I present my evidence binder, which contains table of contents AA through A11, which I ask be admitted into evidence.
This is my appearance statement, and this is the refusal.
This is a request for a two-family dwelling in what was a previously approved three-family dwelling.
So we're literally zoning down on this request from what was approved previously by the board.
The other refusal has to do with lot dimensions, which is a proposed 6% increase, which we find is the minimus, and I hope the board finds the same.
We do have an RCO letter of support from Grace Ferry Community Council, which we received yesterday as the chairman referenced.
This is a photograph area of the property.
It's four properties off the corner of 27th and Reed Street.
This is the property here.
Excuse me, it's three properties off the corner.
This property has been since demolished, and the property to the right, there's a new three-story home right there.
Picture of our zoning notice.
These are plans.
We're trying to match the height of the property next door, which, as I said, is completely built.
I think it's occupied now.
This is our proposed structure.
Zoning plan.
we have no issues with open space or rear yard or with height and here's the property i was
mentioning previously that's complete now and this is a once two-story house which has been demolished
and our property will hopefully go up next to it again some more aerial views cross-section floor
plan, tax certification, and the other pro forma documents that we usually submit for
the board.
And this is what's important here.
This is a prior zoning appeal where there's a request for a three-family dwelling, and
that's not our request today.
Our request is for a two-family dwelling.
And in fact, the zoning permit was issued for a multifamily, three-family use.
We just found that this owner just found that the three-family use was not going to be compatible with what he thought was the best use of this property.
So with that, I would rest.
I would ask the board if there's any questions and my client is available on the call to adopt my testimony.
Mr. Clinton, why don't you have your testimony adopted?
Mr. Nesiford, are you on the call?
please unmute yourself sorry yes i am all right could you state your name is spelled for the
court reporter please uh lay nesifort uh lay is spelled l-e-y nesifort is uh n-e-z-i-f-o-r-t
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
I do. Proceed.
Good morning, Mr. Neza 4th.
Were you on the call when I presented
the project for 2647
Reed Street?
Yes. And are you
the principal of the LLC 26,
one of the principals of the LLC 2626
Oak Reed LLC?
And if you had the opportunity to testify
today, would you adopt my testimony
as your own and as true and correct?
Thank you very much.
questions from the board no mr chair no mr j questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands chair planning commission all right thank you uh chair ian hegarty for the
philadelphia city planning commission um comprehensive plan recommends no change to
the existing rsa5 single family zoning at this location um with regard to the dimensional
variance for lot coverage we find this proposed condition to be consistent with typical lot
coverage on this block we have no objection to that however again with regard to the two-family
use the applicant has not shown that there are any unique physical conditions of the proposed lot
prior approval by the board of three-family use notwithstanding this is a vacant cleared lot so
there's not any unique conditions to an existing structure that would justify that granting of
use variants. So our recommendation is to grant the variants again for lot coverage,
to grant the variance again for lot coverage, but to deny the variance for use.
but to deny the variants for use.
Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Clinton?
Yes. As I said, the history is there's a three-family use on this particular lot.
It's two off of the corner. The corner is a commercial property, and I frankly don't know
what this property is being used for. It has a commercial appearance, but I can't testify that
it is being used as commercial. It's really not an overuse of the property. It's a two-family
dwelling with three stories. It has the support of the Grace Ferry Community Council. It's
not going to affect light and air of any house on the block, and it's in harmony with the
code. MI 2021-004-825-2647 Reed Street, I vote yes.
Harold Tenere, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Thanks very much, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Clinton?
No, thank you very much.
May I be excused?
Thank you.
MI 2021-004-819-2900 Distance Street.
No RCO letter received.
Joe Consul.
Good morning, Board.
I'm leaving the street here.
Good morning, Mr. Consul.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
It's Joseph Consul.
It's C-O-N-S-O-L-A, Consul Madison, LLP, 1 West 3rd Street, Suite 204, Media, Pennsylvania,
19063.
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client and the relationship to the property, please?
My client is Mr. Ming Ji Kui.
he is the owner of the property and he's uh on this call somewhere thank you um our vice chair
has a few questions for you mr holliman could you do the follow-up questions please
yes mr chairman do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy i do
according to our records you have submitted all the required documents except the rco letter
is that correct that is correct please proceed and share your screen
uh all right i'm going to share my screen but um i wanted to address the rco letter
uh at the outset um just to see uh if the board was going to suggest something different than me
presenting right now but uh we met with the rco last monday we presented we were there for an hour
in person uh they at the end of the meeting someone said that our um poster had been taken
down off the wall of the property and so they refused to vote uh at that time which uh seems
strange we all the letters went out we showed them proof we showed them photographs um of the
posters being up which are in the packet we put the posters right back up as soon as we learned
that they had been taken down off the property, but they still refused to vote.
So I don't want to prejudice my client by putting on a case without the RCO letter,
and I thought we had a good presentation for them.
So I guess before I run through all my exhibits, I'd like to just see what the board thinks about that.
Why don't you proceed with your case?
Chair, if I could speak for one moment, I would suggest that the board go forward with the case and the RCO be given one week to submit a letter, which would then be read into the record.
Thank you.
All right. Good morning, board. Joseph Consul here. The owner of 2900 Distance Street is Ming Ji Kui. He purchased the property approximately two years ago.
The property at that time had tenants in it, in a single-family home.
Those tenants have since vacated.
That was approximately six weeks ago.
The goal is for Mr. Mingji and his family to relocate to Philadelphia from New York City
to be closer to friends and family that have relocated down here.
And to that end, they're seeking to occupy the top portion of the property and to use the lower level as a personal services salon.
Mr. G's father is a fairly well-known hairstylist in New York and is seeking to open up a very small space in Philadelphia.
space in Philadelphia. And so I have some examples of other similar, if not congruent, RSA 5 variances that were granted by the board to allow for commercial space on the first floor of a unit.
Philadelphia.
And so.
these are all within two or three blocks of uh the property that 2900 distant this is wendy's
beauty salon on raw um there's caesar's house of hair styling which is on the same which is
a browse and brighton which is just a few blocks away from our property ours is a distant um distant
and brow there's valentina beauty beauty studio there's another hair studio 50 shades of gray
at 3201 mcgee and then there was a daycare which is not a hair salon but it's uh a similar ask so
i just thought i'd present it um there was more those are the ones that we were able to just drive
around and find uh quickly so the refusal is to use uh that space as a salon um like i said
last Friday, we met with the RCO and presented our case. Seemed to have gone well, but at the end,
no vote was taken. Here's a picture of our posters after they had been rehung. Here's our
picked timestamp photos of the original hanging of the posters from March 3rd. Again, these are
all included in the packet, but someone had taken them down prior to the RCO meeting.
And we put them right back up.
The property, like I said, had been vacated by the tenants.
The space is the exact same size as those other spaces that I had shown you.
It would be a two-chair salon in the outside of the lower level of this residential unit here.
That's pretty much it.
It'll be operating 9 to 5 Monday through Friday by appointment only on the weekends.
and Mr. Ming-Gi and his family will live above.
Past that, I'll call Mr. G to adopt my testimony.
Could you state your name and spell it, please,
for the court reporter?
Sir, please unmute yourself.
Hey, hello, this is Ming-Gi.
Q, so it's M-I-N-G-J-I-E, and last name is Q-I-U.
Pardon me, Ming-G-Q.
Thank you.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Good afternoon, or good morning, Mr. Q.
Did you hear my testimony right now regarding your property at 2900 Distance Street?
Do you adopt my testimony as if it were your own?
Is there anything you'd like to add today?
um no okay questions from questions from the board no mr chairman no mr chair questions or
comments from the virtual audience i see no hands chair planning commission 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
We feel the applicant's hardship claim is not supportive evidence of unique physical circumstances or conditions of this particular property.
So typically in cases where a corner property is seeking a ground floor unit, contrary to zoning,
we're looking for prior documented use or other evidence that the property has a unique physical condition of two separate units.
We don't see any evidence of that in this case, and so our recommendation is that the board deny the variance.
Thank you, Mr. Haggerty.
We're going to hold this case for a week, waiting to hear from the RCO.
Sharon, anything else to go into that?
Just that the record is otherwise closed except for the RCO letter, which will be read into the record.
Sharon, I sent you an email.
They submitted it this morning, 9 o'clock this morning.
Did not receive it.
I'm sorry, then, rather than continue this, can we hold on for one minute?
Tanya, is it possible, if you have it in front of you, is it possible for you to read it into the record?
Oh, okay.
Or to share your screen?
I could read what they provided.
Let's see.
and just for the record this is distant street right yes okay oh good morning stated along with
And just for the record, this is Distant Street, right?
all the other document um zoning regulations um they discussed about the signage problem
the members of the association and the entire board voted unanimously for continuance so that
the neighbors are properly notified and can then choose to support or oppose the project
after viewing the applicant's presentation. If the applicants do not wish to continue
the case, the Civic Association voted to subsequently oppose the project if the hearing
is held today. We look forward to the applicant and owners revisiting this project again before
the civic associates having just seen that we're we're fine to continue your vote and we're willing
to go back in front of them but we comply with all requirements and we had shown them the same
at the time um there was neighbors there they got our letters the signs were up we showed them proof
of that um so uh if they'd like us to meet with them again uh we're happy to do that oh it's that's
it sounds like they're asking for but i didn't get that letter okay so in that case um this
will be i'd recommend that it be scheduled for a resumption hearing um and mr console if you
could notify the board when that's ready to go forward okay thank you mr council
number 13 oh i'm sorry if i could ask a question sharon are you stating this needs to be scheduled
for resumption for the board to listen to testimony from the rco or are we saying just
to read a letter into record it would be more than that since mr consult has agreed to meet
with them again but it would be limited to feedback from the rco because we don't know
when they'll meet you can't give a specific date it would just have to be um it would have to be
announced and notice sent out um so do you say that your council will let us know yes thank you
because you're leaving me i just wanted to be clear and i'll confirm that in an email to him
and copy you Ms. Sunkett. Thank you very kindly. MI 2021 004-824-4981 Sheldon Street, Leo