of an emergency please follow the directions given over the public address system or by the staff
The main exit is through the double doors at the rear of the room.
The nearest stairwell is to the left outside the doors.
In case of an evacuation, the rally point is Love Park directly across Art Street.
Please remain near so we can account for you.
Let's look at our schedule for this afternoon.
Number one.
Number two on the list.
4010 Old York Road, which is MI-2025-007241.
That case is continued till July 15th, 2026 at 2 p.m.
And number eight, 1509 North 29th Street, MI-2025-007358.
That case is scheduled till July 15th, 2026 at 2 p.m.
Are there any other requests for continuance?
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair. This is Jason Handel will be your calls for the session.
I do not see any hands raised.
Thank you. So let's go to our add-on list. MI 2025 007 186 3615 Spring Garden Street.
The vote in this matter has been continued to Wednesday, April 15th at 2 p.m.
And number two, MI-2025-006-253-230 North 53rd Street, I vote no to reconsideration and rehearing.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no to reconsideration and rehearing.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is no to reconsideration and rehearing.
Maya McAdams, my vote is no to reconsideration and rehearing.
Ty Owen, my vote is no to reconsideration and rehearing.
Okay, so we're going to go to our list here.
We're going to start with number five.
Let's see if I can get it out here.
MI 2025 007 319 2031 East Stella Street.
Henry Clinton is the attorney.
good afternoon mr chairman members of the board good afternoon mr clinton could you please state
your name and spell for the stenographer sure henry clinton h-e-n-r-y clinton c-l-i-n-t-o-n
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do could you
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do could
you identify your client in relationship to this property sure my client is bedri b-e-d-r-i
alara a-l-l-a-r-a-j and he's on the call and we have a recommendation of support from somerset
neighbors for better living a non-opposition from council member squiller our our vice chair
has a few questions for you. Good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits five
days in advance of this hearing? We have accepted the proof of payment of taxes came in yesterday.
Okay and do you waive the rate and other resources to relate to its accuracy?
I do Ms. Graham. Okay thank you you can share your screen and proceed with your case.
Is that visible, Mr. Chairman?
It is, sir.
All right. Good afternoon again, everyone.
I'm here on behalf of Mr. Aladra, and he is on the call.
This is a request for a two-family dwelling on a block that has multiple two-family and multifamily dwellings.
It also has a contractor's garage, as well as roll-top steel gates for other garages.
And in the zoning records, it indicates back in the 40s, it was a four-dwelling home, and then it morphed into a two-family, but it's been vacant for the last three years.
This is a table of contents containing exhibits A1 through A10, and I also have zoning records and aerial photographs identifying the various properties that are multifamily on the block.
refusal is pretty straightforward rsa 5 zoning district and we're requesting a two-family
household living within an existing structure this is not new construction it's a renovation
this is a letter the chairman referenced from the somerset neighbors for better living
a letter of support photographs of the block here's the subject property here 2031
and I've given you indications of where the multifamily are on the block 2023.
Two, family 2015 is four, 2013 is four, 2001 at the end of the block is two.
And across the street, we have two duplexes, the garages that I mentioned,
as well as Paul and Sons Concrete Contractor's Garage,
which is a pretty deep building and occupies 100% of the lot.
And then we have two family dwellings directly across the street.
Existing property, three stories.
You can see it's three stories, and then it steps down toward the rear of the property.
To the right is the property.
We're looking down the street.
To the right, this is the contractor's property, both top gates with other garages.
I have better or closer pictures as we follow.
Two found me at the end of the block.
This is the Paul and Sons Concrete Contractors facility, back of the property.
You can see it extends pretty far back and steps down.
This is the inside.
There is some walls constructed, but construction has stopped basically to support what's in there.
zoning notices
plans here's the the site plan it's pretty deep lot uh we do have and i'll blow this up an
indication there's going to be rear steps installed at the rear of the property for
access from the basement new wall mounted handrail new concrete steps and landing for basement access
floor plans i'll work from the basement up it's basically one dwelling unit will be in the basement
the first floor the other dwelling unit will be on the second and third floor
come into the front of the home you'd walk down into the basement if you want to get access to
the basement wider area in the front of the basement laundry room full bath bedroom is
the rear with access to the rear yard we also have an egress well on the side of the property
first floor living dining excuse me living kitchen and dining the bathroom and the bedroom in the
rear we have access to work to the rear yard on the side of the property that you can get to the
back of the property move up moving to the second floor living kitchen you have a trash closet
it's ventilated to the outside, a bathroom, one bedroom in the rear, then continue up
Then continue up to the third floor, which, as I showed in the photographs, is not as deep as the other floors.
to the third floor, which as I showed in the photographs is not as deep.
We have two bedrooms, which share one bath.
So it's basically, as I said, basement, first floor, two bedrooms, second floor, third floor, three bedrooms.
application for appeal the remaining documents is what you would see in a
typical presentation here's a printout from the Philadelphia Tax Center
indicating that all taxes are paid there's a slight balance in favor of my
client zoning map it is an RSA 5 zoning district despite the vast amount of
multiple dwelling units on the block. The deed indicating my client purchased the property in
2023. Notice letters sent to everyone within 250 feet of the subject property. Sent out 147 pieces
of mail. These are all the addresses. And now these are the zoning records. These reflect
what I had in the table of contents, all the multifamily on the block. So I'll walk
through these this is 2001 active rental license for two units 2004 two units active 2006 two units
active 2013 four dwelling units active 2015 1967 this is a garage across the street from the
property. 2018 to 20, rental for five units. Although I will point out it's inactive, but it
still indicates five units. 2023, this is a duplex. And 2029, excuse me. Yeah, this is four dwelling
units, 2029. And then I found another record. It says 2029 is one unit.
And this is the subject property. It's an ancient record. This is 1942. It was two-family, and then they changed it to four-family. That's the only record I could find with regard to that property.
so that's the end of the presentation we basically have a situation where we're asking
for an existing property to be uh guess go back to what it was once was there's no meters in the
basement that i could give get photographs of to show you today but there are other multi-family
on the block we're not impacting the light and air of any adjacent property it's in conformance
with the code in the sense that it's residential, albeit not single family, and we have the
support of the community to have this property rehabilitated.
So, Bedry, if you're on the call, can you unmute yourself, Mr. Chairman, if that's what
you want me to do now?
Yes, please, Bedry.
Bedry, can you please unmute yourself?
I know he's in a vehicle where he was in a vehicle when I talked to him before the call.
Do we see a hand anywhere?
Bedry, can you please unmute yourself?
Mr. Clinton, you're an officer of the court.
We'll proceed with your testimony, okay?
I appreciate that, Mr. Johnson.
questions from the board
what's the what's the your depth below uh grade for your basement level
uh let me go back to the elevation
i don't know the answer to that mr john that would only be guessing
Other questions. Can you go back to your plan for one second? Sure.
How are you handling trash? Are there trash rooms? I don't see trash rooms. How are you handling trash?
Yeah, so on the first floor, we have access to the rear yard for trash.
And then on the second floor, we have this trash area ventilated to the outside wall in the alleyway.
Other questions?
Questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson. Not at this time, Mr. Chair. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson.
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments?
I do not see any hands, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission. Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission, AYBOID. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do. Please proceed.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the current RSA 5 residential single family.
the property has a documented history of multi-family the planning commission
recommends that the board grant their requested variance for multi-family
mi2025-007-319-2031 east stella street i vote yes michael johns my vote is yes
cheryl gaston my vote is yes tenetta graham my vote is yes ryan mcadams my vote is yes
hi owen my vote is yes thank you mr chairman that was the board um number six mi 2025 007
327 1601 washington avenue t dash a dash four two six eight three sean wellness the attorney
good afternoon
So, Mr. well, could you please state your name is spelled for the.
Sean Whalen, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Yes, I do before we start.
In case this becomes protracted a little bit longer than.
That we would like we're going to give this a 45 minute.
deadline okay because as you look behind you there's a lot of people waiting for their cases
so and then we'll wind up with a resumptive hearing okay um could you identify your client
relationship to the property did we do that uh did not okay and sean whalen from whalen law
group here on behalf of the owner 1601 washington avenue fso llc
I swore sworn in, yeah.
That swear you hadn't, didn't I?
I believe so, but I'll have to get sworn in again.
No, I know you would, right?
And, you know, we have letters of support and letters of opposition, right?
I'll leave it at that.
There's several different letters.
Our Vice Chair has a few questions for you.
Hi, good afternoon.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, we did.
Okay, and do you waive the reed and other issues or stipulate to that accuracy?
Yes, we will.
all right thank you because pretty what the case thank you very much all right so my client uh or
if i bush should be he's either on okay actually he's actually in the lobby coming up so he'll be
here in just a second um i don't have to go that fast i don't think we need him for a little while
right but hopefully not but he is paying attention okay all right let's see
so you should be able to see my screen now we don't and what you're seeing just so you guys
give you some context this may feel a little bit like deja vu a little bit you're feeling you're
seeing now i'm seeing it what was previously approved five months ago just to be very clear
this was previously approved this is done over the zoning permits uh taken care of what we're
now talking about is just a little sliver of this prior property and again sort of just to give you
context here's 16th street and carpenter street again this is showing the changes kind of everything
in red where the extensive changes that took place to the major building through the you know
extensive community process that we went through this lower building right here are the townhomes
that we're talking about today so again just to give you an idea this is actually it on the bottom
right here this is 16th street carpenter street would be going across this image
this is to show the townhomes this section right here on the right
So again, this whole project, including that these townhomes were presented at the all of the original community meetings back six, seven months ago.
They were presented as part of this project, although everyone was advised and knew that this would be different.
So what you're seeing today actually involves, there was a separate meeting just specific to these townhomes in January, but what you're seeing today and what I'll describe are countless revisions to these homes that took place through the community process and with the immediate neighbors on Chadwick Street.
the immediate neighbors on Chadwick Street. So what you see here is the SOSNA letter and they
So what you see here.
break it down. The SOSNA committee was 7-0 in favor and the community at large was 21-0 in favor.
So we had 28 votes with zero in opposition. I did just receive today, although I think it was just
a snafu with my old email and my new email addresses uh the letter of non-support from
NOAC right and what you can see here they also break down the votes uh there were two members
of the zoning of the NOAC zoning committee who voted in opposition but there was no one who
appeared in at the public meeting in opposition so again just to give some context what we're
looking at here is the large this is the very large square parcel here at the corner of 16th
and washington and specifically what we're dealing with now you can see this is looking south from
an aerial view on the right hand side hopefully you can see my cursor these are the existing
homes on Chadwick that front onto Chadwick Street there's an existing three-foot alleyway in the
rear of these homes in between our property the former Waubin marketplace so what we're talking
about now is essentially just about 40 feet of this first area right here again this is
i2 zoning heavy industrial this is it's going to sound a little bit like a broken record
up and down washington avenue i2 industrials no there's been a sea change to washington avenue
unfortunately commercial heavy industrial uses are simply not not only are they not viable there
because of various aspects of trucking and you have the expert reports in front of you
But also with regard to, Council President Johnson has put an overlay in this area that prevents even most of the permitted I-2 uses.
So there are extremely few uses that would even be permitted under, by right, under the I-2 category if they weren't grandfathered in from a prior use.
Again, I'll show you only at this point.
I have all the photos of the rest of the property, but the only relevant portion.
This is a carpenter right here that I'm standing on.