ZBA Hearing - December 3, 2025

again my name is Lisa say and this is the a picture of me and the site address it doesn't

a picture of me and the site address, it doesn't stop 21st street.

21st Street, this is the building.

This is the building zoning classifications at the moment is CMX two.

And I am requesting to exchange it or downgrade the zoning to RM one to

multi-purpose, multi-unit building.

This is the refusal letter that I got from the city of Philadelphia.

We have that.

We have that.

Perfect.

and this is just the site locations where it's located it's right at the corner of

Mifflin Street, McKean Street and 21st Street and this is the front of the building it's a corner

property this is the current existing conditions of the inside of the property it's a shell

currently it's a vacant shell and um basically just a bunch of um furniture storage that's in

there at the moment and um i just want to point out that like there are a lot of already vacant

commercial properties around the area i stake out the area um ahead of time and it looks like all

of these buildings are basically vacant and they're like within one mile radius of my property

and that in that sense I just want to make it into a multi-family housing because I just don't

think that there's a need for another vacant commercial property around the area and I do

want to extend the fact that like I the purpose of making it into multi-family is for my family

my parents and my parents are getting older they need somewhere where they don't need to go up and

down the staircase so the first unit will be for them that's my main why don't you do this could

you do could you do me a favor could you enlarge that a little bit so people could see the plants

a little just a little bit better yeah let's start with the first and second floor we'll look at that

first okay okay uh is this enlarged enough or well it's it's it's kind of small here like there

that's it that's better thank you money walk us through it okay okay so um this is the first unit

um the living area is going to be the front the front door that you walked in um that's the angled

front door and then as soon as you go into the living area you have bathroom number one and

then you're going into a kitchen with the living area and then there's the staircase to the basement

um and then and all the way in the back there's going to be the bathroom number two and bedroom

number two and in between this is the another door from outside that's going to go to the second

floor um so this bedroom number two is going to be underneath the um the patio from the second

floor basically the roof deck area of the second floor and then the second floor you have the roof

deck um which is above the bedroom number two um this is the main entrance going to be for um the

second unit on the second floor and as soon as you walk in through a main door of the second

floor you have the living area and the kitchen and the bedroom number one with and bedroom number

two and bath number one bath number two for that unit um that's basically it and the basement

basically just going to be cleaned up um it's just going to be um storage area it's not going

to be finished basement basically this is the um detail of like how the

staircase going to look like um going up and down um the building basically

okay questions from the board is is there is this a rear addition on the

second floor there's no stairway uh so that is already uh there's a door

already there. Why don't you go back and show

the original photo? I think it shows it.

So this is the original

staircase. That's going to be gone,

but that one right there is where

the basement staircase is going to be.

Why don't you go back a little bit more where

there's sort of a little addition in the back?

Yeah, of course. Right here.

So that doorway

that we've seen on the right-hand side,

is that the door that goes up to the second

floor? That's correct, yes.

That's going up to the second floor.

and that's just a roof deck for the second floor

unit. This is where the

bedroom for

the bedroom for the

first unit going to be.

Gotcha.

Can you pull back up the floor plan, please?

The floor plan? Yes, of course.

Wanting to enlarge it again once more.

Sorry, my husband

is helping me out.

the the unit the unit on the second floor for sure seems small for a two-bedroom unit

The unit,

The unit on the second floor for sure seems small.

considering you have a two-bedroom unit on the first floor um the second floor or the first

floor you're talking about the second floor you've got a two bed you've got two two-bedroom units

and the second floor is much smaller than the first floor because it doesn't have the addition

but you're still trying to make it a two-bedroom unit so that seems

very cramped to me yeah this is all the um the measurement um so my architect already did all

the measurement and he suggested that this is the right measurement that is that could work for the

city i don't i don't know i don't know that's true because you don't show any furniture and

and it really just looks like you have it says kitchen living room but you know yeah it doesn't

look like anything is really to scale but is there what i'm saying what i'm saying to you

if the second floor is a two-bedroom unit and the first two-bedroom unit clearly the second floor is

a much smaller unit and things are seems like the second floor should be a one-bedroom unit if you're

going to try to do it but those are my comments yeah i think we're going to retire had a comment

i think i was just saying it's really it's it looks really tight and like based on i wanted to

just ensure i don't know it i think you said it already mike it looks nothing wants to scale so

i was trying yeah so it's it's actually a very large um unit like built property um so the first

the first unit just going to have a really large um you know bedrooms and everything and

uh there are going to be decent size they're not going to be large but they're going to be

decent size where a queen a queen bed will fit with like nightstands what what are what are we

what are we seeing on this site this place this is all the measurements so this is the second

floor the second the first the one on the left hand the what the left hand side is the first

floor that's correct and then the second one you just have the framing plan for the addition okay

for the with the changes that you're going to make yes well you don't show any furniture so

it's impossible to see whether it's living right so that's that's so to say that things fit is

can't really say that and then what's happening in the basement the basement is going to be

cleaned up um i'm just gonna make it into storage and you know like where all the uh utilities going

to be and then so currently only the first floor unit has access to the basement so how is the

second floor tenant going to deal with the utilities or anything they need to do for their

unit so it's going to be a shared utilities i'm going to live in there with my family

i understand that but you're separating the units so in the future you might not so like

yes you could walk through your parents apartment but in the future outside there's a regress

like another way to get to the basement that's correct yeah it shows in the picture of the uh

like it's on the outside where you can open up and close i understood from the photos but it's

not shown in the plan so i was trying to since the photos are existing conditions and the plan

or what you're going to I was trying to reconcile so I assumed that that was going to be oh right

I understand yeah no uh it says uh shows right here so that's the outside request where you can

go into the uh to the basement from the outside so then in the future should it not just be you

and your parents how do you separate the basement from the first flooring unit so that if they have

a shared utilities that's just something from like a separation of unit the basement needs to

be accessible by both tenants but then you need to make sure that the second floor tenant in the

future could not access the first floor tenant's unit so the second floor right the second floor

tenant would go outside of the building through this door this regress that's going down i will

i will make sure that there's a staircase going down okay so the second floor tenant would use

this back stairwell to get upstairs but they're also going to use that same way to get to the

basement the so the first floor going to be from the inside as well which is i understand that i

understand how the first floor tenant gets to the basement yes my question is about the second floor

tenants access to the basement should in the future a different tenant that's not you needs

to do something with utilities um so this is uh let me see i'm sorry

um so that's the um second floor can go through the um the re the regress right there that is the

opening to the beat are you what are you are you pointing i'm assuming you mean through the

Are you pointing? I'm assuming you mean

through the bill coat door in the

the bill code door and the sidewalk

sidewalk. Yeah.

Yeah.

I just have a question about

trash. What is your trash storage plan for

the units? So the

second floor would be on

the roof deck, obviously.

But for the first floor,

it's just going to be inside

and

take it out on the trash day only.

Other questions?

okay um the first floor unit is the door that i'm seeing there the entrance for the

um so the that door would be the entrance that that one in the middle that would be the main

entrance okay for for the first floor unit and then this door will be to the second floor unit

the staircase to the second floor uh okay because i guess um i was the the bedroom one of the

bedrooms is so the big side where that door that there in the front is so yeah okay we're gonna

close that off and then this is going to be the main entrance for the first unit and then this

will be the entrance for the second floor going up the stairs all right thank you

of course questions or comments from our attorney um i just wanted to note for the record um mr

chair the refusal says two family is prohibited in cmx2 but i think what it should have said is

that their commercial space is required on the ground floor and that's what the refusal is for

i just want to clarify that for the record thank you okay thank you um uh questions or comments

from the public testimony.

Each participant will give in two minutes to testify.

Please do not raise your hands until you are called.

Representatives of the coordinating guard is RCO.

I see no hands at this time, Chair.

Other effective RCOs.

I see no hands at this time, Chair.

District Council member, Representative.

i see no hands at this time anyone else anyone else who wants to testify

no chair there are no hands at this time planning commission

lena solomonic with the planning commission

hi could you spell your name please s-o-l-o-m-o-n-i-c do you swear referring to tell the

truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes please proceed the comprehensive plan recommends

no change to the cmx2 commercial mixed use zoning at this location the property has a documented

history of two dwelling units two dwelling units are allowed in the cmx2 zoning but there's a

required commercial use on the first floor the city planning commission recommends that the board

grant the proposed use variance for two dwelling units with no commercial use. MI 2024-001-273-2000

South 21st Street, I vote yes. My vote is yes. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes. Tanetta Graham,

my vote is yes. Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes. Iowyn, my vote is yes. Thank you. You have your

votes thank you okay number 12 mi 2025 003 570 1630 willington street edwana smith is the owner

applicant this is a pro se

Good morning.

Could you please state your name as spelled for the stenographer?

E-D-W-A-N-A Smith, S-M-I-T-H.

Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Yes.

Our counsel has a statement to give you first, right?

Okay.

Good morning, Ms. Smith.

So I just wanted to clarify something with this case first.

So you had requested, you were given a referral and you had requested appeal to the Zoning

Board for a special exception.

In your materials you submitted to the Zoning Board, you asked for a reasonable accommodation.

The Zoning Board does, that is not within the purview of the Zoning Board to grant those

requests.

those have to go through L&I. The board can still consider your request for special exception today.

The board can still consider your request for special exception today if you wish, but if you want to be considered for a reasonable accommodation, you will need to submit information to L&I to have them consider that, and we can provide you with additional information on how to do that.

So I assume you still want to proceed today with the special exception?

Yes, I guess so.

Okay.

All right.

That is fine.

Thank you.

Okay.

Our vice chair has just a few questions for you, ma'am.

Good morning.

Have you submitted your documents five days in advance of this hearing?

Yes.

And do you waive the reading note of refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?

Okay, thank you.

And before you start testifying,

I will note that the RCO has unanimous opposition to this,

and also the council member Young is opposed,

but there is a letter of support from Pastor Mark Allen.

So why don't you start your presentation?