Yeah, we have the letter.
The letter, there was a unanimous vote in support, and I'm sorry that the council person's
office. The RCO took very long to get us the letter. We actually got it this morning. I have
it. I did forward it to the board a moment ago. There was a unanimous vote in support of this
application. Ms. Jones, if Mr. DeMarco gets you that letter, would you still be requesting a
continuance? No. If there was a meeting, then it's fine. I'd like to see the letter, though.
So, yeah, Mary, I'll email this to you right now.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mary.
Anyone else request a continuance or withdrawal?
Here we have Ashley.
Hi, my name is Ashley Colabella.
Lee, please spell your first and last name.
Ashley, A-S-H-L-E-Y, last name Colabella, C-O-L-A, B as in boy, E-L-L-A.
And I have a question.
You swear to the firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Yes, sir.
The request for a continuance on 1702 altar, I'm wondering what that is
as the community the board the zoning committee met and it was 15 objections so i'm not sure what
the continuance can i believe i'll check with our attorney i believe the continuance request was
uh requested by dawn tancredi the attorney is that that's correct it is yes
so ma'am i apologize uh but uh that request came in and we're honoring that request
so you'll know that that request will is to be continued must be heard.
Will the community be notified of this new date?
Excuse me, this is Sharon Saleta.
I pulled up Ms. Tancredi's email and it does say they're requesting the continuance
in order to allow time to meet with the community again.
So Ms. Tancredi is available, Chair, if you wish her to speak.
I guess maybe we should get her on the record, Mr. Tancredi.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
Dawn Tancredi here on behalf of the owner of the property.
We did meet with the community.
Dawn, Dawn, just do me a favor, just for the stenographer.
Spell your last name and I'll swear you in.
T-A-N-C-R-E-D-I.
You're swearing for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Please proceed.
so we did meet with the community after that meeting the architect made some changes to the
plan so we intend to meet with the community group again or at least the near neighbors
okay all right miss miss uh colabella that case will be continued uh you'll be notified of the
date. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? No more chair. Okay, I believe with that, Carol, we can
begin with number one on our list for two o'clock. Calendar number 3164-1127 West Lehigh Avenue.
The attorney is Rachel Pritzker.
good afternoon good afternoon Rachel can you put your name and address on the record
for Rachel r-a-c-h-a-e-l pritzker p-r-i-t-z-k-e-r 1635 market street suite 1600 philadelphia pa
19103 do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes do you also
agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate into its accuracy. Yes. Have you emailed
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal or referral, photos and or plans of the property, six days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance?
Thank you. You may proceed.
Okay, thanks.
I'm going to share my screen.
okay this is 1127 West Lehigh Avenue this property is a large church at the corner of
12th and Lehigh there is a active church community here however the structure is so large that
there's about 15 to 20 additional rooms in the church that we're looking to utilize for small
office spaces and that's basically essentially what the refusal is for for use as professional
business and professional offices from the first and second floor for commissaries and catering
services on the first floor for artist studios research and development sole practitioner group
practitioner um and just so that we can keep this structure um alive and well it's a historic uh
structure so just looking to add these uses um inside and it's zone rsa sorry it's zone rm1 which
only allows for multi-family by right um so that's uh sort of our hardship and that's the corner of
12th and lehigh commercial corridor again looking to just put some small business uses um we met
with the community a few times, and we have a letter of support from them. I'm just going to
pull that up for the board. There's the zoning map, as you can see, most of the other corners
are commercial. Again, that's sort of in line with what we're trying to do. Large church,
photos of the property. You can see we want to be able to keep this in good shape and utilize the
inside. We met with the community, which was the 37th Ward Executive Democratic Committee.
And they provided us a, we've met a few times, they provided us a letter of support.
Basically, we made sure to eliminate any businesses that they would be concerned about,
which is not included in any of our asks for use. And here's the letter, we had 21 in support for
opposition and one abstained um and i believe um mary jones can speak to uh where the council
office sits on this but the community is in support and so we're asking for the board to
approve um these variances um just in the interest of time um if we could just um as an officer of
the court mr chairman if i could just um have you on record have the client adopt my testimony it'll
perhaps just save some time.
Client's name?
Your client's name?
Oh, Ramin Salimi and also David Damaghi.
Gentlemen, whoever's testifying, please raise your hand.
can we have a um scott murphy that's an architect for a different case all right well maybe having
some technical difficulties as an officer court will acknowledge that uh your client would have
adopted your testimony thank you mr chair thank you any questions from the board no no no
anyone else would like to testify in this case please raise your hand
no hands at this time chair paula good afternoon uh planning commission good afternoon i am paula
brumbelow burns and i need to be sworn in yeah please spell your last name your full name rather
paula p-a-u-l-a brumbelow b-r-u-m as in mary b as in boy e-l-o-w burns b-u-r-n-s
Do I affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you. Please proceed.
This property is indicated for residential use on the comprehensive plan.
We believe that the proposed uses will benefit the existing community and offer an adaptive reuse to this cultural landmark within North Philadelphia.
Accordingly, we have no objection to the granting of the use variances.
Thank you.
MI 2020-003164.
1127 West Allegheny Avenue, my vote is yes.
1127 West Allegheny Avenue
My vote is yes
Sorry, West Lehigh
Sorry, West Lehigh.
Oh, I said Allegheny, I'm sorry, West Lehigh.
My vote is yes.
1127 West Lehigh, my vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
Thank you.
Calendar number 1452-1627 Cater Street.
miss stephanie is coming now and as a panelist good afternoon afternoon can you put your name
and address on the record stephanie stephanie boggs last name is b-o-g-g-s clare harrison
1835 market street street 1400 philadelphia pennsylvania
Thank you. Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
I do. Do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proven ownership, tax compliance,
refusal or referral photos and or plans five days in advance of this hearing and have you met with
RCO, and do you have a letter? Yes. You may proceed.
While I'm pulling this up, this application is for 1627 Cater Street. It's located on the northern
side of Cater Street, between 17th Street and 16th Street. Historically, the property was used
as a single-family home with a parking garage. The applicant here acquired this property
in 2017, intending to use it as a single-family home with a parking garage and renovate it.
After some research into the property, when they purchased it, it was determined that the property
could not be used as it stood, and it needed to be demolished. So the property was thereafter
demolished, and today's application is seeking approval to use this property as a single-family
home with a parking garage, which was just historic use on the site. It is in the CMX2
district, so having an active use on the ground floor is required, which is one of our refusals
this evening, as well as having parking access from the front street is a refusal in CMX2.
We also have a refusal for height here based on conversations with the neighborhood.
An initial plan for this project was proposed based on a buy-right scheme that was not well
received by our neighbors.
We did have extensive conversations with them since then, and the plans that we're proposing
today are the result of those conversations.
So in front of you have a copy of the refusal.
And down here we have our agreement with the neighbors.
We are submitting revised plans for today to reflect the changes that have been agreed upon by the neighbors.
We do have there not only the agreement that is on the screen now that we have with them that's included in your packet at tab 10,
but we also have letters of support from the near neighbors in your tab at tab 15.
We also have a letter from the coordinating RCO after we met with them noting their referral on this application pending the support of the near neighbors,
which we believe is documented in our exhibit package.
But to go back, as I said, we are requesting approval for three refusals.
One is to have parking accessed by the front street.
This part of Cater Street, there is no on-street parking.
Along this side of the street, there is also an existing curb cut,
along with consistent use across this block of having parking garages associated with single-family homes.
So what we are proposing to do not only restores the historic use of the property,
but it's also consistent with the existing character of the street. Going through these
are other properties located along the street that show single-family use along the street,
as well as parking garages that are across the street and at the adjacent properties.
Coming down, we have the plans that we're proposing in connection with this project.
We are requesting a proviso if you are inclined to grant relief here today, subject to revised
plans in accordance with our agreement and discussions with the neighborhood, as well
as with the revised agreement that we did sign with the coordinating RCO. So these plans currently
in front of you reflect the agreed upon changes that have been discussed and agreed to with the
neighbors. Excuse me, this is Sharon Saleta. Ms. Boggs, can I ask, and I apologize if I've already
asked this, but are all four pages necessary? Do you need them all stamped? Yes. Okay, thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
If there are specific questions about the plans, Jacob Roller is the owner of the property
as well as the project architect, and I'd like to bring him on to adopt my testimony
and answer any questions you have about the plans.
We'll bring him on.
Sarah, please identify yourself with the records by your full name, and I'll swear
you in.
I just need him to raise his hand.
Mr. Roller, you can unmute yourself, spell your last name and wait to be sworn in.
My last name is R-O-L-L-E-R.
Mr. Roller, you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Jacob, have you heard my testimony this afternoon?
Do you believe it to be true and correct?
It is true and correct.
The only clarification I would make is once the renovations had begun on the previous property and interior demolition had occurred,
that's when it was discovered that the property was, in fact, structurally unsound and needed to be demolished.
Thank you. Would you adopt any other statements as your own?
Thank you. So if there's any questions about the plans,
we're happy to answer those or about the project itself.
Any questions from the board?
Pardon me. Anyone else would like to testify in this case?
If so, please raise your hand.
yes chair we have a um chad cooper cooper please identify yourself with the records by your full
name and provide us with your address my name is chad cooper c-h-a-d-c-o-o-p-e-r and i live at
1604 cater street we're in the firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do please proceed uh mr chairman uh and and the board i i thank you for um allowing uh me the
opportunity to to speak here uh i'll try to uh be brief um my wife and i are actually uh the ones
that are under contract to purchase this property at 1627 cater street uh and um we have lived uh