versus just issues that are happening from the park and general neighborhood issues. I know
there's a concern about broken bottles. My clients are only there Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
They clean up every time. They come back on Wednesday to show the property. There's garbage,
there's broken needles, there's broken bottles, there's needles. They clean it up. They clean up
any garbage that's left, garbage bags left on the street. They put it in their dumps. They pay to
take it away. So I know that, you know, there's legitimate concerns here from neighbors. They are
being addressed, but not everything is in my client's control just by the location of where
this building is. There was also, when speaking to some of the neighbors, they made it very clear
that what they would like to see there is nothing, which is not really a viable solution
to an old industrial building.
And if it was converted to residential use, we were dealing with far more people, far
more parking issues, far more congestion than this business operating out of a small
corner on Cambria.
I did also want to say that where we're located on Cambria is across the street from the
from the playground, and there is no homes directly across the street. So,
across the street. So let's see. So I think just in summary here, again, we're looking for a small
event space that's a much less intensive use than what is a buy right here with less impact
to the community. And time and time again, we have seen support from the community, including
these letters, not only the votes at the meeting, but these letters from the individual community
members located within a block or two. Okay, do you want to bring your client on, please? Sure.
Michelle, are you in the audience? Michelle, if you're in the audience, there she is. Chair Michelle
Sharp has been unmuted and allowed. Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the
court stenographer yes my name is michelle sharp that's m-i-c-h-e-l-l-e-s-h-a-r-p you swear a firm
to tell the truth told you nothing but the truth yes i do proceed counsel all right michelle did
you hear my testimony here today and believe it to be truthful and accurate yes and would you adopt
it as your own? Yes. Thank you. Questions on the board? No, Mr. Chairman. Questions or comments
from the virtual audience? Chair, I see no hands at this time. Planning Commission. Thank you,
Chair, and good morning. David Fecto with the City Planning Commission Chair and Board members.
the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from medium industrial
to industrial commercial mixed use. The recommended zoning would allow assembly and entertainment by
right. The city planning commission recommends the board grant the proposed use variance for
assembly and entertainment. Thank you. Counsel, I'm going to hold a vote on this
for conversations with the board members in the executive session, also Hillary, our attorney.
OK. All right. And we will look to have this back next Wednesday at 930 a.m.
Would you like me to be present to answer any additional questions?
I think we have all the questions we need. OK. Sure. OK. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Are you closing the record? Record is records closed. All right. Thank you.
Number 12, MI 2022, 005-723-755 South 15th Street.
Zen Jin is the attorney.
There's a letter of support from South of South Neighborhood Association.
There, Zen Jin is coming back in as a panelist now.
Good morning, counsel. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes. My name is Zen Jin, Z-H-E-N, last name J-I-N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard,
Suite 1838 Philadelphia, PA 19103, here on behalf of the applicant.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
Yes, my client is Mr. Kent Linn.
He's the owner of the property.
And our vice chair has just a few questions, counsel.
Good morning, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are needed and required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Thank you.
Please proceed and share the screen.
Thank you.
I'm going to share with the board the documentation we previously submitted.
Can the board see my shared documentation?
We can, sir. Yes.
Thank you.
So we submitted a copy of the refusal, the support letter from SOSNA, photos, plans, and related documentation.
This application is for a multifamily use in a RM1 zoning district.
I want to point out that the buy-write requirement, although it's not clear on the application itself on the refusal, should be 1440 square feet.
We have area lot of 1411 square feet, a de minimis difference that would otherwise allow us to have the four units buy-write.
In addition, the four units themselves were in existence at the time my client purchased the property, although for some time it was used as an Airbnb, he has since stopped that use and converted it back to multifamily, and actually that is what we're here for before the board today, is to make sure we legalize the four units for multifamily use.
We met with Sosna and the neighbors are aware that this.
We met with Salsna, and the neighbors are aware that this property, when it was purchased at one time, was a rooming house, and that was legal.
That was a pre-existing legal condition.
It was converted to four units and then used as Airbnb.
We simply want to convert the four units to use as multifamily at this point and stop any Airbnb use.
And the neighbors, particularly the near neighbors, had no real concerns as long as we do not rent it as Airbnb in the future.
With that, the property itself is an existing property in a heavily multifamily zoning district, and therefore it's surrounded by similar uses.
Its use would not cause a negative impact to the neighborhood as it is consistent to other uses in the area.
The layout of the property, essentially, the basement is for storage, and then the units are one on the first floor, front and back on the second, and the final unit on the third floor.
So with the support of the neighbors and the RCO, we would ask the board to grant the variance.
Again, we would point out that this variance is, again, it's a de minimis variance based on lot size.
So it's a dimensional variance with only about a 39 square foot difference, triggering the variance for the use that we're asking before the board.
I'm happy to answer any additional questions or redirect to any portion of my exhibits.
And my client is here to verify my testimony.
Why don't we have your client come on, counsel?
Mr. Lin, can you raise your hand virtually to be identified?
Chair, I see no hands at this time.
Okay, counsel, you are an officer of the court.
We will accept your testimony.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
chair i see no hands at this time planning commission thank you sir and good morning
david effecto with the city planning commission chairman and board members the comprehensive plan
recommends no change to the residential multifamily zoning at this location the proposed
dimensional variance is minimal and does not conflict with the purpose and spirit of the zoning
code the city planning commission recommends the board grant the dimensional variance for lot
area. Thank you. MI 2022, 005-723-755 South 15th Street, I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, I vote yes. Ishmael Shaheen, my vote is yes. Thank you, counsel. Thank you.
number 13 mi 2023 001 117 2644 east ontario joseph de felice is the attorney um
we have a letter of non-opposition from council member squala and a letter of support
support from pro pack port richmond on control and civic
okay chair joseph de felice is coming back in as a panelist okay
good morning counsel could you state your name please and spell for the court stenographer
yes chairman joseph de felice d-e capital f-e-l-i-c-e right do you swear or firm to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes could you identify your clients in
the relationship to the property yes uh bozina and stanislav walski um and their daughter uh eve
roskowitz okay our vice chair has just a few questions sir
good morning counselor do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy yes have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are needed and
required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing yes thank you please
proceed and show your screen right um let me share the screen here um okay
all right um well thank you uh board my name is joe de felice as i said previously i represent
Stanislas and Wozina Walski at 2644 East Ontario. This is for a variance today. The family would
like to do a six-foot fence, fully opaque, zoning only allowed for a four-foot fence,
50% opaque. Many reasons for this, and I can walk through the document.
50% opaque. Many reasons for this, and I can walk through the documents with you. As you can see
on my screen, we have the certificate of tax clearance followed by the letter of support from
the Port Richmond on Patrol and Civic Association, 34 attendees, 34 to 0 in support. In addition to
that, you can see the application for appeal. And you can see the refusal notice.
You can see the application for zoning and the use registration form.
There's our project information form. The deed.
uh the proof of mailing uh for the hearing all the addresses to which it was mailed to
and the photographs of the property and um and the announcement of the meeting uh here today
This property is looking for a zoning variance to go with a six-foot privacy fence for several reasons, one of which is, of course, privacy.
The other one is safety and security.
This area is...
Mr. DeFleach, could you say that again, you're looking for a six-foot?
Six-foot fence, correct.
Hillary, do we have that? I see we have five.
Yeah, the refusal says five, and I believe the plan said five, and the opacity was no more than 50%.
Plan should say six, and I think I highlighted that in my appeal as well.
Yeah, if you look at the appeal specifically, we talked about going from a four-foot fence to a six-foot fence.
how do we look on our side with that and you can even and even from the
original application it says six foot privacy fence surrounding side yard
hold on a moment mr defense let's just take a look and see what we do with this
Thank you.
Hilary. Oh, sorry, I know you're waiting on me. Yeah, I mean, the plans, the plans on the screen say no more than five feet high and not more than 50% of cake.
So if the applicant is requesting something different, then we're going to need an amended refusal and a revised plan submitted to L&I, because what is what L&I believes is being asked for is only a variance for one foot from what's permitted in the code.
Hillary, can we can we fast track this?
um i mean yeah i mean we have to work with the staff on on scheduling but i mean just to clarify
for mr for mr de police your clients want a six-foot fence that's 100 opaque is that what
they're asking for yes my clients are are on and i mean okay i mean we're yeah i mean if this is
if this is what was presented to ellen i we're gonna you're gonna have to ask for leave to
amend the refusal um and present revised plans to and i because this is not
this does not match what you're testifying to. Correct. So, so he'll, he'll get an amended
refusal, come back to the staff and we'll see if we can get this on as quick as possible.
Yes. Can I ask a question? Yes. We had presented and, and I apologize, we had presented to the
Civic Association as a six foot fence. The letters that went out were for six foot fence. So there'd
be no reason to meet with the community again, correct? That's correct. We just asked that you
would share the amended refusal and revised plans so that they're that they're aware but yes
okay um mr defelice we'll get this back as soon as possible all right we understand the problem
and uh we appreciate you working with us thank you very much thank you is there anyone in the
Thank you. Is there anyone in the virtual audience who, um, whose case has not been called?
virtual audience who
I see no handshare. Okay. See everyone at 2 PM. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, my name is Bill Bergman.
I'm sorry, Chair, I'm sorry.
I wanted to make sure the attendees was in, but I did, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
we're good okay yeah all right good afternoon my name is bill bergman and i will be chairing
this afternoon zba hearings with me is our vice chair ismail shaheed present mr chairman our
board member thomas holliman he's there we just had him yes he's unmuted
he's still here though. Okay, good. And our alternate board member, LeBaron Leonard Palmer
from Development Services. Also, here is our attorney, Hillary Emerson. Here's our virtual
format. Be advised the proceedings are being recorded. The video will be available by contacting
tonyasunkett at philip.gov. For the benefit of our court stenographer, we asked attorneys and
witnesses to identify themselves before testifying. If you are participating by phone and you wish to
testify, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute. To enter an appearance statement,
call 267-270-5548. Leave your email and the address of the property in question.
And finally, the question and answer box on the screen is not for comments or testimony.
All comments should be directed to our executive director, Tanya Sunke.
Let's look at our schedule this afternoon.
Number one.
Hold on one minute.
Be right with you.
Number one, MI 2023-001-892-1115-27, Frankfurt Avenue. This case has been continued. And number seven, MI 2023-001-965-5335 Catherine Street. That case has been continued.
Are there any comments or requests for additional contingencies?
Good afternoon, Chair. This is Yvette Benton. I'll be your co-host this afternoon. I see no hands at this time.
Thank you very much. Number three, MI 2023-001-837-1953, Locust Street, Apartment 3. We have no exhibits. This is the first listing.
Critty Segal is the owner applicant. It's a pro se.
Chair, I see the heads at this time.
Okay, thank you. So MI-2023-001-837-1953, Locust Street, Apartment 3.
Cases continued. Mark must be tried. We're going to go to our add-ons.
Number one, MI 2022-007371.
MI-2022-007-371-406-West Somerville.
Ish, you have to certify on this case, please, the vote.
You went out.
You went out, Chair.
Can you hear me?
So the first case on the add-on list, 406 West Somerville, could you certify you saw the hearing?
Thank you.
Ishmael Shaheed, I did certify that I watched the hearing that took place last week on this address.
All right, 406, so MI 2022-007-371-406 West Somerville, I vote yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thomas?
Mr. Holloman, you're unmuted.
Are you able to hear me?
We might need him to go back out and come in.