for several years, before my clients purchased the property in 2018, it lost its three family
status, and it reverted back to its single-family status. But from 1942 until the early 2010s,
it was an actual legal triplex. Now, what I have here, I'll go to this.
Well, first we have, we did a presentation in front of the Coordinating RCO,
Nice Town, Tioga, improvement, and they overwhelmingly voted in favor of this.
There was a significant vote of 13 to 1 in favor of restoring the property back to its original state.
I have photos.
Well, before I get to the photos, I have plans of the particular property.
and what we're it's a three-story building and each floor will have its own apartment the basement
will be untouched it will be just used as storage but the first floor would be it would be two both
all floors will have two bedrooms and one bathroom the first floor will have uh a bedroom one and
both of them in the rear, which is pointed right here and pointed right here.
You go up the stairs, go up the stairs, and then you go into the second floor.
You have a bedroom in the front and then a bedroom in the rear, which is pointed,
which is pointed here. And you have the kitchen. You have the kitchen right here,
the living room, and then the bedroom, the bathroom right here.
Then you go up to the third floor, as I'm pointing to, and you also have the same, a very similar layout of the bedroom in a rear of the apartment and a bedroom in the front of the building with a bathroom towards the front with the living room and kitchen.
moving along we have a picture of the building right here it's where i'm pointing at right here
right here. It's where I'm pointing at right here. It is currently, as I stated, it's vacant.
It's a shell, but this is a block that is full of multi-units as well as commercial units.
But this is the particular building right here.
It's a closer up photo of the building.
And we also have a picture of the posting right here.
And my clients, if they were to testify, they were to testify that they posted this within 21 days of the requirement, the zoning requirement.
I also have here, right here, a, hold on.
This is a zoning breakdown of the block and half of the block it's RSA 5. The other half is mixed use and multifamily for this block.
The red is the multifamily. The red is the RSA 5. But this is all of the same block right here.
we have the deed right here indicating the ownership of the property
the refusal the refusal notes that previously there has been a lengthy history of this property
being granted a three-family household in 1942, which remained for many years until it
had to fire, became vacant. We have the tax clearance indicating that there is a tax that
the city recognized that there's a tax clearance for this record owner. So what we're asking to do
is just uh pretty much put back into place what was already for many years a property that was a
triplex it's not inconsistent with the nature of the buildings that are on the block and we would
ask that given that there's uh overwhelming support in the community for this that it be granted and
i would open up for any questions that any of the of the board members may have mr harris would you
want to have your testimony adopted by your client sure i can uh i can have i can call them
and ask them if they would uh are they on the line now are they on the line yes have them raise
their hand can you raise your hand to me i'm sorry
miss young you can unmute yourself hi good morning good morning could you state your name
is spelled for the court reporter sure tamika t-a-m-e-k-a young y-o-u-n-g do you swear or
firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes proceed okay uh miss young did
uh you are a you are part of young and selden tayoga homes llc correct yes okay uh and
did you hear the testimony that i just testified to in front of the board yes i did and do you
adopt fully uh what i stated to the board what i testified to for the board yes is there anything
any additions or is there anything else that you would want to add or you would rest on what it is
that i stated to the board uh no that's it okay are questions from the board no mr chairman
questions or comments from the virtual audience
chair we have one calling user phone number ending in 6578 please unmute yourself and wait
for the chair could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter
good morning
calling user ending at 6578 you're unmuted you're free to speak
yeah i was an accident i apologize
accidental call yeah yeah i don't have any comments okay all right
Anyone else have any comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair, we have Charles Richardson.
Mr. Richardson, just state your name. You've already been sworn.
Mr. Richardson, just state your name.
You've already been sworn.
Charles Richardson.
Charles Richardson from the Office of Councilwoman Bass from 312 City Hall.
Councilwoman has no opposition to granting the variance.
Thank you, Mr. Richardson.
Questions? I'm sorry, Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair. Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
Members of the Board, the comprehensive plan recommends a zoning map amendment
limit from RSA 5 to RM 1 at this location. So this proposed use conforms not only to
documented prior use of the structure, but also to the recommended zoning district and
the comprehensive plan. We therefore recommend that the Board grant the variance.
Thank you. MI 2021 004826 1428 West Venango. I vote yes.
Carol Tenere, my vote is yes
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes
Ishmael Shahi, my vote is yes
Thank you, Mr. Harris
Thank you, may be excused
Thank you
MI 2021-004820-168 Gay Street
Manioc Neighborhood Council, letter of support
Mr. O'Brien
Mr. O'Brien
Yes, good morning Mr. Chairman, members of the board
Just state your name for the record, Mr. O'Brien
William O'Brien, W-I-L-L-I-A-M, O'Brien, O-B-R-I-E-N
And you've already been sworn
Could you identify for us your client and the relationship to the property?
My client is Neil Orczak, who is the owner of 168 K Street.
Thank you.
And our vice chair has a few questions.
Hi again, Mr. O'Brien.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
It appears that you have submitted all the required documents.
Is that correct?
It is.
Thank you.
You may proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
um this is a bit of an unusual appeal um in 2015 mr warczak appeared before the zoning board
requesting a variance a use variance to use his home not only as a resident not only as his
residence but also as a bed and breakfast uh he was without counsel and the zoning board
despite the neighborhood support, denied the request for the variance.
Mr. Orczak engaged counsel who filed a timely appeal to the Court of Common Pleas
and coincidentally six years ago today on March 30th, 2016,
the Court of Common Pleas reversed the zoning board
and granted the requested relief from the zoning code.
um that order is on page 15 of the materials um so it should be over uh however there was a bit
of a hiccup and uh mr orzak's attorney failed to uh make an application or file the order with
the department of licenses inspections in order to get a zoning permit uh a few months ago mr
to file an application with the city for street cameras.
There's a program to support neighbors and street cameras.
And an eligibility review revealed that his use bed and breakfast was not currently legal
because no permit had been issued.
And the only remedy was to file a new application and pursue this appeal.
I want to show just a few photographs. The neighborhood civics supported unanimously. It's on page three of the materials. But let me just briefly go to the photographs because that's worth a thousand words.
This is an image of the front of 168 Gay Street.
This is the lounge area on the first floor.
This is one of the dining areas. That's one of the bedrooms, guest rooms, another guest room
and another guest room as indicated uh it's this has been in place for six years
uh again the neighborhood uh with that uh use existing for over six years in this residential
neighborhood the neighbors all still support it um and i would request the variance be granted so
and I would request the variance be granted
so that the use may continue
that the
and a permit will be pulled this time.
Is your client here?
No, he's not, Mr. Chairman.
He had connections.
I don't know that this testimony...
You're an officer of the court.
We'll take your testimony.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commissioner.
Thank you, Chair Bergman.
Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
Members of the Board, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing RSA-5
single-family zoning at this location.
However, this legalization corresponds to the use that was previously affirmed by courts.
So the City Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant the variance.
Thank you.
MI 2021-004820-168 Gay Street, I vote yes.
Harold Tannery, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Tannery, my vote is yes.
Thank you, Mr. O'Brien.
Members of the Ward, may I be excused?
Yes, you can.
MI 2021-004827, 2432 North 27th Street.
RCO, All in the Family CDC, Letter of Support.
Jermaine Harris.
Mr. Harris is coming back in as a panelist.
good morning again just state just state your name for the court reporter you don't have to
be sworn okay jermaine harris uh jermaine harris h-a-r-r-i-s right could you identify your client
and the relationship to the property my client is brian garris who is the record owner of the
subject property 2432 2434 north 27th street thank you our vice chair has a few questions
including the issue of tax clearance okay mr harris do you agree to waive the reading of the
refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do have you submitted all the required documents
I see that there is a problem with not having a tax clearance.
Has that been resolved?
That has not been resolved as of yet.
Okay, so you've submitted everything except for the tax clearance?
Correct.
Correct.
Anything else, Mr. Chair?
Like, do I ask if there's any?
I think we're going to move forward with the case,
and we'll close it
and wait for the tax
clearance before we vote
okay great you may proceed and
please share your screen
hold on
I'm sorry, let me, I'm just trying to get the last presentation out from the screen.
My screen can be seen, correct?
Okay, all right.
Okay. So this is a request to expand the use of this building as a funeral home. This property was granted use. It's an RSA 5 section of the city.
However, it was granted, approved by this board for use as a funeral home in 1965.
There is an expansion of this request, this variance is seeking an expansion of the building for it entirely to be used for funeral use.
Now, first of all, we have the letter of support from the All in the Family.
We had the letter of support from the All-In-A-Family. We had two meetings with the All-In-A-Family CDC, who is the coordinating RCO in this particular area. There was overwhelming support for that.
Let me go to the plans.
But before I go to the plans, because that's another attachment, I'll show pictures of the building, of the front of the building, which is right here.
It's a three-story building.
This is a posting of the zoning notice within 21 days.
This is another picture of the building.
This is the interior of the building. Now, this building was previously used, as I stated, testified before, as a funeral home. It was called Powell Funeral Home.
and that funeral home uh was a pretty deeply rooted uh funeral home and had been in that
area for many many years i think uh for over 30 plus years
and when my client uh he got ownership of the property it was in bad shape so what what has
been done is it was just demolished to the studs and we're looking at what we're looking here is
one of the floors of that this is the first this is the I believe the third floor this is the second