Thank you.
Okay, Chair, are you able to hear me?
I can.
We have 50 attendees.
You can proceed as you wish.
Thank you.
Good morning, everyone.
My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this morning's meetings.
With me is our Vice Chair, Ismael Shahid.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, Cheryl L. Gaston.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Board Member, Tanetta Graham.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, Michael Johns.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
And our board member, Taya Nguyen.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also present is Hillary Emerson, our attorney, and Ian Haggerty, our executive director of the zoning board.
Here's our virtual format.
The proceedings are being recorded.
With your participation agreed to be recorded, a video will be available by contacting ZBA executive director at philip.gov.
For a court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you're participating by phone, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
To an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548.
Leave your email address and the address for the property in question.
And finally, the question and answer box on the screen is not for testimony.
All comments should be directed to our executive director, that's zbaexecutivedirectoratphil.gov.
Let's look at today's schedule.
Number one, MI 2024-002-310-7346 West Pashunk Avenue, Cases Continued, Applicant Moving Party.
Number five, N.I. 2024, 002-424-822 Barlow Street.
I understand this is a continuance.
Is Mr. Anastasio in the audience?
Good morning, Chair.
This is Doreen Blakey, and I will be your co-host today.
Morning.
Mr. Anastasio has been allowed to speak.
Good morning, counsel. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, Mr. Chair. It's Vern Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O, on behalf of Mr. Rustem Nassimov.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, sir.
Mr. Chair, we applied for and received an amended refusal, which was issued by L&I.
we're in the process of lining up an RCO meeting based on that amended refusal. As such, I do need
to ask for a continuance. So MI 2024-002-424-822-Barlow-Shoot, that case is continued. Thank
you, sir. Thank you. Number six, MI 2024-002-515-1725 Jackson Street. That case is continued.
Number eight, MI 2024-004-884-1806 North 21st Street. That case is continued.
Number 9, MI 2024-004-944-2823-25 West Somerset Street. That case is continued.
And number 14, MI2025.
And number 14, MI 2024, 005-203-1716 Frankfurt Avenue.
That case is continued, attorney moving party.
Are there any other requests for continuances?
Yes, there's an Alex Duller with a hand up, and they will be allowed to speak.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Could you please, yes, could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
My name is Alex Duller, A-L-E-X-D-U-L-L-E-R.
I'm basically.
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, Mr. Duller.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
What case are we talking about?
I'm talking about case number six, MI 2024-002-515-1725 Jackson Street.
I know you just continued that case.
I did.
I am reaching out because I don't know if you and counsel can help influence the coordinating RCO.
Basically, this case, this is the second continuance.
And we've continued it twice because in eight months, we have not been able to get Girard Estate Area Residents, the coordinating RCO, to grant us a meeting.
And at the same time, we've had Girard Estate Neighborhoods Association, another RCO in our area, offer to give us a meeting basically every month of these eight months.
And we basically have not been able to get the councilmen to acknowledge this and actually switch the coordinating RCO.
Excuse me, Mr. Chair, can I interject?
Why don't you interject?
Yes, I see Breonna Wakefield from Council President Johnson's office has her hand raised, and perhaps we will allow her to speak.
Good morning, Mr. Chair.
Hey, could you please state your name and spell for this thing?
Yes, my name is Brianna Wakefield, B-R-I-O-N-N-A, last name Wakefield, W-A-K-E-F-I-E-L-D.
Where are firm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Please begin, please.
Yes, Mr. Chair, I was made aware of this maybe two weeks ago.
I believe the Planning Commission have reached out to my office and we have reassigned this case to Gina.
okay thank you counsel did you hear that
mr duller i needed to be unmuted sorry about that um i did hear that we appreciate that so much
but that pretty much guarantees we can be heard next time thank you thank you very much i
appreciate it is there any other requests for continuance thank you the other request for
continue. Yes, Chair, Strawberry Mansion Community Concern will be allowed to speak.
Morning, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Strawberry Mansion, can you please unmute yourself? Good morning, Mr. Chairman, my name is Bonita
Cumming, Strawberry Mansion Community Concern. Just for the record, could you spell your name
for the stenographer is b as in boy o-n-i-t-a c-u-m-m-i-n-g-s and i was inquiring in reference
to hold on hold on hold on hold on do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth i do what case are you looking for 1945 north 25th street
unless that's not
that's number four mr chair on the list
we did not get to that yet we we have no exhibits for that case but i will be calling that right
they said that they were going to be asking for a continuance so that's the reason why i
i i just didn't get to that um i'm going through all the continuance yeah but that's fine thank
Thank you. Thank you for calling. Take care. Bye-bye.
Are there any other requests for continuances?
We have no more names here.
Okay, thank you. I'm going to go to cases that we do not have exhibits for.
So number two, MI 2024-002-343-5259 Jefferson Street.
Cason Towns, REI is the owner, the applicant pro se.
No exhibits, second listing.
no hands oh hold on chair here
No hands up. Oh, hold on chair. Her hand is up now.
That hand is up by Kayson Towns and they will be allowed to speak.
Good morning, sir. Good morning.
Kayson Towns, can you please unmute yourself?
Kaysen is muted, Chair.
Kaysen, could you unmute, please?
Okay, so we do not have exhibits for this.
So MI 2024-002-343-5259 Jefferson Street.
Cases continue.
Mark must be heard the next time.
Number three, MI 2024-002-355-1238 South 31st Street. Rakesha and Babas Patel are the listed owner applicants. We have no exhibits. This is the second listing.
Rakesha or Babas, if you're in the audience, please raise your virtual hand.
And there are no hands, Chair.
M.I. 2024, 002-355, 1238 South 31st Street.
We have no exhibits.
This is the second listing.
No one appeared the first time.
I vote to dismiss.
Michael Johns, my vote is to dismiss.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is to dismiss.
Panetta Graham, my vote is to dismiss.
Baywin, my vote is to dismiss.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is to dismiss.
Number four, M.I. 2024.
002357, 1945 North 25th Street.
David Klayman is the attorney.
No exhibit, second listing.
I understand there may be a new attorney, Jennifer Bastillo.
Jennifer?
Jennifer Bastillo, if you're in the audience, please raise your virtual hand.
Check it for her now.
uh there's a hand up right now chair and it's by patrick zang
could he possibly be affiliated sure let's see okay
patrick zang you're allowed to speak please unmute yourself
good morning could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
he was unmuted now he's muted again
Patrick Zane can you unmute yourself please
he's looks he may be having difficulties okay thank you so
So MI 2024-002-357-1945 North 25th Street.
We do not have exhibits.
This is the second listing.
We've been notified that there has been a new attorney in this case, Jennifer Bazzillo.
Cases continue.
Mark must be heard.
And number 11.
MI 2024-004-956-2901 South Randolph Street.
John McCrillo is the listed owner.
CGI Construction is the listed applicant.
No exhibits, first listing.
john mccrilla if you're in the audience please raise your virtual hand
there are no hands chair thank you so this is the first listing mi2024 004 956 2901
south randolph street cases continue mark must be heard and number 12
MI 2024-004-985-10168-80, Busselton Avenue.
First Pennsylvania Bank and Trust is the listed owner.
Matthew Cliff is a signed firm.
This is a potential withdrawal.
Is there anyone in the audience from that group?
First Fence of Banking Trust and DBA MRC signs.
Okay. There's no one in the audience with that name, Chair.
There's no one in the audience with that name.
So MI 2024-004-985-1016880, Busselton Avenue. Cases continue. Mark must be heard.
And number 13, MI 2024, 005-130, 4047 North Marshall Street. Julio Sanchez Palmer is the listed owner. Lissandro Gabriel is the listed applicant. I understand this may be a withdrawal.
all. We have not received the proper paperwork as of yet.
Julio or Lisandro, if you're in the virtual audience, please raise your hand.
There's no one in the audience. Thank you. So MI 2024-005-130-4047 North Marshall Street.
Cases continue.
Mark must be heard.
We're going to go to our add-on list.
Number one, MI 2023-007-092-789 South 2nd Street.
Harry Cook is the attorney.
The vote in this matter has been postponed until the board receives the updated revised plans that were requested.
at the December 11th, 2024 hearing.
Next, two, three, and four will be voted on together.
Two, MI 2024, 002-411-3212 West York Street.
Number three, MI 2024, 002-412-3212 West York Street.
And number four, MI 2024-002-413-3208 West York Street.
With you, one minute here.
I vote yes to all three.
my vote is yes for all three
my vote is yes all three
thank you number five mi 2024 002 892 2100
robin street i vote no
so gaston my vote is no
tenetta graham my vote is no i win my vote is no
number six um ishmael shaheed will be handling this i've recused myself from the vote
excuse me mr chair i think mr shaheed had didn't get a chance to vote on the the last case
Yes. Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is no.
Thank you.
Moving on to number six, Chairman Bergman will be recusing himself.
MI-2024-007176, 1909 through 1913 South 12th Street.
My vote is yes, with proviso.
applicant must meet
the vested right factors
must be all met.
Mr. Shee, let me just revise
that. The approval
is based on
vested rights only.
The approval is
say that one more time.
Approval is based on vested rights only.
Okay. The approval
is based on vested rights only.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is, I'm not sure how to say this.
Agree?
Yeah, yes with proviso.
Yes with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
I win, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you.
Number seven, MI 2024-002-123, 1524-38 Germantown Avenue.
I vote yes with proviso.
I vote yes with proviso.
Revised plans, six pages.
Revised plans, six pages, stamped by ZBA on January 8th, 2025.
With John's recusal.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso.
Snedagran, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ryan Wayne, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you.
We're going to go to our regular list, and we're going to start with number 16.
MI 2024-005-318-1608 South 12th Street.
Hannah and Andrew O'Brien are the owner applicants.
It's pro se.
There is a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Squilla
and a letter of unanimous support 16-0 from East Pass Shunk Crossing Civic Association Zoning Committee.
There's also a petition of 14 signatures, 11 from the immediate block.
Andrew O'Brien has been promoted to panelists.
Morning, Mr. O'Brien.
Good morning.
Could you turn on your video, please?
It should be on.
There you go. I see. I see. We see. Okay.
Could you state your name and spell for the court scenario?
Andrew O'Brien, A-N-D-R-E-W, O-A-P-O-B-R-I-E-N.
We're affirmed to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Yes, I do.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good morning, sir.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen.
Mr. O'Brien, let me read this first.
For the erection of an addition above an existing attached structure, including upper and lower roof decks and connecting stairs for use as a single-family household living, whereas if abutting lots on both sides of an attached building contain only two stories of an enclosed area, the stories above the second floor of the attached shall be set back an additional eight feet from the minimum distance between the front facade and the front line.
A roof deck may not be constructed in this setback, and the proposed roof deck at the third floor level is constructed in the required setback.
Please start your presentation.
Okay, so here is the proposed addition.
It's a third and fourth floor.
This is just a quick rendering of the front part of the addition.
We have one refusal, which is the setback, which is what we're seeking a variance for.
The height requirements are by right currently.
I have, let's see, our architect gave us two examples.
So this example on the right is what we're proposing. And then the example on the left is what we can do by right if, you know, we aren't granted a variance for the setback.
I think, you know, it could be widely agreed that the one on the right looks a lot better. I think everyone in the neighborhood would much prefer that.
So, anyway, moving forward, this is the drawings for both of the example, given that, you know, what we can do by right, and then what we're proposing here on the right side is what we would actually like to have done.
um let's see these are just more drawings of what we would like to have done um so it is a third
and fourth floor uh with a uh a rooftop deck that you can access from the outside
on top of the third floor here um uh here's our notice of approval or of refusal for the
The setback, as you can see, we're proposing to build up to the front of the house and you need an eight foot setback.
So this is the only refusal that we've gotten for this application for appeal to the zoning board.
Just second page of that.
add the project information form thank you yep
at the project information form thank you yep
um yeah page one page two page three of that um this is our deed to the home add the deed okay
uh the the certificate of tax compliance yes sir thank you
Zoning posts are approved, so December 18th, December 20th, and December 27th is the current
current photo of our home um as the rco uh board letter of support
this is uh uh
those two lots of signatures yep um this is the letter that we sent to our neighbors
and the proof of having sent the letter, the letters of notice.
And, you know, more proof.
Here are some homes that are similar in the area, you know, around Philadelphia and some in the area.
um just similar projects where they add a third and fourth
with a mansard in the front
and we're just looking to do something similar um this is a family of three me my wife and my child
we just want to you know expand our family stay in philadelphia and stay in our home here
and would like a little bit extra room the reason for the fourth floor is because we don't have any
back any outdoor space at all in our home so we're one of the few homes the area that just
it goes straight out into the alley um in the back and uh this is like an effort to get some
kind of indoor outdoor space back like most other homes have um so that's why we would like to do
something like that um and yeah here's all the architectural drawings can you make that a little
bigger the architectural drawings please thank you yeah apologize it's a little blurry so
here's the proposed project um we can see this is the first floor living a living room and kitchen
here's the the current second floor or this is you know the second floor will be uh two bedrooms
well three bedrooms one is more tiny more like an office um uh and the third story edition will
be the master bed walk-in closet uh master bath uh with an office in the back that has balcony
um uh and then the fourth story will just be a little kitchenette uh four seasons room which
which opens up into the roof deck, which goes up, which has stairs that go up to the top of the fourth.
Okay. Mr. Bryan, you're done your presentation.
Questions from the board.
Yeah, I have one question. So you showed images of houses that are similar.
um is are there any homes similar to what you're trying to do on your current block now or would
you be the first there's not one on my current there there are a third story additions on our
current block and there is one that has uh the variants the setback variants which is the one
that we're seeking for um so yes in that regard yeah um there there isn't one that has the the
the four seasons room though there is one right around the corner on morris um and 12th uh or
morris and passion uh that is that this is modeled after it's like exactly the same thing we just
admired that one and we wanted to copy it and that is a block away a block and a half away okay one
more question i'm sorry um so you said the the sort of fourth floor it does have roof deck but
the access is from the outside is that what you mentioned yeah the fourth floor has roofed up the
what you mentioned yeah the fourth floor has roofed up the act the access is from the outside so
access is from the outside so
it would be so this is the fourth here so you'd go out here and then up the stairs if that makes
sense thank you yeah yeah sorry continue what's what's the height of the the building 58 or sorry
38 it's the
yeah 38 feet we kept it just below what's by right
okay so that so your height so your height is less than 38 feet yes okay
and you did say i'm sorry uh were you finished michael yes yeah okay um and you did say that
But there was another property on your block which has the setback for this type of addition?
Is that what I heard you say?
There is another property on our block that has the setback variants.
So they build all the way to the front of their home.
They don't have the fourth story Four Seasons room.
But they, yeah, they just have this, they just build up all the way to the front of their home.
okay and that's like five doors down okay and then you said this other one is around the corner
it's on a different street is that what you're saying the one that you modeled you were yeah
the one that we modeled ours after is right around the corner it's um yeah like a block and a half
away okay and then the stairs you have to come out of the property to go up the stairs to
get to the is that the the roof deck yeah so so yeah you would go so we're on uh we're in
the Four Seasons room right here. This is inside. And then you'd go outside here. This is like the
patio area. And then to get to the top of the Four Seasons room, you just go up the stairs.
um this eliminates any uh uh i don't know what you call it but any enclosures that go up to the top
um for like an indoor staircase that you would need for for an indoor staircase so you're not
building any higher than 38 feet okay thank you good questions for the board yeah does the 38
feet include the parapet that's above the fourth story do you have an elevation uh i'm sorry what
is i'm sorry you're not familiar with the terminology what's a person like a drawing
that shows the facade and like the whole building well he's got this he's got a like a section kind
of drawing if he can go back to that that would probably give you it's hard to think he's got to
Let's just blow it up a little bit.
The drawing.
This one, yeah.
Can you zoom in on that, please?
And so the front of your house is to the left, and then...
No, this is like a section.
No, no, I understand, but I'm just trying to...
The street is to my left.
The street's to your left.
The street's here, yep.
and then have any of the approvals at the meeting were any of them your like adjacent neighbors
yeah we had uh three or four neighbors there uh come in approval uh you know attend
and approve were they neighbors on your side of the street versus the side of the street
that has three-story homes we had neighbors on both sides of the street yeah
and we had we had one neighbor on the adjacent block like behind our house too there
you're saying to the top of the roof line is your 38 feet it looks like that does not include
the parapet though or the railing the railing it does not include the railing i guess we were
to understand that the railing does is not included in what is by right um
that's what we understood there's not there's there's not a refusal for that got it understood
questions from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr chair there's a comment from the virtual audience
there are no hands planning commission oh sorry chair
before the plan
there was a hand by Julian
Greyer
is that
I will allow them to speak.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Julian?
Julian Grower, please unmute yourself.
There they go, Cherry. It's unmuted.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, my name is Julian Grauer, J-U-L-I-A-N-G-R-A-U-E-R.
Where are firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
Yes, I live exactly next door to them at 1610.
Please proceed.
I just wanted to say I'm supportive of this for a couple of reasons.
The main one is that I'd like to see young families stay in the city and stay on this block.
So that's why I'm particularly interested in this idea.
Second, it doesn't in any way impinge on our interests and rights.
The setback and the design look fine.
I should mention that across the street, there are all three stories.
and then on this side of the street there's probably three at least three properties that
have three stories so i just wish to support this proposal thank you thank you for taking
the time to close we appreciate it is there anyone else in the virtual audience
there are no hands chair planning commission thank you chairman and good morning david
Defecto F-E-C-T-E-A-U with the City Planning Commission.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir, I do.
Proceed.
Thank you, sir.
Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA-5 residential single-family zoning at this location.
Chair, we have recommended in favor of the elimination of eight-foot setbacks when the setback would have rendered the third story unfeasible.
However, this is a 57-foot deep lot.
The appellant could accommodate a third story while still including the setback provision.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the board deny the proposed dimensional variance from the third-story setback provision in the zoning code.
MI 2024-005-318-1608-South 12th Street, I vote yes.
Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Hayward, my vote is no.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, sir. You have your votes.
Number 18, MI 2024-005-320-1227 Heighton Street.
Devin Phillip and Maureen Braun are the owners.
It's just a pro se.
It's for the erection of addition above the attached structure with a roof deck and roof deck access structure for use as a single family household living.
The minimum front setback for the stories above the second floor when abutting lots on both sides of the attached building contain only two stories of an enclosed area is eight feet, whereas zero feet is proposed.
There's a letter of opposition from Pashong Square Civic and a letter of opposition from Council Member Squiller.
devin devin philip has been promoted to panelists good morning devin
devin hi good morning philip hi good morning hi good morning could you please state your name
and spell it for the stenographer.
Devin Phillip, D-E-V-O-N-P-H-I-L-I-P.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Our vice chair has a few questions, sir.
Good morning, Mr. Phillip.
Have you emailed in all the required documents
and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case
five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, we have.
Thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen.
Okay, starting with the first document, here is our notice of refusal, and let me know
our notice of refusal and let me know if you'd rather me go to a single single page view um
if you'd rather me go to single.
okay we're fine with that we see that we have that uh the application for appeal we also have that
sir yep project information form they have that sir
so did we get a tax clearance
we have your deed
letter that we sent out to the community
as well as
a copy of our poster
This is a picture of this document includes plans as well as some overhead
at views that show sort of like our proposed
additional structure.
And you'll notice around the surrounding neighborhood,
there are different, there's variability in structures.
There's some third stories.
There's third stories with eight foot setbacks
in our block on the JSON block.
There's third story structures.
So, we're applying, as you know, to have a variance to that setback on our block.
So this is, on the left here, this is the existing structure, which is what it would
look like with the addition of the third story, as well as the roof deck, another 3DV over
here. Some planned drawings. So this is the existing first floor and basement. This is
second floor. This will be an additional third floor as well as a roof deck.
Some additional views.
We also have some renderings.
What it might look like.
this is what it looks like
structure yep
this was all the prepared materials i had all right sure mr mr phillips could you tell us what
happened at the uh um the rco meeting yeah so actually is it okay if um i request that maureen
braun be unmuted as well to support this that that's my wife my co-applicant uh i actually did
not attend that meeting okay sure why don't we why don't we bring her on and i'll swear her in
maureen braun is allowed to speak morning hi good morning can you hear me i could yeah i can
could you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer yes it's more give me one second
can we promote miss braun to um panelists please since she will be testifying and she's a co-applicant
thank you yes i will promote maureen braun now thank you you're welcome um sorry i'm gonna make
sure i don't know in my video here we see you now okay could you please state your name and
spell for the stenographer sure it's maureen braun m as in mary a u r e e n as in nancy braun
b-r-a-u-n swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i just
asked your husband relative to the rco meeting could you explain what happened at the rco meeting
sure um yeah so we presented the project and they did the straw poll and it was i guess i
I guess I we've never done this before, so we weren't really sure what all it entailed.
we've never done this before so we weren't really sure what all it entailed
And there were three households in who opposed it and three households that supported it.
I had asked a couple of of neighbors to come, but I really didn't think I needed to ask a lot.
I did ask a few people to join today's meetings. I know they've been hanging on the line for a while.
But so although it was four to three in the straw poll, it was really only three households.
It was a couple on one side of us and two other people on the block.
And the concerns that they raised had understandably had to do with having construction adjacent to their home.
They really didn't actually have any opposition to the variance for which we applied, which was to not have to have a setback.
It was just that they were worried about construction and compromise to their roof and things that, of course, I understand and said we were we would be committed to doing things the right way, being good neighbors, of course, you know, not damaging their home, being held accountable for anything.
um the only concern i think that was raised about the variance was um about you know not having a
setback was that it would cast a shadow on the street but um after the meeting people who were
there were like what you guys are on the north side of the street the sun comes from the south
and it wouldn't cast a shadow um otherwise the concerns didn't have to do with the setback which
really was the only thing that we were um applying for and is it okay if i get into some of the
reasons for us wanting to do this third story and why we apply for the variance now is that
appropriate um so the back of our house is narrower than the front of our house and so to
have the most usable space it would make sense for us to add directly on top from the front of the
house and also one of the drawings showed that by by not doing a setback and adding in the front of
the home. It saves the rear part of the home from being changed, including the backyard outdoor
spaces that our neighbors and we have. And the thought was that less disturbance to the backyard
outdoor area for everyone would be better, given that that's where we spend our time outside of
our home, not so much in the front. And we would also be able to preserve the original cornice and
sort of make sure that the aesthetic was um acceptable to the to the neighbors on the block
we very similar to the last applicant um we we would like more space we have two growing kids
we have a nine-year-old and a seven-year-old um our seven-year-old's autistic so she has some
different sensory needs right now our girls share a room um but that we're like on borrowed time
right now for that their bedtimes and morning routines are pretty stressful with them in one
small room. My husband works from home part-time. Um, so more space would allow our family to stay
in the city, which we really want to do. And we don't want to just stay in the city. We want to
stay in this neighborhood. We love, love, love this neighborhood. We love our block. We love
our neighbors, even the neighbors that have, that came and opposed the thing I've had friendly
conversations with since I'm like, at the end of the day, we're neighbors. Like I'm not, there's
like no ill will. I feel like everyone needs to be able to voice their concerns so we can work
through it and so it's not a problem um we send our kids to the neighborhood school which is around
the corner one of the reasons we love being on this block we volunteer at the school we fundraise
for the school um and our daughter who's autistic has an iep she gets special ed we love the special
ed instructor like we're you know we're very invested in that school and they meet some
very specific needs that our children have um i work in the community i'm a pediatrician in south
Philly so I love living in the community that I serve I like understanding it um like the prior
applicant said just you know being able to stay in the city raise a family um we don't want a
monstrosity we just want a little extra space um we also have our like some family and support
system um four blocks south on 12th street my brother lives with his two kids and his wife and
um so it's really important for us to stay where we are um and like I said yeah that just more
usable space if we add on to if we do the addition from front and it doesn't compromise the backyard
area for everybody um and like Devin noted we have mixed type homes all around us right across
the street from us are two three-story homes um and we do have support I didn't I didn't do a good
job of getting all the signatures and stuff i spoke to the neighbors and i'm happy to submit
that after i actually tried like half an hour before the meeting but i couldn't get the exhibit
linked to work um but we have a bunch of people on the meeting now who are in support both like
on latona on yeah right around us so so okay great so thank you is there questions from the board
uh there was there a refusal for height what was the refusals for there's just a setback
uh there was there a refusal for height what was the refusal
just a setback yeah yeah setback and you're under the 38 feet or just below the 38 feet for the uh
building height correct thank you are there any other three-story properties on your block
not on not that's connected on our north side of the street just on the south side of the street
but are those additions or were they built as three stories they i i'm not 100 sure because
they were built before we moved in but i think they were um like homes that were renovated and
so i don't know what that counts as
other questions on the board
questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr chair
questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes chair i have audrey bloomer and they will be allowed to speak
orney could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer yeah hi can you hear me
i can uh this is audrey bloomer a-u-d-r-e-y b-l-o-e-m-e-r you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do are you a neighbor yes i live across the street
from devon and marine and i'm actually in one of the homes that has a third story so two streets
across uh two houses across the street have a third story and they um were additions so we
moved into our house in 2016 and it was newly renovated with the third story edition
very much and you were in favor of this project and i'm in favor of this project i'd love to keep
them in the neighborhood and on the street and i definitely think having a third story would allow
them to grow into their home speaking from experience so i would big fan of keeping them
and in fan of this proposal thank you for taking the time to close we appreciate it is there anyone
else in the audience yes look excuse me lauren out ouch will be allowed to speak
lauren could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
chair lauren has disappeared from the screen and there are anyone else yes there are three hands
up margo margo seaford is will be allowed to speak morning could you please state your
name and spell for the stenographer. Okay, that name has disappeared also, and we have four hands
up. The next one is Megan Panacchio, allowed to speak. Morning, Megan. Could you please state
your name and spell for the stenographer? Megan? Megan, you are allowed to speak.
she's unmuted maybe having um technical difficulties oh there it goes sorry about
that uh megan panacchio m-e-g-a-n-p-a-n-a-c-c-i-o i refer to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth i do are you a neighbor i am a neighbor a few blocks away not directly
on their block are you in favor of this project i am i am in favor uh is there anything you can
no offer other than what we've heard. Sure. Similar to the others, want to keep them in the
community. And I, on my block, have had two similar, not identical projects in the last
two or three years. And there has been absolutely no issue. And that's on both the north and south
side of the streets where there's third story decks. I think even fourth. So we've had no
issues in our block. Everyone seemed to accept this. And it's been allowed us to keep, again,
more of those families in the community and going to the school near us and contributing as good
members thank you very much for taking time to call us next hand please michael martirano will
be allowed to speak morning sir could you please state your name is bell for the sonographer
hey could you hear me
hey yes so my name is Michael Martirano
M-I-C-H-A-E-L
M-A-R-T-O-R-A-N-O
you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth
so are you a neighbor
are you in favor of this project or against
in favor
is there anything you can offer other than what we've heard
so i'm a local builder in the area i've been around here um my whole life
And the house right next door, actually across the street, there's another one that's been built as a setback.
the house right next door actually across the street
So there's actually two on the block.
And then I had actually did the commercial space area on the corner.
I had put a third story addition right on the corner at 12th and Titan.
And then also right behind them on 12th and Latona, I had did a project recently, added the third story as well.
But as for them, same as all the other neighbors, they're really nice and we would love to see them stay.
Thank you very much for taking the time to call us. Next hand, please.
Next hand is Julie Barber Rotenberg will be allowed to speak.
Could you please state your name as spelled for the stenographer?
yes it's julie barbara rotenberg j-u-l-i-e b-a-r-b-e-r hyphen r-o-t-e-n-b-e-r-g
you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes are you a neighbor i am i live two blocks away are you in favor this are you in favor of
this project or against yes i am we have had similar construction on our block as well
and i support this project thank you very much for taking the time next hand please christian
will be allowed to speak i could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yeah hey everybody this is christian auk c-h-r-i-s-t-i-a-n-a-u-c-h you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth is nothing but the truth i do are you a neighbor i am okay are
you in favor of this project or against? I am. You're in favor? I am in favor, yes. Thank you
very much for taking the time to call. Do we have another hand? Yes, there are three hands up. Jenny
Braun will be allowed to speak. Hi, can everyone hear me? I can. Can you please state your name
and spell for this stenographer? Jenny, J-E-N-N-I-E, Braun, B-R-A-U-N. Do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do. Are you a neighbor? Yes, I am. Are you in
favor of this project or against? I'm in favor of the project. Thank you very much. Next hand,
please. Margo Seifert will be allowed to speak. Hi, could you please state your name and spell
for the stenographer? Margo? Oh, there we go. Can you hear me? I can. Could you please state your
name and spell for the stenographer? Margo, M-A-R-G-O, Seifert, S as in Sam, E-I, F as in Frank,
E-R-T. You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes. Are you a neighbor? I am a neighbor. I live on the opposite block. I also live in a third story home. Our block on Wharton Street is a third story already. And I'm. Hold on a moment. Are you in favor or against this project?
Definitely in favor. It would not cause any issue in terms of view or anything like that.
We've had a lot of construction on our block in the past couple of years with no major issues or concerns.
And we would love to have the family stay in the neighborhood, especially.
Thank you very much. Thank you very much for taking the time. Next hand, please.
The next hand is Lauren Ouch will be allowed to speak.
Good morning.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Hi, Lauren Auk, L-A-U-R-E-N, Auk, A-U-C-H.
Is there a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
Are you in favor of this project or against?
I am in favor.
Thank you very much for taking the time to call us.
Do we have any more hands?
There are no more hands, Chair.
Thank you.
Planning Commission. Thank you, Chairman, and good morning, David Vecto, City Planning Commission.
Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA-5
residential single-family zoning at this location. The appellant has not shown that not following the
eight-foot setback provision for a roof deck will cause an economic detriment to accrue.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the board deny the proposed dimensional variance from
the eight-foot setback provision for a roof deck. MI 2024, 005-320-1227, Titan Street, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
I am Wynn. My vote is yes.
I am Lynn, my vote is yes. Snedder Graham, my vote is yes.
Snedah Graham. My vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed. My vote is yes.
Thank you. You have your votes.
Thank you.
Thank you.
So number, I believe we're going to number seven.
MI 2024-004871, 2015 Orthodox Street.
Henry Clinton is the attorney.
There's a letter of support from the
Frankfort Neighborhood Advisory Committee
The Frankfort RCO
voted to approve this request
Henry Clinton is coming
in as a panelist
Good morning Mr. Clinton
morning mr clinton what is suburban all right could you please state your name and spell for
the stenographer sure uh henry clinton h-e-n-r-y clinton c-l-i-n-t-o-n you swear or firm to tell
the truth the whole truth is nothing but the truth i do would you identify your client the
relationship to this property sure my client is gordon kane g-o-r-d-o-n kane c-a-i-n he is on the
call and we also have the architect greg standeven s-t-a-n-d-e-v-e-n on the call also
our wife share has a few questions sir good morning counselor do you agree to waive the
another refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits
that's needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this area?
I have, except we flipped the floor plan
and we sent that in two days ago,
and I'll show everybody why we did that.
Okay, thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you, Mr. Shaheed.
Is that visible, Mr. Chairman?
It is.
All right.
Again, good morning, Mr. Chairman.
Henry Clinton on behalf of Philadelphia Investment Group, which is owned by Gordon Cain, who is on the call.
This is a request for a four-family dwelling unit adjacent to an existing four-family dwelling unit, which previously was four-family as well as a store in an RSA 5 zoning district on a block where there are other multiple.
multiple family dwellings. These are my table of contents, A1 through A10, including zoning
records. You can see that there's other four-unit properties on the block. There's also an American
Legion post. There's an office, and there's a 9,200-square-foot commercial building.
Refusal, as I indicated, this is an RSA 5 zoning district, single family. We have three refusals.
The main refusal is for use because it's multifamily in an RSA 5 zoning district.
We have two setback issues, which I will explain and show you on the plans why that is a de
minimis issue, or that's the way the client and the architect and I see it, and hopefully
the board will see it the same way.
We do have an RCO letter of support from the Frankfurt Neighborhood Advisory Committee,
which you referenced at the outset, I believe.
They support the request.
Photograph.
So this is the 2100 block of Orthodox Street.
This is currently a vacant lot where my cursor is.
You can see there's other vacant lots on the block.
And adjacent to the property is a four-story unit, which I'll give you a closer view.
And then to the right of that property is a large open-air storage space.
It's overgrown in this photograph, but a subsequent photograph will show you what it looks like.
This is a closer view.
Here's the outdoor storage area, existing property, four units, another four unit at the end of the block, two, three, two, three, and then directly across the street, a little bit catty corner.
It's a 9,200 square foot commercial building, and the American Legion post is in this area.
Again, a little bit overgrown, but I have other photographs to bring it more into perspective.
We're looking down or up Orthodox Street.
Here's the existing building.
The vacant lot is right here.
Here's the American Legion post right here to the right-hand side.
There's a triplex, three mailboxes adjacent to it, a vacant lot.
And that open-air storage area is where my cursor is now.
Just looking from the other direction, commercial building to the left, the open-air storage area.
The commercial building to the left, the open-air storage area to the right, and existing four-family dwelling.
Again, just some more photographs for perspective.
You can see that there's six electric meters on the side of this existing building.
It is being used as four, so I believe there's a meter for the common space as well as for the outdoor lighting, but that's just a guess.
Closer view.
proof that there are signs were posted
in advance of the hearing.
And here are the plans.
So I just wanna spend a little bit of time
to explain to the board what's going on here.
So when you see the renderings,
you'll see that we don't have any building
in the front of our proposed building.
It's open air.
And then the building is set back a little bit
to give more light and air into the building.
And there's also a passageway underneath the second floor to get to the rear of the building because it is four units and we need to have some exterior trash storage, which we do.
We'll have a separate fenced in area for that.
So residents of the building can come out the middle of the building and come down and put their trash in the rear.
this is just a cutaway view of the property i have unit in the front unit one in the rear
it's a bi-level and then the third unit's on the second floor the fourth unit on the
third floor and there is a rooftop deck so this is the building the rendering as i said
at the outset. The building is set back, which has resulted in two of the refusals, indicating
that we have a deck coming off the front, the second floor, to give that resident some light
and air. But it also opens up the whole front of this building and as well permits some light and
air to come into the building, which is next door. We're still going to maintain the alley that's
there now. It's about a four-foot alley between our building and the adjacent building. But here
is the walkthrough where you can get to the rear yard and to the center of the building.
This might be a better shot of it. You can see there's still the alley that's existing will
remain and then our building has the walkthrough all the way underneath the second floor to get
to the yard. This was the original layout with bedrooms in the basement. We have since reversed
that and I'll show you that layout as I walk through the property. The second and third floor
has not changed. There's going to be one living unit on the second floor with two bedrooms and
then one living unit on the third floor, again, with two bedrooms and bathroom, two baths, kitchen,
living and dining area. I'll go back to the basement and the first floor because that's
part of my proviso sheet. Rooftop deck. So here's a better rendering on the left-hand side where you
can see that below the second floor, which is cantilever, you can come out the center of the
building and then get to the rear yard very easily and also get to the front yard.
This is our proviso sheet if the board looks kindly upon this.
And here's the plans for the basement. So this is the basement, bi-level unit, basement of first floor, and bi-level unit for unit one and unit two.
And the basement's going to be an office in the immediate room with the laundry. There's no bathroom in the basement.
Excuse me, Mr. Clinton, can you make that bigger, please?
Sorry about that, Ms. Grant.
Thank you.
so the lower drawing or plan is the basement uh it's going to be the meter room in the front of
the first unit uh some storage office media room and mechanicals and then washer and dryer and
that same layout is going to be repeated uh in the rear of the building as i said there's a
there's a set of steps between the basement and the first floor the first floor will basically
be the living area with the bedroom and kitchen area the remaining documents or the typical
documents you would see in an application such as this what i want to bring you to
the tax clearance is in place the zoning map it is an rsa5 directly across the tree from the cmx2
The deed indicating ownership.
I just want to walk through the zoning documents.
If I may, this is our notice to the neighborhood indicating that we mailed out 115 pieces of mail to everyone within 250 feet of the property.
to everyone within 250 feet of the property and so here's the zoning records and i'll walk through
And so here's the.
these briefly um and i'll spend as much time as the board wants me to on any particular address
but the one i do want to point out is this is 2015 that's our subject property
and i have records to back this up back in the day it was four units and a store
So this is 2000 Orthodox, two rental units, 2001, four dwelling units, 2006, American Legion Post, which I pointed out, 2015, excuse me, this is 2008.
This is for a three-family dwelling.
2012, this is four units.
It was four units, two apartments on each floor.
Then it was switched to an office on one apartment.
And this is the subject property.
2015, I was able to find a zoning record from 1961,
indicating that it was a vacant store with four apartments.
Then it became a steak shop and four apartments.
Now, I don't know when the building was demolished.
I could not determine that.
And no one at the community meeting was aware of when that happened.
This is 2017.
This is the property adjacent to us, four family, which I pointed out, the big white structure.
Again, 2017, one apartment, two apartments, another apartment.
So it's four apartments and a vacant commercial.
So I guess at one time, the first floor of not only our subject property, but the property next door,
was commercial. I mean, it is across the street from the CMX2 zoning district. And evidently,
the commercial is then converted to residential on the property next door. And in our property,
it was simply demolished. Again, 2017, there's an active rental license for four units.
So that is a presentation. Before I bring my client on, I just want to summarize and say that
This property is on a street where we have many multiple dwelling units, some commercial, an American Legion post.
So it is kind of mixed across the street from CMX2 zoning district.
We are basically in harmony with the code because we are going to keep the property residential, albeit it'll be four units.
We're hearkening back to what it was used for in the past.
We're basically in harmony with the code, and we're certainly in harmony with what the neighborhood group wants to see something developed on this particular lot.
And with that, I'd ask my client to mute himself, and I can ask him a few questions.
And certainly, I can bring the plans back up.
I didn't mean to disconnect.
Hi, Mr. Clinton, what is your client's name?
Gordon Cain, C-A-I-N.
Thank you.
Gordon Cain has been allowed to speak.
Hey, Mr. Cain, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, my name is Gordon Cain, G-O-R-D-O-N-C-A-I-N.
Where or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Good morning, Mr. Cain.
Were you on the call when I presented your project at 2015 Orthodox Street?
Yes, I was.
And if you've got the opportunity to testify, would you adopt my testimony as your own and as true and correct?
Yes, I would.
Thank you, Mr. Cain.
Questions from the board.
Yeah, just a couple questions.
On the rear elevation, there's access from the first floor directly to the yard, it looks like, right?
Correct, Mr. Johns.
from that from that um well i guess it's like an efficient seat space because it has the bedroom
and everything and the kitchen and everything yeah and the the window to the right um there
looks like there's a is that is oh that's is that a balcony or is i can't tell from there
i believe that's an egress well uh it's an egress row with a railing around it correct okay okay
Okay, but I don't see the door from the first floor on the plan.
I mean, I see it on the elevation, but I don't see it on the plan,
so I'm just trying to make sure I'm looking at the right thing.
Right. Let me see if I can find that.
If you go to the revised floor plan, right?
So I see the steps, but is that...
Yes, it looks like the door is not there,
but that's certainly where the door will be.
And I can bring the architect on to confirm that if you want.
Well, I mean, it shows it on the elevation.
I think it just. OK, but so so these units are so their total of four units, they're by level.
These units are, so they're total of four units. They're bi-level. In the basement, you've got these sort of media rooms and calling them media rooms instead of living rooms, right? With egress wells. And then you've got, so they're, and what's the maximum height you've got? You have no height refusal, right?
Right. No height refusal, under 38 feet.
Okay. And your refusal is for again?
For the setback of the front decks and for use because it's RSA 5.
Gotcha.
All right. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Johns. The questions from the board? Yes. Are there any other properties that have setbacks along, I guess, your side of the street or that hundred of the block?
Let me go back to the area.
I believe the answer is no, Ms. Graham.
And the reason we did it was because, you know, this distance between the existing building and our building would be about four to five feet.
So we were able to bring the front back 20 feet, which is going to bring at least some light and air into the front part of the building, more so than the rear of the building.
That was the thinking behind it.
Questions from the board?
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
um just brief excuse me um just briefly um mr clinton i know that you did submit the revised
floor plans just wanted to be clear the board can't stamp those because they're floor plans
but you know did receive them and you've gone over them with the board just understood i just
thought it would be best to show them yes yes no that's fine thank you i should do comments from
the virtual audience. There are no hands, Chair. Planning Commission. Thank you, Chairman, and good
morning. David Fecto, City Planning Commission. Chairman and board members, the comprehensive
plan recommends no change to the RSA-5 residential single-family zoning at this location. The
building at 2017 Orthodox has approvals for four dwelling units and ground floor commercial dating
to 1991. The prior building at 2015 Orthodox had approvals for the same prior to demolition.
Planning staff are also aware of several other multifamily dwellings on this block face,
ranging from two to four dwelling units. However, all of the buildings on this block face are placed
against the front lot line. The appellant has not shown that an economic detriment would accrue
if they were forced to do the same. So the City Planning Commission recommends that the board
grant the proposed use variance for four dwelling units, but deny the proposed dimensional variance
for maximum front setback for the structure and deny the proposed dimensional variance for minimum
front setback for a roof deck. Can I address that, Mr. Chairman? Please. So the idea was to give some
open space to every occupant on each floor. And so for the setback, we're able to do that for the
first floor, who also has rear, don't forget the back unit is bi-level, and they have access
to the yard.
So this would be some open space for the first floor, and then you'd have some open space
for the second floor.
And also the thought was to bring some light and air to the building next door.
Certainly, if we pull the building out, it makes the units bigger and makes it more of
of a massing type building, which we understand,
but we thought that this would be a better avenue
to make it more viable for not only the residents
of the building, but also of the neighbor next door.
So I understand that planning commission's comments,
but there was some forethought behind what we decided to do,
but I'll leave it in the board's hands.
Thank you.
MI 2024-004-871-2015
Orthodox Street, I vote yes.
Michael Johnson, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanada Graham, my vote is yes.
Aywin, my vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
Thank you, Mr. Clinton.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Board.
Number 10, MI 2024-004-946-2137
7th, South 8th Street. Dennis George is the attorney.
We do not have a letter of summary,
but there was a meeting held November 25th, 2024.
But there was a meeting held November 25th, 2024, in front of the Lower Moy-Mensing Civic Association.
Dennis George has been promoted to panelists.
Morning, counsel.
Mr. Chair, so I just wanted to update one thing.
We did receive a letter of opposition from Lower Moy-Mensing Civic Association.
and we also received a letter of opposition
from Council Member Squilla's office.
Mr. George.
Good morning.
Good morning, Council.
Could you please state your name
and spell for this stenographer?
Dennis George.
D-E-N-N-I-S-G-E-O-R-G-E.
2000 Market Street, Suite 1440, Philadelphia 19103.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you turn on your video, please?
Yeah, I'm trying, Mr. Chairman.
Let me, there it goes.
Okay, sorry.
Good morning.
Could you identify your client, the relationship to the property?
Patrick Zen, Z-E-N-G, is the owner, along with Jennifer Ruao, R-U-A-N.
Vice Chair has a few questions.
Good morning, Council. Do you agree to either read another refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits as needed and required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
I have.
Thank you, Council. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
yeah i apologize i'm not in the office so it's um i'm trying to get to the screen
uh just if i can give you an overview this is for a um currently the property is two apartments and
one commercial space and the request is to convert the commercial space on the first floor
to an additional apartment. The commercial space has been vacant since the pandemic.
This was housed by a small business, an insurance company. But since that time,
most of these businesses have no longer occupied the spaces. And on either side of this building
is a similar building with two apartments and a commercial space, which is also vacant.
So the hardship for my client is he has attempted,
he's put signs up and attempted to rent this facility as a commercial space,
but it's no longer anyone is interested.
Counsel, you should put your documents up because as you speak,
it would be easier to look at photos and things of that nature.
I apologize.
Do you see at the bottom of the share screen?
Yes, let me get that.
You want to open your documents and hit the share screen.
Counsel, why don't we do this?
Well, I don't, we're going to move on.
We only have a couple of cases left,
about two or three cases.
I'm going to move on.
We'll come back and get you.
Maybe by then you can call somebody
at your main office
and they can help you get in there.
Thank you.
Oh, sure.
Let's see.
Number 15, MI 2024-005-238-1353 South Hollywood Street.
Henry Clinton is the attorney.
recommendation support from Tasker Morris
Neighbors Association
there was other RCOs
present
Grace Ferry Council, Philly Thrive
and ROAD
Mr. Clinton
is coming back as a panelist
morning again Mr. Chairman
Mr. Clinton just for the record state your name
You're Henry Clinton.
Could you identify your client in a relationship to the property?
My client is James McCann, capital N-C, capital C-A-N-N.
He is the owner of the property, and he's on the call.
Vice Chair has a few questions.
Good morning, Counsel.
Do you agree to wait to read another refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
I do, Mr. Shahid.
have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed and required to
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed and required to proceed with this case?
proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing yes we have thank you council
please proceed thank you uh good morning again mr chairman is that visible it is all right uh
so i'm here on behalf of mr james mccann 1353 south hollywood street this is a legalization
of an open two-car parking space area that has been in existence a minimum of 50 years,
possibly longer, which was once a three-car enclosed garage with an existing curb cut.
And Mr. McCann has been a resident and his family have lived directly across the street
from this parking space for about 50 to 60 years. Why it comes before the board is because,
and i'll show you the photographs adjacent to this open parking space are two other garages
and a gentleman who owned those two garages was doing auto repair and auto cleaning and the l and
i i mean the uh the inspector thought that mr mccann was doing it and when he looked at the
zoning records he said oh this isn't legalized so that's why we're before the board today
I have Table of Contents A1 through A10.
The refusal is concerning surface parking.
We're looking for the creation or legalization of two surface parking spaces for use as a non-accessory parking area.
You have two refusals.
One is surface parking and requires a special exception, which, as the board knows, is a lesser standard than a refusal.
and the other refusal, frankly, it's unintelligible to me,
but compact spaces are not allowed
unless a minimum of 25 spaces are on the lot
and we're only asking for two spaces.
We certainly do not want 25 spaces.
This is the RCO letter of support
from Tasker Marsh Neighborhood Association,
which is one of the three or four neighborhood groups
in the Grace Ferry neighborhood.
uh and here's the photograph so this is an aerial photograph where the red balloon is
are the two parking spaces we're looking north where my cursor is is grace ferry avenue
uh the through street here is reed street 29th street is here and then hollywood street which
is the address of the two parking spaces uh is to the west of 29th street just a closer up view
There's some new construction going on right next door.
But here's the two garages I was talking about.
And this used to be a garage also.
I do have one dated photograph.
To the right is a neighborhood bar, which has been there again for 90 or 100 years.
Here are the two spaces.
The curb cut has been here forever.
We're just a new block installed at the time I took these photographs.
The garages are in the background and the bar is to the right.
just another view of the open air parking spaces this is hollywood street there are the six homes
under construction the back end of the bars to the right so more photographs looking westbound
or reed street mr mccann lives directly across the street photographs just depicting the placing
of the placards for notice of today's hearing uh plans pretty straightforward we do have streets
apartment approval. Vehicles were able to pull in, back out without getting into the street
and then heading west on Reed Street. Some other views of the parking area, but this is the
photograph that I told you is somewhat dated. You can see it was three-car garage at one point
and the foreground is Hollywood Street.
Can you, I'm sorry, can you make that a little bigger or is it?
Sure. Which section did you want to see?
The older picture that you had.
That one, yes.
The bar is in the background.
Hollywood Street is here.
And you can see it's a three-bay garage.
Again, not a great photograph.
That's the only angle we could find.
But that's the best proof of what it used to be.
so that's a presentation uh basically pretty straightforward wait a minute here's the streets
department approval indicating that turning radius uh works and we do have their approval
so just in summary uh we're looking to legalize um two open air spaces which have been in existence
and Mr. McCann can back me up on that for at least 50 years and possibly longer.
for at least 50 years and possibly longer.
In fact, Mr. McCann bought the property in 2017,
In fact, Mr. McCann...
has been using it as parking spaces since then.
And prior owner, Mr. Gibson, who the McCann family knows,
also used this area for parking.
We're not affecting any development of any adjacent properties,
not affecting any lighter air for any adjacent properties.
Basically, it's consistent with use for over 50 years.
It's in a CMX2 district adjacent to a bar and adjacent to two other garages on Hollywood Street.
And with that, I'd ask my client to unmute himself to adopt my testimony.
Mr. McCann, can you raise your hand and be on mute it, please?
Morning, Mr. McCann.
hi good morning could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
first name is james j-a-m-e-s last name is mccann m-c-c-a-n-n swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do please proceed counsel thank you mr
chairman uh mr mccann were you on the call when i presented your uh request for two open air
parking spaces yes i was and uh how long have those parking spaces been in existence uh i would
say seven at least 70 years right and how long have you and your family lived on the block directly
across the street from these spots 50 years i have okay no further questions mr mccann thank you very
much thank you questions from questions from the board you have a question so these these were
garages that were
from the 50s
or whatever? Is that what it is?
It's kind of
hard to imagine that they were actually
garages for cars because
1950 cars were like
I agree.
I guess the only other concern is
how does one
regulate
that only
microcars or compact cars parked there? How does that get regulated?
I don't mean to be flippant, but I guess just common sense-wise, I mean,
the McCanns live across the street, and they're going to keep compact cars there because anything
larger, I mean, you still have, it looks like maybe a foot or two to come out further, but
I don't think that they're in the habit
look I can't guarantee it Mr. Johns
but I can't
guarantee that they're
in the habit of parking anything
larger than what you see in these photographs
and we didn't
set this photograph up just to show you
compact cars this is what is
usually in the spots
so what is considered
a compact car
like in terms of
measurements i mean the parking spaces generally it's you know certain length and width that
they're looking for right so this is considered um so different just because of the area
where these are located or i don't know if i'll answer your question but the width of the lot is
17 feet. So right now there's a compact car in there and the parking space outline is 15 feet
and you have front and back area within that envelope available. And you also have some
area to the front of the envelope and to the rear. So when we have a typical parking spot,
The drawings that I see are usually in the 17 to 18 feet depth.
I mean, the lot is 17 feet.
If, as Mr. John says, we park a larger vehicle, or Mr. McHann or his family parks a larger
vehicle there, he certainly has room based on the subcompact car to move forward, and
there's going to be some room at the back.
But I don't want to stand before this board and tell you that there has never been a larger
car in this spot.
And I would never do that.
But it has been in existence, as Mr. McCann said, for 70 years.
And there have been those situations that I can bring Mr. McCann back on it and ask him the questions, whether he's ever gotten a complaint from anybody about parking a larger car there.
If that would be helpful.
If that would be helpful.
I guess what I'm seeing is, you know, the picture you show from the archives, if you will, or archival picture is like, it looks like it's an enclosed, like, garage.
I guess.
Oh, absolutely.
And then at some point, that garage goes away.
And now we have these two spaces.
So when we talk about the 70 years that the spaces have been here, was it just when it was an enclosed garage or after the garages went away?
Do we know that? I mean, how long are we talking about that this has been an open air?
I think Mr. McCann said that he's been on the block and his family for 50 years.
so it's been open air for 50 years
and I thought he
intimated that it was even
70 but I don't want to
I don't want to punch words I could bring them back
more to make sure right yeah
he said 70 and I'm like okay
I'm not sure how we okay
yeah the questions
yeah I just
want to confirm these are public parking
spaces and not for private
use correct
no no these are
This is owned, when Mr., this property, 1353, he owns this ground.
He bought it from a neighbor on the block, a Mr. Gibson, who also used the area for parking.
So it's deeded to him.
We have a deed to the property.
1353 South Hollywood
from Rosemary Gibson
Mr. Gibson's son to James McCann
and the Gibsons
owned it since 1980
and they live across the street
is that what it is?
yeah Mr. McCann
lives directly across the street
so his address is the 2900 block
of Reed Street directly across
the street
so it i'll just bring you to the zoning map so if this is cmx2 the the blue uh rectangle is the
parking space he lives literally directly across the street and his and his sister lives on the
street and his mother lives on the street any other questions for the board questions or
comments from our attorney? Not at this time, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chair, comments from the virtual
audience? There are no hands, Chair. Planning Commission. Thank you, Chairman, and good
morning. David Fecto with the City Planning Commission. Chairman and board members, the
comprehensive plan recommends no change to the CMX2 commercial mixed-use zoning at this location.
The appellant requests to legalize two undersized existing parking spaces.
We will note that there is no enforcement mechanism that exists that would prevent someone from parking a vehicle other than a compact car in these spaces.
A full-length car or truck would overhang the sidewalk and block access to the sidewalk for pedestrians.
The parking area appears to be large enough for one parking space, not two.
the city planning commission recommends the board grant the special exception for the proposed
non-accessory parking space limited to one parking space and deny the proposed use variance for two
compact spaces mr clinton i'm going to hold this and take this to executive session next wednesday
we're going to have a conversation with the board members and and take a look at this okay
Understood. Thank you. We will definitely we'll definitely vote on this next Wednesday at 930 a.m.
Thank you very much.
Number 17, MI 2024-005-319-2500 Federal Street. Joseph Vaccaro is the attorney.
Joseph Vaccaro is coming in as a panelist.
Mr. Vaccaro.
Good morning. Can you hear me?
I can, Mr. Vaccaro.
Could you put your video on?
Can you see me?
I can. Please state your name
and spell for the stenographer.
Good morning. My name is Joseph Vaccaro, V-A-C-C-A-R-O, Attorney for the Applicants Gentiana and Orgesi Dinach.
Good morning. My name is Joseph Vaccaro,
V-A-C-C-A-R-O.
We are affirmed to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Yes, I do.
I notice there is support from the Point Breeze Community Development Coalition of a vote of 5 to 1.
Our Vice Chair has a few questions, sir.
Good morning, Mr. McGarrow. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to his accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
They were uploaded.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you very much. If I may share my screen.
I'm looking for the document here.
One moment, please.
Coming up now.
can you see that? Okay. Essentially, this is an application to permit the use of this property,
which is zoned as I-2, to permit this property to be used for a takeout and eat-in restaurant
with two apartments above and a roof deck. As I said, the property is zoned as I-2.
Gentiano and her husband, Orgesi Dinage, purchased the property on January 9th, 2023.
That's when they acquired the property.
And the property is an empty shell at this point, as I will show you shortly.
Scrolling up, these are some photographs of what the property looks like now.
It's a single-story, empty shell of a building, assuming that, and hopefully if we get the board's variance after today's proceeding, my clients intend to have this structure demolished and build up the structure that I have shown you in that first photograph, which I'll get back to again.
This is an outside view. It's a corner property. This section here where my cursor is with this garage door, this is on Federal Street. This is 2500 Federal Street. This, where these vehicles are parked, this is 25th Street.
So this is a corner view of the current property.
Here's the front view of the property.
Here's the view from 25th Street.
If you see the second floor, this would be on 2502.
So the second story is not part of our property.
This is the neighborhood property at 2502.
Another view of the current structure.
et cetera.
Moving down
to the rendition,
the property is currently 16 feet
wide, 16 feet wide, by approximately,
it goes down south, approximately 60 feet south on
25th Street. The structure, the proposed
structure would be a total of 13 feet, 10 inches high, plus the roof deck. Scrolling down,
there would be a proposed of two single-floor apartments. The first floor, the second floor
would have one apartment and the third floor would have apartment. The first floor would be
used for my client's dream to have a pizzeria for eat in and take out. The basement would be used
for utility and storage and the roof deck. Again, my cursor is over the roof deck. My cursor is now
off over the basement for utilities and storage. This would be the second floor apartment. This
Each with two bedrooms, kitchenette, and a dinette.
Here's a rendition of the proposed roof deck.
Here's a rendition of the proposed roof deck.
Here's a rendition of what the building would look like once it's completed.
First floor, second floor, and third floor.
Here's another view.
This would be the view from 25th Street.
This would be the view of the roof deck.
we have a list of some of the near neighbors who have who have expressed support for this project
my note the notice that i sent to the rco for the community meeting that we held on november 25th
that was our second meeting with the rco so we've had a total of two meetings with the rco
So, and as was indicated before the hearing started, we have a letter of support.
Sample menu, obviously, starting the project is a long way off because if the board would
be gracious enough to grant us this variance for the use, the building would have to, my
client would have to obtain a permit to remove the current building, to demolish the current
building, and then to build up the building as proposed.
Insofar as the neighboring properties, as indicated, this property is zoned as I-2, as well as
2502, 2504, and 2506, all three of those properties are also zoned as I-2. However,
they're being used as residences. And we just would hope to be able to use this property for
the eat-in and take-out restaurant on the first floor, as well as providing for two residential
units upstairs. Proof of tax clearance, zero balance on real estate taxes. Does the board
have any questions? Or I could bring in my client, Ms. Gentiana Dinage, to adopt my testimony.
So, Mr. Vaccaro, what is that south of it?
It's south of?
On 25th Street. What's that building there?
This building that my cursor is pointing at?
No, no, no. South.
shaft the other way to the left oh oh oh i believe that that's another residential
building with commercial on the bottom i could have mr nudge confirm that why don't you bring
your client on gentiana can you raise your hand so they could bring you on
tatiana if you're in the audience please raise your virtual hand not tatiana gentiana
Jen, I'm sorry.
Jen, if you're in the virtual audience, please raise your hand.
There is no hand raised with that name.
Mr. Vaccaro is a officer.
I'm sorry.
She just raised her hand.
Excuse me, Chair.
I will have heard this point.
They will be allowed to speak.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
i could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
unmute i go here you go
gentiano state your name and spell for the stenographer d e n t i a n a
d-i-n-a-j
do you swear or affirm
tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes I do
Mr. Vaccaro please proceed
thank you Mr. Nodge
did you hear my presentation
and did you hear
Mr. Bergman's question what's the building
to the south of yours so
my cursor
is pointing over this building.
So what's
in that building?
It's just
a vacant building. It's nothing
there. Okay.
So there's no business? There's nobody
living there? Nobody. Nothing. They are
under construction, I believe.
Okay. And my research
has indicated, Mr. Bergman, that that
too was an I-2 zone building.
Okay. Thank you.
Mr. Naj, following up on my testimony, did you hear my presentation?
Do you agree with that?
do you have anything else to add or to correct me on no would you adopt it as your own yes
Do you have anything else to add or to correct me on?
Would you adopt?
you were to testify yes thank you any other questions or concerns i don't have any other
questions i'm sorry i was asking the board so so mr vaccaro before i go to the board uh
hillary do you have an issue with this so um the the refusal is a little bit confusing mr vaccaro
So if you don't mind, I just want to ask a few questions just to clarify, because the way the refusal was written, takeout and sit down restaurant are both primary uses, which, as you know, they're basically mutually exclusive.
You can have sit down with, you know, accessory takeout use, but by code definition, they're mutually exclusive for.
so there does appear yeah if you could pull the the floor plan back up for the
the restaurant and then enlarge it that would that would answer some of the questions
let me just scroll down to the floor plans
all right yes if you just and i'll zoom in thank you to the restaurant now
Obviously, Ms. Emerson, we do understand that Eat In and Take Out are mutually exclusive.
Gentiano, could you mute yourself, please?
Thank you.
And obviously, we understand that Eat In and Take Out are mutually exclusive.
That being said, we do want to be able to start off the process with the use permit to be able to have this restaurant be used as a sit-down restaurant.
Okay, yeah, so that's where I just wanted to clarify, and this is helping.
So for a sit-down restaurant, you need to have more than four seats, which it looks like you could accommodate here.
There's not a table layout, but it looks like it would be big enough to have more than four seats.
I do see a public restroom plans, which is also something that you'd see having you need to have in a sit down restaurant.
And where this would be a pizzeria, there would be commercial, a commercial kitchen with, you know, exhaust and that sort of thing.
So that's also something you would see in a sit down restaurant as well as take out, but sit down.
um so it's is it anticipated like the other the other big difference um is that you know food is
is not served in um like disposable containers that sort of thing in the the sit-down area
so if it's a plan to you know have it have you know like a sit-down area where people you know
orders are being taken and then people are paying for their food afterwards as well as to have like
a you know pickup area then it can be considered um a sit-down restaurant is is that is that the
plan for the applicant that's that's the plan for the applicant here again here we're here to
to be able to use the place for the use because number one here where the place is not zoned to
allow the two apartments upstairs or any type of a restaurant on correct on the first floor and we
don't want to have to keep coming back to the zoning board for every little thing that we want
to do right right so yeah so i think um and mr chair i had drafted a proviso just to clarify the
use here and i think that proviso would be appropriate to clarify that this is a sit-down
restaurant obviously you can have accessory takeout but the the primary you know food and
drink use is sit-down restaurant and then the the two um family household living above so i just
want to one way to put that proviso of the board approves put that proviso in just to clarify
because the refusal was unfortunately written in a confusing manner so and i did discuss this with
ellen i so those the things that i discussed with you about the bathroom and the number of seats are
things that we kept we went over to to differentiate between take out and and sit down as which one is
the primary primary use and and also you know insofar as the measurements uh trash takeout
everything is going to be planned and and done and built and permitted all according to code
because again without the use everything else becomes moot right we don't want to have to keep
coming back to the zoning board right no absolutely absolutely okay thank you thank you
questions questions from the board question on the on the trash for the restaurant um how are you
how are you planning to deal with the trash sure i uh the trash we plan on holding the trash in that
Sure. We plan on holding the trash in that little alley space in the back. And obviously, this is not a good representation at this point because of the way the current structure is located and built. I'm looking for that photo as I'm speaking.
a little out.
Here you go. This is the back area. And obviously, this little alleyway is too small. This little alleyway is currently too small. This building that is currently there that belongs to my client, as I indicated, is going to be demolished.
So when the time comes, we do plan on having sufficient space to have trash be held in the back.
And obviously there should be their plans. We plan on having sufficient space for the trash.
This is the empty building. Is that alleyway part of this property or is this or is that a common alleyway between the.
I believe it's part of the property, but we certainly are going to be holding trash on our property and not on any common areas.
Are you going to have commercial trash?
Of course.
Of course.
Of course.
And we already discussed about the venting for the restaurant itself.
Absolutely.
That's all going to be according to code.
Okay, so so where would the residents on the apartment store their trash.
There would there would be provision made for the residents to store their trash.
Where again, you know, the building, the actual design hasn't.
This is just a conceptual design that we have at this point, but there certainly will be provision for the tenants.
questions from the board so you mentioned venting before so venting through the roof
no venting out the side of course okay and we can do that as a proviso that's we that's standard
according to code i'm not you know well i don't know you can actually fence out the side of the
it's usually frowned upon i know but it's something that you can do to code so we would
want to have the venting through the building up through the roof mr johns we can add that
as a proviso mr vicaro it sounds like your client would be amenable to that as a proviso all right
thank you the other questions questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes i have a hand up by edan shlomo will be allowed to speak
could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
hello all right could you uh state your name and spell for the court stenographer please
Yes, this is actually Catherine Shlomo. I don't know why it's coming up a Zidane. C-A-T-H-E-R-I-N-E, Shlomo, S-H-L-O-M-O.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth? Well, hold on. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Are you a neighbor?
Okay, please proceed.
um so i did attend the original community meeting in october um which the community had a lot of
questions that at that point were unanswered they seemed to be very unprepared at that point and
that's why the meeting was rescheduled for november which we actually never got a notice
of the rescheduled meeting um i only found out about it because i saw the sign for the board
meeting on the garage door. But I was not and I still am not in support of the project. I don't
think this is the residential street to have a pizzeria on. I've been here for about eight years
and I've seen many of the restaurants and commercial spaces on Federal Street that have
new owners every few years and one particularly in 24th and federal that's been vacant for two
years and um we didn't have any answers which i know is hard for as far as when the place would
be closing i do have four-year-old we have a lot of families in the neighborhood so my biggest
concern is how late how late they're going to be open people standing out front of the building um
Um, and, uh, based on those things, I'm still not in support.
Based on those things, I'm still not in support. I do not mind, obviously, residential, duplex, triplexes. I think that's great for the neighborhood. But I'm also just not, I just do not support the project.
I do not.
May I respond?
Why don't we do this? Why don't we wait to see if there's anyone else in the audience?
And you can respond one time. Ms. Shlomo, thank you very much for taking the time. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair.
Now there's Edon Slomo will be allowed to speak.
Could you please state your name?
Edon Slomo, E-D-O-N-S-H-L-O-M-O.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
The last person was a relative of yours?
Yeah, we are direct neighbors of the property.
um the issue that we had we attended the first meeting because we received a letter the rco
that was given this property was uh the point breeze uh rco and this is actually properties
listed in grace ferry which we are located in and because of that we were never notified of
the second meeting to have any questions answered for the rco and like my wife said we didn't tell
we saw the letter on the garage we didn't know that there was a meeting we tried to reach out
the rrco which wasn't sure why they haven't received it we're um i'm opposed as well it
seems like a lot of the questions that we had the original meeting which we had 20 some people
at uh were unanswered such as uh like what our time as far as they originally said maybe opening
at seven closing eight nine ten midnight was the answer they gave originally they had and then uh
this is a very residential area which has been filling up with side parts of duplexes single
families and causing issues with parking which is great because it means that people are moving
into our neighborhood families, but there's no answer as far as reserved parking for 30 minutes
if there's going to be designated areas for this. There's going to be a lot of construction on 25th
Bridge, which is going to cause more congestion than we already have, and I just think that
there's enough commercial space on Washington Avenue where there's pizza places, coffee shops,
bagel shops opening up, that another one of these, another restaurant opening up that's May,
we've had
a couple closed within a year or two
and then they stay vacant
I'm opposed to the project
I'd love to see more residential
and that's it
Thank you very much for calling, we appreciate it
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Elias Rivera
will be allowed to speak
Hi, could you please state your name
and spell for the stenographer
Elias Rivera
that's E-L-A
E-L-I-A-S-R-I-V-E-R-A
Where are you from to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
Yes, I live a few doors down.
All right, please proceed.
I'm just concerned just about the timing of what time the restaurant is going to close.
The neighborhood doesn't need another restaurant.
There's pizzerias and restaurants all over the place.
another residential place would be nice to bring more family into the neighborhood
also the trash situation that he does they don't sound too confident on how the trash is going to
be situated on top of that with the parking with all the mess is going on in the neighborhood
where's all the parking going to go there's rarely any parking in the neighborhood
um that's pretty much it uh the trash and parking is a big concern of mine is also the
heavy traffic coming around there up and down the street is usually a quiet street
you don't hear too much just the trains so those are my concerns at this moment is the trash and
all the parking thank you mr rivera we appreciate your comments is there anyone else in the arts
audience yes michelle berstein will be allowed to speak i could you please state your name
misspelled for the stenographer.
Michelle?
Michelle Bernstein, can you
unmute yourself?
Michelle is still muted, Chair.
Is there anyone else in the audience?
There are no more hands.
Thank you.
Mr. Vacari, you want to respond?
Yes, insofar as the hours of operation, I was going to ask Ms. Dinaj, what hours of operation does she anticipate the restaurant being in?
Ms. Dinaj, can you unmute yourself, please?
Yes, so originally, we never said 12, but it doesn't matter.
So it was 7 to 10 p.m., 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
And and part of this project also includes some lighting to light up.
to light up yes correct yes so the second meeting yeah so the second meeting we have we
Yes. Correct. Yes.
So the second.
explained the issues of uh as far as the trash and and the lighting understood now uh this is my
this is going to be my testimony members of the board i had sent out a first notice of meeting
of the first meeting that occurred uh in october uh could you please please could you mute yourself
please thank you thank you uh and i had also sent out the same notice to the same list of near
neighbors for the second meeting which occurred in in in november and it was with the same group
of people. It was with the same RCO. So I don't understand what Mr. and Ms. Shlomo's positions
are about them never having received any notifications. It's the same coordinating
RCO. It's the same affected RCOs. It's the same list of addresses. Thank you. Thank you, Mr.
McCarroll. Planning Commission. Thank you, Chairman. And by the way, sorry to step on you,
You know, Mr. Fecto, again, this building, the current structure in place still needs to be demolished.
It's going to be several years before this place is up and running.
So this is a very long, long project, and this is the first step of a very long project.
Good morning. My name is Rita Ford, and I am.
Thank you.
Excuse me, Chair. Michelle Bernstein has raised a hand again.
Michelle, could you state your name is spelled for a stenographer?
Did we see her? Is she unmuted?
Yes, but she's still muted.
Okay, thank you. Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chairman, and good morning. David Fecta with the City Planning Commission.
Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the I-2 medium industrial zoning
at this location, the zoning for this part of the neighborhood dates to the original 1933 zoning
maps. The proposed restaurant would be in keeping with the commercial and industrial character of
25th Street, and providing off-street parking would render the building unusable. However,
the appellant has not shown that the addition of dwelling units is required to enable reuse of the
property, so the City Planning Commission recommends the board grant the proposed use
variance for an eating and drinking establishment, and the variance for not including parking,
but deny the use variance for two dwelling units.
Mr. Beccaro, I'm going to hold this until next Wednesday. I want to really sit and talk to the
board exactly where we are with this and have all the input we can get. We'll vote on it next
Wednesday at 9.30 a.m., okay? Appreciate it. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, sir.
All right, we're going to go to number 19. MI 2024, 005-373-38 Jackson Street. Roger Perry is the attorney. Letter of support from Whitman Council. Letter of non-opposition from Councilmember Squilla.
Roger Perry has been promoted.
Morning, Mr. Perry.
mr perry yeah hi here i am all right good thank you sir could you state your name and spell for
the stenographer yes good morning it's roger perry r-o-g-e-r perry p-e-r-r-y
where are a firm to tell the truth the whole truth is nothing but the truth
i do could you identify your client a relationship to the property
Oh, yes. I have two people involved with this client. Frankie's World Foundation is a child care existing tenant for this property. And I also represent 38 Jackson LLC for the purposes of zoning, which is the owner of the property.
Vice Chair has a few questions.
Good morning, counsel. Do you agree to waive the read another refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits as needed to proceed
with this case five days in advance of this hearing? Yes, I have. Thank you, counsel. Please
proceed and share your screen. Okay, can you see my screen there? Yes, sir. Okay, so let me give you
a little background here. I'm looking at the interior of the building as it exists. This is
an I-2 industrial district at 38 Jackson Street. My client currently has had a 10-year lease at
10th and Poplar Street. Frankie's World Foundation provides special needs.
Frankie's World Foundation provides special needs children child care for a large group, and they've been doing this for over 10 years.
By virtue of losing the lease, they went out and had to find a large area to move to, and 38 Jackson Street provides this opportunity.
This is approximately 18,000 square feet in an existing warehouse adjacent to I-95, essentially, at Jackson Street and Water Street.
This is, I'll scroll back up, but you can see that this is partially renovated, but primarily this is going to be all gutted and renovated in a very large renovation project here.
Let me turn this posting front.
This is the diagonally across the street.
This is the back of the warehouse here.
And this is the front.
So my clients are taking over with a variance, I-2, it requires under the refusal that this be converted to a variance for a commercial use. Special needs child care requires that it be a commercial use. It's not permitted under the refusal in an I-2 industrial district.
This notes the posting of the property for the hearing.
And we had a meeting with Whitman, which has noticed the board of its support.
We've posted both into the property.
There's the mailings, the refusal.
Let me come back up to it.
lost my
let me go down to
here I was going to locate the plans
there is some parking but it's really
intermittent parking in front of the warehouse. Primarily, we're going to be looking for
additional parking spaces under I-95, and we've been dealing with them in terms of that.
So the interior...
Can you turn that over?
Yeah, let me...
Turn that over, Roger.
Clockwise here.
Okay, go ahead.
I'm just trying to expand this a little bit here.
Okay, so this is approximately 18,000 square feet in terms of the first floor of this warehouse.
Other uses in the warehouse sort of are intermittent commercial uses as well.
And this is what was at the second floor level and so forth, vacant commercial and a couple
of other internet and uses.
I think there's a karate studio up there now and so forth, but we're using the first
floor in terms of this particular space.
As I indicated, I just want to reiterate that my clients have been over 10 years operating
a special needs child care at 10th and Poplar, and now they're looking for to move from their
lease there to this new lease that will require substantial renovation, which is under an
existing lease agreement with the owners of them representing for purposes of the zoning 38 Jackson
LLC. Frankie's World Foundation has been doing this type of child care for in excess of 10 years,
So they're very well experienced in dealing with both the city, DHS, and the state and so forth.
We've met several times with Whitman, and they're very looking forward to having this work done here and have them move in.
I don't think there's anything else in terms of what's going to be done.
I mean, this is essentially a shell, and the renovations are going to be somewhere in excess of $400,000 to make this compliant with DHS and city regulations for child care and particularly special needs child care.
I have my clients, one or more of my clients, Lockwoods, should be listening in, and they can adopt my testimony as necessary.
do we have one of the lockwoods here i'm checking now for you thank you you're welcome
yes i have connie lockwood would be allowed to speak honey yep
Connie, yeah.
all right could you please state your name
Go ahead.
Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
My name is Connie Lockwood, C-O-N-N-Y-L-O-C-K-W-O-O-D.
We're affirming the tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Yes, I do.
Please proceed, counsel.
Yeah, good morning, Connie.
You are indeed affiliated with Frankie's World Foundation
and have been running a special needs daycare for years and years?
Yes, we have.
Okay, and did you hear my presentation to the zoning board this morning?
Yes, I did.
Okay, would you adopt this as your own testimony if you testified separately?
Yes, I would.
Okay, thank you very much.
Questions from the board.
I have a quick question.
Where's the daycare's entrance in relation to the entrance to the businesses on the second floor?
Okay, there's going to be an entrance.
This is going to be completely redone, but the entrance is going to be on the Water Street side, which is closed off.
Water Street has been closed off as adjacent to I-95.
We're going to put in a circular driveway that allows vehicles to come in on the east side and go around, it would be over here, and go around in a circular drop-off because some of these special needs children have special drop-offs.
They have, I don't want to call them ambulances, but they have special vehicles for handicapped
accessibility.
That's going to be an entirely separate entrance on the east side, and they're going to have
an entrance built into the east side so that they're not going to be blocking Jackson Street
at all.
Okay, because I've noticed in the pictures, they depict a lot of entrances with stairwells,
with steps.
This is also a store with handicapped accessibility on the east side.
Okay, so your drawings don't depict the circular driveway.
In this drawing here, where would a circular driveway go?
I don't.
It would go on the east side, which is here, I believe.
Connie can correct me if I'm wrong.
It would be down the bottom where it says first floor.
It would be along that side of the street, right over there.
So you would come in, Jackson, turn it there.
Over here, okay.
yeah this is uh is this the east side here connie yes okay so it would be here in this area which is
water street and is that a two-way street no water street is closed off currently
okay you have access here because they have access uh to come in and i have photographs
of that let me see if i can go up and then um the building
okay let me see if i can
okay yeah this is the rear access to the rear of the property so this is the closed off water
street here okay there's a fence here but they're going to be allowed to put the handicap
have accessibility in here, and you can have vehicles in here because this is open for vehicle
traffic for this particular building at 38 Jackson Street. So they'll come in and circle out and go
back out the same way? Yeah, we're going to design a circular driveway. Okay, thank you.
So there's a whole new, so this part of this street here that you show in this picture
is a stricken street yes it is it's a stricken street and so you're going to be designing um a
new turnabout or something now is is this on the plan it shows that there's a construction
materials storage is that still going to be part of this they'll access this street too
Yeah, I'm not sure in terms of – I'm going to scroll down to the plan.
I noted that, and I didn't recognize it from the original – okay, let's see here.
I mean, it's kind of confusing because there's no kind of site plan that – I mean, you showed –
I'm not sure what that's for.
Do you know what that's for, Connie?
Um, actually, if I'm not mistaking, there is going to be a daycare that is associated with the Colombo charter school. And so I don't know why that says construction material, but I was told that that, um, the plans are to have that as a, um, a daycare for, um, normally functioning children.
And on this plan, this is your daycare center.
They're listed at 19,000, and these are still retained by the I2 site.
So we're essentially rezoning this and putting an entrance.
essentially rezoning this and putting an entrance and there's also other entrances just for foot
traffic off of jackson street okay that makes more let me okay so that means that business office
that's located on this diagram is not for the proposed daycare that's just for the building
itself all okay and as is the second floor here it's been uh modified for commercial use
periodically over the last number of years.
So, so Mr. Perry, I do think before we vote on this, we'd have to at least see what it
looks like.
I mean, you know, I think that, you know, looking at Water Street there with the circle
or how you're going to do, I think you've got to come back to us and show what that
looks like and show where the daycare center is, as compared to what else we have.
I mean, it's just it's it's all over the lot right now. And I I understand exactly everything we're trying to do and things like that.
And I think it's really a nice project. But I think you at least have to show where this is going to be, where the handicap entrance is, because right now it's just it's too hard to understand.
So, I mean, I'm going to go through if there's any other questions so we can get it.
But what we want to do is we'll have a resumptive hearing.
And just show us that.
I mean, like, is that business office stay?
No, this is the proposal.
But the point I'm saying, it's hard to look at this.
And while that's going to go, that's going to go.
Show us a document that would have how the outlets laid out.
And show us what the circular thing looks like.
And do you go out the same way again? So that's where I would. And, you know, it might be helpful, too, to say what's on the second floor. All right.
Well, this is the second floor here. Yeah. But what I'm saying is all the everything that's there stays.
No, this is I'm sorry, I'm being confused. The proposed child care center is what I understand that.
I'm just saying it'd be curious of what's on the second floor, because what has to be delivered to the second floor?
How do they get in there? So that's the only thing I'm pointing at.
okay okay is there anyone any other questions from the board no i agree wholeheartedly with you
planning do you want to take a position now or do you want to wait till the drawings come
chairman we'll take a position if that's okay all right why don't you proceed all right did
you want to take public comment or i'm sorry i i was on um mute um can you uh is there going to be
some sort of play area within this uh i'm sorry is there going to be some sort of play area for
sure this is going to be all broken down into uh offices play areas school areas and so forth they
have a staff of of over 20 uh for this particular proposed child care center okay but i mean we're
not we're not seeing that in what you what you're showing so i guess problem is is that the
architectural fees for doing this would be close to $50,000 in terms of showing it. And of course,
we were trying to just get the initial approval to move away from an I-2 industrial use
before we provided really detailed schematics, because that may change down over the next year.
again i'm not i'm not i'm not saying you have to spend okay
tell us a little bit more about how this property is going to be used okay and uh where these
children are going to be if there's going to be some areas that'll be designated for play or
whatever um and again the whole idea of you know this this this seems to be a a large number of
uses um at this property and we need to have i think a better sense of what we're talking about
here sure okay we'll try to get some more input as to these two we really have no control over
the second floor which has its own uh but i i'm not mr perry mr perry i'm not saying to control
the second floor i'm just saying i'm curious what's in there and where how you would get in
and out of that place is what i'm curious about that's it okay questions or comments from the
virtual audience i see no hands here planning commission thank you chairman and good morning
David Effecto with the City Planning Commission. Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan
recommends no change to the I-2 medium industrial zoning at this location. This building is in a
cluster of industrial properties in one of the city's industrial preservation areas adjacent
to I-95 in the Port of Philadelphia. With heavy trucks and pollution, this is not an appropriate
With heavy trucks and pollution, this is not an appropriate location for a child care center, a facility serving more than 13 children.
location for a child care center.
There is no unique physical condition or circumstance of this property that were prevented from being used.
In strict conformity with the zoning code, the City Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny their requested use variance for a child care center.
Thank you, Mr. Fecto.
Mr. Perry, we will bring you back for a resumptive hearing, and I think you know where we want to see and how it's going on.
Thank you very much, sir.
Yeah, I just, two things.
One, of course, is that this has been converted essentially for commercial uses over the last 10 years.
And, of course, I can submit for Ms. Gaston and others what layouts have been used at Tenth and Poplar for over 10 years and what the schematic plan is here for particular special needs children.
Yeah, well, I mean, I'm going to go back to what Ms. Gaston said.
nobody's asking you to spend fifty thousand dollars but we need to look at something that
explains what you're going to do and we don't have that now no problem thank you thank you
all right number 10 mi 2024 004 946 2137 south a street dennis george please come back
Mr. George Dennis George is coming in as a panelist thank you you're welcome
Mr. George you've already been sworn
sorry for the inconvenience mr chairman at this time we if i could i know it's at the end of the
list i'd like to ask for a continuance because we only received the letter of opposition at 654
last evening and we did never receive the letter from the councilman the opposition letter indicated
four people attended the meeting, two of which opposed, one was not opposed, and one abstained
without a letter of explanation. We'd like an opportunity to go back to the RCO.
Okay, thank you very much. So MI 2024-004-946-2137 South A Street, cases continue. Thank you very
much for that. Is there anyone in the audience whose case has not been called?
first audience nope there are no hands chair thank you very much thanks everybody see
everybody 2 p.m all right thank you
you know we're ready
yes chair you can proceed as you wish good afternoon everyone my name is bill bergman
and i will be chairing this afternoon's meetings with me is our vice chair ismail shaheed
president here our board member stella l gaston present mr chairman our board member
Tynetta Graham. Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our board member, Michael Johns.
Mr. Chairman. And Ty
Nguyen is either here or will be here any minute.
Also present is our attorney, Hillary Emerson,
and our executive director, Ian Haggerty.
Here's our virtual format.
Proceedings are being recorded. With your participation,
you agree to be recorded. The video will be available by contacting
ZBA Executive Director at phila.gov.
For a court stenographer and attorneys,
we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
Participating by phone, press star 9 to raise your hand
and star 6 to unmute.
To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548.
Leave your email address and the address of the property.
And finally, the question and answer box on the screen is not for testimony. All comments should be directed to ZBA Executive Director at philo.gov. Let's look at our schedule for today.
Number four, MI 2024-006-030-2100 Benson Street. That case is continued, attorney-moving party.
Number eight, MI 2024-006-091-1938-40 East Hazard Street. That case is continued.
And number 12, my 2024, 00.
My 2024-006-156-1602, South Broad Street.
That case is continued.
Are there any other requests for continuance?
Good afternoon, Chair.
This is Doreen Blakey.
I will be co-hosting this afternoon.
I have a hand up by Vern Anastasio first.
They will be allowed to speak.
Good afternoon, Mr. Anastasio. I think you've already been sworn. Just for the record, state your name.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Vern Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O.
Council, we're talking about 5737 Elmwood?
We are, Mr. Chair.
Will you give me an update?
Yeah, my client had a family emergency in Southeast Asia where she's from. So she was gone for several months. And as a result, I did not get the materials needed to proceed to an RCO meeting. And that's where we are.
I know this has been several listings, but I respectfully request a continuance be granted.
And I think for the sake of your docket and and and the case itself, it might be best to have me as attorney moving party.
And my twenty twenty two zero zero seven two nine five fifty seven thirty seven Elmwood Avenue cases continue attorney moving party.
Thank you. Is there any other requests for continuance?
Yes, Chair David Orphanides.
You will be allowed to say it.
Good afternoon, Mr. Orphanides.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Certainly. David Orphanides, last name O-R-P-H-A-N-I-D-E-S.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Mr. Orphanides, are you talking that 8014 Caster Avenue?
Yes, sir.
Could you please give us an update?
Certainly. There was, I think I reported last time, there were concerns of the neighbors regarding the original application, which involved a nightclub and a smoking lounge and some other physical alterations to the property, including a rooftop dining area.
We've been modifying the plans and we're going through the process with L&I of reviewing those and issuing any type of revised or amended notice of refusal.
And we need to go back to the community group, which I would expect to happen next month in February.
I don't think that it might be later this month in January or beginning of February.
Thank you, sir.
So MI 2023-007-281-8014 Caster Avenue cases continue.
Thanks for calling us.
or any other requests for continuance there was a hand up excuse me with the phone ending in 3552
but that had that hand has went down since and there are no oh it's back up so i would allow
them to speak could you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer
yes adrian fernandez swamp little neighborhood process association rcf
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes adrian what case are you talking about 3421 north 22nd street
Mr. Chair, that's on the
3.30 p.m. list, and we've received a request for continuance
from the attorney.
Did you hear that? Yes, I did. So I don't have to wait for the
3.30. That's right. Thank you. And thank you
for calling in okay i wasn't sure it would be two o'clock or three thirty thank you three thirty
okay is there any other requests
there are no more hands thank you we're going to go to our add-on list
so mi 2024 006 305 2557 west sterner street
I vote yes with proviso. Interior trash storage, commercial trash pickup, hours of operations, Monday to Friday, 9A to 5P.
My vote is yes with proviso.
Joe Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso.
Teneda Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with proviso.
you and number two sorry board member when did you wish to vote on this one you were
you were present i don't know if you're having a problem unmuting
Yes, sorry. My vote is yes.
yes sorry i uh my vote is yes
Reproviso.
Reproviso.
Thank you. And number two, MI 2024-001-594-922 New Market Street, I vote no.
Michael Johns, my vote is no.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no.
Tana Graham, my vote is no.
Iowan, my vote is no.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is no.
Now I'm going to go to number three, and we're going to hear number three along with number nine at the same time.
MI 2024-005-664-7213 Edmond Street.
And number nine is MI2024-006093, 7211 Edmond Street.
Alan Nockamson is the attorney.
There are a letter of support from Taconi Civic Association.
Alan Nockamson has been promoted to panelist.
Good afternoon, Mr. Nockamson.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members of the Board, and Happy New Year.
My name is Alan Nockamson, Nockamson, PC.
Just for the record, could you spell your name?
Alan, A-L-A-N, last name Nockamson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N.
Do you declare or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, their relationship to the two properties?
Yeah, my client is Amir Bihari, the owner of the property.
Our vice chair has a few questions, sir.
Good afternoon, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, we did. Thank you, Council. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
All right. So I'm here. Let me just get the full screen mode.
All right. So I'm here to present 7211 and 7213-17 Edmund Street. These are two separate
zoning appeals. What we're looking to do is put essentially four duplexes here,
four sets of twins. So during our presentation, we'll review the notices of refusal,
than the correspondence from the Ciccone Civic Association,
where they unanimously either supported it
or were in non-opposition to our project.
My client did an extensive petition,
and I have to say he did it himself,
so it's not traditionally how you would see it,
but he literally took the addresses
that the Planning Commission gives us
to send the notices to,
and he had each of these parties signed in support.
So it's a little bit unorthodox,
but I'm just letting you know he did it himself. It's not out of character to have duplexes in the
neighborhood. And we have a few examples on this block, which are nearby duplexes. That's one of
our refusals. The second refusal has to do with front yard depth, not out of character to have
variances of properties of building structures that don't conform to the Philadelphia zoning
code. We have a few examples by way of documentation, as well as the third refusal that has to deal with
side yard width, where we're requesting a smaller side yard. Again, not out of character based on
what you're going to see in our presentation. Then we'll review maps of the area, which includes
the zoning map. This is an RSA3 property, but what we're requesting is, again, not out of character.
Photographs of the property in the surrounding area are plans and drawings, which were
prepared by Nome architects. And we have Justin Bright in the meeting room,
and he'll be able to answer any architectural-related questions.
Our RCO meeting notices are applications for appeal, the deeds of the property, and the certificate of tax clearance.
So the first thing we have is the notice of refusal for 7211 Edmond Street.
Again, what we're trying to do is create twins with two-family household living in this one for 7211.
And here we have four refusals.
The first is the use. This is an RSA 3 property, and we're trying to use this as a two-family household living later in the presentation.
And we're trying to use this as a two-family household living, and later in the presentation we'll show you that's not out of character and, by the way, has the support of the full community.
The second refusal has to do with the front yard depth.
We're eight feet required, and we're at six feet, 11 inches, so we're just barely a foot off of that requirement.
again, not out of character. And the reason why our front yard depth is a little bit short in a way
is because we wanted to build a greater front porch, which is more useful for the people that
are going to reside in the property. So that's the architectural reasoning behind that. The third
refusal has to do with side yard depth, width, excuse me. And that's required under the Philadelphia
zoning code of eight feet and we're at three feet eight inches again not out of character to the
surrounding area and the properties to left and right of us are set back enough where we're not
even affecting those individuals and then the fourth refusal has to do uh with the maximum
occupied area in rsa3 which is 50 we're slightly slightly above that and we're just doing that
because, you know, again, our depths of our property, of rear yard depths are pretty substantial.
Our open area is pretty substantial generally, but not for RSA 3.
But we're asking that to give us better floor plans as well.
And then the second refusal has to do with 7213 Edmund Street.
So originally, this is really 7213, 15, and 17 Edmund Street.
So this was originally three parcels that were combined at one point.
we're just now looking to subdivide it like it was in the past and for each parcel we're looking
to put a duplex there with the front porch and something that would mimic the architecture there
and also mimic the use that you would see in the neighborhood as well and we have this similar same
four refusals first is for the use of the property where this is an rsa3 property and we're asking
for a duplex which is technically not allowed as a right under the philadelphia zoning code
but not out of character. The second one is the occupied area where we're slightly above the 50%
requirement. We're at 52.2%. The third refusal has to do with the front yard depth where eight
feet's required, where again here we're at six feet 11 inches and the same rationale and reasoning
that we wanted to put a deeper deck there to be utilized by one of the unit owners or occupants.
And then the fourth refusal has to do with the side yard width, where eight feet is required under the Philadelphia zoning code, and we're at three feet, eight inches.
Again, not out of character to nearby properties, and because of how we're positioned in the neighborhood, the properties to the left of us and the right of us are really not feeling the effects of that.
So the correspondence, you know, from Ticcone Civic Association, they explained that they were very appreciative of the design and the fact they were using porches, and they had no issues with the duplex use at all.
And, you know, again, you'll see this in the drawings and just the pictures.
Right now, there's a curb cut on both of these properties where we're taking away a curb cut, which would put three cars back on the street.
so they were appreciative of it we're adding some parking back on the street for the general
population and then as you can see here um you know we had either support or non-opposition
so no one who attended this meeting was in opposition of this project
and then i i think one of the provisos that the the group did talk about that's enforceable
is trash stored outside.
So if this board feels inclined to grant
this zoning variance request,
we would ask that the board do so
with a proviso of trash to be stored outside.
And we actually have a specific part
just for illustrative purposes
of where we are going to store it.
And the community agreed
that that was an acceptable part of our property.
And then our petition, like I said,
a little bit out of character
to what we typically do with a petition.
But, you know, my client diligently went by every single property that was on this list, and these are the letters that he, the signatures he got of people who were in support of the project.
And then duplexes nearby, you have 7226 Edmond Street, 7228 Edmond Street, 7232 Edmond Street, 7232 Edmond Street, 7224 Edmond Street.
And those are the properties on our block.
There are also duplexes in nature.
And then nearby properties with nonconforming front yard depths.
So we went on Atlas, and these are the properties just on our block and the next 100 block, which is examples of properties which don't have that 8-foot setback requirement.
And then the nearby properties with minimal or no side yards, and again, we took this off Atlas, but you can see that with the shading of these properties, but you have 7224 through 32, which have no side yards, 7248 and 50, and 7227 as well have no side yards or minimal side yard widths.
And then the nearby properties with minimal or no side yards.
And again, we took this off.
And then maps of the area, we are RSA 3. Again, one of our properties is triple wide because at one point it was three separate properties. We're looking to subdivide again.
And then this is from a Google Maps perspective as well. And as you can see, we're near Torresdale Avenue, which has a commercial component to it. So by adding this density to this part of the neighborhood, we're going to help support that commercial component as well.
And then photographs of the property. This is what the property looks like, 72, 11, and 13. You know, you can see it's like right now it's just a one-story garage with a curb cut. And then this is our hearing notice for today's hearing. And then for the other property as well.
and then you see admin street to the right of the property uh to the left of property you can see
that there are these porches here so it's somewhat of a porch neighborhood and then there are plans
and drawings and this is from gnome architects um but you know just to give you an aerial view
of 72 11 and 13 and see how big we are compared you know in terms of lot size to the other
properties that you know in relation to ours and then this is just that same picture just showing
7213 which is triple wide and then 7211 as well but you can see this curb cut we'll be getting
rid of where we'll be adding three public spots onto the street
and then this is you know their inspiration of how they wanted to go for um you know for porches so
So you've got 71, 50, and 52 Edmond Street, as well as 7044-46 Hagerman Street, are both
porched properties, as well as 71, 32 through 36 Tulip, as well as 71, 49, and 47 Edmond
Street.
And then this is our inspiration.
This is our proposed exterior rendering, again, with a little bit more of a modern twist,
but all bricked up.
On the third story, we set it back and had different type of materials to also kind of make it seem like shorter than it is, but provide a good amount of living space on that third story.
And as you can see, you know, nice porched area, nice, you will have landscaping in the front, very pronounced openings.
we'll see in the floor plans but the first floor unit will be off the entrances on the side the
second unit which is the second and third floors the entrance is on the front and then the first
floor unit will have exclusive access to the rear while uh the second the second unit on the second
and third floors will have access to our roof deck excuse me and then this is just you know our zoning
plans. And then this is our elevations here as well. And then this is our floor plan. So again,
just to reiterate, first unit, you come off this side entrance on the first floor, you have an open
floor plan, you have a bedroom, then you have some, you know, bedrooms in the basement, as well
as some bathrooms as well. So for each of these units are three bedrooms, the first floor unit or
the lower level unit. It has three and a half baths. Instead of going for the first floor unit,
which has ample space, we have like for the upper floor unit, you come up the front, you go up to
the second floor, and that's also a bi-level unit. Again, you come into an open floor plan, you have
a bedroom, you have a bath, and then you have on the third floor, the second floor of this bi-level
unit, you have two additional bedrooms and two baths. So this is three bedrooms, three and a
half baths. This is three bedrooms, three baths. And then you can see here just from the site plan,
you know, our property in the rear is not going any deeper than the surrounding properties. And
because of how these properties are situated on Edmond Street, there's a lot of space between
these properties from a side yard perspective. And even though we're three feet, eight inches
on this side, combined we're seven feet, six inches, which is, you know, combined almost
the eight feet requirements that were required for each property oh and then
in terms of the trash let me see if I thought I had a picture is it this one
Yes. Right here is the shared trash area for both, for all four units, for all eight units.
yes right here is to share a trash area for both
Now, RCO meeting notices, proof of mailing of those notices are that follow, including proof of emailing of those notices that were mailed out.
So we told, you know, the group and the relevant parties that we mailed out 79 notices for each property. These are the addresses that were given to us that we mailed them out to, proof of mailing to those addresses for both, you know, appeals. Like we didn't still rely on one appeal.
even though that overlaps.
Our applications for appeal that we filed on Ed Mears behalf for each
along with the notice of refusal for each
along with the project information for each.
And then finally our certificate of tax clearance
or deeds to the property showing that Ed Mears owns these properties.
And then, again, he owns it in his personal name
So he's taking true ownership of this. He's not hiding behind like any LLC here.
So the people in the community know who he is. And then finally, our certificate of tax clearances.
So while they shows a balance here, those those amounts are not due until March 31st of this year.
Oops. And then that one, there's no money to actually at all.
So with that being said, I would ask that Edmere virtually raise his hand, be sworn in.
I have a few questions for him so he can adopt my testimony as his own,
and then we'll answer any questions the board may have.
And like I said, I have the architect online too,
if you have any architectural questions.
What's the name of your client?
Edmire Bihari, B-E-H-A-R-I.
Okay, he's been allowed to speak.
Mr. Beharie, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Admir?
Hello?
Hello?
Yes, hello?
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yeah, my name is Admir Beharie.
is A-D-M-I-R
and last name is B-E-H-A-R-I.
We're affirmed to tell the truth,
the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth.
Please proceed, counsel.
Yes, Amir,
you heard everything
you have to say today.
And is it true and correct?
And do you adopt this
as your own test?
Yes, sir.
All right, great.
If you could just unmute yourself,
I mean, or mute yourself
because there's old feedback,
that would be great.
Questions from the board. Yeah, I got a question on the porch. I'm looking at your your plans and you show a porch, but I'm trying to figure out how the egress wells relate in the basement to the porch because they don't show up on the plan or unless I'm missing something.
OK, is Justin bright online? I can share my screen and then Justin can go through that.
Justin
could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes it's Justin Bright
J-U-S-T-I-N
B-R-I-G-H-T
we're affirmed to tell the truth
the whole truth is nothing but the truth
please proceed council
yeah Justin you heard
board member John's question about
the egress wells
I'm going to try to get to the drawings and then do you know which one I can I should reference?
Yeah if you go to the unit plans they should be on there. The one right
this one? Yes yeah so correct the the front porch on the the first floor plan you know it's
overlapping a bit with the the property line there but the plan is for the egress well to be
in the porch um so it'll just be you know a great at the porch level that'll still let light down
and egress out for that lower unit bedroom so the so the porch so explain that to me so the porch
can you go to the elevation so the porch is going to be just at the pavement level is that what
you're saying it'll be like a little bit lower than the first floor level um but the plan
It'll be like a little bit lower than the first floor level. But the plan with that, it'd be like a concrete slab that's elevated from grade and the egress will be a hatch and the porch.
And we'll see you next time.
Yes. Yeah. OK. OK. So. OK, go back to the plant floor planning.
So. Because a little weird. So if I just so this is the porch.
Something like that. Right. Yeah. Yeah. That's that's the porch area. And so this is just going to be some kind of great on the porch.
Yeah. Yeah. So it'll be a bit like a little bit deeper than the standard e-garswell, but maybe only by like a foot.
But yeah, they'll still be a great there. We just didn't want to put it in the pathway that goes back to the unit entryway.
Right. How are you going to prevent somebody from putting furniture on top of that?
That's more of like a property management thing, but we can, you know, I understand that the porch is for the upper unit, but that's sort of out of our jurisdiction.
Well, we provide an access panel that's to a porch. People can turn around, put a glider on top of it.
I think that's, I mean, yeah, but as the architects.
So that people don't put something on top of it.
again i'm not the property management company but i would assume as part of the lease
you know there'd be instructions in terms of maintenance of the property as well as
you know again just safety precautions which would include you know just reference to you know the
emergency egress you know out of the lower level for both the front as well as the rear yeah that's
just that's just a odd thing all right thank you you're welcome
yeah how many other uh i mean you may know this um i know you said there were multi-families there
but how many other multi-families that are beyond two units we're not that's all we are two units
No, I mean, you want two units per building, correct?
That's right.
All right.
So is there any other units on the block that are more dense than your project?
That's what I guess I want to ask.
No, I mean, really, again, let me just go back to my screen, but we mimicked properties on Edmund Street.
I think there's a pretty strong line of properties, kind of like ours, on Edmond Street.
Let me just go back there without making everyone nauseous, but let's see.
So let me start with this.
So you had 72, 26, 28, 30, 32, and then 24.
So we have a line of properties across the street on our block, which are similarly like a line of duplexes, just like ours.
That's what we mimicked, you know, after.
My questions, how many bedrooms are in the basement here?
There are two bedrooms in the basement.
and they're bi-level units they are both bi-level units so each unit is three bedrooms
the the lower the the lower level unit is three bedrooms three and a half baths around 1670
square feet the upper level unit which is the second and third floors is three bedrooms three
baths at 1780 square feet it was very attractive to the community to have like these bi-levels so
they're like little mini single families within a larger building structure like these lots are
rather large in nature and it's giving an opportunity for you know you know smaller
families or families in general to rent a nice nicer newer stock of housing but maybe didn't
want to deal with like a full single family home right what's the depth of the basement below
great and what's the height of the building uh the height of the building is 32 feet eight inches
and again we're set back on that third story too to kind of respect the fact that you know
the buildings there are not as high so that third story is not brick it's a little darker
um in terms of the height of the ceilings in the in the lower level the first uh basement level
Not the height of the ceiling, the depth of the slab below grade.
I think it's almost on grade, but I would defer to Justin.
Depth of the basement slab below grade.
oh okay uh yes i justin six feet eight feet uh justin i i don't know if i'm still on um yeah the
Justin?
Six feet, eight feet.
uh the grade does slope up but i think i believe that our slab is eight feet below grade so they
so the the bedrooms are eight feet below grade correct approximately
i always have a real concern with with with with living space that deep below
grade just that's a concern for me as you're like that's below the depth of a grave
you know yeah around anything below that seems excessive
and then you've got a porch on top of that which adds another
foot. So now you're probably nine feet, I guess, or something
below grade. So, all right. Thank you.
Any other questions?
Just real quick, and I can't tell in the drawing. Are these buildings connected in any way
besides that one portion that's going to lead?
Yeah, they're twins. So, again, kind of mimicking the
you know, how they're laid out in some portions of the neighborhood. So you got
you got, let me just, I think the rendering probably does it justice. Just pull that right.
Oh, there you go. That's a good one. This one right here. So you, so you got two sets of twins
here, which again, mimics the architecture that you see in some parts of parts of the neighborhood.
And so we have four twins.
thank you you're welcome
alan just real quick and i you know i understand um michael's questions about the porch with the
escape hatch there and i understand you can work with the tenants what are you doing this modern
day that everybody has something delivered and the delivery man comes with a heavy package and
throws it on top of that i mean how do you how do you stop that um i'm not the architect i i would
think there's ways to like um maybe have a little lip created where you you you can't put anything
on there um i i don't know if it's any different than like if you have like a you know in the well
that's in the front and like center city philadelphia like people just throw stuff all the
time. I'm sure we can, you know, work with the property management
company. Again, I haven't been asked that question before, so
I don't know the answer.
Perhaps it wouldn't be such an instance if there was no bedrooms in the basement. So the urgency
could be if something is on top of that and the bedrooms in the basement, you know, that's just
less than someone's access to get out. No, I hear you. I think Justin was
going to give some type of potential workaround
from an architecture point of view maybe just yeah our architecturally we we can include in
our drawings that there's um you know like a metal guardrail around that so furniture packages don't
get on top of there um as alan mentioned like there's a lot of factors anytime that these are
out on the sidewalk that can really prevent those as well um this one is different you know i don't
think the streets code allows um balconies or like guardrails around those typical sidewalk
egress wells but since this is within our property we can definitely add that protection in um if
that's something that is uh is a concern here um like we said we just didn't want to put the egress
well in the side yard because that's like the main entrance to get into that unit um but that also
has its own yeah you know issues so alan alan wait wait one minute to to address uh maybe the
architect could finish one tonight is issue about why do you have the bad bedrooms in the basement
and not on the first floor yeah so i mean then we won't be talking about this yeah no i hear you
i mean maybe and i hear what the board's saying about the bedrooms in the basement is always a
concern i i think some people do like you know the you know this the silence of bedrooms in the
basement um i i know in law school i had the bedroom in the basement um but like it may be
what I'm hearing from the board is maybe like looking towards maybe some type of steps in the
back rather than the egress well. And if that's maybe preferable, I, again, this is just me
talking out loud and, you know, I haven't talked to my client about it, but if that's something
that's preferred by the zoning board in terms of safety measures, there, there may, I think there's
I think it's kind of hard for them to make a case for density. I mean, a hardship for your
density case here. That's my concern with it was the hardship for the density of the project.
What was the hardship for the density of the project?
Well, so again, you see that, you know, we're using high level materials like we're, you know, the architecture is very pretty.
You know, again, this is a tough environment to build anything.
You know, rates are high. Construction costs are high.
He wants to do something that makes sense for not just him, but the neighborhood.
And that's why he limited himself to two units.
he mimicked what was on that block already um i don't think it's so i don't think it's out of
character to have that density there and the only way that this project can be built is two units
he can't build these as single-family homes like it's not honestly hasn't even been used as single
family homes look at it right now it's a one-story garage on one of the lots and the others is just
open area so there this property has been that way for some time um we're hoping that you know
based on the community support overwhelming community support um we can figure out a way
to make it safe no one wants a story in you know the inquire where someone gets hurt right um we
we understand that but maybe there's an opportunity to maybe put staircase in the back that comes out
the ground instead of like you know with steps going up rather than the egress well and that's
something that the board would consider uh you know i could talk to my client about it obviously
it's an additional expense but you know we we think that this is a great project we think it's
pretty you know do that out the back for one right unless you try to change unless you change
completely the front my my concern because i don't necessarily have a big issue with uh
bedrooms in the basement my concern is the depth of the basement slab below grade because all of
your windows all of your light is below grade which makes it a very sort of dismal place unless
you've got seriously deep and wide window wells that make it you know some of the apartments that
are in new york where you kind of walk down and there's a sort of a below grade patio that's a
different story but when you're eight feet below grade you're just it's just a subterranean
you know environment that for me is is is not sort of the best thing for somebody to live in
we have five and a half feet of wiggle room here so we're 30 well five feet four inches we're 32
feet eight inches to the roof line maybe that's something that we can come back to and maybe
built up a little bit higher to kind of give those windows down in the lower level as well again this
is a really good project it's very pretty i know that obviously there's no perfect project um but
like you know i think this is pretty good and we would like the opportunity if the board feels so
inclined and they have reservations to maybe see about like looking at or hearing what the board
has to say taking a little bit more out of the ground dealing with some of their other
concerns is there any other questions from the board
questions or comments from our attorney
not at this time mr chair
so so hillary you know i i think i think allen's heard a lot from the board
why don't we consider a resumptive hearing and let him come back with different ideas
as a result of what they heard that excuse me that is fine mr chair are are you then
suggesting um that public comment in the recommendation of the planning commission
be held for the resumption hearing i i i think that would be the way to do it and that way we
can actually see everything that he comes up with okay so essentially a revised revised plans um
not necessarily for the board to stamp but at least revised plans that oh no that's absolutely
revised planning by the board concerns yeah yep okay alan yeah i appreciate that thank you for
the input thank you thank you okay we're going to go move on here now
5. MI 2024-006-035-6632-Lime-Kill-Pike.
Alec Sokoloff is the attorney.
There's a letter of support from the 10th Ward Democratic Committee with an enforceable proviso, hours of operation.
Alec Sokoloff has been promoted.
Good afternoon, Chair Bergman, members of the board. Oleg Sokolov here on behalf of the applicant.
Good afternoon, Chair Bergman, members of the board, Oleg Sokol.
Mr. Sokolov, could you, just for the record, spell your name out?
Sure. Oleg, O-L-E-G, Sokolov, S-O-K-O-L-O-V.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Mr. Sokolov, could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
Yes, my client is Star Consulting Group, LLC. On the line is Mr. Raymond, star member, sole member of the entity.
And our vice chair has just a few.
Counselor, do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to his accuracy?
I do, Mr. Shahid.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
I have. I'll describe it in a little more detail as I go about my presentation, but there was some confusion with the particularities of the RCO letter of support, but I'll get into that.
And I actually just emailed Ms. Emerson something from Mr. Wyman-Cardio.
Okay. All right. Yeah. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you very much.
Members of the board, everyone, are you able to see my screen here?
Yes, sir.
Okay, thank you, everyone.
So what we are looking to do is open a sit-down restaurant or cafe, more of a coffee shop on the first floor, and just a commercial space to be used as both storage and office.
On the second floor are an existing RSA 5 lot. As you can see here, the refusals are both for two uses, as well as the restaurant being prohibited in an RSA 5.
So this is, as you'll come to see, a bit of a unique lot. It is a corner lot located at the intersection of Lime Kill and Wine Code Avenue, which is a triangular lot.
As you'll see on the refusal and from the zoning file, this property was previously used as a barbershop that had two curb cuts on either side of the triangle allowing for parking.
Our proposal is to, excuse me, demolish the existing structure that's there, get rid of the on-site parking, and put barricades along the street creating and get rid of the curb cut and create additional parking along the street for this property.
So Mr. Starr and Starr Consulting Group purchased this property in March of 2023, as you'll see here from the deed.
this is our tax clearance some of these pictures I don't have the exact times and dates and Mr.
Stark can testify to it a little further but you know we we knew prior to the RCO meeting that
obviously parking could be an issue so we wanted to just show at various times this these were
taken at Monday mornings Saturday afternoons to show that the area has ample parking on the street
And we would, in fact, be creating, I'll have Mr. The Architect testify about exactly how many spots we think will be created along the adjacent to the parcel itself.
Once we take get rid of the curb cut, it looks like it should be about 10 to 12 spots in total would be created on the street.
So that would be not only a benefit to the restaurant itself, but a benefit to the neighborhood in general.
So these are just some use of the neighborhood.
This structure here, the blue structure, that is the previously used barbershop, which is currently unoccupied and is just a vacant property.
And once again, this is, it used to be these parking spots here were used for the barbershop, but our proposal is to get rid of these curb cuts, put barricades along, as you'll see from the zoning plans, but this is the property here.
So, and I'll get to the plans in a moment, but roughly stated, we're looking to demolish this existing blue building, build a structure that goes out a little bit farther than the existing building, and then a non-covered, open, outside seating area.
So let me do this in reverse order here.
So this is what we are envisioning in terms of the edifice itself.
The first floor would be completely the restaurant. We're envisioning a coffee shop, not a full-scale restaurant. As you'll see from the proviso in the RCO letter of support, the proposed hours of operation are 5 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The first floor would be completely the restaurant we're envisioning.
Excuse me. And then out here would be the outdoor area.
We're envisioning 24 outdoor seats and kind of the same triangle shape that the lot is already set up for.
So going back to the full scale drawings, this is what we are looking at here.
So you have your elevations here. The door would be located on Lime Kiln. So right here, you would walk into the restaurant. There would be room for a small kitchen, some seating, and then, as I'll show in a moment, it would be 24 table seats.
So once again, six four tops and six counter seats inside, and then six outdoor tables, we're envisioning four people per table there.
And again, that would be, that's not a covered porch or anything, that's just an outdoor seating area.
You know, our plan is to have tables with umbrellas, it would most likely be used, you know, in, well, maybe today.
Today's a pretty nice day, but otherwise not in the wintertime.
And then if the board could just see these small circles here, and I'll have the architect speak to this a little further, but these are the barricades that we're envisioning to close off the lot to ensure there are no safety concerns and also to get rid of the curb cuts, which are currently along these frontages here.
This triangle is basically what the board saw as the parking for the existing or previously used barbershop.
so rendering of the inside there would be an ada accessible bathroom some storage rooms
and a stairwell leading to the upstairs along with some storage and a small kitchen
and the upstairs we're requesting uh just a commercial space to be used as further storage
and office um for the restaurant itself we don't intend to rent the space or anything like that
with just a bathroom for administrative staff to use.
This is kind of a more holistic picture of the seating.
So as I described, six indoor tables, four tops, that's 24 seats.
And then these here are the six counter seats and the six outdoor tables.
And then just some elevations and renderings of the property.
As described, you'll see that this is the quarter lot that meets at the intersection of Windcoat and Lime Kiln Pike.
It is a triangular lot, so definitely a unique shape, especially for a single-family home to go on.
We've also, I'll go through this quickly, our application for appeal, our project information form.
And we met with the community on December 17th, where we received unanimous support for this project in trying to work out some of these issues for today with the RCO letter of support and the one proviso that was contained on the letter.
So let me get to it. I spoke to Mr. Cargill, who's the head of the 10th Ward RCO, and he expressed overwhelming support and desire for this project. They really think that a coffee shop restaurant right in this block would be a huge benefit to the neighbors.
There's nothing in the immediate vicinity, as I'll come to show.
There are certainly some comparable variances that have been issued in perhaps like a five or six block radius, but it's a very densely packed residential neighborhood.
So to have a coffee shop for people to be able to come in and grab their coffee on the go or sit down and congregate and have as part of the neighborhood is something that the RCO was very, very much in favor of.
Mr. Starr has longstanding ties to the neighborhood.
So it's really something that he believes is something that he's giving back to the neighborhood that he grew up in and is adding a large benefit to the neighborhood.
So now I'll get to it.
We had originally received this letter of support, which we included in our RCO packet, which contained no provisos.
A few hours later, Mr. Cargill, the head of the RCO, contacted our office, said that they would be sending an updated letter with provisos, which they sent to yourselves at the.
with provisos, which they sent to yourselves at the board, but the email address that they had
for my associate was just incorrectly spelled, so we never received it, hence attaching this
original letter that we received with no provisos. Now, if I may share, the letter that the board
received looks like this, and the proviso that I just want to show the board is this particular
one about capacity. This was just a miscommunication in terms of people. Obviously,
we're looking for more than 10 people on the inside and a capacity of four people on the
outside. The plans that were presented at the RCO meeting are exactly the plans that we're
presenting before the board today. So we did not see this letter until earlier this morning,
at which time I scrambled a little bit and contacted Mr. Cargill to deal with this. Mr.
Mr. Cargill then edited the letter and sent this version of the letter, which just had that proviso regarding capacity removed.
I replied all at CCing Ms. Emerson, and Mr. Cargill also confirmed that this was the appropriate and correct RCO letter of support to be used.
So, Hillary, I don't know if you're listening, but if you could, I'm not sure if you received this email.
Yes, Mr. Sockloff, I did receive the email, but the format that it came in, I couldn't open it.
So if you're able to save it as a PDF and just download it to the upload tool at your convenience, that would be most helpful.
I am going to do my best to be honest with you. Mr. Cargo had edited it on his phone and this
for Mac, I cannot seem to get it to work or allow me to do anything other than open it in the
browser. But he just had an engagement, so I wasn't able to be on this call to confirm. I hope
you did see the email. Yes, I did. I did see the email. Yeah. And perhaps he needs to, when he's
back at his home on his computer he can resend it in a different format or upload it that's what
that's what we intend to do and i am sorry for the confusion oh no no problem no problem thank
you for pulling it up and showing the change because i was not able to see the change but i
did see that a new letter was sent sure so if that's clear to the board as to the little bit
of confusion regarding but we're happy with all of the other provisos the operating hours certainly
the only changes that we're requesting the capacity as demonstrated in the plans,
which once again is 30 indoor seats and 24 outdoor seats.
And as I previously stated, there are a number of variances within about a five to seven block
radius for sit-down restaurants or food prep establishments that have been granted by this
board over the last couple of years. And you can see that they're, you know, in close proximity,
although not directly adjacent or anywhere near this residential neighborhood. That's why we
think this particular restaurant would serve the neighborhood very well.
Our posters for today's meeting hung at the property, zoom in a little further for you.
there they are there and then our certificates of mailing to I believe 102 notices were sent
out to nearby neighbors the the meeting was fairly well attended and I believe we received
15 votes in support and zero in opposition at this time with the board's permission if I can
bring on mr raymond star to testify please star okay raymond star will be allowed to speak
star could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer raymond star raymond r-a-y-m-o-n-d
star s-t-a-r-r firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do please
proceed, counsel. Thank you. Mr. Stark, can you just give the board some idea of, you know,
your relationship to the neighborhood and why it is that you wanted to open a restaurant or a cafe
on this parcel? Yes. I was born and raised in that neighborhood. I was born on the 5100 block
of Beachwood Street, which is about three minutes from the location. And my mother currently live
about five minutes from from the location um it's just something that i always wanted to do
in my neighborhood i always wanted to give back um you know i'm i'm fairly young so i want i i want
You know, I'm fairly young, so I want for the other kids that's coming up to look at something positive
for the other kids that's that's
or to have something positive in front of their face that came from a community, that comes from that community.
And hopefully, you know, we can change things around and have kids, you know, do the right thing instead of the wrong thing.
I plan on hiring, you know, kids from the people from the community.
um i plan on having you know uh back to school drives and um and coat drives you know uh out of
the establishment um i just think that this right here will be something very positive to my
community and i and um i plan on doing a good job with it thank you and as as for um you've heard
my testimony or my presentation for the board today yes and is it true and accurate to the
best of your knowledge yes it is and would you adopt it as your own yes and thank you um nothing
further for mr star unless the board has questions we also have uh jared from level nine architecture
who did these plans on the line to answer any any architecture specific questions questions
from the board a question on the uh time i believe you said that the um hours of operation would be
from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m.?
That's correct.
Why 3 p.m.?
Mr. Starr, you want to answer that?
Because I just think that that gives everybody
an ample amount of time to be able to get everything,
like the food that they need in the area.
I know a lot of family come home around 3,
So I want to make sure that, you know, that that is that they have their parking and make sure that we're not in the way of the families when they come home.
So that's that's why we decided to close at three.
And is the 5 a.m. actual operating hours as in you'll be you'll you plan to to sell at that time or is that like the opening time for the kitchen to start getting ready?
Opening time for the kitchen to start getting ready.
Okay. So when do you believe it will be open to the public, actually? Is it around 6 or 6.30?
Yes, around 6.
Other questions from the board?
Yes, I have a question. Could you just describe to me what the guardrails are going to be around the perimeter of the triangle?
Are they like individual or do you have, are there like netting in between the piles?
Just a description of the barriers.
Jared are you on the line here Raymond Dino if Jared
can you hear me yes Jared has been allowed to speak
could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
Jared Blake J-A-R-E-D B-L-A-K-E
we're referring to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes I do
Please proceed, Council.
Thank you.
Ms. Graham, if you, Mr. Blake, if you could just kind of describe what you envisioned in preparing these plans for the guardrails around the outside seating portion of the property.
Yeah, they would just be safety bollards, nothing in between them.
Steel, concrete, safety bollards about, I think, three or four feet high, just to provide protection for anyone in there in case any cars go off the street or anything like that.
And how far apart are they generally placed?
I believe they're six feet.
So I guess the idea for Mr. Starr is not to have folks sitting there when the business is closed, correct?
Correct.
Correct.
Can you hear me?
but if there's no uh if the but with these with the piles you can still walk like through across
the triangle correct yeah i think the idea is that the the items that are placed down out there
especially the chairs would be removed we haven't gotten as far as you know if they're going to be
permanent tables or tables that are moved back and forth but but nothing will be um
uh out there during working or during non-working hours that isn't able to be brought
on the side, basically. Okay. I thought he was
trying to create some public space, too.
I don't know.
Look, I think that's certainly
something that Mr. Starr, we can discuss
and we would be amenable to, you know, as
you see, he's very concerned for the neighborhood,
so to allow some public space
would be fine. Oh, no, I was thinking, too, just
in terms of his business and liability-wise.
If he's going to close it off, it's going to be closed off.
It's not, it's just going to be open. But thank you.
But thank you. Thank you. The question is from the board. Yes.
Yeah, thank you.
Quick questions from the board.
I'm a little confused about what all is going to be going on here.
There was talk of a coffee shop, but also restaurant.
So what do we what kind of food are we talking about?
Is this actually it's a sit down restaurant, but there was all this talk of it being a coffee shop.
So what are we doing here? Is this like just breakfast and brunchy kind of food?
Is it like a Starbucks where you have coffee, but you have some kind of little snacky kind of food that people can buy or whatever?
How is this going to work in terms of the restaurant piece?
and then I'm not sure about what's going on too on the second floor with the business
and professional and personal services. So Ms. Gaston if I can answer that second question first
no personal services or anything on the on the second floor it's it's just a commercial space
as part of the restaurant because this is in an RSA 5, the two different kinds of uses
are prohibited and any kind of commercial space is also prohibited.
So it's intended to just be office space and storage for the restaurant.
All right.
Mr. Starr, I'll let you answer the question about the menu and type of service there.
Hello, can you hear me?
We can.
oh yes um so so the menu it would be like um like uh well it's going to be like like special coffee
so it's so like like like similar to like starbucks like you know how you get the uh the
frat peas and all that you know that type of coffee but we will also have like uh pancakes uh you know
eggs um um uh you know like breakfast items okay so is is that why we have a you have a kitchen
correct kitchen is going to be for preparing in effect these breakfast types foods and what have
correct yes and that's going to be up until the time you close which is at three o'clock
yes okay and then i guess all right and it says this isn't zoning zoning per se but
you're going to have all this you're going to have almost as many seats outdoors with the 24
outdoor seats is you're going to have indoors but the outdoor seating in the winter or inclement
weather i mean how how is that going to affect your i guess i shouldn't be concerned about this
but your business model in that uh for uh a lot of the time it's when it's raining when it's snowing
when it's, you know, bad weather, when it's cold outside and what have you.
I mean, that space is going to be in effect like dead space.
Yes, well, the outside seating is more so for like spring and summer.
So whenever there's inclement weather, as far as rain, snow, you know, anything inclement,
everything will be inside.
The outside seating will be shut down.
Okay, other questions from the board.
Yeah, I have a question about the storage and of the prepared, like of the materials as you need to cook. I mean, your kitchen seems a little small. So I'm wondering about like refrigeration. And I'm also wondering about deliveries.
so there is a small there is a small there's some storage space it's actually not that small
it's about six by eleven right off of the kitchen um we also intend to have refrigeration in the
kitchen of that and uh and then the upstairs would be for additional storage boxes takeout
containers things of that nature um in terms of deliveries you know it's not a very big
establishment there aren't there aren't planned to be that many items it's not going to be daily
deliveries or anything like that so our intention was just to use the the front door for for
deliveries during that five to kind of six six thirty time if uh available um or just as vendors
are able to deliver and then the trash uh jared where did we i know we made accommodations for trash
uh jared where did we i know we made accommodations for trash
could you tell us what that is yeah jared
yes the the the trash is intended to be
uh i'm not sure what we had done with the trash
um oh oh that's right uh there's there's closets underneath the the stair going up
um their mark is storage but but they would be uh trash around there are they vented
yeah they'll be vented okay i guess to question yeah i guess just one last comment i think um
probably a great opportunity for this community Chris the kitchen has to comply with health
department you know hand wash things really not really not big enough and efficient for any kind
of eating establishment or cooking establishment the other thing is I keep hearing that the second
floor is going to be used for storage but is there any reason that that second floor couldn't
be used for something else since it has a completely separate distinct entrance from
the from the restaurant it's also listed as future commercial space okay so it's so
potential to be an additional commercial space okay i just wanted to be yeah it's it was kind of
you know intended to be overflow space for that's fine that's fine i just wanted to be because i
was hearing one thing but i'm seeing something else you know what i mean it was just for storage
for the for the um restaurant i would i would think that there would just be a door from the
restaurant but there's a door from the street so clearly you can have additional use for that space
it's certainly not intended to be any kind of like third party use um it was just intended to be kind
of an office space for mr mr star and and the business of the restaurant as well as any kind
of other office uses that he would be doing yep questions from our attorney hillary emberson
um two two things one in terms of the provisos that were suggested by the rco
i think the only one that's enforceable is that the hours of operation which i understand
is 6 a.m to 3 p.m um i assume that was would be seven days a week there wasn't i didn't see any
days listed for you know what specific days that that those hours would be yeah the the intention
is for seven days a week i mean obviously it's something that you know mr star intends to see
how how the business is going and and how um frequented it is on weekdays versus weekdays
so it's not set at this point but those hours were intended to be for seven days a week
okay um and then then sorry one other thing um the so i'm a little confused why the refusal
has the personal services and the business and professional office on it as primary uses if the
the office is just accessory to the restaurant and there's not going to be any personal services
so if all it's being requested here is is a sit-down restaurant um then there's only a
variance needed for a sit-down restaurant there's not a multiple principal uses issue um
is is that is that your understanding as well i'm just a little confused
yeah the personal services portion i'm not sure where that came from the business office
it was ancillary to the to the restaurant um but i believe that the board issued that refusal for
business office even though it was part of the restaurant so okay um i mean i so if if the board
is inclined to grant this i would i would just clarify the uses that are being granted um it
sounds like sit down restaurant and if ellen i indicated that there should be a separate refusal
for business and professional office, that's fine.
I think that does open the door to there being a separate business
on the second floor that's a business and professional office.
But I don't know that that is necessarily,
that does not seem to be an issue with the community
or something that, you know, is part of the provisals.
That's how the refusal is written is three different uses,
primary uses, so.
And we have a question. Since the two floors do not connect to each other, like currently, you would have to leave the restaurant to go around the corner to go up to the business office.
When those technically be two separate commercial condos or spaces like.
Or spaces like that may have been why L and I did it, did it that way.
That may have been why Elle and I did it.
That's what I believe that.
I believe that because there is no access from the first floor,
just intended to create more space on the, uh, on the first floor that they,
they issued the business office refusal as a separate refusal.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Charles Richardson just raised his hand
and we'll be allowed to speak
good afternoon Mr. Richardson
how are you sir
Charles Richardson
not representing the 8th district today
Richardson
first name is Charles
else you do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do uh i have an architectural question with regard to this uh second floor of the of this
uh built business i have family and friends that own and work at the date here that is next door
and attached to that uh building that they're going to be demolishing on the second floor there
is a window there. If Oleg could go back to his shot where he's posted the notice and things along
those lines, you can see that second floor window. And I'm just wondering how are they accommodating
that window or what are they doing with regard to that and how tall is that second floor going to
reach two.
Jared, is that something that you can answer for Mr. Richardson?
Our total height is 28 feet.
It would fall below the third floor window there, but the second floor window would need
to be addressed.
um it's technically not supposed to be there as it's on the property line um but that's something
that we'll have to figure out have you guys contacted the uh owner of the um take care
we have not we wanted to see how how this today's um hearing would turn out before
kind of making arrangements for that window okay uh i'll have them contact you olick
and um that way you can you know get something started with regard to that okay thank you thank
you thank you mr richardson yeah i would think they would probably want to address it at some
point anyway even if this doesn't get built if they have if they have windows on the property
line that's technically you can't have windows on the property line so they probably need to
address that sooner than later yeah i mean to be honest that we you know kind of didn't want to
bring that up to the board and and you know alert alert you guys of the issue of the daycare but
anyone else in the virtual audience
there are no more
thank you planning commission
amy board with the planning commission
amy boyd
i refer him to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do please proceed
the comprehensive plan recommends
the changing zoning at this location
for the existing single family residential
rsa 5 to commercial
mixed use cmx 2
We note that the ball is proposed, if in the right-of-way, would require a street spill from City Council.
The proposed uses would be allowed by right under the proposed zoning.
The Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the requested variances for sit-down restaurant and business and professional offices.
Hillary, just the only proviso would be the time?
The time, and I would, if the board is inclined to approve, specify that approving the sit-down restaurant in the business and professional office uses only.
MI 2024-006-035-6632 Lamp-Kill-Pike.
I vote yes with proviso.
Time of operation, 5 a.m. to 3 p.m., seven days a week.
approval for
sit-down restaurant and business
operation. Michael Johns,
my vote is yes with provisos.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote
is yes with provisos.
Tanetta Graham,
my vote is yes with provisos.
Ayah Wynn, my vote is yes with provisos.
Ishmael
Shaheed, my vote is yes with provisos.
Thank you, Council.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you very much. And Hillary, I'll be in touch
Thank you very much.
Hillary, I'll be in touch about amended refusal if we need one, and I'll also send over the
But, um,
letter as soon as I can get it from the RCO.
Yes, thank you.
And I don't think we need to do an amended refusal in this case because it's just a change
of use.
I mean, well, there's plans and whatnot, but it's just the use that's being clarified.
And we were able to do that via proviso, so we don't need to worry about a new refusal.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, members of the board.
Number six, MI 2024-006-056-465 Parlin Street.
Alan Nockamson is the attorney.
There's a letter of opposition from Somerton Civic Association.
The vote was 12 in opposition, 7 in support.
There were a total of 35 people in attendance.
Alan Nockamson will be rejoining us.
Mr. Chairman, just state your name.
It would have been sworn.
Yeah, Alan Ockamson.
Would you identify your client and relationship to the property?
Yeah, my client is Lasha Kik Bidese, who is the owner of the property. He owns it in his personal name.
The chair has a few questions.
Counselor, do you agree to wait to read another refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Well, yes, we did thank the council, please proceed and share.
So this is a very straightforward matter, and I think the opposition is because they're opposing something we're not doing so for 65 parlin street.
is a duplex right now. It's an RTA-1 property. And what we're trying to do is take a portion
of that property and put a home office for unit number one. So I guess there's been a lot of just
issues with people taking, you know, these garages, converting them into livable space
and making them into a third unit, which is not our intention. And we stated that to the community
and that if we wanted to make it into a third unit, we would have to come back to the zoning board.
But that's the issue.
And there's no issue with converting the garage to livable square footage
because there's many instances of that in the neighborhood, even next door to us.
So we'll first review the notice of refusal.
And then the correspondence from the Somerton Civic Association, again,
they reference the fact that, you know, we're trying to make this into a third unit, which we're not.
There's like a utility room, which includes a washer and dryer.
We didn't have a picture at the time of the hearing, excuse me, at the community meeting
showing that.
We have it now.
We showed it to them after the community meeting, tried to explain to them, we're not trying
to make the first floor into a whole nother apartment.
My client actually, even though it's a duplex, he lives there.
He's in the restaurant industry.
He has his restaurant down the block, you know, from here, and he just wants to use this converted space into a home office.
So anyway, we'll look at the 400 block of Parlin Street where you're going to see nearby surface parking spaces, which is basically what we're asking for here.
Then maps of the area. Again, we're not increasing density here.
This is RTA1, which allows for two units, which we have right now and we hope to keep.
Photographs of the property are simple plans and drawings or RCO meeting notice or applications for appeal and the deed to the property, showing that Lasha owns the property in his personal name and he lives there with his wife and the certificate of tax clearance.
So the notice of refusal, again, RTA1, and it's for the removal of an existing interior parking space, right?
and basically we're going to have parking in front of our property like everyone else has
and we're just going to, again, have the two-family living, which is already legal as of right,
but we're just adding to the square footage, the interior square footage of unit number one.
So the correspondence from the Sermonton Civic Association,
they're in opposition to a variance that we're not seeking.
We're not seeking a triplex.
We're seeking, we have a duplex, and we just want to have a home office in there, in one of the units.
And then again, not out of character, we did an inventory of the 400 block of Parlin Street. And you can see there's 11 other instances, 12 is us, but we're number one, but two through 12, there's 11 other instances of properties which converted the garages to livable space.
And then, again, not out of character, we did an inventory of the 400.
And then they have surface parking in the front. So we're not doing anything different than what everyone else has in the neighborhood. Again, I think some of these people, not us, have converted that garage to another unit on top of there, and we're not looking to do that.
So here's 400 and 402 Parlin Street, service parking in the front, converted the garages.
404 and 406 Parlin Street, the same.
424 and 426 Parlin Street, the same.
436 Parlin Street, 442 Parlin Street, 446 Parlin Street, 452 Parlin Street, 467 Parlin Street, which is literally the house next door to us.
They're doing the same. They're doing the same thing.
456 Parlin Street, 474 Parlin Street, 499 Parlin Street.
So that's just our 100 block. I didn't even go past that 100 block.
I was just like, here are other 11 other instances.
And again, we're RTA one. We're allowed to duplex. That's what we have.
We're not trying to do a third unit. If we did,
we would have to come back to this board and seek variance approval.
And then photographs of our property. So the work was done already.
So, again, my client, not well-versed in this area, did the work, saw his next-door neighbor have the work, had 11 other instances.
So, again, you know, we're trying to legalize this, but this work has already been done.
And so, just so you understand, you know, the entry point for his unit, which is unit number one, is this side entrance.
And then you either go up a little flight of steps for unit number one, or you go down where you go up another flight of steps for unit number two.
But you can go down a little flight of steps.
And this is the home office that he's trying to legalize by way of removal of the garage.
Orange notice poster.
Parliament Street to the right of the property and to the left of the property, which also kind of shows some of the instances where the garages have been convertible to livable space.
The interior. So he has done the work, you know, again, did not know any better.
You know, he has a restaurant down the block from here.
He just, you know, wanted a quiet.
He has, you know, he works from home when he's not working in the restaurant.
And he just wanted a quiet space that's separate and apart from where he lives.
And he created this home office.
Here's a bathroom down there.
He has like a little kitchenette down here.
And then this was the biggest issue.
They're like, oh, what's going on with the other half of the first floor?
We're like, it's a utility room.
It's a common utility room for units one and two.
And he's unit one.
And they have their laundry in there.
And here's the laundry facility.
But they were like, oh, you converted that too.
And we didn't have a picture at the time.
We're like, we'll get you a picture.
But they still were against our project.
And then there are plans and drawings.
You know, this is what it previously looked like.
This is the walkway to the left, which is the common entryway, which was before the garages.
there was no entryway. And then we made some simple floor plans here, but you can see
that walkway to the left. You come in, you go down like a half a flight of steps. Everything's
above grade, like even the living area because of how it's sloped. But it's a bathroom, kitchenette,
living room. Again, not to scale. We're not architects, but I just want to give you a general
sense of what's there. This is that utility room there. So you make a right, go down a flight of
steps or half a flight of steps and you go into this home office which was a former garage which
is around 500 four or 500 square feet and then this is the utility room as well and they thought
that we were trying to make blow this out and make this into a whole other unit which is not the case
and then here's existing conditions as well this is where lasha lives with his wife it's two bedrooms
open floor plan bathroom and then this is his renter up here kind of the same thing
Meeting notice, we met on December 10th at 7pm. We emailed that notice a few weeks beforehand to the coordinating RCO and relevant parties, showing that we mailed it to a hundred
uh to the coordinating rco and relevant parties showing that we mailed it to 105 addresses these
are the list of the addresses proof of mailing to these addresses the application for appeal
it's actually i apologize it's actually owned to my client's llc argo llc belasha is the member of
the llc project information form the deed to the property showing that argo is the owner
And then finally, the tax clearance money's owed, but it's not yet. Not until March 31st. With that being said, I would ask that Lasha virtually raise his hand.
did you say rasha lasha l-a-s-h-a last name k-i-k-v-i-d-z-e okay thank you i have her
she will be allowed to speak could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
can you please unmute yourself
could you please state your name hi could you please state your name and spell for the
stenographer. Yes, my name is
Lasha, L-A-S-H-A
and Kikvize,
K-I-K-V-I-D-Z-E.
we're affirmed to tell the truth, the whole truth,
nothing but the truth. Yes, sir.
Please proceed, counsel.
Yes, Lasha, you heard everything
I had to state today about your zoning
matter. Yes,
I did. And is it true and correct?
Yes. And do you
adopt it as your own testimony? Yes.
questions for the board
uh yeah i so so the the requested uh zoning is a is for the for an office in the basement as part
of the one unit correct yes the the refusal has to do with the surface parking in the front
we can't be the refusal the certain it says the surface parking spaces are not permitted within
eight feet required in the front yard so that's the technical refusal and the reason why we have
the parking in the front yard is because we eliminated the garage that we previously had
which is the same thing that 11 other property owners have done on that block so it's just a
home office in the sense of he just works there it's not like we're creating like from a zoning
perspective a home office he just works down there like this is Dan for him basically
okay well i hear what you're saying right and it's probably true i agree that it's true
but the way that the plans show it shows that it almost could be an independent
efficiency because it's got a full-bedroom it's got a living room and a kitchenette
and it's 500 square feet you said that's a efficiency so i'm so not so i don't so but
If there's no refusal for that, I guess it doesn't matter because we're just talking about the parking.
That's right. Yeah. And to be fair, that's what the community thought, too.
And we're like, he lives there. He has a restaurant like a mile down the road.
I hear you. And he knows that, you know, if he tried to put a third unit and I explained it to him,
If he just or someone else, a future owner of the property, try to put a third unit in there, they would get a violation notice because they would have to come back here to get that third unit approved.
But there's no there's no intent to do that.
I mean, from my client's point of view, again, the refusal has to do with the parking, not trying to put a third unit in there.
Other questions from the board?
Not a question, but a comment. The conversions without first getting permits is, you know, a problem.
No, and you're not, your client is the only one, but, you know.
well and board member gaston as you know that this is just the first step on in this process
and you know ellen i rightfully should make it painful for people who do these conversions
and you know he's gonna have to get a building permit and he's gonna have to get a co which
And he's going to have to get a CO, which means he may have to open up some walls, do some modifications, and he should.
means he may have to open up some walls do some
He should get all the approvals that he would need.
He just didn't know better.
Like, you know, he's, you know, not he's moved here, you know, from Georgia, like not Georgia, the state, but the country, like English, you know, not first language.
He just works in the restaurant industry and he didn't know better.
That's not an excuse, but we're here to legalize this structure first from a zoning perspective.
Then obviously he needs to get a CO, which is another hurdle that he needs to separately overcome.
Did you say he works in the restaurant industry or that he has a restaurant?
He has a restaurant. He has a place called Golden Gates in the Northeast.
So then he is aware of the myriad of permitting processes that you have to go through then to be approved to have just about anything.
So, again, well, he purchased the restaurant.
No, he. So when he hit the restaurant that he purchased, he was a server in this restaurant.
He didn't build this restaurant from scratch.
He obviously I never really asked him the question, but I'm sure he knows about the health department and things like this. He never did any type of construction.
And he saw everyone else had it. So I'm not here to give excuse. I'm just stating like his state of mind.
Okay. And, you know, again, he's not the only one.
I know.
Great.
Other questions from the board?
questions or comments from our attorney
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes chair alice alice yudovic will be allowed to speak
hi alice could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer
Good afternoon, Chairman and members of the board. Alice Udovich, U-D-O-V-I-C-H, on behalf of Councilman Brian O'Neill.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
Chairman, the councilman does not have any objection to the addition of the outdoor parking space.
We have all of the same concerns that the board, and particularly Ms. Gaston, stress.
you know, this could easily be used as an efficiency apartment. You know, we seem to have
so many properties in the area that are doing these illegal conversions. So just to really
stress that this property is to be used as a duplex and solely as a duplex.
Other questions from the virtual audience? And before you take any questions, I have no
problems putting a maximum of two units to read I don't know if it's necessary but to restate that
so in case you know this someone else tries to do a variance of some sort later on it's known that
we you know it was only granted for two units and nothing more than that and it has nothing to do
with that but you know it has to do with the parking but just to restate that Hillary can we
do that it's already two units right i mean
typically like typically you know provisors are supposed to be related to
what you know the the relief that's being requested i think it does um i mean it does
say on the refusal that this is accessory to an existing two-family household living so it is clear
that the use is not that use is not changing um so i think a proviso in that case would
would be redundant and might be a little confusing because this is about parking
um but it is it is if it wasn't stated on the refusal i would say yes let's clarify what the
current use is but it is stated on the refusal what the current what the current use is so
question for you hillary too now so this office space in the basement there was discussion that
there would be a co required etc etc so how does that play into anything at this point if it's just
about the parking i mean well if if they so if they went for the owner went for a co and there
was a change and they said that this is a change of use you have to have a zoning permit that
that matches what your co says in terms of um in terms of the use so the i i don't know if they
would need exactly well the co is for fire safety so it may just be certifying that this
need exactly well the co is for fire safety so it may just be certifying that this this habitable
We'll see you next time.
space meets the fire safety requirements of the code it's not necessarily changing the use um
but i don't know exactly a co would be required but certainly a building permit would be required
and those generally of a co built into them so is that a proviso that we would say that this
basement convert or this garage conversion to an office you know is it requires a building you know
is there i don't know i i would i i think you could add a proviso um you know must obtain a
building permit um and that if there's a co if a co is needed then that would be concluded in
the building permit they say must need a building permit for the prior use for for the for the prior
work um right um yeah just uh must yeah obtain uh how do they call it here um must obtain a
building permit for the removal of the interior parking garage i don't know if you would need a
building permit for the parking spaces as well um but obviously a zoning permit for that because
the location of the spaces is changing and generates a refusal.
But I think for a building permit, for sure,
for the removal of the interior parking garage.
Any other questions from the board?
Any questions for the virtual audience?
Any questions?
Excuse me, Chair, there's a Surin last name beginning in P
will be allowed to speak.
could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
hi uh my name is suren pogosov it's s-u-r-e-n last name p-o-g-o-s-o-v
we're affirmed to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do are you a neighbor uh yes i live in the neighborhood and i don't have any questions
Just want to comment that there's a lot of homes in the neighborhood that were converted, that garages were converted into a living space.
And, you know, I don't see any problems with that.
People, I attended that neighborhood hearing and people were complaining about taking the garage spaces.
But nobody today is really parking in the garage.
So I don't see a problem with that. And I guess I'll support the project.
Thank you for your support. Thank you for calling in. We appreciate it. Is there anyone else?
There are no more hands.
Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the existing residential to family attached RTA2.
The appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique physical conditions or circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code.
The Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny the requested variance for surface parking within the required front yard.
MI 2024, 006-056-465 Harlan Street, I vote yes with proviso.
Building permit to be obtained for work on garage.
Is that enough, Hillary?
I would say for removal of interior parking garage, just to match the language on the refusal.
Removal of interior parking garage.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.
Earl Gassman, my vote is no.
Tana Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
my vote is yes with proviso ishmael shaheed my vote is yes with proviso
thank you number six and number seven i'm sorry
mi 2024-006-088-9100 bluegrass room brett feldman and leonard altieri are the attorneys
um no rco letter or summary but notice was sent to the neighbors with proof of mailing
there is a letter of support from council member driscoll
who states that the rco is in support of this as well
brett feldman has been promoted to panelists
afternoon council
Mr. Feldman
yeah yes uh Mr. Chair good good afternoon uh Brett Feldman on behalf of the applicant and
um my co-counsel on this is Leonard Altieri I'd ask that he be promoted also he's going to be
hold it hold it hold it Mr. Feldman do me a favor could you go on our video first so we can see
And you want your co-counsel?
Is he with you or is he somewhere else?
He has his hand raised.
He has been promoted.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Mr. Feldman, could you state your name again and spell for the stenographer?
Brett Feldman, 1835 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19103.
Just for the record, could you spell your name for the stenographer?
Yes, B-R-E-T-T, Feldman, F-E-L-D-M-A-N.
Affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Can you hear me?
Mr. Chairman, I'm actually going to be the one presenting, Leonard Altieri with the law firm of Claire Harrison.
I think that's what Mr. Feldman was trying to inform the board.
All right, thank you.
Mr. Altieri, could you state your name again as spelled for this stenographer?
Hi, Ken, Mr. Chairman. It's Leonard, L-E-O-N-A-R-D. Last name is Alteri, A-L-T-I-E-R-I, the law firm of Claire Harrison Harvey Brandsburg LLP.
Are you a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client in relationship to the property?
Yes. So my client is Quick Lube of Carolina, Welsh Road, LLC.
They are the applicant for the application that we have here, and I am their attorney
of record.
Vice Chair has a few questions for you, sir.
Council, do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits as needed to proceed with this
case five days in advance of this hearing?
I did, Mr. Vice Chairman, and then supplemented that exhibit packet, I believe, yesterday
when we received the letter of support from Councilman Driscoll's office.
Thank you, counsel. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you very much, sir.
Are you able to see the screen?
Not yet.
Coming up now.
And you're able to see that now?
We see it now, sir.
Perfect. So thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and members of the board.
We are here, as we stated, for the property located at 9100 Bluegrass Road.
It is currently a former three-lane Bank of America local branch.
To orient the board here is an aerial view.
We have Welsh Road traveling this way and Bluegrass this way.
Again, it is a Bank of America local branch, which is closing.
The property is located in the CA2 auto-oriented commercial 2 zoning district.
It's also subjected to about four overlay districts, none of which are relevant for the discussion this afternoon.
What my client is proposing to do, and we were here before the zoning board probably about two months ago for another one of these applications over on Cotman Avenue.
He's proposing to construct a three-bay, 1,738-square-foot Take-Five oil change facility.
This will be the second location in the Philadelphia market.
They are more a southern and western entity that is starting to break out into this region, both in the suburbs of the city of Philadelphia, New Jersey, and in the city itself.
Just by way of background, Take-Five oil change is a service in which the customer drives into the building.
They remain in their car the entire time and then leaves when the service of their choice is completed.
There are over 800 Take 5 facilities currently in the United States, and Take 5 provides just a limited amount of services consisting of the following.
They do oil changes, windshield wiper replacements, engine air and cabin air filter replacement, cooling exchange, rotating tires, and state inspections.
The year-to-date 2023 average for service is about 11.2 minutes, with a high-volume hour of 10 cars being serviced at a time.
With regards to traffic flow, we are removing an existing curb cut, which is currently on Welsh Road.
This will be a landscape area that will have stormwater retention underground, so the community won't see it, but the stormwater will be housed under there.
They will have access from both Bluegrass as well as onto Welsh Road.
This entrance up here where my cursor is currently showing is part of the larger entrance from
where my cursor is currently showing, is part of the larger entrance from the shopping center,
as you can see right here, and it is an existing entranceway that is currently on the property.
The hours of operation that my client is proposing is going to be seven days a week.
It'll be from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Now, QuickLube is not just an entity that comes in and then,
you know, doesn't become a good neighbor. They've kind of prided themselves on every location in
which they are operating in, they do become a good pillar of the community. They provide
employment opportunities to the local individuals. They try to hire people who are looking for second
chances as well to improve their lives. They also focus on internal promotions to grow and develop
that local talent to take on leadership roles. They also do fundraisers two times a year. One
is for the local children's hospital, which I believe would be the Children's Hospital of
Philadelphia. The second is for a fault of honor, which helps the families of deceased military
members who've lost their lives in the line of duty. This is a rendering of what the Take 5
facility will look like. Obviously, this is void of any of the signage, which is a separate
application, but this is what it would look like. Again, individuals would pull in. There's three
bays that we have here. They would come in. They would get their service of choice of that limited
six that I stated. They stay in their car the entire time, and then they pull out.
The reason why we are here before the zoning board is because the proposed use, personal vehicle
repair and maintenance, is not permitted in the CA2 commercial zoning district. From a review of
the prior zoning history of this property, before the Bank of America came in around 1998, for about
33 years, a gasoline service station was present on the subject property, as is evidenced by the
documents that I provided to the zoning hearing board, the zoning board of adjustment, excuse me,
and the documents that are currently being shown on the screen right now. And the argument that
we would make is that a service station, gasoline service station, which this was a Sunoco,
is similar use to what we are proposing to do with a personal vehicle repair. As I did note,
we did meet with the RCO. We met with the Northeast Community Civic Association on November 6, 2024.
That meeting was very positive. There was no negative conversations that took place there.
There was no negative vote. We did receive a letter of support from Councilman Mike Driscoll's
office, which was provided to the zoning board and which is on the screen right now. With that being
said, Mr. Chairman, that's all that I have with regards to presentation. I do have my civil
engineer, Ms. Lindsay Braylinger from Bowler Engineer. And then I also have a representative
of the ownership group, Mr. Des Roberts, who can adopt that, adopt the testimony that I just
provided. Have your testimony adopted. Have your engineer stand by in case there's a question from
the board. Perfect. So bring on your. Perfect. So Des, if you can just raise your hand on the
screen and we'll get you promoted to panelist. Should I promote Des? Please. Okay. Not, not
panelist. No, we don't need a panelist, do we? No. Okay. Des has been allowed. Just bring them
Sorry about that.
They've been allowed to speak.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, this is Des Roberts with Quickly with the Carolinas.
D-E-S, last name Roberts, R-O-B-E-R-T-S.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Des, were you on the call when I went through that presentation?
Yes. And is everything you heard me say true and accurate to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief?
Yes. The only thing I would say is that the Bank of America is closed, just to clarify, and has been for a decent period of time.
It's not closing now. It has been closed. Outside of that, yes, I adopt everything that Mr. Alteri said and agree and confirm.
Thank you very much. And I'll just say, I said just that last question one more time.
um so you if i was to call you to testify you would have adopted this testimony as your own
yes thank you very much sir that's all i have mr chairman all right questions from the board
the nine uh new parking spaces for customers or are they for cars that are going to be
temporarily parked while work is being done so these parking spaces council member when
And excuse me, the member win just gave you a good promotion.
Promoted again, right?
So remember when the parking spaces that you see here and here are going to be for employees only.
As I noted in the presentation, when you pull in for your service, you don't leave your car at all.
You will stay in your car the entire time and work is performed the entire time while you stay in your car.
the entire time while you stay in your car again the average 2023 year is 2023 year average is
Again, the average 2023 year is 2023.
about 11 minutes for you to get the service to that you choose i should have three bags moving
i have my oil changed i've been in and out in 11 minutes i love it we'd love to have you mr johns
other questions from the board
questions or comments from our attorney
not at this time mr chair the comments from the virtual audience
see no hands planning commission
the comprehensive plan oh amy board with the planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the existing
commercial auto-oriented ca2 the appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique physical
conditions or circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance
with the zoning code. The Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny the requested
variance for personal vehicle repair and maintenance. MI 2024-006-088-9100 Bluegrass
Road. I vote yes. Michael John, my vote is yes. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Iowan, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you very much, everyone, and have a good day.
Number 10, MI 2024-006-100, 304 South Street.
Alan Nockmson is the attorney.
There's a letter of support from South Street Head House District,
a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Squilla,
and a letter of support from the South Street commanding police officer, Lieutenant Ritchie.
Also, there's a petition signed by 57 people.
Two are in the media block of 300 South.
Mr. Nockamson.
Alan Nockamson has been promoted.
Alan Nockamson.
Thank you.
Could you identify your client, a relationship to the property?
Yeah, my client is the tenant, Nikki Lopez, LLC.
And in the virtual audience is its owner, Matt Paneth.
The vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel.
The vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reason of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits as needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, we have.
Thank you, counsel.
Please proceed and share your screen.
so very excited about this project for the musically inclined people this is the old jc
dobbs on south street um it's had a long history and it's been unused for the last few years so
So, you know, Matt's looking to reinvigorate it through what he's going to do on the first floor, which, you know, again, would be like there's a bar.
And then on the second floor would be live performances like before.
So during our presentation, we'll review the notice of refusal, the letter of support from the South Street Head House District, and a resolution from them as well.
I think there's two provisos that are enforceable, would be commercial trash pickup and no live music on the first floor.
Those are the ones I at least saw, so I defer to the board, though.
Use registration permits.
Again, this has a long history.
I think as far back as 1961 that the CMX2 property has been used as a bar.
And then I think there's further evidence of the live entertainment aspect of it on the second floor.
Again, last use is J.C. Dobbs.
Petition, my client really worked hard on this.
This is really important to him.
He's in the music industry.
And, you know, back in the day, you know, you had bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Oasis, Green Day, at least what I listened to, that started out and, you know, here.
So that I recently went to a Pearl Jam concert myself and he actually mentioned J.C. Dobbs, like remembering how, like, you know, he had a story with Kurt Cobain, where Kurt Cobain, you know, was, I guess, dribbling on basketball or something and broke, you know, through the wall or something.
And then he came and then said Kurt was here.
So it's a really cool venue.
So for anyone who's musically inclined would know this venue.
Letter of endorsement from the Philadelphia Police Department.
so again
South Street
you know
used to be
the spot
the spot where you had like cool establishments like that and you know with jim steak steaks like
where you had
like cool
establishments
like that
and you know
with Jim
reopening in the last few months and now this you know hopefully we get a little more energy on
south street we definitely need that uh next thing is press like you know it's you know this this
venue or proposed venue has already been profiled in the philadelphia inquirer maps of the area
photographs of the property interior photos um just again just seeing what it looks like
not really changing up much um architectural plans and drawings rco media notice application
for appeal the lease you know showing my client has a equitable interest in this property by way
of a lease and a legal interest uh and the certificate of tax clearance again the conclusion
my presentation i would ask that matt just virtually raised his hand and then have a few
questions for him cmx2 property um all we're trying to do is have a there's already a permit
of record to allow for an eating and drinking establishment on the first floor this all has to
do with just reinvigorating the use of assembly and entertainment and that's what we're planning
to do here hopefully with the board's approval and again this has a long history of that
letter of support from the coordinating rco they had you know and a letter of non-opposition from
the council member they had a resolution and again i think the only enforceable provisos
are commercial trash pickup there's also already a dumpster in the back that's shared with another
operator of another property nearby as well as no live music on the first floor use registration
just again just showing the history of this property as far back as 1961 this has had this
type of use and then the petition my client did it like it worked really hard this is really
important to him and i think to uh you know the people on south street too to kind of wiping up
the place and then a letter of endorsement from the police department so he he's you know he's
done everything diligently and responsibly to get that special assembly occupancy license
and then the press again tells a little bit about matt and nikki lopez and what he's planning to do
here um and you know how he's taking over the former uh jc dobbs venue and then just a little
bit more press about like how pearl jam the runner played there and then about a little bit more of
the history of it and then maps of the area again cmx2 we're in the commercial corridor this has
a long history 64 years of similar type of use and then this is what it looks like now it would
be nice to take away uh that that boarding on the front uh to like open this place back up
orange notice posters south street to the right of the property to the left of the property
interior photos so that's not they're not there that's just a promotional what it looked like
back in the day but this is what it looks like now that's the first floor um our plans and
drawings pretty basic you know there's two ways to get to the to the live venue uh you can go
through the front door on this and you go straight up the steps to the second floor where you have
the stage and live venue or you can go through the first floor where it's the the bar in terms
of food it's really they're not cooking on the premises they're it's like hot dogs so it's they're
not there for their food um but there's you know ticket merchants as well where you go up the rear
steps to that second floor and then the third floor is just a green room where the talent you
know hangs out until they perform and then there are some offices and some storage on the third
for rco meeting notice we met on november 14th at 6 30 p.m we emailed that notice of 10 days
beforehand to the coordinating rco and other relevant parties laying them no we mailed that
notice to 303 addresses which of those addresses showed them also proof of mailings those addresses
our application for appeal that we filed on nikki lopez's behalf
the venue along with the notice of refusal and the project information form the relevant
portions of the lease so we have the front page you know and more importantly the signature pages
certificate of tax clearance again none of these taxes are due until like march 31st of this year
i will unshare my screen i would ask that matt virtually raise his hand
Matthew has been allowed to speak.
matthew has been allowed to speak matt could you please state your name is spelled for the
stenographer matthew paneth m-a-t-t-h-e-w p-a-n-e-t-h you swear or affirm to tell the
truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do please proceed counsel yeah matt you heard
everything i had to say today about your zoning matter yes and is it true and correct that's
correct. And do you adopt as your own testimony? I adopt that as my own testimony. Thank you.
Questions from the board?
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Just going back to what Mr. Alckmson said, if the board wants to take provisors from
um the resolution that was passed with the rco um i think no live music on the first floor
um would be enforceable and then um commercial trash pickup commercial trash pickup yeah there's
some other things about trash in here but there are things that i think we can get into involves
another um another business may i comment um why don't we let your lawyer comment here
Yeah, I think we're good. Matt, do you have any objection to those provisos?
No, I specifically appreciated the trash proviso, and ahead of the meetings, I reached out to my business neighbor, the Brooklyn Dumpling Shop, and set up a trash program that was identical to theirs.
I am very motivated to be a strong, productive, friendly member of the community.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the existing
commercial mixed use CMX2.
The proposed use is consistent with prior use and the existing commercial corridor.
The Planning Commission recommends the Board grant their requested variance for assembly
and entertainment.
MI 2024-006-100-304-South Street. I vote yes with proviso. Commercial trash pickup and no live
music on first floor. Michael Johns, my vote is yes with provisos. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes
with provisos. Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with provisos. Iowina, my vote is yes with provisos.
Ishmael Shahid, Mahbouda Shahid, we're provisors.
Nockmson, just stay on, please.
So, number 11, MI 2024-006-108-827-North 22nd Street.
Mr. Nockmson is the attorney.
There's a letter of opposition from Strawberry Mansion.
Mr. Nockmson, just state your name for the record.
Yes, Alan Nockmson.
And, Mr. Chair, I think I heard you say 827 North 22nd Street is actually 827.
I'm sorry, it's 1827.
Yeah, I just want to make sure for record purposes.
Okay, sure.
And then, did you identify your client in the relationship to the property?
Yeah, my client is 1827N22 LLC, the owner of the property.
And in the virtual audience is Michael Olley Dodd, one of its members.
vice chair has a few questions council good afternoon uh do you agree to wait to read another
refusal or stipulate to its accuracy i do have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits
needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing yes we have thank you
Council, please proceed and share your screen. Thank you so we're presenting 1827 or 22nd street in the strawberry mansion section of Philadelphia.
First thing we'll review is the notice of refusal.
So this is an RSA 5 lot, rather large in nature.
It is 1,728 square feet.
It's on a block, which has not much development on it.
But the development that there is, is multifamily in nature.
So we did meet with the community.
And the one member of the community that did show up that lived nearby on that block actually supported the project, was very happy that there was going to be some new development on that block.
was very happy that there was going to be some development, new development on that block, because there's a lot of vacant land there.
So we're all surprised that, you know, the Strawberry Mansion Community Concern sent a letter of opposition.
Most of those items are non-zoney related, talking about construction and things like that, how it would be disruptive to the community, and, you know, dealing with a lot of non-zoney related issues.
Now, we did talk after receiving that letter, we did talk to the council member's office and, you know, I don't want to speak for them, but it was, you know, we did talk about how, like, you know, there's a lot of multifamily around there and, you know, that I think what makes more sense is four units.
So if we were, if this board is so inclined to grant the variance request, we would ask for a proviso maximum for units, which falls more in line with the amount of units that are on that block, you know, for other properties.
And then we'll go over the nearby comparable RSA 5 density.
But there's many examples of multifamily on that block, even though there are RSA 5 properties.
Aerial view of the block will show that there's a lot of vacant lots here, and we're trying to spur development through this.
Zoning map will show, you know, the maps of the area from a zoning perspective and generally.
Photographs of the property and the surrounding area.
Our plans and drawings, the only thing is we'll keep the same building envelope.
The floor plans will change slightly because of the 726 units.
There'll be four units. We talked to the council member Zoning Aid yesterday, Colin.
And, you know, so we didn't have time to update our floor plans, but the building structure is going to stay the same.
So from an elevation footprint point of view, like there's no difference from a zoning perspective.
RCO meeting notice. Again, we met with the community.
The only community member that showed up who lived on that block was in support of this project.
Application for appeal, the deeds of property and certificate of tax.
So there was a refusal. So while this is an RSA 5 property, this is a rather massive lot in comparison. It's 1,728 square feet.
We have, in addition to the use refusal, where here it says six units, now we're asking for maximum four units.
There is a slight occupied area refusal where we're required to only occupy 75% of the lot with the building structure.
And we're at 78.8%, which is de minimis in nature.
My client just wants good floor plans and hoping that the board will also accept that refusal as part of, you know, hopefully the granting of this various requests.
Strawberry Managing Community Concern, as indicated, again, you know, the person that showed up in the community was in support of this project.
For some reason, strawberry-managing community concern is against this project, and maybe it has more to do with the fact that, you know, the amount of units, the six units, we presented something similar for a smaller lot at 1820 North 22nd Street.
They did not state their objection at that moment. I do believe it was more of like, we'll leave it to the board. So I don't understand why they would be concerned and object if it was in the same meeting that someone else supported it.
again talks about you know security risk by having shared common areas noise and quality
of life concerns like it's insufficient open space which you know again our request is to
in nature we have a rear yard setback of 16 feet our open area for this property is 368 square
feet. So those are not things that I think make sense from a zoning perspective. And then the last
objection had to do with construction disturbances. So whether it's single family,
multifamily, you would still have construction. And again, you know, my client is a well-known
quantity. He's an affordable housing provider, which he would do here too. But, you know,
He's very experienced in infill work in the state of Philadelphia, and he would obviously respect the needs of any nearby neighbors as well.
And then nearby comparable density here.
So according to my notes, 1829, 1839, 1843, 1845, 1834, and 1800 are all multifamily
in nature, even though there are RSA libraries.
And then the aerial view of the block.
And then the aerial view of the block. So you can see there's a lot of vacancies on this block. So we're hoping to build a four-unit building here that makes sense for the community, also to provide affordable housing.
So you can see there's a lot.
And then, you know, just to see where we are in the neighborhood. Not that far off from Ridge Avenue, so help support the commercial corridor by increasing the density in this part of the neighborhood.
photographs of the property so it's a vacant lot it's been vacant as far back as you can see on
at least google earth or a street view proof of uh posting of the property for today's hearing
north 22nd street to to the right to north of the property to south of property our plans and
drawings so again my client intends to have a flat building facade in the front with lintels
for the windows for cornices on the top traditional brick facade and then the floor plans are going
to change because this was originally a six unit but my understanding took notes when i was talking
to my clients because we try accurately state what he's going to do so the first floor is going
to be a two-bedroom two-bath so originally he broke this up so instead he's going to have a
two-bedroom two-bath on the first floor a two-bedroom two-bath and that's around 1100 square
feet and then same I think maybe a little smaller on the second floor a two-bedroom two-bath
So you'll probably have the, in this portion of each of the two units here, you would have a living room, dining room, kitchen, and then you have two bathrooms and bathrooms in the back.
And then he would keep the one bedroom, one baths that are currently illustrated on the third floor.
We met with the community on December 11th.
Alan, there's no basement living? Alan, the new plan would be no basement living?
um he would have an open floor plan down there for that like you know he does not intend to have
any bedrooms down there but he does intend to have an open floor plan again you know we we're
not going to be virtual come next week at least i'll be visiting you guys like you know in person
but a lot of people still work virtually and you know they just want that extra room so his intention
is to have an open floor plan down there um we defer to the board if they want to put special
protections down there for people but there will be like uh light you know uh window wells in the
front and the back just like that's here but we defer to the board um rco meeting was december 11th
um again there were requests to show even the envelopes a certain way so people didn't think
it was junk mail so you know we you know we had both the 1820 and 1827 north 22nd street meetings
at the same time and by the way the board granted 1820 north 22nd street i think just before the
holidays which was a smaller lot where this one's a bigger lot we're asking for four units
but saying no junk mail please open because that's always been an issue with some people
We emailed proof of mailing of that notice a few weeks beforehand, showing that we mailed it to 158 addresses, proof of mailing to those addresses, the application for appeal, along the notice of refusal, the project information form, deed to the property showing the 1827 N22 LLCs, the owner of the property, and then finally the certificate of tax clearance.
Taxes are actually paid in full.
So I would ask that Mr. Ali Dodd virtually raises his hand.
Let me ask you a question.
1820, how many units?
Three units, but the smaller property.
That was a little more, or let me, I'll tell you exactly, I have it in my notes.
That one was 1,552 square feet.
This one's almost 1,800 square feet.
So it's bigger.
So which kind of goes with the other properties that because there's other properties that have four units on that block and kind of go with this.
Like, for instance, 1800 North 22nd Street, we're actually bigger and that's four units.
So. Mr. Ali Dodd.
Mr. Ali Dodd has been allowed to speak.
Sir, could you please state your name? It's spelled for the stenographer.
My name is Michael Al-Haddad.
Could you spell it, please?
Al-Haddad, A-L-H-A-D-A-D.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Mr. Knackson, please proceed.
Michael, you heard everything I had to state today about your zoning matter.
Yes, I have.
And is it true and correct?
And do you adopt this as your own testimony?
Yes. And based on my communication with the council member's office, where they're asking for a maximum of four units, you find that acceptable?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Questions or comments from the board?
So question. So there are four units. Is the first floor all one unit and the second floor all one unit? Or are they bi-level units like you have on plan?
No, I think, again, talking to Mr. Ali Dodd, we anticipate that the first floor unit will be, well, the first floor would be one unit, which would be a two-bedroom, two-bath.
And then the second floor would be its own unit, a two-bedroom, two-bath.
And so this basement, full access to just the one unit or full access to all the units?
Just the one unit.
Just to one unit. So the basement will be part of the first floor unit.
that's right to provide additional square footage
it's a lot of square footage for the one unit and that's a two-bedroom unit
again it's us having a conversation late in the afternoon with the district council members only
eight uh so again that's our intention based on you know having talking about this for less than
24 hours yeah okay so are you going to submit revised plans for us to look at or no i mean
that was not the intention the intention was you know the because i asked mr ali dot this
you know or you know based on the fact that you have six four units potentially instead of six do
you intend to shrink the building down in any way or change the building configuration and there is
no intention to do that the exterior the exterior yeah from a zoning perspective the interior is
going to be revised the interior is going to be revised that's correct right because right now
this i don't know whether we've seen this before i've seen another unit like this where you've got
the access the only access to the backyard is to that bedroom which is uh which is a horrible
condition to have people that have to go through a bedroom to go to the backyard
yeah i don't i don't know i don't know how it's going to change up like in terms of the the floor
plan we have a pretty deep lot uh with a pretty decent sized building structure here um so you
know i can't tell you exactly how he's going to change things up if if there's going to be a
secondary entrance you know that's not going to be in the bedroom i can't speak to that
the questions from the board yes i mean if the board wants to hold this and for me to provide
updated floor plans you know we'd be more than happy why don't we now why don't we let the other
board members comment first to see what other issues are there okay cheryl yeah okay i i want
to go back to this to the basement where um we're not i guess my concern is uh that um
it not be used for um bedrooms or um living space and and you're not making any reassurances
with respect to that you're talking about some open floor plan i'm not sure what that means
well so the board can you know provide so you know in that respect and we defer to the board
in that respect but i will ask this that if there if there's a proviso of any sort we would just say
proviso of no bedrooms in the basement you know it's good to have the extra use down there
in terms of just like an office down there or just an extra living room down there um you know
people like to have space especially if you're working from home so especially if you have kids
extra play area so if the board gives any proviso i would you know request respectfully
that it would be limited to bedrooms in the basement like no bedrooms in the basement as
opposed to no living at all in the basement and this but this space would be for the first floor
unit only that's my understanding so what about laundry what about mechanicals that's isn't that
going to be in the basement too or how well each of the units are going to have their own laundry
like you know they have their own laundry closet and then yeah and then mechanicals it's typical
like you know yeah they have their own laundry closet okay yeah
like you'll have a space that's set up you know set up for mechanicals the landlord handles that
separate in the part you know if they need access all right the question i have a question can i
can i see the um the floor plans for the third floor for the two one bedrooms just want to see
like their entryway and if there's enough storage perhaps the basement could be storage for
those upper units because they're smaller yeah i just don't think you're going to be able to
because of the width of the property um you're not it's not wide enough it's only 18 feet wide
if it was wider you may be able to create a separate entryway to the basement where everyone
else would have access i don't know if there is the ability to have access that way okay how are
the two how are the two apartments on the second on the third floor split like how would they
go into their doors so i wanted to see that for a second yeah so let me move this here for a
second so you have the staircase here right and you know you come up the steps you make a right
it's unit well here unified but you let's just call unit three and then if you go to left that
says unit six but that's unit four uh and you know again you're walking in you have an open floor
planned here in a way you have like the kitchenette area you have like a living room it's it's a it's
a smaller unit i mean again you know we're looking at people who some people who don't want a lot of
space and some people who want more space and that's always a trade-off but you know this is
their space here and this is their space there yeah i think it's i can't well i'll you know i
would they could provide access to the basement for all the units that's true from the from that
center stairway clearly it could wrap down to the basement and have access to the first floor unit
and all the units above so they clearly could do that um um um they could clearly do that
i'll defer i'm i'm not the architect so i could tell the architect you know that you know
board member johns i am and you could i know you are right but but so but aside from that
we we're always hearing the argument that we've got to do the additional basement living space
because of the cost of the construction right but here we're hearing that we're doing an additional
of that basement space that is literally the size of a full unit, but it's just open space
and it's only going to be for a two-bedroom unit. So it seems cost-wise and from a standpoint of
hardship, why would you even do a basement that's just going to be open space? How can you charge a
two-bedroom unit for that you know so i'm so i think that's a fair argument that's fair that and
maybe that all this i can talk to again we talked to the zoning aid last yesterday afternoon i got
a hold of my clients probably not this morning but this morning but late this morning i can i can
see if he wants to build it on slab or what accommodations he can make for storage in the
basement um again he's not based on my understanding because i want from a zoning perspective i want
to make sure that we whatever the building footprint was and the elevations are like i
want to make sure that we we solidified that because i didn't want to get something approved
and then he comes back and it's like oh i want this smaller and then we have to come back to
this process but i hear you um i can you know let me talk to him let me give you updated floor plans
Maybe that will make it more thoughtful for us to kind of solidify some things rather than trying to maybe solidify things at the building permit stage more so.
So just, you know, if that's what the board wants me to do, we can hold it, you know, for that last part.
Well, why don't we see? Is there anybody else on the board have comments?
Washington comments from our attorney.
Not at least time, Mr. Chair.
Alan, we think this is the community.
This will be the first time they've heard four units.
Yes, that is the first time they've heard four units.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair, Strawberry Mansion Concern will be allowed to speak.
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon.
Just state your name.
You've already been sworn.
My name is Bonita Cummings. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and the board. I just wanted to speak about some things that have been stated.
speak about some things that have been stated. 1820 North 27th Street, the community deferred to
Story Managed Community Concern deferred to the board because many of these properties, you know,
had been moved forward, but we expressed our concerns. It turned out that the board
did lower the number of units for 1820 from four to three. In terms of 1820, in terms of 1827,
we we felt the same concerns like this overcrowding in density six units but again you know this is
new that we're hearing right now that there's some consideration for lowering of the units to
to four uh the below basement this below grade living um has has uh become a um like an experiment
to human life actually and there's we're starting to see the effects of that so there's low to no
natural light um the whole uh the ventilation um conditions that go on um with this the outlaw the
outlay of this the design of this uh property uh is like a dormitory style design where the
open stairwells one bedroom units and then therefore there's no family opportunities
in this design for a community that is deemed needing family units was also, you know, a concern
that we had. So, they are looking at lowering the number of units, but I do believe that the
design really needs to come back to make sense. You know, this whole going to bedrooms,
to get into yards, and also even the yard space,
that 78.7% open area,
not accessible to all of the tenants of that property.
And even if it was, it may not be enough space.
This is a property that's going to result
in a lot of people being in that stairwell
because the initial design was one bedroom.
even with the change of the design, the stairwell system needs to change. So I would appreciate if
the applicant has to come back before a decision is made in reference to this design
so that it can be something more acceptable to the community.
Thank you very much. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
no chair there are no more hands no planning i'm going to uh we're going to bring this back
for a resumptive hearing um would you want to make comments now or do you want to see the
the plans when they're done we're a hold for the plans thank you thank you very much so
alan will make this as resumptive here you'll come back with changes and um you'll go back in
of the board all right thank you very much sorry just to just to clarify so the resumption hearing
will be for the applicant to present um revised plans for four dwelling units and then any
additional um public comment on that and then the planning commission's recommendation is that
Correct.
Okay, thank you.
Okay, and Alan, please stay on.
So number 13, MI 2024-006-166-327 Green Street.
Letter of opposition from Northern Liberties.
Letter of opposition from Council Member Young.
Applicant provided 12 signatures, three from the immediate block.
Could you just state your name for the record?
Yep, Alan Ockamson.
can you identify your client in relationship to the property oh yeah my client is uh midas
investments llc and in the virtual audience is otar kashavili uh the owner of the property
our vice share has just a few questions sir good afternoon counsel do you agree to wait
to read another refusal or stipulate to its accuracy i do have you emailed in other required
documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing
Oh, yes, we have. Thank you, Council. Please proceed.
All right, so we're here to present 327 Green Street. We're looking to put a duplex here.
uh interesting matter um to left of us uh is a cmx2 property which is a planning community which
is a cmx2 property which is a planned community which obtained zony approval by way of variance
obtained
and it looks like based on what i can decipher like there was a an agreement between the
predecessor to my client's property and that playing community to allow an easement to run
through that property next door to us for to give us one parking space on that property and i think
kind of some of the community opposition
really is just for the planning community
because they never, the people that own
the units in that planning community never
knew that deal was made.
My client's
predecessor and even my client
to date has never used
that easement, but will start
being used. We'll use that easement
by way of development of this property and
I think that's what's upsetting the planning community
is that someone's parking on their property.
But that was part of the agreement to allow
for the variance of the planning community.
So I just think they're against any type of development. So we'll review the notice of refusal. The correspondence from the Northern Liberties Neighbors Association. Again, it wasn't a very well attended meeting. My understanding, there was a few neighbors in the planning community who were just against it because they saw the accessory parking and they're like, how are you parking on our property? And we kind of explained that to them from a legal standpoint.
My client did get a petition going with a letter of support from the person to the right of him. So like the person who would also be impacted has no objection to this use of the property. And it's not out of character either, because we looked at it on that block. There's many properties that are RSA 5, they're multifamily in nature.
Like this property is in the Northern Liberty section of Philadelphia.
It's very expensive, cost prohibitive to buy anything because the single family inventory is seven figures, what you're looking at, many of these properties.
In order to anyone to develop roots here, they're going to have to spend that money.
They're going to have a lot of people who are never going to be able to buy in Northern Liberty.
So to have a diversity of housing, to have something that's a duplex will give people an opportunity to either rent or, if this turns into a condominium, to own it.
So next thing we have is the zoning map, then photographs of the property, then our architectural plans and drawings.
Matt, Master Pasqua, the architect for this project, can answer any questions from an architectural standpoint.
Our RCO meeting notice, again, we had a few people show up.
Like, there are other projects, you know, people showed up for those.
But there are, I think, maybe like three couples that showed up to this RCO meeting for us.
Our application for appeal, our deed to the property, and our certificate of tax clearance.
So this has shown up.
But notice of refusal.
So this is an RSA-5 property.
We have no other dimensional variances.
The only variance we have is to allow this to be used as a two-family household living. Correspondence from the coordinating RCO. Really, it was, again, what Northern Liberties does is they hear what the community has to say, and then the executive board ultimately decides.
you know they weren't like the executive board was not like this is the worst thing in the world
they were more like hey the only people we heard from in the community that showed up to the
meeting was once against them we have to follow what the what those members of the community that
showed up you know for the for the meeting but again you know my client reached out to the
members of the community after the meeting because he didn't think that this would be an issue
and including, you see here, 325 Green Street, you know, received support on the petition.
And then, again, we did an analysis of properties on that block.
So, you know, next door is a three-unit, next next door is a three-unit, 319 is a two-unit,
315 is a three-unit, and 313 is a three-unit.
So not out of character to have multifamily on this block, even though it's RSA 5.
And then again, just the backup data to show like rental licenses and such for these properties.
And then maps of the area.
Again, you know, even though it's RSA 5, you can see through examples that there's a significant amount of multifamily here.
You know, you have a commercial corridor down here as well.
You know, density always helps commercial corridors of this sort.
Also, you tend to have more density closer to those commercial corridors.
And again, you know, this property here, which we have access to by way of an easement for parking,
the people who are against this project are the ones who actually benefited from a variance in the past.
And again, this is Spring Garden Street, where there's a lot of commercial activity.
and again this is spring garden street where there's a lot of commercial activity
And then photos of the property.
So as part of our hardship, my client purchased this property as originally just a row home.
And because of how dilapidated it was, he had to tear it down, which has added considerable expense here that he did not anticipate expending.
So now it's a vacant lot, which is now made it more cost prohibitive to develop it, where now he really does need to have this as a duplex.
The proof of our posting for today's hearing.
Green Street to the right of the property, to the left of the property.
By the way, I believe this is a case that in front of us is the back of this spring garden properties.
properties. And I believe we're behind a shopping mall or strip or some sort of bigger commercial
thing. So you wouldn't typically see a lot of single family behind a shopping mall of this
sort. And that's why I think a lot of the properties on our side of the block on Green
Street, they're all multifamily in nature. Alan, that play community, are they single family? I
mean, are they there multiple families or what are they? Oh, the playing community? It's it's
single families but if you if you pull the the refusal like they had refusals for dimensions
and i i didn't do the calculation to see how many single families they have versus the lot size but
they got variants for that as well so um but those are single families but everyone to the right of
us is yeah so i mean what we're trying to do is something architecturally interesting
you know you know you know matt and his team at mass architecture like you know they do
interesting architecture and this is something that's a little more unique
flat brick facade you have a bay window but more unique in nature um just so you understand like
you know we're we're close neighbors with these people uh who are the planning community there's
a there's a walkway here where they take their trash into the front of our property essentially
or just off the front of the property
because they have the driveway.
So the community dumps their trash right here.
And Alan, you use that driveway too for this house?
Yeah, not there, but there's another street
and it's escaping my mind, but that's right.
We use-
One car?
One car, one car there.
Thank you.
And I think that's what upset them, honestly,
is the fact they didn't know that existed.
That was done in like, I forgot what year,
but it's been a few years.
I don't think anyone understood that.
And they're like, how are you using our parking or our lot for your parking?
So I think that had something to do with it.
You know, our floor plans are two splits.
You know, first floor, open floor plan.
And then we have we do have bedrooms in the basement.
Second floor and third floor are also bi-levels.
Unit number one is a two-bedroom, two-bath.
Unit number two is a three-bedroom, three-bath.
And then our notice to the community for a December 2nd community meeting, we emailed that notice that we sent out to the community groups as well as the council members.
Zoning aid, we showed proof that we'd mailed it out to 115 addresses, those addresses, proof of mailing to those addresses.
Our application for appeal, along with the notice of refusal on the project information form, deed to the property, Midas Investments, LLC.
I wanted to give you the access agreement showing, you know, again, part of our, you know, our proposed development is taking advantage of that one parking spot.
And here's proof of that.
So it was in January 2017, I think, that the hearing from the ZBA for that other property was in the end of 2016.
So there was a deal, right, with my client's predecessor.
I won't object to the planned community variance, which is going to create a ton of density in the neighborhood.
It's a CMX2 property, and in lieu of – with a ton of dimensional refusals, in lieu I'll get a parking spot.
Now he wants to take – now the person who now owns the property wants to take the parking spot, and some people are not happy.
And because of the fact that he had a building structure which was structurally impacted that he had to demolish, he's in a really tough situation.
It would be very difficult for him to develop that property as a single-family structure.
Trust me, if he could do it, he would.
But Alan, that plant community developed real well, right?
But Alan, that plant community developed real well, right?
And they're all single family.
And they're all sick.
I thought the same thing.
And it's a really, really, really tough market.
Just because of what he paid for that property, what he expected to do, demolishing that property.
If he could do it, trust me, he would.
This is not something anyone would voluntarily go through this process.
This is a very tough, difficult process, long process.
And here's a certificate of tax clearance, which, you know, that money's not due because it's not March 31st yet.
So with that being said, I would ask that Otar virtually raise his hand.
Otar has been allowed to speak.
Could you please state your name as spelled for the stenographer?
can you unmute yourself please
hi could you please state your name and then spell for the stenographer sir
yeah my name otar kosashvili spells is otar is o-t-a-r last name k-o-s-a-s-h-v-i-l-i
yes i do please proceed counsel yeah otar you heard everything i had to state today about
your zoning matter yeah everything is fine and everything and it's true and correct what i stated
yes and do you adopt it as your own testimony yes and then specifically into regarding your
hardship you you didn't anticipate tearing down that building when you purchased the property
right yeah yeah and it's been it was a very expensive demolition and it would be a very
expensive new construction whether it's single family or multi-family is that correct yes correct
and you know in in terms of single family you you it it doesn't make business sense you would
literally make no money developing the properties a single family given these circumstances
It's my opinion that to build the house that's roughly 3,500 square feet, I think this is a little bit not suitable for this area.
We try to design the units approximately between 1,700, 1,800 square feet, which is that perfectly fits this area.
All right. Thank you.
Did he adopt your testimony?
He did.
Okay. Thank you. Questions from the board?
It's a little hard to make those assumptions without numbers, right?
Right. Like we don't know what the what the size of the units are that are the planned community and what the sales prices are.
Maybe we do. We don't know what they cost to build.
You know, so it's kind of hard to say it wouldn't be cost effective to do a single family without having, you know, a performer in front of us.
Right. And I know we're not necessarily here for that.
can you go back to the site plan because I'm trying to understand this parking space
thing that you yeah let me do that so there's like a side
street I forgot the name of it let me let me go maybe it'll be helpful
I think the google maps actually is better to tell me what that street is hold on let me just
get the street first before I go to the
there it is
where is it
I know I
it's like a street
coming out of here
where is it
actually Otar do you remember the street
that you're coming out of
I think it's like here
yeah exactly
you reach the level down
yes exactly this is the entrance yeah do you know this name the street
galloway oh galloway that's right all right let me see i don't have for some reason do i have this
so this also on this plan the this parking space is that space that's behind
your unit that you're that you're that is the is the issue you're saying
No, the refusal that we have has nothing to do with the parking because we have a common driveway.
No, the refusal that we have has nothing to do with the parking.
The one refusal we have is that this is an RSA-5 property and we're asking for two-family living.
No, but you're saying that the opposition came from the fact that this property is using that driveway for their parking space.
That's right, that we're accessing that same driveway that they use.
They don't have an issue with the two family, had an issue with the fact that they're there, that they have, that this building will utilize their, what they believe, perceived to be their driveway.
I still think they have an issue with the two family in the sense of this.
Yeah, they do. I mean, if you read the letter, right, Alan, Northern Liberty's letter is real clear, right? Two families.
Well, again, Alex Goldberg from my office was the one who presented.
But my understanding is that at the beginning of the meeting, it was more so like, well, why are you using our driveway, essentially?
And then we had to show them that we have a legal right to use that driveway by way of that access agreement.
And, you know, and then they were like, well, it doesn't matter.
We want single family here.
And then again, we show them to the right of us all on Green Street because we're behind a shopping center.
They're really all multifamily here
And you don't know
What the sales prices were for this
Planned community
I have not looked at it
I don't know what the
Recent sales prices were
I don't know
I mean I could look
Saying it's kind of hard to
Show that as a hardship
If you show the number
No and I hear you
This is a for profit
developer if if he if he could make money as a single family the the balance is this six months
to wait for a duplex or or build a single family you know i again i don't know if
he's you know he's pretty smart he's not gonna waste time on that but that's for the board to
decide thank you you have the questions from the board
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Joe.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair.
I have a hand up by Daniel Fabius will be allowed to speak.
Thank you.
Why could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
There he goes.
Hi, Daniel. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Daniel Fabius, D-A-N-I-E-L-F-A-B-I-U-S.
Where or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I affirm.
Sir, are you a neighbor?
I am. I live at 333 Green Street Unit 2.
Please proceed.
I appreciate the discussion for today.
A couple concerning points that I like to point out.
I do have pictures that I can show if necessary, but the property when purchased showed evidence of damage to the brick and there were structural supports, wooden structural supports outside.
So knowingly, he purchased this property that had significant damage.
I think that's an important point.
The second thing I'd like to point out is all of the new construction in the community has been single family.
My understanding is the range of that value is around $650,000 to $850,000 for around a 3,000-square-foot home.
I find it hard to believe that hardship could be met with those types of numbers, but especially with the purchase price that I saw for the property at $327,000, which is public record.
I think that we're trying to build a community of single-family.
It brings the different people in.
We want children.
all of the older properties that Alan mentioned to the right are older properties of people that
are renting without families. It's not the community that we're looking for. We appreciate
the way it's zoned currently. And that's one of those objections. The reason I was not personally
present at the neighbor community, neighbor voting was because I received the flyer the night before
outside my property. It was not actually delivered to my property days beforehand. I just happened to
find it. And I couldn't make arrangements to get there in time. Luckily, my neighbors at Galloway
I had been communicating with who were also on this call, who I believe support the opposition
that will also want to speak. I don't want to address the parking matter. That doesn't affect
333 Green Street. But I hope I've made an articulate argument for why the hardship does not
meet in my opinion. So you're not in favor of this project? I am not in favor of this project.
So you're not in favor of this project?
I am not in favor of this project.
Alan, do you have any questions?
No, I do have comment.
Again, we don't control Alan.
Alan, why don't we wait to see how many other people are there, okay?
Because he says there's other people, okay?
Thank you, Sharp.
Other hands in the virtual audience?
Yes, next will be Micah Gold, Markel.
hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer yes micah gold markel
m-i-c-a-h last name g-o-l-d hyphen m-a-r-k-e-l you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth i affirm are you a neighbor yes i am uh i am the owner of 608
north galloway street unit d almost directly behind uh the property of question are you in
favor of this project or against i am against is there anything you could add that hasn't been said
yes uh i would like to comment on a few things um that mr knockamson said um that i believe to be
not factual statements uh the first uh is that he said a few families showed up uh maybe three
to the meeting. That is just not accurate. There were a minimum of six families that objected to
this. Those are the ones I know personally. There were probably more. I do not believe
that Mr. Nackamson himself was actually present. I think I did. Mike, I think he was clear about
that, that he wasn't there. Okay. And then how the board debates, I was also present for how
the board debated this it was not as stated all about the parking behind it
was a robust debate regarding density in the neighborhood and I think it's
important to raise the fact that there is significant density already in the
neighborhood as was mentioned on Green Street there's already multifamily homes
there's over six thousand apartments that have been built within a few block
radius of this location. As has been noted by the board, pretty much the
surrounding houses of the development are all single-family. I currently am on
the property assessment website for the City of Philadelphia and I'd like to
note that the market value that the city put on 301 Green Street is $1,030,500
And the price of last sale was $987,000.
It seems pretty hard to believe that there is a hardship for building a single family
property at this location or a single family home due to the price you could potentially
get for the sale of the home.
I personally purchased my home for $805,000 about three and a half to four years ago.
as I said directly behind so the neighbors are against this primarily because there is no hardship
that has been demonstrated the neighborhood has plenty of density you're not anti-density
we have it in spades we want that sort of density but we also want single-family homes to be
maintained where they were and this is a perfect opportunity to do that thank you very much for
your call and your input. I appreciate it.
Who else is in the virtual? How many hands
are the virtual audience? There are
four more hands. Okay, thank
you. Next hand.
The next hand would be
Larry Friedman will be allowed
to speak.
Hello.
Hi, good afternoon, Mr. Friedman. Could you state your name and
spell for the stenographer?
Oh, boy, I'm getting a
rebound. Okay.
um let me turn the volume down larry friedman l-a-r-r-r-f-r-e-e-d-m-a-n
we're a firm to tell the truth the whole truth is nothing but the truth
i'm sorry i am zoni chair i know who you are sir yep yeah um
Are you in favor of this project?
I lost my earbuds. Let me go back to the speaker. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry, sir. I missed that last question.
So your group is in opposition to this, am I correct?
Yes. Yeah, we're in opposition.
First of all, there's a lot of economic speech here.
First of all, there's a lot of economic speech here.
you know
You know, we're pretty much zero in on the zoning because if we're going to sit there at a meeting and people are going to talk about economics,
which, by the way, we understand we could be there all night because there's a lot of different ways to see costs and spends and stuff like that.
So I just like to zero in on the zoning, which is what we did.
it's a nice project the duplex and and and and we do a lot of work with alan and everybody knows we
have supported uh some duplexes in single family zones in the past but uh we look at each one
individually uh this is uh a project uh it's a lot now it's on the end of the block um as micah
mentioned, the 6,000 units are not all built yet, but they're coming to Northern Liberties. We have
plenty of units. It's a single-family zone. And after we spoke to the neighbors virtually and
at the meeting, it just shook out that we would like to keep it as a single family.
There's really no zoning hardship not to build a single family there, especially with the one-car
parking it would be an attractive uh project it would still look pretty um and uh it would be a
nice spot for for a family and with all the units coming uh we're trying to maintain as many single
family uh in the neighborhood we try to we're thinking big and so we want a mix of single
families and we you know and we have a lot of units coming especially south of our border uh
or south of spring garden going down to calla hill with thousands of units coming in
um this would be a nice spot for a nice single family uh and maintain that um in regards petitions
we don't really you know we've over the years we just don't do petitions because petition is like
you know come to the meeting and hear people's thoughts and you know a petition is like i'm
eating dinner what do i sign and and so putting that aside there was a robust discussion on this
and and um that took a while and that's what we do and then we reflect the the will of the neighbors
um and it came out on keep it as a single family zone um uh building and don't go to duplex and
assuming that the planning commission or the code commission uh decided this is a single family
blocked. I assume there was reasoning behind that, and we agree with it. So that's where we are.
Mr. Freeman, thank you for your detailed description. We appreciate it.
Is there anyone else in the virtual? Who's next on the line?
Next hand?
Maureen?
Yes, Erica. She has been allowed to speak.
I was muted. Sorry.
All right. Erica, could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer?
Sure. I'm Erica Dockney, E-R-I-K-A, and last name is D-O-C-H-N-E-Y.
Where are you a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
Yes, I am at 608. Oh, sorry.
Are you in favor or against this project?
Against.
Thank you very much for your time. We're going to get to some other hands, but thank you.
Next hand, please.
There are two hands up with the same name, but the next one is the last name.
Lopez will be allowed to speak.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
John Millette Lopez, Y-A-M.
Can you hear me?
Yes, I can.
Please spell your name.
Y-A-M-I-L-E-T-T-E
Lopez L-O-P-E-Z
Swear or affirm to tell the truth
The whole truth and nothing but the truth
Yes, I do
Are you a neighbor?
Yeah, I am
Are you in favor of this project or against?
Against
Thank you very much for taking the time to call us
Next hand, please
Doreen, do we see another hand?
Yes, the next
It has the same name, so I was just assuming it was a different person.
They are allowed to speak.
Hello, can you hear me?
Hello?
Oh, hi.
I'm sorry.
My name is Stacey Harpster, S-T-A-C-E-Y-H-A-R-P-S-T-E-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Are you a neighbor?
I am a neighbor.
I am a neighbor.
Are you for this project or against?
Are you for this project or against?
I am against it.
I am against.
Thank you very much for taking the time to calls.
Next hand, do we have any more hands?
There are no more hands, Chair.
Thank you.
Mr. Nocklipson, would you want to respond?
Just on two things.
In terms of mailings, like we mail out the notices the right way.
Can't control how the post office like distributes that.
And the second thing about the, like, you know, how many, my representation about how many couples were at the meeting, that was my understanding by Mr. Goldberg.
They do have hybrid meetings with this community group, so it's very important to me to make sure you understand that I accurately state what my knowledge is.
Other than that, you know, that's it.
Thank you.
Planning Commission.
Amy Wood with the Planning Commission.
the comprehensive plan recommends a changing at the zoning at this location from the existing
residential single-family rsa5 to multifamily r1 under the proposed zoning the proposed two units
would be allowed by right the planning commission recommends the board grant the requested variance
for two-family household living mi 2024 006 166 327 green street i vote no michael johnson my vote
is no.
My vote is no.
My vote is no.
My vote is no.
That's the vote.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I hear you.
My vote is no.
Thank you, Mr.
Nocklinson.
sir is there anyone in the uh audience who's the 3 30 at the 2 p.m list has they have not heard
their name called or their list there are no hands chair we're going to take a five minute
break and then we have a short 3 30 list to go through thank you everybody
afternoon everyone my name is bill bergman and i will be hearing the 330 list
with me is our vice chair ismael shaheed he should be right on
our board member cheryl l gaston present mr chairman our board member tanetta graham
danetta you were uh present mr chairman thank you our board member michael johns
mr chairman and our board member tyo win should be on any minute
also present is our attorney hillary emerson and our executive director dean haggerty
Here's our virtual format
Seatings are being recorded
With your participation
You agree to be recorded
The video will be available
By contacting
ZBA executive director
At phil.gov
For our court stenographer
We ask attorneys and witnesses
To identify themselves
Before testifying
If you're participating by phone
Press star 9 to raise your hand
And star 6 to unmute
to enter an appearance statement call 267-270-5548. Leave your email address and the
address of the property in question. Finally, the question and answer box on the screen is not for
testimony. All of your comments should be directed to zbaexecutivedirector at phillip.gov. Let's look
at our schedule for this afternoon. Number five, MI 2024-005-326-2421 North 22nd Street.
That case has been continued. Number six, MI 2024-005-327-2801 Grant Avenue. That case has
been continued. And number seven, MI 2024-005-350-401 West Penn Street. That case is
continued. Attorney moving party. Are there any other requests for continuance?
I see no hands.
And number four, MI 2024-005-324-2951 Rose Hill Street. Juan Carlos Pagan is the listed owner
and Anthony Caffrano, Libio,
Matteo, DBA,
U.S. Remodeling Construction.
This is a pro se.
This is the first listing.
We do not have any exhibits.
Is anyone from this project in the audience?
Is anyone from this project in the audience?
Do we see any hands?
No, I see no one with those names.
So MI 2024-005-324-2951 Rose Hill Street, the case is continuing marked, must be heard.
We're going to go to number one.
MI 2023-000489-4400 North A Street. John Griffin is the attorney.
Mr. Griffin has been promoted to panelist.
counsel could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes uh chairman bergman good afternoon uh my name is uh john griffin uh g-r-i-f-f-i-n
where or firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
I do, sir.
Would you identify your client, a relationship to this property?
My client is Leah, L-E-A-H, Lotus Properties, LLC, with the primary and principal owner being a woman by the name of Debbie Garcia, who was also in the audience together with, I believe, I want to say eight, I've been told eight members of the community in support.
I don't think we need to hear from all eight or perhaps any, but I can represent if they're still hanging on that we have been in contact with them and I have their names and numbers and they were at one point in time, I believe, present.
Thank you. Ishmael, are you on one?
I'm here, Chair.
Could you? Our vice chair has a few questions for you, Mr.
Yes, sir.
Good evening, Councilor. Do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal or stipulate truth accuracy?
I do, sir.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
I have, but not five days in advance.
I think Ms. Emerson can back me up.
We've come sort of a long way on this.
There was a request from the RCO.
Sir, Ms. Emerson has said this is fine.
Let's proceed.
Share your screen.
And just for a point of information, Esperanza Housing and Economic Development has a letter.
Yes, please proceed.
Share your screen.
Can you see that, sir?
Okay. Sir, we've outlined a cover letter just to sort of map you through this. We represent Leah Lotus. Originally, and I'm going sort of way back, there was designed to have a business that would have had a liquor license attached.
We scrapped that.
Candidly, we went to a zoning, an RCO meeting, and the temperature was not good with regard to that project.
We then scrapped that.
We met again with the RCO in October and November.
uh and we were looking to do consistent with our application uh a prepared food shop at the
property the rco expressed some reservations about that i think believing that they wanted
to ensure that there would not be any beer sales sales at the property uh we tried to explain and
and I respect their position immensely, that in order to do that with the PLC, there'd be certain
requirements that we could not possibly meet and had no intention of meeting. So the RCO then
requested that instead of seeking a use permit for a prepared food shop, that we amend our appeal
to seek a use permit for a grocery store with accessories, prepared foods for takeout.
We had been in touch with Ms. Emerson, who graciously advised us I had not come across
that issue before of a last-minute amendment, and Ms. Emerson...
of a last minute amendment. And Ms. Emerson very, very wonderfully explained to us what we need to
do and do that. And we will do that. And I think with that said, the RCO supports what the amendment
would be in its support letter. And it took us some time to get there. This is a property
zoned as RSA3. Mr. Griffin, why don't you start showing some photos of the property so we can
Sure, sure. As I move forward, and I think the cover letter sort of explains it,
we submitted an exhibit packet and then we amended that probably about a couple of hours ago
to attack some photos uh coming up are photos of the outside of the property we have two
um there is the proof of posting right there uh these are two photos of the property
uh right there on the outside uh this property i think has been abandoned for about eight years
There hasn't been really any habitation in there. This is another view of that property, a little bit lopsided there.
Excuse me. We don't have photos of the inside because there's really nothing inside. It's just a vacant area.
um also uh there were some things we needed to get done with the tax clearance um the accountant
for this property did all that today we have been advised that we should have a tax clearance by
friday we will forward that um as soon as we received and i think as miss emerson may have
advised before the start of the hearing uh there's only really so far we can go today
with our presentation because we have to seek that amendment mr griffin mr griffin listen i
i thought when you went to the photos there was some plans on what you want to do with the building
yes well why don't you go back and show us the plans and what you want to do with the building
All right. So I think I think you're referring chairman to the site plan.
Yeah, that's fine. See what you what you want to do here.
So essentially what we would do and I'll defer to Miss Garcia, I think she can probably say it better than I do.
But the entire inside of the building and here's what we're referring to will be just completely built out.
There's nothing there.
So if we build out, it'll be a typical grocery store.
There will be no seating.
That was at the specific request of the RCO that we have agreed to.
This area is in need of this.
Um, uh, this is a, uh, a lower, uh, income area that our feedback was, uh, they need stores like
this that are not perhaps beer delis. Uh, so we have sought to avoid that. Um, so this goes on
the second, what, what goes on the second floor? Um, I don't really know. I think I can ask Ms.
garcia to address that for you chairman but there were two floors right there there were two floors
that's correct i will i will ask her that when i when i get there so where were you going to go
next with this well i was going to complete uh the finishing of showing of this uh i think it's
all there uh sort of of record and uh what i'd like to do is perhaps call miss garcia to explain
that. Sure, thank you. Bring Ms. Garcia on. Ms. Garcia. Hello? Hi, Ms. Garcia, could you please
state your name and then spell it for the stenographer? Uh, Debbie Garcia, D-E-B-B-I-E,
Garcia, G-A-R-C-I-A
Affirmed, tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Please proceed, counsel
Ms. Garcia, before we get into some different areas
Chairman Bergman had a question about this site plan
Am I correct? It is essentially abandoned inside
uh abandoned inside there is nothing there am i correct uh yes there's nothing there inside the
There is nothing there, am I correct?
um the first floor the second floor would eventually be it's a an apartment okay so
explain to the explain to this board what you would do with the first floor and what the plans
are for the second floor can you enlarge those plans for me please
any better ma'am
sufficient
Ms. Garcia if you could respond to that question
please
as you go into the grocery store
their concerns were that on
one wall
I had seating previously
and they were opposed to that
because what they really
the community really wanted was
more of a grocery store selling goods that you can purchase at your corner grocery store so i
eliminated that and put up more shelving so to provide and sell those goods and in the back it
would be a kitchen just to sell um you know hot and cold sandwiches and also fritters and within
this community since it's um it's basically mixed and a lot of hispanic people i would sell
you know certain little spanish critters that would that they're interested in having
miss garcia if i'm not mistaken you're you're sort of a child of this area am i correct
Yes, I grew up, was born and raised in this area around the corner on Franklin Street. So I'm fully aware of the transition and and everything that the building has went through.
this building has been abandoned for over 20 something years. When I came in to purchase it
in 2018, my intention was to start fixing it up. I saw that there was a need in having a grocery
store there at that property, which previously was a grocery store 23 years ago. But ever since then,
it was closed and abandoned and um i've talked to people in the community and they said it was
needed so therefore that's what i'm trying to bring back and revitalize the neighborhood but
it's been abandoned for many years yeah miss garcia if you could comment on that second floor
which was a question from chairman bergman what what are the thoughts with regard to that okay
Okay, that would be an apartment.
Okay, and that would be above the grocery store, is that correct?
Above the grocery store, which they would have their own access into there, which was previously there.
So they have their own access.
And then obviously the basement would be storage for the grocery store.
Now, you mentioned about the history. In our cover letter to the board, it was at one time DeLeon Mini Market, Rick's Mini Market, and then you mentioned many, many years ago, Rio's Mini Market. Is that your understanding?
Yes, yes.
Now, your hours of operation we've represented would be Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Is that correct?
We've also represented that you would have surveillance camera system in the interior and exterior of the property with those cameras to be registered with the police department. Is that correct?
Yes. My my understanding also is that you will have a contract with a an exterior dumpster company that will be located in a secured fencing area for whatever waste comes out of the business.
And there would be daily pickups on Monday through Saturday. Am I correct in that assessment?
Yes, definitely.
Now, if the board were to eventually see fit on this approval, you're aware and you have advised this, that you will be monitoring the license through the Philadelphia Health Department and you'll be able, you'll be required to apply for the food preparation and serving licenses from the department.
You understand that, is that correct?
Yes. And I believe there's also federal regulation that may come with the serving and processing of food. Am I correct?
And I believe there's also federal regulation that make.
Yes. OK. And you were present at the different meetings with the RCO originally back in June of twenty three and then more recently, October and November of twenty four.
And you have essentially acquiesced to their request and admittedly a strong request that you change what you are targeting to do and make this into simply a grocery store purely for takeout without anybody being able to sit in and eat items.
Am I correct?
And you are in agreement with that. Am I correct?
Okay. And I know this was a bone of contention with them. And I think we just want to make sure
it's clear. So we have live testimony. There will be no, N-O, no alcohol sales at all,
nor will there be an attempt to have alcohol sales through the transfer of a liquor license
at this property during the entire ownership that you will have am i correct yes okay um
now uh you were present uh live during my uh presentation of this am i correct
yes and you heard what i said in my representations um were they indeed true and accurate
yes if you were to testify again as you have been now uh would you have adopted my uh discussions
and my testimony to the extent that was separate from what you just testified would you have
adopted that as your own in this case uh yes okay chairman i have no further questions thank you sir
well hillary this refusal is only for the store am i correct so i was actually going to bring that
up in in my comments um because seeing the pictures and seeing that there was a yeah second floor um
and there's a proposed use for the second floor it may be worth adding that to the current
application as well because this is an rsa3 property so there'd be a requirement for parking
which there doesn't appear to be parking so you need a variance for that the single family use
in and of itself would be permitted by right but but but you would need a variance for parking
um so that's something that could be added um to the the current um application if if the applicant
would like are we are we we're not voting today am i correct no we are not we're going to hold
for an amended refusal and it's up to the board whether we close the record except for the amended
refusal and then just vote with it or we come back for a resumption hearing. Questions from the board?
So let me make sure I understand what you're trying to do. You were trying to do a
takeout, like, restaurant, but you're changing this now to be a grocery store?
Is that what I'm hearing?
Yes, ma'am.
And we're doing that at the specific request of the RCO, and we have agreed to do that.
so the part of the space will be used for i guess grocery type items which may be there
but you're also planning to do this the food that the the takeout food as well
uh debbie can answer that but yes okay yes and and and this will be just certain items you're not
it's like sandwiches yes your is and some other go ahead oh it would just be like your hot
sandwiches cold sandwiches something small that basically your corner store in the neighborhood
where you can just get something real quick you know maybe some french fries you know something
like that something easy not nothing like a three-course meal do you know what i mean like
nothing big something just small for a store and then your basic grocery items that you can get
your basic grocery items that you can get from the corner store.
from the corner store okay
Okay. And, and you're going to have a fryers or how is this going to work?
Is this going to be like a full kitchen or is this going to be a,
uh, like, no, not a full kitchen. No. Okay.
So you're talking like some fryers and things like you're talking French fries,
you're talking like fryers and things like that, or a grill.
like a sandwich machine a sandwich little grill things like that okay all right and then the
second floor would be an apartment yes okay all right thank you questions from the board
you have a question i'll go ahead mike i just want to ask when was the property acquired
in 2018 so that property as you saw those pictures it looks wonderful now not how
it looked when i purchased an image from google 2021 so it looks like it looks it looks like it
was redone yeah we were you know as we went along we started trying to rehab it and make it come
back to life and make it look better but when i received it and purchased it it did hadn't it
was not looking it did not look like that right and what's the use of the the the building in the
back that one story what does that use it was a garage it's a garage back there and so what are
you going to use that for um basically storage if anything where is the dumpster going to go
with as you see there's like a wooded fence gate there the um the dumpster can go inside there we
would open the gate and put it there is that between that one story and the the building itself
is that yes between that garage building and yes and the building itself yes
that way no one from the neighborhood can go dumping their trash in there
it would be gated up
thank you
questions for the board
that actually answered my question
do you have anything extra
not at this time
not at this time Mr. Chair
Mr. Griffin if you have further questions
about the amendment process
just let me know
I will Hillary
But I really want to thank you. You were you were very informative as to I had not had that issue come up at the last moment and what we needed to do.
So I appreciate your guidance on what we need to do.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
There are no hands.
uh i'm assuming that uh just for purposes of the record chairman that uh people have dropped off
but i can represent uh that in support and at some point in time uh present or intending to
present be present was a gentleman by the name of edwin hernandez uh a gentleman by the name of
Dimitri Gordan, G-O-R-D-A-N, Roniton, R-O-N-A-T-A-N, Martinez, Juan Fernandez, Grizel, G-R-I-S-E-L-L-E, Matos, M-A-T-O-S, Rivera, R-I-V-I-E-R-A, Francis, F-R-I-N-C-E-S, Ortiz, Cruz, Cesar Felipe, F-E-L-I-P-E-R-I-V-I-E-R-I-E-R-I-R-I-R-I-R-I-R-I-R-I-R-I-R-I-R-I-R-I-R-I-R-I-R-I-R-I-R-I-R-I-R-I-R-I-R-I-R-I-
griffin how many more names do you have just one more after that uh jacob del monte d-e-l-m-o-n-t-e
all in support uh of this project and and also like to thank the rco uh who certainly put us
through some challenges but we listened and replied thank you thank you um planning commission
so the planning commission is going to uh hold on this until we get the revised um just for the
record ron to state your name and spell please oh sorry uh first name is r-o-n last name bednar
b-e-d-n-a-r i'm with the city planning commission and tell the truth the whole truth nothing but
the truth ron i do thank you um so hillary we're going to close the record on this other than
the amended for refusal coming back right well because planning um deferred we'll need to have
a brief presumption hearing um on the amended refusal so we will not close the record at
at this time as there may be feedback based on the amended refusal thank you very much
Thank you very much. Thank you, counsel.
thank you counsel so we're going to set this down for a reason
So we're going to set this down for a resumption hearing.
We are.
Okay. Sir, thank you. May I be excused?
You can. Thank you.
Thank you.
Right. Number two, MI 2023-004-403-817 North 41st Street.
Meredith Ferliger is the attorney.
There's a letter of support from Belmont Alliance Civic Association.
Seven in support, four in opposition, eight in non-opposition.
Meredith Ferliger has been promoted.
Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Please state your name and spell for the court stenographer.
Meredith Ferliger, F-E-R-L-E-G-E-R of Delworth Paxson.
You're a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, the relationship to the property?
I sure can.
This is a little bit unusual, but let me just go through the sentence.
So my clients today are 41 Brown, LLC, which is a conservator of the property by way of an Act 135 conservatorship court order at Exhibit 3.
The conservator does not technically have standing before the board, but my other client is the equitable owner of the property under an agreement of sale, 817 North 41st Street, LLC,
which has been approved by the court
under the original conservatorship action.
So that's shown at exhibit four
and I'll address that in the presentation.
Mike Scherer has a few questions for you.
Good evening, Councilor.
Do you agree to wait to read another refusal
or stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents
and exhibits as needed to proceed with this case
five days in advance of this hearing?
i did thank you counsel please proceed happy new years you too and i did share my screen happy new
year to all the board members uh as i mentioned the request before the board today concerns a
property that has been officially been deemed abandoned and blighted by the philadelphia court
of common pleas and is proposed to be redeveloped in a fashion that is identical to the new
construction immediately next door. Typically, people come before this board and call their
properties abandoned and blighted, but this one actually has the unique feature of having a court
designation of being abandoned and blighted. But for a very recent rezoning effort that occurred
after the next door development had been built, the multifamily use of this property would have
been by right. Now, the density would not have been, and I want to be candid with the board about
that, but the property next door did secure and did seek and secure a variance from this board
for the proposed density. So this is looking to be identical to that. As Mr. Chairman mentioned,
this proposal did receive support from Belmont Alliance, which is evidenced by the letter of
support in your packet at Exhibit 17. Let me first orient you to the location of this property and
the history. The court orders, I did include a voluminous number of the court orders,
but they are all included at Exhibit 3. And tax clearance for both the conservator as well as
for the entity with actual standing before this board, both of those tax clearances are included
at Exhibit 2. As you can see on the aerial here at Exhibit 10, this property sits on North 41st
Street, which is just to the north of this orientation, and is just three properties in
from Reno Street. And just flipping in the opposite direction here, you can see that these
aerials are slightly outdated, as the previously blighted structure that is shown here has now
been demolished. Regardless, you can glean that this block contains a fairly uniform makeup of
three-story structures, which is consistent with what is proposed before the board today.
Turning to the photographs at Exhibit 18, you'll see the now vacant lot that is the subject of
today's request at 817 North 41st Street. Per the court approval, the structure was demolished
roughly about a year ago. You'll notice the new construction immediately next door, which contains
six units. Again, identical to today's request, both in terms of unit count, in terms of aesthetics,
in terms of aesthetics, and also in terms of layout. My client also owns the corner property
and also in terms of layout. My client...
at 813 North 41st Street, as well as 815 North 41st Street.
This next photograph here is looking towards the next block past Reno Street, which is entirely
vacant at this point. In the opposite direction, this view is looking towards Parrish Street,
And again, the board will see the three-story brick structures that make up this block.
Directly across the street is the Calvary Episcopal Church.
And we did also include photographs of the zoning posters in the exhibit packet that were timely posted.
If I scroll down a little bit, you can see those photographs here.
Now, for context, and I'll scroll back up, just to establish to the board why the court issued the conservatorship against this property, I did include a couple of historical photographs showing the blighted conditions that ultimately led the petitioner to file the Act 135 petition.
That was originally granted by the court back in 2022, but as the board may or may not know, those actions can take quite some time to really move forward.
So I did include photographs here from 2019, 2014, again another 2014, and all the way back to 2007, showing the longstanding abandonment and blight that this particular property faced.
The March 2022 order deeming the property as abandoned and blighted and the subsequent June 2022 order appointing 41 Brown LLC as conservator are all at Exhibit 3, and I'm happy to go through them if you have questions.
In November of 2024, the court approved 41 Browns LLC sale of the property to 817 North 41st Street LLC, and that agreement of sale or sections of that agreement of sale are shown up on your screen here.
the uh clients own uh the properties that are immediately next door to this one leading towards
reno street so 815 and 813 which made it eligible to file the petition in the first place and is
also highly relevant to how the property management will operate if you refer to the zoning map at
Exhibit 9, you'll see the property is now zoned RSA 5, having been rezoned by Bill No. 230034A
that was introduced after the conservatorship petition had already been filed and approved
by the court. The lot and this entire block were previously zoned RM1, but were rezoned to RSA 5,
despite the fact that virtually no single-family uses exist on this block.
And I am just showing up on the screen here sections of that remapping bill at Exhibit 11.
At Exhibit 12, I have included history of this property at 817,
showing that the property's historical use was as multifamily as a triplex,
dating all the way back to the 1940s.
The proposal for this property is shown on the zoning plans that I have up on the screen at Exhibit 6. They have been revised, so should the board be inclined to grant this request, we would request that it be granted with a proviso revised plans for one page.
and the changes are minor and I will address those. The proposal includes one new three-story
brick structure to blend with the predominantly three-story structures on this block. The building,
just like the one next door, will contain six dwelling units and is proposed to be an exact
mirror image of the new structure next door. For reference, the layout here is also identical to
the layout of the client's other developments at 803, 807, 811, and 813 North 40th Street.
So this is really a tested, tried-and-true layout that has tenants living in it.
The only change here that required the plans to be revised was to create the mirror image
by flipping the location of the stairs in the pilot house. So you can see on the original
application. The stairs were on the south end if you're looking at it from this orientation
and that's now been revised so that the stairs are on the north end and again it's just to
create that mirror image. The front setback here will align with the two structures immediately
The front setback here will align with the two structures immediately next door, and the rear yard here will be immediately identical to 815.
next to
The existing structure at 819 actually extends farther back into its rear yard.
As you can see on the elevations here, and I'll zoom in a little bit.
You can see that the first floor level here starts almost six feet above grade, allowing a much more functional lower level that is predominantly above grade.
And if I flip back to the photographs, you can see that condition here, which has identical grade conditions and a full window for that lower level.
So it's really not a true basement in the sense that the board would often see.
I do also have sample interior photos that I'll show you in a moment.
If I flip to the floor plans at Exhibit 8, let me zoom in here a little bit.
Units 1 and 2 are bi-level units of 651 and 759 square feet.
Units 3, 4, 5, and 6 are roughly about 450 square feet and are each one-bedroom, one-bath units.
Again, these are all identical to the new construction next door, except for them being
mirror images.
Because the owner also owns 815 and 813, there will be a common trash storage area in the
rear that you can actually see on an earlier aerial image that I have included.
And you can see the arrow here.
So you can see that the fence currently encloses the two corner properties, which will be
extended to enclose all three so that they can share that trash storage. This trash is currently
emptied from Reno Street three times a week. The properties are all managed by Haverford Square
Properties, which provides all services to these properties, including trash management,
pest control, sidewalk sweeping, common hallway maintenance, and other traditional building
services. The board has the added benefit for this proposal to actually see what these units
are going to look like. So again, at Exhibit 18, I have included photographs, and let me get down
to them. I have included photographs here of the units that are next door, which again will be
identical here. These show the high-end finishes and spacious designs, including walk-in closets
and in-unit washer and dryers. I have a lot of interior photos from next door, so I will scroll
through them quickly and can return to any if there's any questions. I have included two unit
types here. So this first photograph set here is of a sample one-bedroom unit. And again, here is
bathroom hallway. Another image of the bathroom. Bedroom with a walk-in closet.
And again, the closet with the in-unit laundry. Again, another image of the bedroom.
Kitchen, living area. Again, the kitchen.
and then you can see here uh this is actually a floor plan from next door where there is some
furniture added just for reference and then in terms of the bi-level unit again you can really
get a sense of uh you know how far above grade these units really are with with full windows
and and just as much light in there as you would have on the upper level floors as well
So there's two different bi-level unit types, which you'll see in these photographs here.
But again, kitchen and living areas, really unique circular staircase that goes up to the first floor.
Bedroom, this is just the living area and the kitchen from the other area.
This is the island.
And then on the upper level floor here, you can see the bathroom, bedroom.
again bathrooms walk-in closet in unit laundry that are really quite large and then the bedroom
on the upper level and again the other unit is is almost identical the kitchen is just
oriented a little bit differently on that lower level and you can see that here
all of these six units next door are fully rented and occupied
Regarding the refusal, this proposal only received two refusals for the proposed multifamily use,
as well as due to the height of the pilot house, which is a little bit of an odd one.
as well as due to the height of the pilot house, which is a little bit of an odd one.
The applicant here submits to a hardship given both the history of the property,
as well as the character of the neighborhood and the block, which is highly relevant to the
applicant's entitlement to a variance. First and most importantly, the PA Supreme Court in the case
of Inray Appeal of Metal Green Inc., issued in December of 2021, specifically found that the
Act 135 blight determination is highly relevant to the board's determination of hardship,
particularly in the case of a use variance. To quote, the court stated that the condition of
a property, such as where it is blighted or abandoned, is an appropriate consideration
in determining unnecessary hardship. As I reflected earlier, the conditions of blight
are bolstered by the fact that this property was historically used as multifamily for its entire
documented history. Aside from the historical multifamily use and blight, erecting a new
single-family home on this lot would represent a deviation from the predominantly multifamily
dwellings that exist and have recently been constructed on this block. As you can see here
Here at Exhibit 13, a map is included showing that this block specifically contains predominantly multi-family dwellings of varying density, including two other six-family dwellings on this block, one four-family dwelling, and several triplexes.
Across the street on North 41st Street, just south of the church, are all exclusively six-family dwellings.
As I referenced earlier, the prior RM1 zoning of the lot would have permitted four units, which was the same exact condition for 815 North 41st Street, which was granted a variance for the two additional units several years ago prior to its construction.
Now, in terms of the height, let me scroll back to the zoning plan here.
this was an identical refusal that was issued for 815 north 41st street next door
and is a relatively odd feature of the zoning code and that the pilot house height would have
been exempted had this been an occupiable roof deck because the roof deck is for mechanical
access only the pilot house height is counted towards overall height even though the building
itself is compliant and aligns with the rest of the block. So you can see here the pilot house
is identical, is just going to be flipped to the other side, is not visible from the street. It's
only visible for next door because there's a vacant lot. But it's somewhat of an odd feature
that if we were to convert this to an occupied roof deck, that height is now all of a sudden
allowed. There are very few occupied roof decks in this area, so the developer did not feel that
that would be an appropriate thing to put here, but does need the pilot house to ensure it can
access the mechanical units. We do submit the proposed number of units is the least minimum,
given it is identical to next door and comparable to most of the most multifamily densities on this
block. We submit the proposal will not increase congestion, harm neighbors' properties, or impair
light and air. Detailed analysis is provided in the memo of law, submitted to the board at exhibit
14, and I'm happy to touch on any point in more detail. At this point, I will see if my client is
available. We actually have an RCO meeting in just a couple of minutes, so I'm guessing that he may
have jumped off to go to that rco meeting uh but german yakubov if you happen to still be on here
german yakubov will be allowed to speak
why could you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer
sure german yakubov g-e-r-m-a-n yakubov y-a-k-u-b-o-v
you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
I do so, swear and affirm.
Thank you. Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman, have you been authorized to speak today on behalf of both the conservatorship entity, as well as the Equitable Owner LLC that is reflected under the agreement of sale?
I have.
And have you heard all of my testimony here before the board?
I have.
Do you adopt that testimony as if it were your own?
Anything you would like to add?
no i think that you covered um pretty much most of it all of it thank you we're happy to answer
any questions questions from the board can you go back to the uh board plans sure
I just want to see how they're...
we want to see how
Any floor in particular I can zoom in for.
So all of the units have access to the rear yard?
They do.
They do.
Yeah, you can see there is a common hallway.
And the unit mix, they're all one bedrooms?
Is that what I'm saying?
That is correct.
and the uh height of the depth of the basement slab below grade is what it is roughly three feet
yeah roughly three feet so just just for a point of comment when i'm talking to the other folks that
bring in basement level units this is the type of basement level condition that is preferred where
you've got a full window above grade and you get a decent light into the unit as you would if it
was fully above grade um so so i like the fact that you you've come up with a plan that that
gives a livable light and air for a basement for basement living so thank you we've been doing it
for a while right can you go back to the point and i just wanted sorry sure i i wanted to show
that window yeah and so there's no roof access only for mechanical correct that's correct yes
thank you good questions from the board
yeah my question is how did you guys address the uh rco's concern about having um
multiple bedroom units for family use? I know that was a concern that they had. How are you
willing to address that? Yes. So it's always a difficult conversation to have. We have many
other units on the same block, at least. So this RCO hearing was, I believe, Meredith, a year,
year and a half ago? It was. It was a long time ago. So between that RCO meeting and now,
We've added, I would say, close to 50 units within a block of that that have at least three, actually close to 100 units that have at least two to three bedrooms in them.
And that was the real concern because we had more space there than we did here.
Here, we didn't want to reinvent the wheel. We knew this was a highly sought after type of layout.
this was a building that was blighted for for decades um and it was really the only one left
on this block um so given the nature of the way we had to go about acquiring this building we had
to sue i mean this is like i think a three-year four-year process now um it it didn't really
allow for too much deviation but we did give the community those additional units um within
you know a block of here that that that made it you know that made them happier
the questions from the board
questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr chair the comments from the virtual audience
no hands chair planning commission
uh ron bednar city planning uh the property is indicated for residential on the city plan
given the historic circumstances of the site development recommended the quest for answer
what's our proviso for this revised plans one page yes mr chair
MI 2023-004-403-817-North 41st Street, I vote yes with proviso. Revised plans, one page.
Michael Charles, my vote is yes with proviso.
Joe Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso.
Senator Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
Iowa, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you. Thank you, Council.
Thank you.
Number three, MI 2024, 005-321-39 North 50th Street. Darlene Treat is the attorney. We don't have an RCO letter as of yet. Meeting was held November 20th, 2024, before the 44th Ward Democratic Ward RCO.
Darlene Treat has been promoted.
Good evening, counsel.
Good afternoon, Commissioners. Darlene Thede on behalf of the Applicant Alliance Global International Incorporated. Darlene, D-A-R-S-E.
Applicant, Alliance Global International Incorporated, Darlene, D-A-R-L-E-N-E, Threat, T as in Thomas, H-R-E-A-T-T.
My client on the line today representing Alliance Global International is Rafiq Bullion.
Where or firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Yes, I do, Commissioner.
Vice Chair has just a few questions.
Good evening, Counselor.
So do you agree to either read another refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits as needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, but today I did supplement with a receipt for the proof of payment of taxes and some petitions.
Okay, understood.
Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Commissioners. Can you see my screen?
Yes. Great.
Commissioners, I'm representing 39 North 50th Street.
We filed an application to the Zoning Board of Adjustment to renovate this property and make it into a three family dwelling.
Currently, this property is zoned as a RTA 1, which allows for a two-family dwelling.
We would like to renovate this property, which is in need of 100% renovation, and we would
like to make it into a three-family dwelling, which is prohibited in this zoning district.
I'm just showing you the refusal.
Commissioners, I did submit a whole package of information.
I'm not going to go through everything, but the package includes the refusal, the appeal,
property information form, tax information, a deed, plans, pictures, a community letter, proof of mailing.
And again, today I uploaded a receipt for the payment of taxes, as well as some petitions that were very, very recently circulated by my client.
I'm going to proceed with my exhibits at this time.
Here we have the refusal.
Again, we've got refused.
Anything above three is not allowed in this community.
Here is our application for appeal.
We have the property information form.
We have just the property information in general.
This was the outstanding tax balance.
I do have a receipt at the end of my presentation to show the taxes have been paid.
We have a deed.
And here we have some plans, and I'm going to go through the plans with you at this point in time.
So first, I'm going to just start with the site plan and the elevation.
Here we go.
So first, I'll start with the elevation here. This is the elevation of the building.
As you can see, it's a pretty huge property.
The length of the building is 115 feet.
The width of the building is 23 square feet of cross.
There's a front porch.
We have a front bay here.
Our application is asking if we could put on a one-room addition on the back of this property
and also a deck here for the use of the third-floor apartment.
the back the first floor apartment actually also has a back porch type deck and there's also a nice
rear yard there. Now here I'm just going to slide over a little more so you can see the
back porch here and you can see the deck with the sliding doors that we are proposing to put on to
the third floor at the back of the edition.
So now I'm going to come to the layout.
So now I'm going to come to the layout of the apartments, and I'm going to start with the, excuse me, the first floor apartment.
So as you can see, you would enter the apartment.
So we can see the whole plan, the whole floor plan, because I can't see it.
Just one second. One second.
The whole floor plan.
is that better
can only i think you might want to enlarge a little bit it's hard to see
enlarge it but we only see like the living in bedroom and bedroom you know okay i'm going to
enlarge it and then i'll go through each apartment so you can see each of them very very clearly
Okay, so I'm going to start with the first floor, and I'm going to move it down a little bit so you can see the whole thing.
So this is the first floor you would enter through this area.
We have a little porch, and this is the stairwell that will take you into the apartment.
you can come down the hole here and you can get into the apartment this way so we have a living
room here excuse me we have a bedroom here and we have a living room in the back there
we have a nice kitchen area here and we have a bathroom I mean a bedroom back here and we have
a full bathroom here we can traverse well let me just back up a little bit here as you can see
there's also a patio porch you can get out the back and you can enter into the backyard from the
first floor unit I'm now going to go through the second floor so you walk up these stairs
from the first floor and you can enter into the second floor unit in the beginning of that unit
We have a bedroom here.
We have a second bedroom in the middle.
We have a kitchen area.
And we have a third bedroom in the back.
You would traverse up these stairs to reach the third floor.
The third floor is a two-bedroom apartment that we're asking to put an addition on the back.
As you can see, you have the bedroom in the front.
You have the living room at the middle space.
And you have a full bathroom there.
You have another bedroom.
And then you have an open area and a deck, which is approximately 60 feet.
I did want to go through the site plan a little bit for you,
so I could really show you the layout of the whole property.
There's a huge sidewalk here.
There's a little bit of a front yard here.
There are the stairs to enter the building here.
And as you can see, the length of the property is pretty long.
This is where we are proposing to put the addition on the third floor with the little roof deck porch area.
And I also like the commissioners to see that we have a pretty large rear yard here, which is actually a 22 by 23.
Commissioners, I'd also like you to note that there is a concrete walkway, breezeway, down the whole side of this building here.
All the tenants can go down the side path here.
They can enter the yard here, and there'll be a common storage for trash if needed out here.
we will have a lighting in the front lighting all along the side and motion lighting in the
back area
i'm going to flip down now to the photographs i'm just going to enlarge it a little bit
maybe a little bit more
this is a picture this is the front of the house it is an old style twin
this is a little better picture
This is a little better picture of the front of the house, and in this particular picture, you are able to see the breezeway between the houses.
You all can see the length of the houses, and you can see how each of the tenants can access the rear of the property, either to use the yard or either to store trash if needed.
This is another picture of the breezeway.
And this is a picture of part of the backyard.
I think I have a little better picture.
That's a better picture.
It's a decent, good-sized backyard back there.
The neighbors on the other street have a yard also, which is about the same size.
And here's a long shot of the front of the street just to show you how the properties look.
They are two stories with a little third story.
I took a long shot of the side of the property on Arch Street, just so you could see how huge these buildings are.
It's actually about 2,500 square feet.
And I failed to mention that our apartments are not substandard.
The first floor apartment is approximately 1,200 square feet.
The second floor apartment is about 1120, and the third floor apartment is about 850 square feet.
These are nicely appointed and nice size apartments.
This is just another picture of the front of the property on the other side of the street.
I took this picture to show you that currently parking is not a super problem in this area.
Although parking is problematic in Philadelphia altogether, this area didn't seem to be overly saturated with cars.
Now that's just another picture to show you how the Black looks.
This is a picture of the intersection of the corner, which is Arch and 50th Street.
Again, I just really took that picture to show you how large these properties really are.
We did take some pictures of the inside of the property to show you that we really haven't done much work here.
The property has been gutted and we're waiting for approvals in order to begin work.
You can see that the property is old, and it hasn't been occupied in a long time, and it does need a complete renovation.
I tried to get the letter. I wasn't able to.
There were a number of individuals who showed up at the community meeting, and they did have some concerns.
The community meeting was held by the 44th Democratic Board.
It was held on November 20th, 2024.
There was pretty good attendance.
I would say it was 10 plus or more.
There goes my proof of mailing.
I did notice 113 residences.
Here's a picture of my posting.
And we did circulate some petitions.
My clients upload them today.
I apologize.
but basically there are 46 signatures on these petitions
and about 17 of them are from
Arlene?
Arlene?
Hi, Chair.
I'm sorry.
You've been allowed to speak, Mr. Chair.
Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye.
Can you, you have been allowed to speak?
We're trying, but our attorney is froze, right, Darlene?
Yeah, and it says she left.
I think she must have been.
Oh, I thought I missed something.
I'm like, wait.
No, she froze.
She froze, and then it said she left.
Probably trying to get back in now.
Yeah, she's probably trying to get back in.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I don't know where it cut off that, Commissioner.
I don't know where it cut off that commission.
No, I, you were pretty, you were getting close to, I think, to finish personally, but.
So, so, so Darlene, just for a point of information, how many, what's the rest of the block look like?
The rest of the block are made up of duplexes and triplexes.
Now, I can't say the triplexes on the block are legal, but there are duplexes and there's some other triplexes on the block.
Again, it is an RTA one and this block is legal for duplexes.
So questions from the board?
Yeah, can you go back to the floor plans again?
I think I have to reshare
I think they kicked me out
you said there was an RCO meeting
yeah there was an RCO meeting
on November the 20th
was there a vote or anything
they didn't share the vote with me
here we go
they didn't share the vote
with me
Yeah, I wasn't able to know what the vote was.
Just bear with me one minute, please.
I don't know what's going on.
Oh, here we go.
Here we go.
uh you passed it you passed it
i think the other way yeah the other way
you've got that looks like the plan okay let me reduce it for you
um in particular what would you like to see let's see the floor plans but if you can enlarge your
your screen okay and it's the it's the next i believe it's the next plan because that's i don't
see well that may be the floor plans on here just enough so i can at least see the whole sheet
he just crammed them in here yeah if you yeah if you open it up a little bit
hold on a second yeah that that should do it slide it down that won't slide just thing down
there it is here we go so we'll zoom in somewhere so i can see the whole plan the whole the whole
floor plan
it just makes a whole screen one more time yeah that's better and then slide the slide
the sheet down so we can see the whole floor plan
so this is the first yeah there you go that's better okay so so the units the way that they're
laid out i have a real concern with because you've got a two-bedroom unit on the first floor
with a kitchen and living room that's really too small for a two-bedroom unit you've got a three
bedroom unit on the second floor that kitchen living room is absolutely too small for a
a three-bedroom unit it absolutely makes no living um sense in terms of the quality of the space
and then the third floor unit uh and the layout is is really configured a little weird um for the
third floor unit i'm still trying to figure out if you've got a living room between the kitchen and
a bedroom it's just it's a confusing um layout the way that the the building is is configured
so i don't know that it works you know for me um and it may make sense that it's not
a triplex because the units just don't work well
um but i don't know what happened to the plans they disappeared
did she disappear again uh okay
those are my comments
in my comments
i don't know i couldn't tell the heart how they see those plans but did they have basement
they have a basement on there did she show the basement level or they no basement but it wasn't
being used for living okay yes just the first floor second floor and they're adding one addition
to the third floor to make it a full unit but it makes probably more sense as a decent you know
family size duplexes you know what i mean which is probably by the neighborhood is rt the second
floor has no living space at all yeah it doesn't it's just it's like there's nothing there there's
literally a kitchen right there's literally a kitchen so
i mean there's space but it's just not laid out well i think so i think for two two two family
probably work you know what i mean but three family is not is not working too well
i mean i'm back commissioner i'm sorry it went out can you hear me yeah we can
so just so you know as you were leaving we were talking i mean the second floor especially
there's no living space at all i mean that that it's just and you know we're not telling you to
do this but there's a lot of thought that two bedroom i mean two units would be much better
the three i understand commissioner so does anybody else have questions
the board
questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
two quick things um one it appears that there's a refusal missing for parking rta1 requires one
space per unit. So that just, I just want to know if the record that seems to be
omitted. And then I don't know if Ms. Threet had her client here that he goes to have adopt her
testimony. Rafiq, are you on the line? Yes, I'm here. Hi, Rafiq. Do you own 39 or 50? Hold on,
hold on, hold on. Hold on one minute. Rafiq, could you state your name and spell for the
stenographer hello everyone uh my name is rafikul boyan the way i spell r-a-f-i-q-u-l and my last
name is b-h-u-i-y-a-n as a nancy swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but
the truth i do sir please proceed counsel uh mr bullion do you own 39 north 50th street yes
and have you heard my testimony as presented today yes and if you were to testify today would
you adopt it as true and correct i do yes and mr um bullion we did attend the civic association
meeting on november 20th 2024 yes that's all i have commissioners there are other questions from the
board questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes chair we have bardina bardine you have been unmuted and allowed to speak
why could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
my name is bernadine hawes b-e-r-n-a-d-i-n-e last name is spelled h-a-w-e-s
we're a firm to tell the truth told truth and nothing but the truth
Yes. Are you a neighbor? I am. Please proceed. So I live directly across the street and I can
tell you that Attorney Threat made the right statement by saying there are duplexes and some
triplexes, which are probably not illegal for the same reason Mr. Johns looked at the floor plan
And because there's no way to shoehorn three living units, three good living units in our properties.
What Attorney Threat forgot to say was that many of the houses are single family houses, which is what that was until it was purchased in October two years ago.
So we at the RCO, she doesn't have, I don't know how she doesn't have the information, we almost unanimously denied the variance at our RCO meeting run by Mr.
We denied the variance at our RCO meeting run by Mr. Willie Jordan in November.
Thank you very much, Bernadette. We appreciate it.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Stephan Fields.
Could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer?
We have Yasmeen Kenya.
Hi, Yasmeen.
Hello.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer?
Yes, my name is Yasmeen Kenya.
That's Y-A-S as in Sam, M as in Mary, E-E-N as in Nancy.
Last name is K-E-N as in Nancy, Y-A.
Fair or firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Are you a neighbor?
Yes, I'm also the block captain of the unit block of North 50th.
Please proceed.
Okay, so in addressing this property, I would just like to read the concerns.
um basically i'm speaking on behalf of the residents of the unit block of north 50th
street and the dunlap neighborhood to express our serious concerns regarding the current
variance request under consideration we respectfully urge the board to halt this
process due to significant procedural irregularities and attempts by the petitioner
to circumvent fair community engagement.
I heard Esquire mention that he has a number of 46 signatures, which 17 are from the block.
However, I have over 70% of the block who is in know of this variance and has confirmed.
Again, at our previous meeting, the neighbors directly impacted, voted against the variance.
And despite the clear outcome, the petitioner, rather than engaging further with the community, attempted to gather additional support by soliciting signatures late at night within 48 hours of his appeals hearing, which I also encountered myself.
Several of the neighbors expressed they felt pressured, afraid and confused and misled about the project to gain their signatures.
When he was unable to obtain a sufficient support from the residents directly affected by the project, he resorted to what we call, you know, the poppy store or your local convenience store to collect more signatures, which that traffic runs all the way from, you know, Upper Darby running straight down Arch Street.
You know, this tactic undermines the integrity of the community's decision making process and disregards the voices of those participated in the previous meeting who voted no.
And most importantly, it denies the residents a fair and informed decision to support or not to support this project.
We believe it is essential for the board to investigate the validity of the collected signatures, and we respectfully stand by our no vote and request that the board deny the variance request altogether.
Allowing this variance to proceed despite the irregularities was set a harmful precedent and signaling that misleading tactics and circumventing proper procedure is an acceptable practice.
I know you all have been in this meeting for quite some time, but I have a list of over 21 residents who are in know of this.
I did email the letter to you all. I have an additional four of nearby neighbors and I have one, two, three, four, five, five neighbors who want to withdraw their name from the petition signed late last night.
Ms. Kenya, I think we understand exactly where you stand.
Thank you.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
No more hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
This is Ron Bednar, City Planning.
The property is indicated for residential use on the city plan.
The area was rezoned for two units only.
The applicant's hardship is not supported with evidence of unique physical circumstances or condition of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the code.
Therefore, we recommend the request for variance not be granted.
MI 2024-005-321-39 North 50th Street, I vote no.
Michael Johns, my vote is no.
Michael Johns, my vote is no.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is no.
Ty Owen, my vote is no.
Thank you, commissioners.
Thank you.
Is there anyone else in the virtual room?
This case was nothing.
Thank you.
Sorry, what was commissioner, I mean, board member Shahid's vote?
Yep, yep.
Mr. Shahid?
no okay thank you um is for anyone in the virtual audience whose case has not been called
we have no hands chair thank you thank you uh council um thank you um so this is our
last official Zoom meeting.
Next week, we go back in person.
But I wanted to thank the staff because the staff
over the years, I mean, I think this is my third year. And even before
that with Frank DiCicco and Tanya, the staff really put this whole system
together, this virtual system, and it's really worked well.
And I have nothing but confidence. Ian, are you on still, Ian?
Mr. Haggerty?
I don't think he is, Mr. Chair.
I have tremendous confidence that the staff is going to make our new experience, which is going to be a hybrid, in-person, just a great place to work.
So I want to thank everybody.
I mean, I think this has just been, I mean, it's been a long time before we've been back there.
I mean, I think of all the lawyers that came here, I met one in person.
I've never, well, Cheryl, too.
Cheryl used to come here.
But the fact of the matter is
I'm looking forward to coming downtown
It's a chance to get in Center City
I'm really glad that we were able to
It'll give me a chance to get back in Center City
A little bit, so I'm looking forward to it
And I want to thank everybody for today
And we're going to have some good times
When we go back in person
Thank you all
Thank you everybody, see you guys next week
Have a good night everyone
Night all
Thank you
Thank you.