The administrator. I'm here. DPZ Zoom today. So that's Bill instead of Pauline for IT.
And then for the administrator will be Jason Hand. Thank you. And if we could just pause for
two minutes and then we'll be ready. You'll let us know when you're ready. Yes, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you.
okay sure we have about 20 attendees we're ready to begin as you wish very much um good morning
everyone my name is frank de chico i'm the chair of the zoning board of adjustment
i'll be participating in today's hearing along with our board secretary confessor plaza and
board members Mr. Thomas Holloman and Mr. James Snell. Board Administrator Mr. Jason Hand and our
board attorney Ms. Sharon Saleta are also in attendance as is the zoning board administrator
Ms. Tanya Sunkett. For those of you who haven't yet participated in one of our virtual hearings
I'll go through some of the basics of what you can expect. First we will be administering oaths
to individual participants prior to their testimony second we'd like to advise everyone
that this proceeding is being recorded and that by participating you acknowledge your agreement
to be recorded and that the recording will be made available to the public on the web or otherwise
third for anyone participating by phone if you wish to testify you must raise your hand
by hitting star nine, and then star six to unmute yourself. I'll repeat. For anyone participating
by phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise your hand by hitting star nine,
and then star six to unmute yourself. Finally, to enter an appearance statement,
call Google 267-270-5548 and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue.
I will repeat that. To enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548 and leave
your email address and the address of the property at issue. And I would like to remind everyone,
please do not attempt to testify in the chat. If you have any comments, questions, or concerns,
please direct them to mr jason hand today's board administrator with that uh before we begin i would
like is to ask if there's anyone here for a resumption hearing to raise your hand all other
hands please lower them only raise your hand if you are here for a resumption hearing
i see no answer thank you with that uh i will read off the request for continuance or withdrawals
on the 930 list. Number seven, MI 2020-001-574. 2500 North 31st Street is being withdrawn.
Number eight on our list, MI 2021-001-736. 3353 Cotman Avenue is being continued.
Number 11 on our 930 list, MI 2021-001-684-4656 Worth Street, W-O-R-T-H Street is continued.
Street, W-O-R-T-H, Street is continued, and number 12 on our list, MI 2021-001781, 5617 Hadfield, H-A-D-F-I-E-L-D Street, is continued at the request of the applicant.
If anyone disagrees with the cases I just read on the record to be continued or withdrawn, please raise your hand.
Only if you disagree with the cases I just called.
Excuse me, Chair. This is Sharon.
Did you call number 12 as continued?
I'm sorry. That was a mistake.
That is not being continued.
We did receive exhibits.
okay thank you okay so number 12 not yours no worries number 12 5617 Hadfield
will not be continued the case will be heard today
any hands as far as anyone else to disagree with the cases that are continued
go ahead at this time Mr. Chair thank you at this time I will ask if anyone would like to
request a continuance or withdrawal for the 930 list. If you're requesting a continuance
or withdrawal on the 930 list, please raise your hand at this time.
Mr. Chair, Mr. Alan Ockamson has his hand raised, so I will allow him to speak at this time.
Good morning, Mr. Ockamson. Please identify yourself for the record and I'll swear you in.
Good morning, Mr. Chair. Alan Ockamson of Ockamson PC, 123 South Broad Street,
suite 1600 philadelphia pa 19109 from the tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do thank you please proceed uh we're uh asking for a short continuance of the matter regarding
3842 fairmont avenue at the request of the community we've made some alterations to our
drawing specifically we added the front porch uh because this is a front porch uh part of the
neighborhood uh and so we'll have we sent an authorization letter just recently uh to miss
sunk it so to get authorization to to obtain a new refusal which will amend our zoning appeal
but as you can imagine given the end of the year and the change in the tax abatement program
um and the fact that we're working with the community on this matter we would ask that
and we have community support because of it we're asking for a short continuance uh to present this
matter well um that'll help you have to work that out with miss sunkett yeah miss sunkett can again
we really didn't i think you guys should talk offline okay okay okay um hi cheer this is tanya
I can confirm that Mr. Nockerson can reach out to me after he gets his amended refusal, and I can work with him on immediately rescheduling.
Thank you, Ms. Sunkett.
You're quite welcome.
So MI 2021-001-721-3842 Fairmount Avenues continued.
Any other requests for continuance or withdrawal?
no further hands at this time sir
thank you um i thought i saw a hand go up just now i'm sorry i thought i saw a hand go up just
now but maybe maybe i didn't so you're free to blow thank you first case mi 2021
21-001-685-1241 South 52nd Street.
Mr. Slepner is the attorney of record, and vote must be held for amended refusal.
Is Mr. Slepner available?
Yes, he is.
he has been made into a panelist sir good morning mr schlepner please spell your full name for the
record and i'll swear you in uh yeah good morning chair uh isaac schlepner i india s sam double a
alpha c charlie last name's schlepner s sam l larry e elvis p peter n norman e elvis r robert
with Mattione Limited, 100 North Independence Mall West, Suite 5A, Northwest, Philadelphia, PA, 19106.
Where from to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
where for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do i'm looking at uh real
quick mr slepner you have uh you have professor confessor hold off a second please all right i'm
just looking mr slepner right you got 1446 south 52nd and 1420 i don't think we can hold we can
hear these together can we um i would actually request they be heard separately okay that's it
Thank you. All right. Confessor, thank you.
Sorry about that. Mr. Slepner, you agree to wait the reading of its refusal and stipulate to attack her seat?
And have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copies of refusal, or referral, photos, and plans five days prior to this hearing?
Yes, we did.
And have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
Thank you.
Please proceed.
All right.
Thank you.
Mr. Chair, it actually, this matter, similarly to what Mr.
Nakamson described, we had had plans, presented all our documents to the board, gotten our
refusal.
We had a meeting with the RCO.
The RCO is the 51st Ward Democratic Committee.
And after our meeting with the RCO, we kind of came to understand and decided to alter the plans a little bit.
Our initial refusal was just for use. This was planned as a four-unit on an RSA 5 property.
And the new plans also have that, but the new plans also include a front porch, which would seem to trigger a refusal for open space or lot coverage.
I actually communicated with Ms. Sunkit. I sent her a letter. She sent me a letter to be forwarded to Curtis Daniel of the LMI zoning section to get an amended refusal. So that is pending. I was hoping that we could present to you what we do have today and that the board could at least hear us today and then hold the vote pending the refusal, the amended refusal.
Thank you.
Please proceed.
Thank you. Again, my name is Isaac Slepner. I'm with Mattione Limited. I represent the owner of 1241 South 52nd. And if I may, I'm going to start to share my screen at this time so that everybody can. That's not what I'm looking for.
um i'll go through our printed materials as briefly as i can make it um first up is our
and with me is my client uh lavar clark who is the sole member of the principal of the llc
and also logan dry our architect uh exhibit one is our tax clearance junk property llc is the
owner of 1241 south 52nd and the llc is compliant uh as of 721
One. This was compliant when we sent it to the board in any event exhibit two is our notice of refusal, which, as I said, our original notice of refusal was just refusal for use, and we are pending and amended refusal from L and I exhibit three exhibit three is a letter from the RCO.
Now, the RCO heard the three cases that I'm going to be bringing this morning. The RCO heard those all at the same time. And this was in July of 2021. And the RCO did provide us with a letter, and the letter has no opinion. It said did not reach agreement on the application.
um that said you know there were some attendees at this meeting this we didn't present to an empty
room but uh they said that the rco said that there was um there were not enough people to
take a vote that would have qualified under their bylaws um but in any event we did meet with them
they did provide us letters for all three of our properties um exhibit four is the site plan and
And I am going to rotate this so everybody can see it a little bit better and I will enlarge it.
So these are our this is our revised site plan.
And as you can see, those little cloud indicators indicate where we revised this.
And you can see at the front, there is a front porch, a drawing of a front porch, lot coverage and open area and occupied area would be triggered by this.
New front porch addition, but we do think, based on our meeting with the RCO that, and when you see the photos, it fits in with the streetscape. The neighboring property has a front porch, and we wanted to keep it to those dimensions.
The next exhibit would have been a revised plan form or a amended notice of refusal. We haven't gotten that yet, so please excuse the bright red over here.
our next exhibit is the floor plans and I'm actually
Our next exhibit is the floor plans, and I'm actually going to twist these floor plans a little bit to orient everybody better.
So the bottom of the page here is the rear yard.
The top of the page here is 52nd Street.
So starting, it's planned to be a four unit, four apartments.
so there's front and rear and front and rear are the first and basement units so there's the front
porch up up here front steps front porch front door to the common sorry to the common hallway
and then you come into unit a which is the front unit occupying the ground level and basement
there are the basement steps inside the unit back here is the door to unit b which is the rear area
the rear of first floor and basement.
There are the steps inside the unit to get down to the basement,
and this unit also has access to the rear yard space.
Then you go up, unit two is the second floor.
That would be the third overall unit,
unit C. Unit C does not have access to the rear yard.
Then scrolling down here,
This is, and then the third floor unit, you go up, up, up, then you're in the third floor unit.
And the third floor unit also has access to the roof deck.
The roof deck is only used by the third floor unit.
It's not used by the entire building.
So those are our floor plans.
Uh-oh.
Thor, are you there?
Hello?
Yes, we're here.
Okay, well, that's good. I'm here too, but my screen just died on me.
We still see your screen.
Oh, there we go. This is all right. This is fun. Here we go.
Exhibit seven. Can everybody see my exhibits here? We're somehow got down to exhibit seven.
Exhibit seven is a rendering, and I don't know that we have a new rendering just yet, but we do have new plans.
the front porch would occupy this this area and logan dry if you're out there maybe logan can
give us a little bit more insight my architect logan are you out there
mr dry has been allowed to talk sir yep i'm here
sir please identify yourself spell your full name i swear you in
Sure. Logan Dry, L-O-G-A-N-D-R-Y, Architec of Record from KCA Design Associates, 6525 Tulip Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19135.
You're a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you. Logan, if you could just, I guess, give the board a little bit more insight as to the revisions that we did to this plan.
I think I mostly described it, but I just wanted to make sure that everything was clear.
Yeah, so I mean, just again, to reiterate, you know, the initial design that we proposed, we submitted to the city. Dimensionally, it was as of right, you know, we had all of our yard setbacks, open area, building height, pilot house, roof deck setbacks, all of that was dimensionally by right, initially just seeking a use refusal for multifamily.
um you know after we did meet with the neighborhood group and took a second look at
um the contextual buildings around us since this was the the sort of last empty lot on the block
of all front porches um we decided to kind of go back and and revise those plans slightly so you
know just looking at the rendering here um you know whereas we were previously proposing a front
yard um rather than a porch uh you know the new design proposes a front porch that matches the
uh dimensions of the adjacent porch um so again you know basically picture what you have here
um as well as the porch on the front and then we also did um you know revise some of the
window fenestration and things like that you know on the upper floor it's not really
affecting the zoning but again just trying to make it a little bit more
contextual so all of that's captured in the floor plans and the zoning plans that Isaac presented
And obviously, at this point, we're just waiting for, you know, the amended refusal from L&I because that front porch basically takes our total building coverage over our originally proposed 75% as of right.
So we're waiting for that additional open space and coverage refusal as a result of adding that front porch.
Thank you, Logan.
um and uh members of the board you'll see some photos in another second those also are in there
And members of the board, you'll see some photos in another second.
Those also are in there.
So you'll see a little bit of context in terms of the porch next door.
In fact, Exhibit 8 are our photos.
And let me see if I can flip these.
Well, yeah, let me flip these around because they're not.
Some of them are portrait and some of them are landscape.
You know how it is.
All right.
This is a photo of our site currently.
So you can see the house next door.
that's 1243. And there's a porch there. It's a stone porch. And then the front door of the house
it's covered. It's actually looks pretty pleasant, like a pleasant porch. I would like to have a
front porch like that on my house. Our property is this half you see here, half of this lot from
the fence post over to the party wall. That's our property, 1241. I'll scroll down. There's a few
other photos of ours. We're going to rotate this back. This is the proverbial landscape shot.
Again, our property is the middle here from the fence post to the party wall,
and then this is 1239 at where the fence and the corner of the fence are.
Exhibit B are the photos of our orange poster, which were posted at least 21 days ago at our site.
And there should be three of those in there.
Here's a little bit of a broader shot of ours.
I'm not sure why it's posted on the fence, but I guess that's where they could physically find a spot for it.
And here again, you'll see in the context of the neighboring house.
This is, again, this is 1243 with this large stone porch here, and then 1241 is ours, the grassy empty lot right now.
and then there's a wide shot of our zoning poster again um i'll twist this back because
everything else is uh documents so this is our um original appeal document oh no oh