please identify yourself spell your name good afternoon this is devon loney d-e-v-o-n
and l-o-n-e-y you swear if i'm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes i do thank you i have a question the basement apartment uh in the upper part of the
diagram that's in front of us is that a staircase leading out of that I believe it's a bedroom
or is that a window well so there there is an existing uh staircase that leads to a hatch in
the basement um we left that intact for for this phase that can be easily converted into a window
well um but as of now that is a stair that's leading to a hatch
Um, questions from the board.
I'm sorry.
Can you blow it up some more?
I really can't see it clear.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. Tell me. Just the top part where there we are. Yeah, blow it up some more.
Tell me that just the top part where.
I asked a window well that has an area space around it, correct?
So that existing stair, I don't have a picture of it, but it's one of those hatches that lead to the backyard.
start uh so we can we left it in place for this uh the purpose of this meeting however
that can be easily converted into a window well okay thank you yep and the basement apartment
just to clarify does have direct access uh to street level in the front um so by code we're
not required to put window wells for the bedrooms here however we you know we like to we we left
this as another means of egress for that bedroom uh just to supplement the egress in the front
okay thank you that explains a lot thank you any other questions from the board no mr chairman no
no mr vertillo you want to would you want to get your client on to adopt your testimony
oh sure um unless the board wanted to hear why we can uh i was going to have mr um
lania testified to why um we had to settle on the four units versus the three but if the board
doesn't want to hear that i can certainly well i don't yeah i'd be interested i guess to find
that out i mean just you make three by eliminating one correct that that is correct mr chair um the
the reasoning was mostly behind the uh the size of the uh building so in order you know with the
four stories, we can either get rid of the basement altogether, which is currently finished
or partially finished. And that would require obviously a lot of extra demolition and stuff
that we think is a little unnecessary. But also by combining any of the other floors,
you create a very large multi-story unit that we don't really think would be affordable for the
area and the client's plans. So we looked at it from a perspective of if this was zoned RM1,
what would be allowed. So with the lot area that we have, as Steve mentioned, it's about 97 feet
long. It worked out to about 4.1 units once we divided by 360 as allowed per the RM1 zoning,
and that led us with, you know, rounding down to four units, which just seems to make sense for
the property of this size. Thank you. Again, Mr. Bertil, do you have a client to adopt your
testimony yes if uh mr green could raise his hand and be recognized green please identify yourself
spell your full name then i'll swear you in mr green you can unmute yourself and speak
hello good afternoon everyone can you guys hear me yes please spell your full name and i'll swear
yes my first name is k-h-a-l-i-d khalid last name green g-r-e-e-n you swear and affirm to tell the
truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes. Mr. Bertil. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Green,
did you hear the testimony that I provided to the board this morning or this afternoon rather?
Yes, I did. Do you affirm the truth of my testimony and adopt it as your own? Yes, I do.
Thank you, Mr. Green. Thank you. Anyone else would like to testify in this case,
please raise your hand here we have charles richardson mr richardson you can unmute yourself
or wait for the chair good afternoon mr richardson please identify yourself you're still under oath
yes mr chair charles richardson from the office of councilwoman cindy bass room 312. i have with me
here mr charles karn who is the head of the 13th ward rco he can't he was having trouble
getting on to the call so uh i have him on via tele via my cell phone okay mr karn please
please identify yourself spell your name and i'll swear you in
charles karn 13 ford rco chairperson 38 53 off 19th street
uh you spell your last name mr karn all right c-a-r-n do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth yes sir thank you sir please proceed yes sir um the
original um community rco meet for 16 18 we did have in july um we wrote a letter of opposition
based on how many um units uh mr uh council did receive we wanted to reschedule an additional
We wanted to reschedule an additional meeting. However, council had a conflict at that time.
meeting. However, council
So we sent them back another email and it was after the date, which was going to be, I'm looking at the email now, September 29th.
On the email, council states that he wanted to present to you, the board, their presentation and still schedule a community meeting.
Now, during the original community meeting, there was a lot of opposition towards this project.
And Mr. Council and owner understood that.
So when they came back with the four, we never had a meeting with the community itself.
I've been listening and I'm listening to that.
The properties adjacent, a lot of those are illegally developed units, and I didn't want to get chasing folks around, but we had a problem with the density and a problem with the trash, putting trash in front of the unit there.
But our density issue, if you look along there on the south side of Erie Avenue,
and we've been working with the planning commission for like the last five years to maintain RSA5 on those units across there.
I am surprised that the adjacent, one of the adjacent RCO sent a letter in from down off of Tioga Street.
now that's um if you look at area avenue tayoga street that's quite a bit of ways away
so this is the first i've heard that they have sent um a letter um supporting this project
however council and i were have been going back for the like um since sunday until monday
about having rescheduling rescheduling a meeting and in my letter of opposition i did mail it in
to the um the notification board stating we do have opposition towards this project but however
we will we will are in favor of three units and mr chair i don't know uh i think because mr karn
uh had trouble logging knowing he might have missed me um saying this but i i don't disagree
with basically anything he said except maybe the the mass opposition but in terms of we do
as i stated earlier we do have a meeting scheduled in october with the democratic ward um and we
were trying to present the the revised plans to the democratic ward which we have not been able
to do thus yet and that's why we have that meeting scheduled um what we're going to ask well i guess
i can do it now um what we're asking of the board is to to hear this testimony um to to hold a vote
until that meeting. I believe it's the 14th off the top of my head. It's either the 14th or the
15th. But Mr. Karn could correct me if I'm wrong. But to hold the vote so we can present our revised
plans to the coordinating RCO and allow them to update their, if they see fit, to update their
um position and then we can report back to the board uh what happens at the meeting that's if
the board shall allow it mr karn are you are you amenable to uh for the board to uh have a
resumption hearing um after you meet with mr patel and his client we can we could do a resumption
hearing at which time we will then take into consideration any feedback from the your rco
Yes, sir. Actually, not to prolong this year, we've actually been in conversation with council for, I think it was October 14th. I'm scrolling through my emails.
so that was he confirmed that we were going to have this meeting so i was just surprised at the
meeting and the presentation that went so long in the sense of i had trouble getting oh i'm sorry
but um i am we are in agreement with um having another community meeting okay that's that's
what i need as long as you're in agreement we'll do that if not we'll we'll vote on it today but
If you're in agreement, we'll hold off on any vote.
Yes, sir.
That works?
Anyone?
All right, Mr. Korn, thank you.
And Mr. Richardson?
Yeah, Mr. Chair, we will withhold the Councilwoman's position until that resumption.
Yeah, Mr. Chair, we will withhold the councilwoman's position until that resumption hearing.
Thank you.
Mr. Chair, I think just for the sake of, I guess, point of order, if I'm allowed to state that, of course, this is something we're amenable to, or I wouldn't have referenced it in the beginning of our presentation.
but I do know because that's going to be a resumption hearing just for the sake of procedure
and for the record, I wanted to make sure that we still allowed testimony like public testimony now.
Excuse me, Mr. Bertil, the difference is if it is limited to reading the letter into the record,
you can schedule it immediately after the meeting.
If it is to take testimony, then Ms. Sunkett will give you a date, but it is likely to be much later.
Right. No, I understand that. That's why I'm referring to them today, to right now, to make sure we get our testimony, to get testimony in if we are limiting the resumption hearing to the results of the next community meeting.
So I want to make sure public testimony happens.
I think Ms. Saleta just explained, if we do a resumption hearing, we will limit it to any feedback from the RCO. Are you asking for additional time for more testimony?
No, I'm asking for testimony today.
Well, you've given us testimony, haven't you? I mean, we listened to your presentation.
your presentation. Right. I'm referring to public testimony. I don't think we asked for any public
testimony. Well, I just did. That's why Mr. Karn and Mr. Richardson, unless I'm misunderstanding
your question, I just asked if there's anyone else who would like to testify. Mr. Richardson
from Councilwoman Bass's office and Mr. Karn, who's the leader of the 13th Democratic Ward,
just testified and i will continue i will ask again is there anyone else who would like to
testify chair we have someone by the name of kiana shedrick miss shedrick you can unmute yourself and
wait for the chair chedrick please spell your full name and i'll swear you in yes um first name
kiana q-i-a-n-a last name shedrick s-h-e-d-r-i-c-k you swear for him to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth yes i do i think you were on earlier but please proceed i'm sorry i
didn't hear you i'm sorry just just proceed okay no i thought you said i was on earlier so this is
my first time speaking um our letter i'm sorry i'm sorry chair i don't believe she was present
earlier it was the upper north neighbor someone had uh that was part of someone else's presentation
well they showed the letter from our organization that was forwarded by right but i was coming
forward to make testimony in regards to the case okay just to proceed with your testimony but did
you hear there's an agreement between mr karn the leader of the 13th war democrat committee
and councilwoman bass's office to have a meeting sometime i believe it's going to be the 14th or
15th of october i'm sorry yeah tanya i was just wondering can she be sworn in
i did swear in oh okay yeah i did uh so i'm wondering if if you heard in having heard that
testimony uh would you prefer to hold off for any further uh discussion until such time that
meeting takes place i don't know if i have a choice at the moment i feel like i'm being
discouraged from having my record oh i'm i'm asking whether you do you want to go i no please
don't take it i just asked well i guess i want to prefer because i raised my hand and waited to be
recognized i know and i'm asking do you want it to continue with your testimony or would you rather
wait until after the October meeting, because the application may be amended.
No, I can be heard now, and I can be heard at that time.
What I wanted to state-
Please proceed with your testimony.
Sure, thank you.
What I wanted to state and have recorded for the record was that as an affected RCO and
neighbor nearby, I am familiar with the case.
And we did have members who were present at the actual community meeting that was held.
At that time, it was mentioned that it was presented to be five units, but they agreed to already reduce the units to four.
So the conversation that will be held at a later date has somewhat already been had.
That's my first point.
I think this project is also being an asset to the community because they're taking what is currently rooming.
also being an asset to the community because they're taking what is currently rooming situations
and making them into individualized units for people to use. And it's already been said that
it's been historically used as a rooming home. And then I also wanted to have on the record that
from our RCO, we did have members present at the meeting that did take place. And so just wanted
to have that information on the record that there was already a community meeting that was held and
the things that are being proposed for discussion have already been discussed and presented. The
units have already been reduced, and the trash situation seemed there was already a resolution
presented. So just wanted that noted for the record. Thank you. I appreciate your time. Thank
you. Anyone else would like to testify in this case? If so, please raise your hand.
There are no hands at this time, Chair. Thank you. We might as well get the Planning Commission's
position now and then we'll we'll talk about after the uh october uh resumption hearing uh planning
commission thank you chairman de chica appreciate it ian hegarty for the philadelphia city planning
commission members of the board the comprehensive plan recommends a zoning map change to rm1 at this
location um so the revised uh proposed use that's been presented by mr bertill is consistent with
the recommended zoning district both in terms of the use and the number of dwelling units
city planning commission recommends that the board grant the variance with the condition
to reflect amended plans with no more than four dwelling units on the property
thank you mi 2021-002084 1618 west area avenue this hearing will be resumed on tanya if you
have a date after the 15th of october that would be helpful november 17th at 2 p.m this hearing
will be resumed on november 17th at 2 p.m at which time the board will consider any feedback related
to the rco's position thank you very much i'm chair and the council woman's position and the
councilwoman thank you and councilwoman bass's position thank you uh number three on our list
MI 2021-002183, 2009-11 Sansom Street.
Carrie Nays-Poust, I believe, is the attorney.
CCRA, Center City Residents Association,
sent a letter of support with provisos.
Chair, Ms. Nays-Poust is coming back in as a panelist.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Ms. Poust. Please spell your full name.
Good afternoon, Chairman Carrie Nace Poust, C-A-R-R-I-E-N-A-S-E-P-O-U-S-T,
the law firm of Fox Rothschild, 2700 Kelly Road, Suite 300, Warrington, PA, 18976.
You swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do. Thank you. Mr. Plaza has some questions for you. Yes. You agree to waive the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? Yes, I do. And have you submitted a packet with the required documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral photos and plans five days prior to this hearing? Yes, I did. And have you met with the RCO and have a letter? Yes, we do.
thank you please proceed you're welcome you one moment while i share my screen
chairman can you see my screen via index yes okay you can make it a little bit larger that
would be helpful thank you you're welcome uh good afternoon i'm here this afternoon
on behalf of the owner of the property of 2009-11 Sansom Street. Also here with me this afternoon
is the owner, Britt Naylor, our sign consultant, Eric Rothwarf, and the architect, Jerry Gutierrez.
The property is located on Sansom Street between 20th and 21st Street. It is located within the
cmx4 zoning district we did submit a copy of the deed it marked as exhibit four showing my
client's ownership interest in standing to bring this application before the zoning board
we did send notices to the rco and the surrounding neighbors marked as
Send notices to the RCO and the surrounding neighbors, marked as Exhibit 6 is the notice that went out, as well as the certificate of mailing.
We also did have the notice posted on the property for the requisite period of time.
Let's see, here we go.
Here's just an aerial map just showing the location.
Again, it's on Sansom Street between 20th and 21st.
The property involved was previously occupied by the Academy of Social Dance, which I'm
sure most of you are probably familiar with.
We're here this afternoon seeking a variance to replace the existing projecting sign on
the building.