Mr. Bertull is coming in as a panelist.
Thank you.
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon, sir.
Can you please identify yourself for the record?
spell your first and last? Yes, Steve Bertil, B-E-R-T-I-L, Claire Harrison Harvey in Bransburg,
1835 Market Street, Suite 1400, Philadelphia PA, 19138. And can you sort of affirm or tell the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes. Do you agree to waive the reading of its
refusal and stipulate to attackers? Yes. Also, have you emailed an exhibit packet with the
required documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral
folders and plans five days prior to this hearing? Yeah, we submitted our packet last week. Thank you.
Have you met with the RCO and have a letter? Yes, we do. We have a letter of support as well.
Yep. We got that. Thank you. Please proceed. Thank you. As stated, my name is Steve Bertil.
we're here for 5141 Walnut Street. With me I have the applicant Justin Turkus. The property
in question as you can see here is zoned as CMX4. Its main frontage is on Walnut Street between
52nd Street and 51st Street you can see here. Here's just an aerial to orient everyone
of the block that we're referring to.
This little red dot is the property in question.
This is a change of use application.
Council, do you have a, sorry to interrupt you,
you got anything to show, share your plans?
Oh, I'm sorry, you're not seeing my screen?
No, we're not.
Oh, apologies.
No problem.
I thought it was sharing.
Let me try that again.
Are you seeing it now?
Okay, great.
Sorry about that.
I'll back up a little bit.
The property in question is 5141 Walnut Street.
Main frontage, primary frontage on Walnut Street is situated between 51st and 52nd Street.
As you can see here, the property is going to CMX4 as the entire block clustered and all the
properties across the street. Here's the area I was referring to, so you can get a sense of the
context of the block. As you can see, it's commercial in nature, and the property highlighted
in red is our specific property. What we're here for is a change of use application.
We're seeking a variance to allow for a commercial use on the ground floor as a
body art and tattoo studio for appointment only. This is the property in question here.
It's the main frontage. The ground floor is already zoned as commercial generally,
but we're seeking a specific use that we received a refusal for, which I'll get into why in a second.
Just to get a sense of the context, as you can see, this is looking down Walnut.
As you can see on both sides of the street, it's commercial in nature.
That's looking towards 52nd, and this is looking towards 51st.
And so what we're proposing in the state is a body art studio for use as a tattoo parlor
on the ground floor.
The reason we received a referral, or excuse me, a refusal, is because the use of body
art service under personal services is listed as a regulated use within the zoning code.
or I should say was listed as a regulated use within the zoning code at the time of
our application. Since we were issued the refusal
Since we were issued the refusal, the proposed use of body art studios has been removed from the regulated use.
For those who are familiar with the regulated use list, it includes things like an adult movie theater, adult bookstores, check cash in places, adult spas, gun shops, things of that nature.
I believe City Council and my understanding the Planning Commission understands that the inclusion of Body Art Studio as a regulated use in the past is sort of antiquated and outdated and the stigma tied along with tattoos has changed in society and thus believe it's appropriate for that to be removed from that list.
But for its previous inclusion, as on the regulated list, this would be a by right use and we wouldn't have the referral. Essentially, the applicant and the client just had bad timing. It was literally removed weeks after this appeal was filed.
And therefore, we still have to go through this process. We did meet with the community
group and obtained a letter of support. But in addition to that, we received signatures
on a petition of support from the immediate near neighbors, both on 52nd and Walnut Street.
here's just a copy of that petition
and uh here is a copy of the letter of support from walnut hill community association
all your disposal or your waste and all that will be uh like commercial uh i'm pretty sure i'm sorry
can you say that again i can hear uh uh any waste that you guys will create will it be uh commercial
right yes so the um if you can the uh and i'll i'll have my client testify to this as well
um once i call him but they they have he's contracting with a waste removal company
um that will remove the waste that's tied to the needles and things of that nature
um it's similar to the companies that if you go to a dentist's office anything like that you'll
see they have those waste removal baskets that they have private contracts with companies that
come and takes that out um so it's not hours of operation i'll be part of the public um trash system
hours of operation i'm sorry your hours of operation those hours of operation i believe
um and i'll have them confirm this but i believe there'll be nine um to five like any normal office
operations and i should say it's appointment only um this is this studio would be strictly
appointment only is no walk-ins um as you can see from i'll show you the
sort of key plan the space is only about 575 square feet and therefore it is you know there's
only there's only space for sort of one technician and artist and um one appointment at a time okay
does the board have any questions no no do anyone else here that want to speak in this matter
uh if the board will allow i just want to uh call justin to adopt and affirm my testimony
yeah you can bring him up justin if you could just raise your hand
he's been unmuted he just has to immune himself to speak thank you justin can you please identify
yourself for the record name and address for your first and last name yep my name is justin turkus
T-U-R-K-U-S. My address is 5040 Florence Avenue, Apartment 3. Fill up your PA-19143.
Thank you. So are you firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, for nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Thank you. Mr. Bertil, you may proceed.
Thank you very much. Justin, did you hear the testimony that I provided to the board this afternoon?
Yes, I did.
Could you confirm the truth of my testimony and would you adopt it as your own?
Yes, I did.
Thank you very much. That's all I have.
Thank you. Anyone else in this matter?
I see no more hands, Chair.
Thank you. Board has any questions?
Planning Commission?
Good afternoon, Chair. Peter Bernard for the Planning Commission.
This property is indicated for commercial mixed use in the comprehensive plan.
We support the granting of the special exemption.
Thank you.
calendar number mi 2021-001-269-5141 walnuts street my vote is yes
my vote is yes my vote is yes good luck thank you very much
next one up mi 2021-001
Next one up, MI 2021-001-242-6000-Lanke Hill and Pike.
Sharon, is this a continuance?
Hi, Chair, this is Tanya Sunkin.
If I could state that this here was discussed earlier,
and officially you would need to continue it on the record
for an accelerated
continuance date.
Which will be determined?
Yes, it will be determined.
So calendar number...
No, I'm saying thank you, Tanya.
Calendar number 2021-001-242-6000
Lankill Pike will be continued
to date to be determined.
Thank you. Next one up. It's MI 2021-001-255-879-85 North 40th Street. Attorney is Joe Consul.
Mr. Consul has been promoted to panelist.
Thank you.
Hello.
Mr. Counsel, good afternoon. Please identify yourself for the record.
Joe Consul, Consul Madison, LLP, 1 West 3rd Street, Suite 204, Media, Pennsylvania, 19063.
Thank you. So are you affirmed to tell the truth, the whole truth, for nothing but the truth?
Thank you. You agree to waive the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Also, have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership,
proof of tax compliance copy of the refusal or referral photos and plans five days prior to this
hearing i have thank you have you met with the rco and have a letter yes okay please proceed
good afternoon board joe consul here uh for 877 and 879 through 885 north 40th street uh this
block of 40th Street between Ogden Street and Westminster Avenue right near the 40th Street
Bridge. I'm going to try to bring over a picture of the block here so you guys can see what I'm
talking about. It's in the city's Manitoba neighborhood. The bridge is right at the end
of this block. Goes over the train tracks. The two parcels are owned by 879 North 40th Street, LLC
and German Yakubov is here as representative of the owner. This is a collection. I'll scan down
to the photo here. It's two long-bloated properties. These are purchased at separate times
by the owner, 879 North 40th. The larger parcel, which is technically 879 through 85 North 40th,
was purchased in 2018 and the smaller parcel, which is 877, was purchased in 2019. The applicant
is seeking to combine the two parcels into one 7,000 square foot lot. It's a zoned RM1.
Some of our pictures. Here's some of the plans. The previous uses of the property were auto repair
and car storage. We're going back 30 plus years here. Towards the end of its life,
according to the zoning and L&I archives, it was cited repeatedly for storage improperly of
rundown and derelict vehicles, and neither of the lots have been used in the last 30 years.
Applicant is seeking to combine the two lots into one, build a six-story building
with a total of 42 units, seven per floor, 14 bicycle spaces located inside the property.
We have two refusals, one for density, one for height, and we're here to seek approval for both.
The building will have a healthy mix of units. It's one studio apartment. It's 11 two-bedroom
units and 31-bedroom units. Each floor will have its own trash storage that the floor will have
access to. Pull that up. And the trash is going to be picked up privately three to four times a
week. There'll be a full-time maintenance person dedicated to this building on staff to address
any of the building's needs. As you saw in the original shot of the block that I put up,
this side of the block is run down and is either vacant buildings or empty lots.
We believe the applicant removing the blight and beautifying this part.
the applicant moving uh removing the blight and beautifying this this part of the neighborhood
is a benefit to the block um there's not been much or any development on this block in over 50 years
and the applicant's goal is to beautify this uh and um to that end we met with the mantua civic
association on may 27th we got near unanimous support we got uh no opposition we got two
abstaining and everyone else was in support we believe based on that meeting that the neighbors
are excited to see some development on this block additionally and we realize this is not relevant
necessarily to this meeting but the applicant has come to an agreement with the councilwoman's
office and i believe andrew goodman's here to provide affordable housing units we just wanted
to mention that excuse me this is sharon i also received an email from mr goodman saying that the
councilwoman has no opposition. Oh, great. Thanks, Sharon. And I would like to just call my client
briefly. His name's German. His hand should be on. Okay.
Please unmute yourself, sir. You're free to speak. Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone again.
Good afternoon, sir. Please identify yourself. Spell your first and last name for the
personography? Chairman Yakubov, G-E-R-M-A-N, last name's Y-A-K-U-B-O-V. You so affirm to tell the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Thank you. Please proceed. Thank you.
Briefly, Mr. Yakubov, did you hear my testimony? I did. To your knowledge, do you adopt it as your
own? Yes. Okay, what would you like to add, if anything? No, just that we came to an agreement
with the councilman's office to make five of the units affordable at 50% AMI, four of which
would be one bedroom units and one of which would be a two bedroom unit. And we agreed to do that
as part of a deed restriction. Thank you. Thank you. I have nothing further. Thank you. Does the
board have any questions? No. Okay. Is there anyone else here that want to speak in this matter?
i see no handshare thank you planning commission
good afternoon chair peter bernard for the planning commission
this property is indicated for multi-family residential in the comprehensive plan
and was rezoned after community-led remapping in 2017
we feel this proposal represents an overuse of the properties and there is no hardship for vacant
land accordingly we we object to the granting of the variances thank you calendar number mi 2021-001
255 879-85 through 85 north 40th street my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes
and mr plaza if you wanted to go back to number one um the applicant has forwarded
the information he's confirmed and it shows that it was submitted five days in advance to the rco
mailbox and that all the required documents are included there's a re street
re street calendar number mi 2021 dash 001 625 123 re street
yes sean castanera c-a-s-t-i-n-e-i-r-a 123 reed street philadelphia pa
one nine one four seven oh sir you swear affirm to tell the truth the whole truth for nothing
but the truth yes are you an attorney i am not okay uh have you okay so you did uh she did say
Okay. Okay. Please proceed. And have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
Yes. I have a letter from the Penn Sports Civilization and Congress of the School.
Okay. Please proceed.
So my variance is for the denial of...
Do you have something that you could show us up on your screen?
Thank you.
it is also freezing um the denial was for the minimum area um the roof deck setback
and um the third floor setback um i have letters from both neighbors um there were no opposite
I have letters from both neighbors. There were no oppositions. There's only three two-story
buildings on the block. The other two are both adjacent to me, and both letters were sent in as