Our vice chair has just a few questions for you, okay?
Good morning, counselor.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
council now she's she's the she's the owner she's not the lawyer oh yeah
oh it's just me yeah yeah it's okay i'm like
have you emailed all the exhibits that will cry for this hearing five days in advance of
this hearing today i emailed them all the only thing the um support letter was just emailed
yesterday because they just voted it on monday night okay yes no problem no problem um please
proceed and share your screen
green button at the bottom yeah
Okay, that's the interior. Can you see this?
okay that's the interior can you see this i can okay
I can. Okay, that's the interior of the house.
It is a three-story twin in East Mount Airy.
It is where I grew up. And we acquired it
from my father in 2015 when he moved into an
apartment. These are just the bedrooms.
Second floor
hallway bathrooms dining room first floor bathroom kitchen
um tv room living room um i have other things to share let's see do i need to here's the
this is the exterior
sorry they're in different box
this is from the side it's on a corner it's on the corner of Boyer and Gowan
And we're street and now an avenue.
This is from the corner.
There is a zoning notice posted on the kind of the side back with the letter of refusal
and this is the front of the house.
It's right on the sidewalk so people can see it.
This is the letter of refusal for visitor accommodations.
This is the letter to the near neighbors that I sent out.
The RCO meeting information, this is the deed, I acquired it from my father, this is the
application for HEAL. Sorry, it's okay with the check. That was important for me to get that on.
Here is the meeting summary from the RCO of the support for the three-year variants.
Here is their letter of kind of summing up the two meetings.
The first one we had was on December 6th, where we had many near neighbors and the Board
of East Mount Airy Neighbors on the meeting, most with support we had to just find out
about the three-year proviso um and then when we found that out they rescheduled the meeting just
for this past monday and we voted they voted on that to support the variance with the three-year
proviso um i don't have anything else to share right now why don't why don't you so here's a
question. How long have you been using this? So we acquired it in 2015 from my father. We started
to use it in 2016 as an Airbnb with the Democratic National Convention coming into town. But we,
our idea is to be able, since the house has been in my family for 50 years, the idea is to be able
to um maintain it for use for our family as well um the extended family um so that's why we chose
airbnb using as airbnb so we could block out times when we are able to use it like holidays
or our own graduations or um celebrations um all of the money that we have earned and when we've
taken losses as well the first couple years, have been put back into basically getting the
house improved and maintained. So we've had all of the knob and tubeless, we had the whole place
rewired, brought up to code with all that. We've had a lot of exterior work done. So the money we
Um, so the money we make is basically just put right back into the house.
make is basically just put right back into the house.
Um, and we, um, only hosts, we only host like one group at a time, even though the house
is large, we don't break up the rooms or anything like that.
Um, and usually the people coming into town, our families coming in for weddings, celebrations,
um, baby showers, uh, graduations.
um so we are just looking to keep the same use as we are existing we're not looking to make any
physical changes to the property or change anything about okay all right good questions
from the board no mr chairman questions questions or comments from the virtual audience
chair we have charles richardson good afternoon good morning mr richardson i thought we were in
the afternoon already. You've already been sworn. Just state your name, please. Charles Richardson,
Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass, R-I-C-H-A-R-T-S-O-N. Councilwoman has no opposition
to granting this variance as long as it has the three-year proviso. Thank you very much.
Anyone else in the virtual audience? Yes, Chair. We have Natalia, last name ending with S as in Sam.
Okay. Could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
I'm sorry, Chair. She has an older version of Zoom, so I'm going to have to promote her to a
panelist to speak. Okay, fine. Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Sure. It's Natalia. It's N-A-T-A-L-I-A, last name Seriko, S-E-R-E-J-K-O.
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes proceed i'm the executive director of east mount area neighbors who is the rco um for the
area of the property and i just wanted to state that the uh community wasn't
for in the variance as long as it had the provider for a year okay thank you so much
for calling in. We appreciate it. Okay. Thank you. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see no hands-on. Hi, Planning Commission. Thank you, Chair Bergman. Ian Hegarty for the
Philadelphia City Planning Commission. Board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no
change to the existing RSA to single-family zoning at this location. Again, for use variances,
is we're looking for evidence that the variance is necessary to enable viable economic use of the
property or unique physical conditions of the property. We don't believe that the appellant
has shown either in this case, and so the City Planning Commission recommends that the board
deny the variance. Thank you. MI 2022 004 561 100 East Gallon. I vote yes with proviso. Temporary
variance expires 2-1-26. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with proviso. James Snell, my vote is yes
with proviso. Thank you. Number 13.
mi2022 006124 1453 north 4th street verne anastasio is the attorney
letter of support from south kensington community partners
good morning mr chair good morning could you state your name please and spell for the court
reporter sure it's verne anastasio a-n-a-s-t-a-s-i-o 2016 spruce philadelphia 19103
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do could you identify your client a relationship to this property yes my client i represent the
lc pelosa who is the owner of the property in question okay our vice chair uh ismail shaheed
has a few questions good morning council do you agree to wave the reading of the refusal
good morning yes i do have you emailed all the requirement documents five days in advance of the
um i did email all the required documents
Thanks.
We are looking at 1453 North 4th Street.
This is the legalization of a non-conforming existing two-family dwelling, and it's one-use refusal.
This is the legalization of a non-conforming to
We have plants here, storage area in the basement.
Then we have studio, living space, second floor unit.
I'm sorry, unit two is on the third floor.
as well this is it's a corner property directly across the street from two cmx ones
uh and right behind it a ton of rm1 this property has been historically uh two units
at for a very long time it was commercial on the first floor uh and an apartment above
this property was marketed listed sold and presented as a two-family dwelling
it has separate uh electric meters separate everything as you can see here separate
entrances it's already two mailboxes on there my client purchased the property believing it to be
in fact, illegal to family dwelling. Here's some interior photos.
We did, in fact, meet with the RCO.
164 individual households were mailed. And this is the flyer that went out.
And as a result, South Kensington Community Partners offers a letter of support for the variance because of the decades of this property serving two units, either first as a commercial mixed residential use and then ultimately as a two-family dwelling because the property was listed, marketed, and sold as a two-family dwelling and presented it.
itself is so, and because of the separate meters and utilities, I do respectfully request
that the board grant this variance. With that, I ask Kelsey to raise her hand.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
So, her name is Kelsey Peliza, K-E-L-S-E-Y, last name P-E-L-O-Z-A.
All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you. Kelsey, did you hear my presentation to the board this morning?
Was it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
And do you adopt it as your own testimony?
I have nothing further, Mr. Chair.
All right. Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair, we have Sloan Foulkes.
Good morning, Mr. Foulkes.
You've already been sworn.
Just state your name, please.
Sloan Foulkes, Office of Council Member T. Lozada,
Room 3, 16 City Hall.
The applicant, having met with the coordinating RCO,
South Kensington Community Partnership,
and receiving elitational support,
the council member had no opposition
to the various requests. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for calling in. We appreciate it. Is
there anyone else in the virtual audience? I see no hands, Chair. Hi, Planning. Thank you,
Chair Bergman. Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing single-family zoning at this location.
However, the proposed use is consistent with the physical configuration of the existing building,
which has two separate entrances city planning commission recommends that the board grant the
variance thank you mi 2022 006124 1453 north 4th street i vote yes thomas holloman my vote is yes
james snell my vote is yes no shaheed my vote is yes thank you council yep thank you
Number 14, MI-2022-001-059-1830 West Erie.
Dofus Geraldino Sosa is the owner.
Letter of support from 13th Ward RCO with proviso trash stored in rear.
with provisional trash stored in rear?
One moment, Chair.
I'm trying to promote them to panelists.
Sir, please unmute yourself.
You're free to speak.
Good morning, Chair.
good morning everybody hi could you state your name and then spelled for the court reporter
yes my name is dofis geraldino sosa d-o-f-i-s-g-e-r-l sorry g-e-r-a-l-d-i-n-o sosa s-o-s-a
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Yes, I do.
This application is a multifamily household living, three dwelling units in an existing structure,
whereas the proposed multifamily household living is prohibited in the RSA 5 zoning district.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you, sir.
Good morning. Have you emailed all the exhibits that were required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I did. The only thing I sent on this past Monday was the last pages for my deed.
That was the lady asked me to submit it in order to complete my exhibit, but I submit everything.
Okay, thank you. Hillary, I believe we did receive that, right?
Yes, we did. We're all set. Thank you.
All right, thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
did you see that not yet did you hit this green button at the bottom oh hold hold let me see
one second oh sure share screen okay let's see sure did you see it now yeah you're just
going to have to hit on each one for us okay okay let me go first let me go back here to the
let's see
sorry give me a second
okay that's what i said i already submit the last pages on my deed this is the email i sent let me
go back uh no this is the application
So I think, I think we have your forms, let's see what the property is.
Yeah, yeah, please, I will appreciate it because I can't find over here.
Pardon me?
yeah did you have the the form well we're okay with the forms i want to see what it looks like
the property oh okay let me just go back to here head over here the picture okay this is my property
sorry i speak spanish and my english my second language so i'm gonna try to do the best i can
and this is my let's see let me move this from here
that's the front of the property right yeah that's the front of the property
that's where you posted it yeah i posted it let me go yeah this is another the font
as you can see these are the basically the front with the posters
that's the side the house is in between you know that's the 19th street on the corner
and that house right there also has a I spoke with the owner and they wait the one on my right
and the one on my left they also has the the three apartment building zoning approval I speak with
then and they say you know just submit it and pretty much this is the front of
the house sorry I just made a lot of pictures this is the other side so you
can see the sidewalk let me go back to the to the inside picture
okay this is the inside picture let me go i send it like
this is the inside picture let me go I send it like a lot of picture over here
let me start from the first floor which is this one right here well I'm going to start with
whatever picture come over here so you can see sorry for the unorganized pictures
So pretty much this is the second floor. This is will be the kitchen with the open
kitchen with the living room and dining room.
This is the the hole that the hole for the from the back of the second floor.
This is the stair in this side right here going down. This is the first let me just go over here.
oh this is the back of the house as you can see there's the door in the back for the first floor
and there's a little like i don't know how you can say that like a little porch or crampage
right yeah and this is the third floor the third floor is not when the the day when the inspector