, same thing.
You'll see, you know, three units, multifamily, and this board approved it.
You'll also see, as Exhibit 4, my application for appeal with my project information form.
And then you'll see, like, the, you know, Google Maps and zoning maps, which show where the property is located in the vicinity.
And then you'll see photographs of the front of the property.
So my client purchased this property about a year ago.
This is a property that's in pretty rough condition that definitely needs a facelift.