Good morning, everyone. My name is Carol Tenere.
Carol?
Can we have one more minute? Oh, sorry.
This is Tanya. Can we wait three minutes, please?
Thank you, Kylie.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Good morning, Angela.
Good morning.
I'm here.
I have committed you to panelists and if you could stay unmuted the whole time as necessary
please just let us know when you need a quick break okay you got it thank you thank you very kindly
okay madam chair it appears to be at least 50 or more attendees we are ready to start whenever you
are okay i'm ready good morning everyone my name is carol tenary and today i'll be the chair of the
Zoning Board hearings. I'll be participating in today's hearing along with Board Secretary
Confessor Plaza and Board Members Thomas Holloman and James Snell. Our Board Administrator is Fatima
Al and Board Attorney is Sharon Saleta. For those of you who haven't yet participated in one of our
virtual hearings, I'll go through some of the basics of what you can expect. First, we will be
administering oaths to individuals participants prior to their testimony second we'd like to
advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded and that by participating you acknowledge
your agreement to be recorded this is available to the public and on the web third for anyone
participating by phone if you wish to testify you must raise your hand by hitting star nine
then star 6 to unmute yourself. That is star 9 then star 6 to unmute yourself. To enter an
appearance statement, call 267-270-5548 and leave your email address and address of the property
at issue. And to repeat the number, it's 267-270-5548. Fourth, the question and answer
box is not for testimony. Any comments are to be directed to Ms. Tanya Sunkit or Ms. Fatina L.
Call out. I'm not calling out anything. Are there requests for continuances?
Um, Madam Chair, if we could first list out the cases that that are continued. Yes. Okay.
The continued cases are calendar number MI-2021-000787, 4918 Walnut Street.
That case is continued.
Calendar number MI-2021-000738, 638 North Peach Street is also continued.
Calendar number MI-2021-000866-6816 Jackson Street is continued.
Calendar number MI-2021-000788-6558 Van Dyke Street is withdrawn.
if there are any objections to what i've just called out please raise your hand
madam vice chair we have darlene treat i've unmuted her you may unmute yourself
mystery and please wait for the chair
mystery
Okay, she lowered her hand now. I'm not sure. Ms. Threatt. Good morning, Commissioner Darlene
Threatt. You did announce my continuance today, so I withdraw my request. Okay, thank
you all right I see no other hands madam chair okay is there anyone else who would like to
request a continuous if so please raise your hand and that also includes withdrawals
I see no hands madam chair
Okay. Calendar number MI 2020-00115-2504 East York Street. My vote is yes with revised plans consisting of one page.
Yes, Reproviso.
Yes, Reproviso.
Yes, Reproviso.
Calendar number MI2020-002483, 1431-33 North 20th Street.
Zen Zen is the attorney.
Madam Chair, Zen Jin has been promoted to panelists. He's coming back in now.
Thank you.
Good morning.
Good morning. Can you put your name and address on the record, please, and spell your last name?
Yes. Zen Jin, Z-H-E-N-J-I-N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 1838, Philadelphia PA 19103. Here on behalf of the applicant.
Thank you. Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with the required documents consisting of proof of ownership, tax compliance, 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, to all questions.
Okay, you may proceed.
Thank you.
I'm going to...
I do want to state one thing.
The RCO, Sharswood Community Civic Association, has submitted a letter of non-opposition.
Yes, thank you.
I have a copy of that letter with my exhibits.
I am going to go ahead and share with the board the information relating to this case.
We have submitted to the board refusal, the non-opposition letter, photos, plans, tax
clearance, deed, appeal, the PIF, and the hearing notice.
With regard to the refusal itself, there are some changes based on our discussion with the community.
The property itself, we applied for a multifamily use with a daycare as the original proposal.
The community did not object so much to the multifamily.
However, they feel this particular building, which I will show in a minute with pictures, ultimately would not be the best to be used as a daycare.
My client has agreed to change the use of the commercial first floor proposal to a grocery store.
I'm not sure if the board can have that change made by provisal.
I'm sure Sharon can, maybe Ms. Suleta can let us know.
But that is what the RCO is looking for.
Mr. Jinn, that would require an amended application.
However, if it is what was presented to the community, the board could hold the vote pending receipt of the revised refusal from L&I.
Very good. Thank you.
What I'll do then is I will email Ms. Sunkit about the revised refusal and go ahead and obtain one.
In the meantime, let me continue with the application proposal.
So the reason this property is being proposed to be something other than what it is zoned district-wise, which is RSA 3, is because of the history of the property.
At one point, this building was granted for partial demolition and was used as a church.
What this building actually is, the photos will better show what we're trying to discuss here with regard to the building.
It's a double-width lot that is occupied by what used to be a church.
It's a double-width lot that is occupied by what used to be a church.
The building itself is in need of a lot of work, and my clients want to put in that work.
However, putting in the investment to revitalize this building also requires that some of the uses being proposed will not be consistent necessarily with the RSA3 zoning.
The community is aware that the area has a mix of different type of uses, including single-family RSA 3, but also includes, in addition, many buildings, including across the street, a big commercial building.
So it is not a block where it is purely RSA 3 residential.
Given the history of the church, the proposal for multifamily was not met with objection from the community.
The general proposal is to basically redo the interior, which is actually quite run
down and needs a lot of work.
The original proposal was changed to a grocery store with a new layout.
I'm going to zoom in so the board can clearly see proposal changes.
This is again a proposed layout that the community saw and is what we presented at the second
community meeting.
so they're aware that a grocery store design would approximate this particular look.
The residential above is based on basically some of the old wall layouts,
although most of the walls are dilapidated and would need to be replaced with drywall,
but the layout is generally what was residential setup and office setup above for the church.
so we're proposing three units residential above the and the commercial unit on the first floor
the residential unit have their own entrance the commercial entrance will be changed to fit more to
the neighborhood look and the front facade would be managed as well with a refreshing of the front
and a slight change to the look to make it more commercial in nature based on the above we received
ultimately a non-opposition from the community, although some of the votes were divided. But in
the end, the main objection initially was to the idea of a daycare at the location because the
community did not feel that would be a fitting use. Given the history of the property and its
unique size and structure, we would ask the board's favorable review in our request for variants for
the three-family dwelling as well as the changed use of the grocery store. I'm happy to answer
any questions or show again any exhibit that the board would like to see. Does the board have any
questions? No. No. Planning commission? Good morning, Chair Tanari. If this is going to be held
for a vote with a revised application,
then we would want to hold off
until that application is filed
before offering an opinion.
Thank you.
Excuse me, Mr. Haggerty.
We were only going to hold it
for receipt of the revised refusal
so that it could be referenced
in the decision.
We're planning to do a resumption hearing,
but if you're requesting one
so that you'd be able to consider it
with the new conditions,
then we should schedule something now.
Yes, we are.
Thank you.
Okay, thank you. Ms. Sunkit, could we schedule a resumption hearing limited to the Planning Commission entering its position based on the revised refusal?
Only that? Yes. Okay, yes. Could we swear him in as well?
Sure. Do you agree? Wait, sorry about that. Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
And it's Ian Hegarty, H-E-G-A-R-T-Y for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
I'm so used to seeing your face that I think everybody knows who you are.
Sorry about that.
So, Mr. Zinjin, would 30 days be enough?
30 days should be enough for a revised refusal.
I will send a request for the letter authorizing us to go back to ONI as soon as possible.
Okay. What about August the 4th?
Let me take a look at my calendar, if the board could just bear with me one minute.
August the 4th would be a good date. Thank you.
sounds good so madam chair august 4th at 9 30 a resumption hearing just to provide
the testimony from planning commission thank you excuse me mr jane can i also ask that when you
receive the revised refusal could you send that and the revised application to mr hegarty for
his review as well absolutely thank you thank you everyone
Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Excuse me. Calendar number 0869-1622 South 12th Street. The owners are Alexander and Jessica Gottlieb.
Excuse me, Vice Chair, I'm sorry. We had Lorraine Gomez hanging up while y'all were discussing the previous case. What would you like for me to do?
Sharon.
Can we check if Mr. Jen is still here?
Mr. Jen?
No, he doesn't appear to be.
Go on to the next case.
I will try to contact him and see if he can sign on briefly just to get the additional
Witnesses' testimony on the record.
Calendar number 0869-1622, South 12th Street.
The owners are Alexander Gottlieb and Jessica Gottlieb.
We have a letter of non-opposition from Councilman Scuola.
And that letter refers to the East Passion Crossing letter in support.
Are the Gottlieb's here?
Yes, they are.
I've just promoted Mr. Gottlieb to panelists.
He's coming back in.
Mr. Gottlieb, you can unmute yourself.
And Mrs. Gottlieb has also been promoted to panelists as well.
madam chair we have to uh darwin here with their hand raised
for this case i'm not sure if he's here for this case or not he's not listed as the attorney on
this case do you want me to unmute him so he can speak um yes i unmuted him
good morning madam chair i i just wanted to confirm good morning one second name and address
on the record please and spell your last name first name darwin d-a-r-w-i-n last name bove b-e-a-u-v-a-i-s
i'm at 15 before you go there do you swear from to tell the whole truth and nothing about the
truth. So help me God, yes. So help me God, give me your address. 1500 Market Street, Suite 3500E,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19102. I'm actually not interjecting for this particular case. I just
wanted to confirm a resumption case for 4306-8 Parkside Avenue, if that's still on the list. I
I didn't see it on the website, and I just wanted to confirm that we are listed for today.
That is on the list.
Go ahead, Ms. Sunkin.
I'm going to go into the Q&A, okay?
All right.
I'm going to ask that instead of interjecting in the hearings.
Thank you.
The God leaves here.
patina did you see them yes i promoted them to yes i promoted them to panelists twice
they're not unmuting themselves okay we also have mr jim back too so let me know what you like oh
I'm here. Okay. I just got into whatever you did helped. Oh, great. Okay. Can you put your name
and addresses on your names and address on the record and spell your last name? Sure. My name is
Alexander Gottlieb, 1622 South 12th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19148. The last name is G-O-T-T-L-I-E-B.
and jessica yes i'm jessica gottlieb uh 1622 south 12th street philadelphia pennsylvania
19148 last name g-o-t-t-l-i-e-b do both of you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and
nothing but the truth yes 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