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