Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Good morning, everyone. My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this meeting of the Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment.
With me is our Vice Chair, Tanetta Graham.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Secretary, Cheryl L. Gaston.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Board Member, Michael Johns.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Board Member, Taya Nguyen. She should be coming through the door any moment.
and our board member ryan mcadams present mr chairman also present is our attorney hillary
emerson our zoning board executive director ian haggerty and our board administrator lakeisha
dandy recording in this hearing will be posted on the zba website by participating you consent
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if you're called to speak you must state and spell your name and then wait to be sworn in
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remain there so we can account for you let's look at our schedule for today
number one mi 2025 003 579 918 east chelton avenue that case is continued to august 19 2026
at 9 30 a.m 3 number 3 MI 20 25 0 0 3 5 9 4 9 17 East passion Avenue that cases
continued to august 19th 2026 at 9 30 a.m number what's that oh i'm sorry i'm sorry number three
is withdrawn so that's mi 2026 2025 003 594 917 east paschenk avenue case has been withdrawn number
four mi 2025 003 596 45 56 wayne avenue that case is continued to august 19th 2026 at 9 30 a.m
number five mi 2025 003 639 843 north 42nd street that case is continued to august 19 2026 at 9 30 a.m
let's see here that was 42nd street
number six mi2025 004 782 6021 delancey street uh at the pen properties is the current owner is
At the Penn Properties is the current owner. Is anyone in the audience from that group?
anyone in the room.
No hands at this time, Chair.
Okay, so MI 2025-004-782-6021 Delancey Street. That case is continued until August 19, 2026 at 930. Mark must be heard.
And Mr. Chair, I just want to note for the record, we believe the applicant needs to retain an attorney for this matter, and we are also missing some required documents.
Thank you very much.
Next one is number 10.
Let's see.
Number 10, MI2025-006251, 4420 North 15th Street.
Cases continue to August 19th, 2026 at 9.30 a.m.
number 13
number 13 mi 2025 006 391 210 higby street this case has been withdrawn
number 16
MI 2026-001-699-109 Hilltop Road. This case has been continued to August 19th, 2026 at 9.30 a.m.
Number 17, MI 2026-001-701-109 Hilltop Road, this case is also being continued to August 19th, 2026.
And number two.
Number two.
Number two, MI 2025, 003-588-5720 Marvine Street, Valerie Crawford is the owner-applicant.
Is Valerie Crawford in the audience?
it's valerie clorford in the audience
no hands at this time chair okay so this case will be continued until
august 19 2026 at 9 30 a.m and this mark must be heard
is there any other requests for continuances
no hands at this time okay we're going to go to our add-on list number one
twenty twenty five zero zero seven one nine five six one three four rear to 46 wayne avenue
let's see here
I vote yes, appeal granted, permit extended to 4-7-27.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes, appeal granted with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is appeal granted with proviso.
Tenetta Graham, my vote is appeal granted with Proviso.
I'm McAdams, my vote is appeal granted with Proviso.
Number two, MI 2025 004184, 1720 68th Avenue.
I vote yes with Proviso. Interior trash storage.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
And our Vice Chair will handle the next add-on.
Okay, thank you, Chair.
M-I-2025-006299, 1401 East Sheltonham Avenue, my vote is yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Ryan McAdams, excuse me, Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes.
Okay, here we go.
We're going to go to our regular list.
Number seven.
Number seven.
MI 2025 0061733545 North 11th Street. Joseph console is the attorney.
They're being promoted to panel.
We do number 1.
We continue that.
Hi, Mr. console. Could you please state your name is bell for this.
Yes, Joseph console. It's last name console.
All right, Joe, you're a little hard to hear you.
could you state your name one more time joe we had a hard time hearing it
joseph console is that better you go joseph last name console c-o-n-s-o-l-e do you swear
or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do would you identify
your client a relationship to the property yeah um the individual's name is kirk wechter and his
uh company is k and k acquisition holdings llc the owner of the property right and we also have a
letter of support with provisos from nicetown tioga and a letter non-opposition from council
member young our vice chair has a few questions good morning um have you submitted your documents
and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing i have okay and do you waive the read and other
issues or stipulate to its accuracy i do i think you can share your screen and proceed with your
case all right my screen is shared uh we're before you regarding the property at 35 45 north 11th
street that's an exterior photo of of it uh this property is currently located in rsa5 residential
district we are respectfully requesting a use permit for four dwelling units
currently the city recognizes this property as a legal three unit building
however we're seeking to legalize a fourth unit that has been in existence as
as far back as at least 70 years per the records of of the city we have
overwhelming community support we submitted the RCO letter as well as a
petition with a lot of signatures regarding this the folks approval of
this property so there's no interior exterior expansion to the building we're
proposing four dwelling units and I'll go through the photos in a minute the
The first floor is two bedroom, one bath unit.
Second floor has two units, two front and two rear.
Each of those is one bedroom, one bath.
And then the third floor is a one bedroom, one bath unit.
As I mentioned, if you go through the historical data, and I anticipate the city attorney asking
me to upload this because I don't think that I did.
But if you go back in time, as far back as 1963, you have an owner requesting four-unit approval, stating that when they purchased the property in 1956, it was a four-unit property.
And then going forward in time, you have instances of it being noted as a four-unit building several times between 1963 and 2005.
So we're talking 70 years of these four units existing in this property.
so we're not cramming something in there that has not been approved um so second to that the uh
neighboring properties uh literally the property right next door is approved for four units granted
they allowed their license to lapse but this is the direct neighbor and then i was able to find
three doors down or so another again they allowed it to lapse in 2015 but i have four unit property
again these are all identical in size back to mine this is our refusal
it's photos of our posters
you'll see the interior renovations that might
You'll see the interior renovations that my client is working on now, the property is
not occupied, I'll show you all the units in a second, it's a proof of mailing, it's
our petition, and at the RCO they audited all these signatures and they were happy
with them application information form tax clearance certificate there's our
letter of support from Nicetown Tioga I'll start with unit one on the first
floor go to the top sorry for scrolling it's gonna give you all the interior
photos you can see the work that my clients doing on this property
This is unit one, it's the entryway, another photo of the entryway.
Going up to the second floor, I'll start with two rear, kind of got a blue vibe going there.
to front
and then finally unit 3
let's zoom in a little bit
give you an idea of
the kind of TLC
he's putting into this property. That's the four the four units. Here is the floor plan.
It's the first first floor layout as mentioned.
i said two bedroom but it looks like it's a bedroom in a living room my client can confirm
this might just be a single bedroom with a large living room
second floor two front two rear two one bedrooms
and then third floor one bedroom one bath
again i can go back and
focus on any of these but the the goal is to is to legalize these we have good neighborhood support
and um yeah as you can see my clients committed to creating a good product for this neighborhood
um with that i'll call them will your correct if you could raise your hand
They're being promoted to panelist.
Thank you.
Do you need my camera on?
Yeah, why don't you put your camera on, sir?
Your video.
hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
sure kirk wechter k-i-r-k w-a-e-c-h-t-e-r do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth i do counsel good morning kirk uh did you hear my testimony just
now regarding your property on north 11th i did do you adopt it as your own i do all right
regarding the provisos from the uh nice town tayoga uh do you intend to um keep the i'm not
these are not enforceable but uh they they stated keep rents affordable and uh accepting if if
necessary section 8 vouchers absolutely okay um is there anything else you'd like to add
no not really okay joe joe you see the ones that we believe are enforceable interior trash
doors no household living in a basement do you agree to those as well kirk absolutely questions
from the board questions from the board can you go back to the second floor yeah you want the plan
or the photos the plan they did not label it and kirk's here to help explain it to you they
label unit 2r and 2f on here so this is two separate units yes correct could you explain
yes correct could you explain how that how it works yep um so on the left hand side you'll see
how that how it works yep um so on the left
the stairs coming up from the first floor you would make an immediate right into the unit
to uh 2f there's a door there kitchen through the there's a kitchen marked kitchen correct
and this actually has two egresses so you'll see from the bedroom you can actually have an egress
AS WELL TO THE COMMON AREA. BUT THEN THE KITCHEN FLOWS INTO THE BEDROOM AND BATHROOM AND SO FORTH.
OKAY. I THINK I MEAN JUST GENERALLY I THINK I'LL SAY SOME OF THESE LAYOUTS ARE INTERESTING.
I WOULD REVISIT THE FIRST FLOOR FOR SURE. I THINK YOU HAVE A LOT OF INSTANCES WHERE PEOPLE ARE WALKING THROUGH A BEDROOM
to get to a common area, and I think it's what's making it a little confusing to read the plans.
And then I have a question about trash storage for the units.
Proviso says trash storage has to be inside.
It does, but there's no place to put them, so that's sort of the question.
So the basement is huge and is being built out with storage bins for each tenant.
Also, trash bins, and what we discussed in the neighborhood meeting, kind of in detail about this, is creating a storage bin in the basement for the tenant's trash, and at the appropriate time, having that trash taken out to the street.
Like a trash room.
Yeah, exactly.
Does the basement have, like, walkout access to the street, or would the tenants be expected to carry these bins up the stairs?
Yeah, there's so if you look at maybe the first floor, can we go to the, what you call
The plans.
That's first floor.
So that stairway that you see that goes up, but also goes down into the basement.
That's where it's accessible.
And it's actually wide open so that all tenants can carry their laundry downstairs and carry the trash upstairs or down.