where did i just go with all this sorry technology um
here we go this is our uh original application for appeal which was filed on 4721 exhibit 10 is
our project information form that we filed as part of the requirements for the appeal
exhibit 11 is an affidavit of service uh that we served on july 15th notices to um
many neighbors uh this is our letter of july 13th the meeting uh this was actually a notice of
our uh zba hearing and our meeting which was um july 26th and all of the various interested
parties interested rcos council member goffier's office uh etc were all cc'd on this letter
uh also contain a copy of our original refusal because this was before we decided to go with
porches. Exhibit B is our list of all of the addresses that we mailed in advance of our RCO
meeting and this hearing. Exhibit 12 is a deed in favor of Junk Property, LLC,
which was recorded in June of 2015. It was a sheriff's sale and a sheriff's deed.
so um that is uh and at this point i would like to um call uh lavar clark who is a principal
of junk property llc lavar are you out there
he's been allowed to speak hello this is lavar clark good morning please spell your full name
sir uh lavar clark l as in larry e as in edward v as in victor a as an apple r as in robert
clark c as in cat l as in larry a as an apple r as in robert k as in kite
we're firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes thank you mr uh lavar
um you're the principal member of junk property llc correct yes
And Junk Property, LLC is the owner of 1241 South 52nd Street, correct?
Thank you.
And did you hear all the testimony that I offered to the board and that Logan Dry offered to the board today?
And is all of that testimony true and correct to the best of your knowledge?
And would you adopt that testimony as though you had given it yourself?
I have nothing further for my client.
questions from the board no mr chairman no no anyone else would like to testify in this case
please raise your hand mr chair mr andrew goodman
Mr. Chair, Mr. Andrew Goodman has his hand raised.
I will speak at this time.
Thank you.
Mr. Goodman, please identify yourself and I'll swear you in.
Good morning.
Andrew Goodman, G-O-O-D-M-A-N.
You're representing the Office of Third District Council Member,
Jamie Gaudier, room 586, City Hall.
I'm going to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Please proceed.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the board.
Our office has no opposition to the variance request here at this address this morning.
Thank you.
Anyone else would like to testify in this case?
Please raise your hand.
Mr. Chair, if I may just go back on the record for a brief moment.
Please.
I just had a few things I wanted to add prior to you calling the Planning Commission representative.
I did just want to add that on that 1200 block of South 52nd, we are at 1241. And on that same side, and I apologize that I am blanking on whether it is the east or west side, I believe it is the east, but I could be wrong.
On our side of the block, there are at least three other properties in that 1200 block that are used as multifamily, whether they are done so legally or not is another story. 1223 South 52nd is a three family. 1221 South 52nd is a three family. And 1219 South 52nd is either a two or three family. I just wanted to add that.
Anyone else to testify in this case?
No further answer. Thank you. Planning Commission. Good morning, Chairman DiCicco. How are you today? Ian Hegarty with the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. That's H-E-G-A-R-T-Y.
You swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do. Thank you. All right, members of the board, good morning. In 2019, the zoning map was amended on this block from RM1 to RSA5.
and this was done in accord with recommendations from the comprehensive plan and with the support
of the community. I don't think we've heard any evidence presented from the applicant today that
there are any unique physical circumstances or conditions of the property. This is a vacant
lot and so we don't believe that there's a hardship justifying a four-dwelling unit count
on this site. City Planning Commission recommends that the board deny the variance.
when was that remapping that was 2019
okay thank you um
tom you mentioned something earlier about a basement window yes mr chairman can you go back
to the plan sure bear with me here um yeah
all right do the seller plan yeah sorry give me a moment here i know i'm flashing these things by
pretty quickly let me go back to the interruption this is tanya sunk it uh mr holliman may you
please lower your volume just a bit yes i will
all right uh so this is our you're asking for the seller floor plan it's right here to the left
correct yes do your bedroom in your basement does it have a window um it does that's actually at the
front here is a window which is also the egress well and um again that's the that's the living
space not the uh bedroom the bedroom is where the bed is ah now you passed it oh well that's
that's at the rear and there's a window right here no go to the center of a property oh you mean
where the stairs are yeah that's that's showing a closet and a bed um can i may i recall our
architect to um speak to that yes logan you there yep i'm here hey logan um
mr holliman had just asked about the bedroom in the basement and a window sure yeah if you
if you want to zoom in right now we've got that designed as a sleeping quarter
um so basically if you want to zoom in on that isaac oh yeah it's a slight nuance basically in
the code but if we uh leave the door off of it and provide the window there for the natural light
it's technically not a legal bedroom but the code would recognize that as designed as a sleeping
But the code would recognize that as designed as a sleeping quarter instead.
quarter instead.
It's not illegal because you can always put the door back.
I mean, you could, but we've got it designed with the window there that opens up into the living space and no door.
But the window is not in the room.
Right, but as a sleeping quarter, we don't need an emergency egress out of that.
That's why the difference between a sleeping quarter and the bedroom would be.
I don't think you're correct.
Yeah, we've designed them and got them permitted in the past,
but it certainly would come down ultimately to the building examiner's interpretation of the code.
But, I mean, we have done this design in the past and gotten it permitted with the sleeping quarter designation.
Logan, have you done the study or the mapping, how many feet it is to the egress and all of those factors?
yeah all of all of the uh all of the rooms within this building need uh you know under the new code
maximum 125 foot travel distance to the to the nearest fire rated exit or uh egress window in
which case you know you know i don't know if you can see the dimension of the bedroom there but
we're well within that maximum 125 foot travel distance permissible by the ibc
okay okay thank you thank you logan by 2021-001685 1241 south 52nd street
my vote is yes with the following proviso maximum excuse me chair this is sharon if you are voting
to approve this we have to wait for the amended refusal
i'm sorry say that again sharing um oh we have to wait so this will get rescheduled uh resumption
the record will be closed except for receipt of the amended refusal once it's received it will be
about it. So noted. Thank you. Thank you. I'm waiting on that amended
refusal and I'll be in contact with Miss Sunkett and Miss Saletta as soon as I
receive it. Thank you. All right. MI 2021-001-726-1384 Ridge Avenue.
there's a letter of support with provisors from the 14th ward executive committee
good morning mr jen please identify yourself and i'll swear you in
Yes, good morning. Zenjen, Z-H-E-N-J-I-N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 1838, Philadelphia PA, 19103, here on behalf of the applicant.
We're affirmed to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you, Mr. Klazman. I'll ask questions for you.
Mr. Jen, do you agree to wait the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral photos and plans five days prior to this end?
I have.
Okay. Have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
Yes, we have met and we have a letter.
Thank you. Please proceed.
Thank you. I'm going to share with the board the information related to this case.
we have submitted to the board refusal the letter from the RCO photos plans tax clearance and related
documentation this is an application for a new construction on what is currently multiple lots
two lots the proposal is to consolidate the lots and put a new semi-detached structure for
multi-family household living with a commercial space as required in the district I want to point
out this is a CMX4 commercial district which is relatively flexible when it comes to actual uses
so our use itself are fully in compliance with the requirement of the code where we have the
refusals are two dimensional well one is a dimensional item and one is for parking
under CMX2 in the commercial district we're required to have two off-street parking spaces
we're proposing zero due to the location of the property and the difficulties in
putting in the off-street parking. The other refusal is for a dimensional side yard
required for eight feet. We're proposing a one foot ten inch but I will show to the board on the site
We are proposing a 1 foot 10 inch, but I will show to the board on the site plan that, in fact, there is a shared alleyway.
So the 1 foot 10 inch is actually, there's actually a wider access way than what may seem initially.
So the, here you're looking at the rendering of the plans.
The same rendering was presented to the community.
Essentially, this will be a structure built on Ridge Avenue.
It is in the middle of the block.
What is surrounding it now are existing buildings. One is a garage and the other side is a commercial mixed-use building. However, across the street, we have what is really a large, I believe it's a store. I believe it's an Audi store, but I could be mistaken on the exact type of store it is.
but it is a Audi store of some sort.
Again, it's a store right across this property.
So what we're proposing to do
is to have the building structured on this lot,
which actually has a bit of a string shape in the back.
It's not a rectangular lot.
However, the main focus of the refusal,
which is the side yard,
would come into play in this part of the property
that I'm zooming into, into the property. So essentially, if we left an eight foot
wide side yard, with the existing alleyway that's already shared with the neighbor,
what we would have is basically a 10 foot pathway to the back, which really in all for all intents
and purposes, doesn't really accomplish any additional benefit other than taking away some
of the space. In this particular, on this particular block, while there are shared alleyways
for the purpose of taking trash out from the rear yard, a large wide opening really would
not be beneficial, nor does it really help provide off-street parking because it still
wouldn't be wide enough for access way, nor would it allow any parking spaces to be put
because the rear yard really isn't that large.
The design here, the 1-foot-10-inch side yard
actually combines with the 2-foot-4-inch half
of our half of the access way,
allowing about 3-foot there,
and then there's another 2-foot on the other side
from the other property.
So this is still a relatively wide passageway
for trash extraction from the building.
Speaking of the trash extraction,
because it's a multifamily building
along with the commercial space, we have designed an exterior trash room as well as interior
trash storage space as much as possible for the units. Every unit has two stairways,
one access in the front, one access in the back, and the rear stairway allows access by all units
to the trash room, which is designed to hold enough trash for all the residential spaces.
And on trash day, commercial trash pickup would come, they would be able to access through this, again, the shared alleyway with total of about five foot sit back, I'm sorry, total about five foot width, allowing them to take the trash and bring it out to the street.
The community's primary concern actually involves trash being left in front of the building.
In their letter, one of the key provisals is making sure that trash is managed in a way where they would not be visible on the street other than for the duration of the pickup.
In addition, the community asked that we try to use a facade that matches the neighboring properties, which the Aldi with the multifamily across the street kind of has a grayish brick type facade as well.
So we'll make sure that it is consistent with the block.
And in addition, they asked that garbage disposals be installed so that it would avoid having a lot of food trash being stored in the trash room.
From the standpoint of the actual property layout of each unit, I'm going to zoom in
again to give the board a better look.
I want to point out that there is no, I'm sorry, this might be too zoomed in too far.
The basement is used as part of the commercial space for their use, so there are no basement
living spaces in this property.
There's an ADA accessible unit one, which is a studio style unit. And then the additional units
are basically one bedroom and two bedroom units in the floors above.
So based on the fact that this is in the middle of a block, as far as location,
fact that this is in the middle of a block as far as location, we would argue that there is a
hardship for putting parking into this, particularly off-street parking, because in order to do so,
we would essentially have to remove most of the access of the commercial space or reduce the
commercial space to the point where it's not really that useful to the community. In addition,
this side of the street, although not clearly shown in the photo here, but there is parking
on the street on this side. And it is actually a detriment to the community to take those spaces
away to maintain a curb cut and put in a garage. The community also feels that a commercial facade
is better than these garage entrances that are like what is next door to us. So because of all
those reasons they have supported our request for the no parking off street variance. So with that
I would ask the boards if the board has any questions I'll be happy to reshare any of the
exhibits and also I believe my client is here with us as well if any questions may be directed
towards my client. Thank you let's get your client to adopt your testimony and then we'll
move on from there. Thank you. Is Ms. May Tang here? Please raise your hand.
As a further point, Chair, I just want to point out this block, because the CMX2 is a combination
of multifamily and commercial for pretty much the entire block. It's Z Bin Tang that should
be here. I see the hand raised.