All right.
here we have 23 attendees and we can start as you wish
thank you good morning everyone my name is bill bergman and i will be chairing this morning's
meetings with me is our is our board member cheryl l gaston present mr chairman our board
member Tanetta Graham. Present, Mr. Chairman. Our board member Michael Johns. Present, Mr. Chairman.
And our board member Taya Nguyen. I know she's here. Also present is our attorney, Hillary Emerson,
and our deputy director for planning and zoning, Kathleen Grady. Here's our virtual format.
The proceedings are being recorded. With your participation, you agree to be recorded.
The video will be available by contacting ZBAexecutivedirector at phila.gov.
For a court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you're participating by phone, press star nine to raise your hand and star six to unmute.
To an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548.
Leave your email address and the address of the property in question.
And finally, the question answer box on the screen is not for testimony.
All comments should be directed to our executive director, Kathleen Grady at this point.
All right, let's look at our schedule for today. Number six.
MI 2024-005-928-2353-59 East Haggard Street. That case has been continued. Are there any other requests for continuances?
Good morning, Chair. This is Jasmine, and I will be your co-host for today. I see no need at this time.
Thank you. And number three, MI 2024, 003-145-1732 North Howard Street. That case has been withdrawn.
We're going to start with number five, MI 2024, 005-394-1300 Marlboro Street.
Mark Eckert is the owner.
This is a pro se.
We do not have an RCO letter at this point.
There was a meeting held October 8th.
Mark Eckert, if you're in a virtual audience,
please raise your hand.
Do we see him?
Hello.
Hi, Mr. Eckert.
Hey, how are you?
Good, good.
Could you please turn on your video?
yes join as stay as attendee
how do i sorry mark you have to accept the panelists
you declined it so once you accept it okay join us
Okay, I'm starting the video.
Could you state your name and spell, please, for the court stenography?
Yep, you got it. My name is Mark Eckert. It's M-A-R-K-E-C-K-E-R-T.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
This application is for use as a two-family household living in an existing structure.
The proposed use two-family household living is prohibited in the RSA 5 zoning district.
I understand you have sent all your documents in five days prior.
Is that correct?
Please start with your presentation and share your screen.
Share screen.
share screen maybe a little green button on the bottom that start broadcast
it'll be a little green
how's that can you see me um
um i don't see we need to see your document yeah it's up we're up okay it's up all right
did you swear in mr eckert yes yes okay thank you
okay am i good to go and yes you are so this is a proposal for the change of use for uh my house
which is 1300 marborough street i'm representing myself uh this is just a picture of what it
looked like when i got the place versus what it looks like now it was kind of like a stain in the
neighborhood from where i live i live in fish town and uh it was kind of like a an eyesore for the
community but it just shows you what it looked like what it looks like now uh it's a two-story
brick house with the brick back kitchen corner property it's a corner property on the northwest
corner of thompson marlborough street 14 foot 2 by 40 feet it's comprised of two separate apartments
with separate entrances, one on Marlborough Street and one on Thompson Street.
The first floor apartment is one bedroom, one bath, and one kitchen and finished basement.
And the second and third floor apartment is two bedroom, one bath, and one kitchen.
And all the mechanicals are separate.
This is the history of my place.
It's built in 1909.
It was converted into a doctor's office and a single family residence in 1953,
which I have the zoning documents for.
for that but more recently was renovated in 2009 and was granted uh variance for the change of use
as a two-family dwelling on uh april 27th of 2010 um reasons i'm seeking for the variances so i can
legally rent the upper unit of my house while i'm living in the bottom uh like homeowner occupied
purchased uh purchased property in 2020 all this and it was advertised as a two-family dwelling but
But due to my lack of knowledge and expertise, I didn't know that it had actually lost its variance or lost its status as a duplex and was downgraded back into a single family just before I bought the place.
um uh so the variance that i'm seeking will obviate the existing unnecessary hardship due
to the layout of my house which was not caused by myself and uh represents the least modification
of the zoning code to provide me the relief um the property of two apartments they said
separate entry doors no common living spaces and utilities and mechanicals are all uh separate as
a result of that the previous owner and uh i want to establish the use that's consistent
with the previous owner's renovations and like i said the physical layout satisfies
sufficient proof of unnecessary hardship as described in the zoning code 14303 yada yada
record could you tell us what happened when you went to the rco uh i was received very well i
It was basically unanimous.
I had a bunch of neighbors out there in support.
I've been living here for four years, so I know most of the community now.
That's why when they asked me for the receipt of my postal delivery for the notices, I actually went around and handed them out to everyone and knocked up on every door.
So I didn't know exactly how you're supposed to do that.
But some of the documents, it's just that notice that I sent out, yes, for a zoning permit application, but I wasn't able to find it.
But this is the best I could for the current zoning permit.
This is the notice of my refusal.
and this is my application for the appeal
this is the project information form and here it is in another format just in case
this is my deed
tax clearances
it's the layout of the uh the first floor unit
this is the first floor apartment that i reside in
basement the finished basement and then the second and third
Basement, the finished basement.
And then the second and third floor apartment.
These are pictures of that zoning notice in my window.
When I originally got it, I was having difficulty finding an 11 by 17 piece of orange paper.
So initially I had to put it on a regular piece of paper, but then
And then I got it.
Mr. Ecker, did you ever receive a letter from the RCO?
I received an email.
So I actually reached out to him because I did an accelerated review.
So I guess they didn't have enough time to get to me.
So I actually messaged.
I emailed my RCO.
And he snuck me in for, I think it was two weeks ago.
I have, I have corresponding, I have email correspondence to show that too. And I did attend, and I got pretty much unanimous support.
Mr. Chair, just to update, Mr. Everett from Fishtown Neighbors did send a draft copy of a letter of support from the RCO. It indicated there were about 35 attendees, including about nine near neighbors, and the vote was strongly in support, 29 to 6.
okay all right so there's just a just a couple additional documents before i'm done it's a zoning
use permit from the 1953 and 1960 um but this one's probably more important for you guys this
is the use permit for um to legalize existing two-family dwelling uh back in 2010 which was
granted the variance on the right side you see it was granted a variance uh on the i think it was
the 10th of april 2010 okay there's another certificate statement there's the email
correspondence for me to the uh and then that was a flyer that they sent out to all my neighborhood
um i did this just in case because people at l and i were telling me i could do this but i didn't
submit this yet because they were saying i got i either do this or this affidavit of continuous
use but i got a notarized i never sent it in because this was already this was already going
down so i figured i'd just go through this um activity license i don't think you even asked for
that and then this is just a checklist to show i walked around the all the uh properties in my
neighborhood uh and then this is just more additional uh this is a petition i just drafted
this up really quick before my uh my rco meeting and walked around i got a bunch of signatures but
i didn't have enough time so i didn't get it all questions from the board
questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
um just um briefly mr mr eckert the the powerpoint that you showed had some information
in it that um wasn't previously submitted to the board um i so i know that i know there was an
issue with size are you able to break that powerpoint up and email that to us sure so
so that we have all of that information in our file you could do that by is there anything
you specifically that you're missing because i thought i i hit everything that was required in
the uh preparing your for your meeting it was like 10 different we did not see a copy of the petition
um the list of addresses with your notations okay um we didn't we didn't have that um i think you
had some slides about the the size of this the space sure um and the different apartments so we
had all the basic documents that were required
but those that were the additional
supplemental documents that I mentioned
that you showed to the board we did not receive
okay you want the list of addresses
the petition
and the slides on the space and what not
yep no problem
all right thank you so much
the affidavit would be helpful too
you want the affidavit I'd send that in
yeah I would think so
yes that'd be great
thank you
And who do I send that to?
You send it to the same emails that you sent your exhibits to.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair.
I have a hand up by the name of Robert Everett.
They have been allowed to speak.
Morning, Mr. Everett.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Can you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Can you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Robert, last name Everett, E-V-E-R-E-T-T.
Where or from the told truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
As Ms. Emerson said, I just sent the draft copy that I had prepared for our chair to send in.
Not sure why.
but yes we had an in-person meeting on october the 8th we snuck him in at the last minute because
there had been some issues with notifications from downtown and it was a 29 to 6 overall
community boat seven to two nearby they were all very happy to see him finally getting that
house back up to what it hadn't been used for years ago mr ever thank you very much we appreciate
anyone else in the virtual audience
yes chair
I have a hand up by the name
of Jamie McDonnell
they have been allowed to speak
could you please state your name
and spell for the court stenographer
good morning
it's Jamie McDonnell
J-A-M-I-E
last name M-C-D-O-N-A-L-D
you swear or affirm
to tell the truth
the whole truth
nothing but the truth
are you a neighbor yes please proceed um i'm a neighbor and own 1310 marlboro and i just wanted
to also voice my support of the um zoning change and request by mark thank you for taking the time
to calls we appreciate it anyone else in the audience yes chair i have a hand up by the name
of maggie h they have been allowed to speak why could you please state your name and spell for
the stenographer sure uh maggie m-a-g-g-i-e hayes h-a-y-e-s where a firm to tell the truth
told you is nothing but the truth yes are you a neighbor yes uh please uh start your testimony
um i just also want to voice my support mark is awesome he cleaned up that whole house
he paid a lot of attention to the architectural features on the house
he takes care of the street he's it the house is beautiful and i just want to support
his work and this whatever should be granted thank you maggie is there anyone else in the
virtual audience i see no more hands at this time too any commission
please take down this green chair please okay uh stop share yes thank you
Planning Commission. Good morning, Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission, A-M-Y-P-O-Y-D.