ZBA Hearing - July 15, 2026

recommends the board grant the requested variance for two family household living use

MI 2026-000-967-167-West Seymour Street. I vote yes with proviso. Revised plans, one page,

stamped by ZBA, July 15, 2026. Trash to be stored inside. Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.

Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso. Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.

ryan mcadams my vote is yes with proviso kaya wynn my vote is yes with proviso

leila beebe my vote is yes with proviso thank you thank you i'm still here yeah okay

number six mi2026 000 969 931 north american street alan knockamson is the attorney

Mr. Nockamson you've been sworn in please just state your name Alan Nockamson and Mr. Nockamson

And Mr. Nockamson, could you identify your client in relationship to this property?

could you identify your client in relationship to this property uh yeah so

Yeah, so my clients are Dahlia and Lerachmiel Daskal, and with me is their daughter, Leigh Moore.

Okay. Our vice chair has a few questions.

Thank you.

Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?

Yes, we have.

And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?

I do.

Thank you. You can show your screen and proceed with your case. Thank you.

Hi, so we have a single family home on the corner and we have refusals not having to deal with density.

There are some technical refusals regarding the height of the fence, which is not really a fence,

and also the rear yard depth where really we are in conformance and so we'll talk about that.

We have 11 exhibits and at the conclusion of my presentation, I would just ask that Lee Moore be sworn in

and I have a couple questions for her.

So, this is an RSA 5 property.

Lee Moore tends to live here with her parents and, you know, again, they have two accessory parking spots.

We're not taking any public parking away from the street here.

It's a good responsible use.

we're more than 65 feet away from the corner so we're not having to have it as a traffic hazard

of any sort but the two refusals are these and you'll see from the from the rendering and the

drawings um but technically they're showing that our fence which is not really a fence is uh 10

feet high which you know so we're only allowed four feet and then you know we're allowed rear

yard setback of nine feet so first we're uh in a regular shape lot but we're not really uh we

We really do have a rear yard. It's just parking there and you'll see it's a parking pad. That's kind of covered around the sides, not at the top.

So we met with the community, the Northern liberties, neighbors association. It was a well attended meeting. I think Alex told me it was like 6 to 12 neighbors, very sophisticated group memberships, very sophisticated within that community.

they voted in support of this project so again i don't think we are a non-conforming rear yard

but let's look at other non-conforming rear yards nearby there is a lot of them so i just wanted to

show that that we're not out of character to have that such a non-conformity and then you can see

an aerial view of the property so the people that would be most directly impacted by our building

structure lower level building structure here for our parking pads um is 933 and 951 you can see

that their their living space is 933 doesn't go that far back nine and same thing for 935 and

there's a ton of trees back there anyway so no one's going back there as as deep as we're going

anyway so we're not really taking away anyone's light in there and then maps of the area again

this is just a single-family structure. Also, I just want to point out there's a 10-foot alley,

so we have an artificial rear yard that you can argue that we're leveraging with that 10-foot

alley that's directly behind us. And then photographs of the property,

we're taking this structure, which is technically an RSA 5 property, and making it more in conformance

with the code to have a single-family house where Leigh Moore would be living with her parents.

so it's from laurel street as well as i showed you from north american street this is north

american street to the right of the property to the left of the property you can see there's you

know you know parking here as well i think our parking is a little bit more responsible laurel

street to the right of the property until after the property this is proof of posting from both

public streets our plans and drawings so a couple things here just going to focus on here this is

our parking pad here where you see that really we have an open area of 10 and a half feet but we

have a parking pad so we're considered as occupied area um there's the 10 foot uh alley behind us

which is the artificial rear yard setback 20 foot uh curb cut for these two car garage

and again we're not taking any public parking away from the street

like this there's no parking allowed on that side of the street

Again, very interesting architectural design. This is with ISA Architects. They have a more interesting, unique feel. And while it's not traditional, it definitely is something that, as a corner property, it makes it a little bit more attractive, especially in comparison to what is currently there.

this is what we're talking about these are the two parking spots this is the one story structure

where again we have it's see-through right it's a roll-up gate and oops sorry get down sorry

oops sorry get down sorry it's my my billing system and and see-through and

then it's while you see this as the fence area it's just it's just built out

like as as a structure but it has an open top it has open frontage it's

supposed to have light in there and again not really directly impacting you

seen this rendering well i don't think it's an accurate depiction of it there's some large trees

on these other lots so we're not taking anyone's light in there because they're not using that part

of of their lot we know the other neighbors knew of the of of our project they did not show up to

the community meeting and we have no inclination that they're against this project um i don't know

if we have an inclination that they're for this project but definitely not against this project

and then you can just see here the two-car garage um you know that's you know and you know you come

in through north american street uh there's a little flex area uh and uh what's it called

there's actually an elevator here because you know the moore's parents are a little bit older so they

you know need to be able to get up this you know get up you know the steps and um then there is

the hold on i know we have a oh here's the floor plans actually sorry so let's see so the floor

plans are this uh you you walk in you have a little guest suite here you have a little kitchen

here you have an elevator you have a coat closet you got 4a you got two parking spaces you go up

to the second floor you have a kitchenette area you have a living room again you have a little

The Paris area, and then there's there's 2 bedrooms and the study.

Oops. We met with the community on May 4th at 6 30 PM.

We emailed that notice a few weeks beforehand, which is our policy to make sure that the the community groups have noticed that we actually mailed a notice and proof of that notice.

we sent it to 129 addresses these are the addresses we sent it to proof of mailing to

those addresses our application for zoning variance our notice refusal which was included

with that our project information form the deed to the property showing that my clients own it in

their personal capacity they're not developers they just want to live there with their daughter

and finally certificate of tax clearance i'll stop sharing my screen i'll ask that the board

swear in could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer

lemur desk al spell it for you yeah l-e-e-m-o-r last name is d like in david a-s-k-a-l right do

you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes counsel so lemur

you heard everything i had to state today about your zoning matter yes is it true and correct yes

and do you adopt as your own testimony yes thank you questions from the board

yes um my question is okay there are two refusals so the one uh the accessory parking space

is located in the required rear yard so where is that on this

Let me re-share my screen and kind of get through that.

I'm going to go to the site plan, which will show that.

Yeah, it doesn't show how much of an encroachment, but it's...

Yeah, well, actually, you know what?

There was floor plans, too.

Hold on.

Dude.

Oh, here's the floor plans.

I always have the site plan, but do you see this where I'm circling?

If you can make it a little bit bigger, I might be able to see it.

Yes.

All right.

Okay.

And then I actually can show you the site plan where we're really 10 and a half feet set back with this, like this one.

If you want me to show you that, too.

Yes.

All right.

Oh, here it is.

There's a tent.

Gotcha.

Okay.

all the questions no the other question so that's okay um when you were showing the this

fence as they're calling it do you mean the front part where it's like open air yes yeah

can we see that oh yeah yeah and i think i had pictures to show and i i skipped over it but i

have pictures of other similar type of properties like this but this is basically and i have the

architect sarah wolf to answer any technical so it's like a it's like a mesh right yeah i don't

know about mesh it's like metal like that's the way it looks here it looks like a well a metal

well a metal yeah yeah exactly but it's light light in there you can see through in it and

myth yeah yeah exactly but it's light in there you can see through

like i said i had a picture somewhere in my presentation materials i know when i was

prepping i saw that and there's other examples exactly like what we're doing in terms of having

a more brick facade and having this type of mesh so then this is being considered as a fence yes

is that what they're calling that's the refusal it says fencing and walls

And they're saying it should be only four feet.

That's correct.

I mean, it says, well, it's at any fence located nearer to the lot line than the required building setback or the actual distance of the building from the lot line, whichever is greater, shall be no more than four feet in height and no more than 50% opaque.

I think we have the opaqueness.

I think that the issue is the fence.

That's their interpretation.

I mean is this like a garage like door and it's a roll up but but there's no we have no roof it's it's open air so I think that maybe they're contributing that as that's why it's considered quote unquote offense.

I think Council the plans that you submitted it looks different the actual not this but if you look at the plans it looks like a gate or something.

okay that's why okay because we looked at this also and we were confused because this looks

different than right i think will be submitted that's okay yeah i i it appeared like it was

a garage sort of door yeah and we at we did ask um miss emerson if if we would also run afoul of

occupied area i don't know if that is the case it looks like no because we don't think so

I can address that. If you're going to raise that, any missed refusals are incorporated in whatever the board is going to do.

I always put it on the record just to make sure. We're just questioning that. If that was another refusal that may have been missed, just maybe.

But again, not out of character to have this type of mesh, type of roll-up gate with a brick facade of this sort.

it's architecturally interesting we're not causing any issues with anyone's light in there

because of the next door neighbors or deep lots okay all right thank you all the questions from

the board questions from our attorney none at this time questions or comments from the virtual

audience or the present audience here i see no hands at this time chair planning commission

michael gall with the philadelphia city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no

change to the existing rsa5 residential single family attached zoning at this location no other

homes on this block or on any adjacent blocks have off-street parking allowances in their required

rear yard nor do any have fences of this scale so this proposal is out of character with local

surroundings there is no unique circumstance or physical condition of the property that would

prevent it from being used in strict conformance with the zoning code therefore the city planning

commission recommends the board deny the requested variances for corner lot side fence setback

and rear yard depth.

MI 2026-000-969-931 North American Street.

I vote yes.

Michael Johns, my vote is yes.

Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.

Snetta Graham, my vote is yes.

Jim McAdams, my vote is yes.

Iowan, my vote is yes.

Layla Bibi, my vote is yes.

Alan, thank you.

You have one more, but there's a few in between.

Okay.

Awesome, thank you.

um number eight mi 20 26 000 984 427 manton street michael mackalhattan

daniel mackalhattan is the attorney michael's my brother yeah that was it yeah get out of here

good afternoon mr chair can i can anybody help me with this a little bit

i haven't i have not used this system before so i just want to put this up okay

i have not no i didn't

Mr. Chair, if you want to state your name and spell for the stenographer.

Daniel P. McElhatton, MC, capital E-L.

Daniel P. McElhatton, M-C, capital E-L-H-A-T-T-O-N.

You swear or firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

I do, sir.

Would you identify your client and a relationship to this property?

My client is Vincent Manzo and his son, Vincent Manzo, and his mother, Vincent Sr.'s wife, Teresa.

And they are the owners of the property, title owners to the property, and developers.

And while we're working on that, our voice share has a few questions.

good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing

we have okay and do you waive the reading of the refusal to stipulate to its accuracy

i do so waive and stipulate okay thank you you can share your screen whenever you're ready

and uh begin your case and i'll i'll start by just describing what the intention is here

the manzos have developed two other properties on the 400 block of manton street

they have been on the even side of the street which has parking on it they required no variances

this is on the odd side of the street and there is no parking on the odd side there is parking

on the even side so the refusals were for the this is for a single family dwelling

three-story and parking in a garage that accesses from the street the the parking would not

interfere with the on-street parking, because that's on the other side.

Why don't you tell us about the RCO?

We had a meeting with the RCO on a cold and rainy night.

It was the Dickinson Square West Civic Association.

And after our presentation, they approved...

They took a vote and they approved our application, and I think they've submitted that proof to the zoning board.

And I apologize about not having been on the Zoom before we came aboard.

I think we're getting there.

And I really just want to show the property.

And if I can get that on.

Apparently, it is a vacant lot.

And, Chair, this is what it looks like so we're not holding everybody else up.

um how to this was submitted in the packet of materials that were supplied why don't we do this