Yeah, recording.
Let me know when people are in, Tom.
It's not a part of an outside.
Okay, Chair Bergman, we have about 22 attendees.
We may begin as you wish.
Good morning.
My name is Bill Bergman.
and I will be chairing this morning's EBA hearings. With me is Carol Tenere, our Vice Chair.
Present, Mr. Chairman. Ismail Shahid, our Board Secretary. Present, Mr. Chairman. Thomas Holliman,
our Board Member. Present, Mr. Chairman. And James Snell, our Board Member. Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also here is our Executive Director, Tanya Sunkit, and our Board Attorney, Hillary Emerson.
Before we begin, here's our virtual format. Be advised the proceedings are being recorded.
By participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded. The video will be available by
contacting tanyasunkett at phillip.gov. For the benefit of our court stenographer,
we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you are participating by phone and you wish to testify, press star nine to raise your hand
and star six to unmute. To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548. Leave your email
address and the address of the property in question. And finally, please note the question
answer box. It's not for testimony or comments. Any comments should go to Tanya Sunkett,
our executive director. So let's look at today's list for contingencies.
Number seven, MI-2022-000-488-425 North 11th Street. Number eight, MI-2021-005,
423-4629 Wayne Avenue. Number nine, MI 2021-003-347-639 South Conestoga Street.
and number 11, MI 2021-005-422-730 East Allegheny Avenue. All those cases are
continued. Anyone have any questions or concerns about the cases I just read?
Mr. Chair, this is Hillary. For the Conestoga Street case, number nine, can you see if
the applicant is here? The request for continuance we received was from the RCO.
Okay. Thank you. 639 South Conestoga Street, Ashley Edwards.
Good morning, Mr. Chair. This is Jason Hand. I do not see Ms. Ashley Edwards in the audience.
Okay. All right. So this case is continued, and this is the second listing.
Mark is marked must be tried the next time. Thank you.
Any other comments? Are there any other requests for continuances for the 930 list?
Mr. Leo Mulvihill has his hand raised. I have allowed to speak.
Mr. Mulvihill, could you identify yourself and spell for the court reporter, please?
Certainly. Good morning, everybody. Leo Mulvihill, L-E-O, last name M as in Michael, U-L-E as in Victor, I-H-I-L-L.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Is it case number one, 1226 South 47th Street?
Okay. You're one of continuance.
Correct. We need to go back to the RCO.
Fine. Thank you, sir.
Or a full vote.
Thank you. So 1226 MI 2022, 000491, 1226 South 47th Street. That case is continued.
Are there any comments concerning that case in the virtual audience?
Are there any comments concerning that case in the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Mulvihill.
Does anyone else have a request for a continuance?
I do not see any hands at this time, sir.
Going to the first case that's listed on our list, number two, MI 2022-001-932, 2001 Allott Avenue.
Neil Sklaroff is the attorney.
Letter of non-opposition from Brian O'Neill.
Darwin Bovee has his hand raised.
I will allow him to become a panelist at this time.
We should be coming back in as a panelist.
Thank you.
Mr. Chairman.
Good morning, Mr. Beauvais.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Yes, Darwin Beauvais, that's B-E-A-U-V-A-I-S,
from Dilworth Paxson at 1500 Market Street.
um the niels klaroff although he filed he is my law partner and we've agreed that i would do
today's hearing thank you you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but
the truth i i always do sir oh thank you very much could you identify your client please
yeah it is the philadelphia school district they are the owner of the ann frank elementary school
Thank you. Our Vice Chair has a few questions, Mr. Bovey.
Mr. Bovey, do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
I agree to the reading of the refusal, but as to the accuracy, I do have a point to bring to the board.
Okay, great.
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or 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've met with the Greater Busselton Civic League, and we do have a support letter as well as a support letter from Councilman Brian O'Neill's office.
Okay, sounds great.
You may proceed and begin to share your screen.
Great.
Can everyone see this?
Great.
So Mr. Chairman, members of the board,
Again, my name is Darwin Beauvais at Dilworth Paxson.
This is a variance for signage, the size and placement.
It's, in essence, a building logo sign for a school building.
What is in front of you is an aerial view, and what is highlighted in white is the new addition to the Anne Frank Elementary School.
um we we did submit our our exhibit packet in our exhibits includes the tax certificate
the deed which the school district has owned the property since the since 1954 um we we we have
proof of notices that including the zoning notices and notices to the rco and the surrounding
neighbors our exhibit four shows additional area aerials uh exhibit five has the original zoning
permit that actually built the addition that you see here and Exhibit 6 has photographs
of this building and Exhibit 7 has renderings identifying and giving you more details of
the signage. Exhibit 8 also gives you more details of the signage and what we submitted
to L&I, and Exhibit 9, 10, and 11, and 12 shows our notice of refusal, as well as our
application and what we submitted to the RCOs and the surrounding neighborhoods, and of
course, our support letter.
So having gone through this, I want to start the board with looking at Exhibit 7.
Thank you.
So this is what we are proposing that the signage that you see is a rendering and our
refusal in essence has we were denied because we have the main entrance sign which is here
main entrance and then we also have the building logo sign that totals 96 square feet and if we
look at the refusal
the refusal says we exceed our maximum area which is 15 feet
However, Ellen and I miscalculated this at 162 square feet, when it's actually just 96 square feet.
And if I may, let me just show you what I am speaking of.
If you look at the sign dimensions, we're looking at the portion where it says main entrance,
it is eight foot zero inches by nine inches, which totals six square feet. Our signage,
which in essence, this is the sign that put us over the top and in essence is our refusal.
The building logo sign, Anne Frank Elementary, shows that we're two feet tall, 45 feet wide, for a total of 90.
So together with the six square feet, the 90 square feet, we're at 96 and not at 162, as described here.
Now, this calculation, I think I know where it came from, this miscalculation.
I think it came from our initial application, which is here.
which is here our initial application simply identified the length and width eight feet
zero inches nine inches but they miscalculated it and said it was 72 square feet the ann frank
elementary school building logo is still at 90 feet but they miscalculated this portion that
says main entrance at 72 square square feet and we're just saying no that was completely wrong
um it was clear that you're you're looking at nine inches by eight feet that was a simple
miscalculation and i think that miscalculation was compounded on our refusal which gave us 162.
Now, given this, and let me just go back to the refusal, we are still over that allowed amount.
So we are still coming to the board to seek a variance because we've exceeded the amount in our RSD1 district.
And in essence, what we're asking for is the board to grant our petition simply because this has, although this sits in a residential area, this has been a school since the 50s.
It's been known to be a school. We've actually built the addition on an as-of-right basis. Let me pull that up.
this shows for the erection of an addition as part of an existing detached structure
uh used as part of the existing educational facility we obtained that two years ago we built
the building and now that it's complete we're just looking to have a building logo signed
on the structure having said that if we did meet with the greater busselton civic
We did meet with them, and we received overwhelming support at their May 24th hearing meeting.
There were 35 attendees, so it didn't pass through the night.
Everybody was very committed to seeing the expansion of the elementary school.
It's been part of the neighborhood, again, as I mentioned, since the 50s.
And with that, we believe granting the variance has no negative impact to the surrounding community.
The community actually supports, if you can see the essence of their letter, it's not a non-opposition.
It is full support of not only the expansion, but to complete the expansion by putting a building logo sign there.
With that, we also was able to get the support of the councilperson, Brian O'Neill. He has been a long-time supporter of this elementary school and of the Busselton neighborhood.
with with that we we we open ourselves to questions um i do ask that because this is
the school district that you accept my statements as testimony um in order to make your finding
effects and and with that said i i conclude my presentation thank you hillary do we need
a copy of that letter yes mr chair i was going to make sure you copy the letter yes we did not
receive that right thank you questions questions from the board and darwin we don't take your
testimony thank no mr chair no mr chairman questions or comments from the virtual audience
Sir, one Bernard Jadak has his hand raised. I have allowed him to speak.
Sir, could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Bernard Jadak, J-A-D-A-C-H.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed.
My name is Bernard Jadak. I'm the zoning chair for Greater Bustleton.
i just want to confirm the letter that was sent okay we did send a letter uh uh supporting the
sign and it's a valid letter and everything you should have received it but maybe it's in the
email transition that's fine and we very much appreciate you calling in and telling us that
sir thank you all right have a good day thank you thank you any other comments from the virtual
audience? I see no hands at the start. Planning Commission. Good morning, Chair Bergman. Ian
Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. Last name spelled H-E-G-A-R-T-Y.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir, I do. Proceed, please. Thank you. Good morning, board members. The conference
plan recommends no change to the existing RSD-1 single-family zoning at this location.
This proposed sign, as we've seen, it's an accessory to a longstanding, non-conforming use,
and we feel it represents a typical identification sign for this type of use.
City Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant this variance.
Thank you. MI-2022-001-932-2001, Lott Avenue, I vote yes.
Carol Tenere, my vote is yes.
Thomas Hallman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
thank you Mr. Bove
thank you
take care everyone
you too
number three
MI 2022
000483
2312 Germantown Avenue
Zen Jin is the attorney
letter of support
from the 37th Ward RCO
so Jin is being promoted to
Thank you.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Zen Jin, Z-H-E-N.
Last name is J-I-N.
1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 1838,
Philadelphia PA 19103 here on behalf of the applicant.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth?
So you also have case number four, which is 2334 Germantown.
Can we do it at the same time?
I was about to ask if the board would do that.
Thank you.
MI 2022-000-484-2334.
0-0-0-4-8-4-2334 Germantown Avenue. Could you identify your client and the relationship to
these two properties? Absolutely. Mr. Joseph Gitterman should be here on behalf of both of
the owners. For 21-12, I'm sorry, 23-12 Germantown, it is Glass Estates LLC. And for 23-34,
it is also partially Glass State LLC, but also Salat New York Corp is also a 50% owner of that
particular property. Thank you. Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Hi, Mr. Jin. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
I do. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance,