Keish, let me know when we're ready.
Yes, Chair.
Chair, we have 43 attendees, and we can start as you wish.
Thank you.
Good morning, everyone.
My name is Bill Bergman, and I'm sorry for the little bit of a late start.
We had a little longer executive session.
With me today is our Vice Chair, Ismail Shahid.
President, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you.
Our Board Member, James Snell.
President, Mr. Chairman.
Also, here is Hillary Emerson, our Attorney, and our Executive Director, Tanya Sunkett.
Here's our virtual format.
Be advised the proceedings are being recorded.
Video will be available contacting Tanya Sunkett 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 and 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 Sumter.
Let's look at our schedule for today and some of the continuances that we have.
Number one, MI 2023 -000729 -6331 -41, Castor Avedo, this case is continued.
Number four, MI -2022 -004588 -6336 Algard Street, this case is continued.
Number five, MI -2023 -000460 -1515 Mars Street, this case is continued.
And number 10, MI 2022 -004 -553 -9855 -89 Busselton Avenue. This case is continued. Mark must be tried.
And number 11, MI -2023 -000 -459 -3200 -Vonshaw Street, this case is continued.
Does anyone have any comments relative to the cases that I've just continued?
Good morning, Mr. Chair. This is Jason. I will be co -hosting today. I do not see any hands at this time.
Thank you, Jason. Are there any other requests for continuance?
Sir, I have a Dara Rimes with their hand raised. I will allow them to speak at this time.
Good morning. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes, my name is Dara Rimes, D -A -R -A -R -I -M -E -S.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
What case do you have, ma 'am?
MI -202.
What's the address?
Oh, 7636 Woodcrest Avenue.
That's number 16, Mr. Chair, and we did receive a request for continuance from Ms. Rhymes.
You want that case continuing, am I correct?
Thank you. So, number 16, MI 2023 -000 -727 -7636 Woodcrest Avenue, this case is continued.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Are there any other requests for continuance?
Yes, sir. I have a hand up from Belinda Dowdy. I've allowed them to speak at this time, sir.
Le Boyne, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court sonographer?
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court sonographer?
Melinda.
Melinda.
M -E -L -I -N -D -A.
That would be D -O -U -G -H -T -Y.
Right.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
You're requesting it to continue.
Am I correct?
So this is the second time.
We still have no exhibits from you, sir.
Yes, that was the problem, but I have everything now that I can distribute to you.
So this case is going to be continued one more time, and it's marked must be tried.
So MI 2022 -004 -558 -1143 West Somerset Street, this case is continued.
Mark must be tried.
Thank you for calling in.
Any other requests for continuances?
Yes, sir.
I have a hand up from David Orphanides.
I've allowed him to speak.
Good morning, Mr. Orphanides.
State your name just for the record, please, and spell it.
Certainly.
David Orphanides, O -R -P -H -A -N -I -D -E -S.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, sir.
1124 to 28 Dickinson Street, MI2022006988.
That was scheduled for a resumption hearing this morning.
Counsel for some neighbors and the board attorney, Hillary Emerson, and I have been exchanging emails.
I think we wanted to push that off till next week.
I have that.
I have that on my list when I do the add -ons.
Oh, okay.
I'm sorry.
I apologize.
Yeah, not a problem.
Not a problem.
Thank you for calling in, Mr. Orfinetti.
Thank you.
Any other requests for continuance?
I don't see any further hands, Mr. Chair.
I have several cases that we do not have exhibits.
Number 12, MI 2022 -004 -559 -634 Park Lane.
This is the second listing.
No one appeared at the last hearing.
Perry Bowers is the owner applicant.
I do not see any hands, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. MI 2022 -004 -559 -634 Park Lane. Second listing. No exhibits. No one appeared the first time. I vote to dismiss.
James Snell, dismiss.
thank you number 13 mi2023 00725 1449 south 32nd street this is the first listing
we have no exhibits michael malloy michael malloy may be the attorney
mr chair i have erica miller with the hand raised i have a lot okay thank you
Hi, Mr. Chair, my name is Erica. Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer? Erica, E -R -I -K -A Miller, M -I -L -L -E -R. I'm an attorney at Obermeyer, Redmond, Maxwell, and Hipple.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Do you need a continuance in this?
i do not my paralegal mentioned that she sent the exhibits on friday and then again
on monday i have them with me today to present okay um so what what i'll do is we'll
hillary do we have any could someone check to please see if we have that oh yeah we'll have
to look because we we haven't seen anything what do you know where you sent them miss miller
my paralegal susan mariano m -a -r -i -a -n -o um sent them i believe to you i'll confirm with her
and okay because i what i'll do is i'll put this off and we'll call it later hillary
okay that's fine we'll see if we have them okay thank you thank you number 15
M .I. 2022 -001 -110 -6619 Musgrave.
Abe McGarr -McJarrett is the owner.
No exhibits.
This is the third listing.
Mr. Chair, I have a Rania Major Esquire with the hand raised.
I will allow them to speak at this time.
Unmute.
hi can you hear me chairman yes good morning could you say good morning yes your honor um
Yes, Your Honor. This is Rania Major. I'm a counsel for the property at 2740 North Front Street. Just so you know, I am in criminal court. I'm answering ready for a homicide trial next week, and I cannot stay on here the entire time.
this is ronnie major um i'm a
Well, hold on, hold on. This is 6619 Musgrave, right?
2740 North Front Street
You haven't called the case yet
I just can't stay on here
Then you can't stay on
That's fine
I don't see that case
On our list for today
2740 North Front Street
That is not on our list
For today
Thank you Hillary
supposed to be, Hillary. The only Front Street case I have on our list is on the 2 o 'clock
list, and it's 10 South Front Street. We don't have any other Front Street cases on our list
today. Hillary, I gave you the wrong address. I'm sorry. That was his home address. It's
2 -0 -0 -5 -0 -7 East Sargent Street.
Oh, okay.
So that's, so that for, so you're counsel for John Santiago?
Correct.
Okay, so we have received no exhibits for that case, and this is the second listing.
The exhibits, actually, I just got the notice yesterday, because we've been calling and
leaving messages for months, and no one's called us back, so I just got your web ID
and the zoning notice.
My client never provided it. That being said, the exhibits were attached to his appeal.
No, they wouldn't have been because you have to provide such things as proof of posting and proof of an RCO meeting.
And those are not attached to your appeal because those haven't occurred yet.
That's not the reason for the appeal. The reason for the appeal has to do with the fact that these are his own personal vehicles.
And he submitted seven titles.
okay well i i'm gonna have to take a look at it where am i where am i in the pecking order i don't
want to take up and well this case is going to have to be continued because we did not receive
exhibits like we need because if it is it if this was an appeal from a refusal that was issued by
l and i there needs to have been an rco meeting and the property needs to have been posted and
we need to receive proof of those things prior to the hearing. Okay. So, this will need to be
continued because we did not receive those things. Yes, and we can all reach out to that person
tomorrow. Thank you for calling in. So, I'm back at number 15 MI 2022 -001 -110 -6619
must grieve Avenue. Third listing, no exhibits. Mr. Chair, I'm sorry, just because we just had
a conversation with this major, can we just announce the continuance for Sergeant Street
number 17? Sure. Thank you. Number 17, MI 2022 -004 -563 -2005 -07, Sergeant Street. This case
is continued, Mark must be tried. Back to number 15, 6619 Musgrave. Mr. Chair, I do not see any
hands for that. Thank you. MI 2022. Sorry, Mr. Chair, I do see someone with the name of the
applicant in the the audience um so mr moharad yeah or maharad
abe moharad mr moharad please raise your virtual hand and wait to be sworn in
still nothing sir
Mr. Charles Richardson has his hand raised, so I won't allow him to speak at this time.
Good morning, Mr. Richardson.
Good morning, Mr. Chair.
Do you just state your name for the record?
Yeah, Charles Richardson, Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass, Richardson spelled R -I -C -H -A -R -D -S -O -N.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, sir?
I do. I had a conversation with the expediter for Mr. Muharred.
But yesterday, they said they were going to come on and request a continuance because they've had some issues with trying to get in contact with the RCO.
And I did tell them that they would have to be on here this morning in order for them to make that request for continuance, or he would have to have an attorney on to make a request for continuance.
I did tell them that they would have to be on here this morning in order for them to make.
So I do know that they have not met with the RCO as yet.
They met with a block organization, a block committee, thinking that that was the RCO, but it was not.
So thank you, sir.
Thank you very much.
So MI -2022 -001 -110 -6619 Musgrave, this case is continued, mark must be tried.
And number
Number 16
MI 2022
000727
7636 Woodcrest Avenue
Dara Rimes
Dara Rimes
If you're still in the virtual audience
Please raise your hand
I've allowed them to speak, sir.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court sonographer?
Dara, D -A -R -A.
Oh, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
We took care of your cases.
It's my fault.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
All right.
And then number 17, MI.
We took care of that.
I have one case.
Number six, MI 2021 -003 -880 -625.
610 to 40 High Street, this is a request for withdrawal.
The case has been withdrawn.
We're going to go to our add -on list.
Number one, MI 2022 -003 -647 -2321 North Broad Street.
I vote yes with provisive.
As per supplemental findings of fact and conclusions of law adopted by the ZBA on July 12, 2023, revised plans, two pages, stamped by ZBA on July 12, 2023, maximum 36 -unit use registration required prior to occupancy for vacant commercial space.
Bill, this is Hillary. Can you also certify, please?
Oh, I've certified that I've looked at all records with this and went through the transcript.
James Snell, I certify that I did look at the records and very knowledgeable about this case.
My vote is yes with Proviso.
I certify that I have read the case and listen to all the information that was on record and my vote is yes.
Thank you. Number two, MI 2022 -006 -892 -2202 -204 West Lehigh Avenue. I vote yes for temporary
variance, which expires 8 -1 -25, and I also have a proviso as per supplemental findings of fact
and conclusion of the law dated by ZBA on July 12th, 2023.
James Snell, my vote is yes with proviso.
Jim, you got to certify.
Oh, sorry about that.
I apologize.
Yes, I certify that I saw the video
and familiarize myself with the record in this case.
I certify that I read the transcript for this case on December 7, 2021.
My vote is yes.
Number three, MI 2022 -006 -988 -1124 -28 Dickinson Street.
The resumption hearing in this matter has been rescheduled to Wednesday, July 19th at 9 .30 a .m.
The resumption hearing will be for the purpose of the Planning Commission providing their recommendation based on revised plans, as well as the Board taking its vote on this case.
The record remains closed except for the recommendation of the City Planning Commission, receipt of the revised plans, and receipt of letters of non -opposition from neighbors that were discussed at the June 13th hearing.
at the June 13th hearing. Number four, MI 2022 001 058 322 Delancey Street. At the request of the
Number four.
parties, the vote on this matter has been rescheduled to Wednesday, July 19th at 9 30 a .m.
Number five, MI 2023 -000 -239 -8025 Caster Street. The vote in this matter will occur at the start
of the 2 p .m. list. We're going to go to our regular list. We're going to start with number seven.
MI 2022 -004 -560 -714 East Shelton Avenue, Carla Pagan and Rodney Bollett.
This is a pro se.
Carla Pagan will be rejoining as a panelist.
Thank you.
Good morning. Thank you for having me. Good morning. Could you state your name,
please, and spell for the court stenographer? Yes, Carla Pagan, P -A -G -A -N, owner of 714 East
Shelton Avenue. Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
the truth? Yes, I swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Thank you. So
this application is for multifamily household living, five dwelling units in an existing
structure. The proposed use multifamily living is not permitted in the RSA 3 zoning district.
Our vice chair has just a few questions for you, okay? Okay. Good morning, ma 'am. Have you emailed
in all the required documents that are needed to proceed with this case? Yes. In advance of this
hearing? Yes. Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen. And I will also note that the 12th
board Democratic committee has sent a letter of support for you.
Share your screen. Thank you.
So attached to the exhibits I previously emailed and I'll just kind of go in order that the zoning board required my notice, my original application for the change in use.
Back from June 2022, my original refusal letter from L &I, also dated in June 2022, the original plan was to convert, was to request the house be converted to six single room residences and two family households.
homes. Um, between this filing and talking to some of the community members and city
council offices, it seemed that no one supported, um, single room residences at all. So I did
amend the, the plan to request five, um, residential dwelling units in the home.
Here's the updated L &I refusal letter.
Here you'll find the original project information form, and I only say original because again,
it was for six single -room residences and two family units. I submitted a second
project information form that shows
oh boy I'm going too fast
that was amended to five
residential units
you'll see here
attached as a copy of the deed of ownership
recording tax certification
Also enclosed is my tax clearance for the Zoning Board hearing today.
I'm going to rotate this page.
I also had the architect revise the building plans to switch the home to five residential
units instead of rooms.
So here's the actual site plan, the exterior, and then I'll zoom in more for this.
So you'll see it's a three -story Germantown row home, and you'll get a better sense when we see exterior photos of the building.
But the first unit you'll enter through a side pathway, bathroom, kitchen, living room, bedroom.
bathroom, kitchen, living room, bedroom. The second first floor unit is an efficiency.
You'll enter through the back of the home, bathroom, kitchen, and efficiency space.
To get to the second floor units, you'll enter through the front of the home, come up the
stairwell. You hit the top of the stairwell. You can either turn right to a one -bedroom,
bedroom bathroom kitchen living or you can turn left and go into an efficiency here
if you want to get to the third floor one bedroom you would continue up this last set of stairs
to the last one bedroom apartment bathroom bedroom and then kitchen living area
um you'll also find a back stairwell from the third floor down to the second this is a
another exterior uh egress point in the event of emergency that will lead to the backyard
so those are updated floor plans for five residential units let me flip this back around
um this is a copy of a letter where I had originally asked the zoning board if I could
amend my appeal from rooms to a five -minute building and that was approved by the zoning board
also an enclosed or revised proposal plans same thing original proposed use for the six
single room residences in two units changed to multi -family five dwelling units
um and this is an email where i was asking the rco to schedule um a neighborhood meeting for me
So moving on, let's see.
So exterior photos of the of the home. So this is direct shot from the front of the building
across the street. You can see it's a typical. We don't see that. We don't we don't see that.
Let me stop and then reshare.
Okay, sure.
How's that?
We see it.
Okay, good.
Okay, so you'll see the house is located in Germantown.
It's typical Germantown architecture of the day, a three -story twin.
This is front and center view of the property from across the street.
You'll see that I'm attached to another, to actually a city -owned abandoned home.
this is a sidewalk view from the front of the house
and just more exterior views so you'll see that the house it's over 2000 suite it does
have a lot of depth to it to house these units another side view
the side walkway that I showed in the building plans this is a picture of that walkway when
you're in the front of the home, there's a path that leads down the side. These stairs take you
into a first floor unit. Another set of stairs here take you down to the basement, and then the
path continues on to the backyard. So the home also has a large backyard facing the back of the
house here, and then a front porch, or excuse me, a back porch. And then to the right of the home is
existing a vacant line. And for interior photos, the house has been vacant for more than a decade.
I actually purchased off the sheriff's sale of another investor that was trying to renovate the
home. So it's been vacant for a long time. This is a shot of the entry right now. And again,
the pictures that you'll see of the interior show it as a single family residence um more
interior photos of the first floor in the middle and then some towards the rear
on the second floor the front of the second floor has a nice large bay window
a lot of rain we don't we don't see that we don't see that oh you don't we're still looking at the
rear yard. Oh, okay. Let me stop, share, and then start up again. Okay. How's that? There you go.
That's it. That's it. Perfect. Okay. So here's interior photos. The first floor, here's one
from the front of the home towards the back of the house and in the middle. You'll see it has
towards the back of the house and in the middle, you'll see it has extensive damage.
expensive damage.
We've actually already invested more than $10 ,000 to get the roof repaired, so no more damage
occurs inside the home. On the second floor, you'll see the home has beautiful bay windows that
we'll keep intact, large rooms. We'll keep most of the rooms on the first floor intact,
only adding some walls.
The second floor, we do have to widen the hallway,
so some original walls will come down
so the hallway is widened to code.
Here are more interior photos of the second floor
towards the back of the home.
And then on the third floor,
photos from the front, middle, and rear.
And you'll see most of the damages from water
in the house sitting vacant for so long.
So I'm going to stop sharing and bring up one last. And the only other exhibit I have for the presentation, the RCO provided this support letter after my original exhibits were sent.
So I just wanted to show the board the support letter from the RCO. They just stated this on July 7th.
So, Ms. Pagan, tell me what's the rest of the block look like?
Yeah, so Shelton Avenue, I wish I had more pictures. Shelton Avenue is a pretty busy street, actually. It's a mix of commercial and residential.
Are the multifamily units on the block?
On my side of the street, all of the houses look similar to mine, but they're very large, and all of them except for one have been converted to boarding houses or multifamily residences.
They're so large, and it's a working -class neighborhood, and houses over 2 ,000 square feet are a hard sell.
across the street
it's more commercial
there's a Chinese restaurant
there's a non -profit
organization and also the
Social Security Administration
thank you
questions from the board
no chair
questions or comments from the virtual audience
I have a hand up from Charles Richardson
I will allow them to speak at this time.
Good morning, Mr. Richardson.
You've already been sworn.
Just state your name for the record, please.
Good morning again, Mr. Chair.
Charles Richardson, Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass, R -I -C -H -A -R -D -S -O -N.
Councilwoman has no opposition to granting the variance.
Thank you very much for taking the time to call in.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I don't see any further answer.
Planning Commission?
Thank you, Chair Bergman.
and good morning, David Defecto, F -E -C -T -E -A -U, with the City Planning Commission.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir, I do.
Proceed, please.
Thank you, sir. Members of the board and chairman, the comprehensive plan recommends a zoning map
amendment from residential single -family to residential multifamily at this location.
The proposed uses would be allowed with a special exception in the recommended zoning district.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant the variances.
Thank you.
MI 2022 -004 -560 -714 East Chelten Avenue.
I vote yes.
Mr. Chair, this is hilarious.
Oh, I see.
I'm sorry.
I vote yes per amended refusal dated 5 -9 -23.
Please note for the record that the refusal omitted a use refusal on required parking spaces.
Five are required for the dwelling unit, and none are proposed.
This grant will grant multifamily living as well as providing the required parking spaces,
as well as not providing the required parking spaces.
Thank you, Mr. James.
Thank you.
James Snell, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ismail Shahid, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you, Ms. Pagan. By the way, you did a great job presenting.
Thank you so much. Thank you for having me.
All right. Number nine.
MI 2023 -000 -481 -1309 -E -Sedgly.
Chelsea Spruel is the owner applicant.
letter of support from juniata park civic association and letter of non -opposition from
from Juniata Park Civic Association and letter of non -opposition from Councilmember Lozada.
Applicant also provided a petition of support signed by 16 neighbors, including seven on the
1300 block of East Stedgley. Mr. Chair, I have Erica Miller with her hand raised.
I will promote her to panels at this time.
hello apologies chair i am here representing the owner of 1449 south 32nd street
we spoke earlier about missing exhibits we resent them with evidence of having sent on friday and
again on monday my client is a medical sales person and she has a surgery that starts at 11
I was wondering if we could get moved out in this. Let me get through this and then we'll make sure we have everything. We'll get right to it. OK, I appreciate that. Sure, sure, sure, sure. Thank you. Chelsea Spruill.
yes my apologies sir she has been promoted to panelists all right thank you very much could
you good morning could you state your name and spell please for the court stenographer
good morning my name is chelsea school c -h -e -l -s -e -a last name s -p -r -u -e -l -l
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth of nothing but the truth
i do okay so this application is for personal care home in an existing structure
One referral, the proposed use personal care home requires special exception approval in the RM1 zoning district.
Our vice chair has just a few questions for you, okay?
Good morning, ma 'am.
Have you emailed in all the required documents that are needed and required to receive the case?
I think it's scary.
Yes, I have.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
Green button is a bottom.
That's what I'm clicking on now. Here we are.
All right. I am seeking a permit for a personal care home in an existing structure.
okay and i submitted to lni virtually this is the referral
the application to the zba requesting a special exception the project information form
a copy of my d there are six uh pages to it by what they were fit for i didn't
mellow over the entire document though this is the certificate of tax compliance
The letter I sent to all of my neighbors within 250 feet of my property.
A couple pictures of the notice I put up near the property.
This is the front.
To the left, the right, and some photos of the interior.
I'll be honest, I'm still owner occupied.
I'm in a transition waiting for zoning and license and approvals.
so please excuse the personal effects this is the interior there are three
bedrooms one bath kitchen plumbing electrical heating the basement the
exterior central air the roof was recently done so we have a 20 -year
warranty on that these are email documents sent to the RCL I emailed her
on jayuary 28th requesting a meeting to reply back february 9th with the date of 314 that is when i
met with the community and had the meeting this is a copy of the support i received from my near
neighbors i did knock on doors um and i was able to get 16 signatures of support i'm going to talk
a little bit about personal care home essentially it provides residents uh shelter meals uh
supervision for individuals either of older age, behavioral, cognitive, or, you know, mental health
challenges, those that need support, but not nursing care supports, essentially. It is governed
but not nursing care supports essentially it is governed by the department of human services
by the Department of Health.
and it is inspected and licensed via them as well and my specific goals to bring this to
juliana park is to create jobs affordable housing um there are drawbacks of course the cost of
programming this is either private pay or those that are receiving ssi in exchange for the services
Services would include nutrition, housing, transportation, health administration, you know, exercise, supervision, of course, but a lot of it will be tailored towards the client or consumer's individual needs.
There are some nearby personal care homes in Frankfurt.
That's the closest one.
In Philadelphia, we have about 54, but zero in Juliana Park.
I think there is definitely a need here.
That concludes my presentation.
Thank you.
The rest of the block is residential?
Are there any multiple family units or anything?
My side of the block is all family,
none multifamily across the street
as a personal care home and business.
And you have the letter of support
from the Juniata Park Civic Association
and also the council person.
Am I right?
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
no chair thank you questions or comments from the virtual audience
i do not see any hands mr chair planning commission thank you chair bergman and members
of the board david fecto with the city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends a
change in zoning at this location from residential multi -family to resident residential single
family. However, as a multifamily zone property, a personal care home is allowed with a special
exception. The appellant has shown that the proposed personal care home will have no detrimental
impacts to the neighborhood beyond what might be expected from this use. The City Planning
Commission recommends that the board grant the special exception for a personal care home.
Thank you. MI 2023 -000481 -1309 -E. Sedgley, I vote yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you. Thank you, ma 'am.
Thank you.
Hillary, do we have the paperwork we need for that other case?
Yes, Mr. Chair, we have now received it.
I'm not sure why we did not receive it previously, but we have now received it.
And it is complete. The case may proceed.
What number is it again?
um give me one second
um number 13 okay 1449 south 32nd street thank you mi2023 000 725 1449 south 32nd street
council i think you've already been sworn am i right yes that's correct chair okay um
Could you identify your client in a relationship to the property?
My client is Fortuna Abubaker. She's the owner of 1449 South 32nd Street.
Okay. And our vice chair has just a few questions for you.
Good morning, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed in all the required documents that are needed? Proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing.
Yes, we identified that, right? Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
Okay, so we're here again on behalf of 1449 South 32nd Street, which is in the RSA 5 District.
This is a pretty straightforward case. My client, Ms. Abby Baker, is an innocent purchaser of this
property. The property was fitted as a two -family household in 2019 and Ms.
Abubaker purchased the property in 2020. Because the property is in a RSA 5
district, the two -family households are prohibited and a refusal was issued.
What I will call unit 1 is the first floor of off -the -street unit and unit 2
occupies the second and third floors. Ms. Abubaker lived in the second unit and unit two
for a period of time after she purchased it, but her work took her to Chicago,
which is where she lives now. While she lived there, she rented unit one.
While she lived there, she rented unit one and had a valid rental license.
Once she moved out, she began renting both units to do two different tenants.
One included the same tenant that was originally there in unit one, and then she did short
term rentals in unit two.
This is when Ms. Aberbecker received the violation for violating table 14602 -1 because the property
is not zoned for a two family household unit.
I will show you the background with the deed, the appeal, and here's our refusal.
Mrs. Abbecker has gone through an extensive eviction process, including filing a court
filing for the eviction of Unit 1, so the property is currently vacant, and thus we're
here seeking the variance from Table 14602 -1 to allow for a two -family household.
The property itself creates this hardship because it was fitted as a two -unit household,
so without the variance, Ms. Abubaker won't be able to get the full use of this property
and we'll be able to use it for rental purposes and to convert it back to one
unit household would be a huge cost and a huge hardship to her. I will kind of
walk you through the units one by one. Here are the external photos from the
street from 32nd Street this is entering unit two and then this is entering unit
one here are some photos of the internal of unit to the top second and third
floors they have separate entrances the bottom here's some photos from unit one
off of the street which is a studio with one with one full bath it has closets and a full kitchen
the unit two has two bedrooms and one and a half bath each has a separate front door as i mentioned
they are separately metered units and um that and then meters can be accessed through the backyard
there is shared water as miss miss abbecker pays for all water as the landlord
These are additional photos of unit one. Here's the bathroom. As you can see, it's very modern
and updated as it was completely refitted in 2019 before Ms. Abu Bakr purchased the property.
Here are the notice of violation posted on the property. This is a photo. As you can see,
was captured in October 2019. This is from Google and you can see the second entrance being
constructed. This is the tax map. Here's a notice to the RCO and our letter of support was at the
beginning here. Ms. Abubecker has sued the previous owner for over a lack of disclosure
during the purchasing process because of the issues with the home including
flooding and unfortunately faulty AC units. Brokers have been going back and
forth and it has settled because of the immense cost of litigation. Besides that
cost, she's also incurred expenses from the eviction process, fixing all the
undisclosed issues and making repairs and then of course this zoning process. The
use of this property as a two -family household doesn't negatively impact the community.
And I noticed because of this unanimous support from the RCO for a two -family household.
I'd like to bring Ms. Aberbaker in from the
crowd to answer any questions you may have.
Good morning.
jason did we share her hand no no yes sir okay he's in um i think she's in the crowd okay
okay i've allowed them to speak sir hi could you state your name please as bell for the
court stenographer fortuna abubakar it's f -u -r -t -u -n -a abubakar a -b -u -b -e -k -e -r
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Ms. Aberbecker, were you present for my presentation regarding your property?
Would you adopt all the information that I shared as your own?
Would you adopt all the information that I shared as your own?
Is there anything you'd like to add or correct from what I stated before?
Just that the property has been used as a two unit in the past.
and i had i i did not suspect i would run into this issue when i purchased it it was listed
on the mls as two unit all right thank you questions from the board
questions from the board
no chair
questions or comments from the virtual audience
do not see any further hands mr chair hi planning commission thank you chair bergman and board
members david effecto with the city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends
no change to the residential single family zoning at this location this property was converted to a
two family dwelling without benefit of permits the appellant then purchased the property once
illegally converted the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the proposed use
variance for two dwelling units thank you mi 2023 000725 1449 south 32nd street i vote yes
james snell my vote is yes ishmael shahe my vote is yes thank you counsel thank you very much okay
All right. Let's go here. So, number three, MI 2023, 000461, 184 East Willow Grove Avenue.
Henry Clinton is the attorney. And Hillary, I believe we have another. Steve Masters may
to come on this too? Yes, Mr. Chair. Okay. Hi, Mr. Clinton, Mr. Masters.
Morning, Mr. Chairman. Henry Clinton here. Morning. Henry, state your name, please,
and spell for the court's sonographer of the record. Sure. Henry Clinton, H -E -N -R -Y,
Clinton, C -L -I -N -T -O -N. Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth? I do. Mr. Masters, could you state your name for the record, please?
Good morning, Mr. Chair. Steve Masters, S -T -E -V -E -M -A -S -T -E -R -S. Right. Do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Mr. Clinton, you want to
start? I understand we have an agreement or explain this, if you would. Yes. Yes, Mr. Chairman,
we do. Can I share my screen? You most certainly can. You most certainly can. And we do have all
your records, so we're good. And could you identify who your client is, Mr. Masters? I mean, Mr.
Clinton. Sure, Mr. Chairman. My client is Andrew Keats, K -E -A -T -S. He's the sole member of the
LLC, which owns the property. He's an owner, occupant, and a former tenant at this property,
and he is on the call. Thank you, Mr. Clinton. Can you see my screen, Mr. Chairman? Oh, yeah,
we're good. We're good, sir. All right. Well, good morning, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. Again,
henry clinton for andrew keats this concerns a property at 184 east willow grove avenue
i'll walk through my presentation binder which contains table of contents a1 through a12
as well as zoning records indicating that there are several multi -family properties in this locale
uh first document is a refusal um refusal there's three items all concerning uses uh what we're
seeking mr chairman is to legalize a multi -family use that's been in play we know for certain since
1955 as five units and it's been historically a multi -family property since at least 1895
And I'll show you records from 1895, believe it or not, that we were able to get from the historical conservancy in Chestnut Hill.
We have the support of the Chestnut Hill Community Association, as well as the Chestnut Hill Conservancy.
The community organization has a number of provisos, which we've agreed to concerning the use.
has a number of provisos which we've agreed to concerning the use of the premises because it is
a contributing historical structure and there are some concerns as to whether or not if that property
were to go into disrepair would be damaged by a fire that it only could be rebuilt in the same
mass and size as it exists now and i'll show the board pictures of the of the property so you can
get a better feel for what we're talking about.
We also have a letter of support from the Chestnut Hill Conservancy, as I said, with
a number of provisos which are duplicative of the Chestnut Hill Civic Association.
And by the way, we did get unanimous support and a vote from the Chestnut Hill board, which
is a rare feat, I might add.
so this is an aerial photograph of the block this is willow grove avenue where my cursor is
in the foreground is a park across the street winston park the property is this what appears
to be and is a single family property in the front of the property there's a driveway that
leads to the rear and in the rear there are four apartments when i show you the historical records
It was a barn at one time, because in this area, there were a lot of tradesmen, and they
would live in the front structure and then have their barn for whatever trade they were
involved in.
Over time, that was converted to units, and at one time, there was even a commercial unit
in here.
We are not seeking any commercial use of this property.
Simply, we're looking to maintain it as a four -unit property, which has been in existence
for decades.
This is a clear photograph of the property.
You can see there's a driveway leading back to the rear, which contains four apartments.
And so technically, Mr. Chairman, this is a request for five dwellings.
Again, this appears to be single family and it really is used as single family.
And that's what has been used historically.
And we just want to continue the same use for that and the property in the rear.
what i've done is we've looked around the neighborhood to see where there are other
multi -family or commercial properties and i've placed red dots on those structures the green
dot is my client's property this red dot this large building is a large commercial building
used by a bowman properties to renovate their numerous properties in the area so there's you
There's activity in and out of this building and all the other red dotted structures are multifamily.
This is a photograph of East Willow Grove Avenue, where my cursor is.
This white stucco building is my client's property.
You can see across the street that there's a park.
You can see there's ample parking across the street as well as in front of the building.
Again, for perspective, look in the opposite.
direction here's my client's property again the park to my right and homes to the left
a floor plan just to give the board a feel again for what we're talking about this is one of the
largest lots in this rsa3 district and on the block so we have ample open space there's no
issues with regard to height it's simply a continuation of an historic use some photographs
to show that the building in the back
where the four apartments are located
is well -maintained.
Again, some more photographs
for perspective purposes.
There are four separate utilities
in the property
and the fifth one for the common areas.
A posting of our zonus notice.
These are just the floor plans. Again, I don't want to spend a lot of time on it, Mr. Chairman, unless one of the board members requires me to, but this is the second floor, a modest one -bedroom on the second floor to the left and a two -bedroom to the right.
And below that living room area on the second floor is a large garage, which on occasion has been used by adjacent neighbors for storage.
The first floor, again, entrance in the front, two bedrooms to the right, two bedrooms to the left.
These are the historic records that we're able to get from the Chestnut Hill Historic District.
It's amazing to have records going back this far, but I've circled the relevant historical
references in 1896, and this is 184 rear. So there's the 180.
1896, and this is 184 rear. So there's the 184 front is this one, which has been in play as a
single family residence since 1893. And in 1896, Mr. Schlick, who was a tradesman and a contractor,
converted the brick barn structure to a dwelling, as well as a two -story front addition.
Then if we move on to the next page of the historical records for the rear, again, this is 184 East Willow Grove Avenue.
The second floor use was office and then two family.
And sometime between this 22 period and 1955, we understand it was used, it was converted to four apartments.
And my client actually spoke to the son of the Tobago family, T -O -B -A -G -O, who purchased the property in 1955, who confirmed when they purchased it, it was a four unit structure in the rear and one in the front.
And then when they sold it in 2000 to the prior owner, it maintained its four unit structure.
This is the tax certification that we received recently.
My client paid online, not only for tax,
the next one is a tax receipt indicating full payment for the taxes.
And we attached this document to show that he also paid for commercial trash fees for commercial pickup.
But, Mr. Chairman, we've agreed that we will have a separate contractor now come and haul away
any trash, even though my client has been paying the commercial trash fees.
The remaining documents are the performance documents one would see in an application
of this type.
Our zoning map, again, to show you the 8 ,200 square feet in excess of for this lot in an
RSA 3 zoning district.
This indicates the deed.
And my client purchased this, Mr. Chairman, in October of 22.
There's a backstory to this.
He has been a tenant with his daughter and three other tenants in the property.
He started his tenancy in 2019.
And the owner decided to sell the building in 2022 and told the tenants that they're going to have to leave because she was aware that she really didn't have the proper zoning in place.
So my client, after much, I guess, internal haranguing with himself, decided that he would step up, purchase the property, and then maintain all the tenants that are there, some of which have been there for a long time, because the rents are reasonable.
It's a great neighborhood to live in. They basically peacefully coexisted with all the houses that surround them for over 100 years.
And this structure in particular has actually predated the construction of some of the other homes on on the particular block.
So when the owner decided to sell, you know, my client kind of stepped up to the plate and decided to acquire it.
And so he is he's very anxious that this structure could become a legal structure and then all the proper licenses will be obtained for for renting the property out to the tenants.
The other document, which I didn't get to, is at the very end is a management agreement that my client has with a company that is well known in the area.
let me just get that for you. Yes, it's a management contract between my client at
Alphont Ponce Properties, and you may have recognized the name Alphont from Alphont
Wissahickon, which is a well -known real estate brokerage in the area. And Mr. Alphont will
testify to Mr. Chairman concerning the agreement and the services that he provides.
The remaining documents I wanted to get to are the zoning records, which mirror the aerial
photographs that I showed you with the red dots.
So the first structure is 219 Willow Grove, it's zoned for 12 units and used as 12 residential
units.
Next property is 224 East Willow Grove, that's a multifamily three units.
Next property is 224 East Willow Grove. That is a single family with apartments and offices, according to the zoning records.
Next property is 224 East Willow Grove.
And this, again, this is still 224 East Willow Grove.
Next property is, again, this is more of 224 East Willow Grove.
I put a lot of documents in there concerning 224 East Willow Grove.
Again, there's some more going back to 1948, indicating multiple family use.
Clint, is your client in the audience?
Yes, my client is in the audience.
We want to have your testimony.
I ask that these records and all the documents that I submitted be admitted.
into evidence. And I also have Mr. Alfont available to testify concerning not only the
management, but property values in the area. Because I know there was some concern by some
neighbors raised as to property values. So I don't know if you want me to call Mr. Alfont first or my
client to adopt my testimony and then Mr. Alfont. Call Mr. Alfont. Had Mr. Alfont come first.
Mr. Alfont, if you're in the virtual audience, can you raise your hand?
and I'm about to speak. Hi, good morning, Mr. Alphant. Could you state your name,
please, and spell for the court stenographer? Robert J., the initial Alphant, that's E -L -F,
like Frank, A, N as in Nancy, T as in Tom. Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes, I do. You see, Mr. Clinton.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon, Mr. Alphon. Thank you for participating. I showed the Board of Real Estate Management Services Agreement. And is that with your LLC, your company, you manage the property?
Yes, we do.
Okay. And you've managed the property since when?
We started in 2019 under the former owner and picked up when Andrew purchased it with the current owner in, I think, 2022.
So we managed it for about five years.
Sorry, Mr. Alfont.
And were you a principal in Alfont, Wissahickon?
And you currently remain a principal in that brokerage, correct?
That is correct.
And how long have you been a licensed realtor?
September will be 50 years.
Congratulations, Mr. Ralph Hunt.
So, Mr. Ralph Hunt, there's been some discussion at some of the community meetings about the impact of this property on property values in the area.
You're well familiar with Chestnut Hill, having been a realtor in Chestnut Hill for 50 years.
You're well familiar with property values.
Can you tell the board what impact, if any, this property has had, does have, and or will have on surrounding property values?
This property is a unique property.
Chestnut Hill is filled with unique properties.
It's a nice single family in the front.
It's four units in the rear that are nestled at the end of a driveway in a sort of a private area.
And to the contrary, I actually believe, and I don't doubt this for a second, that this increases the values of properties in that vicinity.
We sell properties in that neighborhood all the time.
The values are strong.
They remain strong.
and a property like this, as unique as it is, would lend a greater value to the neighborhood
because it would sell for significantly more than any of their surrounding properties
and would bring value as a result.
And Mr. Alphine, I don't know if you were on the call during my presentation
of the other multifamily properties in the area.
Would you concur with what I submitted to the board?
I think actually you probably missed some. Bowman has multifamilies in that area.
Woodward Property has multifamilies in that area. I think there's a possibility that you didn't have enough.
has multi -families in that area, I think there's a possibility that you didn't have enough red dots.
I mean, it's not rampant, but it's interspersed in that neighborhood.
And it's been that way for years and it's been fine.
What about parking in the neighborhood, especially surrounding this property?
I literally drive by that property almost every day of my life.
And almost every time I drive by there, especially on the park side, there are multiple spaces available.
I know part of your agreement is that the tenants in the rear will be allocated each one space.
So the four apartments in the back are covered on premises and the street parking is always ample.
I mean, I just never see it parked up.
Well, thank you, Mr. Alphon, for your testimony, Mr. Chairman. That concludes Mr. Alphon's testimony.
Thank you. Do you want to bring your client on now?
Yes, Mr. Berman. Andrew, can you raise your hand?
He's been allowed to speak.
Good morning, sir. Could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court stenographer?
It's Andrew, A -N -D -R -E -W, Keats, K -E -A, T as in Tom, S as in Sam.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Keats, were you on during the entirety of my presentation of your application for variances?
I was.
and if you had the opportunity to testify would you adopt my testimony as your own
and as true and correct absolutely yes
thank you Mr. Keats thank you thank you Mr. Clinton are you done your presentation
yes I am okay yes Mr. Chairman I asked that my exhibits be admitted into evidence absolutely
absolutely sir Mr. Masters uh good morning Mr. Chair members of the board
Steve Masters representing three of the adjacent property owners, Jim and Kathy Fagan and Sarah
Katz. I'm in a somewhat unique position of supporting this project because of a settlement
that we have reached with the applicant and his counsel. And I wanted to just briefly review that
settlement with um the board and have my three clients uh provide some brief testimony
so okay um actually um hink can you release your screen so i can share
So as Mr. Clinton said, this property is fairly unique as a historical artifact maybe in the neighborhood because it has a multifamily dwelling in the rear,
whereas all the properties in the very close area, including my client's properties, are all single family.
That being said, in the course of conversations and negotiations between our clients and the applicant,
we concluded that it would be overall best for our clients and for the neighborhood for this project to be approved with certain provisos.
The community association had multiple meetings of different entities that are part of the process in Chestnut Hill.
And they came up with a number of provisos, but we expanded those.
And we wanted to present those to the board and ask that as many of those as possible be incorporated as conditions on the on the variance.
uh so uh there's 11 um specific provisos that we wanted to review with with the board
um the first one many of these are are also provisos that had been uh suggested by the
community association but we went into a little more depth uh the first one is that it's very
important to our clients that the property remain owner -occupied or be managed by a local
professional management company. Our clients are very satisfied with the management provided by
Mr. Elfant's company, but in the event that Mr. Keats no longer resides on the property,
it's very important that there be a local property management company that, you know,
that there be a local property management company that has where the near neighbors have all of the contact information.
The second is that, and the third go together, which is that the minimum terms for all tenant leases should be one year and that there should be no permitted short -term rentals,
that all short -term rentals should be prohibited throughout the property, meaning
both in the front single -family unit and in the rear multifamily unit.
In terms of the parking, number four is that each apartment in the rear is limited to one
on -site parking space. The fifth is that the front structure remains a single -family occupancy.
The sixth proviso is that the residents of the front house are prohibited from parking any vehicles on -site unless any of the four available on -site parking spaces for the rear structure are not being used.
So essentially, there is a maximum of four cars that can be parked on the site. Typically, those would be reserved for the residents in the back, but in the event that there is a vacancy in one of the units in the back, then the residents in the single family house could park there.
um then there's a few provisos that were also adopted by the community association dealing
with this the scenarios if there was to be some kind of a change in uh because of damage or
casualty with this rear multifamily structure so uh sub sub g is in the event of a casualty loss
the rear structure can only be replaced in kind and it's and that's modified um or or expanded in
in um sub part h that there can be no increase in the height footprint and building mass of the
rear structure uh so we're not the our our clients and and the community association recognize there
could be situations where this rear structure requires to be rebuilt because of some kind of
damage or or casualty we want it to we want it to stay essentially the same in terms of its mass
its footprint its height the commercial trash pickup is an important proviso to be added to
the zoning permit I think that the board should have no issue with that and there were part of
the reason, members of the board, is that there have been, unfortunately, times where our clients
and other adjacent neighbors have been fined by the city for trash that was placed in front of
their homes by residents of this property. And so that's really the genesis behind a very strong
requirement on commercial trash pickup. And the last one is that, and this probably would not be
a proviso attached to the zoning permit, but the owner has agreed not to oppose an application to
the historical commission to designate either one or both of the structures as historic.
The remainder of the settlement agreement addressed certain maintenance issues that
were quite important to our clients and that had emerged over the years because there was,
this is before the current owner bought this property, but there was a decline in maintenance
at the property that was quite concerning to our clients. And finally, as part of the
settlement, our clients agreed to submit written testimony and also to make some verbal testimony
at the hearing today. So on the last page of the settlement agreement is the statement of support
from both James and Catherine Fagan and from Sarah Katz. And we submitted those into the record.
And now I'm going to ask James Fagan to raise his hand to testify.
Mr. Fagan?
Yes, I'm here.
Mr. Fagan, could you state your name, please, and spell for the stenographer?
Yeah, my name is James Fagan.
That's J -A -M -E -S.
And F, as in Frank, A -G -A -N.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed, counsel.
Good morning, Mr. Fagan. You have heard my testimony at the hearing today. Is that correct?
Yes, I have.
Yes, I have.
Do you agree that it was true and correct, and would you adopt it as your own?
Do you agree that it was true and correct? And would you adopt?
Yes, I would.
Thank you.
And do you have a short statement that you wanted to make to the board members today?
I live with my wife, Kathy, at 190 East Willow Grove Avenue, and that's only 30 feet from
the applicant's property at 184. And from our property, you can clearly see the back building
and most of the front building. I would like to speak in favor of the variance,
as long as it includes the provisos recommended by the Chestnut Hill Community Association,
as well as those we have negotiated with the applicant, Andrew Keats.
And I guess those details have been provided to the zoning board.
I've lived in my home for the past eight years, and the four apartments in the rear building have been occupied all that time, except for the occasional vacancy.
I can say I have never noticed excessive noise or disruption emanating from the property and
would also note that there has always been plenty of parking available on our block
despite the existence of the apartments. My only complaint is that the property
has not been maintained as well as it could be but I believe this deficiency has been addressed
in our agreement with Andrew. I did have several concerns about the potential future use of the
property, but now I'm satisfied that these concerns have also been addressed by the
provisos I mentioned earlier. I did know the previous owner, and I believe that both the
front and back buildings have been pretty much fully occupied for the past 15 to 20 years.
And I think that our neighborhood would be best served by the approval of the variants with those
provisos. Denying the variants would leave the property with the two buildings that predate
the Philadelphia zoning code and leave very limited possibilities for use.
And with those limited possibilities, I think the probability that one or both of the buildings
would fall into disrepair would be much higher. So in my opinion, the best way to preserve the
character of the neighborhood and the value of the homes in it would be to approve the variant.
I think it's also the least disruptive option available.
It allows the current tenants to continue living there, and it will allow the neighborhood to continue as it has been for the past 15 to 20 years.
I would like to thank Andrew Keats for his willingness to address our concerns and also thank the zoning board for the opportunity to speak in this hearing.
so thank you for your time thank you thank you mr fagan thank you thank you so much um can i now
call katherine fagan sure same testimony i believe it might be slightly uh she's going to add her
flavor sure thank you sure hi could you state your name and spell please for the court stenographer
yes my name is kathy fagan k -a -t -h -y f -a -g -a -n right do you swear or firm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes uh proceed counsel sure um miss fagan can you um
can you uh i understand you have a brief statement you wanted to share with the zoning board today
yes um my comments will be similar to my husband's um but i did want to give my own personal
perspective i've lived at 190 east willow grove avenue since 2015 our property is 30 feet from
the single family zone property at 184 East Willow Grove Avenue, we can see both of the
buildings on that property from our home and hear day -to -day activity there. As my husband has
already noted, the almost eight years we've lived here, my husband and I have had no serious
complaints around noise, parking, or similar issues. In fact, our neighbors there have contributed
positively to the character of the neighborhood, which is what attracted us to move here in the
first place. But when I learned that the property was not zoned for multifamily use and that a
variance was being sought, I was seriously concerned that the variance would create
I was seriously concerned that the variants would create the potential for changes that would affect the character of the neighborhood.
the potential for changes.
As we've gone through this process, I've learned more about how variances work, and that relieved a couple of my concerns.
At one point, Andrew Keats, the owner, was willing to meet face -to -face with several of us neighbors, and that allowed us to hear his perspective and share our remaining concerns.
He said he was willing to work with us to the extent that he could.
And since then, we have collaborated on an agreement via our respective lawyers.
I wish to go on record in support of the variants with provisos, as well as the binding agreement we've negotiated with Andrew.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for calling in.
Thank you so much.
And now my last witness is Sarah Katz.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Good morning. My name is Sarah Katz, S -A -R -A -H -K -A -T -Z.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed, counsel.
Ms. Katz, I understand you have a short statement that you would like to share with the board?
Yes, thank you.
I'm the owner of 186 East Willow Grove, which is directly adjacent to 184.
I've lived at 186 for the last two and a half years.
And today I'd like to speak in support of the variants for 184 on the condition that
it includes the provisos that we've been discussing.
I did initially have concerns about this variant due to the close proximity between my home
and 184.
However, after speaking with Mr. Keats and attending several community meetings, my position began to evolve.
I realized that my concerns were primarily oriented toward the future, particularly around the potential for short term rentals, overall maintenance, trash and property management, but not about the rental units per se.
In fact, several of the units are occupied by long -term tenants who are valued neighbors
and who I truly, truly hope can stay in their homes.
Throughout the negotiation process, Andrew Keats has remained open to compromise and
extremely sensitive to our position.
And today, I'm pleased to say that I'm satisfied that the provisos address my concerns.
Like my neighbors, Jim and Kathy,
I truly believe that allowing 184 to retain its current use
with the guardrails of the provisos
is in the best interests of the community.
And I thank you for your time and attention this morning.
Thank you very much for calling in.
We appreciate it.
Mr. Masters, are you done?
Yes, I'm completed with my presentation.
Questions from the board?
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Mr. Chair, I have John Clark with his hand raised.
I have allowed him to speak at this time.
Sarah, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Hi, it's actually Amy Clark.
I'm using my husband's computer.
Hi, could you spell your name, please, for the court stenographer?
It's A -M -Y -C -L -A -R -K.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
Proceed.
We live at 180 East Willow Grove Avenue, which is immediately next door to Mr.
Keith's property.
Right.
And we submitted a petition signed by 16 neighbors opposing this variant based on several
issues, parking and density.
And also, my husband and I have been very concerned about the decline in maintenance. I've lived here for, I guess, 25 years since 1998. And, you know, we understand that three of our neighbors have negotiated certain provisos regarding maintenance, but they can't possibly foresee all maintenance issues in the future.
and the the the the property has declined in maintenance over the past couple years
um also regarding parking um um the fagans have a driveway so parking for them is really not an
issue but um in the evenings um there are you know most of the apartments are occupied by one
person at this point, but three of the apartments are two -bedroom apartments, and I believe the
house has three bedrooms. So we could end up with 10 or 11 cars and 10 or 11 adults living at that
property, and that's not in line with the character of this immediate block.
And that's not in line with the character of this immediate block.
So we're very concerned about all of this.
Thank you.
Thank you for taking the time to call and we appreciate it.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Charles Richardson.
I've allowed them to speak.
Morning, Mr. Richardson.
Good morning, Mr. Chair.
Just state your name for the record, please.
Charles Richardson from the Office of Councilwoman Sandy Bass Room.
508 City Hall.
Councilwoman has no opposition to granting this variance with the applicable provisos that have been offered.
Thank you very much for calling in and taking time.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Lucinda Lee.
I've allowed them to speak at this time.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
my name is lucinda lee l -u -c -i -n -d -a l -e -a do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth and nothing but the truth i do are you a neighbor i am a tenant in uh okay all right
proceed proceed i have lived at this address since april 2011 which is 12 years this property
and apartment have always been a haven for me, but especially now as a retired single woman living
on Social Security. Set back from the street, it's extremely quiet and peaceful with a beautiful
garden setting, which was created by the former owner, Virginia Ellis. It's set in a lovely
neighborhood close to shops, transportation, hospitals, nature preserves, and as such is
ideal for a senior citizen. Having proximity to the other friendly tenants provides an important
sense of security and community for me. Quite frankly, it would be devastating for me to
for emotionally and financially should the zoning not get approved and I no longer be able to live
here. The cost of rental properties has skyrocketed since I moved here and affordable
renters for seniors in good neighborhoods are increasingly difficult to come by. I would most
certainly have to move far afield away from friends and supportive community vital to my
well -being. Lastly, the property has been well -maintained for four years by Alphant Ponce
and Andrew Keats. Any maintenance issues have been addressed promptly and effectively,
and having the owner living on site in the apartment opposite mine is a definite advantage
and comfort. All the tenants are considerate and congenial and can be called on to help in
emergencies. So I sincerely hope I can stay here in what I consider to be my home. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Ms. Lee, for calling in. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
No further hands at this time, sir.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman and board members. Good morning, David Fechtow with the City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single -family zoning at this location.
This proposal is consistent with the recommendation in the comprehensive plan to encourage accessory dwelling units and existing structures in the upper northwest section of the city.
The City Planning Commission recommends the board grant the variances for multiple principal uses in buildings and for multifamily household living.
Thank you very much.
Hillary, do we need a corrective refusal here?
So, yes, Mr. Chair.
There's a few things. One, Mr. Clinton, I did not get the tax information. So if you can please forward that at your earliest convenience for the record, that would be great.
Second, the agreement was just provided this morning, and I will need to look through it to determine what provisos or what elements of the agreement could be incorporated as provisos into the decision of the board grants.
And the third matter is that L &I may be issuing an amended refusal or corrected refusal in this matter because it should just list the multifamily use, not single family and multifamily.
And it also did not include anything related to parking because this is an RSA 3 property.
Parking is required. And if only four spaces are being required, there will be a variance needed for the fifth space because there are five units of the property.
So my recommendation is that we hold this. I'm hopeful that we can vote it next week, but I do not want to put a time limit on it in case there's additional time needed for the refusal to be issued.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Clinton. Thank you, Mr. Masters. We'll be back as quick as we can. OK, thank you.
Mr. Chair, I just want to note that the record is this otherwise closed aside from receipt of the tax information and the amended.
this otherwise closed aside from receipt of the the tax information and the amended refusal
thank you hillary thank you thank you so much okay number eight right number eight mi 2023
000 967 14 13 lombard street william dion is the attorney
um letter of non -opposition from the center city residents association
Mr. Dion, if you're in the virtual audience, please raise your hand.
Okay, they will be rejoining as a panelist, Mr. Chair.
Good morning, Mr. Deion.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
firm? Sure. It's William Dion, D as in David, I -O -N as in Nancy. Right. Do you swear or firm
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. I have Darren Tan, who is in the audience
today, and he is a member of Lombard Street Investors. Okay. Our vice chair has just a few
questions for you. Sure. Good morning, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed in all the required documents
and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case
five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have.
Thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen.
If I may, Mr. Chairman,
unfortunately I had to join with my phone.
If I can have you recognize my paralegal Monica Castro.
That's going to be the best way for me to share my screen.
She can just put it up and you'll testify off of it.
That's great.
OK, great. Sure. So will you. Yeah. OK, great. Jason, do you take care of that? Yes, that has already been done, sir. Thank you. Thank you, Jason.
so um as a brief update or a summary mr chairman so um so uh the property in question is 1413
lombard street the property is owned rm1 and we're here today for a variance associated with
of four rental units. The ordinance requires 1 ,440 square feet. This property has 1 ,394 square
feet. So we're 46 square feet short or 3 .19%. I can walk you through the exhibits that we sent,
the zoning application or permit that was originally submitted.
Then there is the denial and the denial section specifically references the four rental units,
or appeal application that was filed with the city.
The project information form
that's also required to be submitted with the city.
A copy of the deed that shows that on 2014,
my client acquired the property.
And at that time, it was rented out as four rental units
as it is still today.
The tax clearance certificate that we obtained from the city.
And then here's some pictures of Lombard Street
um this picture stay on the first picture please the first picture is um the back is to broad
street so you're really at the corner of broad and lombard um there is a uh office building and
parking a lot directly across the building itself is the white building you see a little further in
the distance off to the right let's go down a little bit further so now this is now standing
halfway down uh lombard street closer to 15th street you can still see the white building
um there and this is looking towards broad now this is a picture straight on so this is a
existing row home um that has four rental units in it um i'll just keep scrolling down some of
these pictures real fast so there's the you can see the whole property itself this is uh it is
you know flanked by similar uses in that multi -family dwelling units are uh common along
this section of lombard street um both working towards broad street and uh further down uh
Lombard Street. And I think we can probably go quickly through the remainder. I think the
remainder of pictures are, let's just see, some close -ups. Now these are proof of the posting.
Originally this was posted for June 28th. We did repost, so we have multiple pictures of the
posting for the original hearing and then the continued one till today.
till today. Mr. Dion, do you have any idea how, how, how long this was a multiple unit?
Well, we do. And I'll tell you, so I'll just jump. So as best we could tell in 1978,
there was zoning relief granted to allow for a office and rental operation on the first floor.
It was a tailor shop and an optometrist. And from 1978 until we believe the late 80s, early 90s, that bottom floor was converted to a rental unit and continued on until today.
My client bought it innocently in 2014 as a four rental unit.
Really, this matter came to their attention when they went to renew the rental license.
And at that time, the fact that the zoning did not allow it was brought to their attention.
and that is your client here sir he is mr tan is here and he can be sworn in if you want to
ask him why don't we bring him on and let him adopt your testimony absolutely
hi sir could you state your name please and spell for the court stenographer
jason do we see him hello yes sir
Yes, it's Darren Tan.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Darren Tan.
D -A -R -R -E -N -T -A -N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Mr. Tan, did you hear my presentation to the zoning board just now?
Yes, I did.
And you were present for the whole presentation?
And do you affirm and adopt my testimony in the presentation to the board?
Yes, I do.
Do you have anything to add to what I said?
No, I do not.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Chair.
Thank you.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman.
and board members, David Fecto with the City Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan
recommends no change to the residential multifamily zoning at this location. The
proposed dimensional variance is minor and meets the spirit and intention of the zoning code.
The City Planning Commission recommends the board grant the proposed dimensional variance.
Thank you. MI 2023 -000 -967 -1413 Lombard Street, I vote yes.
sorry there chairman uh no that's fine my vote is yes james snell okay jim
thank you mr dion thank you very much
Number 14, MI 2023, 000402, 265 Hendrick Street.
Joseph Consul is the attorney.
Letter of support from the Somerton Civic Association.
Good morning.
Good morning, Mr. Consul.
So could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Yeah, it's Joseph Consul.
That's J -O -S -E -P -H -C -O -N -S -O -L -E.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client and the relationship to the property?
The two owners of the property is Sakina Dupour and Khalid Bahardi.
I believe Khalid is on the call today.
All right.
Our vice chair has just a few questions for you, sir.
Good morning, counsel. Do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy? I do. Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are needed
to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing? I have. Thank you. Please proceed
and share your screen. Okay. You want to pack it, come up? It is. All right. Hey, everyone. Joe
Council here, 266 Hendrick Street. This property is zoned RS2. It's part of a development of three
story single family twin homes. Here is what the blocks look like all around it. Each home here
was built with a driveway that extends from the street to the structure. Everyone has an attached
garage on the, uh, the end of the driveway, the owners of 266 Hendrix, um,
The owners of 266 Hendrix applied for, and I'll skip ahead to show you what they did.
They closed off the garage, and by closing off the garage, it generated a refusal for the fact, and I don't quite understand, but by closing off the garage,
it turns their driveway into front yard space and by turning the driveway into front yard space
it generates a refusal and a requirement for a variance for them to be able to park
in uh their own driveway so um you know that's what it looks like now um with one closed there's
a driveway there and that is now living space all part of a single family home three stories
and that's their twin home next to them.
There's several other properties
driving up and down these blocks
that did the same thing.
I didn't do any research
as to whether other folks
had been required to get a variance to do it,
but these guys do.
So here's the refusal.
Service parking spaces
and detached garages are prohibited
in the front yard.
um so it's basically their driveway is now turned into a surface parking space and here we are
they submitted plans for the work they did and all that stuff and this was the only refusal they got
so the work itself was not refused it was just this variance that was generated uh we went in
front of somerton we had a huge packed room it was a political political event that night but we got
a full, literally full support and kind of a glowing letter from these folks, which is included
in the packet. Basically, the takeaway was it's their driveway and they should be able to park
in it. Again, there's the photos with the signs up. Here's the zoning plan that was submitted
uh as part of the application showing where they're going to park showing the garage that
they uh turned into living space and then we have all the other documents uh following up here
including the deed showing their ownership it's a family home and the husband and wife of the
owners and on this call i'll call um mr khalid bahardi to adopt my testimony okay
Good morning, sir. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
I'm back in.
Yes, Khaled Bahadri.
Spell it, please.
Bahadri, B -A -H -A -D -R -I.
All right, and what's your first name again?
Khaled, K -H -A -L -I -D.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed, counsel.
Good morning, Khaled. Did you hear my testimony just now regarding your property on Hendrick Street?
Do you agree with my testimony, and do you adopt it as your own?
Okay. I have nothing further, board.
Questions from the board?
No, chair.
No, chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Mr. Chair, I have Alice Udovich with their hand raised. I have allowed them to speak at this time.
Good morning, Alice. Could you state your name just for the record and spell for the court stenographer?
Good morning, Chairman. Members of the board, Alice Udovich, U -D -O -B -I -C -H, on behalf of Councilman Brian O 'Neill.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
The Councilman has no objection to the granting of the variance at this location.
Thank you, Alice, for taking this time to call calls.
You're welcome.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I do not see any hands.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman and members of the board.
David Fecto with the City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single -family zoning at this location.
There is no unique physical condition or circumstance of this property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the board deny the variance for location of accessory parking.
Thank you. MI 2023 -000402 -266 Hendrick Street, I vote yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Aish, try one more time, you break it up.
is try one more time
you break it up
Thank you.
court stenographer
did you get that
chair I heard
my vote is yes
okay thank you very much
thank you counsel
thank you
is there anyone in the audience
whose 930 case has not been called
I do not see any hands, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, everyone.
See everyone at 2 o 'clock.
Good afternoon.
My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this afternoon's EBA hearings.
Our Vice Chair Ismail Shahid should be on shortly.
Board Member Thomas Holliman is here.
President, Mr. Chairman.
And our Board Member James Snell is here.
President, Mr. Chairman.
Also present is Hillary Emerson, our Attorney, and our Executive Director, Tanya Sunken.
Be advised these proceedings are being recorded.
The video will be available by contacting tanyasunkett at phillip .gov.
For the benefit of our court sonographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you're participating by phone and 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 take a look at our continuances for today and the status of some of our cases.
Recording in progress.
I'm here, Chair.
All right, great.
Number eight, MI 2022 -006 -210 -4619 -21 Lancaster Avenue.
Robert Espinal is the president of that organization, and we also have an interpreter on that case.
may the interpreter raise their hand i'm sorry good afternoon chair this is fatina i'll be your
co -host for this afternoon thank you fatina and i'm allowing him to speak now okay
and hello my name is stephen and i'll be the spanish interpreter
Good afternoon. Thank you. Could I swear you in, please? Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do. Thank you.
Mr. Espinal.
Mr. Chair, can you have the interpreter just state and spell his name for the record?
Yes. I'm sorry. Could you spell your name for the record, please?
Yes. My name is Stephen Aubain. Stephen S -T -E -V -E -N. Aubain, A -U -B -A -I -N.
Thank you.
Mr. Espinel.
Señor Espinal.
Would you please ask him to raise his virtual hand?
He has a few devices logged in.
Así que, Señor Espinal, si usted puede levantar la mano en su dispositivo para poder encontrarlo.
Okay, he's been allowed to speak.
Please ask him to unmute.
Asi que ya se le permitio hablar, si puede quitar el micrófono de silencio.
Couldn't the state his name and spell it for the court's sonographer?
Asi que deme su nombre y por favor dele trelo.
Please ask for him to unmute. He's returning as a panelist.
Así que, por favor, quite su micrófono de silencio o quite el mute para que pueda hablar.
Roberto A. Espinal.
And Denter Pro requires clarification. ¿Me lo puedes deletrear?
R -O -B -E -R -T -O.
S -E -S -P -I -N -A
E -S -P -I -N -A -L
Roberto Espinall. Roberto is spelled R -O -B -E -R -T -O. Middle name is A. Espinall, last name E -S -P -I -N -A -L.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
¿Usted jura y afirma decir toda la verdad y nada más que la verdad y la verdad entera?
Sí, señor.
Yes, I do.
The first thing we want to clarify, does he have an attorney today?
Primeramente, queremos clarificar, ¿Usted tiene un abogado el día de hoy?
No, no pude tener abogado porque me lo notificaron hoy a las ocho de la mañana y no sabía que era requerible.
So I wasn't able to get a lawyer because I was notified at 8 in the morning and I wasn't able to get one last minute.
So this case is going to be continued.
We will try to get it back in when we can, but he needs an attorney.
Así que este caso lo vamos a continuar.
Vamos a tratar de reprogramarlo y usted necesita tener un abogado para este caso.
when would it be the possible earliest date that i could have this since i am suffering
Not sure when that'll be.
We try to get him in the best we can,
but I can't give him a date right now.
Así que no sabemos cuándo eso será.
Este lo vamos a tratar de hacer lo más antes que podamos,
pero no le puedo dar una fecha.
Please, please reach out to the office
regarding the scheduling.
Y por favor contacte a la oficina
acerca de las programaciones.
And they will work with you on a date.
Y ellos trabajarán con usted acerca de una fecha.
okay all right thank you thank you to the interpreter and please tell him thanks and
we'll do the best we can well he should call the office and we'll see what we can do okay
thank you thank you thank you interpreter no problem thank you for using our service okay
Okay. Number 10, MI2023 -00982 -224 East Mount Airy Avenue. This case is continued.
Are there any other requests for continuances?
I see no hands, Chair.
Okay. We're going to go to our add -on list.
I'm sorry. One just went up.
Oh, that's okay.
Okay. Stephanie, last name ending with M?
Yes, Mr. Chair, can you hear me?
This is Stephanie Boggs and Claire Harrison.
Hi, could you, just for the record, spell your name for the court reporter.
Sure, Stephanie Boggs -Megania, last name is M -A -G -A -G -N -A.
Right.
Claire Harrison, Harvey Bransburg, 1835 Market Street.
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
we had your case marked as a continuance yes that is correct i hadn't seen it come up on the
chat so i just wanted to confirm that that was registered yeah yep i continued that okay thank
you all right thank you thank you for checking all right we're gonna go to the add ones
Number one, MI 2022, 003 -544 -504 -North Pleasant Place.
I vote yes to this, and Thomas Holloman and Ishmael also vote.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you. Excuse me, Chair. Could I please have Mr. Holloman repeat his vote? I did not hear. Tom, repeat your vote, please.
Thomas.
Start with a yes, Thomas.
Yes. Thank you, Thomas. Thank you.
Thank you. Number two, Ishmael and Jim Snell will be voting.
Ishmael and Jim Snell will be voting. MI 2023 -000 -559 -230 -236 Vine Street.
I vote yes proviso. Her amended refusal dated 6 -20 -23. Additional provisos.
1. Roof deck accessory to visitor accommodation use will close by 8 p .m. and be limited to 50
occupants unless further restricted by the building code. 2. Roof deck accessory to sit -down
restaurant use will be limited to 100 occupants unless further restricted by the building code.
No live or amplified music. We'll close by 10 p .m. on Sunday through Wednesday and midnight Thursday through Saturday.
James Snell, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed my vote is yes with provisos yes with provisos thank you Ish um number
three. MI 2022 007 382 2817 North 12th Street. Thomas Holloman and Ishmael, vote along with me.
I vote yes.
I vote yes, Thomas Holloman.
One more time, Tom.
i vote yes i vote yes thomas holliman thank you
kelly was that you're okay yes chair thank you can you hear me you need to say it again
Yeah, you're better. You got it. Number four, MI 2023 -002 -809 -1401 -South 13th Street.
Okay. Be right with you.
Thomas Heilman and Ishmael also vote on this. I vote yes. Her amended refusal dated 6 -13 -23,
maximum one dwelling unit. Temporary variance for the takeout restaurant use expires 8 -1 -28
and takeout restaurant use limited to the retail sale of baked goods that may be baked on the
premises. Yes, proviso, Thomas
I don't know.
Thank you.
Ishmael's getting back on.
He's still not back here.
he's still not back chair i know i just said he was trying to get back in it sir
he said his whole thing shut down a minute
mr chair this is hillary while we're waiting um i just wanted to interject um it's come to our
attention um with number excuse me um number nine mi -2023 -002342 1716 18 addison street
that the hearing notices were not sent out um and we do not see the the property owner here so he
may not be aware that there's a hearing so we're going to go ahead and continue this case and we'll
send out notices for a new date let me do it right now so mi 2023 002 342 17 16 to 18 addison street
the case is continued thank you
you back ish
we see ishmael yet i see his device but i'm not sure if um he's still having technical issues
because he's not a mutant
yeah he it kicked him right back out chair
oh he's coming in again can you hear me now
We can hear you, Mr. Ishmael.
All right, I'm here.
And you can continue, Chair.
You're just on mute.
You are on mute, Chair.
Here's rule number four of the Aduans, 1401 South 13th Street. Thomas has already voted yes,
and I have. Here it is. It's a yes with provisos. One, per amended refusal dated 6 -13 -23,
maximum one dwelling unit, temporary variance for the takeout restaurant unit,
expiring on 8 -1 -28
and takeout restaurant is limited
to retail sale of baked goods
that can be baked on the premises.
you guys
say it again yes can you hear me yes i can now say yes with proviso yes go ahead yes i can now
2 -0 -0 -5 -1 -8 -0, 1841 North 22nd Street.
It's Ishmael, Isher, leading this, and Thomas and James Snell.
Can you lead this, Isher?
Thomas, how are you?
Yes, I'm here.
i'm here chair now you're good
that's the case you're leading i got you uh so mi2022 -005180 1841 north 22nd street
right uh ishmael shaheed my vote is yes with proviso per amended refusal dated five nine
Thomas Holliman
my vote is yes
with proviso
James Snell my vote is yes
with proviso
number six
MI 2022
North 7th Street
7th Street.
It's Thomas
Thomas Holliman
Holloman at Ishmael.
I vote yes with proviso.
Temporary variance to expire
on 8 -1 -26.
Can you
please
Mr. Chairman, can you hear that?
I can't hear you, Tom.
Can you repeat the vote?
Go ahead, Tom.
I'm sorry, Chair.
This is Tanya.
He's requesting you repeat it so he can lay his stuff up.
Oh, sure, sure, sure.
Thank you.
Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. So, MI 2022 007 300, 1204 North 7th Street. I vote yes with proviso. Temporary variance to expire 8 -1 -26.
I'm Solomon. Yes, with proviso.
Thank you.
ishmael shaheed my vote is yes with proviso number seven mi 2023 000 239 8205 caster
uh i vote with thomas hallman and also james snell in this so i vote yes her amended refusal
dated 5 -15 -23, with Proviso.
Sole medical, dental, and health practitioner use
limited to diabetes education and management.
Thomas Hoffman, Proviso.
James Snell, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Kelly, you okay?
Chair, just to be doubly sure, could I please have Mr. Holloman repeat his vote?
Tom, vote one more time, Tom.
Thomas.
Okay, Mr. Kelly.
Thank you, Chair.
all right we're going to our regular list
we're going to hear number two first
MI 2023 -009 -63 -4301 -29 Chesson Street
Stephanie Boggs is the attorney
The attorney is coming back in as a panelist here. Thank you.
Good afternoon. Thank you, Chair.
Sure. Counsel, you've already been sworn. Just state your name for the record again.
Stephanie Boggs -Meganya. Right. Could you identify your client
on this case? Yes. We have V. Vargas from
Grocery Outlet here on behalf of the tenant, and Diane Quigley is here from
Custom Finishers Inc., who is the sign designer.
could you could you do this one sure um the bargain no ismail could you do the follow -up
on this can you get through i'm not sure the time can
do you stipulate to the accuracy the refusal yes i do although i'll note changes based on
revised plans but and all of your paperwork is in one time correct proceed thank you um
If you could just raise your hand so that you can identify yourself, we'll do that, and I'll walk through our application a bit here.
So this project is at 4301 Chestnut Street, located between 43rd and 44th Street, with primary footage along Chestnut Street.
The site was previously approved for the construction of a mixed -use building with a commercial ground floor tenant that will be leased by grocery outlet for a new store there.
Here's a rendering of the building, which was previously approved in a separate application.
This application specifically is to allow accessory signage for grocery outlet at this location.
Six signs were submitted as part of the application, five along Chestnut Street and one along 44th Street to identify grocery outlet as their tenant space and primarily to main signs to identify their entrances to the building.
to the building um there were two refusals which i'll pull up here issued in connection with this
There were two refusals, which I'll pull up here, issued.
application when it was filed both were for the size of the proposed sign the two primary entrance
signs were 121 square feet whereas 100 is permitted in the district we presented our original plans
to spruce hill community association um and their letter of non -opposition as you can see here is
included within our packet. They had no comments to the, or no concerns, as I understand, to the
sign proposed along 44th Street. Its design and its context within the frame of that front edge
of the building were considered appropriate. And they did have comments, however, to the design
of the sign that's located along Chestnut Street, the primary entrance sign. So that sign was
redesigned in to be consistent with their comments. And I'll show the plans here that
were shared with Spruce Hill. Let's see, we have again, six signs were submitted as part of this
application. This being the primary entrance sign located along Chestnut Street. And this is the
revised design. There is a entrance marquee located at the primary entrance of the space
along Chestnut Street. And the sign, this sign was redesigned to fit better within the context
of that marquee, which in turn did reduce the square footage of the sign. And we believe based
on reading the refusal that this eliminates one of the two sign refusals that were issued
based on the revised plans. But as I noted, Spruce Hill's non -opposition letter based on
the revised plans is included within your packet. So we are requesting approval for the size of the
sign that is located along 44th Street, which again was presented to Spruce Hill as part of
that presentation. Both are intended to serve as wayfinding and identification needs for the
entrances of Grocery Outlet and have been designed to be in keeping with the context of the building
and the character of the area. So with that, I will ask Vee Vargas to raise her hand if she
hasn't already so that I can ask her to adopt my testimony. And again, she's here on behalf
Good afternoon. This is V Vargas. And yes, could you spell your name, please, for the court reporter?
My name is actually Veronica Vargas. And that is V E R O N I C A Vargas V A R G A S.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir. Proceed, counsel.
Thanks. Have you heard my statements to the board this afternoon?
Yes, Stephanie. And I concur.
Thank you. Is there anything you would change or any additional comments you want to add to that?
Okay, thank you.
Then again, we do have the sign designer here as well, Diane Quigley, if there are questions about the design.
Questions from the board?
Chairman?
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission?
Thank you, Chair Bergman, and good afternoon. David Fecto with the City Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the commercial mixed -use zoning at this location. The proposed signed variance is minor and is in keeping with the spirit and intent of the zoning code. The City Planning Commission recommends the board grant the proposed signed variance.
Thank you. MI 2023 -000 -963 -4301 -29 Chessna Street. I vote yes with proviso. Revised plans, four pages, stamped by ZBA, July 12, 2023.
My vote is Tom.
Tom, one more time.
My vote is yes with Proviso.
Thank you.
James Snell, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Is your use still on?
That's good.
You have your votes.
Thank you.
Number one and number seven, we will hear together.
MI -2022 -005 -976 -1113 East Palmer Street, and number seven is MI -2022 -005 -567 -1115 East Palmer Street.
There's a letter of support from the Fishtown Neighbors Association and letter of non -opposition from Council Member Squilla.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the board. My name is Alan Nockamson, A -L -A -N, last name Nockamson, N -O -C -H -U -M -S -O -R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Do you, will you stipulate to the reading and the accuracy of the refusal?
Do you...
Could you identify your client and relationship to the property?
Yeah, my client is, the name of the owner is Palmer Street is Neat LLC.
And then the virtual audience is its member, Bob Shaw.
Thank you.
Please share your screen.
Thank you.
All right, so I'm here to present two matters at the same time.
They're separate variance applications, 1113 and 1115 East Palmer Street.
So in these combined presentation materials that are in front of you, and by the way,
I did submit separate presentation materials for record purposes, you'll see the notices
of refusal back -to -back for both properties.
The correspondence from the Fishtown Neighbors Association, where they issued a letter of support, as well as from the district council member, where Council Member Swilla issued a letter in non -opposition, given the overwhelming support of the neighborhood.
I have letters of support from the nearby neighbors.
So we're 1113 and 1115.
We actually got a letter of support from 1111 and 1117.
um and you know our variance request is to put off street parking in front of these proposed
homes and you'll see that it's non -common for this zoning board uh to grant uh or not not for
the zoning board but it's non -common for uh you know for the neighborhood nearby to have uh
accessory surface parking uh we'll review the maps of the area photographs of the property
our plans and drawings, our RCO meeting notices, one for each zoning application,
our applications for appeal, our deed to the property showing that Palmer Street is NEAT LLC
as the owner of the property, and our certificates of tax clearance. Again, the virtual audience is
Bob Shaw, the member of the corporate holding company that owns both of these properties.
So our notices are refusal. Again, the only thing we're seeking is to have two, well, the reason why we're here today is we're seeking to have two off -street surface parking spots in the front yards of each of these properties.
You'll see from the photographs that one of the properties already has a curb cut there, which is a vacant lot.
We're proposing demolishing the other property and then setting the building back, the new building back, to match the surrounding area.
So we're basically taking one long curb cut, which is going to probably take two parking spots off of the street.
But we're to take two parking spots off of the street, but we're taking four parking spots ultimately off the street.
So it's a net positive of two. So I think that's what the neighborhood appreciated.
It wasn't a one to one ratio. And the fact is not uncommon to have this type of parking in this section of Fishtown.
And this is the same refusal. The only add on for this refusal is that given this property,
1115 East Palmer Street we face where adjacent to left of us is another building structure
which also has parking in the front we have this extra refusal regarding the surface parking as
well a technical refusal uh the letter of support from the Fishtown Neighbors Association it was a
very well attended meeting um we you know ultimately um uh adhere to what they requested
They wanted some landscaping down the middle between these two properties to have a buffer, which we willingly did.
And based on that, we had an overwhelming support.
We had almost 30 people attend that meeting.
Only 25 people voted in favor, it looks like, and six people did not support this project, but overwhelming support.
And then because of that overwhelming support, Council Member Mark Suella also issued a letter of non -opposition.
And then again, we asked the neighbors to left and right of us, the ones who would be most directly impacted by this development project, if they were in support of it.
And we have a letter of support from each of those neighbors as well.
And then again, it's not uncommon to have off -street accessory service parking.
So you'll see 1111 East Palmer Street, 1117 through 1121 East Palmer Street, which we're
mimicking, setting the building structures back and having service parking of two cars
each in front, 1131 Palmer Street, 1112 Palmer Street.
11, 12 Palmer Street. And then maps to the area. We're not trying to increase density in any way.
And then maps to the area.
We're not trying to include.
These are single -family structures. We're here simply to request for off -street parking.
And again, we're taking essentially two cars off of the street by way of this curb cut public
parking off of the street, but we're taking four cars essentially off of the street by putting them
onto our lot. So it's a net positive of two. And then this is just a Google map. We're not that
far off in 95 where East Palmer Street is. So we're between Wildly and Girard and Eyrie and
Earl Streets. And then photographs of the property. So this is the one vacant lot at 1115 Palmer
Street. This is 1113 Palmer Street. We're going to demolish this property, but it's not the greatest
photo but there is actually a curb cut in front of this property which not being respected but
it's a vacant lot so this is Palmer Street to the right of the property as you can see to the
properties that we're looking at so well this is to the left of us but like these are we're
mimicking these properties there which have already been built with has which have off -street
parking of two cars each which are set back and which have landscaping which serve as a buffer
between properties. And that's what was important to the Fishtown community. And then it's Palmer
Street to the left of the property. As you can see, even here, more off -street parking. Here's
more off -street parking. And then these are our hearing notice posters for each of the properties.
And then our plans and drawings. This is just a site plan. The dimensions of our parking paths
are as a code, a little over nine feet by a little bit over 18 feet for each one.
You can see from the site plan. And then what was really important to the neighborhood group was the landscaping.
So we did the landscaping to the right of each property or the right of this property in the middle.
And then we have landscaping on the sides. And then they were also mindful of the type of agriculture we would use here.
So we gave them a detailed listing of what we intend to put there.
And then this is just a rendering showing, you know, the parking spots that would be in front of these houses.
And again, while this is not part of the variance request, we just decided to show you the floor plans.
Pretty basic floor plan. You know, you have an open floor plan on the first floor.
You have a master suite that's actually on the second.
And then you have two bedrooms on the third floor with a roof deck.
And then our RCO meeting notices we met with the community on April 4th.
Proof of mailing to these addresses included, and then for the other address at 1115, same thing, proof of mailing.
There are applications for appeal to the ZBA, along with our project information forms.
Our detail property showing up on the street is NEAT LLC, is the owner of the property, and then our certificates of tax credits.
With that being said, I'm going to unshare my screen.
I would ask that Mr. Shaw virtually raises his hand.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Excuse me, my name is Robert Shaw, R -O -B -E -R -T -S -H -A -W.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Pushy.
Yes, Mr. Shaw, you heard everything I had to state today about your zoning matters.
And what I stated, is that true and correct?
and do you adopt that as your own testimony yes thank you questions from the board no chair
why should you yeah yeah i'm sure i just i just want to interject quickly i i believe that
the refusals should be the same for both properties so it appears that one is missing for 113
palmer street um the one about the parking in the front yard yep but i just but if the board does
grant that variance will automatically uh be any mayor any additional variance needed will
automatically be um included in what the board grants today so i just want to put that on you
want us to read you want us to read that too uh no you don't have to i just i just summarized it
okay well thank you thank you yeah because i just i just wanted to mention it now because
they're not going to sit ahead and mention it in his presentation so okay thank you that's great
thank you comments from the virtual audience
chair we have robert everett okay good afternoon mr everett could you state your name please and
spell for the court reporter yes good afternoon everyone first name is robert r -o -b -e -r -t
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor or a member of the RCO?
I'm a member of the RCO.
I'm on the zoning committee, and I'm just confirming everything Alan said.
We've worked with his associate, Alex, on this whole matter back and forth several times, and it's correct.
And to Hillary's point, that did come up at the meeting that they were both the same refusals.
Thank you very much for calling in, Mr. Robert.
We appreciate it.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, and good afternoon.
Sorry, David Fecto with the City Planning Commission.
Chair and members of the board, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single -family zoning at this location.
There is no unique physical condition or circumstance of either property that will prevent them from being used in conformance with the zoning code.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the board deny the proposed parking variances for each property.
Thank you.
Mr. Nockamson, do you want to respond at all?
So, again, if you look at the nearby properties, it's not out of character to what we're proposing.
Each of these other properties, because of the width of these properties, you're able to put two parking spots with one curb cut.
So it's a net plus one for each of these properties.
So what we're asking for is not out of character.
It's not a zero -sum game of one -to -one.
All right, so number one, MI2022, 005 -976, 1113 East Palmer.
Hillary, can I do both at the same time?
Yes, Mr. Chair, that'd be fine.
And then number seven, MI2022, 005 -567, 1115 East Palmer.
I vote yes to both.
I'm sorry, Chair, one more time.
Tom, vote again, please.
You're breaking up, Tom. Try one more time.
Mr. Snell?
James Snell, yes to both.
Right.
Is your usual out?
Thank you, Mr. Notkinson.
Thank you very much.
Number three.
MI 2023 -00987, 1945 North 5th Street.
Joseph Consul is the attorney.
um letter of support from norris square letter of non -opposition from council person lazada
hey i'm here i don't think i uh was ever taken off of being a panelist tomorrow
i think you've i think you've been here over lunch too so thank you um just for the record
could you state your name yeah it's joseph consul c -o -n -s -o -l -e do you stick late to the reading
any accuracy of the refusal? I do, yes. Okay. Share your screen, please.
Did my packet come up? It did. All right. Good afternoon, everyone. Joe Consul here for
1946 Fifth Street, LLC. With me is John Bonner from 1946 Fifth Street, LLC, which is the
entity that owns the property. This property is on Fifth Street, and I'll give you a view right
now. It is the property right next to the Norris Square Auto Repair Center right here. It's this
three -story property right here. The left side of the street, and let me pull this up right now.
um the left side of the street here and all around surrounding the property is zoned multi -family
this side of the street is zoned single family although there are two other uh approved duplexes
on our side of the block here um my client purchased this property um seeking to rehabilitate
it as a two -unit building and we have a refusal for that i just want to give you guys an idea of
the property looks like. Here's some work he's doing on cleaning it out. It's next to an empty
lot. It goes street to street, so you can see you got the back there. Here's the interior of the
property. His goal is to rehabilitate it and provide two units. The first floor would be a
would be a one bedroom one bath unit here's the plans
one -bedroom, one -bath unit. Here's the plans.
and the uh second and third floors would be a two bed or three bed two bath unit
so that's the third floor two bed two bed or one bath two beds second floor a bed and a bath
kitchen living area and then here's the first floor plan there's no proposed uh living space
in the basement of this property. Now, my client also happens to operate the Norris Square Auto
Repair Center, and that's how this property came onto his radar. One of the neighbors offered to
sell it to him. They had started rehabilitation and decided not to go that route. And one of
the reasons was they didn't feel like a single family home made sense considering its proximity
to so much multifamily and being next to an auto repair center. They believed, and the RCO did as
well, that a two unit building here would work better because there's a need for rental units
in this area. And just being next to the auto repair shop, they did not feel like a large
single -family home would make sense there now it's the largest lot uh on the block coming back
to here it's almost 1400 square feet abuts reese street uh we met with the norris square civic
association and we got their unanimous support uh and then we subsequently got a letter of
non -opposition from Councilman Lozada's office.
That's it for my presentation.
We believe it's a good candidate for the multifamily
because this side of the block does have multifamily
and it's surrounded by a multifamily
for basically blocks surrounding it.
So we think this is a good opportunity for a -
Is your client here, Mr. Counsel?
John, could you raise your hand?
we don't have a jama we have a jennifer garcia oh yes perfect jennifer yes i'm here
hi could you state your name please and spell it for the court reporter jennifer garcia that's j -e -n -n -i -f -e -r
garcia g -a -r -c -i -a do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the
truth yes sir proceed counsel good afternoon jennifer you're the owner of one nine four six
fifth street llc that's correct that's correct and sorry i was messaging with john so i assumed
he was here um did you hear my presentation now regarding this property i did yes as do you agree
with what i said and wish to adopt the testimony as your own yes is there anything you'd like to
add today? No. Okay. Nothing. Questions from the board.
No chair. Thank you. Questions or comments from the virtual
audience?
I see. No, he is here. Planning Commission. Thank you, Chair
Bergman, David Fecto with the City Planning Commission. The
comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location
from residential single -family to residential multifamily.
However, in 2021, the zoning maps were changed
to residential single -family
and a community -led zoning mapping process.
There is no unique physical condition
or circumstance of this property
that would prevent it from being used
in conformance with the zoning code.
The City Planning Commission recommends
the board deny the use variance for two dwelling units.
Okay, thank you.
MI 2023 -000 -987 -1946 -North 5th Street, I vote yes.
Thomas Thomas.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Do you need Thomas one more time, Mr. Kelly?
No, Chair, I got him. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, counsel.
Thank you, board.
Number four, MI -2023 -000 -471 -2829 -59 -North 23rd Street.
Neil Sklaroff is the attorney.
Letter of support from Allegheny West Civic Association.
Neil Sklaroff is rejoining us as a panelist.
Hi, Mr. Sklaroff, how are you, sir? Could you state your name, please, and spell for
Hi, Mr. Sklaroff. How are you, sir? Could you stay?
the court reporter?
Neal Sklaroff, please unmute yourself.
Mr. Sklaroff. Yes. How are you, sir? Good afternoon. I'm good. Sorry about that.
Sure. Sure. For the record, could you state your name and spell, please, for the court reporter?
Yes. Neil Sklaroff, N -E -I -L -S -K -L -A -R -O -F -F. Right. Do you swear or affirm?
Paxson in Philadelphia, with the address of 1500 Market Street, Suite 3500E, Philadelphia, zip code 19102.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do. Am I coming through?
You're fine. Yeah. We hear you.
Can I share my...
Hold on one minute. Just for the record, Mr. Sklaroff, could you identify your client for
the record? Certainly. I have the pleasure of representing the school district of Philadelphia
this afternoon. The school district purchased the property at 2829 North 23rd Street in 1908 and
1912 and built the original T .M. Pierce Elementary School in 1916 and operated the school for 100
years. You stipulate to the reading and accuracy of the refusals? Yes, I do. Okay.
Why don't we share your screen?
I'm showing it.
Is it not coming up?
We didn't see anything yet.
All right.
Just give me a moment, please.
We're fine.
We're fine.
Hi, Mr. Skleroff.
This is Tanya.
Are you using two devices?
I'm just trying to get back to where it says I can share.
and I apologize.
Another moment, please.
Mr. Schlaf, we're fine.
why is it
not letting me do this
again my apologies
how about Tanya's issue do you think maybe you could
shut one of the devices off
I don't have one
Okay, but I can't see the green button on the bottom.
I don't.
I don't know why that's not appearing.
Why don't we do this?
why don't we get back to you why don't you take a couple minutes and we'll get back to take the
next one and uh yeah we will we'll get we'll get back to you in a little bit okay all right thank
you thank you i'm sorry i'm sorry chair this is tanya again i hate to interrupt but i believe
but mr sklerov make sure that you're using the device that we're looking at you
that's the same device you're going to share your screen yes i only have one one device
and I can. Okay, thank you, Chair. I just wanted to mention that.
So let's go to number five. MI 2023 -0009525918 North Broad Street. Justin Crick is the attorney.
There's a letter of opposition received from a concerned community association.
Also, letters of opposition for the local business and churches.
Councilperson Bass is also in opposition.
This is a special exception.
Justin Crick is joining us as a panelist.
Good morning, members of the panel.
Could you state your name for the record, please?
Justin, J -U -S -T -I -N, Crick, K -R -I -K.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
um do you stipulate to the reading and the accuracy of the refusal uh yes it's a referral
It's a referral.
it's a referral right correct okay um could you identify
It's a referral, right?
Correct.
Could you identify your client and their relationship to this property?
I have Paulette Starr -Denal, who is the record owner of the property and the owner of the
proposed tenant occupant, self -rented, and her daughter, Cherise Docter.
All right.
Why don't you share the screen?
okay all right thank you members of the panel we're here today regarding the property located
at 5918 north broad street they are seeking to or miss star paulette star and her daughter are
looking to open up and use the property for an entertainment venue essentially for the
gathering for event space, for family entertainment lifecycle events, as well as to host business meetings along the corridor during the day.
The intent of this space is to be more family and business oriented.
Essentially, this is situated, again, back to the referral part of it.
the only referral that was given was that the proposed assembly and entertainment does require
special exception. The idea of having an event space is not in itself against the code. But for
purposes of giving geographical reference, we are situated along the north broad corridor
and Old York Road in the island where the two somewhat converge. And this is a very big
commercial corridor in the area the entire block is pretty much commercial with the exception of
a police station on one side but both sides of the street have a have a a significant amount
of commercial and mixed use occupancy in the area from the street view we are talking about
this property situated to the right of the tree here the two units above are and will be residential
units and continue to be so in the future. The first floor has been vacant for quite some time
and due to the desires of the owner to actually earn some revenue and establish something they
thought long and hard about what would go there and they have decided to create an event space
again for the idea of life cycle events, business lunches, networking events. This is a no alcohol
space as you'll see from some of the renderings on the inside when we get
there the space is limited and the number of occupancy is significantly
limited that this is not intended to be what people fear in that it can turn
into a nightclub but this is again no alcohol no BYOB etc looking one
direction I believe this is the south view and the north view you'll see that
there is businesses again along both sides and and during the time of these
pictures there are some I'd call it dental tooth parking spaces scattered
throughout the applicant did start to create a space here we've had discussions
with the neighborhood about the sign that dealt with their financing but
nevertheless there's no operations happening at the space to give you an
idea of the interior and the size of the space we're talking about just the first
floor space only approximately between it's given between six and eight hundred
square feet, no basement use for the gathering of people. There is only one bathroom, which again,
speaks to the type of occupancy we're seeking. These are not renderings. These are the actual
current situation of the property. And again, the owner took some liberties in kind of sprucing it
up for an intended use, understanding that this was still on the table. But nevertheless, you can
see again from the scope and the design, this is not a place to have a ruckus party with
club music.
The intention is that if someone wants to have a birthday party, a sweet 16, even a
graduation party, anything, or a lunch business meeting, they'll be able to schedule the use
of the space.
They will have to bring their own food and beverage and so forth.
And the intent is to be open from or available for events between 9am and 12am.
they have a private trash pickup that they will schedule and I'll have the
client testify a little bit about her other business operations in the
neighborhood over the last several decades she has been a business owner in
this area backyard is a little fenced -in area that that we do believe may be used
by patrons you know during a gathering or something but it will not be a primary
point of access for in and out but just an outdoor space this is just for
but just some outdoor space.
This is just, for example,
For example, one of the other businesses.
one of the other business accounts
that the applicant has a contract with Republic Services.
We were just trying to indicate
that they have experience running businesses in the area
that would require commercial trash pickup.
So again, with this,
there is one staff member at all times at a minimum
that will act as the person overseeing,
cleaning up and making sure that there are no issues and no alcohol and things of that nature
who will be able to speak directly with the owner or it will be the owner but someone on behalf of
the owner will be present at any event that would occur. The police and fire departments are on the
same block. We are basically right next to those areas and the intent is that this is a neighborhood
facility which means that they promote the use of public transportation as well as just for people
within potentially walking distance you'll note that a lot of the uh opposition came from people
with either concerns about parking or concerns about safety when it comes to event spaces that
they that they say that they have not wanted in the area so we did a somewhat informal little
review of the parking in the area and highlighted in some some of the areas again it's not as formal
as it could be uh but as a referral we believe that there's enough objective evidence to show
that there is ample parking in the area for a business of this type that requires gatherings
that there is no evidence that the type of gatherings that they're seeking to have and
expressly agree to limit themselves to again no alcohol certain times of day and even maximum
occupancy limits according to um to the fire code that this would amount to or exceed traditional
limits of of a gathering space so i broke it down into a few sections this is champlost and north of
champlost within a few blocks our our space is located right here where the uh the icon marker
is and so just from north of champlost you can see there are plenty of parking along champlost
and some of that does agreeably go into some residential neighborhoods but most of this is
long commercial corridor as we come closer to the heart of our block with the exception of right
here this is police parking this section but there's ample parking that any business that
operates within this area may expect at some given time that a patron would have to park within this
zone so i don't think it's too far -fetched we didn't think it was too far -fetched to look at
the amount of parking in the area. And this is south of West Nidro. We just highlighted some
areas that look like they are open parking. Again, not trying to take from residents in the area,
but again, the number and the size of this space is so small that we don't see such a great impact.
We did receive opposition from an exterminating company located where the cursor is shown right
now, indicating that they have an issue with someone being this close to them and their neighbor.
which I think is a little bit misleading considering they are not located necessarily
doors away from our property and that the parking would not again be any more than would be in this
typical use. The other main letter of opposition that we received was from the Philippine Church
which is even further down North Broad Street located where my cursor is now even much further
away uh claiming that this that the parking could impact services but again even if there was an
event on a sunday morning i to to claim that a business located a block and a half away uh in
in this type of neighborhood that it would impact their services and not conversely where you know
they have people coming in parking too would impact ours so essentially you know we did a
little bit of a parking review of this general area and found that from where we're located
to where one and two of the main opposition are located, and then the general community overall having concern with parking,
we believe that, again, this will not overcrowd the street any greater than an assembly or entertainment of this nature.
Again, of this nature, not of one that is related to a bar or a nightclub or someplace that does serve alcohol or food and drinks.
So, again, we believe that we are limited in that and that we do not exceed those objectives.
So with that said, again, we don't believe there's any overcrowding in the streets.
It definitely does not overcrowd the land because we will meet all occupancy requirements
of the city for that commercial space and the other two floors will remain as residential.
There is no impact to the air and light of any other neighbor as no structure is changing.
and as to public facilities there's only one restroom so um in terms of
And as to public facilities, there's only one restroom.
So in terms of utilities and so forth, this will not create any larger use or drain upon any public facility.
Impacting or impairing the use of adjacent properties.
Again, almost every property on this block has a commercial storefront.
There is a PNC bank located nearby, a couple doors down with an ATM machine.
I was going to say Mac machine, but that would date me more.
And I don't believe that the concerns of safety for people using that machine or being able to walk in that area are exaggerated at all by the use of a facility that during the hours of 9 a .m. and 12 a .m. might host birthday parties or, you know, life cycle events.
For that reason, this use as opposed to an assembly and entertainment at a different
type of establishment, we don't believe that this would endanger public health or is inconsistent
with the comprehensive plan.
We can see that Ms. Starr bought this property at a share of sale way back when in, I believe
it was 1999 and has had the property for quite some time and done various things with it but
again i'll have her speak shortly about her experience in the neighborhood with various
businesses and how they intend to address all these concerns i will show you that we did not
actually meet with the oak lane worcester community coalition they were unresponsive
but thankfully even even with opposition we're very thankful that the concerned community
association was able to pick up uh the the pieces and and organize meetings for us in a meeting for
us again albeit with opposition we did do what was necessary posting on the property
and copies of the notice to all neighbors and proof of mailing um with that i would like to
bring on Paulette Starr and Cherise Docter to just adopt testimony, but also to provide some insight
into their history in the neighborhood and why they believe that the concerns of safety and
parking are not sufficient enough to meet the burden of proof that we believe has shifted to
the neighborhood. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do is anybody with you yes paulette star dinell hi could you spell your name please
for the court reporter? Paulette. Paulette is spelled P -A -U -L -E -T -T -E star S -T -A -R -R dash D -I -N -N -A -L -L.
He swears from tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you. I'll start with Paulette. And just, Paulette, could you tell me, did you hear my
statements to the board? Yes, I did. And were they true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
Yes, they were. And would you adopt those statements as if they were your own? Yes.
Thank you. Would you kindly tell the board a little bit about, describe briefly,
your experience in business and both living, your history in the neighborhood, please?
okay yeah um in that neighborhood i've been doing business i've done business since
19 i think it's 89 i had a nail salon on old york road road directly behind 59 18
not broad and i had that nail salon approximately for 10 years and then i had a ice uh water ice
place with ice cream and hot dog and i had that for another five years that is directly behind
north broad 18 59 18 broad street and i've never had an encounter with any situation as what the
neighbors are expressing and the fact that the police station is right there normally you know
police they become friends of of ours so i have never experienced any violence and on broad street
i have rented that property out to hair salon and a daycare was there also and i just didn't
rent it again because i wanted to do something where i could get some revenue from for myself
yes and and i grew up i'm 40 this is so now um i'll ask sharice if you could do the same
I'll ask Sharice if you could do the same and just give a little insight.
and just give a little insight i didn't i want the court reporter to
I didn't I want the court reporter to be able to distinguish who's speaking.
OK, yes, I have actually grew up in that area because of the nail salon that she had there.
I'm 43 right now. So, you know, I was there during the period of when I learned to drive.
I'm familiar with a lot of people in the community.
There is a vitamin shop that I still go to and I've been going there for a very long time.
the KFC, the owners there, they're well aware of who I am. So that community is kind of like,
you know, a home away from home, a lot of memories. So we would never do anything to
jeopardize it. It's not like someone who's coming into a community that's not familiar with the
people or the lifestyle or the stores in that particular area. As a matter of fact, I'm one of
the person you know who was on the meeting we my mother used to do her nails so um it's not you
know coming in and trying to delegate a community that we're not aware of we're well associated with
this community okay and would would um sharice would you say in your experience in the area
uh both as an owner as the daughter of the owner of the property and in your experience through
the businesses that you've been to. Do you ever have any difficulty parking beyond what you would
expect of a commercial area in Philadelphia? No, not at all. And I'm not the greatest of
driver. I mean, I've been driving since I was 16 and parallel parking is a little bit like OMG for
me, but I always find parking where I can fit the car and it never really had an issue with
parking there. I also go to a nail salon that's in the area down the street and I'm there every
two weeks and I parked quite okay there. There's a Jamaican store that's down the street as well
too that I still go to that's been there forever. And I find parking quite fine down there. So
it's not been an issue for me else. I probably wouldn't have gone because I'm not a great driver.
and and given the size of the space it are you in agreement that you would you don't likely see
more than 50 people at any given time if that um we're not we're prepared for maybe 30 the most
again my mom owns the biz the building so it's not like we have to pay rent and mortgage so we
have to accept everyone we can decline a large group of people um you know we're trying to accept
smaller groups and understood understood um so in terms of safety you intend to have
a staff on and present at any event is that correct yes because we put a lot of money there
and we intend to put more and we don't want our business our building to be vandalized
so we do have cameras there to make sure that someone is looking as well as there's going to
be a staff member there as well at all times to make sure that, you know, there are no alcohol
or anything that is not in the contract of them having the space for the time that they're having
it. Right. And just to be clear, there would never be a time where alcohol is permitted.
No. Okay. And food is also separate. It's bring in, it's self -cater? Yes. Okay. All right. I don't
have any further questions for them at this time but would reserve the right if there's a question
asked in opposition quick let me answer this question how many people attended the rco meeting
um i don't have the exact number of that but i would say there were there were i mean it was a
full screen it didn't go on to two screens sort of situation but there were people present okay
all right thank you questions from the board
i'm a chairman questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no handshake wait a minute we have charles richardson chair
hi mr richardson just state your name for the record please good afternoon mr chair uh charles
Richardson, Office of the Councilwoman, Councilwoman Cindy Bass from 508 City Hall.
Proceed, sir.
As indicated, the Councilwoman is opposed to this project.
The applicant prematurely renovated the space without knowing that the fact of whether the
community would be supportive of that just seems to be an attempt to jump on the bandwagon
and a lot of other folks that have tried to create event spaces, even within a couple blocks of there.
And you guys have heard those cases within the last few months, and they've been denied each time.
You know, as they continue to talk about the fact that how nice.
you know, as they continue to talk about the fact that how nice things are, but the things that
they're doing are during the day, and they don't have any real idea of how things go in that
community in the evening. And the type of events that they might be having up until midnight
actually would have some kind of other effect on the community there. So, you know, and I did let
Justin know ahead of time because he reached out to us trying to find out about, you know,
what the temperature was in the community with regard to an event space.
And I did let him know that others had been rejected quite frequently.
So, you know, the councilwoman is against it.
And just wanted to clear that up for you.
And also just wanted to also say with regard to Oakland and Worcester,
everything had been scheduled by them, but they unfortunately were not unable to attend.
So it did not go as rough or choppy as it might have been indicated.
Thank you. Thank you for calling it. May I have a question, Mr. Krip?
Well, I would just like to indicate that the idea that, and I'm happy to show them again,
the idea that the applicant went ahead and did some renovations prematurely is not without
their knowledge that this may not be granted and they may have to repurpose. She's the owner of
the property and she has the full right to get a head start, even if it's not guaranteed. And we
know that the second part though is that that to to indicate that others have been uh declined in
this area um i think it's important to note that they may have had different circumstances and
being this is a referral and a special exception if they're all being denied then what is enough
that doesn't raise to excessive beyond the normal amount of an entertainment venue so i think this
is based on its size and the characteristics that are there's no liquor license no intent of alcohol
i think it is distinct from any other event space and and and can't get more de minimis to
not burdening or or uh you know not harming those objective standards i don't think that
that there's been an objective uh proof met that this use would exceed the ordinary use
of an event space is there is there anyone else in the virtual audience
Here we have Robert Young.
Mr. Young, could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter?
Yes, my name is Robert Young, R -O -B -E -R -T -Y -O -U -N -G.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
Yes, I am.
Proceed.
I've listened to all the comments. My concern as a local resident is the traffic on O 'York Road and Broad Street.
Even though the pictures show basic Broad Street traffic, there has been no mention of the C bus that comes down Broad Street.
We have another bus that actually turns off of Old York Road and crosses Broad Street.
You do have the bank.
There's a lot of stop -and -go traffic, and even though the facility itself is to be used for those type of situations,
I think the neighborhood just reflects the parking concerns.
uh broad street is broad street there are businesses on all york road you have the
police station that takes up a spot uh the businesses on all york road they have to stop
and go traffic so when you have a situation where you want to have an event the overflow of parking
and i understand maybe 50 people i don't know how many cars that brings but the overflow will be
onto the residential streets and as much as the concern of what type of facility it is
the neighborhood i feel that the overflow of parking during certain hours will be an impact
to the neighborhood thank you mr young thank you thanks for taking the time
is there anyone else in the virtual audience here we have sharon mcclain
hi miss mcclain could you state your name and spell please for the court reporter
okay i'm i am this is it's my phone but my daughter vernee handy uh she's a daughter of
of uh monday handy who owns the handy's barbershop she wants to make a statement so i'll let her talk
hi could you state your name please as bell for the court reporter yes my name is vernee handy
v -e -r -n -e -e last name h -a -n -d -y do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth yes your business is in the neighborhood yes my father's business
Yes. Your business is in the neighborhood? Yes, my father's business in the neighborhood. I've lived in the neighborhood my entire life. Proceed, sir.
um it's a ma 'am actually i'm actually in favor of this event space um i do commend
the uh woman for wanting to expand her business um as before she's rented the business to a church
on the uh in the same building that she's in so i don't know what any difference there would be
as far as parking uh as the members of the church attended i'm sure it would be the same amount of
people at the event space also across the street adjacent across from the 35th district there is a
bar myspace bar so there are all already liquor on the block i think you guys should give this
woman a chance and her daughter to have black -owned businesses in the community and i congratulate her
and i pray that it goes through thank you thank you anyone else in the virtual audience here we
have bill williams mr williams please state your name and spell for the court reporter
name is bill williams b -i -l -l -w -i -l -l -i -a -m -s right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth yes are you in favor or against it i'm against
could you tell me real quickly why my concern is all the people that's going to be coming
And actually, we have three event spaces within three or four blocks that's on the agenda right now to be made into event spaces.
All of them claim they're not going to have liquor.
They're not going to have this.
But you're inviting people from all over the city to come to a place where we're already having a whole bunch of problems.
We're just inviting more problems, I think.
Mr. Williams, thank you very much for your input.
We appreciate you calling in.
Is there anyone else in the audience?
I've seen no more hands, Chair.
Hi, Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, and good afternoon, David Fecto with the City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the commercial mixed -use zoning at this location.
The appellant has shown that the proposed assembly and entertainment will have no detrimental impacts to the neighborhood beyond what might be expected from this use.
The City Planning Commission recommends the board grant the proposed special exception for assembly and entertainment.
Thank you.
MI 2023 -000952 -5918 North Broad Street. I vote no.
Can you repeat?
yes so i i vote no tom
okay thank you jim james snell my vote is no
mr kelly you get both votes the little three votes
chair i'm afraid i have to ask mr holland yeah that's fine tom could you vote one more time
Unmute, Tom.
Your vote.
Tom, could you just say yes or no?
Mr. Chair, I believe we also have Mr. Shahid back on.
Ish, could you vote, please?
Yes, Ishmael Shahid, my vote is no.
Thank you.
Mr. Crick, could you stay on, please?
We have another case with you.
Thank you very much.
Number six, MI 2023 -001 -042, 10 South Front Street.
recommendation of support from the old city district and a letter of non -opposition
from council member squilla um you've already been sworn just for the record state your name
yes justin crick j -u -s -t -i -n -k -r -i -k right and could you identify your client the relationship
to the property yes my client is anas hamed and he is the owner of the tenant he's the applicant
owner of the tenant um uh the victoria free house which which will be later known as lily's ferry
um ish could you follow up with a few questions sure
Sure. Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate
good afternoon council do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal
to its accuracy? Yes, I do. Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are
needed and required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing? Yes. Thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen. Thank you. Members of the board, my name is Justin Crick,
and we are here for this matter is an application for the property located at 10 South Front Street.
The applicant, Anas Ahmed, would like to, as an occupant, continue and expand the proposed
restaurant use that he has in this first floor of this property already. So this is for an assembly
and entertainment and smoking lounge with sit -down restaurant at the second floor of this building,
which already exists, his sit -down restaurant with assembly and entertainment on the first
floor. There is no sign on this application. So essentially, the proposed assembly and
entertainment is not allowed in the district and the sit -down restaurant and smoking lounge
generated special exceptions in this area. For geographic purposes, this is located right along
South Front Street you may all be familiar with the parking right as you
get onto this ramp on to 95 we are about the fifth building in along that way and
as you can see we're located right here first floor and then we're trying to
expand to the second the occupant has no control over the third and fourth as
residential but does have the landlord's approval to to expand the first floor
dining and assembly entertainment to the second floor as well as the smoking
lounge upstairs so another vantage point of the property you can see there's
already some parking and as an old city you know parking there's parking garages
and the neighborhood didn't seem to concern with that aspect of it and we
also have their support this is the the layout current situation of the second
floor of the property it's empty and not in use but will be laid out very similar
to the first floor without the bar some seating along and tables along the sides essentially
this is the the number of seats at the bar and the layout of on our system didn't quite have an
exact layout so we're using the the the seating crm to show you about how many two seating tables
two top tables can fit along each wall of the second floor after meeting with old city district
They supported this unanimously with, you know, all seven out of the 10, seven board meeting members and 10 other attendees all supporting this matter.
Here is an exemplar of the lease, again, the Victoria Free House and Anas Ahmed.
He will be opening and operating this, I believe, under the name Lily's Ferry when it is open.
the staff the intent is to have hours of operation from 4 to 12 on Sunday through
Thursday 4 to 2 a .m. Friday Saturday and a little bit of actually and some again
with the restaurant some music over the speakers maybe maybe someone with an
instrument walking around to provide ambiance uh it will be mediterranean cuisine there are about
approximately 42 seats on the first floor i'm sorry uh and uh and i believe that's it again
with with the um with the approval of everyone they understand that he's just trying to expand
the existing operation from the first floor to the second and to add the smoking lounge to that
second floor uh we do again have the support and notice and proof of mailing is attached
as well as a tax clearance certificate for the victoria treehouse
i have an assamed on the line if he can raise his hand i would have him adopt the testimony thank you
hi could you state your name please and spell for the court reporter
Please unmute yourself.
Can you hear me now?
Yes. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Sure. My name is Anas Hamed, N -S -A -N -A -S, H -A -M -E -D.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I will say the truth, nothing but the truth.
Okay. Proceed, counsel.
All right, Mr. Ahmed, have you had a chance to hear my testimony to the board today?
And would you say that my statements were true and correct to the best of your knowledge?
And would you adopt my statements as if they were your own?
Do you have anything else you'd like to add?
Do you have anything else you'd like to add?
No, sir.
No, sir.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Chair.
No, Chair.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Right, thank you.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, and good afternoon.
David Vecto with the City Planning Commission.
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the commercial mixed use zoning at this location
the appellant has shown that the proposed smoking lounge and the proposed sit -down restaurant will
have no detrimental impacts to the neighborhood beyond what might be expected however the appellant
has not shown that a unique physical condition of circumstance exists it would require the property
to be used for assembly and entertainment so the city planning commission recommends the board grant
the special exception for smoking lounge and the special exception for sit -down restaurant
and deny the use variants for assembly and entertainment.
Mr. Crick, I'm going to take this back to the executive session next week.
We'll take a look at that. We'll figure it out and we'll vote next week at 2 p .m. next Wednesday.
Is that okay, Hillary?
Yes, that's fine, Mr. Chair.
Next Wednesday, the 19th at 2 p .m.
Thank you, Mr. Crick.
Thank you.
I don't know if you want to ask if there's any opposition in the audience just to be
I asked for anyone at all in the audience who had a comment.
Okay, I'm sorry.
Yeah, I did.
I asked the virtual audience.
In fact, I think I did it twice.
But thank you, sir.
No worries.
Thank you.
Okay. Um, let's see here.
That's in.
Continuance.
Let me go back here.
Justin Crick.
Done. Done.
Number 11, MI 2022, 003 -437 -6900 Chester Avenue, parcel B.
Hal Schremer is the attorney, and Zen Jin represents the 40th Ward Republican group.
There's a letter of support from the Southwest Community Development Corporation.
letter of support from the ward leader 40 b and there's a letter of opposition from the 40th ward
rca mr chair sorry that's okay um it's mr chair i just wanted to note that we um we did receive
the uh posting the posting photos so this case is ready to go thank you
Mr. Shermer
Mr. Shermer
Al Shermer
Al Shermer, please unmute yourself
There we go
Hi. Hi. Mr. Shermer, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Yes. First name Hal, H -A -L. Last name Shermer, S -C -H -I -R -M -E -R.
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
So does.
Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
My client is Tariq Bryant, who has owned the property for the last four -something years.
The property was subject to a prior variance for a subdivision because this property was an end row house.
The entire block was developed with 16 -foot row house properties.
The end row house was 32 feet.
And about two years ago, the zoning board approved a subdivision to split the 32 -foot lot into two 16 -foot lots.
This is a request for the 16 -foot lot at the corner to be made into a multi -unit first -floor restaurant and upper -floor rental multifamily.
Mr. Jin, could you identify yourself, please?
Yes, good afternoon. My name is Z -H -E -N -J -I -N.
Yes, good afternoon. My name is Z -H -E -N -J -I -N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 1838, Philadelphia PA -19103.
I'm here on behalf of the Ward 40 Republican RCO.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Mr. Shermer, our vice chair has just a few questions.
Of course.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Unfortunately, no, because the refusal has been altered based on some ex parte contacts between some of the neighbors and the Department of Licenses and Inspections.
And that is directly contrary to the prior solicitor's opinion, 90 -18, which says that once an appeal has been filed, the board of L &I review, or sorry, the board, the zoning administrator lacks authority to make changes to these decisions.
I will put that into part of the rest of the decision, but the actual document that I'm looking at is opinion number 98 -38, which is November 29 of 1990,
which was sent to Angelo Pujoliz, Department of Illinois Inspections, from Pat Hamill, Assistant City Solicitor.
And what we have is you may have requested an opinion on the Law Department on the following question.
A brief answer. Once an appeal has been taken by the applicant and a hearing date has been sent, thereby setting in motion the appeal process, neither the examiner nor the zoning in it should take unilateral action to correct the perceived mistake.
Part three, which is proposed policy.
Once a zoning examiner's decision to deny a permit has been appealed to the zoning to the board and the board has set a hearing date for the matter and has so notified the applicant or appellant, the zoning examiner and the Department of License Inspections zoning unit has lost jurisdiction, asterisk, to change that decision directly or unilaterally
and may not use the power that he she it had been granted in the first instance
by chapter 10 of the home rule charter so we have an issue that we have some ex parte
contacts between disgruntled political neighbors uh and this position i would object to that
characterization uh the objection let us finish getting him on the record and i need to finish
where you went sir so i guess your answer was no you are not going to waive reading of the refusal
uh correct there is an objection there is an object there is an objection to the refusal
understood understood excuse me mr chair sorry this is okay yeah no just give me one second i've
asked um leonard warder to come on because there is an objection to the refusal because then that's
an l and i issue um so i've asked him to come on so if we want to have further discussion on this
matter i can't wait till mr reuter gets on i think we bring mr reuter on to see where we stand with
this yep uh and apologies because we didn't find out about this until four or five to four business
days before this happened so this was a bit of a blind side to my part so mr jim mr jim will give
give you plenty of time to respond.
Mr. Rilder is not on as of yet. As soon as he does, I'll promote him to panelists.
I'm sorry. Hi, this is Tanya. Mr. Shaheed, did we completely swear him in?
No, can I finish? Yes. So, sir, have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that
are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have. And we have submitted a couple of additional and I have additional submissions because we did not have our RCO meeting until Monday.
additional submissions because we did not have our RCO meeting until Monday.
So beyond the five days. So we did submit all our information,
information and other, and we have submitted other information to supplement after the RCO hearing.
and we did have our hearing back in november they had the documents were submitted back i think in
november and then in march and then march or april and then we have the this is our third continuance
so you've got our documents in trip to you okay thank you please proceed and share your screen
and i guess we can get prepared to get started well i think we're waiting to say mr mr reuter
is here now good afternoon mr reuter
good afternoon uh may it please the board leonard reuter r -e -u -t -e -r for the city of philadelphia
i apologize i was kind of called in here i don't have my tie on or anything right do you swear or
affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I do. Mr. Shermer has just
made a couple statements. Mr. Shermer, maybe not quite as long, but could you give Mr. Reuter an
idea of where we are with this? The refusal was changed by an ex parte connection from somebody
to the Department of L &I that is specifically prohibited by Opinion 90 -38, November 29,
1990, which was sent to Anthony Pugilese, which says, once there is an appeal to the
board, to the zoning board, L &I loses authority to make amendments.
uh it's a legal argument and we'll prepare to go through it and we'll argue the factual
the factual elements but uh it's part of the solicitor opinion and as i recall the city
the city charter actually requires that the zoning board follow the directives of a of a
formal city solicitor's opinion. It might be helpful to know, what do you believe has been
changed? We went from two use refusals, which were a use refusal for the eating and drinking
establishment, which is basically a juice bar, and the refusal for multi -family use.
And then instead, we ended up with additional refusals, which were categorized as use refusals for parking and parallel parking, which were based off of apparently one of the neighbor's concerns.
So we went from four refusals, we went from two refusals to four refusals, which were issued seven days ago, which I found out about three, four businesses Thursday last week.
Excuse me, Mr. Shermer, this is Hillary. Do you mind putting the refusals up on the screen so that everyone can see what you're referring to with the additional refusals?
refusals. Yep, there we go. Hold on a second. So, if I could interject just for a moment,
who is representing who in this case? I'm representing the owner, and Mr. Zinn is
representing
Ward 40, Republican RCO.
Thank you.
Are you representing 40A or 40B?
Because there are two halves of the 40th Ward.
I just wanted to really know who represented the applicant.
so I guess my,
Well, my question is, what is the question for L &I? I mean, if the argument is that, from what I heard, your argument, Mr. Shermer, is that L &I can't amend it.
Well, and this will be specific here.
Ellen, I can't amend this refusal because once it's before the zoning board, the department loses jurisdiction and you need the permission of the.
uh the department loses jurisdiction and you need the permission of the zoning board to authorize
uh an amend an amended refusal or something like that is that basically what you're saying
uh well yes that's the actual text right so can't the rco now that they're here in front of the
zoning board simply make the request just ask the zoning board to authorize it we'll get a
continuance have ellen i take another look at it and then it'll be all hunky -dory right well we're
out of we are we are out of continuances and our last continuance was because we were supposed to
talk to the neighbors but i'm a little annoyed because this was not a continuance to talk to
the neighbors this was a continuance for somebody to have ex parte contact with lni in order to add
in a refusal and amend the refusal contrary to law that have been black letter law for the past
30 years i'm not excuse me this is this is hillary i just want to interject briefly um and note that
there is a distinction, and Mr. Roy, you need to talk to L &I about the specific case, but there's
a distinction between a corrected refusal and an amended refusal. If an applicant wishes to amend
a refusal to make changes, they do need permission from the zoning board to go back to L &I to change
it. But if there is a correction to be made, L &I is able to and does regularly issue those. So again,
Mr. Reuter would need to clarify what LNI's position is on this, but I just wanted to draw
a distinction that sometimes mistakes are made and refusals do need to be reissued
with corrections. Right, and again, I will, so we are talking, so I understand, we are talking only
about 6900 Chester Ave Parcel B, is that right? Do we all agree on that? Okay. Is my iPad coming up
on the shared screen sure okay i mean i am because that's the zoning that's a that's a
formal zoning opinion which says you can't change the rules of the game after we start playoff
then that's what happened here we're prepared to go through but mr shirmer just out of curiosity
mr shirmer someone came to you and told you this uh oh hell no we found out at the last minute
because somebody on the other side had gotten to somebody at l and i but somebody had to tell you
that right what i'm saying somebody had to tell you so i mean again on behalf of l and i do you
never heard i have not i've never heard from l and i i'm the attorney on the case i only heard
about this from somebody on the other side bloating about hey we got this changed so i
I may be able to shed some light on this situation.
Yes, thank you.
I was just going to suggest that Mr. Jin be given a chance to speak.
So Ward 40 RCO received, had an initial presentation from the applicant.
They received plans as part of the application on which they're on the site plan.
It is clearly shown there's a off -street parking space as part of the application.
in looking at the refusal the ward believes that it should make sense that a off -street parking
not accessed by a rear street under the code in an RSA 5 would be its own refusal and that's why
we reached out to the examiner to ask if that was in fact a missed item on the refusal and that
came back in the affirmative so the examiner took it upon himself to simply issue a new refusal
and that's what was ultimately provided to Mr. Shermer at the last meeting is a copy of the
revised refusal. So it was actually the initial dialogue with the examiner is from my client.
i i uh mr shirmer's uncomfortable with going on i mean i think then we just continue this
i mean do we want leonard to look at this i mean i'm happy to look at it uh
we again my client wants to go through could i let leonard speak first leonard go ahead uh yeah
Sure. I mean, obviously, this is the first time I'm hearing about this, and so from my position, I think that, yeah, ideally, I would like to have more time to figure out.
From my position, I think that, yeah, ideally, I would like to have more time to figure out what exactly the issue is and review, for instance, the solicitor's opinion that Mr. Shermer is referring to.
That being said, it seems to me if we make a determination that there was an error in a refusal, then I don't see why we would not be able to correct that error.
However, by the same token, we have previously talked to the board, this is before your tenure, Mr. Chair, that if a refusal were missed, but the refusal, in other words, if there were an error in issuing a refusal, like say they forgot to add another refusal, or whatever, say in this case.
Well, parking parking is a kind of a special case, but because it requires approval.
I mean, in this case, I believe it would require approval of the streets department and an additional plan review.
So that that's that would be part of the that's part of the problem here.
So, I mean, again, I think if I understand the application and I'm only now just looking at the application.
uh you know it's possible they could go back and they could resolve those additional refusals and
then it would become a non -issue uh and i don't see that there would be any problem with this
board allowing them to you know amend the application by adding whatever additional
material would be needed to correct those problems but i think what happens is if we're
not allowed to amend a refusal and the board wasn't aware that there were refusals missed
now we have a really big problem what when it gets to building permit time and so it seems to
me it's in everybody's interest that if there's an error in the refusal that the error can be
corrected that being said i i'm not familiar with the opinion that mr uh schirmer is referring to
uh what was the date of that how uh that was november 29 1990 from pugilies to pat hamill
i think i'm sharing it now if i'm doing things right uh hold on it's it's it well go up to go
up to the law library walk yeah well what second second d dish okay i got it
no it's actually there it's actually there in print so so hillary well again i don't want to
sit here and analyze this yeah i think we need to continue on the fly here but yeah um but yeah i
don't think it's fair to anybody we need to continue this well my client doesn't want to
continue because this prior continuance was simply a way so that well well mr shirmer you
raised this issue you've got to give us a chance you've got to give the parties a chance to look
if i could just like throw in one more thing just or whatever i mean
if you go forward right and you still need to get your client still needs a variance regardless of
whether it's one or four refusals if you want to go forward you can go forward and just preserve
the argument that the additional refusals were issued in error but so i mean in that sense i
don't know that we it is since you've already got two refusals that you're not disputing you still
need the variance anyway the board can grant a variance for one or all of these if they grant
to variance from these additional refusals then isn't that kind of a non -issue like why do we need
so i mean again i'm just saying like i don't think you necessarily have to i can figure this
out later they can just preserve it's a legal argument that would be appealable on a de novo
basis and at court so you know it's mr chair whatever you want to do yeah this is this is
hillary i just um for um from our perspective and board's perspective i have no issue with
this proceeding today um but i do want to ask mr shirmer have there been any changes to the plans
since they were submitted to l and i in the original application no no plan okay okay then i i think
that that we can proceed and mr reuter can um address this this legal issue at a later time we
will just not vote on it today because we don't know which refusal we're voting on but i believe
the refusals are essentially the same plus a couple of additional refusals for parking right
could i could i request because it's now four o 'clock we were two o 'clock can i
could i request because it's now four o 'clock we were two o 'clock can i i request that i get in
touch with my client and find out whether what they think about moving forward today versus
kicking this back and put us towards the end of the hearing list so i can you have we only have
two more cases left okay well uh then give me oh wait a minute hillary is that okay hillary
um yeah we need to we need to go back to mr scleros um and then i believe we have one uh
two others after that right right right all right i will we'll put him at the end thank you very
much yeah mr jim will bring him back on okay thank you thank you
mr shirmer could you take your screen down please
Number 12, MI -2023 -00913, 2435 South 21st Street.
Henry Clinton is the attorney.
Letter of opposition from the Drada State Neighbors Association
and a letter of non -opposition from the Drada State Area Residence.
Letter of non -opposition from Councilman Johnson.
Henry Clinton is coming back in as a panelist.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Mr. Clinton, I've already sworn you once today.
Could you just state your name for the record, please?
Sure, Mr. Chairman, Henry Clinton, H -E -N -R -Y, Clinton, C -L -I -N -T -O -N.
Right.
Could you identify your client and the relationship to this property?
my client is Eric DiPerturo. He is the owner of the property. And our vice chair has a few
questions for you. Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy? I do, Mr. Shahid. Have you emailed then all the required documents
and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes. Thank you. Please proceed to share your screen. Thank you.
Is that visible, Mr. Chairman? It is, sir. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman,
members of the board, Henry Clinton, on behalf of Eric DiPerturo, who is the owner of the subject
property. This is my table of contents, which contains exhibits AA through A10, which I asked
to be admitted into the record. The DiPertoro family, longtime residents of the Girard estate
area, as you know, located in South Philadelphia. And Eric DiPertoro purchased this property last
year. I wanted to be in this neighborhood, be near his family. And request today is for a parking
space in the rear of his property at the corner of 21st and Porter. As you'll see from the
presentation, let me go to the refusal first, Mr. Chairman. So the refusal is pretty simple.
It's a rear yard depth issue. This is a large lot. It's 120 feet deep by 21 wide, one of the
largest lots in Gerard estate. And even with a parking space, there's still going to be a 20 foot
rear yard. So we do have a letter of non -opposition from Councilman Kenyatta Johnson,
and we have a letter of support from, as the chairman said, the Gerard estate area residents.
So, as you'll see as I walk through this presentation, it is fairly typical for properties located on the corner, especially properties located on wider streets like Porter Street, to have a parking space in the rear yard.
GEAR, again, Gerard Estate Area Residence, recognizes this common usage in the neighborhood,
references that we have streets department approval, which I will show the panel,
and mentions that there are at least 16 similar driveways in the Gerard Estate.
We actually did a very comprehensive survey of the neighborhood, and we found 19 areas,
corner lots where there are parking spaces in the rear of the property. And I'm going to walk
through them just to show the board that, again, this is a fairly typical arrangement in Girard
typical arrangement in Girard Estate. And Gere also mentions as I did that the rear yard is of
state and gear off.
ample length and the driveway again is on a very wide street.
There is a letter from Gina, the Girard Estate Neighbors Association, and as I read this letter
their opposition is really based on two issues. One is that my client will have a
a curb cut and they'll park in front of it. I guess on occasion there are other individuals
in Georgia State who do that, but suggesting that my client is going to follow the lead of others
who may park in front of their parking space, I don't think warrants sufficient opposition to
deny the request. The second point of opposition in this letter is of a safety concern, and we
agree that this is a very walkable neighborhood and there are many families with children. That's
why my client has gone to the length of having a mechanized gate that will open out onto the
sidewalk so that as any vehicles are getting in or out of the spot, that there will be a barrier
for anyone who would have them to walk by to prevent any type of an incident as suggested by
the Girard Estate Neighbors Association.
And when I walk you through the photographs
of the other corner properties
that have rear parking spaces,
you'll see that my client's proposal
is probably the most extensive proposal
for a parking space in the neighborhood right now.
And perhaps maybe this will become the example
for others who want to do likewise
and have a parking space in the rear of their property
that they'll have a similar arrangement
as my client is suggesting.
We also have 21 letters of support from nearby neighbors, both on this block as well as other blocks in the neighborhood.
And I don't want to go through each one, Mr. Chairman, but they are basically the same letter indicating a support to install the parking or driveway spot in the rear of the property.
Again, they're all on South 21st Street, on Lambert Street, on Woodcock Street, and on 20th Street. So with the chairman's permission, I will just move on beyond these letters of support. Put acid to the board. Please note it.
Granted, and please move on.
I want to get to the right photographs, Mr. Chairman, bear with me here.
So this is the picture of the corner property, 2435 South 21st Street.
There's a little bit of delay when I click for the next photograph and then it comes
So bear with me on that.
So this is the rear yard.
The tree that you see, Mr. Chairman, is not in this position anymore.
It's a buttonwood tree.
It was damaged per the tree surgeon and it was removed about nine months to 12 months
to go. So there's a very deep rear yard, and you can see the yards on the adjacent street are very
narrow. But even with the parking space, we're going to have an ample 20 -feet area to still
enjoy the rear yard and the ambiance of this backyard. Right now in Girard Estate, these are
the properties that we were able to locate that have rear parking spaces in the rear yard.
I said 19, but we actually were able to find 20.
And this is an aerial photograph.
Let me just shrink that a little bit.
Where we went through the neighborhood and the green dot is my client's property.
The red dots are the corner properties that have rear parking spaces.
So you could see that on the larger streets like, you know, Rittner Porter is a little bit larger.
as well as Shunk Street, that the properties on those corners, let me just shrink this
a little bit more so you get a full picture.
So this is Porter Street, where my cursor is, Shunk Street, further south.
This is Porter Street, where my cursor is, Shunk Street, further south, and then Rittner Street.
So you can see on the larger streets, that is fairly typical, as Geer has pointed out, that there are rear parking spaces on these large corner lots.
Now I'm going to just walk through the 20 or so rear yard spaces that you can see.
There's a variety of types of gates.
Some don't have gates.
Some have two parking spots.
This is 2310 South 21st Street, 2336 South 21st Street is the picture above.
Pass Yonk Avenue, South Lambert Street, 20th Street, South Garnett Street,
South 19th Street. Again, just trying to give you a flavor of what some of the lots are like.
I mean, they're narrower lots.
They don't have the rear big yards, typically, that my client does.
Some do, some do not.
I don't mean to generalize.
This is Colorado Street on South 20th Street.
Here's a rather narrow parking space without any gates.
Again, South Lambert Street, you can see a parking space without gates, without any
barriers like my client is proposing.
SOUTH EIGHTEEN STREET, SOUTH GARNETT STREET, AND AGAIN, HERE'S THE SITUATION WHERE WE HAVE
GATES THAT OPEN INWARD, AGAIN, MY CLIENTS' GATES WILL OPEN OUTWARD, THEY'RE MECHANIZED,
AND THEY'RE GOING TO MATCH, AND I 'LL SHOW YOU THE PLANS, MR. CHAIRMAN, THEY'RE GOING TO MATCH
THE EXISTING GATE THAT'S ALREADY THERE. HERE'S THE NOTICE OF OUR POSTING.
we do have a proviso sheet because we did make a change to have the gates
open outward as a protective barrier and here's the plan so we have approvals from streets which
I will show you because there's ample turning radius here because as I mentioned several times
Porter Street is a rather large wide street we're going to have permeable pavers
basically installed on sand and stone. No concrete or cement will be used. We still have,
as I said, an ample rear yard. I said 20 feet from the rear of the property to the beginning
of the space is 26 feet, but I accounted for an existing rear porch to approximate the
the depth of the rear yard.
This is a photograph of the fence.
It's a hairpin fence.
It's gonna be sandblasted where necessary
and new fence painted to match existing.
So the ambiance of the rear yard
and the historical nature of Girard estate
estate will be kept intact.
Here's our streets department approval, as I mentioned.
The rest of the documents are the pro forma documents you would see in a presentation such as this, tax certification, our application for appeal.
zony map again i i did reference again i don't hate to be redundant here but
uh these lots that front on 21st street are extremely large in depth
this is the deed indicating ownership of the property by my client
and finally this is our certificate of mailing indicating that we
We mailed out 125 pieces of mail to all of the surrounding areas.
So in conclusion, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, this request for variance doesn't impact any lighter air of adjoining neighbors.
It doesn't impede the development of any adjacent properties.
It's a one for one parking switch.
We're not taking any cars, any parking spaces, rather, from any of the adjoining neighbors because we are having an off -street spot that basically will replace an on -street park.
We have designed this with swing gates mechanized, so they swing outward, not inward.
We're not altering the essential character of the neighborhood.
In fact, I would argue that, and I'll stop sharing my screen, I would argue that the rear parking space is a common occurrence in Girard Estate, as noted by GEAR.
We're now out of character with the neighborhood, and we're going to maintain still a large rear yard.
And that tree that we removed because we had to about nine months ago, we're going to plant new trees in the rear yard so the greenery will be maintained in Girard Estate.
So with that, Mr. Chairman, I rest and ask that my client be unmuted and to adopt my testimony.
So with that, Mr. Chairman, I rest and ask that my client be
Henry, just a quick summary. The coordinating RCO is in favor, has non -opposition.
An affected RCO has opposition and the council person has non -opposition. Is that right?
Correct, Mr. Chairman.
Okay, thank you. Bring your client on.
As well as the support of the 21 neighbors.
yep yep uh all right can you unmute yourself
hi could you state your name please and spell for the court reporter good afternoon my name
is eric di pretoro e -r -i -c di pretoro d -i -p -r -e -t -o -r -o do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do proceed counsel
Mr. DiPretorio, were you on the Zoom call when I presented your application for your property at 2435?
And if you had the opportunity to testify, would you adopt my testimony as your own and as true and correct?
Yes, I would.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you. Questions from the board.
Hello, Chair.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Here we have someone, Frank's iPhone, too.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
My name is Frank, F -R -A -N -K, Marciano, M -A -R -C -H -I -A -N -O.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
You're a neighbor.
Excuse me?
You're a neighbor.
My name is Frank Marchionne.
No, I said you're a neighbor.
Am I right?
Oh, yes, sir.
I'm a neighbor.
Yeah, proceed.
Proceed.
Yeah, I'm a neighbor that's in support.
Very good.
Thank you for taking the time to call, and we appreciate it.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair.
We have someone, Paul, last name, ending MP.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
My name is Paul, Paula Carpo, P -A -U -L -P -O -L -I -C -A -R -P -O.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
And, sir, you're a neighbor.
Am I right?
I live five doors away.
Yes, sir.
Are you for this or against it?
I'm for it, sir.
Thank you so much for taking the time to call, and we appreciate it.
Thank you.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair.
We have someone, Mark, last name, ending in G.
Okay, hi.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
M -A -R -K -G -A -T -T -I.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, told truth, nothing but the truth?
And you're a neighbor, am I correct?
Yes, I am.
Proceed.
I am completely in favor of this.
There's no problems at all with this.
Thank you so much for taking the time to call us.
Is there anyone else?
I see no handshare.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, and good afternoon.
David Vecto with the City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single -family zoning at this location.
There is no unique physical condition or circumstance of this property
that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code.
the appellant has not shown that an economic detriment would accrue if the proposed variance
is not granted. The City Planning Commission recommends the board deny the proposed variance
for rear yard depth. Thank you. MI 2023 -00913 -2435 South 21st Street. I vote yes with proviso.
Revised plans, two pages, stamped by CBA, July 12, 2023.
My vote is yes with proviso.
Thomas Holloman.
James Snell, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the board.
Could we go back to Neil Sklaroff's case, please?
Mr. Sklaroff, MI 2023 -004 -71 -2829 -59 -North 23rd Street.
I'm promoting him the panelist chair.
Thank you.
Hi, Mr. Sklaroff.
Hi, Mr. Sklara, if you've already been sworn, how are we doing on our computer, okay?
You've already been sworn.
How are we doing with our computer, okay?
Thank you.
Trying to share my screen.
Ah, there we go.
Thank you for the courtesies of letting me a few minutes to relearn how to work this.
um as i said before uh we represent uh the school district of philadelphia with its application for
signs for the tm uh pierce elementary school um i'm not sure our folks from the district are still
on so i'll ask that my testimony be taken as that of um my clients in accordance with uh 14 -313
16 subsections. That's fine, Mr. Schlaroff. Thank you. Our documents here,
if I can get this correctly, this is a rendering of the school. I stopped at this because I want
you to take some note of this extension that comes out toward Cambria Street. I'll refer to
it as a flange. We have a list of exhibits. We have our proofs of tax payments. This is a long
list of deeds, as I said earlier, from 1908 and 1912. This is a copy of the zoning notice that
was posted. There is a key plan for those postings. And I'll stop at these photographs
because they not only show you the posting, but also the context of the neighborhood on the opposite street.
So here we have one corner of 23rd Street, another corner of 23rd Street, Cambria Street.
You'll notice there's a garage across the street.
Again, another garage on Cambria Street, Krosky Street, again, Krosky Street.
to make this shorter we are in a rsa 5 residential district and in on july 30th 1921
this board granted the school district a special exception and variances for the height of the
building and parking at that time and soon after we drew the zoning permit and construction
commenced on the building. What we want to do now is to erect three signs, and if I can get this
turned correctly, worked. This is the Cambridge Street side, and all three signs will be on that
side of the building. You'll notice this TM Pierce applied to this extension of the building,
and there's one on the other side, as I'll show you in a moment. And the original application
called for a digital sign on a monument. That has been changed. But the two signs, the two
rectangles that would have been drawn around the TM Pierce. Each measure 70 square feet for a total
of 140 square feet. Being a residential district, you may know that only 15 square feet of wall sign
is permitted. And so there's a variance needed for that. These are some. This is a rendering.
We were asked by the Civic Association if we could make more plain where we were changing the monument sign for.
There's no difference in the size of the sign that was going to be on the monument, but the monument has been removed.
And this sign measuring five foot by eight foot will be placed on the wall across from that garage that you saw.
it is below the the windowsills of the second floor and therefore only adds to the
refusals by adding the 40 square feet which was shown as a refusal on the monument sign
now is added to the wall signs for a total of 180 square feet we have here's another rendering on
This is the building under construction.
In conversations at the RCO meeting, the district committed to discussing should anybody complain about the amount of light and having the sign turned off in the evening.
But we promise the community will continue, as always, to communicate with them.
And if that's necessary, we'll take that under advisement.
This is not Wi -Fi. This is hardwired from inside. But the purpose of this digital sign is to alert passersby and the nearby community, not only of what's going on inside for purposes of the school and what activities might be there, but also community activities that will take place inside.
This is not Wi -Fi.
This is hardwired from inside.
But the problem is,
The way this is laid out, the public areas are to the entrance side, and in developing the design for this building, we committed to the community to allow community activities to take place, and we would notify community members of those activities on this digital sign.
Here are some additional pictures of the current construction as of a week or two ago.
We have enjoyed, let's see if I can get this to work.
Of course it won't.
we enjoyed we sent out the letters of course to the registered community groups and to the
nearby neighbors we had an RCO meeting and you have received I believe this summary of the vote
and the letter of support.
With that, we also include one of about 40 pages
of mailing certificates.
And with that, ask for your support
of the zoning relief we need to place these three signs
on the Cambria frontage of the T .M. Pierce Elementary School.
I have questions from the board.
No, Chair.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Charles Richardson.
Hi, Mr. Richardson.
Just state your name for the record, please.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair.
Charles Richardson, Office of Councilwoman Bass Room 508 City Hall.
Councilwoman has no objection to granting variance.
Thank you, Mr. Richardson.
Thanks for calling in.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair.
We have someone, a calling user, phone number ending with 3552.
Thank you.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Adrienne Penanda, Swampoodle Neighborhood Carters Association, RTO.
My last name is spelled S -E -R -N -A -N -D -C.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
I submitted an additional meeting summary form for this address, and I'm not sure if
you have that or not.
The reason being that the RCO coordinator, there are four affected RCOs for this address
for signage, and Allegheny West Foundation was the affected RCO that was the RCO coordinator
for the public meeting the meeting summary form they submitted has falsified votes on it
there were only four affected addresses attending also there were two affected rcos attending
there's five votes showing for allegating west foundation whenever we have a public meeting each
affected rco including the one that serves as rco coordinator only gets one vote so they were the
only um affected rco that voted um i did not vote for swampwood rco because um allegating west
foundation was putting up physical barriers to me voting so i did i was not able to vote also they
would not um let me examine the four votes from the affected addresses on that are listed on the
RCO notification website. And those four neighbors did vote on paper and turn their votes in, but I
do not know what the result was. The result was not read out at the meeting. Also, under all
meeting attendees, it says nine for support. There could be no more than four because only the
affected addresses have been voting when Allegheny Rest Foundation is the coordinator because they've
had numerous falsified meeting summary forms.
So we resolved that by allowing just the affected addresses
to vote, at which there were four out of 226 addresses.
So overall, Swampwood RCO approves of the two signs
responsible to RCO approves of the two signs with the school name that have no illumination
with the school name.
it was explained at the meeting by Mr. Sklaroff or by the architect that those two signs would have
I guess it's like a down light because we had no renderings and no there were no presentation
handouts given to the meeting participants so we were told that there would be
a down light on the school name so that people could read the sign at nighttime so we approve
of the two signs of the school name and we're just asking for a proviso for those two signs
that they have minimal luminance and light throw provided just enough to read the school name
And no brighter than that, nor does the light throw more than that.
For the illuminated sign, we're opposed to it for a number of reasons that I'll explain.
For the illuminated sign, we didn't have enough information at the public meeting.
We had no handouts.
There was no representative from the sign company to explain the specifications or to answer questions.
We have a similar sign at Dobbins High School, which is two blocks away from T .M. Pierce School, and that sign is on all the time.
Right now, it's summer. The school is closed, and that light is on all the time.
This is a waste of energy, waste of money. It can be used for something else in school.
the sign is extremely bright at night we photographed it the light throws for about
15 to 20 feet however that sign is opposite hope plaza a shopping center and lehigh avenue which
is a three -lane highway two lanes eastbound westbound and attorney lane so the effect of
that light is completely different than on west cambria street where there's just one lane of
traffic going one direction and there's houses about 20 houses would be able to see the led light
the throw of the light um the brightness of the light and also we noticed that when you stand
probably about 10 as far as 10 feet away from a sign that's about five feet by eight feet
that you can feel like radiation on your forehead coming from the light so with three lanes of
traffic you're not going to notice that unless you're standing right in front of it which most
people are not on lehigh avenue there's not a bus stop there or any reason somebody just stand there
unless they just want to on west cambria that's a whole different story across from that sign
directly across at cambria and west crossview street uh north crossview street there's four
five residences in three buildings. There's two multifamily. That's four residences and
one single family house. At the corner on the other side of the garage that's shown in
Mrs. Glaro's pictures, there's a house on the corner of West Cambria and 23rd. Those
houses would definitely have the light from the sign going into their windows be a day or night
we know for a fact that two of those residences are heavy planters and they leave their windows
open all the time for natural light to add to their um to their plant lights so they don't
they don't uh curtain or shade their windows because they live with so many plants um they
They said they did not get a notice, so they were not at the meeting to ask more questions,
to get more information about it.
So overall, RCO is asking that there be a resumption hearing.
we basically need better information about the illumination of the lighted sign and also the
placement how high up is it and sort of a simulation of how that's going to look going into
into excuse me into the houses across the street the pictures in mrs sclaro's presentation
only show one house they do not show that there's five houses that would experience light spill
um light brightness and radiation including flashing because these lights flash when we
photograph the lights at nighttime at Dobbins high school the lights are so bright that when
you photograph it you cannot read the words you just get a wall of
you cannot read the words you just get a wall of light um this was photographed by a few of our
members on different nights but some nights are clear some are not and we got the same result
we cannot photograph those letters you just get a wall of light that means there's more light
than it appears from just the um letters that may say have a good summer or something like that
But the light at Dobbins should be turned off because it's just wasting energy.
We have other concerns that were not looked at, like the environmental effect, the additional environmental effect on birds.
We are in a bird migration path and also insects because we do have a lot of people around here who plant to bring back butterflies, bees, praying mantises, lightning bugs.
We plant to bring them back and it works. So if we have excessive LED light at nighttime, so close to our homes, it's going to push our insect population away and push away our bird population. So we would like the Audubon and also the Insectarium to be at meetings, additional meetings before a vote so we could find out, get more information about that.
At the public meeting, Mr. Sklaroff misstated to the participants that the Art Commission
had approved the sign.
The Art Commission sent a recording of the sign, several of us listened to it, and we
heard the Art Commission say in the beginning that they were not going to vote on these
signs.
They also had a lot of questions about why the sign was so large.
so that was a problem for us because that confused especially the um the affected addresses
they thought that the approval was finished they didn't understand that the art commission said
he did not want to vote on it until um zba made a decision i also didn't understand that
because the recording came a day later the um project information form that's in the package
turning to ZBA. It has about at least four questions that are not answered truthfully.
Quickly, one is, is your zoning application exclusively for signage? It says not apply.
As far as you can see, this is a exclusive zoning application for signage. Next question,
it says not apply. Provide a brief summary of your proposal project. It doesn't provide
anything it says not apply um it says describe any anticipated impact on the transportation
excuse me
your phone excuse me no that was your phone i believe oh i'm sorry some noise came through
i'm sorry um okay the third question on the pif that was not answered um factually the answer
again was not applied it says describe any anticipated impacts on the transportation
network being sidewalk or traffic um that street is a westbound single lane uh street we have cars
and now we have a lot of recreational vehicles as they have all over the city um you know
the also to stand up vehicles where they ride on the pavement and we do not believe that
to inform the community about occasional meetings for the community because that is a school
and most people that come in there have to be um security checks for uh sexual offenses and
other things so it's not like the community is going to be in that school a lot for and
at a significant amount more than those children and parents um so in other words it's not going
to be used that much. It's used for voting. I'm sure it'll go back to being used for voting,
and we want that because people like to be close by to vote. And then they may have some
programming sometimes. I don't anticipate the school being used more than Dobbins,
probably at a high number, maybe twice a month. I'm not sure of the use of the building,
what it has to do with the signs. You're starting to lose me.
We were told, I understand. We were told that the signage was there to inform the community about events at the school. We don't have any sports in there. There's no field. So the events will have to be occasional meetings inside.
And of course,
So that was that one sign on the side with the video, right? Am I correct?
Exactly.
Right. Okay.
signs the two signs are fine and um that's good that you know they have the orange panel it's
going to name the school and have a you know a reasonable down light those signs are fine
those signs are fine so um we didn't understand either but we were told that this sign is to inform
So we didn't understand either, but we were told that this sign is to inform the community about events.
If I'm driving down the street in any type of vehicle, it's not safe to be looking over at this huge sign, not to mention the light spill is going to be coming in front of my car anyway.
So in terms of traffic disturbance, this question is not answered truthfully.
there will be disturbance anticipated impacts that are negative on the sidewalk and to traffic
going westbound on west cambria street and then the last question on the pif that wasn't answered
factually and it was answered with not apply again is of any other anticipated community impact
positive or negative associated with this project yes there are i named to the homes across the
street to their peace and enjoyment of their home especially on the second story where the light
will be coming in we don't know exactly what that height is um i could the drawings were very hard
to read we had no handouts at the public meeting so i don't know if it's 10 feet high uh one story
i'm not sure the exact height i could get a magnifying glass and stare at the drawings but
i'm not exactly sure however um that question is not answered truthfully um on the um appeal
application, there was also two areas that were similarly not answered truthfully. One is the
placement of the proposed sign would create no environmental damage. That's not true. Birds,
insects, and peace and enjoyment of people's homes, and just damage from hard LED lights.
Yeah, but I'm saying I'm talking about the appeal application where this appears again,
because these things are repeatedly misstated okay also again um repeated is that um there's
no traffic impact and it would be traffic distractions from the bright light the light
throw and um possibly light radiation and other um parts of it it's just that this this five by
eight illuminated sign to tell me and neighbors and i am an affected neighbor also um but only
voted once, tried to vote once, but just to tell us, okay, there's a meeting on this date and that
date in the month of August 2023. The negative impacts outweigh the benefits. There's other ways
we can get that information. I don't know if the school has Facebook or something similar,
but most of the elders, they're not out at night anyway. So it'll be mostly middle -aged and younger
people that would be looking for that information um there's no photos of the light at night
there's no photos of the nearby residences will spill into their homes none at all we took some
but there's none in the package so we're asking that um we can work with the art commission because
their information has helped us a lot so far and also with um discovery um the uh the bird center
nearby, and the insectarium, and hopefully the sign company, and if we can just get more
information so we can figure out another way to do this sign, another way to right -size
this sign, it is too large, and we're asking the ZBA to please let us have a resumption
hearing, and also there were a number of neighbors who live right across the street who never
received a notice and they probably would want to comment because they're actually in those
properties looking out the window and have no idea that there's a proposal for a five by eight
sign because they did not receive a notice and I think that's the majority of what we need to
explain yeah we could provide the pictures of the Dobbins sign or short videos of it if
the ZBA wanted to see that. We just ask that the ZBA give us proper consideration because we live
here and it's not fair to impact our environment like that for no reason at all. The school
district, that school never had a library inside and that money could be used for something else
that the children need, especially when the state testing results of the students in that school
are so poor. That money should not be being used for a five -by -eight sign.
Adrian, I think you've made your point. I really do.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you for taking the time for
calling in. We appreciate it. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see no handshare. As you might expect, Mr.
Chair, I would refute and disagree
with Mr. Fernandez on almost everything that was said.
All right. But just to let you know, 226 letters were sent out using the list that ZBA and the city post on the website.
I personally sent to Ms. Fernandez and every RCO materials in advance of the RCO meeting, which I didn't have to do.
in advance of the RCO meeting, which I didn't have to do, and we also sent a complete list
of the exhibits used today to the RCOs in advance of today's hearing. Another thing we didn't have
to do. We have reached out this school. Most of what is being objected to is the school itself
and how the school operates. It has nothing to do with the signs. I will let it go with that.
All right. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, and good afternoon. David Fecto with the City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single -family zoning at this location.
While the City Planning Commission understands the need for building identification signs,
we do not believe that the appellant has shown that a detrimental impact will accrue to the property
in the absence of illumination or animation of those signs.
The City Planning Commission recommends the board grant the dimensional variances for the wall signs and freestanding signs, but deny the variances for illumination and animation.
Thank you.
Look, we've had a lot of testimony.
Mr. Sklaroff, Adrian, I really want to sit and talk to the executive committee next week about where we stand with this.
the case
all the information is closed at this point
and we will vote on this next week
at 2pm
may I just have one
one comment Mr. Chair
and the only
comment is that this kind of
digital sign
completes our agreement
with the community to be able
to inform the community
thank you
thank you very much
thank you
So let's go back to Mr. Chair, if we could jump, I believe we have two more cases. If we could, we jump to 13, and then we'll go back to Mr. Shermer.
I -2023 -001 -025 -4751 Fowler Street.
Al Nockermson is the attorney.
There's a letter of opposition from the Ridge Park Civic Association.
The applicant has submitted approximately 27 neighbors along with three form letters.
and one of the neighbors lives next door at 47, 49.
Good afternoon.
Mr. Nachamson, could you identify your client and their relationship to the property?
Yeah, my clients are Brian and Caitlin Thomas, the owners of the property who live there.
Right.
Our vice chair has just a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel.
So do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal or stipulating towards accuracy?
Have you emailed them all the required documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case?
Bobby is in advance of the hearing?
Yes, we have.
Thank you.
Case proceeded.
Thank you very much.
This is actually a really straightforward matter at 47, 51 Fowler Street.
We'll review the notice of refusal.
So all we're trying to do is subdivide a lot that goes street to street from Fowler to Sheldon.
Every other property on this block does that.
So what we're asking for is not out of character.
It doesn't stick out like a sore thumb.
This is a perfect example of who shows up to a community meeting.
Our office did not handle the underlying community meeting.
We only were asked to handle this after there was an opposition.
My clients actually were shocked.
So that's when they decided to get professional advice.
but it wasn't a well -attended meeting none of the people who attended the meeting my understanding
aren't nearby neighbors so after and they have my clients had overwhelming support they lived in
this community for since 2017 they didn't think this was an issue none of their neighbors showed
up but because of the vote that was taken you know they had to hire professional counsel so
So we had them distribute a petition after the meeting to the people who are most directly impacted.
And you'll see through that petition and the map that we created showing where these signatures were accumulated.
There is overwhelming support and by the people most directly impacted.
And it's not uncommon to have subdivisions on this block.
We gave a breakdown of three situations most recently where the properties have been subdivided from Fowler to Sheldon, exactly how we're seeking.
than exactly how we're seeking. Two to three variances, so they got the relief that we're
Two to three variances, so they got the relief there.
seeking. One of them was by right. The issue we have here is that the lot where we're seeking
the non -conforming size of less than 1 ,440 square feet, the width of the lot is also non -conforming,
which makes it slightly less than the 1 ,440 square feet, and I'll show you why.
Then maps of the area, which will show that every other property on this block,
Other than ours, it's divided in half from Sheldon to Fowler.
Aerial view as well, which we'll show that as well.
Photographs of the property and the surrounding area.
Our plans and drawings is just our survey.
That's all we're looking to do is to subdivide this lot and have one lot a little above 1 ,440
and one lot a little less than 1 ,440 square feet, like we're 50 square feet shot.
Our RCO meeting notice, again, it wasn't very well attended.
or application for appeal or deed to the property,
showing that my clients who have owned this property
for some time and live on the Fowler Street side
or own it, Brian and Caitlin,
and then their certificate of tax claimants.
And then at the conclusion of my presentation,
I believe only Brian's in the virtual audience.
I'll ask Brian to virtually raise his hand,
be sworn in, and then I'll ask him the questions
so he can adopt my testimony as his own.
So our notice of refusal, again, we're not looking to take an RSA 5 property and make it multifamily in nature.
We're taking it so we can cut it in half like everyone else is, or essentially cut it in half, and have the property on Fowler Street, which my clients live in, in the building structure, which would be the non -conforming lot, as one parcel, and then have another parcel facing Sheldon Street.
And here's the correspondence from the organization, and I don't begrudge the organization. They're just taking a summary of what happened here. I would state that the letter that we received from Ridge Park is not factually accurate in this sense.
They state that the Sheldon Street side, the one that is actually conforming where we have a lot size proposed lot size of 1 ,460 square feet is the nonconforming aspect.
It's actually the Fowler Street side where the house is.
And if the crux of their argument in this letter is that, well, they're dividing this lot such that the Sheldon Street side, you know, they're going to need to get another variance.
And that's not the case. The Sheldon Street side is the conforming side. And if, God forbid, my clients decide to build something that's not as of right, we'll have community input again. And then we'll have the board decide whether we, you know, have fulfilled our burden of proof under the circumstances.
But the petition here, so we have, my client reached out to 24 separate properties. This is where we are, and these are all the properties on Valor Street on both sides. They're in support of this project. And then even over here, they're in support over here on Fountain Street and a few on Sheldon as well.
So we have overwhelming support for this project. Again, my clients didn't really understand the necessity of actually getting people to the community meeting. And then people who showed up were for another project, which I believe the community was very upset about. But my client faced the collateral damage here. And that's why I'm here today.
And then here's just the petition along with the signatures for that petition.
And a few letters separate from the petition.
And then, as you can see, 4749 Fowler Street.
I can't read this.
It's a little blurry.
But it was definitely in front of it.
It has a calendar number of 10934.
Same circumstances where there was a subdivision a lot.
this board granted a variance. This one's not by way of variance. This is 4743 Fowler Street.
But again, because our lot is a little bit more narrow on the Fowler Street side, where we're
slightly less than 16 feet wide, that's where we're running a foul of the lot size requirements,
means slightly off. But again, here, L &I approved by right a subdivision so that there would be
divided into half where one property would be facing Fowler Street, one would face Sheldon,
just like we're here today. And then finally, this is by way of variance in 2018, 4741 Fowler
Street, where again, what we're asking for, someone asked for, and the board granted that variance.
and uh 20 273 delmar which is not
And 273 Delmar, which is not pertains to this exactly, but again, just showing another subdivision of non -informing lots.
And then, as you can see, and just want to highlight this, if I can get the screen on.
This is our property, right?
I'm not pointing to the Fountain Street side or the Huntington Street side.
those properties face differently but if you go down the road every property is subdivided
and all we did was subdivided exactly how it is we put the line right here essentially but oops
as you can see like the lot here is slightly thinner on Fowler Street side if we were just
as wide as we are on shelter sheldon street side we wouldn't be here today it's you know it's it's
just less than 16 foot wide lots on the fowler street side and that's why we're here too but you
know and i know it's been a long day mr chairman i just want to you know because it's an opposition
i just want to make this point clear here's an aerial view too we got an atlas which shows the
same exact thing every single lot on this on this city block is subdivided between sheldon
and fowler how we want to do it and then you know again we have the photographs of the property
oops you know from the fowler street side which my clients live in a two -story structure they're
not trying to overdevelop it this is from the sheldon street side this is fowler to the right
of the property. Fowler to the left of the property. You see properties on Fowler.
And then Sheldon Street to the right of the property. Again, you see building structures
on Sheldon Street. Sheldon Street to the left of the property. Notice posters,
proof of posting them. Our plans and drawings, which is just our survey.
I'm trying to get it smaller. Oops.
which shows again all we're doing is matching exactly the dividing line to the property right
next to us and then our rco meeting notice oops
is mars you know again we didn't do it so this is not the top the common one you see but
Same thing, you 121 addresses were notified, proof of mailing to those addresses, and then our application for appeal for notice of refusal, project information form filed by my clients, deeds showing that Brian and Caitlin have owned the property since 2017, and most importantly, they don't owe any real estate taxes.
this city. So with that being said, I would ask that Mr. Thomas, Brian, if you can virtually
raise your hands to be sworn in. Mr. Thomas? I'm here. Could you state your name, please,
and spell for the court reporter? Brian Thomas, B -R -I -A -N -T -H -O -M -A -S. Do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do. Proceed, counsel. Yes, Mr. Thomas,
you heard everything I had to say today
about your zoning matter.
And is it true and correct?
And do you adopt it as your own testimony?
Thank you.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Chair.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, and good afternoon. David Vecto with the City Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single -family zoning at this location. The proposed lot area is within 10 % of the lot area required by the code. The proposed lot area meets the spirit and intent of the zoning code. The City Planning Commission recommends the board grant the dimensional variance for lot area.
Thank you. MI -2023 -001 -025 -4751 Fowler Street, I vote yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
ish ishmael shaheed my vote is yes thomas try one more time please
Thomas, try one more time, please.
Well, Mr.
Nackamson, you have your three votes.
Thank you very much.
I know Mr.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
So, Hillary, what I want to do, it's
close to five.
I want to take a five -minute break.
Let Mr. Kelly get straight. Then we have one more case from this afternoon's list.
And then we have I don't think we have much more than one case on the 330 list.
So we'll be back. Yes. And Mr. Chair, that that case on the 330 list, we're going to be announcing a new date.
The attorney had a time constraint and we're up against her time constraint.
OK. OK. All right. So let's take a five minute break and then we'll let Mr. Kelly get straight.
We'll be we'll be we'll be right back. Thank you, Chair.
i'm not seeing mr tom oh i do see him okay all right so we're going back to
mi 2022 003 437 6900 chester avenue hal schirmer is the attorney zen jin is involved
Leonard Reuter is involved.
I'm promoting them as panelists now, Chair.
Thank you.
mr jen
good afternoon how are you mr shirmer good
there he is
mr shirmer did you check with your client uh yes we would like to proceed okay all right
Is Leonard on?
Yes, Chair.
Okay, thank you.
Mr. Shermer, proceed.
Okay, good morning, good afternoon.
Mr. Chairman, this is Hal Shermer.
I am representing Tariq Ryan, who is the owner of the property at 6900 Chester Avenue.
uh the property was previously subdivided in about two years ago and if i can
start sharing screen so we have a
local rco we've gone through three rco meetings most of them have been organized he shared your
screen, Mr. Shermer? I thought it was. No, we don't see it. There we go. There it is. It's coming now.
That is the background from Committee of Seventy, because we've been dealing with the 40th
word Republican Committee, and we have had some back and forth with them on the interests
in the area, and I will now swap over to, we have the tax clearance, project information
form, going through all the sort of rigmarole application for appeal, clearance, and some
background on the applicant
and more background on the applicant
so we have a proposal which would bring a new property and a new business into the area
uh we have had a back and forth with the local civic association we're actually we actually have
six rcos and two political organizations uh the democratic committee has not taken a position for
The Democratic committee has not taken a position for or against the Republican committee has taken a position pretty strongly against.
And then all of the rest of the RCOs have said that we're going to listen to whatever the neighbors say.
We've got a bit of a split in the neighborhood between the neighbors.
Mr. Sherman, you know your screen's blank, right?
I stopped sharing.
Sorry.
I do have other info that I can put up, but let me get into...
Project information form.
So we'll get that up.
PIF, and our application for appeal, tax clearance, and one of the main points that we have is the applicant is a local entrepreneur who has been opening restaurants in Philadelphia, outside of Philadelphia, and in the neighborhood,
and now wants to open up a restaurant in the neighborhood.
We have had some interesting discussion from the neighbors.
About half of them are opposed to this because they don't like health food
and they don't like veggies and smoothies.
and about half of the other about the other half have been saying that well this is going to be
great and we're going to be swarmed with people who like the property and who like the idea of
veggies and smoothies and we're just trying to to navigate between two sections which say yeah
We're going to be a regular business, just like we have at Chester and 70th, Chester and 69th, Chester and 68th, and Chester X, Chester and 67th.
The zoning board has previously approved properties and variances at the other locations at the 70th Anchester, 69th Anchester, and then 67th Anchester,
in order to have some of the local corner open properties.
If we have the client online,
I will now hand it over to Chef Ricky
so that he can explain his idea for this property.
Mr. Shermer, could you show us the property?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, I mean, we'd like to see what the property looks like so we understand what we're talking about.
All right.
One minute.
Sorry, one minute.
Okay, so here is our property.
okay can the board see this
Okay, can the board see?
okay we sheet on the map okay yep so this is 69 6900 chester avenue right uh we are and the client
It is located pretty much at the crux of, one, the Cobbs Creek Parkway bike trail, which runs along the right side of Cobbs Creek Parkway.
We have the elementary school up here, and then we have the park down here.
So this seems to be a perfect nexus of the three locations where, okay, people who are actually jogging along the Cobbs Creek Parkway, kids who are out at the park, and then kids who are coming out from the elementary school,
all would want to be then available to this.
Mr. Shermer, do you have a picture of the location?
One second.
one second okay well okay well we work through design notices vacant
One second.
Mr. Sturman, did you take photos of it?
Oh, yeah, we have.
We've got photos, and we have posting photos, and one second.
Okay, give me one, sorry, one second.
Thank you.
Mr. Shermer, if you can't find a photo, just bring your client on, please.
If I can have Tariq.
There's no one in the office. Here we go, Chair, someone with the iPhone.
Yeah, sure. Thank you.
Hi, sir. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Yes, Tariq Ryan.
Spell it, please, for the court reporter, sir.
Sure. T -A -R -I -K, last name R -Y -A -N -T.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Proceed, counselor.
I'm not a counselor. I'm an advocate.
No, no, no. I mean, Mr. Shermer. Mr. Shermer has to. Mr. Shermer, here's your client.
Tariq, can you explain what you want to do at this site?
Sure. The proposed project is simply added healthier option for our community. I'm proposing all natural cold press juice bar, which would potentially sell.
All natural cold press juice bar, which would potentially sell fruit smoothies, veggie smoothies, all natural cold press juices, no sugar added, prepared salads, prepared meals that are grainy, that are green.
There's a lot of promotion in Philadelphia about a greener Philadelphia.
So I actually own a restaurant called Cheesy Vegan.
And as you guys, I mean, everybody knows there's a push for plant -based food and, you know, healthier options in Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs.
I am a vegan myself, and I'm not pressing my agenda on people, but I do understand some of the, you know, health afflictions within the Black community.
I am a minority -owned business.
I am a business person from Southwest.
I've owned and operated a successful restaurant and juice bar on 65th and Elmwood and I am also
I'm an educational background I am a Temple grad in business I am a restaurant school
graduate from the restaurant school at Walnut Hill College I have a degree in health care
management from CCP I am on the steering committee for PULSE which stands for Philadelphia Lawyers
of social equity. I am also, I'm part of their steering committee. I am on the board at Bartram's
Garden. I serve as a Southwest leader for South, I mean, for Bartram's Garden. And I am a licensed
contractor in Philadelphia. Mr. Shermer, that's your client. Do you have anything else?
Tariq, how do you think this will benefit the neighborhood?
So I've lived on that block.
I've been a long time Southwest resident for over 15 years.
My struggle when I opened up my first restaurant in Southwest on 65th and Elmwood was that there was no like unique kind of breakfast or like, you know, homemade breakfast.
I always ended up in Center City or ended up in South Philly.
So I took a chance on an inner urban community to bring a more unique brunch style sit down restaurant.
Unfortunately, the pandemic wiped out that sit down component and sit down component.
I haven't gotten back to that yet, but it is and it is in my scope.
I feel like a lot of our children, a lot of our adults are underserved in this community.
and I'm just overseeing I mean if you walk up Umwood Avenue you walk up all of our major
avenues you're going to see you want to see beer delis you're going to see corner store bodegas
and you're going to see these new uh emergence of smoke shops and there's almost I mean
from 69th and Chester to my restaurant on 65th and Umwood you'll pass at least eight smoke shops
You know, before you get to either end of that mileage. And the benefit to the community is a healthier option. It is a benefit that our kids that, you know, frequent with these corner stores can tell you every bag of Doritos, every little Debbie flavor, every cake flavor, but you put them in a room full of produce and they can't name a rutabaga or they can't tell you what a zucchini is.
So I'm simply trying to break the monotony of the corner store bodegas, the bear delis that our neighbors seem to like have no problem with allowing to open up.
But we get to a nicer pocket of Southwest going into Cobbs Creek, going into Delaware County that is being part of the Southwest master plan, part of the Schuylkill master plan of, you know, renovating and rehabbing our roads of Cobbs Creek.
And, you know, going into Island Avenue, you see a lot of new developments coming on Island Avenue, which is around the corner from the subject, from the subject, from the subject property.
So, again, go ahead, go ahead, Hal.
Great.
Which, how many restaurants have you opened and how are they doing?
I've opened three.
I lost one to the pandemic.
Cheesy Vegan is ever growing.
um that's my plant -based concentration in Delco and 65th and Elmwood Chef Ricky's Cafe and Juice
Bar has been open for seven years and um it's sustainable it's profitable at times but you
know that's the restaurant business it's up and down like the stock market uh so um I'm just game
to be in Southwest I'm game to help an underserved community be more served and have healthier
options in the community and you know that's my aim that's my goal. Okay Tariq so this location
is triangulated between the. So Mr. Sherman listen Mr. Sherman listen a minute
there's a lot there's several things that are we need to see what the plans look like.
there's a lot there's several things that are we need to see what the plans look like
we need to see pictures of what the lot looks like like you got to be able to show us something
so that we understand it I mean I appreciate what what Tariq wants to do but you know you got to
say like here here's here's the plans this is where the parking is going I don't see anything
I will hand it off to Bart.
To who?
To Bart.
To the actual architect.
He's coming in as a panelist.
My name is Bart Bida of Toner Architects.
Hi, sir. How are you? Could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter?
Yes, my name is Bart Bida of Toner Architects, spelled B -A -R -T -B -A -J -D -N.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Well, Mr. Sherman, this is your witness, so proceed.
Bart, could you please explain why this property fits on this site?
Sorry, Hal, can you repeat that?
Could you please explain why this property fits on this site?
Sure, I'll present the plans, and that'll kind of explain to everybody what is happening.
So let's look at the zoning on Philatlas here.
As you can tell, it's a 32 -foot -wide property that has already been subdivided into essentially two 16 -foot -wide properties.
Now, if we go to our proposed...
Excuse me.
I'm sorry to interrupt, but we're still seeing your refuse.
It's switched now.
Yes, thank you.
Sorry.
So this is Chester Ave at the bottom here and South 69th Street on the left here.
As mentioned, this was once a 32 -foot -wide property that's now been subdivided.
This existing building was part of the original property, and that is going to remain. What we're proposing is a three -story building with the juice bar, smoothie bar use at the ground floor, and then two two -bedroom unit apartment units at the floors above with a roof deck.
roof deck setbacks comply with zoning code to the best of our knowledge or to the refusals
indicated the only refusals noted are for the use of the commercial use of the ground floor
for two unit where we're in an RSA zoned area and for parking which is prohibited in this zoning
designation as well as the parking dimension but this is essentially what we're looking at
Now I'll go to, I might have to stop sharing and reshare.
There we go, Chrome.
Here we go.
There we go.
So this is kind of what I was mentioning earlier.
This is the view on Atlas.
And in terms of what the site looks like, this is what we're looking at.
This is our lot right here.
This is the existing building that is going to remain.
And then let's go into 3D view.
And I'll drop you right in.
let's look around and this is our property right here and so we are proposing parking
to enter right through here and then the front of our building would be
as such let me go back and i will share one more additional thing
there we go
No, this is what I wanted to share, and this was our proposed rendering of what the project would look like.
Now I'll leave it at that.
All right. Thank you. Mr. Sherman, do you have other witnesses?
We have, I don't think we have much more from what we have explained now.
I would want to mention that the property does have a couple of interesting restrictions,
that it is the smallest of the properties which were set out by the initial subdivision.
properties which were set out by the initial subdivision it does have a
it does
fire hydrant in the front which prevents parking it does have the
bus stop right there for the 108 and it does have a bicycle lane right in front of it
uh which we think which actually would be a benefit because we have a great location
for anybody who's waiting for the bus for the bike to sit there and have a great location
uh i think the uh engineers have explained the initial uh project one of the things which we
do have is that the property or the street adjacent to us is extremely wide and we've
heard a bunch of complaints from the neighbors that a the property is going to be a
source of additional parking however what we've heard from the neighbors is that the parking
congestion is after 5 and before 7 a .m and the property this business will not be operating
during those times so we're getting hit with questions about parking during times that we
aren't going to be open are you done sir no i'll move forward okay uh mr chair yeah sorry i was
just gonna um say um mr jinn should be given an opportunity to process him and be the architect
and the property owner sure go ahead mr jinn who do you want to talk to first or do you want to
you want to open up with a statement. I will open up with a brief statement and then I will
like to ask some questions of Mr. Beja. I'm sorry, Bart. It's probably easier. So my client is the
40th Republican Ward RCO. They're the coordinating RCO. Heard their letter to the board.
They're part of a consortium of RCOs that includes the other registered RCOs in the area.
my client's taking a position of opposition which was actually set forth in their detailed letter
but i'm going to repeat them briefly here essentially the rco's position is that based
on the feedback of the local neighbors this particular lot has always been as far as they
know a residential zone lot they in fact had the area zoning changed rsa 5 because majority of the
surrounding uses are RSA 5, single family houses. I will concede that corner properties throughout
Philadelphia are in fact in many cases CMX1. However, this is not a lot that is zone such
and basically what we're being asked here is to accept a use that is substantially
beyond what the scope of the zoning permits and is in fact something that the owner has not
considered other uses that are more consistent or less of a variance for. There was discussion of
potentially keeping the property completely residential at the RCO meeting, which is not
what the owner would like to do, which we understand. But again, asking for a variance
both for one, a commercial restaurant -type use, and two, two residential units above
in a lot that was originally larger single -family use that was subdivided to lower the size,
and yet we're adding three uses in.
If I can have the plans put back up, please, Bart, if you don't mind.
um bart can you point out to us where the fire hydrant that was mentioned um is located on this
plan yes right here thank you now if you could uh show us uh where is the expected driveway for the
off -street parking to be right here at the rear of the property and at that location is there
anything preventing a vehicle from parking on the street uh no currently no thank you uh so chair
one one piece of this that was um a big concern to neighbors and my client will verify my my
A big concern to neighbors, and my client will verify my representation to this effect, is that you're taking away on -street parking for an off -street parking space.
Beyond that, having a commercial use in this location, Bart, could you go back to the 3D view for me?
I'm sorry, not the rendering, but the actual street view. Thank you.
I appreciate your help in this.
I don't know if you can answer this
or maybe this is an answer for Mr. Shermer's client.
Out of the properties in this surrounding view,
if we were to circle this view,
are there another commercial use
within visual distance of this?
I will, I'll defer to Chef Ricky for this.
He's from the neighborhood.
Mr. Shermer, could you call your client back?
I'm here.
Can you guys hear me?
Thank you.
Yes, I'll repeat the question.
I heard the question.
I heard the question, counsel.
Yes, that's an affirmative.
They're on the corner of 70th Street.
The proposed property is 69th Street.
If you go up to 70th Street, which is one block up,
Bart, can you go up to that Google map view to 70th Street?
so on the corner of 70th street there is a crab uh a blue crab shack i think it's called crab
daddy's um and there is i don't know if this is a real commercial use or if it's an illegal
commercial use but right on 68th and cobbins creek if you there is a a horse stable um that's
crab daddy's i don't like i said i don't i can't speak to the legality of the horse stable but
it should be a commercial use but there's like five or six horses in there um if you go uh
adjacent to crab daddy's there is a dunkin donuts there is a food truck um it's a caribbean food
truck there is a tire shop and an auto body shop all less than a quarter mile of the subject
property bar if you can go down to 68th street um you will see some cmx1 you'll see a corner
store bodega that serves uh fried food cheese steaks um you know snacks candy um they serve a
plethora of like uh you know pretzels and juice and stuff like that um and then right across the
street from the bodega there is a cmx one zone property that um his sign says that he's selling
produce or i guess he's about to open up a store that sells produce and he has two uh existing
apartments on top of his and i know that owner very well his his name is um ian no i'm sorry
his name is not his name is uh hisham um and he's the owner of that property uh and the reason i
know him is because that's where i first proposed to put this juice bar was at the bottom of his
property um but he decided to you know go his own direction but so yeah there is a bunch of cmx1
there's uh restaurants food trucks um horse stables again a body shop and a tire shop all
within the quarter mile radius of the subject property.
Thank you.
Now, I'm looking at the zoning map,
so I think this is a good time to point it south of the board.
If you look at the property in question
that we're centered over on the map,
everything surrounding this property is RSA 5,
but Chef Tariq is right.
There are ICMX properties nearby.
There are CMX 1 further down.
And as the chef testified just now,
he has looked into the option of trying to put it
in a commercial property rather than having to put it here on a residential property so is there
have you uh sheriff i mean i'm sorry chef have you considered or had any um have your design
professional have done any studies on a residential use on this property a residential
I unfortunately will come in and object because it's not relevant to the issue
because this is 6900 Chester Street.
There is commercial use at 7000 Chester Street.
There is commercial use at 6800.
Mr. Shermer, I think he should answer the question.
And I'll take note of your objection.
The other four intersections have commercial uses, but not this one.
So I'm just concerned about the representation.
I heard what you said, but Mr. Jin, repeat your question.
I heard what you said, but Mr. Jenry.
So my question is, have you investigated or looked into a residential use at this particular location outside of your proposal of a commercial use?
Can you guys hear me?
Yes, go ahead. Proceed.
Okay. No, our design team has not looked into anything residential at this juncture.
Um, we were, you know, open to, you know, trying to come to a agreement with the neighbors.
Again, as, as my, as Hal stated, we've met three times already about this property.
And a lot of the issues that are coming up has nothing to do with we, with what we were
refused for.
Um, a lot of it is, you know, that the juice bar slash movie shop is going to bring criminals
that is going to, you know, affect parking, which as, as, as my counsel stated again,
that the hours that we're going to be operating will not affect that volume at all in no way,
shape, or form. We'll be open when people leave for work. We'll be closed before people come home
from work. And we were also open to sharing the parking spot. Even Craig Melendosian of the 40th
War Republican, you know, first suggested that, you know, we put a loading zone there so that
people could, I don't, you know, it's not about the park and it's not about, you know, what the
neighbors are making it about. You know, it's more so about this community needs something.
it has nothing you know in this area you know so again to answer your question again we have not
looked in a residential but we were open to working with the neighbors in any way shape or
form um but now we get in pop -ups with refusals that you know that didn't exist in the beginning
um this has been going on chair this has been going on for almost two years now
you know with uh postponements and and i have no problems you know postponing to work with
our neighbors i've lived on that block for probably 12 years before i moved to island avenue i'm still
a resident of southwest you know so you know we're open to to to negotiating and everything but like
you know at the at the 25th hour we're getting hit with refuse that we i mean we're getting
blindsided with stuff and i don't think that's fair to the community that wants this and we
care it's it's it's human out here it's it's conversation going on i mean i'm sorry it's
humidity going on you know my roof fell apart at my other restaurant because i've never had
conversation like this ever all of my duct work is just saturated in conversation i've i've been
outside talking to these neighbors and as many you know signatures that they have i have the same
amount to back that people want this at my other juice bar i have over a hundred signatures of
community people they might not be affected neighbors but there are people that frequent
my juice bar and say and sign off and say that they want to see this in southwest so you know
council i know you have a job to do to you know protect your client but i have a duty to my
community as i said i'm on a board of barton's guard and i'm i'm a southwest leader you know
this is my job to protect Southwest. Thank you. Bart, if I may ask, since there was no
investigation into a single residential use at this location, would it be correct to state that
any hardships there might have been to putting a single family use there was not investigated by
uh by your firm i would object because the rco or the actual political actually we're actually
in the area of six rcos and two political organizations and the political or city the
political organization that is running this had said that they were in favor of a three unit
Is that correct, Jin?
That was a concession towards not...
Excuse me, this is Hillary.
Mr. Jin, you asked a question.
Mr. Shermer, are you objecting to his question?
I am asking a clarification to the question.
The RCO actually said we support three units,
and that was not what was represented by the question.
Okay, okay.
So I don't believe that's the intent of the question.
The architect can answer the question.
Please answer Mr. Jin's question.
If you can, if you can.
Absolutely.
Can you just repeat that one more time?
Sorry.
Since you guys did not investigate
a single family use at that location,
is it fair to say that you have not looked into
any hardships of the property that would have
that would prevent you
from putting a single family house there.
And I would ask again that -
No, and he's going to answer the question
and we take note of your objection.
But it's improper to have somebody
ask a leading question.
Well, you're overruled, Mr. Shermer.
Mr. Shermer, you're overruled.
And please answer the question, if you can, sir.
Please answer the question, if you can, sir.
Yeah, sorry, Mr. Jin.
Yeah, sorry, Mr. Jin. Respectfully, the questions are relevant. You know, we get hired to design what our client wants. And so we've never even gone down any road to that path to do so. So I unfortunately can't answer that for you.
Okay, thank you. So I guess I would ask Mr. Shermer's client the same question. Is there a hardship to your property that would prevent you from using it consistent to the zoning that it is zoned for?
That you're aware of?
Yes, can you guys hear me? Can everyone hear me?
Yeah, proceed. Go ahead, sir.
Okay. Yeah, sure. Chair and, you know, everyone else. So, yeah. So the comps wouldn't support, honestly, a single family home at this location. The comps around there might go between, you know, 120 to like 180 grand. I'm not really sure, but I'm almost 99 .9 % sure that the comps wouldn't support that.
But I also want to speak about, you know, that there is hardships with the, if you can see in one of the photos that Bart put up on Google Maps, there is like bush that grows there uncontrollably. There are caterpillar trees that grows there uncontrollably. And the cocoons, they nest and they drop, you know, moth -bearing caterpillars all throughout the summer and spring.
There is an issue that I had when I owned a property that my tenants still have that live at the adjacent property that people from the back alleys come and drop trash there.
Contractors come and drop trash there.
Right now on that block, there is illegal.
I mean, I'm sorry, not illegal, but abandoned vehicles.
Stickers are outdated.
People just come there and drop trash on that corner.
So the hardship is real.
The hardship is imminent.
It's been there for the longest.
And these are the kinds of things that the neighbors are not taking into account that, you know, we're going to put, you know, commercial, you know, dumpsters back there.
We're going to make, you know, there won't be a really, you know, huge garbage issue because the only thing we're putting in there is, you know, juices made from, you know, my other restaurant that are in glass bottles that are recyclable produce boxes that can be broken down and compacted.
So we're limited. So it's actually a win win for the neighborhood because that corner won't, you know, continue to look like that.
People won't continue to dump trash, you know, out there if they see a beautiful existing structure in a storefront.
The property next that your tenant lives in now, what is the use of that property, the one that's next to this lot?
It's a single family. It's a single family home.
Thank you. Mr. Chairman, I would just like to state that, you know,
this is a residential neighborhood. This is a residential single -family home lot that was
actually subdivided from a residential single -family house, providing a new lot for the
applicant. While we understand that, and this is where the consortium was trying to be flexible
and supportive of development, we understand an absolute requirement of a single -family house may
be difficult on this lot, but we firmly believe that a commercial and two additional residential
units in a reduced size lot in the corner here, surrounded otherwise by residential properties
is an overuse of the property. From the zoning standpoint, the code requires that when we're
looking at a use variance, that the variance would be needed due to some kind of hardship to the land
due to the location, size, and structure.
I do not believe that standard is met here.
In addition, even though the testimony is that the impact
would not be a detriment to the neighborhood,
certainly commercial use with trash and commercial trash pickup, traffic,
all these things would potentially pose a negative impact to the neighborhood.
And therefore, my client's request for this variance not to be approved is soundly placed under the zoning law, and we would ask the board to deny this variance.
I would like to have Mr. Craig Meldosian certainly come on and verify my representations and answer any questions if needed.
if i can question mr jim since before his statements are approved that there's
commercial use at 70th and chester there are restaurants at 69 we're asking for a restaurant
a small essentially bodega at 69th Anchester there is a existing
There is an existing bodega at 68th and Chester, and there is an existing...
Mr. Sharma, hold on one minute, because Mr. Jin is not done yet, and he's bringing his witness on.
So let his witness come on, and then we'll go from there.
Well, he's speaking, not his client.
so i want to ask him not the client who's going to say that everything that he said is true
i'm asking the person who spoke rather than the person who's going to say that everything that
he said is true uh it's up to you i don't think that i can i think i have a problem i think i
have a right to ask i don't i think we're going to bring i don't i don't think you need the
question, Mr. Jinn. I really don't.
Well, he spoke everything.
He's the person
who's...
Yeah, he's representing clients.
He's saying what the client did, and the client's
coming on.
We're bringing the client on.
Chair,
Craig Melladossian has
two devices. Please put your hand
up on the one you wish to be recognized on.
He's been allowed to speak,
Chair. Okay. Hi, sir. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Craig C -R -A -I -G, last name Melidosian, M -E -L -I -D -O -S -I -A -N. Right. Do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do, Chairman Bergman. Mr. Jinn.
Thank you. Mr. Maldosian, can you identify your relationship to the Ward 40 RCO?
Okay. It goes back first to...
I'm sorry, your personal position with the Ward 40 RCO.
All right. Well, it comes from the 40th ward. The Republican ward, since Hal had, I should call him, Shermer mentioned earlier, 40 A and B. The Republicans and Democrats, we operate our wards a little differently. The Democrats have an A and B. The Republicans, we've consolidated it.
So even though committee of 70 had whatever they have, that's not the way the Philadelphia Republican City Committee or the city commissioner's offices looks at it.
I am the ward leader for the entire 51 divisions that are in the 40th ward.
As part of that, some years ago, based upon legislation developed by Marion Tasco and Janie Blackwell, they gave the wards an opportunity to integrate into the RCO process.
So I'm going to say these are two great Democrats and what they've done for this process has been great.
And that's how I stepped into that. And part of the reason for me taking it over is I have a real estate background going back to 1979,
including residential, multifamily, neighborhood shopping centers, primarily in University City, strip shopping centers,
other larger ones such as Brookhaven Mall including high -rise office buildings in the
Center City Business District and at one point I was the vice president of Research Park Incorporated
which was at that time the residential arm or I'm sorry the real estate arm of the University
City Science Center so it seemed like I was the perfect guy to give the zoning work to
I was selected as coordinating RCO by Councilman Johnson's office, and I've been doing it since the time of Steve Cobb, continuously up through now.
I'm with my fourth zoning liaison at this point, so I assume they have a basic satisfaction with what I do.
It's the other thing I'll indicate so that it's understood.
As the coordinating RCO, really, I'm a glorified clerk.
I'm the guy that does all the paperwork. I'm the guy that ties everyone together. I'm the guy that pulls people in. I'm the guy that sets up the Zoom meetings and tries to get a pulse from everyone.
Councilman Johnson is absolutely assiduous in making sure that everyone has an opportunity to participate in this.
And that's why we went originally for the first continuance.
And then he joined in with me on the third continuance so that we made sure that the applicant had every opportunity to meet with and address the issues.
There was no intention of holding anybody up.
Thank you. I wanted to have you first.
have you first, did you hear my representations and testimony before the zoning board?
Did you hear my representations and
I did.
Can you verify that what I've represented as the position of the 40th Ward RCO is true and correct
and adopted as your own testimony?
Thank you.
Mr. Shermer, do you have any questions?
Well, yes.
The Committee of Seventy says that there is a 40th Ward A and a 40th Ward B, and I am wondering...
oh let me get that there we go sorry uh the committee of 70 lists the 40th war has been
being splitted into 40th a and 40th b so i want to know whether mr melodian
And Lucien is actually in charge of this area.
And since there are, since the committee of 70 says that Craig is in charge of 40B and 40A is vacant,
therefore there is no majority.
How can you have a decision by award with less than a quorum?
um i'm going to be honest the uh information that you're referring to
is not reflected what the philadelphia city committee views as the 40th ward nor does it
reflect the bylaws that we submitted to the city commissioner's office that they have approved
and if you wanted to uh i don't want to make it a moot point but this is the 25th division
the 25th division sits in 40b you're not in that division you're not here the 25th you're here
the 40th if you want to be for if you want to be 25th division that's the lady that you appointed
who went out and got all this all of the decisions against so we have the democratic committee had
no problem with this, didn't say anything, didn't get involved. The Republican committee, even
the Republican ward leader, doesn't like this, and made a point of this by reciting everything
that he posed about this at every single meeting. And then the Republican committee woman that was
appointed by craig went out and get every single neighbor that they could to oppose this not based
on reality but based on we don't like anything and we think this lot should be remain a vacant
lot rather than being developed so i want to know why is it that there's a 40th a and a 40th
I don't care about the ward leader. I want to know whether 40A and 40B, how can you have a 40th ward decision with only one person?
Mr. Shermer, stop a minute. Mr. Shermer, Mr. Shermer, stop a minute. Craig, can you answer that question?
Yeah, I was elected by committee people that are in both 40A and 40B.
And the reference to this Republican committee woman, she's she's not my committee person and nor nor has she ever been a committee person.
She has in the previous previously worked on the election board, which is totally different than the word structure and the other simply how did she do it?
She's the block captain on Regent Street. She and the co -block captain were against it and wanted to know what they could do.
And I said, well, I think what you need to do, because we see it with regularity, is people go out and they get petitions that either support or oppose something that's before the board.
And I said, it's your responsibility to go out and get petitions and send them into the councilman's office.
You didn't actually sign that petition. That's not your signature.
You weren't involved when 0404, 2016, Craig Melodian, you just testified under oath that you didn't propose this person and you actually signed for them and filed it in court under oath.
I'm sorry. Who were you referencing?
I'm sorry. Who were you referencing? These are people who long ago were on the election board.
These aren't committee people. Excuse me, Mr. Chair. I need to interject. This is going much
far afield of the zoning matter. We need to be focusing on the zoning case, the project in front
of us and what the objections are related to zoning. The legitimacy of the RCO in the ward
structure is not an issue here. Mr. Schirmer, do you have any questions relative to zoning?
Unmute him, please. Do you have any questions relative to zoning?
well yes i have questions about how the republican ward leader we're not we're not
going to go back to that what's your questions about zoning uh for craig none thank you
aside from how aside from how did he get around sir we're moving on sir sir we gotta move on
come on we're done we're done okay um jen you have any more questions um no i have one quick
question for mr maldosian if the board would uh indulge me uh mr maldosian you're a registered rco
correct yes uh i i've been involved with the zoning yes yes sir please yes thank you and
And you're currently up to date with the PCPC regarding your registration as an RCO.
I was just renewed.
Thank you.
And this property is within jurisdiction of your RCO?
Yes, it is.
Thank you.
That's all I have to ask.
Thank you.
May I just, the RCO, our air service area is the entire Lower Southwest Philadelphia Planning District.
And we also go into the Southwest University City Planning District.
So I serve two council people, Councilman Johnson and Councilwoman Gauthier.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I would ask that Mr. Jin explain that political organizations are not RCOs.
they are a separate subchapter and they are not rcos they are exempt from most other requirements
of rcos that they actually have sorry i'm not you're done we're worried about this is a zoning
board we're not worried about the rcos okay thank you all right i just have to make i have to make
Leonard, do you need to say anything at all, Leonard?
Oh, no.
Okay, thank you, Leonard.
I appreciate it.
I mean, again, I don't,
the city planning will be making its recommendation
and the law department will support them in that.
But yeah, otherwise we're not taking it.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
chair we have robin last name beginning with an h
robin could you state your name please
a long time resident hi could you state your name and spell for the court reporter
sure r -o -b -i -n harris h -a -r -r -i -s i'm a near neighbor all right i'm sorry do you swear for
him to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes sir are you in favor of this
project or against against thank you very much is there anyone else in the virtual audience
i see no hands chair planning commission
thank you chair bergman sarah bond philadelphia city planning commission
s -a -r -a -h -b -a -n -h do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the
truth. Yes, sir.
Rashi.
In 2019, the zoning map was amended from residential multifamily to
residential single family in accord with recommendations from the
comprehensive plan.
There is no unique physical condition or circumstance of this
property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with
the code.
The city planning commission recommends that the board deny
the proposed variances.
Excuse me, Chair, when you called on the Planning Commission, one with France -Pierre.
All right, let me get them in real quick.
Bring the first one in.
France Pierre, please unmute yourself.
France -Pierre, please unmute yourself.
France Pierre, please unmute yourself.
He's unmuted.
We'll go to Keisha Robinson then, okay?
Yes, that's fine.
Keisha Robinson, please unmute yourself.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Hi, my name is Keisha Robinson, K -E -I -S -H -A -R -O -B -I -N -S -O -N.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
Are you in favor or against the project?
Favor.
Thank you very much for calling. We appreciate your input in taking the time. Is there anyone else?
I'll try France Pierre again. You're free to speak.
he's unmuted chair but i'm getting no response okay thank you um uh we've had we've had a lot
if i may no no no no it's you're over you're done you're done we never got a lot of testimony today
we had a lot of testimony today we will vote on this next week we'll take everything we've
heard into consideration thank you very much thank you true thank you jen thank you leonard
Thank you, Hal. Thank you, Bart.
Okay, I'm going to go to the 3 .30 list.
My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this 3 .30 hearing.
With me is the Vice Chair, Ismail Shahid.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Thomas Holloman, our board member.
thank you james snell our board member present chair also present is hillary emerson our attorney
and our executive director tanya sunken here's our virtual format be advised the proceedings
are being recorded a video will be available by contacting tanya sunken at philo .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 nine to raise
your hand and star six 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 comment or testimony. All comments should be directed to our Executive
Director, Tanya Sunkit. Here's our list of continuances.
Number two, MI 2023 -00487 -2351 South Bonsall Street. That case is continued.
Number three, MI 2023 -004 -01 -951 Jackson Street, that case is continued.
Number five, MI 2023 -000397 -734 Jefferson Street, that case is continued.
Mr. Chair, this is Hillary. On that Jefferson Street case, that is going to be continued until next Wednesday, July 19th at 3 .30 p .m.
Thank you so much for that information.
We appreciate it.
And here's our no exhibits.
Number four, MI 2023 -000 -463 -3857 Poplar Street.
We have no exhibits.
This is the first listing.
Nikia Yarbrough is the listed applicant, and Michelle Murray is the listed owner.
I see no handshare.
So MI 2023 -000 -463 -3857 Poplar Street.
This is the first listing.
This case will be continued.
Mark must be tried.
Number six, MI 2022 -004 -623 -2143 North 32nd Street.
No exhibits.
Second listing.
No exhibits were submitted and no one appeared on the 1 -18 -23 hearing.
Kendra Newman is the listed applicant.
Discovery Property Holdings is the listed owner.
Again, I see no hands here.
MI 2022 -004 -623 -2143 North 32nd Street.
This is the second listing.
No exhibits. No one appeared the last time. I vote to dismiss.
No exhibits.
No one appeared the last time.
I vote to dismiss.
James Snell, I vote to dismiss.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is to dismiss.
Thank you. Number seven, MI 2023 -000 -477 -6207, Catherine Street.
no exhibits first listing Randy Fulton is the owner applicant
I see no handshare that's the first listing so MI 2023 00477 6207 Catherine Street
that case is continued mark must be tried and number eight MI 2023 000404 617 South 7th Street
no exhibits first listing julius damas is the listed applicant tazine noor is the listed owner
mr chair this is hillary um we did receive a request for continuance for this case however
it wasn't clear who it was from um so yes i just wanted to put that on the record that we did get
a request for continuance, but it wasn't clear who submitted it. So MI 2023 -000 -404 -617 South
7th Street, letter D, no exhibits, first listing. Someone has asked for a continuance. That case
is continued will be marked must be tried and number number one MI 2023 000 462 201 Camry Street
that case has been withdrawn is there anyone on the 330 list who has any comments about
the cases that we've just listed
I see no hands shared
Is there anyone that was on the 2 p .m. or 3 .30 list whose case has not been called?
I see no hands, Chair.
Thank you, everyone.
Thank you very, very much.
We've got a lot of work done today and went a little longer than we normally do, but I appreciate what everybody did.
Thank you.
Thanks.
Have a good evening.
Everyone.
Nice job, Chair.
Good night.