Good morning everyone. Tanya do you need a few minutes? Yes. Okay we'll get started
when Ms. Sunkit gives us the go-ahead.
okay we should be ready now frank thank you tanya good morning everyone my name is frank
Chico I'm the chair of the zoning board of adjustment I'll be participating in
today's hearing along with our vice chair miss Carol Tenere board secretary
confessor plaza and board members mr. Thomas Holloman and mr. James Snell
board administrator miss Tanya Sunkett and board attorney miss Sharon Saleta
are also in attendance for those of you haven't yet participated in one of our
virtual hearings I'll go through some of the basics of what you can expect
First, we will be administering oaths to individual participants prior to their testimony.
Second, we'd like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded and that by participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded.
Third, for anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute yourself.
I'll repeat. For anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise your hand
by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute yourself. Finally, to enter an appearance statement,
call Google 267-270-5548 and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue.
I will repeat, to enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548 and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue.
Before we call the first case, I will go through a list of requests for continuances.
number one on our list mi2020-001525 1037 folk rod street we have no exhibits is that still uh
this case says sharon that's true we also have a request from the rco that it be continued
and according to the rco representative the applicant has agreed to that okay so that case
is continued um the attorney of record requested a continuous this morning as well thank you
mi 2020 dash zero zero one three eight six one three two five grant avenue attorney moving party
MI 2020-001517, 1528 Masher Street, MI 2020-001555, 1903 West Erie Avenue,
MI 2020, that's 001374, 2455 North 54th Street. MI 2020, that's 001389,
4523 Westminster Avenue. We do not have any exhibits. Is that still correct?
that is correct but if we could confirm that no one representing the applicant is present yeah
i'll do that once i'm done the next loop okay and mi 2020-001385 3535 hansbury h-a-n-s-b-e-r-i-y
street uh hold on one second let me get my notes here make sure i did that i get all that done
Okay, if there's anyone who disagrees with the granting of those continuances, please raise your hand at this time.
Please raise your hand at this time.
Mr. Chair, Alan Nockamson has raised his hand.
Okay, good morning, Mr. Nockamson.
Please identify yourself for the record, and I'll swear you in.
Good morning, Mr. Chair.
Alan Ockamson of Ockamson, PC, 123 South Broad Street, Suite 1600, Philadelphia, PA, 19109.
And do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Please proceed.
yes we are requesting continuance of 214 south 49th street which is under calendar number
mi-2020-001381 thank you that's uh number nine on our list that's for the board members number
nine on our list mi-2020-001381 is continued thank you thank you any other is there anyone
else who disagrees with the granting of any of the continuances that have just been read into the
record? I see no further hands at this time Mr. Chair. Thank you. Tanya I failed to ask you at
the onset are any of the continuance that we are granting this morning or any of them should any
of them be must be heard? I didn't even get a chance to look. You want a few minutes or we'll
come back? Yes, I can look quickly. Yeah, I'm sorry. I forgot the ask in the beginning.
no everything is good these are new cases from late this year very good thank you uh with that
is there anyone else requesting a continuance or withdrawal please raise your hand at this time
mr chair verne anastasio has his hand raised promoting right now thank you good morning mr
Anastasio, please identify yourself with the record
and I'll swear you in.
Thank you, Mr. Hand.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Can you hear me?
Yes, please identify yourself.
Thank you.
Vern Anastasio, 1315 Walnut, Suite 1006, Philadelphia PA 19107.
I'm going to affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth.
Yes, sir.
Thank you.
Please proceed.
uh 2414 north 53rd street should be on your list mr chairman um i just want to uh i did not hear
that in the uh recitation of the continuances so i do want to make sure that that's uh continued
okay so it's number 11 on our list mi 2020 that's 001860 2414 north 53rd street
is continue thank you sir thank you any other requests for continuances or withdrawals
i see no further hands at this time as the chair
jason uh now we will now go to the delayed list
the board is ready
mi 2020-002923
1720-1722 master street my vote is no my vote is no
excuse me before we continue with that vote something i should have explained if you
you are saying no to the request for reconsideration but because you have to
revote the variances the if you are approving the variances once again the
vote is actually yes and I should have explained that to you. I'm sorry
should I repeat that? These are hearings on they were it was a hearing on
reconsideration you agreed to hear yes to reconsideration and rehearing but on
the rehearing you were considering the variance request again so so to approve
so to approve the variances the vote would be yes okay do i need to read that back in or could we
the variances, the vote would be yes.
your statement uh um you should you should probably have the board members should probably
vote yes to both if if you are indeed granting the variances again all right mi 2020-002923
1720-1722
Master Street
my vote is yes
my vote is yes
my vote is yes
my vote is yes
my vote is yes
thank you
MI2020-000970
6164 Walnut Street
my vote is yes
my vote is yes
my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes thank you mi 2020-002679 and mi 2020-000737
1100 oak lane through 1122 oak lane my vote is no my vote is no my vote is no my vote is no
mi 2020-001433 414 south 20th street um my vote is to deny the appeal against l and i
my vote is to deny the appeal against l and i appeal denied
a field denied you all right mi 2020-001458 7519 ridge avenue
this hearing this was a hearing on remand from commonwealth court pursuant to the court's
instructions the board took additional evidence going to the issues of the proposals compliance
with pervious coverage requirements
as they existed at the time the application was made.
The board determined, one,
that the proposal did not meet the then existing requirements.
Two, that L&I erred in failing to issue
an additional refusal on that item.
Three, that the applicant established a right to a variance
on the pervious coverage noncompliance.
my vote is no that an additional refusal was required
to that a variance for that refusal is granted my vote is yes with proviso as per supplemental
findings and conclusions approved by the board today my vote is no to the additional refusal
that was required yes excuse me I'm sorry your vote I believe is that yes an additional
refusal was required but I thought
so my vote oh wait so one that an additional refusal was required and two that a variance
for that refusal is granted with supplemental findings as adopted
it. If you could check the language that I
Wait a minute.
I got it. Okay.
It's a text message.
The last sentence in the statement, Carol.
Oh, are you waiting for me to vote it?
Okay, for 7519 Bridge Avenue, my vote is one, that an additional refusal was required. My vote is yes. Two.
No, it's no. No, it's not no. You are finding yes, that an additional refusal was required.
And two, my vote is yes, that a variance for that refusal is granted with the proviso as per supplemental findings and conclusions approved by the board today.
Mr. Tom, Jim, my vote is one that the additional refusal was required.
And second, that a variance for that refusal is granted with proviso as per
supplemental findings and conclusions approved by the board today.
My vote is one that an additional refusal was required and two
that a variance for that refusal is granted with proviso as per supplemental findings and
conclusions approved by the board today my vote is yes that an additional refusal was required
and second that a variance for that refusal item is granted with proviso thank you we're all clear
on that one, Sharon? We are. Thank you. Thank you. MI 2020-001-297-2951 South Broad Street. My vote
is no. My vote is no. My vote is no. My vote is no. My vote is no. My vote is no. Following
request for reconsideration and rehearing. MI 2020-001-289-2901 Grand Avenue. My vote is yes.
My vote is yes. My vote is yes. My vote is yes. My vote is yes. And just to be clear,
that's yes to reconsideration and rehearing. Yes, thank you. Sorry about that.
Okay. MI 2020-00131, 257 Lyceum Avenue. My vote is no to reconsideration and rehearing.
My vote is no to reconsideration and rehearing.
No to reconsideration and rehearing.
Okay. I think now we're ready for the regular list.
And that starts with Broad Street, calendar number 1522, 1310 South Broad Street.
Mr. Anastasia has his hand up. I will promote him right now.
Thank you, Jason.
You're welcome.
mr anastasio can you mr anastasio can you put your name and address on the record please
yes of course uh verne anastasio 1315 walnut suite 1006 philadelphia 19107 can you spell
your last name for the court reporter yes a-n-a-s-t-a-s-i-o do you swear or affirm to
tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do do you also agree to waive the reading
the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do have you emailed an exhibit packet with proof of
ownership tax compliance refusal referral photos and or plans of the property five days in advance
of this hearing have and have you met with the rco and do you have a letter i've emailed everything
to the zoning board on time we have not met with the rco it's my understanding that the rco is
going to ask for a continuance because the meeting would have been last evening and they
just did not have a time to weigh in. Normally, what I had planned to do was ask for a hearing
hold tonight, today, but I spoke to Attorney Soletta late last evening and she advised that
even if I did have a hearing hold, we'd still, that would not save us any time. We'd still have
to come back for a second hearing and as such i i am going to withdraw my my any objection to a
request for continuance okay frank did you hear all of that you said you're withdrawing any
objection to a continuance yeah i was going to ask for a hear and hold uh mr chairman uh but
But Attorney Soletta has advised me that even.
I heard that.
So are you saying that you want a continuance?
I don't necessarily want the continuance.
I think the RCO does because we haven't met with them.
But I was going to object to it.
But Attorney Soletta has advised me that even if we got a hearing hold, it would it would not save time.
So there's no reason for me to to object to it.
So I'm not going to.
so we'll continue it is that what i'm hearing once the rco requests it i believe that's what
you would probably do yes yes and all right excuse me this is sharon sletta in any case
And, excuse me, this is Sharon Sleda. In any case, if we don't have the letter yet, Mr. Anastasia would simply have to come back at a second date for the RCO to present. So, continuance.
if we don't have the letter yet
Is that correct?
That's correct.
MI 2020-001522. 1310 South Broad Street is continued.
Do we have a date, Mr. Chairman?
uh you'll have to speak to tanya offline okay thank you thank you yep calendar number
1518 1612 cecil be more avenue that's me too that's you too um do you agree to waive the
reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy yes ma'am but first you swear or affirm
to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do we're doing this backwards and now put
your name and address on the record and please spell your name. Anastasia, 1315. What's 2020,
right? 1315 Walnut Street, Suite 1006, Philadelphia, 19107. Okay. And have you
emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax clearance, refusal, referral,
photos, and plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing? And have you met with
the RCO and do you have a letter? Yes, yes, and yes. Okay. You may proceed. Thank you very much.
Sure. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, 1612, Cecil B. Moore Avenue.
The application is for vacant commercial use on the first floor at the front, single family household living at the first floor rear in the same building with a single room residence on the second and third floors.
The basement here is a unexcavated and then we have utilities in the front. We've got,
let me show you here,
we've got commercial space on fronting. These will be more in the front here and we've got
uh one apartment in the rear and then we've got um single room residence above on the second
and third floors this is on temple university campus
take a look at some of the photos if you'd like you'll see the front is already sort of
commercialized. And we can take a look at some of the interior photos.
We also have tax certification, a deed.
Of course, we met with the RCO. We did a mailing that certified 91 households.
we have a letter from the adjacent neighbor who lives at 1610 Cecil B. Moore so Mr. Jerry Toomer
he said he's the adjacent property owner he's talked to both my client and myself and he's
also met with our contractor, and he fully supports the appeal for 1612. I then have a
email from the RCO that went to Ms. Mary Jones of Council President Darrell Clark's office,
Good News Community Organization, as well as the 47th Ward RCO. It's a reversal of their decision.
Their initial decision was to deny it. But after speaking to Mr. Toomer, they have decided to support this application.
It's a very large property. It's a commercial corridor.
And as such, they don't feel that our requested use is an overuse at all.
In fact, they prefer this to multifamily dwelling.
please mind you that we're here only for a uh a referral not a refusal or a variance
my client is elise carroll who is her full-time job is in fact managing properties that's what
she does she's agreed to a no noise no nuisance clause in all the leases she's agreed to lighting
and safety surveillance, video surveillance on the properties.
She's agreed to help fund cleanup projects in the community and also to post
projects in the community and also to post property management information on the facade.
As such, she's met her burden with respect to the special exception.
And as far as I know, there are no folks opposing who could produce evidence or testimony otherwise.
And before we close out, I'd like to ask Ms. Carroll to raise her hand to be recognized.
Seeing Ms. and Ms. Carroll, I will allow her to speak right now.
Thank you, Mr. Hand.
Welcome.
Good morning, ma'am.
Please identify yourself with a record first and last name.
Hi, my name is Elise Carroll.
Tell your last name, please.
K-A-R-O-L.
Swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you, Mr. Anastasio.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Ms. Carroll, did you hear my presentation to the board this morning?
Yes, I did.
Was it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
And do you adopt it as your own testimony?
thank you very much thank you any questions from the board no no no anyone else like to
testify in this case if so please raise your hand
no hands at this time mr chair thank you planning commission
good morning i'm paula brumblow burns with the city planning commission
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do thank you members of the zoning board this property is indicated for commercial use on the
comprehensive plan it would also be allowed four individual units as of right and we feel that
putting the first floor back to a workable commercial space is a positive attribute to
the community accordingly we have no objection to a single room occupancy facility to less than nine
tenants. MI 2020-0015181612, Cecil B. Moore Avenue. My vote is yes. What was that, nine
tenants? Nine tenants in the rooming house or the single room occupancy section. That still
includes the first floor unit as a separate number. Did that make sense? I'm confused. I'm
Oh, sorry, Paula, we have a rear unit.
You have a rear unit and then you have an SRO.
Yes, that's correct.
Nine units, nine residents
in the single room occupancy facility.
Thank you.
So noted in the record, thank you.
Yes, for Proviso.
Yes, for Proviso.
Yes, for Proviso.
you number six on the list carol yes calendar number one three eight seven seventeen eleven south
broad mr sun jen has his hand raised i will promote him immediately thank you jason
good morning i'm there you are hi mr jen can you put your name and address on the record and spell
your last name please yes zen jen z h e n j i n uh 1617 john f kennedy boulevard suite 1838
philadelphia pa 19103 here on behalf of the applicant do you swear or affirm to tell the
whole truth and nothing but the truth? I do. And do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy? I do. Have you also emailed the exhibit packet with proof of
ownership, tax clearance, refusal, and or referral, photos, and or plans of the property five days in
advance of this hearing? And have you met with the RCO? And do you have a letter? Yes, to all
questions. Thank you. You may proceed. Thank you. I'm going to go ahead and share the information
from this case with the board. This is an application for an amendment to what was
approved by Zoning Variants before. We have submitted the refusal community letter from
South Broad Street Neighborhood Association, photo plans, tax compliance, the lease for my client,
appeal application, the PIF form, and hearing notice. As the refusal indicates, this was a
previously reviewed matter before the ZBA, it was approved with a proviso that no frying or grilling
It was approved with a proviso that no frying or grilling of food on premises as part of
of food on premise.
what is essentially a corner grocery.
And that refusal, that application was from 2010.
My client's been operating and recently felt that in order to stay more competitive, he
would like to add the hot food takeout as part of the retail grocery.
we went back to meet with the community and they are in support of the application with the
stipulation of course that while they're removing their objection to the hot grilling of food
proviso from the original provisos they do want to make sure that the exhaust that work
will travel vertically through the existing building and exit at the roof level internally
and that the prior provisals that were applicable to this property other than number three which
would remove the prohibition against cooking would stay in place and as long as that is done
they are in support given that the property as you can see here is a corner grocery it is existing
and operating and the plans here also shows that it is our intent to run the venting to the roof
so the layout in the interior layout that is not really substantially changing we're adding
a cooking space to the grocery and the existing entrances storage exits pretty much all stay the
same so my client's business Narda convenience has been here it's the community is not asking for
any kind of limitation on this approval because he's already been operating for about 10 years and
would likely continue to operate long-term at this location.
I'm happy to try to answer any questions from the board relating to this particular matter.
Thank you.
Any questions from the board?
Anyone else would like to testify in this case?
If so, please raise your hand.
in no hands sir thank you planning commission we have no objection to the granting of the
variance at this location thank you um excuse me this is sharon seleta as for the wording of the
variance of the decision if you approve it um i believe that most of the requests by the community
organization are simply restating provisos that were previously attached to the approval
since the request this time is only to remove one of those provisos Mr. Jin maybe you can weigh in
on this it wouldn't appear to be necessary to state everything requested by the RCO maybe just
two provisos relating to the venting and to the trash storage would that
be acceptable I think that would be fine and with the just those two provisos and with prior
provide those to stay i guess would yes the easy way to do this so the provisos then would read um
roof mounted um trash stored inside building um roof mounted exhaust and provide
other provisos to remain um let's see is that clear enough mr jenner
um i believe i believe that would work i believe the uh internally stored trash was already on the
prior um proviso and was it okay yes let me let me verify that yeah trash storage cans into the
inside building with the prior proviso if we just ask that to stay and have um venting to the roof
venting through the roof and um additional provisos to remain
my assistants let me know that there is a trash storage area that is attached to the building
actually it was shown in the photographs so they would just maintain the trash
the internal storage of trash but it's not actually stored inside the unit itself if I
may just show the photograph again it's actually like a trash storage area right under the
staircase yeah yes
that's been that way forever
all right
we good to go Sharon
yes so it would just be the venting
and that
previously imposed provisos
to remain
other than
yes and I believe my client is here as well
so if the board has any additional questions
Do you want to get your client to adopt your testimony?
want to get your client to adopt your testimony? Yes, please. Mr. Dharpat Patel. I see him in the
Yes, please.
Mr. Derp.
audience
Mr. Patel
yes I'm here
good morning sir please identify yourself with a record first and last name
spell them please good morning Mr. Chairman my name is Drupal Patel
uh i'm here as the owner of a convenience store at 1711 south broad street would you spell your
first and last name please sure d-h-r-u-p-a-d last name patel p-a-t-e-l and do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes mr ken thank you uh mr patel you
have heard my representations and presentation to the board. Can you verify that my representations
are true and correct and adopted as your own testimony? Yes, it is. Thank you. Thank you.
Again, any questions from the board? No. No. No. Anyone else would like to testify in this case?
If so, please raise your hand.
I see no further hands, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Planning Commission.
We have no objection to the granting of the variance.
Thank you, Paula Brumbell Burns, Brumbello Burns. All right. MI 2020-001387-1711 South Broad. My vote is yes with the following proviso. Roof mounted exhaust system and all additional provisos to remain.
My vote is yes with proviso.
Yes with proviso.
Yes with proviso.
Yes with proviso.
Thank you.
I think we go to number eight.
Number eight.
Calendar number 1520-2042 North Gratt Street.
We have Mr. Anastasio, I'll be one of the panellists, or he is all ready to go.
good morning good morning name and address for the record verne and spell your last name
it's verne anastasio a-n-a-s-t-a-s-i-o 1315 walnut suite 1006 Philadelphia 19107
okay you've already been sworn in do you agree to waive and stip yes have you mailed the exhibit
packet with proof of ownership tax compliance refusal referral photos and or plans of the
property five days in advance of this hearing and have you met with the rco and do you have a letter
yes to all that thank you you may proceed thank you very much 2042 grad street is an application
that we are seeking a referral which means obviously that this is already deemed to be
conducive with the code. We just need to show that we are not going to be a detriment to the
community. It's RM1. We are proposing a single room residence for six folks, no and not part of
any jurisdiction with respect to the criminal justice community. Let's take a look at the
existing basement where we have the um utilities we have a first floor living room uh eating
kitchen a bathroom and a study then we have on the second and third floors uh six bedrooms and
we want no more than six individuals in the same house it's an absolutely beautiful home that we
do not want to cut up um it uh and the the uh the neighbors feel the same way uh it's got some
beautiful old markings to it. Lots of character on the ceiling and the walls and the very last
And the very last thing that the community wants, or do we, is to chop this up into a multifamily dwelling.
thing that the community wants or do.
I'm going to come down to the, we met with the RCO.
We have a mailing of 155 residents.
We have a deed.
And of course, we have a tax clearance good until next year.
As a result of our meetings with the community, we have a letter of non-opposition from 32nd Ward RCO, which we had a virtual meeting on December 7th.
they asked for a sanitation plan which we provided we asked for on-site management again my client
is this is her full-time job they've asked for lighting and cameras installation and that there
would be no institutional housing all of which we've agreed to and as such we respectfully
request the granting of this special exception certificate. Thank you Mr. Anastasia you have
your client? Yes, excuse me. Ms. Carroll, can you please
raise your hand and be recognized?
He's allowed to talk, sir. Thank you. Good morning, ma'am. Please
identify yourself with a record first and last name. My name is
Elise Carroll. And you swear or affirm to tell the
truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes. You were on
earlier correct correct all right please proceed mr anastasia thank you mr chairman miss carroll
did you hear my presentation to the board this morning yes is it true and accurate to the best
of your knowledge yes and do you adopt it as your own testimony yes thank you very much mr chairman
members of the board i rest my case questions from the board no no no anyone else like to
testify in this case if so please raise your hand. No hands at this time Mr. Chair. Thank you
Planning Commission. Good morning Paula Burns with the Planning Commission. This property would allow
two units by right with the potential for six unrelated individuals living together.
This application does not increase the number of residents from what would be
a matter of right accordingly we have no objection to the requested special exception
thank you paula mi 2020 that's zero zero one five two zero two zero four two north grats street my
vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes thank you all and
merry christmas to you i won't see you next week have a happy and safe holiday thank you same to
Merry Christmas to you.
Calendar number 1381.
No, that's, I'm at nine.
That was continued.
Alan Notkinson asked for a continuance on that.
Am I correct?
Yeah, he came on earlier and asked for a continuance.
Calendar number 1519, 2532 South 13th Street.
Ms. Tyra Rogers has her hand up. I will promote it to panelists right now.
I believe Ms. Rogers is the owner.
Ms. Rogers, you are now promoted to panelists. You may please unmute yourself.
Okay. Good morning.
Good morning, Ms. Rogers. Can you put your name and address on the record, please?
and spell your last name? Yes, my name is Tyra Rogers, R-O-D-G-E-R-S, 5013 North Warnock Street,
Philadelphia, PA, 19141. Thank you. Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but
the truth? Yes, I do. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance,
a copy of the refusal or referral, photos and plans of the property five days in advance of
this hearing and have you met with the rco and do you have a letter yes and yes i also sent the
letter as well okay thank you you may proceed good morning um thank you chairman and members
of the board this application is for a special exception to add child care um services in the
already existing um structure and business that's currently operating i'm sorry i apologize
I apologize for the interruption. I just wanted to confirm Ms. Rogers' role with this hearing.
I apologize for the interruption.
I just wanted to confirm Ms. Rogers.
Yes, I am the applicant. I'm the owner of, would be the owner of the business that's currently
operating. Okay, thank you very kindly. Do you have any exhibits you can share with us?
Yes, I have pictures of the current location. Do I need to press anything to share screen?
What kind of device are you using, Ms. Rogers?
My phone.
So I don't think you can do it on a cell phone.
It's already in existence structure.
No changes need to be made.
We're currently been open since October 2019 as an indoor space for families to come for classes and workshops with their children.
So we already have a current base of customers with children that we provide services to.
So we're hoping to offer an additional services of child care to those same families so we don't, you know, anticipate any disruption to the community, anything further than what we already offer and serve to the community other than a drop off place for children now with the child care.
We did meet with the RTO, who was in support of our child care services, and I don't think
it's anything else that, you know, would be opposing to the other than me showing you
the structure of the facility.
Ms. Rogers, is this at the intersection of 13th and Porter?
It's at the intersection of Moyamiston and 13th Street.
Moyamiston, okay, where it crosses up, across from the fire station, correct?
Yes, yes.
all right and this was is this the former bar it was a tap room there no it used to be the
wells fargo bank oh okay all right just one that reacclimate myself thank you i know exactly what
it is okay so currently i'm the tenant of the first floor and we have a currently have a day
care operating on the second floor currently so it's okay thank you thank you any questions from
the board no no anyone else would like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
no hint at this time mr chair thank you planning commission
this is paula burns with the city planning commission we have no objection to the request
of commercial daycare located within the existing commercial building thank you mi 2020-001519
2532 south 13th street my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes
thank you carol i believe we go to number 15. calendar number 1556 56 50 pine street
Mr. Cornwise has been promoted to panelists, Mr. Chair.
Thank you.
Good morning, Cornwise, on behalf of applicant Andre Wilson.
I am Cornwise, my address is 100, I'm sorry, spelling that is C-O-R-E-N-W-I-S-E, my address
This is 100 North 18th Street, Suite 300, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19103.
Thank you.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, ma'am, I do.
Do you also agree to waive and stick?
And have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal
referral, photos, and plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing?
And have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
Yes, I emailed exhibits last week. Yes, we met with your CEO. Yes, I have a letter, but I received that Monday, so it wasn't part of my packet sent last week. I think I tried to send that Monday evening. Hopefully you got that. If not, I can share that as part of my presentation.
Okay, Sharon would know that. You may proceed.
okay i'm sharing my screen um and that's not what i want to share
there we go okay uh mr chair members of the panel uh good morning this is 5650 pine street
it's a large property on the corner of 57th street and pine and the application is for
a four-family dwelling, multifamily, and if I go to my exhibits, this is the packet that
This is the packet that was submitted. And in the refusal, you'll see here, this is Zone CMX 2. And sorry, here, it's Zone CMX 2. And the refusal is for the residential on the first floor, as well as for dwelling units in what's proposed on a 1,261 square foot lot.
was submitted, and in the refusal, you'll see here.
here's a certificate of mailing for the RCO meeting and the zoning board meeting
attaching the notice and the refusal and here's the list received from the planning commission
and these are the photos but they came out black and white on my exhibit so I'm going to switch
back to the color version and uh this sorry so this is four units they are currently occupied
they have been for several years mr wilson uh has owned this property since 2013 um there's
no modifications proposed this is the zoning poster uh i know uh we like to see these in orange
but uh staples uh neither staples nor office max has orange in 11 by 17 so we did what we could we
posted that on the fence outside the property. Let me rotate this. So we're looking at this
property, this picture properly oriented. So you see the front of this property, this is this lower
unit, lower level we're talking about, which CMX would require to be commercial. We did meet with
the ORCEO attending that ORCEO meeting last week on the 7th were neighbors actually on the very
block. And they can recall this, they cannot recall this being commercial at any time.
And also agreed that commercial at this location was not in character with the block.
So we're asking for a variance with that refusal. This is the space that the tenants
are occupying. Sorry, let me rotate again. So we do have four kitchens and four bathrooms.
I try not to get too into these tenants business, just take a picture of each room.
And when I get to the plan, I can show you the layout. But each unit does have,
this is not a great picture of the front, but there's a stoop with the front door here.
there's an entrance to the lower level here this is a side entrance here and in the back there is
a driveway with an entrance to the rear unit the or the layout that we have I'll show you on the
plans but as we're looking at this picture is there's one large unit in the bottom there's
one large unit in the top and there's a front unit in the in what we'll call the first level
and a rear unit on the first level so that would be four units this property is about a 3,000
square foot property, 900 plus each floor. So there's another shot of the front. This is a
vacant lot that Mr. Wilson has maintained for years since he's owned the property. He paid to
stucco this wall, which was in poor shape. He fenced it and keeps the trash over here. And
the neighbors were very happy that he maintained this and continues to do so since in the past
it had been a mess.
And so I'm just going back through.
I think I hit everything there.
So this is the RCO meeting.
I'm sorry, RCO letter from Cobbs Creek neighbors.
We met on a Zoom call December 7th.
There was five people in attendance, not including the RCO members.
uh and they didn't get any additional feedback um and they noted that this was purchased in 2013
with four apartments uh the tenants are long-standing and they're all remaining
in the property we talked about rents they found to be reasonable um and the uh he's taking care
of 5648 uh and none of the neighbors on the block was opposed to uh legalizing this this uh four
unit property and cobs creek neighbors is entering no objection to the variance being sought
the other
and going back to the exhibits we attached the deed and the tax record i seem so i seem to
sometimes i'm sorry the plans i want to go through the plans um if i can zoom this up
i think i have to
So that's a little bit better.
Here we have the stoop.
So this is that middle level, I'll call it, we have the, it says here the first floor.
enter here and we have stairs here we enter this unit and you have a large unit here
there's a rear unit on the first I'm sorry rear entrance on the first floor with steps from the
rear of the property entering the unit on the first floor in the rear and downstairs we have
an entrance here as well as an entrance here on the side off of 57th street and to get to the top
unit we're up the stairs here coming up here entering the unit where we have the kitchen
here and the bathroom here so that's the layout as per those plans and here's the deed and the tax
i wasn't able to get a tax compliance because when it told me technical difficulties but we see
if you can see here let me just make sure i get it here mr wilson is under agreement here
uh for for some um unpaid balances we have agreement agreement agreement so while i don't
have the tax compliance we can truly attempt to get that if if the board uh sees fit um i wanted
to show that he is under agreement with the revenue department to uh to pay any uh past
taxes which are minimal at least i didn't see these two years and uh 2020 which is late but
common this year with a lot of applicants and the project information form as well as the appeal
we filed I believe yeah so with that we are seeking a variance for four dwelling units
and ask for the approval of the board thank you is your client client available he is and
And if he can raise his hand, I can have him comment on my testimony.
His name is Andre Wilson.
Andre, raise your hand if you're able to hit the button that says raise your hand.
You can be recognized.
are we seeing anybody
mr wise i don't see anyone sir i'm sorry okay mr wise as an officer of court will
stipulate that your client would be adopting your testimony yes any questions from the board
no anyone else like to testify in this case please raise your hand
no further hand at this time mr chair thank you planning commission
chairman and members of the board this property is recommended for commercial use on the
comprehensive plan based on the long-standing use of four units at this location that was
documented by the neighbors we have no objection to the granting of the variance i'm also paula
burns rumble burns rumble burns okay mi 2020 that's zero zero one five five six five six five
zero pine street my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes
thank you i believe that concludes the 9 30 session it sure does congratulations thank you
Thank you. And Tanya, we'll give you a few minutes. You'll let us know when you're ready.
And confessor, you're going to handle everything.
Professor, do you have a script?
You got it? Okay.
I'll take care of you. No problem. We're good to go.
Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Frank DiCicco. I'm the chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
I'll be participating in today's hearing along with our board secretary, Mr. Confessor Plaza, and the board members, Mr. Thomas Holloman and Mr. James Snell.
Board Administrator, Ms. Tanya Sunken, and board attorney, Ms. Sharon Saleta, are also in attendance.
for those of you who haven't yet participated in one of our virtual hearings i'll go through
some of the basics of what you can expect first we will be administering oaths to
First, we will be administering oaths to individual participants prior to the hearing.
individual participants prior to the hearing.
Second, we'll like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded
and that by participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded.
Third, for anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise your hand by
hitting star nine and then star six to unmute yourself. Repeat, for anyone participating by
phone. If you wish to testify, you must raise your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to
unmute yourself. Finally, to enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548 and leave
your email address and the address of the property at issue. I'll repeat, to enter an appearance
statement, call Google 267-270-5548 and leave your email address and the address of the property
at issue. Before Mr. Confessor calls our first case, I'd like to announce the following
continuances. Number two on our list of MI 2020-002518. 1701 Federal Street is withdrawn.
MI 2020-002279-516 North 4th Street. This case will be continued to February the 10th at 2 o'clock
p.m. Before I go any further, I just want to ask Sharon, did we ever receive exhibits
for 2209
South 63rd.
We did not
and this is the third listing.
Okay, so
we continue with
must be heard, Tanya?
Or dismiss it?
Could we check to see
if anyone is here for it?
Is there anyone here for
MI 2020-000540
South 63rd Street I see no hands chair thank you no hands are up it's already
been continued three times whatever you wish I say dismiss would be the first
one we've done in a long time okay dismiss let me just read into the record
again folks to mi 2020-000540 2209 south 63rd street my vote is to dismiss
dismiss dismiss dismiss you um
on the frankfurt avenue sharon you did send me something what was that
correction
i'm sorry i was muted um if if you could delay that until say 3 30 i'm still working on the
exact language okay so uh we're going to go a little out of order so uh mi 2020 that's zero
zero zero zero three seven three one one four frankfurt avenue will be held to the last
case on this on the two o'clock list uh having said that excuse me just to be clear that was
that's a case that was already voted but um you need to slightly change the proviso so
you could announce that at 3 30 thank you good okay having uh said that is there anyone now who
would like to uh request a continuance or withdrawal please raise your hand
mr chair i see no hands okay thank you um
uh let's go to the add-on mi 2020-000835 621-25 reed street
The original hearing was on November the 17th. We resumed it to this afternoon
for any feedback from the RCO. Is there anyone here for that case?
The attorney is Michael Phillips.
Good afternoon, Mr. Phillips. Please identify yourself with a record and I'll swear you in.
mr phillips please raise your hand if you're in the participants audience
Mr. Phillips, please raise your hand if you are in the participants audience.
he's not here okay so we can vote this correct um i i can we hold this one and discuss off
line is this re yes yep because we got we did we did get a letter from the rco and councilman
schoolers office um sharon did you get emails on this one i would just like to um contact mr
phillips so if we could move it to later in the list we'll move it later in the list okay thank
you so no other hands are up we're ready to go it'll be the first case confessor the first case
on our list you have the script yes uh cater street right yes mi 2020-002210 1519 cater street
mr chair mr leo movil has his hand raised i will promote him to panelists right now sir thank you
Please wait to be sworn in, Mr. Moverhill.
There we go. Good afternoon, chairman, members of the board.
Good afternoon.
Considering my continuing my holiday tradition of dressing up, I have my ugly sweater on and my elf's hat.
Confessor, I'll swear him in and then you can take it from there.
So MI2020-00.
Can you please just call Reed Street?
Is this a mistake?
Shari?
I got it, Chair.
Okay, thank you.
MI2020-0022101519 Cater Street.
Mr. Mulvihill, please identify yourself with a record.
I'll sway you in.
Certainly.
Good afternoon, Chairman, members of the board.
Leo Mulvihill, that's M-U-L-V-I-H-I-L-L. Address is 2424 East York Street, Suite 111, Philadelphia
19125.
We're a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
You agree to waive the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Also, have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership,
Proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal, photos and plans five days prior to this hearing?
So I emailed it all just a little bit late. It's been a little bit of a crazy week. I'm in the
middle of the move, but it should be received. And Sharon was coming.
This is Sharon. I can confirm that we received everything.
Okay, let me get my screen share off, members of the board.
Before you begin, Mr. Moblehill, I just want to make an announcement I left out.
So please do not attempt anyone to testify in the chat.
Any comments should be directed to our board administrator, Ms. Tanya Sunke.
Thank you, Mr. Mulvihill.
Thank you.
So good afternoon, Chairman, members of the board, Leo Mulvihill.
As I said, I'm here today on behalf of my client.
Well, that's the wrong screen.
I'm here today on behalf of my clients, Andy Nguyen.
There we go.
And everyone see currently what I'm trying to share, 1519 cases?
And what I'm showing on the screen now is the zoning exhibit packet.
including the refusal at page one area zoning maps at page seven deed at page nine tax clearance at
13 my notification letter at 14 a letter of support from sosna s-o-s-n-a photos of the
property at 19 and plans at uh pardon me 38 uh members of the board this one's pretty simple
my client lives in a cmx2 district it's a residential block he wants to put a duplex in
That's all we're going for.
The hardship here is simply that we live on a residential block.
I'll show pictures to everybody in a second.
And it doesn't make any sense to have a commercial space dropped into the middle of a residential block, especially so close to South Street.
Moving to my, pardon me, let's get rid of this deal of contents.
Sidebar.
All right.
So apparently my computer's giving me a hard time.
There we go.
So I'm going to scroll first to the zoning map.
So we have an idea of what's going on here.
So this is the subject property.
It currently exists as a two-story single family home, even though it's zoned CMX2.
You're one block south of south.
This large area, which I'm indicating with my cursor, which is directly to the west of
my client's property, is a huge new residential development that's something like 50 or 60
feet tall.
showing page eight now this is the area zoning map my client's property is indicated in blue
Showing page eight now, this is the area zoning map.
zone cmx2 next to cmx3 directly across the street is rm1
i will proceed now to my proof of mailing indicating that i sent out 137 letters
here's the letter of support from sasna indicating that we met on november 18 we
proposed the erection of an attached structure with cellar and accessory roof deck. We showed
our plans and the plan ultimately is for my client Andy who lives in the spot now to live in the
space and then rent out the second apartment for his family. Overall the vote was in favor total of
position of support five people in the zoning committee supported community at large
four people, near neighbors, two people. So there is no votes against whatsoever.
I'm showing now at page, pardon me, members of the board, I believe it's page 18 or 19,
what the property looks like with the sign posted on it. You'll notice directly the left is a vacant
lot. My client does not own that. And somebody on the street uses it to bark. That one's sideways.
let's fix that here's the block this is looking westbound and you can see members of the board
the large structure off to the right which is now being constructed former royal theater
i believe so uh there we go just gonna do the 360 of the blocks we have an idea of what we're
looking at so this is the north side of the block you'll see it's a mix of two-story row homes
taller three-story buildings and then across the street which is what I'm going to show you now
we have taller newer construction with lots of garages we have this condo building here there's
a three-family dwelling this large structure here and then what appears to be a vacant garage
it's been a problem on the block for quite some time this is the new structure that's adjacent
that I'm discussing this is all the side that's facing south there will be new construction here
I believe it's single family along Cater Street itself.
But that's not my client's property.
It's just to give you guys a little bit of context to the block.
Members of the board, this is now page 38 of my packet showing the rendering.
The plan is essentially to have a modern take on a traditional style.
Dormers, big windows, lots of natural light in.
This alleyway here is a pass through to allow for second means of egress.
Here's the elevation.
here's our floor plan we have no bedrooms in the basement
and this is the new construction that's happening next door just to kind of give you a sense of
scale as to what's going on so i'll zoom in on that pardon me so this is going to be along cater
street 38 feet tall this is the new structure that exists on south street with the royal theater
facade as you uh notice chairman uh and it's quite tall let's see
and this here is our zoning plan now that we submitted
just to give a little bit of context looking at the site plan members of the board
this is the pass through to allow for the second means of egress and that's going to allow for the
person who lives in the property downstairs to be able to get in and out that's really it members
to the board the hardship is simply it's a residential block as you see there's no commercial
on the block so it's kind of strange that it's owned this way uh there we have no objection from
the neighbors for the two units so that's all we have and i'll be happy to take any questions at
this time mr movahill do you have a client available uh mr nguyen was not able to make
it this afternoon but i will if you if you're willing to accept my testimony as his own yeah
we'll stipulate as an offer to court your client would adopt your testimony any questions from the
board no no what else would like to testify in this case please raise your hand
no answer this time mr chair thank you planning commission
good afternoon members of the board ian litwin planning commission staff i need to be sworn in
A.M., do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Thank you. Please proceed.
Although this parcel is zoned CMX2, commercial uses are not desirable on Cater Street.
Accordingly, we have no opposition to granting the variance for an all-residential use.
In addition, due to the small size of the parcel, we do not object to granting the variance for lot coverage.
Thank you very much.
MI 2020-002210.
1519 Cater Street.
My vote is yes.
my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes thank you members
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
Thank you, members of the board.
Thank you.
Confessor, we can hear three and four together.
Excuse me, Chair, before you start, I did reach Michael Phillips, and he reminded me that he was going to request authority to submit an amended application based on requests by the RCO.
So if this could be continued attorney moving party, please.
Okay, that's Reed Street.
Yes, that's right. Okay. MI 2020-000835. 621-25 Reed Street, Attorney Moving Party.
okay mi 2020-000380 1727 north lambert street also mi 2020-000381 1729 lambert street
good afternoon members of the board can everyone hear me sorry mr young please identify yourself
for the record and i'll swear you in uh good afternoon uh jeffrey young uh 3900 ford road
suite b philadelphia pa 19131 uh mr chair before we get sworn in um i was just told by
my client if we can ask for a continuous on this matter. We have been having difficulties
obtaining a tax clearance, and his accountant isn't able to produce the paperwork in enough
time before today's hearing will be out. Excuse me, Mr. Gang, this is Sharon Saleta. I can just
check with the revenue department now to see if there's a balance on the property. Would you like
the chair to go forward with the next case and hold yours to see if I'm able to get that
information. Yes, please. Thank you. We'll get back. We'll get back to you. Thank you. Thank you.
Let's go to number five. Okay. Calendar number MI2020-002414, 1927 South Fifth Street.
Mr. Michael Mattione has been promoted to panelists. Thank you Mr. Mattione please
identify yourself with the records by your last name and I'll swear you in.
Yes sorry Mr. Chair Michael Mattione M-A-T-I-O-N-I the Federal Reserve Bank Building 100
North Independence Mall Suite 5A Northwest Philadelphia 19106. Thank you. Swear or
for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Mr. Marioni, you agree to waive the reading of its refusal
and stipulate to attack your receipt?
Also, have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents,
proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance,
copy of the refusal, photos, and plans five days prior to this hearing?
Yes, I did.
Also, have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
Thank you. Please proceed.
Thank you.
Yes, I am representing Clifford Lasky, who is available, and I'd like him to be unmuted.
I also have Jonathan Torrey, who will testify as well.
And I did attach and send in my exhibits, including the tax clearance, site plan, floor plans, photos, and the RCO letter, as shown on the screen.
Sorry.
This is a project at 1927 South 5th, 5th and Dudley Streets in South Philadelphia.
The proposal is to, we are seeking to build a triplex condominium for sale three units on this longstanding vacant property.
There is our tax clearance certificate and the refusal because the building itself is 38 feet.
Because we have a pilot house to access the roof, but not for roof up deck, but just to get to the mechanicals.
Mr. Mattione, excuse me, excuse the interruption, but you're breaking up.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Is that any better, Mr. Chairman?
Right now, it's good, yeah.
So if you can go back to after your description of a condo building, and then you broke up.
condo building and then you broke up you said building a condo and then we lost you
You said building a condo.
three i'm sorry we're building a three unit condominium we're proposing a three unit condominium
in this rsa 5 zoning district so our refusals are for the use obviously and for the building height
which is interesting because it is a 38 football building but we have a pilot house to access the
roof, but there is no rooftop deck. It's just to access the roof for mechanical equipment.
Elle and I said because there's no deck that we get a refusal for that. If there was a deck,
we would not get a refusal. So because we don't have a deck, we get a refusal.
Here is
our site plan that shows that it's a 38-foot-tall building,
four stories, and it's, again, 5th and Dudley Street on the southeast corner.
and the plans show three units
a bi-level unit on the
a bi-level unit on the uh in the
area in your kitchen two bedrooms on the first floor with two bathrooms on the
second floor you have one unit and then on the third and fourth floors again you have a bi-level
larger unit as well with three bedrooms and three bathrooms. You have an individual trash storage
area in the rear yard as well. The two bi-level units exceed 2,000 square feet in size and the
unit on the second floor exceeds 1,000 square feet in size. Again, these are for sale condominium
units. I wanted to go to the RCO letter. Sorry. One day I'll get this down.
Okay. We had an RCO in-person meeting on November 10th or 11th. I don't remember the date.
13 people supported this, as you can see, support eight tenants and five residents.
Why the RCO made a distinction between tenants and owners, I don't know.
One person opposed it, so it was 13 in support and one in opposition at the RCO meeting.
um despite that the rco did not take did not reach agreement on the application
um they said they needed more information although they never asked us for additional
information um it was november 11th and they also included their letter uh talking about this and
there's two other properties that were heard at the same time from the same developer
um they clearly state that there were 13 people in attendance in support and only one person in
attendance in opposition um but they again said they did not uh come to agreement they wanted
further assurance that this would be a condominium um and the client will testify that yes this is a
for sale condominium of three units and they mentioned a coffee shop and that was something
that he had discussed with neighbors, but never presented and is not part of this application.
So then when you look at beyond this, where this property is at 5th and Dudley, every
property, and we circulated a petition and have support from a bunch of the neighbors
in the area and some opposed, but nearly everybody supported the application.
But I want to go down to the photos because they put the context of the property.
As you can see, in the area, seeking input from neighbors before going to the RCO.
This is the lot.
As you can see, it's a long-standing, vacant lot, 5th and Dudley.
It's a wide lot.
It's 18 feet wide.
It's much larger than the typical lot on, say, Dudley Street, which is only 14 feet wide, which are under 1,000 square feet.
This is over 1200 square feet, almost 1300 square feet.
Again, another shot of the of the lot of the street where there are smaller
of the street where there are smaller single family homes.
single family homes.
At this intersection,
you have three other properties, two of which are multifamily. Sorry.
that's the property directly 25 south fifth street
and as you can see that's a multi-family structure
and then on the opposite side of fifth street you have a multi-family structure on one corner
and then on the other corner you have what i'm not sure some kind of a store and then
residential use above so you have again no single family uses on these corners which is typical in
that community. So what we are seeking to do is to use this property in
conformity with surrounding properties. As as a multifamily, the area where it
is, it's been vacant for a long time. There are many vacant vacant parcels in
the area. We meet the open area and dimensional requirements for 38 feet
tall. We meet the rear yard requirement. We have large units proposed. They are
for sale. We believe that because this property has been vacant for a long time,
it's not able to be developed as a single family residence. This wasn't
created by the applicant. The grant of the variance will allow the development
and conformity with the other corner properties in the area. If this were on
Dudley Street, we would not be asking for variance. It meets the goals of the
zoning code to encourage revitalization of vacant properties. It will benefit
surrounding properties by removing this vacant property from the area and will
allow for this area, this property, I'm sorry, this area to be continued to be
revitalized and they are you can you can summarize and we'll get mr.
Mattione if you can summarize and we can get to your client yes I'd like to have
again I believe we meet the requirements to be entitled to the variance and I'd
like to call in Clifford Lasky
If Cliff's available.
Clifford Lasky.
If not, Mr. Chairman, can I skip him and go to Jonathan Torrey?
he's available can you all hear me yes please identify yourself first and last name
clifford laskey ben franklin residences 1453 point breeze avenue philadelphia pa
your last name please l-a-s-k-y thank you you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes i do thank you mr matione thank you mr chairman
michael you're breaking up again mike mike i'm sorry mr chair
i'm sorry about that mr chairman it's not it's not your fault yes i i did hear your testimony
and it wasn't true and correct yes it was and do you adopt it as your testimony
Tony? I do. And just one quick statement from you. Is this to be a for sale condominium development?
Yes, that was the only thing that they asked in their letter. And I emailed them right afterwards.
As I said at the meeting, as I said in the email, and as I say now, and as will happen,
all of these units, 1927 and what we'll come back for 1915 and 1917, South 5th Street,
which was presented at the meeting at the same time, all of them will be for sale condominiums.
Thank you. Thank you. Any questions from the board?
No. Anyone else like to testify
in this case? If so, please raise your hand.
Mr. Chair, I have a
Carmen Gervaiso, I will allow her to speak right now, sir.
Carmen Gervaiso. I will allow her
to speak, right?
Good afternoon, ma'am.
Please identify yourself with the records by your first and last name and provide us with your address.
Good afternoon.
Actually, it's a male.
Oh, I'm sorry.
No worries, Chairman DeChico.
My name is Carmen Gervaiso.
I'm a resident of Dudley Street, and my address is 536 Dudley Street.
You swear or firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Please proceed.
Well, like I said, I'm a resident of the street, and I am familiar with Mr. Lasky's
ongoing efforts to build this area.
I live across the street from a multi-unit building that he built that wasn't mentioned
by Mr. Mattione.
It's a multi-unit on the corner of 6th and Dudley.
it's been nothing but trouble since day one since it's been built right now not only does it block
our view but there have been uh so much trouble just with the construction of it um it is not
up to code as far as it's way higher than everything else um well it was let me finish
yeah i was just going to ask you something about the height was there a previous was that case in
front of the zoning board i'm not familiar with that case because i i haven't been privy to these
meetings i found out through a fellow neighbor so i haven't been privy but i do know that
i found out that because they couldn't they said they couldn't dig far enough that they made it
higher than everything else so it's basically an albatross and it's it's going to bookend
the other effort on fifth and dudley that they're trying to build we've had nothing but construction
problems here we've got nothing but traffic problems if you come down sixth street right now
what you're going to do is you're going to hit a big ditch right in front of this building
because they dug in they dug the pipes in the water they never fixed it right it's been nothing
but a headache and you're going to tell me that you're going to build one on the other side of
corner where we live? How about putting a green space there instead? How about bringing some
community in and having some people? How about putting a little park for kids? Sir, sir, you have
to slow down a little bit. I'm just saying, I'm being back. I know. Okay. And I don't know where
that list came from with people filling it out, but we have our own list saying that we don't
want this. No, we don't, we don't want another piece of property like this. Objection to anybody
other than himself mr chairman yeah sir you i respectfully you have to speak on behalf of
yourself are you saying you don't want anything built there we would rather see a green space
there who's going to pay for the green space and who's going to maintain it who's going to pay for
it yeah what happens to all the taxes that we're paying i'm not putting in a community garden all
All right. Excuse me. I'm not going to, I got your point.
You just would rather this spot, this lot remain vacant.
Yeah. I mean, it's not.
Okay. You made your point. Thank you.
He's muted. You can continue.
Okay. Is there anyone else who would like to testify in this case?
Please raise your hand.
Mr. Chair, I have a Mr. Jonathan Torrey who I will now to speak.
Good afternoon, Mr. Torrey. Please identify yourself. First and last name.
hi uh jonathan tori t-o-r-i address 266 south 23rd street i'm strictly here as a witness for
the applicant and michael matione if needed how are you how are you involved with this application
i'm sorry i didn't hear you sir what is your involvement with this application
i'm an expert witness for the applicant and and mr matione if needed okay thank you anyone else
um mr chair um john disley has his hand up again i will allow him to speak
um no did he speak already we're going to the people who are next right
Ross Faber
yeah Ross Faber
good afternoon this is
Ross Faber can you hear me
yes your name please name and address
wonderful yes first name
Ross last name Faber
last name
please
F as in Frank
a b as in boy er where we're firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do sir and your address 610 dudley street thank you please proceed yes thank you mr chairman uh
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to be here and show my support as a resident of the community for the address in question here, the project plans that Mr. Lasky and Mr. Mattiotti are discussing here.
just wanted to be here and show my support as
Love to see additional condos for sale, additional housing units that are for sale, promoting what I think is more long-term resident in the neighborhood, as opposed to the more transient in nature tenant that a rental might provide.
So I do like to see that this is condo for sale.
Also like to see that it's an active development of vacant lots that do attract unwanted behavior, crime, drug use in the area.
So as a neighbor, a resident in the community, I'd like to see anything being done to make the neighborhood safe.
And if it's removing sites that are, you know, quite frankly, just unmonitored because of their naked nature in their current state,
anything that can be done to, you know, to reduce that and just promote the feeling of safety in the neighborhood is something I know myself, my wife,
And, um, I know I'm speaking on behalf of myself, but, um, you know, other members of
our block and our, and our neighborhood support as well.
So, um, really just want to be here as a vote of record, um, you know, fully support this,
um, as a resident in the community, um, and any other testimony or, um, you know, information
about, you know, positives that we see from just our perspective, be happy to fill in
additional detail as needed for your testimony.
Yes, sir.
Anyone else?
Mr. Chair, there is a Tyler Lane
whom I will not have to talk right now
Tyler Lane, please identify yourself
on the record, Taylor
Hi, my name is Tyler Lane
Please spell your first and last name
T-Y-L-E-R, last name L-A-N-E
And your address?
608 Hoffman Street, Philadelphia PA
one nine one four eight we're a firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do please proceed uh so you know i i just want to come out uh in support of the project um you
know uh i actually have a relationship with with cliff he had built the home i live in and uh you
know buying a new home i've read all the inquirer articles and i'm actually in real estate myself
and know some of the dealings that can go on um you know cliff has been unbelievably
supportive with the home, any issues he's addressed immediately. He's been really an
excellent partner and the house is super well built. So, you know, I just want to say that
about his character, first of all. But on top of that, living in the neighborhood and seeing it
evolve, I agree with the prior gentleman who spoke that it is a big problem in the area with
the vacant lots and drug use. There's one right across the street from me that's next to a young
family and they had vagrants who were doing drugs in the lot and breaking into their backyard and
all sorts of stuff. So, you know, I think every vacant lot that can get developed, get back on
the tax roll for the city, add people, especially owners, which is going to be here because it's
condos to the neighborhood, is nothing but a net positive for this evolving area. So, you know,
i i think it's a great project and i think it's by a very honest uh good developer who does what
he says he's going to do and i can't see any negatives to this being uh built in the neighborhood
thank you for your testimony thank you
uh any of anyone else
if so something new and different if not we'll move on planning commission
Hold on. We have a Craig getting with this hand up.
Okay. Thank you. Craig, please identify yourself with a record name and address by your last name.
Craig, are you there?
uh can you hear me now yes please identify yourself yep sorry uh craig getting uh c-r-a-i-g-g-e-t-t-i-n-g
i live at 448 durfer street a few blocks south of the property thank you swear or firm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth uh yes i do see uh i just wanted to express my
support for uh carmen who spoke earlier as well as john disley who i believe was attempting to
raise his hand earlier i don't know if he is still on the call um i was with john yesterday
walking around the neighborhood uh to let folks know that this meeting was happening
there did not appear to be signage in the area letting folks know that this meeting was occurring
uh signage in the area uh letting folks know that this meeting was occurring and he was you know
from with a social distance mindset attempting to let neighbors know that this meeting was happening
um and trying to send that information out folks seemed concerned about uh the construction
timeline and parking in the area what the folks have to do mr chairman yeah yeah you have to speak
on behalf of yourself sir sure um so i'm concerned about the impact of the construction
on that community, seeing the timeline that it might take, knowing the construction issues and
the parking issues in that neighborhood, and I'm expressing my support for neighbors who feel the
same way. Thank you. Objection sustained. We're going to move on. Planning Commission.
Good afternoon, Chair, members of the board. Ian Litwin, Planning Commission staff.
This parcel was remapped from CMX-2 to RSA-5 in 2019, according to the recommendations of the Comprehensive Plan.
Considering that this is a corner lot and the remapping was fairly recent, Planning Commission staff does not have any opposition to either the variance for height or the variance for a multifamily project.
Thank you.
MI 2020-002414
1927 South 5th Street
Number 5 Street
My vote is yes
My vote is yes
My vote is yes
My vote is yes
Thank you
Thank you Mr. Chairman
Happy holidays to everybody
Thank you, safe one
Likewise
Sharon, are we ready with Mr. Young's case?
Cases?
i'm sorry yes they are ready to go forward the two cases mr young is handling
thank you thank you uh confession we can do three and four now
okay am i oops three and four mi 2020
0-0-0-3-8-0
1727 North Lambert Street.
Also MI 2020
0-0-0-3-8-1
1729 North Lambert Street.
Good afternoon again, Mr. Young.
Please identify yourself and I'll swear you in.
Yes, good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members of the board.
Jeffrey Young, attorney for the
applicant, Mr. Damani
Hamlet. My address is
3900 Fort Root
Suite B, Philadelphia PA
Do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir. Please proceed.
Thank you. Mr. Young, you agree to waive
the reading of its refusal and stipulate
to its accuracy? Yes, sir.
Also have
Okay. Have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral of photos and plans five days prior to this hearing?
So we did email the packet. It was not five days in advance of the hearing.
There were two separate dates for these properties that I was confused on which date we would have the hearing on.
But Mr. Letta does have copies of every exhibit for this presentation.
Okay. Also, have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
Yes. So in our packet, the RCO sent us the letter this morning, and I will send the letter out after this hearing is over.
But it is in my current presentation now.
please proceed thank you
want to share my attempt to share my screen can everyone see my screen
yes thank you uh so again uh jeffrey young uh for the applicant mr damani hamlet of
presented an appeal for 1727 and 1729 North Lambert Street.
Members of the board, these are twin cases.
The projects are exactly identical.
The design scheme, size, scale of the projects
are exactly the same.
And I'll move forward with showing the presentation.
Here's the deed for the properties.
My client purchased 1727 North Lambert Street
from the city of Philadelphia while he owned and lived in 1725 North Lambert Street.
Originally, he had a garden agreement with the property, took care of the property, and then the city ultimately transferred the property to him in 2014.
Originally he had a garden agreement with the property, took care of the property.
And my client purchased 1729 North Lambert Street at Sheriff's Sale.
Again, was a resident of the block, so decided to do something about the blight in his neighborhood and decided to purchase the properties.
Here is the refusal, excuse me, for 1727. Essentially, both refusals are the same. The application is for the erection of an attached building with a roof deck structure for two-family use, essentially.
I'm going to address, we are refused for the two-family use and for a minimum open area. I'm going to, I would like to address the open area first.
Excuse me. Here's the zoning map. As you can see from the picture here, most of the neighborhood is zoned RSA 5.
However, this zoning classification is a little bit misleading because to the northern part of our block is multifamily units that are for affordable housing, the Diamonds apartment complex.
again here we're uh erecting a structure 37 feet high uh to use as a two-family dwelling
um again for the minimum open area uh refusal um our lots are only 14 feet wide and 840 square feet
uh total um so we're a non-conforming lot um so to meet the minimum open area would take away a
large portion of buildable space for our two buildings here. But to meet the spirit of the
code, the rear yard depth is the required nine feet. And also our rear yard, the requirement
is 144 square feet. We are at 156 square feet for the rear yard depth. So I believe our minimum
open area refusal is de minimis um and as we are attempting to build um you know have enough open
space that is conforming with what our lot gives us and what conforms with the backyards and open
space um on on the block currently now to to address the the multi-family of variances uh both
projects will consist of proposed is two family units consisting of units on the basement first
floor level being one unit and the second and third floor level being the second unit. Here
each unit is three bedrooms, two bathrooms. The third floor unit, the upper unit has access to
the roof deck with the pilot house being set back toward the middle of the property.
So the view, you will not be able to see the pilot house from the view on the street.
Our roof deck is also set back five feet from the front property line.
You can hear this is the first floor and basement floor plan.
You know, we have laundry in the basement, you know, bedroom and two bedrooms on the first floor level.
I'm sorry, I'm trying to scroll down here.
Here's a picture of the lot. As you can see, there are two two lots side by side.
Again, as I mentioned, my client owns 1725, which is to the right here.
Here's a picture of the lot with the zoning posters posted on the fence.
Here's a picture of the adjacent property, 1725, again, that my client owns.
Here when my client purchased the property, this is what it looks like at the garden agreement from the city.
He took care of this lot to beautify the block and to beautify, you know, the neighborhood.
And my client is proposing to rent these at an affordable rate that is affordable to a three-bedroom Section 8 voucher holder.
As I can scroll here to show you that in this particular tier, we are in the Group 1 and 19121 zip code for a three-bedroom.
My client is proposing rental rates of about 1,300, which is equatable to Philadelphia Housing Authority's Section 8 rental vouchers.
Philadelphia Housing Authority's Section 8 rental vouchers. And I think my client
And I think my client.
is going to market these units to Section 8 renters, which is why the community supported
our project, given that there is a need for affordability in rental units in this neighborhood
for families. And that is exactly what we plan to do, provide families with affordable renting units.
just to show that some recent developments on the block here um you know there are a multiple
three-story homes that were built on this block selling for almost four hundred thousand dollars
now anyone from who is from this neighborhood knows that that is out of reach for them if they
want to stay in this neighborhood if they want to live in a a nice new unit in this neighborhood
that that price range is just unaffordable at the moment. And I think that providing for a duplex
and the multiple units helps lower the cost for folks to stay in this particular neighborhood.
The next slides are my proof of mailing to show that we mailed it to each, all the residents in
in the area here, and here is our support letter from the St. Elizabeth's RCO. We met
with the organization, again, via Zoom. It was well attended for a Zoom RCO meeting.
I've been to RCO meetings in person with less people, and they overwhelmingly supported
the project. And with that, I'll take any questions from members of the board.
Thank you. Mr. Young, do you have your client?
Yes, Mr. Hamlet is on the line.
Get him on, he can adopt your testimony.
Yes, can you unmute Mr. Hamlet, please?
Mr. Hamlet, raise your hand, please.
So my client is a school teacher who was doing parent-teacher conferences at the time as well.
I want to make sure I get him back on the line.
Good afternoon, how's everybody doing?
Hi. Good afternoon, sir. Please identify yourself in the record. Spell your name, please.
My name is Damani Hamlet. First name is D-A-M-A-N-I. Last name is Hamlet, H-A-M-L-E-T.
It's a hyphenated last name, D-A-U-G-H-E-R-T-Y.
Thank you. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Thank you. Mr. Young?
Mr. Hamlet, have you heard my testimony?
yes thank you very very well done thank you do you agree to his accuracy yes and do you adopt
my testimony as this or your own yes thank you any questions from the board no no no anyone else
would like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
I'm sure. Okay. I'm sorry. Thank you. He, he lowered his hand.
I'm sorry. Sure. I'm, if I could ask a question, um, I have John Disley's hand up,
Mr. Disley, my question to you only is, are you testifying on behalf of this property?
You can now speak and unmute yourself.
I've been trying to testify on behalf of the other property of 1927, and no one would let me talk.
That whole testimony was a...
So, I'm sorry, Chair.
No problem.
No problem.
All right, we can move forward. Planning Commission.
Good afternoon, Chair and members of the Board.
Ian Litwin, Planning Commission staff.
This lot is designated for single-family residential use in a comprehensive plan.
However, this is a block with a mix of single-family and multifamily homes.
Therefore, Planning Commission staff has no opposition to granting the variance for multifamily use.
In addition, due to the lot size, we have no opposition to the request of variance for open area.
Thank you.
MI 2020-000381, 1729 North Lambert, and MI 2020-000380, 1727 North Lambert.
My vote is yes on both.
Yes to both.
Yes to both.
Yes to both.
Yes to both.
Thank you.
Yes to both.
thank you thank you members of the board thank you and number six uh yeah number six confessor
Mr. Chair, I'm sorry. May I interject once again? And as a reminder,
Mr. Chair, I'm sorry. May I interject once again? And as a reminder, I'm not sure if everybody's
aware of how the zoning board hearings work. The testimony has been provided of the case.
It's been decided. Therefore, no other testimony will be accepted. And people keep raising their
hands what causes confusion of the co-host. So if you're not testifying regarding the case of
the address that you hear, then we cannot take any more testimony. Thank you. And that interferes
with the, with the, the way and manner in which we're calling up witnesses. And sometimes people
aren't called up because other people have their hands up for other cases. So only raise your hand
as it relates to the case that the board is hearing. Thank you. All right. Number six, confessor.
MI 2020-002207, 2081 East Ann Street, A-N-N Street.
Mr. Mulvihill.
Good morning, Chair, or afternoon now, I'm sorry.
Again, let me grab my screen, Chair.
And is that working?
One moment, members of the board.
excuse me this is sharon saletta while mr mulvihill does that i wanted to tell you that
councilman squilla has sent in a letter of non-opposition thank you okay members of the
board i got this squared away now all right mr mulvihill please identify yourself for the record
you're still on the road yes uh for the record leo mulvihill m-u-l-v-i-h-i-l-l 2424 east york
street suite 11 philadelphia 19125 i'm here today i'm sorry do you wave do you agree to wave and
step i do uh asking if you have uh you emailed an exhibit packet with required documents including
proof of ownership yes proof of tax compliance a copy of the refusal or referral and photos of
and and or plans of the property five days in advance of the hearing i have
and have you met with the rco and do you have a letter we have a letter of support thank you
please proceed okay uh good afternoon members of the board i'm here today for 2081 east and street
showing on the screen right now with my material packets the refusal appeal and project information
form at page one area zoning maps at seven deed at eight activity license at 12 tax clearance at 13
My notification letter at 14.
Letter of support from the RCO at 17.
Photos at 18.
And plans at 37.
So members of the board, I'm showing you now the refusal, which is at page three, I believe.
I'm sorry, my screen share buttons are in the way of my page numbers.
So I apologize for that.
We're seeking the legalization of an existing three-family dwelling.
My client picked it up a few years ago.
realized recently that it wasn't zoned properly for three-family use. There is currently one
person living in the building. My client doesn't wish to run afoul of L&I, and that's why we're
here seeking legalization. When my client picked up the building, it was already set up for three-family
use, so we're just trying to get that straightened out. I'm showing you now a copy of the area zoning
maps. Forgive the upper map. Atlas today has been acting very weird. In fact, it's been acting weird
for the last few days, but you can see we're in an RSA 5 district. We have some ICMX nearby,
some commercial mixed use because we're right a block off of Frankfurt Avenue on the corner of
Anne and Amber, A-M-B-E-R. The tax clearance website was also acting a little strange,
but here is the documentation showing that the only thing outstanding is 2021 taxes.
This is my community notification letter and proof of mailing now at page 16 showing I sent
out 175 letters. They were postmarked November 10. Attached here is the
one moment members of the board. Attached here is the zoning summary letter from Somerset
neighbors for better living. There was a letter of support for the legalization. Now I'll show you
the photos. This is the existing structure. We're not touching the outside other than to fix up the
stucco, maybe replace this window in the front. The bill code door is looking a little bad. We're
going to replace that. You can see there's already three meters on the building, have been since my
client owned it. There's a handicap accessible ramp here on Amber Street for the use of the
downstairs apartment. Just going to show you the surrounding photos. So here we are at the corner of Anne's
I'm just going to show you the surrounding photos. So here we are at the corner of Ann and Amber. We're looking towards Frankfurt Avenue in the distance where you see the traffic lights.
I'm going to pull that 360. This is across Amber Street. This is looking eastbound on Ann, southbound on Amber, and then these are the homes directly across the street.
You'll notice, oh, this is the zoning sign that I posted because I had to take several sets of photos.
To the left of the property, it looks like it used to be an old fire company or something like that.
I'm not sure what it's being used as right now.
Here's our site plan.
Big backyard, not making any exterior changes.
Here's the interior layout.
I have it sideways, so it's easier to see.
But basically, cellar is just going to be utilities and storage.
First floor plan, I'll zoom in on that, members of the board.
We have one unit here. It's an efficiency, 315 square feet. You'd come in through that side door
where the handicap ramp is. Just go right in there. Nice little spot for somebody to live.
You can also then hang a right and go into unit number two, which is bi-level. So you have
downstairs living space with kitchen, living, and bath. If you head up the stairs, you got two beds.
third unit is about 900 square feet that's also by level so you'd come up the common stair
enter the unit we have living kitchen dining area on the second floor then on the third floor we
have our beds large closets and baths and members of the board that's basically it the hardship here
is that this is an existing structure my client has made no changes to the interior at some point
somebody didn't renew their permits. And as a result, that's where we are with this project.
It would be an undue financial burden for my client to essentially gut the building
and turn it into a single family home in an instance where the community is very supportive
of the price point at which we were offering these units. They will be affordable in truly
an affordable sense. And that's essentially it, members of the board. I'm happy to take any
questions you may have. LeVar, if you're on the line, would you please raise your hand?
sir clark has been allowed to talk okay lavar please state your name spell your last name
give your address for the record after you're sworn in uh name is lavar clark um name is spelled
l as in larry e as in edward v as in victor a as in apple r as in robert clark without an e on the
And my address is 1112 South 27th Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19146.
Thank you, sir.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Thank you, Mr. Mulvihill.
Yeah, so LaVar, you've heard everything I've said here today?
Yes, I have.
Do you have anything to add at this point?
No, I do not.
And my testimony was true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
Yes, it was.
Do you adopt it as your own?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
I have nothing else to add.
Members of the board, we're happy to take any questions you may have.
thank you any questions from the board no anyone else like to testify in this case if so please
raise your hand there are no other hands at this time mr chair thank you jason planning commission
a good afternoon chair members of the board ian litwin planning commission staff
This lot is designated for single-family residential use in the comprehensive plan.
However, this is an existing large corner building one block from Frankfurt Avenue.
Therefore, staff of the Planning Commission is not opposed to requesting the variance to legalize the multifamily use.
Thank you. MI 2020, that's 002207, 2081 East Ann Street. My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
I don't know if I've lost, we lost confessor, so I'll call the next case.
This is you, Mr. Mobeville.
MI 2020-002208, 2718 East Monmouth Street.
That's not sharing the right screen.
I'm having an issue, members of the board, with my computer consistently sharing the incorrect screen, but I think I have it now.
okay just identify yourself for the record and as you know you're still on the roof
yes members of the board leo movahill 2424 east york street suite 111 philadelphia 19125
i'm here on the line today with my client maria at the end i'm going to ask you to raise your hand
you can just hang tight mr movahill do you agree to wave and stip yes have you emailed an exhibit
packet with the required documents, including proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance,
Yes. A copy of the refusal or referral and photos and or plans of the property five days in advance
a copy of the refusal or referral, and photos and or plans of the property.
of this hearing. Yes to everything, although it may have been four days in advance, but they are
received. Also, have you met with the RCO? Yes. Do you have a letter? Yes. Please proceed.
All right, members of the board, it's my pleasure today to present this project to you.
I'm just trying to show my sidebar here so I can get to my pages. So I'm here with Maria. She's
the owner of the lot she wants to build her uh build a house and move in on the block i have the
refusal appeal and project information form at one area zoning maps at five deed at six tax
clearance at 12 by zoning notification letter at 13 a letter of support at 15 photos of the property
at 21 plans at 35 moving to the refusal at page one this is an rsa 5 district we've received
refusals for some design considerations between Maria and the architect, KJO. Essentially, we
asked for an off-street parking spot. There's already off-street parking on this street, so
it's not like we're breaking up a block, and I'll kind of show that to you in a minute.
The other refusal that we received was having to do with its rear deck. Maria wants to have a nice
rear deck area. We received a refusal for the stairs as part of that rear deck.
I'm showing you now page five, the area zoning map. You can see the lot. It's pretty big. It's an RSA 5 lot located at the corner, just off the corner, rather, of Salmon and Mama's Streets.
this is my deed
here's our tax clearance
proof of mailing showing that on or about
October 26th we sent out 133
notices and for purposes of the record
here's the notice I sent out
I have attached here a letter dated November 16
2020 showing that Southport
Richmond Civic Association voted in support
of the project quite overwhelmingly i believe it's 30 to 7. and now i'll move on to the photos uh
there are currently hedges in front of a fence on the property members of the board so i had to kind
of zip tie it to the tree did my best but i still use the bright orange paper this is looking uh
toward salmon street this is looking away from salmon street so you can see kind of what we're
looking at on the block. There's an existing garage, if not this red building that I'm
indicating, then it's directly next to the photo. We'll see it in a second. There's also several
directly in front of us, which I'll show in additional photos. There's a lot from across
the street. The house directly next door has a garage front. This is looking now down Monmouth
Street. We can see several garages here in the distance, here as well, indicating with my cursor
on page 23 of the photos.
I'll look directly across the street at page 25.
You can see pictured another garage.
This is now looking again back towards Salmon Street
on the opposite side of Monmouth at page 29.
Here's our proposed rendering.
So the lot itself is two lots next to the house
that has that garage that I showed you previously.
We don't own both of them.
We only own this lot where we propose to build.
you can see a massing that was prepared by the architect at page 32
site plan at page 33 showing the large rear yard and this is the reason we got that deck refusal
members of the board my client wishes to have a deck so they have some nice outdoor space
above grounds and i'll show you the floor plans why that's important spiral staircase that's why
we got our refusal but we still have a huge backyard i forgive the please forgive the image
quality here i'm not sure what happened with my file but this is looking a little blurry
so essentially we have a slab on grade foundation no no uh digging first floor we have two off
street parking spaces and we're proposing to have a 10 foot wide curb cut so all together we're
actually adding uh parking back on the block when you come down to total number of cars that can be
parked on this block we have a lounge area downstairs a nice little kitchenette or a wet
bar to hang out at half bath down here you come in the front door go up the stairs and now you're
on the main living area bedroom kitchen big walk-in closet dining and living to the rear
so because we have on the ground story just slab on grade for parking we have a nice little patio
area but Maria really wanted to activate the main living space and have this rear deck so that's
why we have the deck with the stairs so that when you come up to the main living space because
you're not going to be hanging out in the garage area too much you have you can just walk out to
you have you can just walk out to that nice open large deck with a big backyard uh owner's suite
that nice open large deck with a big backyard
is on the third floor big bedroom huge walk-in closet it's probably bigger than my bedroom in
my house right now linen storage laundry bath and another bedroom to the rear this area here
is open to the sky it allows light in this window to the rear bathroom that's upstairs in the third
story. Here's the roof. Again, I apologize for the image quality members of the board. Page 35
of my packet. We see the height of the building. We're not exceeding 38 feet. No roof deck.
Again, this cross section really makes everything come clear. So because we would like to have the
garage space on the ground and not a ton of living space, we activate the living space on the second
floor with this beer deck and spiral stair that's the reason for our refusal that two cars stacking
two cars stacking yes so with a 10 foot wide curb cut which you can't even park you know parallel
park anything other than like a smart car in there right right okay we're taking two cars off the
street and that's our presentation uh maria would you please raise your hand if you can and you're
still on the line. Maria has been allowed to talk, sir. Great. Hey, Maria, just state your name,
spell your last name, and give your address for the record, and then the chairman will swear you
in. Sure. Maria Athanasiadis, A-T-H-A-N-A-S-I-A-D-I-S. Address is 1101 North Howard Street.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
yes i do thank you please proceed mr mogul great maria you've heard what i had to say today during
the hearing yes if anything you want to add no and everything i said true and accurate to the
best of your knowledge yes you adopt my testimony as your own yes will you invite me over to a sweet
backyard party once you get this house built but of course all right members of the board
this time is that a proviso i i wish it were enforceable
okay uh questions from the board no no no anyone else would like to testify in this case if so
please raise your hand other hands this time mr chair jason planning commission
good afternoon chairman members of the board ian litwin planning commission staff
this lot is designated for single family residential use in the comprehensive planned
and a zone for that use rsa 5 zone does not allow for garages unless accessed from a rear alley
adding a curb cut will reduce on-street parking therefore we recommended the variance for a
front load of garage not be granted thank you mi 2020-002208 2718 east monmouth street my vote is
yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes thank you mr movahill stay by stand by you got
the next case is yours also fantastic mi 2020-000289531 north 7th street
good afternoon again members of the board
yes uh also have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents proof of ownership
proof of tax compliance copy of the refusal or referral folders and plans five days prior to
this hearing yes have you met with the rco and have a letter i we have met with the rco they
They sent a letter this morning after my submission for my packet. I don't have a copy of it here, but they did indicate their statement.
And I believe Ms. Monroe, who's the RCO chair, may be on the line and she may testify as to that.
Please proceed.
Thank you. So members of the board, again, Leo Mulvihill for 531 North 7th Street.
You may know this as the Latvian Society, which is located right next to the German Society, just off the Spring Garden.
um refusal appeal and project information form are page one violation notice is at page seven
i'll explain that area zoning maps at nine deed at 10 tax clearance at 26 zoning notification
letter at 27 rco letter is i can grab a copy of it if the board would like to see that but i don't
have it in this packet uh photos of the property are page 30 plans are at 53 uh so members of the
board latvian society has been around at this location since the early 1900s you may have been
there for a show I've been there for a modern dance performance they've had art galleries there
basically what happened here is they either someone didn't do the right paperwork in the
past or they just kind of didn't realize they had to get a license to
They just kind of didn't realize they had to get a license to hold these events.
And this is a special exception circumstance.
It's not a refusal.
So there's a presumption that we're okay as long as we're not harming the neighbors, right?
So technically, I'm showing you page three of my packet.
It's technically referred to as a nightclub or private club.
It is a membership club that is dedicated to the preservation and education regarding Latvian heritage in the Philadelphia area.
But the club isn't there all the time.
The board of directors are looking to continue to have these sorts of events.
I heard during our RCO meeting that they've rented it out for plays and that many members
of the community, including Ms. Monroe, the RCO chair, have been there for events.
So they're a good neighbor.
Violation notice here.
We received this on 10-17-19, L&I case number 711846.
That's what prompted this request for the special exception.
uh we just it was a couple of small things and then they they let us know hey you got to get
the right zoning for this that's why we're here we will be eventually applying for a special
assembly license and working with the local police district for that but we can't get that
until we get this done here's the zoning map members of the board page nine if you've ever
been by the area the edgar allen poe house is across the street uh right next to this is the
German society, it's all zoned CMX3. This is just kind of cool, members of the board. This is the
deed. I don't think I've ever seen a deed like this in a zoning hearing before. I can't read it.
I usually can read cursive okay, but this conveys the property to the Latvian society and nonprofit.
And it's long, so I'm going to scroll through that.
tax clearance site wasn't working but i pulled it up off of the brt here we go no taxes owed
zoning notification letter is up on the screen now page 27 proof of mailing is up at page 29
showing that on september 2 we sent out our letters here's the zoning sign that was posted
i'll just go through the photos quickly for the board's edification this is beginning at page 30
of my packet so this is it directly next door our homes directly to the right in the distance you see
the german society now at page 35 looking southbound towards spring garden the electric
factory is in the distance this is the lawn looking at page 37 of the edgar allen poe house
which is now seen here at 39 looking northbound on 7th street
this is just some photos of the interior we're not proposing any changes to it
just paging through and now at page 53 we have the floor plans we have these just for
your edification we're not making any interior changes
now page 54 55 this is the large multi-purpose room with the stage uh this is where i've
personally seen performances and if you've ever been there this is probably where you've seen
performances as well. Lastly, unless you need something specific for your testimony for the
record, if not, you can summarize. No, that's basically it, members of the board. That completes
my presentation. Mr. Mesgalis is on the line. He is on the board of directors of the society. If
he would please raise his hand, state his name, spell his last name, in fact, spell your whole
name for the record, Ivaris, and then I'll be sworn in.
Ivaris has been allowed to speak.
Can you hear me, Mr. Vizgalis?
Please identify yourself, spell your first and last name.
I am Ivaris Vizgalis.
The first name is spelled I-V-A-R-S.
Last name is M-E-Z-G-A-I-L-I-S.
you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do and your affiliation with this application i'm a member of the society we're working on
special project get these permitting things straightened out thank you all right mr ms
gallus you're a member of the board of directors no i'm not you have authorization from the board
of directors to speak today yes i've been assigned society yes you've heard my testimony today yes
Yes. Is there anything you'd like to add at this time? Not at this time. Okay. Is my testimony true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
Mr. Ms. Goss, can you hear me? Yes. Okay, good. Yes. And do you adopt my testimony as your own? Yes.
Great. Members of the board, the only thing I have to add, which I believe Ms. Monroe may add, is that they requested several provisos. They have most to do with community safety. Board of Directors is talking those things over right now, and I'm continuing discussions with Ms.
Board of Directors is talking those things over right now and I'm continuing discussions with Ms. Monroe regarding a community benefits agreement. We just couldn't get it done in time for this hearing and allow the board to review it, vote on it, etc. But we're basically in agreement about the general ideas.
Questions from the board?
Anyone else like to testify in this case? If so, please raise your hand.
Chair, Ms. Diane Monroe has her hand raised. I will allow her to speak right now.
Good afternoon, Ms. Monroe. Please identify yourself with the record and I'll swear you in.
Hello. Hi, Ms. Monroe.
yes yes can you hear me yes just identify yourself please okay my name is diane monroe
and my my spelling of my name is d i a n e monroe m o n r o e
I am the chair of the 14th Ward RCO.
Thank you.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Yes, I do.
Thank you, Ms. Monroe.
All right.
I emailed, I'm going to call him Mr. Leo.
I emailed Mr. Leo all the paperwork as well as to the ZBA.
yesterday it was late around about six o'clock seven o'clock so it wasn't this morning
um we have been butting heads um mr leo and and the committee and the provisos are very
reasonable and we want we wanted to prove we wanted a cba and he did tell me
that they will do a CBA. They even said it at our committee meeting. And the CBA,
all we wanted in the CBA, and which we are proposing to accept this project based on
the provisos, we wanted them to register with the Philadelphia Police Department's
district business participation program. Provide security cameras and lights on all sides of the
existing building. Establish a relationship with nearby parking lots to alleviate potential
parking issues within the community when having events. Establish security personnel to patrol
outdoor premises after events to ensure safety to attendees and the impact, impact community.
At our meeting, they indicated it didn't have an established security plan. And the only reason
why we were asking for this is because it is still located in a neighborhood that you still
have shootings and we're not just looking we were looking for the residents but also the attendees
of you know that goes to um the playhouse i myself have been there on numerous occasions
but however they do have shootings in that community and bullets has no name do not care
um who you are if you're attending a play coming for a play and Mr. Leo is giving us a hard time
Miss Monroe Miss Monroe with all due respect I'm sorry to interrupt I don't believe any and I don't
I mean this not disrespectfully I don't believe any of the uh provisos that you spoke to are
enforceable i that's i i agree i agree i knew that and that's why i told mr leo we need a cba
because you guys will not be able to put that on a permit or whatever you grant them
we understood that i also requested mr leo to send me a copy of their security plan he said
they do have a security plan we have a member on our committee who is with this the sixth district
objection you're saying mr hold on miss monroe diane just give me a sec mr mobile hill uh yeah
Mr. Movahill, you're aware of what I just stated that, from what I hear, these provisors are not enforceable.
you're aware and what i just stated that
In order to act in good, is this time sensitive?
Yes, it is, members of the board.
We filed this appeal quite some time ago, over a year ago, if I recall correctly.
And we faced significant delays in getting this done because of multiple reasons, scheduling issues, COVID, et cetera.
I understand Ms. Monroe's concerns. I'm now sharing my screen, the email conversations that I had with Ms. Monroe, which I copied Ms. Suleta on, in which I laid out the timeline of our discussions and substantively explained, yeah, we basically agreed on what you guys want to do.
The issue is simply, we're a board of directors. Ms. Monroe gave us some ideas back in the middle
of October. The board considered those at a meeting in November, and these agreements can
only happen at these meetings when they're voted on by the board of directors. So just for purposes
of this record, which I must make absolutely clear, and I don't mean to belabor this, members
of the board, we agreed to a security plan on December 1. I'm showing you the email that I sent
at 9.55 a.m. when I advised Ms. Monroe of our hearing date, told her that the board of directors
had conferred, and they're implementing a plan. It's not done yet, but we're working on it.
On December 7, I received a voicemail in the afternoon, responded at 5.18 p.m., and I said,
sure. I tried to call you back. Your voicemail box was full. Please send over a draft community
benefits agreement, and I would absolutely reveal it with them. Friday, December 11, so Friday,
like last Friday. I received a voicemail around 1.45 in the afternoon, maybe a little earlier,
maybe a little later. I responded at 4.38 saying, I received your voicemail from earlier today.
I indicated that I felt personally that I ought to not prepare a community benefits agreement when
my obligation is to my client and the community has not necessarily conflicting interests, but
they're not my client. So I don't feel comfortable preparing a document that's supposed to protect
somebody who is not my client. I offered to speak with their counsel if they had one.
No problem. And I said, we filed an appeal, I'm sorry, on March 4, over nine months ago. And we
had all this time to try to resolve this issue prior to the Friday before our hearing. And we
want to work with the community. We're not trying to thumb our noses. We're really not. Latvian
Society has been around than any of the members of the board or of the community that were in
attendance at the meeting since the early 1900s we want to be a good neighbor we but we just need
time to do this stuff because of the board of directors and they have policies and procedures
in effect and it just takes time to do it so we're happy to continue working i spoke to miss
monroe i said hey just let me know when you have a community benefits agreement we'll continue to
talk about this and that's kind of where we stand for right now uh sharon may i respond to what he's
Ms. Monroe, just hold on a minute.
Sharon, since none of these things that Ms. Monroe is talking about are enforceable,
could the statement that has just been made and the letter or the, I'm looking at, what
Mr. Mobahill just laid out for us, could that be made just part of the record?
Well, it is part of the record, of course.
It's part of the testimony.
um but i agree i was going to interrupt and tell you that i did not believe any of the um
any of the items that ms monroe mentioned were enforceable or related to the zoning clearly
and that's ultimately the issue here chairman because i understand the concerns about uh safety
my client its attendees its membership has nothing to do with any of these there's never
been a complaint to the district about any event that's happened in this building yeah i don't think
she's suggesting that but uh anyway um and as part of our saol application we have to continue
to be in contact with the police miss monroe miss monroe you need what i'd like for you to
understand is today is the last day that this board is sitting until next but may i may i say
one thing please this is covet they cannot have any activities in there anyway and and when
And I told Mr. Leo that we will have to get a pro bono attorney when he came with, he said it's a potential conflict of interest for him.
All the other CBAs we have entered with, the council of those applicants did that.
he's the first one we have ran into that said he cannot prepare one and so so we could sign
and so he so now we have to go he said you have to get your
And so he, so now we have to go, he said, you have to get your own attorney and he'll come, he will counsel the attorney.
We don't have any money.
All right, Diane, I hear you.
Excuse me.
This is Sharon Saleta.
Can I just ask Ms. Monroe, do you have any testimony regarding the grant of the approval that, aside from the community benefits agreement,
anything that you would any testimony you would like to offer going to the criteria for grant of
a variance special exception miss let i'm sorry i'm sorry i apologize yes there it has to be the
burden of proof is on any objector to show that this isn't a permitted use let me ask tanya what
is the earliest date is it january 6th or uh if we do a rehearing chair i i understand this but i
object only because we need this permit so we can get our saol application together and as part of
that the police district gets involved they vet us they check into any history with the issue
and the longer we wait we don't know when things are going to reopen right now of course
the longer we wait the the the society is suffering as a result but we really want to
get this moving and miss monroe does raise an interesting point you're not allowed to congregate
Yes, and we're not planning on holding events anytime soon. That aside, it's going to take us a significant amount of time. Say the board votes today. I don't get a notice of decision until it gets processed, which could be 30 days or so. Then I must submit that to L&I. 20 plus days, maybe we get a permit.
And then when we have that permit, only then can we start working with the police district in the city to get our special assembly license. And that's a lengthy process as well. So we would have loved to have gotten this started a long time ago and have it in hand. They're not having events in the society building at all right now. It's totally true. We don't intend to.
but we're already very behind on this and the society wants to be able to hit the ground running
when they're allowed to start having events again and even if we push this another couple weeks
that's another couple weeks that the society is going to be stuck without being able to move
forward with their special assembly uh occupancy license application and vetting process with the
police district and the city excuse me this is sharon i have an idea if this sounds acceptable
Well, as Mr. Mulvihill pointed out, it would be the date of decision is the date of mailing.
There's some delay in that.
Once the decision is issued, there would be 10 days in which Ms. Monroe could submit a request for reconsideration.
So there would still be some time for you to work together.
Absolutely.
We're talking maybe three weeks at the max.
you got the holidays i don't know who's working the i am chairman i know i'm saying generally
speaking next week is the christmas week and new year so not much happens as you know i'll be
working all those holidays chairman i really want to get this done because we've been sitting
languishing so long we've already continued this case once because we're not trying to be difficult
and i respect you and i know you're a man of your word i'm just trying to see if we can come up with
something that gives some comfort to Ms. Monroe and her group. And I want to be clear, I don't
classify what's been going on with Ms. Monroe and I as butting heads. I feel like from my position
under the Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct, I personally do not feel comfortable
drafting a community benefits agreement for another party. I know that my client's a party
to this. That's the level of my personal discomfort. Other attorneys may feel differently for that.
Counselor, can I ask you a question?
Absolutely.
Do you have a, as an attorney, do you have a boilerplate CBA that you can give to the community, give it to her?
I do not.
Thank you.
And just so it's clear, Ms. Monroe was muted.
So if she wants to speak to anything else, she has to unmute herself.
And, again, as far as the timing goes, this is Sharon Saleta.
I don't believe that we would be able to have a resumption hearing until February, which would extend to you.
I thought we were, yeah, I was going to ask Tanya what the earliest date is.
Okay, I am unmuted.
Hold on, Diane.
Hold on one minute.
Tanya, what would be the earliest date?
Probably second week in February.
No, the third week.
i'm sorry because i was thinking of january 6th my mistake so we are booked to the hilt
yep i know i can't put anything else on in january well well and again let me this is
and again let me this is sharon's let me say that if it took two weeks to process the decision it
let me say that if it took two weeks to process
would be that would go out two weeks from now ms monroe would then have an additional 10 days to
submit a request for reconsideration if she believed that the process hadn't progressed
let's let sharon finish diane please and again of course it's up to the board but just so that
you understand there are some um some timing things that might work in the alternative
okay miss monroe was muted again i would please please ask that you not speak when someone else
is speaking so that we can have a clear record for the court reporter thank you very kindly
OK. You're up, Ms. Monroe, you're up.
Oh, I can speak? Yes. OK.
We approve this project.
His Mr. Leo has a support letter from us.
He has that. It's not like we're not approving it.
the impasse
is that
they're going to have music
concerts there
and three
young men was shot
a half a block
from the Spring Garden
homes and two of them
and that's
what we're looking at
I object to all this as irrelevant
it has nothing to do with my client
It is relevant because he will not send me a copy of their security plan.
And for members of the board to clarify, we do not have a written security plan that I indicated to Ms. Monroe in writing.
And I can show you the email. I'm currently sharing my screen with the email chain, which is extensive with the organization of Ms. Monroe.
That we're working on it. We agreed to it. It's just a matter of needing the time to get that in.
it behooves us to do it too. We want to work with the community. And at this level, as a matter of
law, there has been no testimony presented that would allow this board to not make a decision
right now, because this is a special exception. And there's no testimony on the record that is
relevant and material to denying our special exception. Excuse me, this is Sharon Slede again.
Mr. Mulvihill, did you say that you will require a special assembly and occupancy license?
Yes, because if we're having events like this in an interior club, that's what we need. So essentially all of Ms. Monroe's concerns, and I tried to make this clear, those are all going to be dealt with. And I even sent over to her a link to the process for the SAOL, I'm trying to find the email right now, explaining the entire process.
and i can tell you that as the attorney for the lni review board as well that
it would be appealable there would also be the opportunity to appeal the special
the license as as well so yes yeah there are other opportunities for the community's involvement
correct there are and it would receive um it would have to have the approval of the police
department as well so yes so the community right okay and chair members of the board please
understand i don't i'm not being hostile i am really trying to work and i don't understand
where ms monroe's hostility towards me is coming i'm really trying to work with them just relax
all right all right everyone i'm talking over people which i shouldn't be doing and i apologize
it's quite all right i'm i'm i'm said all i need to say members of the board and i'm
i rested with any other questions you may have any questions from the board
planning commission hello i'm sorry chair um i don't need to interject and stop the process
however there were other people who wish to comment for this case sorry i'm sorry no worries
the two o'clock list is the bewitching list yes it is and members of the board most of those
people are on the board of directors or members of the latheian society so i don't have to call
any of them. So they may have wished to speak. Guys, I appreciate you're here. We recognize
your support. I just don't want to delay this case any longer because there's many cases
after us. Are there any other, are there any individuals who would like to speak who are
not directly affiliated with the Latin organization? We have 46th Ward Committee RCO.
Okay. Good afternoon. Please identify yourself with a record.
Yeah, I can. I mean, the board might let you go.
Do they vote in court?
Don't trust you.
46th Ward Democratic Committee, are you available to testify?
46th Ward Democratic Committee, are you available to test?
Good afternoon. Please identify yourself with a record.
Lloyd M. Carpenter.
Can you hear me?
Yes. And your affiliation with this case?
I am the co-chair for the 46th Ward RCO.
Thank you.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
yes i do please i object i don't believe the 46th democratic rc board rco has any jurisdiction over
this matter according to atlas it's west gerard progress and the 14th for our democratic executive
committee which is ms monroe 14th ward yeah you're right 46th ward is is west side abroad
no west fall off your baltimore avenue way out of the area sir
With all due respect, thank you.
Anyone else?
Mr. Chair, Mr. Jihad Ali has been allowed to speak.
Mr. Ali, good afternoon.
Please identify yourself with the record.
Spell your first and last name.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair.
My name is Jihad Ali, J-I-H-A-D-A-L-I.
I'm with Westeros Progress 870.
Can you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Hello?
Hello?
Mr. Ali?
Can you hear me?
Can you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do affirm.
Please proceed.
Chair, if I may object initially.
for purposes of the record west gerard progress primary contact is barbara penock p as in paul e
n n o c k i would just like mr ali to please clarify if the board would like care to hear
the testimony his specific relationship and whether he is the chair or on the board of
directors or what with the organization only because it's not available for me to have any
idea as to what his relationship is thank you mr ali uh yes i am on the board and mr chairman i
I believe Ms. Pinnock sent a letter telling you at some point that I will be representing
West Drive for progress, if not on this case, on the other cases, but she's already notified
the board, but we didn't expect to speak on this today, but that issue has been addressed
before in the past.
Yeah, other cases, correct?
Not this case.
Well, other cases, it hasn't been formally acknowledged to the board, but to answer his
question, I am on the board.
Okay, well then, Chairman, I object without formal authorization from Ms. Pennock to allow Ms. Raleigh to speak in this case. There is no authorization and I don't understand the capacity here. I mean, I would not object if we had a letter and I had received it as well. No problem. I just, anybody can call in and say they're affiliated with anything. Without a formal letter with authorization, I'm left in the dark.
That's why I asked a question. That's sustained. Unfortunately, Mr. Ali, we need a letter
verifying your role in this. Thank you. I'm happy to hear Mr. Ali in the future. If this
continues to be a thing where he speaks for Mrs. Penoch, no problem. I just would like to have
that authorization letter as well so I know what I can do in my capacity as the attorney.
Point well taken. Thank you. Thank you.
anyone else um so mary jones had her hand up and now she doesn't so that's all we have okay
planning commission this is uh ron bednar city planning do you swear for him to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth i do thank you sir please proceed this property is indicated
for commercial mixed use in the comprehensive plan we do not feel that the proposal will have
a negative impact on the surrounding area accordingly we have no objection to the
grounding of the special exception thank you mi 2020 does 000 289 531 north 7th street my vote is
yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is no all right miss monroe i think this board has a
lot of respect for you been in front of me at least since i've been on the board numerous times
and i do know mr mulville i think that uh everybody takes a deep breath work together
i'm sure you'll be able to resolve this issue and i and i specifically put on the record right now
board after the rendering of decisions i encourage miss monroe i encourage mr ali and anybody else
who has questions about this, to stay in contact with me and let's work together to put something
together that everyone is happy with. And if they get an attorney, I'm happy to work with them.
It's just my personal level of comfort under the rules of professional responsibility.
on the rules of professional responsibility understood thank you thank you members of the
Understood. Thank you.
board that concludes my business i believe have a great holiday and a happy new year and i'll see
you then you do likewise and stay safe thank you number 11 confessor
i'm sorry give me one minute i gotta bring confessor back because i thought i was getting
rid of leo oh you got rid of confessor that's not i know i know
welcome back Mr. Plaza I apologize
you know I'll begin MI 2020-000087 5506 Baltimore Avenue
i understand the owner sadiq karakulak karakulak i'm not sure if i'm pronouncing that right
please raise your hand mr sadiq
excuse me this is sharon slatter we have a letter in support from um councilwoman gaffier's office
you need to speak up
yes my name is
sir we can't
we can hardly hear you
do you
increase the volume or get
closer to the microphone
yeah do you hear me now
that's better thank you please spell your first
and last name
my name is Sadiq Karakulak
S-A-D-I-K. Last name is K-A-R-A-K-U-L-A-K.
And your address?
My home address, 1124 Roosevelt Drive, Howard Town, PA19083.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
please proceed with your testimony
and if you have any
exhibits please share them with us
is this an LLC or
this is a
I'm the owner
do you have a corporation
no he owns it as an individual
I checked on that
thank you
sir have you emailed an exhibit packet
with the required documents proof of ownership proof of tax compliance copy of the refusal
photos and plans five days prior to this hearing yes i do also have you also have you met with the
rco and have a letter uh we met oh yeah virtual online but i didn't get the uh letter yeah all
right please proceed um this is sharon slitta i believe councilwoman gauthier's um email did
refer to community support. Thank you. Mr. Karakuluk? Yes. Please proceed with your testimony.
Sure. I want to share my screen. Can I share my screen? Yes, please.
I'm sorry, sir. Could you hold one moment? We're going to promote you to a panelist.
Great.
All righty. You can now share your screen, sir.
Yes. This is my plan, and this lot belongs to us, actually.
all the lots except 5504 but we apply for the city and then they book for us that place too
but this is in process 5504 so mr sadiq we don't see your exhibits sir we have we're not able to
see your exhibits. Okay, let me try again.
So, Mr. Sadiq, do you have your documents open on your computer? Are you using a computer?
yeah okay so so once you have your documents open right you look at that
but you don't see I think so go down to the bottom of the zoom window and hit
and hit the green button that says share screen okay click on that there we go you got them
the green button that says share screen okay click on that
are you busy now sorry yes we do i'm not very good about that thank you tanya you're doing great no
problem thank you um yeah there's a uh five lots here you see uh four of them belongs to me and
And 5504 Bonsu City, we applied already to the city, and they booked on me, and it's on process now.
But we want to do the business 506, and I have an ice cream stand on the 5506.
So I will start over here.
When I get another lot, I want to combine old lots, and there's a building here, I want to combine with the building too, and I want to make a nice garden, like a garden cafe, and people is going to sit around here.
we are going to put the tables and there is a there's a lot of trees over there and nice night
on Baltimore Avenue nice street and people is going to see it and and you know they can see
them and share the time with the family it's gonna be a nice place for the family community too and I
want to make I want to start over 55 or 6 before and I want to get a permission from there and so
this is this okay I think we understand before thank you Mr. Karakler thank you so bad so we
Mr. Sadiq, I am going to stop your video and see if that helps a little bit.
okay can anyone hear me yes okay i had to leave all right mr sadique yes thank you we appreciate
just hang in here one minute any questions from the board no no would anyone else like
to testify in this case please raise your hand sir we have a nicole crawford whom i will allow
to speak right now. Thank you. Good afternoon, ma'am. Please identify yourself with a record
first and last name and your address. My first name is Nicole, N-I-C-O-L-E. My last name is
Crawford, C-R-A-W-F-O-R-D. My address is 824 South Allison Street, which is off of 55th and
Baltimore Avenue. Thank you. Swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing about the
truth? I do. Please proceed. Yes. This has been ongoing for about a year now, this gentleman
trying to create his business on this property. Right now, that is a high traffic, high crime
area. And with no sanitation or anything like that, with the fright of COVID, we do not feel
comfortable with having that there at this time um we've asked as the rco court uh well you know
we weren't the coordinating rco but we've asked and we have tried to communicate with with him
in order to possibly develop something different there um that would benefit the neighborhood and
he has not been able to um come through with it it's just the same plan that he he keeps on giving
out but we denounced it and we did not receive any type of notices or letters or anything like
that like i said i live off of 55th of balsamore avenue on allison street and i am the committee
person for the 46th or 20th division um so i definitely vietnamese oppose having this this
business on 55th and balsamore avenue thank you uh there is a letter of support from councilwoman
and it goes into detail about
they're in support. The application
admittedly, the applicant had struggled since 2019
to understand the special exception process, did not have a lawyer,
Did not have a lawyer, however, assuming they have otherwise met the requirements of the ZBA.
however, assuming they have otherwise met, assuming
This is an important location on an important commercial corridor in southwest Philadelphia.
And we appreciate the applicant's interest in ensuring the corner is reserved for a community use.
um chair we do have uh andrew goodman from the councilwoman's office if you wish him to speak
yeah i'm sorry i read his statement no worries mr goodman you can unmute and speak to this and
wait to be sworn in hi good afternoon can you hear me yes mr goodman please identify yourself
with the record and then i'll swear you in andrew goodman g-o-o-d-m-a-n office of third
district council member jamie r gaudier you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth yes i do thank you sir please proceed yep so you um you read our statement
that we submitted for the written record we attended we attended the rco meeting um i do
want to clarify we did not we did not receive a we did not receive a letter following the meeting
um there were many questions many good questions asked during the meeting of the applicant
that they needed more kind of more detail to add to their application we our office tried to
facilitate kind of a email exchange between a couple members of the of the RCO so we did see
we saw a follow-up that the applicant made but truly I don't want to don't want to misrepresent
you know the intent of the RCO we did not we did not receive a final letter from them
all right uh i maybe you can answer this andrew better than mr sadiq he's the owner of this
property yes that's my understanding i was just wondering for miss crawford's uh concerns if we
did a temporary variance we can do that sharon
yes you can you can do it
two or three years miss crawford
um give me one minute i have to bring her back
ms crawford can you raise your hand again
okay you can unmute yes ms crawford i don't know if you heard me uh we would consider maybe doing
a temporary variance so if there are any issues uh it won't be in perpetuity
um i'm not in agreeance with a temporary but how long is a temporary variance we can make it as
short or as long as we want uh probably within at least a year i mean you got to give
you know with covid we don't know when we're going to anything's going to be opening up
yeah um like i said that's really a high crime area um we're already dealing with several
shootings in that area right there so having something open like that my my my honest concern
is about um drug happening and stuff like that in that garden because it was used for drugs and
stuff like that before um so i i'm not really comfortable with that at all okay all right
anyone else mr goodman you have anything else to add nope that's it thank you for the opportunity
you speak. Thank you. Anyone else would like to testify? Please raise your hand.
Ms. Catherine Blunt has her hand up. I will allow her to speak right now.
Ms. Blunt, good afternoon. Please identify yourself with the records by your full name and
provide us with your address. My name is Catherine Blunt, B-L-U-N-T-C-A-T-H-E-R-I-N-E.
i am the co-chair of the 46th ward rco our rco of butts the 51st ward you swear excuse me do you
swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i swear please proceed
okay our 46th ward rco of butts the 51st ward rco uh at uh certainly at 55th and uh uh baltimore
on either side. I did attend the 51st Ward RCO coordinating meeting. I have also met with and
spoke with Mr. Karakulak since December 2019, along with Michael, not Michael, Lloyd Carpenter,
who was also probably raising his hand.
And during the times that I've spoken with Mr. Karakulak,
I've spoken with Mr. Karakulak.
I have encouraged Mr. Karakulak to get a lawyer.
I have encouraged Mr. Karakulak to get a lawyer, to get drawings, and to be specific and precise about what it is he was planning to do.
He has not had, this is like the third continuance that we are now addressing.
He has not had a community meeting until the 51st Ward had that community meeting December 1st.
At that meeting, it was 30 people, I think, Mr. Goodman was there.
The advice was to Mr. Kyra Kulak to get legal assistance so that he can then present his argument to the community.
So we have a year and a half since Mr. Kulak, for some reason, has not been able to comply with the ZBA requirements, inclusive of sending out letters, being able to present all of the documents that all of the other presenters have done on this Zoom meeting today.
Additionally, I think Mr. Karakulak changed the owner to an LLC, and he's no longer just the individual owner.
Oh, then he would have to be, we asked that question up front. He would need to be, he's required to be represented by council.
Excuse me, I thought that Mr. I'm not going to pronounce the name right, but that he submitted a deed of double check.
and my memory is that it was in his own name well that's what he that's what he testified to but
if I could interject a second Sharon I'm just pointing out on the document that we had the
owner is an LLC okay all right that makes JSP Peninsula LLC is what I see okay thank you Tanya
thank you Miss Blunt that's important we would not have even gone forward with this case have
we know that all right um am i i know there's other folks on there but i think we'll make it
easier for them any questions from the board no no planning commission uh property is indicated
for neighborhood commercial mixed use on the city plan the applicant has not uh demonstrated
necessary hardship regarding cards from this code code we recommend excuse me mr bednar there is no
requirement for unnecessary hardship it's a special exception i believe sorry so then uh we uh
recommend the request for a special exception not be granted thank you this is ron bednar city
planning thank you ron mi 2020-000087 5506 baltimore avenue my vote is no my vote is no
my vote is no my vote is no thank you miss crawford and thank you miss blunt okay number 12
of the Confessor.
MI 2020-002419, 647 North 41st Street.
This is Clementa, Amazon has her hand raised.
I will promote her to a panelist right now.
the reason we have two more cases and then we will break for our
330 list okay okay okay good afternoon chairman and members of the board come on to amazon
C-L-E-M-E-N-T-A
Last name is A-M-A-Z-A-N
Amazon, you're coming across like not clear
A little bit
A little foggy
Can you hear me better now?
A little bit, but it's
Try something
is that by the chairman
say something
I don't know you still I mean you've been on you've appeared before us before but today it's
kind of like a muffled sound let's give it a shot let's see how it goes okay well I'll make
myself nice and loud if that's helpful better that's much better perfect okay so if you allow
me, I will share my screen. Ma'am, do you agree to waive the reading of its refusal and stipulate
to its accuracy? Yes, I do. Also, have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents,
Also, have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal, photos, and plans five days prior to this hearing?
proof of ownership, proof of...
Yes, I have.
Also, have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
Yes, I do.
And do you swear on firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, for nothing but the truth?
Absolutely.
Thank you. Please proceed.
Thank you. So good evening, Chairman and members of the board.
Again, my name is Clemente Amazon of Malcolmston, PC, and I'll be presenting our project at 647 North 41st Street.
And before you, I have a packet of materials, which includes the deed, certificate of tax clearance, the notice of refusal, application for appeal, zoning maps, photographs, architectural plans and drawings, and the letter of support that we received from the RCO.
Allow me to interrupt for a second.
Court reporter, could you hear her?
clearly oh yeah she's she's perfect nice and clear thank you thank you so this
first exhibit that I have before you is the deeds for the property here I have
the transfer tax certification as well as certificate of tax compliance and the
notice of refusal this is a very straightforward project as you can see
our only refusals are for dimensional variances so we are required to provide 25 for the open area
we're providing 22.7 so that evens out to a difference of 23 square feet we also have the
requirement of a nine foot rear yard depth we're providing eight feet and four inches so we're
just eight inches off here so here i have the application for appeal again the refusal
The project information form map of the area so this is multi unit we will be having a triplex within this property, as you can tell it is a regularly shaped, which is the result of us having these dimensional variances.
is a map of the area so we're near wallace and 41st off of lancaster avenue photographs of the
front of the property the right of the property to the left of the property from front from north
41st street photo showing that we did post the zoning notice poster and here we have our rendering
for this project so it is going to be three floors along with a roof deck and it's very
straightforward unit one will be one bedrooms two bath unit two will be two beds two bath unit
three will be two beds two bath so the units are allowed as of right we're simply here for
the dimensional variances that we are requesting and we did meet with the rco on december 10th
they did express their support for this project. So we provided notice to the community. We included
the date of the hearing, Zoom information, passcode, meeting ID. As required, we provided notice of 63
properties. Here's our certificate of mailing and a list of the properties that we notified
of today's hearing as well as of the community meeting. And I believe my client is on the line
to adopt my testimony.
Brian Wise.
it's been about to talk thank you good afternoon please identify yourself with the record spell
your first and last name? Brian Wise, B-R-I-A-N-W-I-S-E. Do you swear or affirm to tell the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes, I do. Thank you, Brian. Did you hear my
testimony today, or my presentation, rather? Yes. And was it true and correct to your knowledge?
Yes. And if given the opportunity, would you adopt it as your own testimony?
Yes I do. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions from the board? No. No. No. Anyone else like to testify in this case? If so, please raise your hand.
No further hand at this time, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Planning Commission.
This is Ron Bednar, City Planning.
the property is indicated for residential use on the city plan given the irregularly shaped
parcel for meeting rear yard and open area requirements is required by RM
meeting rear yard and open area requirements is required by RM1. We recommend that the request for
variances still be granted regardless of those minor dimensional requirements. Thank you. MI 2020-002419
647 north 41st street my vote is yes my vote my vote is yes yes my vote is yes thank you
mi 2020 that's 000684 801 east willard street this case was originally heard back in january
is that correct sharon that is correct and it was a hearing hold you were waiting for
the rco letter and council person's letter um we don't have that because we don't have the paper
file anymore but sloan folks sent me a copy of the councilwoman's letter in which she um i can
send that to you she referred to the rco support okay mr folks on i don't know that he's on i
called him and asked if he could send me the letter and he did i can forward he's here he's
on man. You'll get him on. Good afternoon Mr. Folks. Please identify yourself for the record
and I'll swear you in. Good afternoon Chairman DiCicco on the snowy Wednesday. My name is Sloan
Fuchs. S-L-O-A-N-E-F is a fire O-L-K-F. Office of Council on Berea Community Sanchez room 508 City
Hall. Thank you. Swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth? I do sir.
Well, having received a letter from the convening RCO, which I do have a copy of, and I can forward to Ms. Saleta and Ms. Sunkit if needed.
And the letter stating that there was no opposition to this various requests.
Our office has no opposition to this various requests.
Thank you very much.
Can I just say thank you, Mr. Sloan, folks, for getting back to me so quickly and sending me the information.
and could i also make the special request to get that email for our records so much thank you
i will send that to you immediately thank you mr folks anyone else would like to testify please
raise your hand um i don't think we should because this was a delay right right yep yes thank you
thank you did the planning commission yes this was a complete completed case basically all we
needed was the vote after we received the supplemental documents gotcha thank you again
mi 2020 does 000 684 801 east willard street my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes
my vote is yes
or the last number 14 mi 2020 does zero zero two six zero two nine oh four two excuse me
nine oh four two east roosevelt boulevard
mr chair mr jared klein good afternoon mr klein you know the drill please identify yourself and
I'll swear you in.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Jared Klein from Blank Rome,
130 North 18th Street in Philadelphia on behalf of the applicant.
We're going to affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
I'm sorry.
Can I just ask a quick question?
Mr. Klein, was your client able to get into the Zoom?
Yes, he was.
Thank you, Ms. Sunkett.
Thank you.
Confessor?
Mr. Klain, do you agree to waive the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
I do waive the reading. Unfortunately, I can't stipulate to the accuracy. We believe that
L and I missed a very small refusal that I will address as we move forward, but I've already
discussed that with the board's counsel. Okay. Have you emailed an exhibit packet
with the required document, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal
order for borders and plans five days prior to this hearing? Yes, I have. Also, have you met
with the RCO and have a letter? Yes. Thank you. Please proceed. Thank you very much. Good afternoon
again, everybody. I believe that I'm the tail end of your two o'clock list, so I will endeavor to be
as efficient in my presentation as I can. We're here for 9042 East Roosevelt Boulevard. Just to
give the board some context. You can see on the screen, this is the site location. It's located
at the corner of Welsh and the Boulevard. It is the location of what was formerly a gas station
that's been abandoned for several years and the board might recognize the location as being next
that's been abandoned for several years, and the board might recognize the location as
door on Roosevelt Boulevard to Tiffany's Diner. The property as you can see from the zoning map
is zoned RSA2 but it's surrounded entirely by commercially zoned uses on our side of
Roosevelt Boulevard and some CA1 across Roosevelt Boulevard and it's that base zoning that is
driving most of the refusals that we have here. The application itself is to demolish the existing
gas station that's there and to replace it with a new structure for use as a retail bank location
with 17 accessory parking spaces. We received a collection of refusals, but the number of refusals
here is really being driven by the inappropriate base zoning of the parcel. As I mentioned and
showed the zoning map, this parcel zoned RSA2, it's the only parcel on this corner of Welsh and
the Boulevard that is residentially zoned. Every other parcel here is commercially zoned, and if
our lot was similarly commercially zoned, many of the refusals that we received would go away.
The landscaping refusal would go away because we're compliant with what a CMX2 landscape buffer would be.
The use of financial services would go away if it was a CMX2 parcel.
And so we think that the hardship here is really being driven by the base zoning that really doesn't fit for Roosevelt Boulevard.
The property can be seen here. Here are photos of posting.
this is the lot generally and there are a variety of views this is on welsh looking towards roosevelt
boulevard here this is the rear of the property as it is currently configured this photo is relevant
to the missing refusal that i mentioned and i'll show you on the plans but this little median of
grass you're seeing at the bottom of the photo is our property line. So the rear yard refusal,
we were a foot and a half short on the 20 foot rear yard depth that would be required under the
RSA 2. The reason why we believe L and I missed picking up that refusal is because we're adjacent
to this large parking lot. This parking lot serves both Tiffany's and some apartment homes that are
located off of the picture here. So there is a very large buffer between our property and the
next residential property. And I think L&I may have been unclear as to exactly where the lot lines
were. Moving forward, just to show some context of what's around it, this is a commercial office
building on Welsh, just off of our lot. Another office building located directly across Welsh.
There's an existing Sunoco gas station on the corner of Welsh that's directly across from our property.
And caddy corner to us across Roosevelt Boulevard is this Wells Fargo bank location, similar in style to what we would be proposing here.
This is the zoning site plan. I note that we did have revised plans.
were asking the board to stamp. The revisions were not impactful for any zoning issue. It was adding
a trash enclosure for the rear and slightly redimensionalizing some of the drive aisles.
The actual building itself is going to be a fairly standard retail branch bank design.
And of note to the Civic Association, I wanted to show the board this is our landscaping plan.
So even though we are not able to provide on our site the 15-foot landscaped buffer that an RSA-2 would require, we do have the five-foot landscape buffer that CMX-2 would require.
And we've added to that with some additional trees in the parking islands and along both frontages.
There's also four existing curb cuts at this property, and we're closing two of them, and we'll be adding some additional landscaping to that.
The last point I wanted to make for the board. Again, this is relevant to the missing refusal. As the board can see, blowing up, this is the rear yard depth that they are measuring.
This is 18 feet, four inches. And so we're about a foot and a half short of the 20 foot required rear yard. As I explained earlier, this is backing up into that open parking lot.
The last item I want to show the board is the revised sign plan.
We received a number of signage refusals that are based primarily on the volume of signage and the RSA-2 zoning designation.
We received the number of signage refusals that are based primarily
If this was zoned CMX-2, the code would be a little bit more permissive with the square footage of signage we were allowed.
What we did do is there was a sign that was to be located on the rear of the bank in this area here.
It would have been a lit sign that would have been visible from the residential homes.
We have removed that sign at the request of the art commission before we even met with the RCO.
So that this plan here is the revised signage plan that would note the removal of sign S10.
I'm not going to take the board's time to go through the entire sign package.
I will stop there and see if the board has any questions.
And I'll ask my client, Richard Soloff, to virtually raise his hand so he can adopt my testimony.
all right why don't we get your client on and then we'll proceed from there all right rich if
you're out there and can hit the raise hand button that would be great he's already been
allowed to speak sir good afternoon sir please identify yourself with a record spell your name
and we'll swear you in richard soloff r-i-c-h-a-r-d s-o-l-o-f-f as in frank
uh swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do
thank you uh richard did you have a chance to hear the entirety of my presentation this afternoon
uh yes i did jared and do you adopt my statements as true correct in your own
yes i do thank you very much um mr chair that will conclude our presentation
we would ask that if the board is inclined to approve these variances that it do so with
revised plans three pages uh and a notation that the um approval would include the rear yard variance
thank you questions from the board no
anyone else like to testify in this case
mr chair there is a bernard uh chat doc i will um to speak right now good afternoon sir please
identify yourself with a record spell your full name and provide us with your address
bernard could you hit the mute button so we can hear you speed oh all right sorry it wasn't on
the screen when you first started uh bernard jadak b-e-r-n-a-r-d-j-a-d-a-c-h
I'm the zoning chair for
Greater Bustle and Civic
You should have our
The whole truth and nothing but the truth
You should have our letter
There from my president
It is on the
It is on the screen now Carl
Okay I just wanted to say
That the
Landscaping plan that they did
Really
We liked it
uh relatively to what was originally proposed and everything else like that so we really liked that
and um our uh only other uh thing was the uh uh we suggested that at the exit that they had a
no left hand turn going out to welsh road because that's a really bad intersection
that that entrance is heading out that direction?
That is a matter that will be discussed
with the streets department.
Right, but for safety purposes, we suggested that.
Okay, and I think it would be prudent with them
because it's a very busy intersection there
and people are crazy sometimes
trying to cross two lanes of traffic.
Understood, thank you.
Appreciate your testimony, thank you.
all right thanks that anyone else would like to testify
no further hands mr chair thank you planning commission although this run bednar city planning
although this property is currently zoned residential a parcel is the site of a vacant
gas station we believe proposed commercial use is appropriate for ozville boulevard location given
the surrounding use context. Therefore, we support the granting of the variance based on the revised
plans. Thank you. MI 2020-002-602. 9042 East Roosevelt Boulevard, my vote is yes with the
following provisos. Revised plan, three pages approved today, and that the proviso also include
the rear yard variance. Yes. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, with proviso.
yes thank you mr chairman yes with proviso yes proviso thank you that concludes the
two o'clock list thank you very much everybody have a have a wonderful holiday you do likewise
thank you uh two o'clock we'll get back here at uh 15 minutes 4 45 everyone my name is frank
di chico i'm the chair of the zoning board of adjustment i'll be participating in today's
hearing along with our board secretary, Mr. Confessor Plaza, and board members, Mr. Thomas
Holloman and Mr. James Snell. Board administrator, Ms. Tanya Sunket, and board attorney, Ms. Sharon
Saleta, are also in attendance. For those of you who haven't yet participated in one of our virtual
hearings, I'll go through some of the basics of what you can expect. First, we will be administering
oaths to individual participants prior to testimony second we'd like to advise everyone
that this proceeding is being recorded and that by participating you acknowledge your agreement to be
recorded third for anyone participating by phone if you wish to testify you must raise your hand
by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute yourself someone's got their mic on we're hearing
background noise. Finally, for anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise
your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute yourself. I'll repeat, for anyone
participating by phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise your hand by hitting star nine
and then star six to unmute yourself. Finally, to make an appearance statement, call Google
267-270-5548 and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue. I will repeat.
To enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548 and leave your email address
and the address of the property at issue before mr plaza calls our first case i'd like to announce
the following cases that uh i don't think we have any continuances yet do we no
um did we sharon did we get the exhibits for 1548 south 30th um chair you might want to call the
applicant call up the applicant on this one he sent exhibits in at 250 there is a letter from
grays ferry community council in support the refusal some of the other documents he did not
include the deed i asked him to i called and asked him to send that um what he sent back was i think
a printout of the opa records but we don't have a copy of the deed if you could call him his name
is mr cordero mr cordero are you available please raise your hand mr cordero
please raise your hand
i am muted i'm sorry could you unmute your mic yep hello you heard me i please uh mr cadera
please spell your first and last name my first name is naib's last name is cordero dash
constantine i mean hyphen constantine you spell those names the first middle first last name
middle name first name is naives n-a-y-i-p-s cordero c-o-r-d-e-r-o hyphen c-o-n-s-t-a-n-t-i-n-i
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i swear sir uh we're still in uh we're still waiting for a copy of your deed
okay so what i have i send it uh i was assuming i'm sorry about that that the deed was the
document about the ownership of the property we should download it from the
city page okay and if I could ask sir when did you send your exhibit package
the exhibit package I send it today okay yeah I don't I didn't have it previous
to this and it's required five days ahead look I should be concerned you
yeah this case will have to be continued sir oh how it would be the
process in order to have a new hearing my name i'll put my name in the q a for you okay all
right thank you so much for your help and i'm sorry about the situation i didn't expect that
no worries mi 2020 does zero zero one seven six six one five four eight south 30th street is
continued uh i don't see any other requests at this time i will ask if there
I don't see any other requests. At this time, I will ask if there are any requests for continuance or withdrawals to please raise your hand.
I see no hands, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Before we begin, I'd just like to remind everyone, please do not attempt to testify in the chat.
Any comments should be directed to our board administrator, Ms. Tanya Sunken.
And with that, I think we're ready to go.
Can I just ask for a two-minute pause?
Absolutely.
I just want to make sure I didn't get any continuance in the last few hours.
Thank you.
Thank you.
okay chair i'm all done none i have nothing okay we drew a blank okay
case number mi 2020 that's 001334 1121 cross street
there's a letter of non-opposition from pass young square civic association
no hands wait wait wait you have one hand up that's the number ending in two two one one
i will allow them to speak now sir thank you
individual at number two two one one you may now speak
okay uh hi am i able to share documents on the screen yeah but please identify yourself for the
record spell your full name my name is eric andrewson e-r-i-k last name a-n-d-r-e-w-s-e-n
and i'm the property owner of 1121 cross street thank you you swear we're firm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth i do thank you please uh hold on one second confess i'm sorry
Can I interject a thought? Based on the fact that the applicant called in, he's unable to share his screen. Only if you're contacting us via the Zoom on a computer or tablet.
I'm actually on the computer right now. I'm just doing the audio on my phone because it works a little better.
okay professor sir uh do you agree to i'm sorry have you emailed an exhibit packet with the
required documents proof of ownership proof of tax compliance copy of the refusal photos and
plans five days prior to this hearing yes i have have you met with the rco and have a letter
yes i have okay please proceed
i'm sorry sir um is your is your device connected to zoom yes i just raised my hand did that help
okay are you eric yes okay so we're going to promote you under the device to panelists
okay thank you all righty
okay now you can share your screen
okay um okay can you see my screen
yes we can okay great uh like i said my name is eric andrewson uh my wife brooke and i are
representing ourselves today. We have a refusal for 1121 Cross Street. We've been living at this
property for about 10 years and in the neighborhood for about 20 years. When we purchased the house
10 years ago, we only had one son and he's now grown, but we have two more, ages three and five,
and we need more space. So we have decided to add a third story to get us that space. So on
screen is the refusal there were two parts to that one was we wanted to see if we could get
a variance on the eight foot setback and the other one was to ask for an additional nine inches
And the other one was to ask for an additional nine inches for a third-story rear balcony.
So here's the application and the project information form details.
And this is the lease, the tax compliance for both myself and Brooke.
And this is the property.
um so oh here's the uh the paper showing that they voted uh eight to zero non-opposition and
there was a straw poll vote of three to zero uh and not opposition from the people that were
attending so this is a proposed plan uh for the third story uh we're planning on doing a very
conservative front we didn't want to do anything that would be out of character with our block
We think it's a very nice-looking block, so we want to keep it that way.
As of right now, we are in need of a three-story house.
If you're looking right now, you see the old plant, or the current plant, excuse me.
There's one rear bedroom and then one front bedroom.
In the middle, there's what the architect labeled as a nursery, but it's connected to this one bedroom, and it's not a usable space.
it's smaller than an old bedroom and it's far too small for my three-year-old to grow up in so we
have decided to add the third story and on the second story uh reconfigure this so there will
just be a bathroom and one bedroom for my daughter and one bedroom for my son so i will show
this is the current plan for the third story
might be a little hard to see
So, again, this is the second floor.
There would just be the rear bedroom and the front bedroom, and what is essentially the
middle room right now that's a nursery would turn into a single bathroom, and the hallway
would be put back in place, and then the stairs going to the third floor would be right here.
On the third story, we have a master bedroom with a master bath, and then there is a multi-use
space.
I work for the federal judiciary, so I am, especially during this pandemic,
teleworking all the time and talking to judges and court staff,
and I really need a space that is apart from the children.
So the plan is to have a multi-use space that would be for work,
and then also to have a couch here so our grown son could visit and sleep on that.
Because right now there's not only not room for us, there's no room for visitors.
So the size of this rear multi-use space is essentially the same size as the setback.
So according to Architect, if we did have the setback, there would be no room for this multi-use office and place for my son to sleep when he visits.
The other part of the variance request is for a rear balcony.
This is a rendering of the third floor.
So it would be up here, there'd be a sliding glass door, and we felt that it was a little bit too short, so we wanted to extend it nine inches, so it would be a full three feet.
We felt that would be more usable space and also be safer space if the kids are out there sitting on a chair or something like that.
I did also want to mention that we are zoned RSA 5 right there, but we butt up against properties on Greenwich Street.
These two properties that our backyards touch are both three stories that go to the front.
1114 Greenwich is a three-story.
These three right here are all three stories that go to the front.
And there are five or six or seven on Carr Street over here that all go to the front and are three stories.
So we feel like there's some precedence for doing this.
So that's basically all I had.
Like I said, we're just trying to add space and make our house livable.
And we like where we live.
we've lived in labor for a long time and uh we just we want our house to grow with our family
thank you very much uh questions from the board no no anyone would like to testify in this case
if so please raise your hand and at this time mr chair thank you very much planning commission
i'm bednar city planning property is indicated for residential use on the city plan
And given the neighborhood site context, we have no objection to the granting of the merits.
Thank you, Ryan.
MI 2020-001334, 1121 Cross Street.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
Thank you and good luck.
MI 2020-001373, 1605 South Street.
1605 South Street.
Thank you.
Mr. D. Boggs has been promoted to panel, sir.
Boggs or Ms. Boggs?
Yes, good afternoon.
How are you?
I'm sorry.
I said Mr.
I'm at mistake.
All right.
Please identify yourself
for the record? Stephanie Boggs, Claire Harrison, 1835 Market Street. Boggs is B-O-G-G-S, correct?
Correct. All right, you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do. Stephanie, do you agree to waive the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
It is a letter of referral for a special exception, but yes, I do.
Also, have you emailed an exhibit 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 have also have you met with the rco and have a letter yes it's included within the
packet we submitted thank you please proceed sure if i can share my screen
while you're doing that there's also a letter of non-opposition from center city residents
Yes, that is correct.
So this property is located at the corner of 16th Street and South Street.
It's specifically for Unit 100, which is on the ground floor that occupies the corner of that space.
It's an existing solar practitioner office for a dental practice.
And our client is seeking a special exception approval to be able to convert that use into a group medical practice so that he can expand his practice.
As was mentioned, we did have a chance to meet with the Center City Residence Association, and their letter of non-opposition is included within your packet.
They did note in our meeting with them that a more active, intensive use of this corner property would be more appropriate than the solo practitioner office that is there.
And for those reasons and the location of the practice in general, we do feel that we meet the qualifications for a special exception.
We have a local practice. Most of the patients will be coming to the site by walking within the neighborhood, so we don't anticipate any congestion in the public streets or otherwise detrimental impacts to our adjacent properties.
I do have the owner of the practice here on the call, Michael Alhiri, if I can bring him on and have him confirm my testimony.
And he's also available to answer any questions the board may have.
Michael, can you please raise your hand?
He's been a lot to talk, Ms. Boggs.
Good afternoon, or good evening, sir.
Please identify yourself with the records by your full name.
My name is Michael Alharir, A-L-H-A-R-I-R, address 100 North 22nd Street, Unit 120 for
the Delphi PA 19103.
And you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Ms. Boggs?
Hi, Michael.
Have you heard my testimony this afternoon?
Do you believe it to be true and correct?
yes I do if given the opportunity would you adopt it as your own yes thank you I did want to point
out for the board that the picture is on the screen right now or a picture of the property
that showed the location of the existing practice that does occupy the corner of 16th and south
thank you are there any questions questions from the board no anyone else would like to
testify in this case if so please raise your hand
there are no further hands at this time mr chair thank you planning commission
on bednar city planning this property is indicated for neighborhood commercial mixed use on the city
plan given the locational context and the site characteristics we have no objection to the
granting you the special exception. Thank you. MI 2020-001373-1605 South Street. My vote is yes.
My vote is yes. My vote is yes. My vote is yes. Thank you, Ms. Boggs, for that brief and concise
testimony. Thank you very much. Have a good afternoon. Thank you. MI 2020-001606-1851 South
Columbus Boulevard.
Bob Carless has been allowed to speak.
Jason, I promoted him.
He's the attorney for the case.
Mr. Carless, good evening.
Please identify yourself with the records by your last name.
Good evening, everyone.
Bob Carless, Cozen O'Connor, C-A-R-E-L-E-S-S, 1650 Market Street, Philadelphia,
on behalf of JPMorgan Chase Bank.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Confessor.
Sir, you agree to waive the reading of his refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Also, have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership,
proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal, photos and plans five days prior to this hearing?
I haven't.
Just so it's clear, it's a copy of the referral.
Great.
Also, have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
we do thank you please proceed
thank you good evening everyone again i'm here on a referral as i mentioned for a proposed
freestanding drive up atm to be located within the columbus crossing shopping center in south
philadelphia i'm showing an aerial on the screen here of the site the site is located within the
CMX three, uh, zoning districts in the CMX three, the proposed drive up ATM
requires a special exception approval. Uh, there were no refusals, uh, chase.
My client has entered into a license agreement for approximately 600 square
feet of area. That's bubbled in my aerial here. Um, this rear section of the
parking lot was identified as the proposed drive through ATM, um, such not
interfere with patrons of the shopping center, walking around or taking up any
other kind of critical parking stalls within the center. This is a plan sheet which shows the
proposed ATM. The design provides room for three cars in terms of stacking. It's typically more
than adequate for a drive-up ATM. This ATM, as you know, is being constructed within an existing
commercial development, an existing commercial parking lot. We're not impacting any landscaping.
We are proposing a few new light poles for safety purposes, but we don't anticipate those having any adverse impacts.
We do have a site triangle for those patients who are exiting.
They come in here and they exit here.
So you can see we are demonstrating a safe site triangle for the vehicles that are traveling in the rear portion of the parking lot.
But we would expect, we do expect that the ATM would be a draw for pass-by traffic, meaning customers that are already within the shopping center.
We don't expect that this would generate any additional traffic in the center.
We did meet with the PennSport Civic, and we do have their support for the requested special exception.
I do have two witnesses that I guess to come off mute if they're out there.
Dana Polanski of Chase, could I ask you to raise your hand, please?
I don't know how to speak yet.
I am unmuted. Thank you.
Thank you.
Please identify yourself with a record.
My name is Dana Polanski.
I'm the market director of real estate for the Philadelphia region for JPMorgan Chase.
Please spell your last name, ma'am.
P-O-L-O-N-S-K-Y.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Mr. Kirlis.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Ms. Polanski, did you hear my testimony to the board?
I did.
And was it true and correct to the best of your knowledge?
It is.
And would you adopt and affirm that testimony as your own?
I would.
Thank you.
Can I ask Mr. Martin Swaggart from Core States to please raise his hand to come off mute?
He's been allowed to speak, sir.
Good evening, sir.
Please identify yourself with the records by your full name.
Hello, my name is Martin Swaggart, M-A-R-T-I-N, last name S-W-A-G-G-A-R-D.
I am the Regional Director of Civil Engineering with Core States Group.
My address is 201 South Maple Avenue, Suite 300, Ambler, Pennsylvania, 19002.
Thank you, Swear Affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Thank you, Mr. Kalish.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Swaggart, did you hear my testimony to the board?
Yes, I did.
Was it true or correct to the best of your knowledge?
Yes, it was.
And would you adopt and affirm that testimony to your own?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I have nothing further.
We're happy to ask you any questions you may have.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Any questions from the board?
Mr. Chairman? Mr. Holloman. Are there any provisos from the RCO?
No, there were no provisos from the RCO. I can screen in here a little bit for you, sir, so you can see.
Do you plan any security cameras, any form of security?
We do have lighting for safety purposes. I could ask Ms. Polanski if she wants to come up with me,
if she wants to add anything to what I testify to
in terms of safety standards for the ATM.
You're still unmuted, Ms. Polanski.
Thank you. Yes, we do have safety standards that are adopted for this ATM.
Thank you.
Yes, we do have safety standards
that are adopted for this ATM.
They include security cameras, as well as the lighting that Mr.
Careless spoke about.
Thank you.
Thank you. Any other questions from the board?
Anyone else like to testify in this case, please raise your hand.
Other hands, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Planning Commission?
property is indicated for ron bednar city planning property is indicated for neighborhood
commercial mixed use on the city plan given the site context we have no objection to the
grant and a special exception thank you mi 2020 does zero zero one six zero six one eight five
one south christopher columbus boulevard my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes
Thank you. MI 2020-001372, 331 West Gerrard Avenue.
Mr. Richard DeMarco has been promoted to my panelist, sir.
Good evening, Mr. DeMarco. Please identify yourself with a record and I'll swear you in.
hello mr chairman and everyone richard demarco uh i'm here for the applicant 2005 market street
16th floor filled up pa 19103 demarco is spelled uppercase d e uppercase m a r c o do you swear
affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do thank you mr complazzo
Mr. DeMarco, you agree to waive the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
I will.
Okay. Have you emailed an exhibit 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?
I did, except the tax compliance came in after we sent that on Monday.
No problem. Also, have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
We did meet with the RCO. We have a letter. It's opposition, but we're actually not that far apart, and I can explain.
Thank you. Please proceed.
Mr. Chairman, Mr. Board, I hope you're all well. This is the first time I've had to attend a hearing in the middle of a snowstorm.
I guess that's the new normal.
Uh, so, uh, this is a request for a variance for first floor residential in an existing, uh, currently mixed use structure where we have a, uh, a defunct commercial store on the first floor.
Um, I'll be as brief as I can, since you have a long list, you've had a long day.
the testimony that we can present and will present and my client will agree to and adopt
as his testimony is that they have attempted to market the first floor for commercial use this is
on gerard avenue there are uh you know some commercial uses but there are many first floor
storefronts that have already been converted to commercial i mean excuse me to residential
And this board actually granted a variance to allow a residential unit in the next door property two and a half years ago.
And I'll show you that when I share my screen in a moment, my screen, excuse me.
So my client will testify they have attempted to market this property.
While it wasn't officially listed on Zillow, the client's son is a realtor
and has shown the property to a number of commercial uses and no one is interested
in a commercial use here. There's already a full kitchen, a full bath, and it's already
reminiscent of a residential use. The current tenant is actually a holdover from the sale of
the property who doesn't even use the property for commercial use. There's a desk in there
and he's there maybe once or twice every month um i'm sorry mr demarco you didn't have exhibits
did you yes i sent exhibits on friday and again i mean for the presentation with us
i'll share them right now i was i was waiting to do that i'm sorry i could do that right
no worries thank you kindly okay here you go
uh oh hold on a minute
there we go
can you see my screen okay yes sir thank you
so i always have trouble doing this um it always you know this is the i'm going to go in a little
bit of reverse excuse me for that this is our rco notice this is our proof of the uh
This is our RCO notice. This is our proof of the RCO meeting on our flyer.
This is the variance that the board granted next door for residential use at the first floor.
You can see 2016, excuse me, 2017 calendar number of this board.
And this is the variance to legalize full residential use on the first floor.
this is a photo of other properties these are the properties across the street that have first
floor residential even though it's zoned commercial cmx2 these are our block this is the property
right here um you can see there's no signage rich could you rotate that
yeah this is where i have problems mr chairman i still have not learned how to do this i'm
gonna have to take a course on this um i can't rotate it i'm sorry um but this is our site i'll
try to do my best and apologize for that these are other residential uses uh here's the only
commercial use within a few doors. This is our site here. This is the property. This is the
store. This is the old storefront that we can't get a tenant for and has a defunct commercial use
currently. So this is the floor plan, Mr. Chairman. This is an existing kitchen and an existing full
Bath. The RCO, and it's Annie Moss, who I have a lot of respect for. I have a good rapport with
her. She may or may not be on the call. I'll show you her letter in a moment. They're opposed,
but what they asked us to do was do a quote unquote live work unit. They're not opposed
100% to residential use, but they want to maintain the commercial use.
So their letter reads like an opposition letter, but they would allow some residential use here.
So here's what I could say to you.
I believe we can, and I'll invite my client to testify in a moment.
I believe we can make out, we've made out a case for permanent relief.
Residential use is the only viable use right now, and we cannot obtain a commercial tenant.
but if the board is is is um uncomfortable with permanent relief i spoke to the client
and we would agree to a one-year temporary because the client actually doesn't necessarily
want to permanently convert the property he is willing to remain flexible while we want
permanent relief and a permanent variance we would accept a one-year temporary um
for residential use on the first floor. We can't do any commercial use right now.
So we need some form of a variance and a temporary one year would suffice. This is the site plan.
This is our petition of appeal. This is the refusal. There is a dimensional refusal for
lot area and the number of units uh but the unit is existing um so and this is the exhibit list so
i'm going to invite my client to testify uh and anthony saran tanakis is also on the call who's
our architect who can answer any architectural questions um i'm going to show you one more item
which is our letter from our realtor who
and give me a moment here
this is our realtor's letter he's had a professional opinion and has rendered it in writing that the
current commercial use is not feasible at this location at this time so i'll invite uh if tanya
If you could allow Aaron Junick to be unmuted, please.
If you see him.
I'm not allowed to speak.
Mr. Junick, please unmute yourself and wait to be sworn in.
Aaron, are you with us?
Yes, I believe I should be unmuted now.
Do you guys hear me?
Yes, you are.
Would you please identify yourself first and last name?
Our name is Aaron Junik.
That's A-A-R-O-N, last name J-U-N-I-K.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Aaron, were you able to hear all of my factual testimony a moment ago?
Yes, I heard everything and everything is correct.
Yes, I heard everything, and everything is correct.
I was going to say, do you also, is it true and accurate? And will you adopt it as your formal testimony in this matter?
I was going to say, do you also...
And do you agree with your son's letter and the history of the property and the difficulty in obtaining a commercial tenant for the space?
Yes, 100%.
And do you also agree that if the board is uncomfortable with permanent relief, you would be okay with a one-year temporary variance?
Yes, whatever we can do, they'll help pay the mortgage.
Mr. Chairman, that's my presentation.
I have a lot of respect for Annie.
I understand her position.
um so i think if if the board is as nervous about granting permanent relief we would accept
the temporary and that's uh would conclude my presentation i thank you for your time
thank you any questions from the board no no
anyone else would like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
no other hands at this time mr chair to be clear mr thank you to be clear mr demarco the one year
temporary would be for residential or the residential use at the first floor level
obviously we would prefer permanent relief but um we we can accept a one-year temporary
as well. Thank you. Planning Commission? Ron Bednar, City Planning. Properties indicated for
commercial mixed use in the city plan. The applicant has not demonstrated necessary hardship
regarding the requirements of the code. The application is not consistent with our adopted
district plan. We believe given its location on a major commercial corridor that a variance is not
necessary to enable a viable economic use of the property before we recommend request for variance
not be granted thank you mi 2020-001372 331 west gerrard avenue my vote is yes with the following
proviso a one-year temporary residential use first floor level only yes for proviso yes with proviso
Yes, with a viso.
Excuse me, this is Sharon Saleta.
Could we give an end date to that?
Okay, the temporary variance will expire January 1st, 2022.
Thank you.
Thank you for your time, members of the board.
Mr. Chairman, have a good evening.
Thank you.
MI 2020, that's 000537, 3964 North 7th Street.
Chair, this is Sharon Saleta. We did receive exhibits for this application, but not a deed.
I requested, I emailed the applicant or the person who was submitted the exhibits yesterday
to request the deed and I did not receive one. Is anyone here for 3964 North 7th Street?
Mr. Chair, I see no hands raised for this particular case.
This case will be continued.
Was it continued in previously, Tanya?
I'm going to look, it looks like the application was from December 2019 and if I could mention
we do have the rep, Mr. Sloan-Folks from the council person's office for this.
Okay, Mr. Folks.
um excuse me this is sharon again we would not be able to take anything going to the merits from
mr folks so if he wants to speak to the continuance that would be fine folks good afternoon council
chairman chairman de chico zba board sloan fuchs uh sloan e fs of fire or lks office of council
and maria keyona sanchez room 508 city hall you're still under oath thank you please proceed
Yes, sir. This case has been, this is the third, one, two, this will be the third continuance for this case. I have a ZBA letter, a letter I sent to the ZBA on August the 4th and then on October 11th, which is to, we did not send a letter this hearing just to see it because we have not, we have not been able to hear from the appellate.
The appellant did meet with the RCO, and the letter we sent was in support or non-opposition of the case.
But if the applicant does not return to the ZBA, we would request a dismissal.
applicant does not return to the zba we would request a dismissal of the case
okay uh mi 2020 000 537 3964 south 7th street i'm sorry north 7th street uh my vote is to dismiss
Dismissed.
Dismissed.
Dismissed.
MI2020-001388.
4534 Van Kirk Street.
Natalie has been promoting
good afternoon um my name is Natalie Taveras Gill
good afternoon uh good evening Natalie would you please spell your last name
um yes my last name is t-a-v-e-r-a-s hyphen g-i-l and you are the owner correct i am the owner
are you a are you a for-profit do you have an llc or an lp no i'm an owner occupied um of 45 34
van kirk street thank you you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the
truth? Correct. Yes. Natalie, you agree. I'm sorry. You have emailed an exhibit 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. I have, yes. I did not submit the
application because it was submitted at the LNI office through the Eclipse system.
Okay. But did you email the packet five days to our board?
I have, yes.
Okay. Have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
We did not meet in person. We spoke over phone. And in my letter, my template one letter to the residents is stated on there to call him if anyone opposes.
um after the 30 days um he did receive give me a letter with um stating that no one has
reached out to him okay please proceed thank you um so i am the owner of 4534 van kirk street um
i'm owner occupied of this property um i purchased it um the way it is as a existing duplex um
And there was a tenant at the time.
Can you share some more exhibits, please?
Sure, I'm sorry.
Thank you.
Okay, can you see my screen here?
If you would make that a little bit larger, that would be helpful.
Okay, here you go.
So here's my refusal letter when submitting my application at the LNI office.
So the application is for legalization of a two-dwelling unit in an existing structure.
Here is my tax compliant of the property.
Here is my deed.
And my tax certification of the property.
this is the project information form these are two pages um can you see this okay
larger that larger that would help okay all right that's just the print is kind of
okay yeah if i could just interject the board disregards this form it's not for the board
okay hold on
here is a picture of the property as you can see this is there there's two doors in here
here is a again the two doors the signage of this meeting today here is a picture from the property
from the back now um in the next pictures i'm showing you the um first floor apartment that
um with the tenant that used to live there even with the previous owners who had this property
she has still been here since then this is um as you walk in a hallway um one of the bedroom
it is a two-bedroom apartment down there um this is this is the same bedroom
This is the same bedroom, the second bedroom, same bedroom, outside, I mean, not outside, I'm sorry, the dining area, kitchen, bathroom, downstairs in the basement, gas meters.
This is now the second apartment upstairs as you walk in, living space, one-bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom.
Here is the certified mailing list that was sent out to all 81 residents from this property.
here's the letter that was sent out to all the um to everyone um explaining of the public meeting
and then of the zoning board meeting um and here is the with the knowing civic association um letter
okay thank you i think we got the picture okay any questions from the board no no no
Now, anyone else like to testify in this case?
If so, please raise your hand.
No other hands at this time, Mr. Chair.
Thank you.
Planning Commission.
I'm Ben, our city planning property is indicated for residential use on the city plan.
Given the site's standing use history, we have no objection to granting evidence.
Thank you.
MI 2020-001388, 4534 Van Kirk Street.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
Thank you.
MI 2020-001821, 5224 Rising Sun Avenue.
Mr. Justin Dove has his hand raised.
I will promote him immediately Mr. Beauvais case
it's actually my case and and Dustin is my colleague oh there you go lucky Justin you're
on time he went got you got through that snowstorm pretty good today oh yes thank you Mr. Chairman
Thank you. Please identify yourself for the record. Yes. Darwin, Beauvais, B-E-A-U-V-A-I-S at 1500 Market Street. Also, if we could, their hands should be raised. We should have my clients.
Let me swear you in first and then we'll get to them. You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
And confessor?
Do you agree to waive the reading of its refusal and stipulate to attack your issue?
Yes, I do.
Also, have you emailed an exhibit 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?
Also, have you met with the RCR and have a letter?
Thank you.
And we did modify our exhibit package to include the letter, and if we can share my screen, I can go over with it with the board.
But also, while we're doing that, if we can also get my client, Ann Kim and Marion Brown, their hand should be raised, if they could be unmuted as well.
Okay, could you make the exhibit larger?
There you go. That's better. Thank you.
So, Mr. Bouvet, are they under Dustin's name as well?
I have two for Dustin.
Probably. I'm going to let both of them speak.
Great. If they could just identify themselves for the record.
Ann? Hello. Hi, this is Ann K.
ma'am would you please uh spell your last name k-i-m and you swear affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth nothing but the truth okay i will say yes correct all right thank you
and then i believe we have marion brown
And then I believe we have Marion Brown.
Yes, I'm here.
Can you hear me?
Yes, Ms. Brown, please identify yourself with the record.
Marion Brown, M-A-R-I-O-N, Brown, B-R-O-W-N.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Your affiliation with this application?
i'm a consultant with uh phmc that's done a lot of uh support work for rising sun children's center
so thank you miss brown um so mr chairman members of the board our exhibit package which
was submitted five days in advance includes the loving exhibits uh our our tax clearance our deed
and as well as our appeal with the refusal.
If you can see here, the deed is there.
Our tax clearance is here.
Our refusal is in two parts.
The property is listed as a RS3 slot
and we received a refusal for use
as well as for having multiple principal buildings, and so another use variant.
So all in all, the essence of our application is to expand the Rising Sun Children's Center.
It's been a long-standing daycare center that's been around since the late 80s.
Our application specifically calls for the erection of a one-story structure on the same block with two existing structures.
Like I mentioned before, we have Ann Kim, she's the executive director, and Marion, who is also a consultant to Rising Sun.
Now, by way of background, the daycare center is a state-licensed, non-profit, non-sectarian, privately owned and operated facility that has been providing daycare services to children from the ages of one to five years old.
They offer preschool programs for each age group, and they are one of the few daycares in the city that participates in the Keystone Stars program.
And not only do they participate in the Keystone Stars program, but they're one of the few facilities in the city that has actually attained a level four out of five stars.
So that is something that is very significant for this daycare and something very significant for the community that it serves.
Now, if I could, I would like to turn to Ms. Kim to get her to talk about the number of children that are there, as well as the number of employees and logistics in terms of like the kitchen staff and the programs.
Ms. Kim?
Yeah, Ms. Kim, if you could, if you can be concise and summarize, that would be helpful.
Summarize something quickly.
So we have a license of 71 students.
Right now we are full, but because of the COVID, we had to create an additional online class.
So because of that, we have quite an over enormous right now, about 93 total because of the online class.
And also that means we have a waiting list and also we have a 17 active working steps at this moment.
And also we have a one main kitchen cooking step, but we have five total food prep license staff.
Anything else? No, no. So just in terms of their their use or the significance that they have with the community.
um they they they did receive a letter of support which is part of exhibit 10 um what's on your
screen right now is is is our site plan which where my cursor is hovering this is where the
structure will go um what is also interesting if you look at exhibit nine um that the it it is just
a copy of what's on the website but uh i wanted to hurry up and show the board that two years ago
this board approved an additional structure that will be on top of the garage um that is here
that's what we initially thought about for our expansion but because of construction costs
we abandoned this application and we're just going to build this one story structure here
So our expansion has been contemplated for since since 2017 and given the fact that the.
Since 2017, and given the fact that the community is in desperate need of having good quality daycare, we believe that this does not create a negative impact whatsoever because of two reasons.
One, this lot, this structure has been in use since 1988 in this form. It's always had more than one principal structure, given where my cursor is. This garage was converted into additional classroom.
and and now that we're looking to add a more classroom space we believe we're not creating
any negative impact by virtue of the fact that one the community has supported us and the community
is benefiting from us we are providing a service in and around that area um i i know the board
wants me to summarize uh so i i will say in general that we we don't exceed or maximize
any utilities we don't affect any light and air we don't affect any any any issues when it comes
to congestion with with the streets um now in fairness we did meet with the community and with
the council person's office and and if you look on the other side of our of our site plan
and if there's a way we are creating additional play space and that area will require us to remove
two trees uh they're not heritage trees but because we're removing those trees we have agreed
to add trees to the property. And I think, if I can give you photos, here's the structure as it
stands. Here is one of the trees that we're going to remove in order to make this area a play area.
um and i believe that's that's where we stand um are are are there any questions from the board
uh i'm going to ask that question now any questions from the board no
no no anyone else like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
mr chair i have a miss hillary emerson whose hand is raised i won't allow her to speak right now
good evening miss emerson please identify yourself for the record and i'll swear you in
uh good evening mr chair members of the board hillary emerson on behalf of councilwoman
sherelle parker emerson is e-m-e-r-s-o-n you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth? I do. Thank you. Please proceed. The councilwoman is not opposed to
increasing the number of children at this facility. It is a four-star child care center,
which is excellent in our district. As Mr. Bouvet noted, there were a couple of concerns that we
had that they are addressing one being the removal of some large trees from the property,
both for tree canopy cover reasons and aesthetic reasons. We asked that they replant some trees
in other spots on the property so that we maintain the aesthetic and the cooling
that those trees provide um and and they agreed to that um the other the other thing um was the
exterior of the modular unit that is going and we asked that it be i'm in character with the
neighborhood and mr bouvet did let me know today they were going to be doing um a brick a brick
exterior um they would provide us with additional information i'm sorry um upon uh uh once they had
additional information from the manufacturer so we we appreciate um those steps that they've taken
um i was present at the rco meeting there were no near neighbors um the rco did note um that the
property is well kept and there were not any um traffic issues associated um with the facility
um so as i said the councilman is is not opposed to this application thank you thank you i hear
to the board that was me whining
that's a future student I hear in the background all right any question any other anyone else
that's a future student
I hear in the background
alright any questions
wish to testify in this case all right planning commission
Ron Bednar city planning this property is indicated for residential use under city plan
given the long saving use history we support the granting of the variance thank you Ron
And MI 2020-001821, 5224 Rising Sun Avenue.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Good night.
Thank you.
Thank you, and happy holidays.
Thank you to everyone.
Same to you.
Be safe.
MI 2020-003772, 60 North 23rd Street.
This is a rehearing.
Mr. Chair, I have a Gary Clark. I will promote him to panelists right now.
Mr. Clark, you have been promoted to panelists. Please wait to be sworn in, sir.
Good evening, sir. Please identify yourself with the record. Spell your full name.
hello mr chair can you hear me yes mr clark yes
please identify yourself uh pardon me one second i'm having an audio issue
hello can you hear me yes okay um yes good evening mr chair members of the board i'm
gary clark it's g-a-r-y-c-l-a-r-k-e uh it's all ewing uh 1500 market street
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do do we have to go through the same um request tanya because this is a hearing no right
No, the reconsideration here.
Yeah, okay.
I wanted to make sure.
Thank you.
Mr. Clark, please proceed.
All right.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
So I'm the attorney for the applicant, which is a giant supermarkets for an application
to erect eight accessory signs at the new giant supermarket that will go in at the new
Riverwalk development along 23rd Street between Arch and Cherry and bordered by the river
to the west, and I will share my screen. Okay. So our original hearing was on October 21st,
and I request that our previous testimony be incorporated by reference. I call the board's
attention to our letter of non-opposition from LSNA. I note that LSNA requested a proviso in the
letter of non-opposition. The proviso was that the signs not be illuminated except for the one sign
on the west elevation facing the river. And to be clear, that would mean that the accessories,
the proposed signs facing Arch Street, 23rd Street, and Cherry Street would not be illuminated.
So we're requesting this reconsideration because both the client, my client, the applicant, and LSNA, believe there was some confusion at the previous hearing that might have resulted from the extended discussion of the illumination proviso.
Mr. Clark, you're kind of breaking up a little bit.
Do you have another device on?
Let me, if I can take 30 seconds, I should be able to.
Remedy this issue.
All right, Mr. Chair, can you hear me more clearly now?
Much better. Thank you. Okay, you're welcome. So, yes, we believe that because of the extended
discussion of the illumination proviso, we may have lost track of a few key issues
track of a few key issues during the previous presentation. So the first is that
during the previous
the applicant is fully willing to accept the proviso that the signs not be illuminated except
for the river-facing sign. The second major point that we think we lost sight of was that LSNA
prefers the variances to be granted with the proviso as opposed to having the variances not
granted at all. Further, during the discussion, there were a number of issues raised about
complaints about the landlord, and I think that some of us in the hearing may have lost track
that the applicant was not the landlord. It is, in fact, the grocery store tenant giant
supermarkets and uh both lsna and of course the applicant uh desire for the supermarket to be
successful at this location and uh the signage um even without the illumination uh except for
the western elevation uh is a key component uh to that success uh so the parties meaning uh my
client the applicant and lsna conferred after the meeting and we're now jointly requesting
that the variances be granted subject to the illumination proviso and lsna's letter
i would like to call my client uh to uh adopt my testimony uh joe can you uh raise your hand
if you're still there
he's been allowed to speak sir i'm here good evening please identify yourself with the record
Yep. My name is Joe Lacanina, L-A-C-A-G-N-I-N-A. I'm the real estate manager for the giant company.
Thank you. Swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you. Mr. Clark?
Thank you. Joe, have you heard my testimony? And to your knowledge,
is it true and correct? And do you adopt it as your own?
Yes, I've heard it true and correct. And I adopt it as my own.
All right. Thank you very much, Joe.
Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, I'd like to call one other witness, who is Dennis Boylan, the president of LS&A.
Dennis, are you there?
Mr. Boylan, I want to speak, sir.
Thank you.
Dennis Boylan, B-O-Y-L-A-N, first name Dennis, D-E-N-N-I-S.
I'm the president of the Logan Square Neighborhood Association, which was the coordinating RCO for this variance request.
Thank you.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Mr. Clark?
All right.
Thank you.
Dennis, could you just say in your own words whether you agree with how I have characterized our discussions and LSNA stance on the grant of the variances?
Yes, the presentation we had back in October to our community,
we had, I think, 116 members present,
and the board voted with the proviso attached,
and that was after the Giant design came back
where they adjusted the size and the placement.
So we want to work closely with Giant.
We look forward to the store opening in our neighborhood
and benefiting all of Philadelphia.
All right. Thank you very much, Dennis. Thank you. Mr. Chair, that concludes my presentation,
unless there are any questions. Any questions from the board for Mr. Clark? No.
Anyone else here to testify on this case? If so, please raise your hand.
Mr. Chair, I have a Daniel McElhutton. I will allow him to speak right now.
Thank you. Good evening, Mr. McElhutton. Please identify yourself with the record,
and spell your full name, and I'll swear you in. Yes, good evening, Mr. Chair. Daniel McElhatton,
D-A-N-I-E-L. McElhatton is M, small c, capital E-L-H-A-T-T-O-N, 2000 Market Street,
suite 1400, Philadelphia 19103. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth? I do, sir. Please proceed. I appeared on behalf of Stephen and
Elizabeth Rains, R-A-Y-N-E-S, at the hearing before the zoning board. And while I may disagree
with the characterization of what happened there, I don't think it's material. I do, on behalf of
my clients who were protestants, we do support the LSNA position tonight with the provisos as
set forth in the October 15, 2020 letter to the board.
And it reflects the agreement that was made by Giant and by LSNA.
was made by Giant and by LSNA. Thank you. Okay. Is there anyone else who would like to testify?
Thank you.
No further hands, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Mr. Clark, could you bring up that letter a little
bit larger with the proviso? I want to make sure I read it correctly into the record.
uh yes uh let me choose a letter from the rco yes one moment
and while mr clark is doing that again there are any questions from the board
no no okay thank you
that that's good thank you you're up planning commission
this is uh ron bednar city planning
property is indicated for residential mixed use in the uh comprehensive plan and it's currently
zoned for that use. Keep you with the letter submitted by the coordinating RCO. The planning
commission has no objection to the granting of the grant. Thank you. MI 2020-003772. 60 North
23rd Street. My vote is yes with the following proviso. I'm actually going to read it off the
letter. Non-opposition with the proviso that revised signage package presented at the October
13th 2020 meeting showing revised size and placement be not illuminated on the northern
southern and eastern sides of the building does that cover it all mr clark it does thank you thank
you wait before we do this can we confirm that mr clark has submitted a revised plans form and
we need to know how many pages we're approving and whether all pages are necessary to comply with this
So, yes, Ms. Saleta, I have previously sent the revised plans along with the proviso plans form. I have it teed up. I can re-forward it to you momentarily so that you have it immediately available.
So the number of pages, the original submission included the sign detail pages. So when we reduced the area of most of the signs, the sign detail pages also changed. So if we're including all of those pages, it's 11.
Mr. Clark, are 11 pages actually necessary?
so the site plan and the elevations uh alone uh which i believe are the actual necessary ones are
five pages so uh we can we can do that okay okay thank you thank you sharon okay so my vote is as
i said i read into the record the proviso in addition revised plan five pages approved today
all right thank you mr chair members of the board
yes with proviso yes with proviso okay thank you mr clark all right thank you
thank you uh frankfurt avenue next uh sharing
31 14 are we ready to go with that one
we lost sharing
were you asking about frankfort avenue yes we ready we can call it um no okay i did not hear
back from the rco that i needed to in order to run the revised language by them so it's a
continuance yes please well no actually it doesn't have to be there we will just reschedule it for
a correction. So I don't have to read anything into the record? Nope, nothing at all. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I believe that completes our list.
Yes, it does. Do you hear the smile in my voice?
Okay, any unfinished business? Not for me. Okay, thank you. Again, every time, every Wednesday,
I say the same thing, but a little bit more emphasis. Thank you all for the hard work.