kensington area bid councilman squilla has also submitted a letter of non-opposition
mr mulvihill if you're here please raise your hand
and he's coming in now as a panelist okay great yes good morning chair members
leo moldahill for the applicant 315 green street first floor philadelphia on that one two three
can you spell your last name please certainly m-u-l v-s victor i-h-i-l-l
do you do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing about the truth
i do do you agree to wave the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do
Have you emailed an exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal referral, photos, and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
You may proceed.
Thank you.
Good morning, members of the board.
Again, Leo Mulvihill on behalf of Mike Chambers.
That's M-Y-K-E-C-H-A-M as in Mary, B as in Bravo, E-R-S.
the owner of Seven Swords Tattoo up in the East Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia.
What we're here for today is a renewal of a temporary permit for a tattoo studio in the
first floor of an existing structure. I have my exhibit packet up on the board. At page one,
we have the refusal appeal project information form. Page seven, we have the area zoning maps.
Page eight, we have a letter of authorization from the land board. That's the prior letter. I also
received this morning a brand new letter of authorization. We have the lease at page 9,
commercial activity license for my client at 11, tax clearance at 12, our zoning notification
letter at 13. We have a letter from Fishtown BID, BID, at 16. I also have separately a letter of
support from Peace Kensington Neighbors Association, which had been submitted, I believe, earlier this
week by the organization. Voters of the property are at 17, floor plans are at 28. So members of
board we were back here just moving to uh page three of my zoning packet i mean
moving to page three of my zoning packet uh back in 2015 this applicant appeared before this board
and received a temporary permit for its use uh we're just here to renew that today uh the subject
tattoo studio has been in existence since 2015. we've received unanimous support from all neighbors
there are several chairs in the tattoo studio it does take appointments or walk-ins
moving now to page seven of my packet we can see we're located at the corner of
huntington and frankfurt avenue in the east kansas neighbor the property is zoned cmx2
what are the hours of operate days and hours of operation
uh mr chambers would you please unmute yourself raise your hand
just because i want to make sure i get this right okay
hello there we go mike are you there yes i am hello can you spell your last name please
uh my last name is chamber c-h-a-m-b-e-r-s your first name is mike um m-y-k-e uh
uh it is actually uh michael m-i-c-h-a-e-o but um
sorry that's okay your address please
uh 2580 frankfurt avenue uh philadelphia 19125 okay do you swear if i'm to tell the whole truth
and nothing about the truth? I do. Okay. He's all yours, Leo. Sure thing. So, Mike, I just want to
make sure we get the dates and hours of your operation correct for the chair. What are those,
please? The days and hours of operation, we've been on somewhat of a, I apologize about that
picture on my thing, but our days and hours of operation are increment right now during the
COVID pandemic. So we've mostly gone to appointment only. Our hours are typically
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sometimes we could go to 9. Our hours before were 12 to 8 on weekdays and 12 to 9
Friday and Saturday. Thank you. What was his last temporary? I believe it was a three-year. We're
seeking a permanent at this point members of the board simply because we have this letter of support
at page 16 from Fishtown bid. The business improvement districts are signed by Mark
collazo in addition we also have i just don't know if it made it to the file because it was
submitted late by east kensington neighbors uh this letter which you should be seeing dated
october 18th indicating that we have uh support from east kensington neighbors association
specifically noting that seven swords is a thriving business that complements east kensington
increasingly vibrant stretch of the frankfurt avenue arts corridor the business brings
critical foot traffic at this important node, and has been a positive presence at this location
for several years. There were no significant community concern raised about the operation
of seven swords in this location. And significant support was expressed by other local business
owners. That's why we're seeking the permanent variance in this instance, Chair.
Thank you. Does the Board have any questions?
Is there anybody in the audience who would like to testify? Please raise your hand.
Madam Chair, I see a Ms. Rachel Beam with her hand raised. I can allow her to speak if that is all right.
That's fine.
Rachel?
Hello, can you hear me?
Hi. Yes, Rachel, can you put your name on the record and spell your last name and I'll swear you in.
yes my name is rachel r-a-c-h-e-l my last name is beam b-e-h-m as in mary
okay and do you live near this project i do i actually worked here for a brief few months
um i just wanted to say that absolutely wait one second do you swear from to tell the whole truth
and nothing but the truth yes okay where and put your address on the record my address is
2620 Tulip Street, Philadelphia, PA 19125. Okay, are you opposed to this or supportive?
I'm not. I'm absolutely supportive. I've been going to this business for the past like five
years now to get tattooed and recently Mike took me on as an artist for a few months while my
studio was being built, which we actually just went through the zoning for. So I just wanted
to share my support and admiration for this company and the people who work here okay thank
you yes planning planning commission thank you madam chair ian hegarty for the philadelphia city
planning commission um board members uh should understand that the the refused use was subject
to separation requirements at the time of its initial establishment and since that time the
code's been amended actually to cease regulating body art services in this way with this separation
requirement from residences which was the source of the original refusal so we would absolutely
recommend that the board grant the variance because it meets the requirements of the current
zoning code it would not be a refused use at this location. Thank you. Calendar number 2196
Thank you. Calendar number two one nine six two five eight zero Frankfurt Avenue. My vote is yes.
Professor Plaza my vote is yes. Jane Smell my vote is yes. Thomas Hallamann my vote is yes.
Good luck. Great thank you members of the board have a good day. You too. Miss Sunkit do we go
back to number four now or should i continue with eight um yes as you wish um madam chair we can
check to see if the appropriate uh information was sent um zba staff was checking do we have any
answer they said they don't see any at this time all righty thank you if you want to continue to
discuss it with the attorney, Mr. Mita, you can unmute yourself and wait for questions from the
chair. Mr. Mita, we have no exhibits. We have no exhibits. Okay. I just, I reached out to my
colleagues so that they could forward me the correspondence. I understood it was forwarded.
so it's incumbent upon us to demonstrate that to you so I'm working on that in the interim
I did just a moment ago forward the exhibit package in my possession so that the staff
should have that I understand that's you having them today is different than having them
in advance so acknowledging that I did want to at least have that to you
okay i think we're going to have to continue this is that correct tanya yes chair as you wish
okay uh sorry mr meter calendar number two one nine seven this case is continued and it must be
heard thank you and apologies uh for the inconvenience and thank you calendar number
2194-2621 West Allegheny Avenue. Madam Chair, Mr. Jordan Anderson has his hand raised. I will
allow him to speak at this time. Okay, Mr. Anderson? Yes, I'm the applicant. I was unaware,
I guess, until recently that I needed legal representation, if that's correct.
That is correct. And yeah, that is absolutely correct. And your case is going to have to be
continued. You must have an attorney. Calendar number 2194-2621 West Allegheny Avenue.
This case is continued. Ms. Sunkett, is this must be heard?
Um, yes, that would be great. Thank you. Okay, and this is a must be heard. Calendar number 2202-317 North Preston Street. The attorney is Eric Carroll. We have no RCO letter that I'm no of.
Mr. Carroll has been promoted to panelists.
Thank you.
Mr. Carroll.
Yes, good morning, Ms. Tanari.
Hi, can you put your name and address on the records
by your last name and I'll swear you in.
Yes, Eric Carroll, C-A-R-R-O-L-L,
150 North Radnor Chester Road,
Radnor PA 19087 representing the applicant
in CFM Land Holdings, Inc.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth
and not think about the truth?
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet
with proof of ownership, tax compliance,
refusal, referral, photos,
and or plans of the property
five days in advance of this hearing?
And have you met with the RCO?
And do you have a letter?
Yes, we do.
All that information with the exception of the RCO
was mailed last week. The RCO chair, Ms. Pamela Andrews, just emailed the letter to me and to
Ms. Saleta and to a couple other people yesterday. I did see that everyone from the ZBA was copied.
Okay, is that a letter of support? No, it is actually a letter of opposition.
Okay, you may proceed. Thank you.
um as i said i represent ncfm land holdings um they are the owner of 317 north preston street
that is in the palton west palton neighborhood it's just above palton avenue between 40th and
and 41st let me just bring up my share screen
and 41st. Let me just bring up my share screen.
Does everyone see the, can you see the photo of the property? Yes. Okay. Thank you. So as you can
see, currently this property is a three-story vacant and blighted property. Building as you're
looking at it currently is about 2,900 square feet, and it sits on a 1,700 square foot lot.
What we would like to do is to build, obviously demolish this building and put up a 5,000 square
foot property that would be slightly taller, you know, it would be taller than the existing
structure, but that would be within the zoning guidelines. We're trying to have four units and
that is one of the two reasons for the variance today. This is an RCA5 neighborhood, so it only
permits one family housing. So on top of that, we're also seeking a variance for the rear area.
The regulations require 25% open.
Our plans have it as 20% open.
So as you can see, it would be a new building with front access and a basement.
The front of the building is to the right here.
This would be in line with the adjoining buildings.
As you can see to the left, there's 319 and 321.
They are both three stories.
um they both have four residential units in each of them and then also across the street
directly across the street 318 there's a three-story building this has
three units granted but it is it is roughly the same size
um property uh you can see all the way to the right of this one
uh is the basement and then to the left of that is the first floor excuse me kelly
Excuse me, council. Can you blow up the basement plan, please?
Absolutely.
Looking at it all the way to the right from the front, you can see the egress well. That would be the front.
Do you have the street approval for the egress well in the front?
Yes, we do. And that was actually submitted with the packets, with the exhibits I submitted.
What percentage of the building is out of the ground?
In terms of the four floors with the basement?
In terms of the basement plan?
Roughly a quarter of it. I can show you, actually a little less than a quarter, I would say about 20%.
you can see here the proposed building section right in the middle um you know if you look at
unit one and unit three in the basement where the street level is to the right um this is
what is it i would say it's about 75 percent for low ground that the basement that is this
is new construction correct correct according to the international building code you should
to be 50% out of the ground.
Well, I mean, I don't have the exact numbers.
If you're looking towards the back.
If I could please bring in the owner
of MCF9 Holdings to address this.
I believe Karen and Nicole Smith are on the line.
Karen and Nicole, can you raise your hand, please?
And she's been allowed to speak.
And Nicole, can you hear me?
Can you put your name and address and spell your last name on the record and I'll swear you in?
It's Bryden, D-R-Y-D-E-N hyphen Smith, S-M-I-T-H.
Address 211 Bridgeboro Road, Morristown, New Jersey, 08057.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
I do, yes.
Next to me is my husband.
You might want to swear in.
He's the contractor.
He might be able to answer that question better than I could.
Okay, sir, can you put your name on the record?
Yes, Kieran Smith, S-M-I-T-H.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?