Good morning, we are recording.
Okay, we're going to take two minutes to let everybody in the virtual room, and then you
can start as you wish, Chair.
Are you okay, Tom?
Are we okay?
Yes, sir.
We can start.
Good morning, everyone.
My name is Bill Bergman, and I'll be chairing this morning's zoning board hearings.
With me is Carol Tenere, our vice chair, Confessor Plaza, our secretary, Thomas Holman, our board member.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also with me is Tanya Sunkett, our board administrator, and Sharon Saleta, our board attorney.
Before we begin, here is our virtual format.
First, be advised this proceeding will be recorded.
By participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded.
The video of the hearing will be available by contacting Tanya Sunkett at phil.gov.
Second, for the benefit of our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves prior to speaking or testify.
Third, if you're participating by phone, if you wish to testify, raise your hand by hitting star nine, then 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. Phone number again, 267-270-5548. And fourth,
please be advised the question and answer box on the screen is not for comments. Should you have
any comments at all, address them to our board administrator, Tanya Sunken.
We're going to now look at continuances. And our first continuance would be
here it is here. Now our number seven.
Sorry, here it is.
Number seven.
MI 2021-002917, 2327 Aspen Street.
Is there anyone here who objected that being continued?
Chair, we have Corinne Wise.
Please state your name and spell for the court reporter.
I'm sorry.
Thank you.
I see no other hands, Chair.
Thank you.
We're also going to continue one of our add-ons, MI 2021-001584-2100, I apologize.
Since I asked that you put this on the afternoon list, I learned that Ms. Tenere is going to be leaving at 2, so it is going to remain on this morning's.
Thank you.
That's fine. Thank you. Any other requests for continuities?
Chair, we have Coran Wise again. Did you want to hear from this person?
Sure. Please unmute yourself and please wait for the chair.
could you please state your name and spell it for the court reporter
yes sir my name is corin wise c-o-r-e-n-o-u-i-s-e attorney for apple
hold on do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
Yes, sir.
I'm the attorney for the applicant on 1535 North Stillman. From my account, it looks like number four. It's MI 2021-2904.
I'm the attorney for the applicant on 1535 North Stillman.
Yep. Out of an abundance of caution, I just wanted to raise my hand. We sent documents under the ZBA Zoom rules. We sent them on Thursday, but due to some technical difficulty. My office has been going in flux due to multiple COVID scares, so we're trying to kind of avoid each other and alternate.
do you want to continue it do you want to continue mr wise rather i'd like to be heard today but i
just out of an abundance question documents uh were sent thursday but it turns out i uh we realized
uh they were still in our outbox on monday so they have been sent i believe they've been received
they confirmed with this aletta but um i i know that the there's a lot of cases a lot of documents
And so if we can be heard subject to that situation, I'm happy to move forward.
But if it has to be continued, I understand.
All right, we'll continue the case.
Is there anybody in the audience who objects to that being continued?
Here we have Charles Richardson.
He just put his hand down.
There are no other hands here.
Okay, thank you.
No other continuances then.
Okay, we're going to start with our add-ons.
MI 2021, 001566, 1541 South 24th Street, I vote yes.
Carol Tenere, my vote is yes.
Professor Plaza, yes.
James Snell yes
Thomas Holloman my vote is yes
Thank you
MI 2021-002888
4337 North 5th Street
my vote is yes
Carol Tenere my vote is yes
Professor Plaza yes
James Snell yes
Thomas Holloman my vote is yes
our vice chair will be presenting number three i was not here when this happened okay thank you
mr chair calendar number mi-2020-0015685039 worth street my vote is yes with amended refusal
dated March 17. Confessor Plaza yes with proviso. James Snell yes with proviso. Thomas Holliman
yes with proviso. Calendar number MI 2021-001584 2100 South 61st Street. My vote is yes. This is
on remand from common police court and my vote is yes to adopting supplement to adopting supplemental
findings of fact and conclusions of law stamped today. Professor Plaza yes with proviso. James
a series of 14 different cases i've taken the first one separately mi 2021 003660
215 south 60 street parcel b we are recommending that this case be continued
to sometime in the future for a future date hearing
and now I'm going to do 13 cases I'll read them all in a row MI 2021 00364 215 South 60 Street
parcel C. MI 2021 003642 215 South 60th Street parcel D. MI 2021 003643 215 16th Street parcel E.
MI 2021, 03644, 215 South 60th Street, Parcel F. MI 2021, 0030645, 215 South 60th Street, Parcel G. MI 2021.
215 South 60th Street, Parcel G. MI 2021 00346, 215 South 60th Street, Parcel H. MI 2021 003647,
215 South 60th Street, Parcel I. MI 2021 003648, 215 South 60th Street, Parcel J. MI 2021 003651,
215 South 60th Street, Parcel K. MI 2021 003652, 215 South 60th Street, Parcel L. MI 2021 003654,
215 South 60th Street. MI 2021 003656 227 South 60th Street. MI 2021 00365 225 South 60th Street.
To those parcels, I vote yes.
I vote yes. Carol Tenere.
Professor Plaza, yes to all.
James Snell, yes to all.
Thomas Holloman, yes to all.
Okay. A regular list.
Excuse me, Chair.
I'm sorry, Chair. We have Charles Richardson who put his hand back up to speak to a continuance.
mr richardson please unmute yourself good morning mr chair charles richardson from the office of
councilwoman cindy bass room 312 city hall yes could you spell your last name for the court
reporter sure r-i-c-h-a-r-d-s-o-n do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
but the truth? I do. Go ahead, sir. Questioning 4841 North 6th Street, we received a correspondence
from the attorney, and I think that Ms. Saleta also received it and others on November the 29th
requesting a continuance for the case today. And I was just trying to make sure that that
might still be the case. What number is this case? It's MI 2021 003057. Number 17, Madam
Vice Chair. Thank you, Ms. Sunkett. Got it. We don't have that as a continuance yet.
um chair this is sharon um i'm i'm looking for the letter but in any case it is
first listing so okay it's fine to announce that it's continued
all right we'll continue that sir thank you sir
all right case one number one mi 2021 002906 134 west loray street no exhibits first listing
mr diaz
i see no hands chair okay case continued
mi 2021 zero zero two army i'm sorry chair this is tanya sunk of the administrator
may i request that be a must be heard sure thank you so much
MI-2021-002907, 1345 Robin Street. Leo Mulvihill is the attorney. No RCO letter from the 53rd Ward.
Excuse me, Chair. We have Leo Mulvihill with his hand up now.
Mr. Mulvihill, please unmute yourself and please wait for the chair.
Did you promote him to panelists?
Yes, I've been promoted.
Thank you.
Mr. Mulvihill, state your name and spell for the court reporter.
Certainly.
Good morning, Chair.
Leo Mulvihill, M as in Michael, U-L, V as in Victor, I-H-I-L-L.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
you agree to wave the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
i do have you emailed the exhibit packet wait let me check this um with every
Have you emailed the exhibit packet? Wait, let me check this. With everything required, and it seems that you've met with the RCO?
Okay, you may proceed.
Yes. Good morning, members of the board. Leo Mulvihill on behalf of Shakira Abdullah, principal of Beauty and Zen Salon and Spa for 1345 Robbins Street.
So I have my exhibit packet in front of the board at this point, showing the refusal appeal and project information form at page one.
Area zoning map at page eight.
My client's lease at nine.
Landlord permission letter to seek this variance at 22.
My client's commercial activity license at 23.
Tax clearance at 24.
The zoning notification letter and proof of mailing is at 25.
We do not have an RCO letter at this point.
And photos of the property beginning at 28.
I've also supplemented the record with a floor plan that I received this morning from my client, and I've been in contact with Hillary Emerson from the Councilwoman's office.
My understanding is she's asking for a hearing hold for this case based on some concerns that were brought up by another RCO in the immediate area, but not the coordinating RCO.
I'll let her speak to that if she's currently on the line.
Good morning. This is Hillary Emerson from Councilwoman Sherelle Parker's office.
My name is spelled H-I-L-A-R-Y, last name E-M-E-R-S-O-N.
You swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
So by way of explanation, there was an RCO meeting held, our office attended,
and it was our understanding that there would be a site visit that would be initiated by the
applicant that did not occur so the RCO the coordinating RCO was waiting for that to happen
to do the letter in the interim another RCO reached out and expressed concerns about parking
in the area because there is some blocked off parking, some xed out parking right in that area
that would limit the ability of customers and employees to park. So we, and we had just got
the floor plan this morning to get a sense of the size of the building. So we hadn't seen the inside
or seen the floor plan until today. So I just spoke with the head of the coordinating RCO,
the 53rd Democratic Ward, and they just asked if they could do a hear and hold. We have no problem
with the case. They didn't and we didn't. Our office does not have a problem with the case
moving forward today. We just asked for two weeks to then put the RCO's letter on the record
once they've finished reviewing the materials and spoken with this other RCO to address their
concerns. And our office will put our position on the record at that time as well.
Okay. We'll go on with the case, and then we'll wait for the RCO letter before we approve it.
Certainly. So, chair and members of the board, what we have today is an application for a personal services salon.
I have the application for appeal showing right now at page one.
And what this was essentially was my client more or less took over business in the basement level of this existing structure.
The basement level is essentially set up as a separate, completely different entrance from the residential structure above.
It's one of the buildings that you would recognize as having a basement level that's essentially out of the ground.
There's a separate entrance for it from along the street as well.
And that's where my client moved in.
Once she took over the business, she recognized that the zoning was not proper for this and then closed.
And here we are today seeking the legalization of this business.
This business used to be a doctor's office years ago, and the layout of the building has not changed, so that we have a separate basement area that's essentially a commercial space, and then an above residential unit.
What I'm showing now is page four is a refusal that we received. One moment, please.
And essentially, we're asking for personal services salon and the basement level of an existing structure.
This is an RSA-5 zoning district, and so that's not allowed.
Here's our project information form.
This is my client's lease, showing that she has interest in the property.
One moment, please.
I'm just paging through that for purposes of the board.
At page 22, which is also the right-hand side, we have the letter of permission from the landlord itself stating my client does have the blessing.
from the landlord itself stating my client does have the blessing of the landlord to proceed
with this zoning application my client's commercial activity license is here page 23
page 24 is our tax clearance here's our notice of community meeting which is a two-page document
front and back page 27 we see the certificate of mailing page 28 we see photographs of the
property you can see how the property is essentially has the basement out of the
ground with a separate entrance. Here are some more photographs of the posting of the property.
This is looking northbound and you can see we're on a large thoroughfare.
The x-dot area that was discussed I believe is for bus zone only which is why there's no parking
allowed in that specific area. You can see the gentleman here waiting for the bus actually as
I took these photos. What I'll do now is view some page. These are photographs of the interior
of the salon. It's personal care services. There will be some hair salon sort of information.
Excuse me. It'll be a hair salon with hairstyling services, waxing, and other sorts of personal care
services as well. The business is going to be run by Ms. Shakira Abdullah, my client, and her
daughter as well who's a licensed professional here are additional photographs of the interior
of the property and what i've added on and i oh no that's not the correct document at all one moment
what i received this morning and i'm forwarded to my to ms emerson to the rco was the floor plan
for the property which i'm now going to pull up
okay that should be visible for everybody at this time
There we go. And here we have photographs of the property from Robin Street.
This is a residential unit that I discussed.
This is the photograph from Castor Avenue. And there's a number of businesses along Castor Avenue that have similar setups with residential units above and via a separate entrance on Castor Avenue, different businesses underneath.
Here's the area. Site map from Google.
and then what we have here to the bottom of the page pardon me
is the actual site plan and interior square footage is a shared driveway to the rear of
the property trash will be taken from the rear of the property that's where the trash trucks come
my client's commercial area is located here so we have mechanicals and bath which is a front
along robin street the entrance is long caster avenue and it's about 450 square feet in total
there's a rear exit which trash will be brought out of this is the residential unit above
on the first and second stories but my client does not have any access to the residential
unit it's a separate lease separate tenant altogether uh miss abdulla if you're present
on the line would you please unmute yourself and i just have a couple questions to ask you
Ms. Abdullah, you can unmute yourself and please wait for the chair.
Hi, am I unmuted?
Yes. Could you please state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Sure. My name is Shakira Abdullah. Shakira is spelled S-H-A-K-I-R-A-H.
last name is spelled a b as in boy d as in david u l l a h you swear affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth nothing but the truth yes okay miss abdullah you've heard my testimony today
yes would you please tell the members of the board specifically what services you will be
offering at this location um i will be offering um well my daughter is um a licensed hairstylist
So she will be doing hair services. And I work in the spa area. I do waxes and yoni seams and stuff like that.
OK, now for purposes of this business, how many employees will you have at this location?
Right at the moment, it's just me and my daughter because we're just starting out. We're new business owners.
um but eventually there are two other um salon chairs for other stylists if someone you know
for other stylists, if someone, you know, if we happen to be able to hire someone to work in there.
if we happen to be able to hire someone
Okay. At this point, what's the maximum number of customers you'd have in the salon at any time?
Well, it would be, so hypothetically speaking right now, if we were to open back up,
it would be two people, two people at a time. We don't allow people who are not getting service
to come in so if my daughter is doing someone's hair in the chair it would be that person if
someone is getting waxed in the back it would be that person so two people at a time if we hire
the other girls then it would be five people at a time okay and then what are your days and hours
of operation please once you get um we will be operating uh monday through sunday whenever there
are, um, appointments available. And is it appointment only? Um, no, one, it won't be
appointment only. We will open it up to the community. Um, before, uh, we had to shut it
down. There were many people from the community who came in and they loved our services and they
said it was so convenient to have it in their community. They don't have to travel far and the
service is good. When they come in, they leave out happy. That's good to hear. So you've heard
my other testimony in this case with respect to your application, correct? I'm sorry. You've heard
my testimony then in my presentation with respect to this application, correct? Yes. And it's true
and accurate to the best of your knowledge? Yes. And you would otherwise adopt my testimony,
what I said, as your own testimony, correct? Yes. All right. Yes. We have nothing further
this time members of the board we're happy to take any questions you may have board questions
no mr chairman yes sir no other comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands chair charlie should i go to the planning commission before we do this
um yes planning commission thank you mr chair uh good morning ian hegarty for the philadelphia
city planning commission last name spelled h-e-g-a-r-t-y you swear a firm to tell the
truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes sir i do thank you uh members of the board the
Comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing RSA 5 zoning on this corner lot.
The property does have a documented use history of professional services on this basement level.
It's our opinion that the impacts associated with the requested personal services use would roughly match those of the previous use and would be appropriate given the physical arrangement of the existing structure.
the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the variance thank you mr
movahill will bring this back for a vote when we receive information from the rco
if i could ask mr movahill to do you agree that the record will be closed
aside from a letter from the additional rco and the councilman's office which will be read into
the record oh yes okay and can we um do we have an idea of a date for that miss do you know how
long it is going to be before you can get that letter or should it just be rescheduled
um i can i uh this is hillary emerson um i would i would say two weeks which i believe is the 22nd
so i i don't see like why we couldn't have that done by then okay miss sunkett would that be okay
to schedule this for the 22nd
only for the reading of the letters?
Yes, that's fine.
Thank you.
And what time?
I'm going to reach out to Ms. Emerson
and ensure we can get that scheduled.
9.30 a.m.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Mulvihull.
Thank you, members of the board.
Have a good day.
Case number five.
MI 2021-002891.
um can you hear me
yes carol we can i think the chair fell out yeah do you want me to go on with five if you could
continue. Thank you kindly. Calendar number MI-2021-002891, 1823 North Van Pelt Street.
1823 north van pelt street there are no exhibits with this and it's a first listing
is there um somebody representing shahar properties llc yes can we promote mr bertill
and miss saletta yes we can confirm the staff did find the exhibit package yes that was an
ur mr bertill did submit the exhibits on time and this can go forward thank you
Mr. Bertil is coming back in as a panelist.
Good morning, Madam Chair.
I'm doing well.
Can you put your name and address on the record?
Spell your last name and I'll swear you in.
Steve Bertil, B-E-R-T-I-L, 1835 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19138.
do you swear if I'm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes I do do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
yes and it has been noted that the entire exhibit packet was submitted so you may proceed
thank you very much I'll just share my screen
um mr chairman you can continue
we're at the very beginning he's put his name on the record and has been sworn in okay
good morning mr chair how are you good i'm just sharing my screen here before i
Okay. As stated, my name is Steve Bertil. I represent the owner of the property, 1823
North Van Pelt Street that you can see here on the screen in this aerial view.
The property, we're here today seeking a variance approval to allow for the change of use of this
property into a two-family, multifamily structure. The property itself has historically and most
recently been used as a three-family structure. It has been in rough shape and has been boarded
up and we're trying to bring the property back to life, but reducing the use from a triplex to
a duplex. As you can see here, the property in question is on 1800 block of Van Pelt Street
between Berks and Montgomery Avenue. As I stated, it's been historically a triplex.
The block, excuse me, here's a street view of the property in question. As you can see,
it's currently boarded up due to I believe there was a fire at some point but it is not currently
occupied we are trying to rehabilitate the property but instead of bringing it back to
the triplex we would like to utilize as a duplex so we can have larger more livable units
as you can see the property is adjacent to vacant parcels this area of the street as you can see
from this view is littered essentially with vacant parcels and some vacant building as well.
We have a refusal.
Actually, let me show you some more views. Here's an adjacent view. As you can see across the street
is a little bit more structures, a mix of multifamily and single family, but mostly
multifamily. And here's just another view kind of step far back. As you can see, the rear of
the property needs a lot of work of rehabilitation, which is the intention of the owner and
applicant. The applicant specializes in small multifamily structures and identifying
distressed properties and bringing them back into the fold and back into productive use
as a small multifamily. So we receive refusal because the overlying zoning on this property
is RSA 5. Let me just get a look at the refusal. As I stated, although that the property is
currently zoned as far as 5. The property has historically been a multifamily structure
seen since the 40s. Of the historic records, we were able to identify use registration,
rememoralizing the use in 1959. But as I stated, this is just the earliest record we could find.
As I stated, this is just the earliest record we could find.
as you can see from the
As you can see from the use registration at the time, it was already a three-family.
We did meet with the RCO.
Actually, before I get into the meeting with the RCO, let me just go over the plans.
As you can see here, our intention is to rehabilitate the rear of the property.
well, rehabilitate the entire property, but it's essentially shore up the structural issues with
the rear of the property. We intend to put a rear deck on top of the second floor that you can exit
from the third floor. In terms of the units, we're proposing, as I stated, two units instead of the
three one one bed one bathroom and another larger three bed two bathroom units um that's uh split
level actually both um units will be split level but one is a two bedroom two bathroom and one is
a three unit two bathroom see here now we did meet with the rco which is the 32nd democratic ward
um as you can see here
we send out um the required well the prop first off the property was properly posted
as you can see here um and then we also sent out a notification letter uh to to all the near
neighbors. As you can see, I believe we send out about 139 letters. We did have a community meeting
on November 16th with the coordinating RCO where they voted to not oppose this project
and expressed that they were happy that there was some attention being paid to this part of
the street, which as you saw earlier, need some love and care. There's, as I stated,
there's vacant parcels, vacant properties, and this is basically in line with what this applicant
does, find local properties in Philadelphia that are distressed and bring them back to life as
small multifamily units that are what we deem as naturally occurring affordable housing.
Now, as I stated, the RCO did vote to not oppose this project.
At the time, I didn't have a letter resulting that, but my understanding is that they actually sent in a letter this morning that I forwarded to, excuse me, to Ms. Saleta, memorializing the vote and showing that they're not opposed to this project.
I didn't get a chance to confirm if Ms. Saletta received my email, but I can resend.
Excuse me, Mr. Chair, and I can confirm that I received it. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. And as such, we believe this is a de minimis variance because the existing property, as I stated, has historically been utilized as a three-family.
we would like to reduce the density to what was historically there. And we have the support of
the community. And in the long run, I guess, in the greater picture, bringing this property to
a productive use is, I think, something that's overly beneficial to the neighborhood and
community at large. Unless the board has any questions, I have a representative from the
ownership uh Dwight Anderson on the line um who can identify and adopt my testimony is true
if the board would allow or could you have him state his name and spell for the court reporter
yes good morning everyone hello good morning and thank you um
for this opportunity my name is dwight anderson spelled d-w-i-g-h-t-a-n-d-r-d-e-r-s-o-n
you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do thank you
thank you uh mr sheriff uh mr anderson uh did you hear uh the testimony that i provided to
the board this morning i did thank you and and i appreciate it and would also like to add please
uh steve which you're aware of a business the business model which we've developed
Ultimately, as you stated, we'll provide affordable housing, and it's been demonstrated by our
first project, which was supported by the Zoning Board at 2113 North 21st.
um by the zoning board at 2113 north 21st street uh which they uh approved the variance for a duplex
and and i'm very excited and happy uh to to tell you steve and the board that we're under contract
with an owner occupied scenario so we were able to provide a housing scenario for a young man
and his family who will offset his expenses with the income from the additional unit.
Counsel, excuse me, we appreciate that, but could you have the testimony adopted, please?
Sure. Mr. Anderson, I think you adopted the testimony, but could you,
would you, oh, excuse me, I think you affirmed the truth for the testimony,
but could you adopt it as your own, for the record, the board?
uh yes i do adopt the uh testimony by steve bertel uh claire hash and as my own thank you
thank you sir thank you questions from the board no mr chairman no no questions from the virtual
audience i see no handshare
planning commission thank you mr chair ian hegarty for the philadelphia city planning commission
members of the board in 2014 the zoning map was amended from rm1 to rsa5 at this location
that was done in accord with recommendations from the comprehensive plan however as council
has demonstrated this structure has a documented prior use as a three-family dwelling and so the
City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the variance. MI 2021-002891-823
North Van Pelt Street, I vote yes. Harold Teneri, I vote yes. Professor Plaza, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes. Thank you.
MI 2021-002890, 2326-28 North 9th Street. RCO 37th Ward has a letter of support.
Zen Jin is attorney.
Mr. Jin is coming back in as a panel.
Good morning.
Good morning. State your name and spell for the court reporter, sir.
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.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Proceed.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
And I see that your exhibit packet isn't timely, so you may proceed.
Thank you. I'm going to share with the board the exhibit package we have previously submitted.
This is an application for development of a lot.
We have submitted with the exhibits refusal, RCO letter and support, photos, plans, and related documentation.
This application has some extensive refusals, but I will address them as they also have been changed.
So I want to address them to the board one piece at a time.
The lot itself is a slightly L-shaped lot on a corner.
It's a large lot about 4,800 square feet in size.
my client originally proposed 18 units with six accessory bicycle parking and one accessory
car parking space. After meeting with the community, there were some feedback on the
number of units. Despite the fact that the units would have been more affordable,
the community would rather see slightly larger units but less in total count. So a change of
the plan related and changed it to 13 units, reducing the smaller units, actually increasing
the size of the smaller units and reducing the overall units. In addition, what we also provided
was four actual parking spaces off street that would offset the additional units that is beyond
what is normally permitted. I'm going to go ahead and jump to the rendering and plan because
it's easier to see the changes from the plans itself. So this is the proposed structure.
It's a four-story structure that would actually take on a slight L-shape. What my client did in
changing the layout, original layout, we had a single parking, off-street parking space,
accessed through a curb cut and entrance. By taking away some of the units on the first floor, we
a curb cut and entrance by taking away some of the units on the first floor we have now increased it
to a total of four parking spaces including one being handicapped and this allows a much nicer
layout for the first floor parking and the four additional units beyond the nine normally permitted
would each have a one-to-one parking we're still maintaining the bicycle spaces and there will be
um management of trash and other uh items that would relate to a multi-family dwelling
the excuse me mr sharon sletta um we received those revised plans today and i reviewed them
for the first time ordinarily addition of parking spaces would require an amended refusal but
in this case can you confirm that the parking entry both the width of the garage and the
location of the entry have not changed from the original submission? I can confirm that, yes. And
in addition, parking was not an original refusal item, so it would not have triggered an additional
refusal. But it would have required an additional review ordinarily because the department refused
the size. But thank you, that's fine. Thank you. So again, we have both provided bike room, trash
storage internally as well as internal access to all units for the building in addition to
these changes the original proposal did not have a rear yard the building was extended further
we have now changed to provide a five foot rear yard per the community's request
the original refusal also had a 43 feet height total we have reduced it to 41 feet per the
community request. And as a result, we did get support from the community. The second through
fourth floor is laid out almost identically with basically two-bedroom units, and the first floor
contains its own one unit in addition to the parking, trash, mail, and other related items.
As such, based on the changes, we, again, received support from the community.
Their requests were pretty much all were addressed through our revised plan.
So as such, we would ask the board's favorable consideration in this case.
I'll be happy to redirect any specific exhibits or answer any questions.
And my client is here to adopt my testimony.
Thank you.
Why don't you have your client state his name and spell for the court reporter and we'll adopt this testimony.
Sure. Mr. Chagai Bader should be here. Can you raise your hand virtually so you can be identified?
Mr. Bader, you can amuse yourself and please wait for the chair.
Hello?
Yeah, please state your name and spell for the court reporter.
Chagai Bader.
Could you spell it, please?
C-H-A-G-A-I. Last name is Bader. B-A-D-E-R.
Do you swear to affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you. Mr. Bader, did you see and hear the testimony I made to the board?
And can you verify that my presentation was true and correct and adopted as your own?
everything was true correct and this was we we submit thank you um if i if i may i just want to
indicate the board that because of the changes i don't know if ms saletta would want some specific
provisos if the board were to be inclined to grant this case thank you mr jinn yes it would require
proviso revised plans one page stamp today thank you questions from the board no mr chairman
no questions from the virtual audience
i see no handshare planning commission good morning board members ian hegarty for the
philadelphia city planning commission members of the board the comprehensive plan recommends a
zoning map amendment from rm1 to rsa5 at this location we appreciate the applicants coordination
and concessions based on community concerns.
However, I want to just emphasize for the board
that under the existing RM1 zoning,
nine units are permitted by right
and an additional four units can be earned
through the mixed income housing bonus.
So if the board is granting a variance for 13 units here,
they're granting this exact benefit to the applicant,
but without the applicant providing
any defined public benefit,
that is deed restricted rent capped units
on site in the building. There are no peculiarities to the lot that would constitute a
hardship. And so we don't find that there is an actual hardship that the zoning board should be
and so we don't find that there is an actual hardship
that the zoning board should be working from.
working from.
The City Planning Commission recommends
that the board deny all variances.
If I may, with regard to the income housing bonus,
I think the reduction in unit size
actually make these units larger
and therefore harder to meet the affordable housing requirements.
However, again, these were part of what was negotiated with the community
because they wanted the larger units,
and they would rather see it be more family-friendly units
than having smaller single-occupant-type units,
which would be actually more affordable.
So I just wanted to let the board know that.
Excuse me, Counselor.
YOU COULD MAKE FAMILY UNITS AFFORDABLE AS WELL AS SINGLE FAMILY, AS WELL AS ONE BEDROOM UNITS.
YES, WE HAD ORIGINALLY MORE ONE BEDROOM UNITS IN THE LAYOUT.
THAT WAS ACTUALLY THE ORIGINAL SETUP, WHICH WAS WHAT WAS PRESENTED TO THE COMMUNITY INITIALLY.
THANK YOU.
THANK YOU.
it. So MI 2021-002890-232628 North 9th Street. I vote yes with proviso.
I believe, Mr. Chairman, if I may, the provisos would need to indicate the unit
limit. Yeah. That's right. We talked about that. Oh, okay. Thank you. Change, right,
Right, that Sharon Sled has said.
Okay, thank you.
Mr. Jin, I'm sorry, what is the number of units?
It'll be 13 total units.
And would you prefer, like that to be added as a specific proviso as well?
Because it is a change from the refuser, I wouldn't have that as a provider.
Thank you.
So even though it's reflected in the plans, it might be helpful to, Chair, add two provisos,
then maximum 13 units and revised plans, one page stamped today.
Thank you.
Okay, and I vote yes for that proviso.
Thank you.
Carol Tenere, yes, with a maximum of three units and revised plans stamped today.
My apologies, 13 units.
Did I say 13?
I hope 13 units.
Yes, thank you.
You said three.
Oh, my gosh.
Professor Plaza, yes, for provisos.
James Snell, yes, for provisos.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is no.
Thank you. Thank you.
So our next case is a presumptive hearing for nine parcels. Sharon I'm going to read the parcels
into the record. MI 2021 004015 1431 North 25th Street
Parcel E. MI 2021-004388-2408-Chargewood Street. MI 2021-004364-2408-Steward Street.
Parcel I, MI 2021, 004018, 2401 Stewart Street, MI 2021, 00419, 2406 Harland Street.
Parcel B, MI 2021, 003380, 2422 Harlan Street.
Parcel D, MI 2021, 003379, 2401 Harlan Street, MI 2021, 00417, 2401 Master Street.
parcel j and mi 2021 004020 2433 harland street parcel d attorney is jared klein
good morning mr chair members of the board uh jared klein it's k-l-e-i-n from blank rome
130 north 18th street philadelphia on behalf of the app do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth, nothing but the truth. Yes, I do. Sharon, we'll proceed with this with RCO.
Should we see if there's an RCO member present? Yes. And if I could just say this is a resumption
Yes. And if I could just say this is a resumption hearing. It was previously heard and to be resumed for feedback from the RCO and the Planning Commission's recommendations.
hearing. It was pre-
So, Mr. Klein, would you like to make a statement first?
Yes. Thank you, Sharon. I'll be very brief. And if I might share my screen, I can put the community's letter up for the board to see.
um so this is the letter that we received from the brewery town sharswood uh civic association
and i'll just very very briefly recap for the board um this is an affordable housing proposal
that's part of a master plan of redevelopment in conjunction with pha in the sharswood area
this application is proposing 59 affordable housing units and those are going to be across
18 different parcels um that are within about six blocks of each of uh each each other in the same
geographic area um the uh as i mentioned this is part of a phase and so there are future phases
coming for this project um that will address some of the community comments from their letter
um specifically units that are going to be designed for single family home
ownership and units that actually include parking or coming in future phases. Just to very, very
briefly comment on the RCO's letter, as I know this resumption hearing was intended for their
testimony. I wanted to point out that although it is a letter of general opposition, they do note
that they're not opposed to the project concept and that the neighbors that voted to oppose did
so for some specific reasons. And those include the units being rental units as opposed to
home ownership, which respectfully is not really a zoning issue in terms of the demographics of
the occupancy. There was concern about some of the density on Harlan Street. And as we explained
during the initial hearing, although there are 59 units, this is not a traditional multifamily
project these units are going to be designed to mimic exterior look of a single family house
and the density is spread out across 18 properties in six blocks so we're not
jamming a bunch of density into a single spot uh and the third comment was about parking
and i mentioned that's coming in a future phase but also to point out part of the problem we had
is this is an rsa5 zone and so to add parking would have generated an additional refusal which
as the board knows is against the minimum variance necessary concept um we were here previously and
heard support from both the planning commission and the council president's office um and so with
that context i will uh turn it over to the board to take public comment comment from the virtual
audience i see no handshare has the planning commission taken a position on this
yes sir we have we're on the record for this okay
sharon ready to vote we're ready to vote yes if if we could simply get the planning commission to
restate their position absolutely yes um uh thank you sharon and members of the board um ian hegarty
for the philadelphia city planning commission um the scattered site redevelopments proposed with
this series of appeals uh conform to the comprehensive plan goals of providing public
housing and so the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the variances for
all appeals. Karen, you want me to read all the
I think because they were previously announced, you can announce that the
case is previously announced, or your vote is.
The case previously announced, I vote yes.
You're on mute, Carol. Sorry.
Carol Tenere, my vote is yes.
Thank you. Sorry.
Professor Plaza, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Thomas Hollowan, my vote is yes.
he might be having difficulties okay we have the vote
yes it's a yes chair thank you thank you all very much thank you mr chair
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
MI 2021-002889-2949-51 North Phillips Street, Natal Real Estate, no exhibits, first listing.
Chair, I'm promoting looks like Lou's panel.
Can you just let her have audio, please, ma'am?
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Ma'am, please unmute yourself and please wait for the chair.
Please state your name and spell it for the court reporter.
I'm sorry, Chair.
Can I just interject for one moment, please?
In the virtual audience, is there an interpreter for this applicant?
Please raise your hand if so.
Okay, you can go forward, Luz.
Monique.
Monique, please state your name and spell it for the court reporter.
Luz, I know I'm.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Vice Chair, do you have questions?
Oh, I'm sorry.
This is Tanya again, if I could interject.
I believe Luz was asking for a continuance.
Luz, are you still doing that?
And could you state the reason for your continuance?
Yes, I request for the continuous case because I am not ready with the lounge to represent today.
Okay. So, Chair, she had previously asked for continuance in the Q&A, and I was waiting for her case to come up. So, as you wish, if you're going to grant the continuance.
Excuse me, this is Sharon. Can I get her to Ms. Anoa? Can you confirm that you are the property owner?
Yes, I'm the property owner.
And your name is shown on the deed as an individual?
No, no. The deed is in my company name.
and you understand that that means you would have to be represented by an attorney
at the next year thank you thank you this is the reason i need the
the continued case because the the lounge leo leo the uncontracted the the lounge leo
is the name and today he is not not can represent okay so cheers a couple things i believe we need
to have um the attorney as well as an interpreter um in the next session if you agree to continue
this case i agree to continue the case and we should look for an interpreter okay lose you can
reach out to the RCO email box or to Tanya.Sunkett at Philly.gov for any questions about this matter
being rescheduled, okay? Thank you. All right, bye-bye. MI 2021-002286-5346-Angora-Turris,
Joanne Hemingway
no exhibits
first listing
Chair we have Shoshana
Bricklin would you like to hear from her
Ms. Bricklin
please unmute yourself and please wait for the chair
you can promote her she's an attorney
she's coming back as a panel
morning state your name and spell and and spell it for the court reporter please
good morning uh shoshana brickland s-h-o-s-h-a-n-a the last name is brickland b-r-i-c-k-l-i-n
i am the attorney for um the applicant on 5345 angora street right i believe you had the packet
no wait a minute first do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but
the truth uh yes i do and um miss brickland can you this is sharon saletta can you tell me um
when it was submitted and whether I was copied?
I can't tell you that offhand. The person I work with, Patrick Jones, who I believe you're all familiar with, was in a car accident morning. So he's usually the one who shares all these documents.
I can't tell you that offhand.
The person I work with,
i have them available to share with some um but i'm i'm not so technically expert as mr jones is
and i do have the applicant with me but i'm hearing that you don't have any of these
documents um at all i don't personally but if we could move this back one case i will talk with
and see if the rco mailbox received them thank you and the and that we do have the rco i think
believes has sent the letter in support. So we have everything. Okay, Ms. Brooklyn, I'm going to
ask you to turn your video and audio off and we'll move forward in another case. We'll check
and make sure we have the documents before you can go forward. Thank you so much. All right,
please hold on all right and my 20 21 00 2902 617 locust street no rco letter on file ryan bowlin
esquire mr bowlin is coming back in as a panel
Good morning.
Good morning.
And could you say your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Ryan Boland, R-Y-A-N, B as in boy, O-L-A-N-D, 1801 Market Street, Philadelphia, PH19102.
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
The vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good morning.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
I see that you have submitted most of what is needed, but we don't have an RCO letter to date.
Excuse me, Madam Vice Chair, I received a message from Charles Richardson that we did get a last-minute submission of the RCO letter.
Thank you.
Okay, great.
So we do have an RCO letter, and you may proceed.
Terrific.
So my name is Ryan Boland. I'm here. I represent the applicant Apex Hospitality Group. And I'm also here. I'll be having the architect Lee Elsie briefly take you through the plans. And I'm here with the owner. Before I take you through the presentation, I just want to give you a really quick background.
So we've had two meetings with the RCO here, which is Faith, the Community Development Corporation.
We had a four to two vote in favor of this project.
What we're seeking to do is take a longstanding vacant corner property, which had a variance back in 1951 for a three-family.
We're seeking to gut this dump of a house and turn it back into a three-family house.
and there'll be a one-bedroom unit on the first floor
that the owner is going to live in.
Excuse me, counsel.
Do you have some pictures?
Yeah, yeah.
Yes, I can.
I'll share the screen in a moment.
And then it's just going to be a two-bedroom unit
on the second, two-bedroom on the third.
Let me just share my screen.
So I'll take you through some pictures here.
So as you see, I'll just have up here first, the first document here is the refusal.
And as you'll see, this is a multifamily, and one of the things we're doing is we're
going to add a trash room off the back.
Here's the photographs.
So here's just the general area where it is.
It's in East Germantown Avenue.
This isn't Locust Street in Center City. There's another image of it. Here it is. It's the one on
the right here. As you can see, corner property. Here you can also see it. It has very tall ceilings.
The basement level is actually mostly above ground, and we're not planning on having any
dwelling units, although it's mostly above ground. It's just going to be mechanicals and
shared laundry. Here it is from the back, as you can tell, the building's falling apart. You have
the brick pointing, and there's actually ferns growing off the side. Here you can see it from
the side here. This is it right here. There's a shared little alleyway in the rear as well.
Here's just images across the street, looking at some of the houses. Here's looking down the street,
looking at some of the houses. Here's looking down the street, another one across the street,
another one across the street.
and here it is here, and you can see what the other houses on the block look similar to it.
And so here, the hardship here, and I'll have the architect take you through the plans,
But the hardship here relates to the condition of the building, the nature of the building.
It has two front doors.
As you can see here, there's a front door here and a front door here.
The first front door takes you up to the second and third floors.
So this is a large family.
It's already set up as a multifamily.
As I said, it's in terrible condition.
And if I could have Lee Elsie raise his hand to walk the board through the plans very briefly.
d esley you've been unmuted thank you good morning you state could you state your name
and spell it for the court reporter sure lee lc l-e-e-e-l-s-e-y do you swear or firm to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do thank you
okay so sorry off to the plan right you can see east locust street plan north you can see stokes
street so we're a corner lot we've got two frontages uh which allows lots of windows into
the building off to the the the left side you can see the rear with a rear easement that allows
extra access and then you can see we're attached towards locust street with a building directly
plan south and then there's a little side yard which is common among these houses. The top plan
here is the first floor. You enter through a covered porch which allows two doors. The door
to plan south takes you directly into unit one. Unit one is roughly 600 square feet. It's one bed
one bathroom. Back to the covered porch, the door to the north takes you to a shared stairway that
goes up to Units 2 and 3 on the second and third floor, respectively, as well as down to the cellar
level. Cellar level, you can see we've got meters, mechanical equipment, common laundry equipment,
and storage space thanks ryan headed up to floors two and three floor two on the bottom
we've got a two bedroom uh one bath that's 775 square feet you can see we've got a bedroom in
the front bedroom in the rear lots of light coming in through multiple windows and a projecting bay
is in a, you know, decent sized living area in the middle. As you, as you circle around the stairs,
you proceed up to the third floor, which is unit three, 800 square feet, two beds,
two baths, very similar layout to unit two. Terrific. Thank you, Lee. And I'll just continue
just briefly walking you through. I won't go through all of the documents we submitted. We
have the deed, tax clearance, photographs, posting. I just wanted to show you at least
the zoning records here that in 1951 there was a variance here for a three-family, 1951.
three-family. Full disclosure, there is a permit in 1971 saying this was converted back to
a two-family. I also have at the end here, I have records from the house eight doors down.
It's the corner unit on the other end of the block. That was granted a variance by the zoning
board in December of 2017. Nearly identical property. And here's the Atlas record here,
601 locust 12 2017 this was a three family and that one actually has a door going into the
basement and has the basement living um and i'll present to you that um pursuant to um the well
established case law such as um vd versus the zba of the city of philadelphia the city of pittsburgh
when you have a dilapidated building such as this this building's in terrible condition
I'll have my client confirm that there should be a slight relaxation of the variance criteria.
And this building, according to the city's records, has been vacant since at least 2012.
My client recently bought it.
And we want to put this building in good use.
And the way to do it economically is to make it back into a three-family.
the way to do it economically is to make it back into a three-family.
If Peters, Peño, Pierre, Louis can raise his hand, please.
He's coming back in as a panelist.
please state your name and spell it for the court reporter sir
good morning chair good morning members of the board my first name is peters
the name pierre lewis uh middle name penneau last name pierre lewis um
you want me to spell it yeah could you please sure first name p-e-t-e-r-s
Another name is P-E-N-O
Last name P-I-E-R-R-E
Hyphen L-O-U-I-S
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Did you hear the testimony I gave today and see the exhibits I presented to the board?
Yes, I have.
Are they true, correct, and accurate, and do you adopt them as your own?
And briefly, can this project work as a two-family?
As a two-family, it's quite difficult due to the amount of work, what I pay for it, and the mortgage wouldn't be a bit of covered because doing the math as a two-family,
I could probably rent, if I have it as a three or four bedroom, the most I get is like $1,300,
$1,500. So then downstairs, I could probably get $750 or $8 to that price or maybe $900 max.
So that's going to be very tight in terms of making the mortgage. Let's say if someone wasn't
able to go upstairs or wasn't able to make the payment, then I would be on hold to basically
make that $2,600 a month type of payment. So the best feasible is to have the first
bedroom, which I'm in the first unit, which I'm going to be owner-occupied, which let's say was
800 hours and then the other two between 900 to 1100 that would be more feasible um to basically
manage this um this property terrific terrific um and and do the members of the board have any
questions for the owner questions for the from the board no mr chairman no questions
comments from the virtual audience
see no hands chair planning commission thank you mr chair ian haggerty for the philadelphia city
planning commission members of the board the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the
existing single family zoning for this property however the proposed use does correspond to a
documented prior use of the structure the city planning commission recommends that the board
grant the variance. MI 2021 002902 617 Locust Street. I vote yes. Carol Tineri, my vote is yes.
Professor Plaza, my vote is yes. James Snell, my vote is yes. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Thank you. Thank you. Chair, going back to number 18, Angora Terrace,
i have looked through both of my email accounts i found no exhibits and i think miss sunkett can
you confirm that you weren't able to find the exhibits either actually we yes we did find the
exhibit package i am sending it to you now if we could again here move forward to the next case
yeah so mr letter can review this i also have the letter that was sent to us as well okay i'll send
that now. Okay. Thank you. MI 2021 002903 6724 North Smedley Street. RCO letter in opposition.
Lenandra Hanfield.
Ms. Hanfield is coming back in as a panelist. Thank you.
WOULD YOU STATE YOUR NAME AND SPELL IT FOR THE COURT REPORTER, PLEASE?
Hello, good morning.
Hi, could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter, please?
Leandra Hanfield, L-E-A-N-D-R-A-H-A-N-D-F-I-E-L-D.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Vice Chair, do you have some questions, please?
ma'am are you an attorney no i'm not an attorney um but i can i request that the architect that
has been assisting me join as well hold on have you uh 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?
And have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
Thank you.
Please proceed.
Ms. Hatfield, are you presenting or does your architect have the documents to present?
I will be presenting and he will be displaying the documents.
okay so he doesn't need to come forward as a panelist we can allow him audio only if he needs
to discuss the plans but you'll do the full presentation all right yes but he has the um
photos well i mean i guess you all received that packet so you have those as well i'm assuming
yes but we would need it to be displayed for the audience and that he has okay so i would i be able
to because i have some but he has all of the he was the one who submitted it so i would be okay
So how about you start off if the chair or the board needs more information, we'll promote your architect as necessary.
All right. All right. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
You're welcome. You have the audience here. Go ahead.
All right. So I am the property owner at 6724 North Smedley Street, and I am requesting to legalize the two units that I currently have.
um it's a studio apartment at the bottom in the basement um there's a main entrance it's not a
underground entrance it's a ground level entrance um and according to city variants everything is
up to par um in regards to the structure i'm just trying to get it legalized is all
could we have the architect show some photos yes see what this looks like i also have photos
um i'm not sure how to screen share my screen but if you can get the architect that would be
ideal i can show you what i have so far so who's your architect ma'am kenneth johnson
Kenneth are you available? I don't see him. He's been promoted to panelists. He just has to unmute
himself. He's sharing right now some photos and the site plan and he has the. Yes I'm here.
Kenneth could you state your name and spell for the court reporter? Kenneth Johnson. K-E-N-N-E-T-H
j-o-h-n-s-o-n do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes thank you all right so this um this is the site plan uh of the existing structure is a as
you can see this is the front elevation and it's a two-story uh you walk up to the first the first
floor and it's a two-story structure but if you get into the rear of the building there's a shared
driveway for all of the structures that's facing that street and as you can see is a garage on the
first on the in the basement then you walk up to the deck which is the first floor in the front
and the in the unit that we're talking about is located in the basement area which is the ground
area which come to the back and you can barely see a like a blue door there and that's the entry to
the unit let me go and this is the floor plan go it up all right so this is the front as you do
some stairs to go up to get into the first floor but if you go to the back of the unit the structure
there's a shared alleyway for all the structures that's facing smetley street and enter the unit
that we're uh talking about you go through a door here which is at ground level you come in there's
a laundry there's a mechanical space you come in it's pretty much a big studio with a kitchen
living area and bedroom area and a bathroom and
And a bathroom.
And this right here used to be the door that goes up to the rest of the house, but that
door would be closed off, so this would be a self-contained unit.
There's an existing window here that faces the main street.
And let's see if I have some photos.
The page.
And these are the existing photos of the structure.
This is the front of the building on Smalley Street.
As you can see how far you have to step up to get to the first floor.
This is a posting of the ZBA hearing.
And this is the rear of the building.
As you can see, there's a blue door back here where you get into the unit that we're talking
about that's in the basement.
come down and that's the posting that we posted uh in the back also again this is the first floor
fifth page now inside the unit the unit is is um already fitted out let me close this up
this is the entry when you come into the unit when you come into that first door um
page. So you come into the unit. You come into the unit. You see that when you come in, it's an open space. You come in, go through the, this door right here is to the mechanical room on the side, but the whole space is open.
You walk in. The kitchen's on the side. This is the refrigerator.
As you see, that made that the bedroom area. That's the window that faces Smeltly Street.
And it's the kitchen, living room, dining area. This is a studio.
Again, this is a picture of the bedroom area.
And this is looking from the bedroom area to the entry door to get into the unit.
This door right here is to the bathroom.
And this is the door that we're going to have to seal up to separate the units.
And this again, pictures from the bathroom looking into the space and from the space
looking into the bathroom.
And this is the door, the entry door to come in.
So everything was on the ground floor so you can access right away.
And again, this is the back of the structure.
This is the door right here with entry into the unit.
and that's about it unless you have any questions
questions from the board no mr chairman no no i do have one so anybody living on the bottom
floor has to walk under the stairway to get to that back door which will be their entrance
they can walk um so as you can see they can i don't have the pointer but uh not yeah not
necessarily underneath the stairwell but um there is like a little entryway like where he's pointing
right now there's like a little halt not hallway but like a little walkway path towards the entrance
and they can also come in where his cursor is now they can come in through that way as well
so not necessarily underneath the stairwell thank you
is there a garage there in there too yeah
but the garage is not part of the space no okay you still got a garage yes so the garage for that
house has a deck above it correct wow
um it's a big house
comments from the virtual audience
here we have hillary emerson okay could you could you oh you're already sworn i believe right
yes i am mr chair hillary emerson from councilwoman cherelle parker's office
are you ready for me to proceed yes we are all right thank you um the councilwoman um is opposed
to the variance requested in this case um as you can see this property is a row house um it's
attached to other row houses on a block it's about a third of the way down the block and the that
means that the only way to access the the rear entrance to is actually the only entrance to this
property is in the rear from a common driveway. We find that to be a safety concern, particularly
We find that to be a safety concern, particularly because it's a common driver where you can clearly see other cars are parking and driving.
because it's the common
Also, it makes it difficult because trash pickup is on the front of the street.
So somebody has to bring their trash around to the front of the house in order for it to get picked up.
There was also concerns raised about the window exit where you saw that in the bedroom area.
while that may be sufficient for someone to get out of it doesn't lead to the street it leads to
the porch in the front where trash is stored in the front so it's not exactly a clear and safe
exit we also feel that this is an overuse of the property it's a single family zoning again on a
block of row houses that as we understand are largely single family we don't feel that there
is a hardship. In this case, there's no reason that this property can't be used as a single
family dwelling. As was noted, the stairs are still in there between the basement and the first
floor. It was designed as one unit. And unfortunately, the conversion in this case,
you know, was not done properly with permits. I'd also lastly like to note that the community
is also opposed to the variance requested here for many of the reasons that I described,
but also they were concerned that while it's being rented now, there's a lack of local
property management as the owner currently lives in Florida. So for those reasons,
we ask that this board deny the variance that's been requested. Thank you.
Thank you. Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman. Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
Just to clarify the record, if it pleases the board, I have two questions that I'd like the board to put to the applicant, if that's okay.
Okay. One is whether this is intended as a short-term rental unit. And the second is whether or not the front window is a code-compliant means of egress for that unit, or if the only means of egress will be the rear door.
The window is supposed to work as a coded egress, so that a person would be able to
exit properly out of it in case of an emergency. It would not only be the front of the door,
the entrance door, the window is there for that purpose as well.
uh and with regard to the short-term rental ah the short yes um right now it's not in use at all
um but my intention would be to probably have it as a long-term rental with a single person
downstairs and a family a single family upstairs okay thank you um members of the board uh the
comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing residential single family zoning for
this property. As Ms. Emerson noted, this is a row house unit, and we don't feel if there's a
hardship claim that's supported with evidence of any kind of unique physical circumstances or
conditions of the property that would warrant a two-family use. I would also want to note for
the record that if the board does grant this variance that use registration for visitor
accommodations would be required if this is to be used for any kind of short-term rental
since the occupant is not in the property but the city planning commission would recommend
ultimately that the board deny this variance. MI 2021-002903-6724 North Spedley Street. I vote no.
my vote is no
professor plaza no
thomas halliman no
thank you
how are we doing angora terrace
we do have the exhibits
um miss sunkett received them they did go apparently to me though not to the correct
email box it can go forward okay good
james um could you do me a favor go out and come back in you're not
James, could you do me a favor? Go out and come back in. You're not very clear with your audio. Thank you.
Counsel, I believe you were already sworn, right?
Is this for Shoshana? Is this for Angora Terrace?
Yes. Yeah, you were already sworn.
Yes, I am. And I think I can share my screen.
Vice Chair, do you have your questions answered with counsel?
Do you agree to wave the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
And I'm going to try this.
I don't know.
So I'm going to ask, have you emailed the exhibit packet with all of the required documents?
I believe so.
We except for the tax clearance, which we just received.
And you have the RCO letter.
We have a copy of it, but I think you have the RCO letter.
So, Ms. Saleta, that means you have a copy of the deed, the new tax clearance, refusal, referral, everything that's required for that exhibit packet?
Have you sent everything in five days in advance of this hearing?
yes this was sent in a while ago except for the tax clearance which was pending and that was
loaded on there and um i could share my screen if you allow me to share my screen i will um
pull i think i can pull that up for you is the tax clearance now submitted
i believe so okay great should i click on the share screen should i click on the share screen
sure yes yes okay let me try that do you see that no i'm gonna yeah oh great how about that now
this is the problem i don't know how to do you share screen
share screen i'm on share screen okay just please bear with me i am going to do this
Okay, I see.
I see that.
Now, let me just see if that works.
Do you see that?
Thank you so much.
My name is Shoshana Bricklin.
As I said, I'm the attorney for, it's 5345 Angora Street, LLC.
I believe you're in the chat at my client, the owner property noted it was said 5346.
please just be clear. And I do have the owner of the property here. This is, I'm going to go
through the exhibit packet, the refusal. Here's the refusal. I'm going to go, here we go. This is
a request for variants to convert a duplex into a triplex for a basement apartment. Here's the
refusal. There's the appeal. You can see this, correct? Then we have the project information.
I'm just going to zip through this very quickly, and I will get to the tax clearance in a moment.
There's the tax statement, the real estate transfer certification.
Here's the deed.
It's Angora Terrace, LLC.
Please make note of that.
And then this is the certificate.
This is the proof of the mailing to the near neighbors.
one moment
I'm going
can you rotate that
I'm going there we go
here's the letter
here's the letter to the in the registered organ um rco the the um of the meeting um the meeting
was and i'm going to see if i can um the meeting was held you do have a letter in your path um
separately that that um indicates their support for this project and here we have i'm going to
have to change this just a second uh this is the um the floor plan as we see this i'm just gonna uh
there we go there's this is the current
there we go there's this is the current
just a moment
the current floor plan of the um the basement renovation um and this is the this is the photo
of the the exterior of the building there's the zoning map
and there's another picture of the um the existing basement the first floor the existing
basement is vacant at this point at the first floor and the second floor are also are currently
occupied this is the uh plan for the basement there will be um a utility area and then there
will be a one bedroom apartment in that basement excuse me council excuse me council can you go
back to the basement plan uh is this is it is this the one you want to see correct yes
do you have two means of egress from that basement i'm looking here um and uh i do have the uh owner
of the property who could clarify that if you would square her in would that be permissible
yep is she there miss born raise your hand
miss born are you are you currently there can you unmute yourself please
she's here we have a user what they're hitting up um by the name of shoshana brickland okay that
that should be her yes i'm here okay could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter
please did you hear that yeah you have to be unmuted
Could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Ma'am, you will have to unmute yourself.
Okay, Joanne.
Bourne.
That's J-O-A-N-N-E-B-O-U-R-N-E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
OK. And Miss Bourne, you heard the question from one of the members of the zoning board.
Could you address that directly? Yes, we plan to put three egresses to your left of the screen.
I can see the two. I think it says an R or something. Yeah, those are two egresses, but we plan to put three.
are there any further questions about this plan i'm looking at the wall section through the window
it's how you get out of the basement you want me to get
tell me where to stop and okay i i can't see the egresses were they the two windows tom
i'm trying to get clarity also clear uh carol um
to the left it says um bowman camp easy buck egress well install
you see that to the left actually there's one in the living room and there's one in the bedroom
can you move it over can you move it over to the to the right somewhat to see the wall section
she says typical wall sections the window and can you come down some
can you now can you come down some the other way
is she going the right way
am i going the right way no no the other way you're going the other way there you go and then
come down um no the other way come up thank you
okay is this it no
let's see excuse me that's okay i get the idea
see excuse me that's okay i i get the idea i i think it's uh okay
yes that's it right there that's it that's it
thank you for your patience um would you like me to continue uh i do have the ta i do have the rco
letter and the tax clearance would you like to see that i'd like to see the rco letter if you have it
okay can you see that now
yes southwest philadelphia district services okay that's the letter that basically says
they met on um zoom 20 on a zoom meeting september 29th and they support the
they support this project as as proposed to convert this to three units
and let me just give you this just because this is the tax clearance just
for your information that was issued on the 7th of december that concludes my presentation if
if there's any further questions and I would ask that.
Yeah, do you want to adopt your testimony with her too?
Go ahead.
Ms. Bourne, you've heard the presentation today,
my presentation.
Do you adopt this presentation as your own?
Yes, I do.
Is that all I need to do?
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
no so i i would have a question so this is an existing duplex and give that is correct
and you decided to convert the garage no the basement the basement this isn't this um by way
of information is in line with the culture of the of many of the properties on this block that are
already triplexes as opposed to duplexes okay planning commission
thank you mr chair ian hegarty for the philadelphia city planning commission
members of the board the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing residential
two-family zoning for this property the properties on this block have been constructed as two family
dwellings the applicant's hardship claim is not supported with evidence of any kind of
unique physical circumstances or conditions of the property we haven't heard any testimony
to that case this is simply adding another dwelling unit in the basement of an existing
building for which it was not originally intended city planning commission recommends that the board
deny this variance anybody in the virtual audience have any comment
i see no handshare mi 2021 002286 5346 angora turris i vote no
uh carol cenary my vote is no confessor plaza my vote is no
james snell my vote is no thomas holliman my vote is no
okay let's see here am i
oh i think he got knocked off again calendar number mi 2021-002909
6942 Tarsdale Avenue the attorney is Zen Jin
and it looks as if the exhibit packet was submitted
there's a letter from the RCO in support of this
with provisos can Zen be there he is
Mr. Jin can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name
Zhenjin, Z-H-E-N-J-I-N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 1838, Philadelphia PA 19103, here on behalf of the applicant.
Do you swear for him to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
You may proceed because you've submitted everything timely.
Thank you.
I'm going to share with the board the exhibits relating to this case.
We have submitted documentation, which was mentioned earlier.
What this refusal, we need to go over the refusal because what the refusal essentially is are two pieces.
One is that this, again, is on Toursdale Avenue.
One is that this, again, is on Toursdale Avenue.
It's a property that faces Toursdale.
It's a property that faces Toursdale, but it's only 50% of the lot, CMX 2.5, and the other 50% RSA 3.
However, the refusals are, in fact, relating to the CMX 2.5 because the existing building footprint covers 75.6% of the lot rather than 75%, which is permitted.
and the use proposal which is to have the first floor for storage purposes and second and third
floor is residential is not permitted under CMX 2.5. The community actually supports this
application because if you read the community statement regarding the history of the property
the first floor of the property has been only used as a storage area by the former owner as well
and the apartments upstairs were occupied by the previous owner,
the new owners are looking to essentially refresh the property, renovate,
and at this time it's used for storage partly because it allows them to stage their materials for renovation
without having to get a new space.
And in the future, they probably will look for some kind of commercial tenant.
And this is a CMX 2.5, which would fit the use.
Because the use itself really isn't out of the ordinary or different than what it was in the past, the community primarily wants the same provisals that they had mentioned for the property next door, which came before the board recently.
And that's essentially trash pickup, lighting, licensing, and cleanliness.
Now, I believe the enforceable provisals here would be the trash must remain behind the property until trash day, and that it would be picked up by a private trash company.
We certainly have no problem with any of those requests from the community and would certainly meet what we agreed to with the provisals.
Here are the photographs of the property. As the board can see, this is in a row on Toursdale, and 6042 has separate entrances for the commercial space in the upper floor units.
this is the existing semi-storage condition of the first floor will be cleaned out and
organized this is a residential unit above which is currently
it needs a little work but it's currently in pretty poor shape this I'm sorry this is the
first floor storage space that would be cleaned up and used for storage purposes this is the rear
the property. Meters exist for separate upper and lower floor. The rear yard needs to be cleaned out
as well. Again, my client acquired a property in this condition recently. They're looking to get
zoning and start the work necessary to rehab the property. Once completed, the plan is to have,
and I'll zoom in because it's much easier to see once it's closed in. The plan is to have a unit
in the front and a unit in the rear, each being essentially a one-bedroom unit, and then the
proposed, quote, grocery shop, but right now we don't have a tenant for that, so it will be
proposed for right now for storage, which is what the refusal indicated was not permitted. So with
the community support and with the prior existing use and the work that needs to be done on the
property, we would ask for the board's favorable review of this case and permit my client to have
the slight dimensional variance as well as the use variance that we are asking for. And I do want
to point out the dimensional variance is in fact a hardship because it's an existing condition.
I'll be happy to redirect to any other exhibits or answer any questions. And I do believe my client
is here today with us and can verify my testimony. Can he be promoted so that he can adopt your
testimony? Yes, Mr. Sachko, Stephen Sachko, his first name is spelled a little differently.
Mr. Sachko, can you put your name on the record for the court reporter and spell your first
and last name? Yes, my first name is Svyatoslav, S-V-Y-A-T-O-S-L-A-V. The last name is Sachko,
S-A-C-H-K-O
Thank you.
Do you swear our firm to tell the whole truth
and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Okay, Mr. Jin?
Thank you.
Mr. Sajko, did you see my presentation to the board
and hear my testimony to the board?
Yes, I did.
Can you verify that they're true and correct
and adopt it as your own testimony?
Yeah, everything is correct.
Thank you.
Does the board have any questions?
No, Madam Chair.
No, ma'am.
Is there anyone in the virtual audience?
Is there anyone in the virtual audience?
I see no hands.
Planning Commission?
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
Members of the Board, in 2017, the zoning map was amended from CMX 2 to CMX 2.5 at this location
in accord with recommendations from the comprehensive plan.
this dimensional variance is minimal and does not conflict with the purpose and spirit of the zoning code
and furthermore we believe that the use variance here is consistent with the purpose of the existing structure
the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the variances
thank you calendar number mi 2021-002909-6942 torresdale avenue my vote is yes with commercial
trash pickup and trash stored to the rear of the property until trash day. Professor Braza,
yes, with proviso. James Snell, yes, with proviso. Thomas Holloman, yes, with proviso.
Thank you. Hi, confessor. Are you still there? Yes, I'm here. I will not be here for the
afternoon hearing. So I guess with everybody online, I would like to say it's been an absolute
pleasure working with you. Are you still there? And can you hear me? Now he's off.
Confessor, are you there? Maybe I'll call him. Well, it's another sad day board. So
I'm on.
I'm on, Carol.
So I'll say things and then you'll tell Confessor.
He's probably crying because he's going to miss Tanya.
I support what you say, Carol.
I just wanted to thank Confessor for serving as long as he did and just jumping right on board and being a great secretary.
We're all going to miss him.
Just another sad week.
and good luck with your new position so wherever you are confessor i have no idea jim snell will
tell you what i said so thanks again and i second i second cow okay thank you this is crazy he was
there and he's probably crying over tanya i know and you and confessor we're talking and confessor's
not even here i know but you are that's what's important because i know you're going to be the
first one on the phone with those i will send him the video yeah oh my gosh everyone know um
confessor's last day is today so if you want to just wish him well you can always um i send it
to me staff and i'll shoot it to him just so he's aware all right and please send her staff
Send Tanya the name of the therapist.
I know.
I'm so sad.
Y'all leave and be left and right.
I know.
Thank you, Carol.
I'll see you guys at two.
Thank you, everybody.
Hi, Bill.
I just took over because you're not.
No, I know.
The host caught me.
Tanya said it's happened before.
It does.
It happens a lot.
Okay, have a good afternoon.
And you're not going to be here, too?
I will not.
okay thanks thank you so much right
um okay recording started we're ready for you chair okay good afternoon my name is bill bergman
i'll be chairing this
good afternoon my name is bill bergen and i'll be chairing the meetings this afternoon
Our board members with us, Thomas Holliman.
Present. James Snell. Present.
And we believe Confessor Plaza will be on shortly.
So before, and we also have with us our zoning board administrator, Tanya Sunkit,
and board attorney, Sharon Saleta. Before we begin, here's our virtual format.
be advised this proceeding is being recorded by participation you acknowledge your agreement to be
recorded a video of the hearing will be available and you can contact tanya sunkett at phila.gov
second for the benefit of our court stenographers we ask attorneys and witnesses to id themselves
prior to speaking or testifying third if you are participating by phone if you wish to testify
raise your hand by hitting star nine then star six
raise your hand by hitting star nine, then star six to unmute.
To add an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548
and leave your email address and the address of the property in question.
And fourth, please note the question and answer box is not for comments.
Any comments you have, please send them to the board administrator.
I'm going to look at our contingency continuances for the 2 p.m. hearing.
I have four. Number two, MI 2020, 003288, 1225 North 3rd. Number three, MI 2020, 003355,
1231 North 3rd. Number 6, MI 2021-003661, 3140 Clifford Street. And lastly, MI 2021-001900-5154
west rod avenue does anyone have concerns or questions about these continuances
i see no hands chair are there any other continuances or withdrawals requested
i see no hands chair okay we will start mi 2020 000364
1140 South 54th Street, Nix, Realty, LLC, and Ronald Tolbert.
We have no exhibits, and there's been no RCO meeting.
If you're present, please state your name and spell it for the court reporter.
I see no handshare.
This is the second time this was listed.
I recommend we dismiss this case.
This Thomas Thomas Holloman dismiss. That was James Snell dismiss. Thank you. Number four, 2021
003711 1600 Point Breeze Avenue.
we have no rc let me see here we have
point breeze community development corporation support with provisos the only
enforceable proviso with this is the commercial and not only enforceable provisos commercial trash
pickup and revised plans mr knockamson uh yes good afternoon mr chair members of the board my name
is alan knockamson a-l-a-n last name knockamson n-o-c-h-u-m-s-o-n address one two three south
broad street suite 1600 philadelphia pa 19109 you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
and nothing but the truth i do okay may i proceed you can so we have you we have your information
May I share my screen?
Thank you.
Hi, I'm here to present 1600 Point Breeze Avenue.
Let me just make this a little bigger so everyone can see it.
This is a property in the heart of Point Breeze on their commercial corridor at 1600 Point Breeze Avenue.
Again, my name is Alan Occamson, and I'm here to present this proposed project,
which will include a commercial on the ground floor, as well as six residential units.
In my presentation packet, you will see as Exhibit 1, the Notice of Refusal.
Second is a letter of support from the Point Breeze Community Development Coalition.
I'm glad to say that we met several times with both the RCO as a whole and the community as a whole,
but also with the nearby neighbors.
so our revised plans which is uh exhibit three reflect uh the opinion not only as a community
the rco but really the nearby neighbors and we'll go into that uh fourth exhibit is the zoning map
showing where we are in the neighborhood fifth exhibit will be the photographs of the property
in this around the area six sixth exhibit is the plans and drawings and we'll go quick you know
over the floor plans uh seventh exhibit is proof that we met with the rco uh eighth exhibit is the
Eighth exhibit is the application for appeal that we filed with the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
our application for appeal that we filed with the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
The ninth exhibit is our deed to the property.
And our tenth exhibit is showing that we're tax compliant, showing no taxes or real estate taxes are due with respect to this property.
With me, I also have Beckham Daku and Scott Murphy, who are potential witnesses if the board sees fit to ask them questions as well.
First things first, our notice of refusal.
Again, this is a CMX one property. We're looking to build six residential units with a ground floor commercial. We're at the corner of Tasker and Point Breeze Avenue.
We have two refusals, one of which is for the use of the property. We are allowed to have four units. It's actually rounded down. We're close to five.
And we're proposing to have six. As I would say to that is that we are looking to put six one-bedroom units and one two-bedroom units. So we're only looking to put seven bedrooms in the property. While legally, we're allowed to build, you know, three bedrooms essentially for each unit.
So we're trying to have a responsible project by having more people who are looking to move into the neighborhood by having a lesser bedroom count for each one.
The second refusal, we're required to have a height of 38 feet to the roof line.
Because of where our pilot houses were situated on the roof, it was 52 and a half feet.
One of the concessions we made, especially to nearby neighbors, is they didn't want pilot houses because they didn't want roof decks, because there was been concern in the neighborhood about conduct, not on our project, but in general with roof decks and pilot houses.
So we have a revised plan showing elimination of the roof deck.
So if this board sees fit to grant this zoning appeal, we would ask they would grant it with proviso, accepting our revised plans, which I emailed to Ms. Saleta prior to the hearing as well, just for her review.
All right, so our letter support to the Point Breeze CDC, they do support the project.
there was community input there was over 47 people there 18 people within the affected area
14 people voted in support of this project just to go back and I think I missed that
the entire executive board of the community group coordinating RCO voted in support of this project
so they voted unanimously their executive board and the community voted overwhelmingly in favor
this project again we met with the community and or the coordinating rco a total of three times
this was a heavily negotiated project especially in terms of the roof deck elimination as the
chairman stated there are provisos i believe the only enforceable proviso in terms of a zoning
permit would be commercial trash pickup four times a week with inclusion of obviously this provides
plans. We had three changes to our plans. We included Juliet balconies where the bay windows
were projected. We eliminated the pilot houses and common roof deck. Now we did keep a roof hatch
just for mechanical use only in the roof. So in case, you know, for the HVAC unit, things like
that, but there will be no, you know, usage by consumers of the roof deck. And the third thing
is we reduced the height to the roof line to 39 and a half feet.
So again this is not zoning related but one of the other things that was really important to
the group was that the brick color would match your traditional Philadelphia red brick so we
did change that as well. And you can see that in terms of our elevation and rendering.
And again, these are our revised plans. You'll see wherever the changes were made are bubbled and red.
So our map of the area, just showing where we are. We're in the commercial corridor.
One of the important things was to make sure that we had a high ceiling for the commercial space, 11-foot ceilings.
That's why we're requesting to have a height of 39.5 feet.
Also, how the building is situated, and given its uniqueness in terms of its corner and angular shape,
we do need that extra foot and a half as well.
Photographs of the property.
This is the front of the property, which is a vacant lot.
Again, on the corner of Point Breeze and Tasker.
Here's the side of the property from Tasker.
point breeze to the right of the property point breeze to the left of the property again one of
Point Breeze to the right of the property.
Point Breeze to the left.
the things that we wanted to do especially with the unit count is to have the six units again
only seven bedrooms not trying to overuse the property but to to increase the density in this
part of town will help support the commercial corridor which is obviously important to most
neighborhoods here's tasker street to the right of the property tester tasker street to left of
the property and then just our plans and drawings and again it's it's the same thing that's in our
revised plans uh but you know we highlighted wherever changes were made uh so the board can
see that uh and this is we hope that they will be in agreement in terms of proviso and you know we
have to stamp drawings and we hope that the zba would be uh willing to stamp them as well
And then just our floor plans. Again, we have a decent size commercial corridor property. We're hoping that this will be either a coffee shop or something similar to that to encourage congregation of members within the community.
again it's a nice corner property uh the first floor unit is directly accessed on tasker street
as of here there's two sets of staircases obviously as of code uh the residents can go
and for either set of staircases oops what's really important and i'm trying to just get up
there and i can't do it for some reason i'm just gonna make this slightly even smaller and i
apologize, but you'll see right here, given it's a corner property, one of the benefits of having
corner properties have responsible trash storage and removal. Not only are we removing the trash
four times a week by commercial pickup and not putting a burden on the city, we're also obviously
doing it four times a week not to put a burden on the community, but we also have the storage in the
rear where each of the units will have access to that rear garbage. We also put it as close
to the building structure as possible. And more importantly, most away from the residents on Tasker
Street. But again, if you look at this, the first floor plan is again, unit A. And then these are
the floor plans for units B, C, D, and E. The second and third floors are identical. They're
all one bedroom one bath the only one that's a two bedroom one bath is the fourth floor unit which
has the whole fourth floor again we met with the community the last time we met with the community
was december 6th uh this monday we sent notice to 162 addresses these are the addresses that we sent
notice to proof of mailing and then our application for appeal to the zba
our d to property
and finally our certificate of tax clearance showing that we paid our taxes
with that being said i'll stop sharing my screen obviously if the board has any questions for me or
my client or his architect will you know venture back to the drawings uh but with that being said
um my understanding uh is that um let me see there was a family emergency so my client's
representative let me just make sure this is um here uh so is sam daku in the audience if he is
can he virtually raise his hand?
Yes, I'm here.
Sam, could you state your name
and spell it for the court reporter, please?
My name is S-A-J-M-I-R
and my last name is D-A-K-U.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do, sir.
Thank you.
Mr. Daku, you heard everything I stated today.
Is that correct?
Is it true and correct?
I'm sorry, can you repeat that again?
Is everything I stated true and correct?
Yes, sir.
And do you adopt it as your own testimony?
I'm having trouble hearing you, so what was it again?
Do you adopt what I stated as true and correct and as your own testimony?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Beckham Deku.
So, sir, Beckham is not here today.
So, could you do me a favor? Could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
So, my name is S-A-J-M-I-R, and my last name is Daku, D-A-K-U.
okay i'm sorry chair if i can ask i'm getting a little confused
yeah is this the person who just testified and adopted testimony or no that is correct
because we have two back who's here we do have a becca we have a back we have another hand up
yes hello yes could you state your name and spell yeah hi my name
yeah my name is back from dacu uh as i thought i just landed in europe so i was able to log in
right now so okay yeah my first first name back from bk last name doctor d-a-k-u okay
do you swear to or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do
uh mr daku um and i apologize mr chair um yeah sure mr mr daku had a family emergency he actually
had to travel overseas i did not anticipate he would be available for the hearing but i can also
you know have him adopt a testimony um i don't think it's necessary but if if the board i i
we're we're fine we're fine okay thank you you don't have to do it
questions from the audience the virtual audience i see no the handshare planning commission
good afternoon my name is greg waldman planning commission staff that's spelled um g-r-e-g-o-r-y
Gregory Waldman, W-A-L-D-M-A-N. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and
nothing but the truth? Yes, I do. Proceed. Good afternoon, Chair and members of the Board. The
comprehensive plan recommends this property for commercial mixed use. The applicant has failed
to demonstrate hardship for exceeding code requirements for height and number of dwelling
units furthermore the applicant could obtain a buy right permit for the six units that are being
proposed in a slightly shorter structure 45 feet for the mixed income housing bonus by providing
an on-site unit for low-income residents or paying in lieu to the housing trust fund accordingly we
recommend that the requested variants not be granted. Thank you. MI 2021 003711, 1600
Point Breeze Avenue, I vote yes. Professor Plaza, my vote is yes. James Snell, my vote
is yes. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes. Excuse me, this is Sharon Wheat. Chair, I'm afraid
you'll have to re-vote that with the revised plans two pages we will we will thank you all
right vote again my vote is yes with revised plan uh yes with proviso yes with proviso
thank you just a reminder board this is tanya um administrator if you could just state your name
prior to voting i would appreciate that thank you my apologies tony confessor plaza yes with proviso
thomas holliman yes with proviso
that works thank you all kindly
I think we might have not filled again on the chat.
Yeah, I think you might have fell out again.
Mr. Plaza, are you prepared to go forward as the chair?
yes what case uh what case we're in okay this should be number i lost five
number five that's what i have let me pick that up right now bear with me one second
agreement we're on case number five
Mr. Plaus, would you like me to read the case into the record, the MI number?
Mr. Plaus would you like me to read the
I got it. MI 2021-0037092049 West Oxford Street.
good afternoon sir do you swear uh can you please identify yourself for the record
yes good afternoon secretary plaza my name is brandon saverin i'm the applicant's attorney
the name is b-r-a-n-d-o-n s as in sam a v as in victor r-a-n i'm from prinsker law group at 1521
Locust Street, Suite 605, Philadelphia, PA, 19102.
And can you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, or nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
And do you agree to waive the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
And have you emailed that 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?
Yes, to all of the above.
Thank you. And have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
Yes, to both.
Thank you. Please proceed.
Thank you. I will share my screen to start here.
So this matter concerns a, I'll actually start with the refusal here. Bear with me.
Um, this matter concerns the legalization of a duplex. Um, and, um, I will get into the details
in one moment, but I did want to begin by saying that, uh, we do have support for, uh, the
legalization of this structure, um, via, uh, a variance from the, um, RCO who was the, uh,
brewery town shardswood community civic association um we can we can come back to um this in a second
but the the vote both in terms of the general public vote and the actual rco's uh own committee
was um very much in support as you can see in the voting summary there my client and i attended that
meeting on zoom uh the and i i guess this is really a question for the board or maybe for
miss saletta um in the letter the rco did propose to limit mr saverin before you even ask it um
a variance cannot be contingent on ownership okay thank you um so i'll leave it to the board to
you know deal with that as it chooses but um basically uh my client oh here's the property
This is 2049 West Oxford.
I'm sorry, Mr. Saverin.
This is Tanya, the administrator.
I just want to pause you for one second.
Bill from IT, if you could resend the invite to the chair.
He got locked up.
Yes, I did.
Thank you so much.
I'm sorry, Mr. Saverin, you can continue.
No problem, Ms. Sunkit.
So where my little digital hand is, that's the subject property.
It's a row home property on the 2000 block of West Oxford Street, sort of like a half block away from Ridge Avenue commercial corridor here in Shardswood.
And this is a this is an area of, you know, the block itself is residential.
It is partially RSA five, partially RM one and partially CMX three.
So it is a, I think you would say mostly single family homes, but does have a handful of multi or duplex use units. I highlighted those in my appeal. These are properties on the subject block itself that have permits for legal use as two, three, or four family homes.
in the broader area here in this paragraph. I highlighted half a dozen other properties
within a block or two that have multifamily permits. To go back to the refusal for a second,
the backstory here is that my client is the principal of a building company that is based
in Queens, New York. This was actually his very first project in Philadelphia. And he acquired
the property in January of 2020. I think began the work, if I'm not mistaken, in March of 2020.
did not know, and I know this is not the best excuse, but, you know, did not know that
Did not know, and I know this is not the best excuse, but
the property did not allow for duplex use by right, did not know that he had to pull a zoning
permit before changing the use. He did sort of explain himself to the RCO, who I think
understood the story, liked the fact that Mr. Singh is going to occupy one of the two units,
basically use the other one to assist with the carrying costs of the renovation by renting out
that other unit. And he has already completed this renovation. So this is just a few pictures
on Zillow of the house at before the time of his purchase a year and a half ago. Here are briefly
some photos of what it looks like today. So this was a guy who knows how to do this work,
and I think did a nice job of it. I think you're looking at the upstairs unit here, kitchen,
bathroom, baths. Let's see if I have some bedrooms. This is in the exhibit packet,
which is not my intent to walk the board through the entire exhibit packet. But that's really
the story here. In a nutshell, this was a mistake of not understanding the order of operations,
that the zoning permit is the first kind of permit that one needs to obtain prior to
a change of use in Philadelphia. And we're here seeking a variance in order for Mr. Singh to
obtain a zoning permit and finish the permitting process on the work he's already done. And the RCO
is in support of allowing the configuration of the building to stand as it currently is,
with the caveat that they did want the variance to sort of disappear should Mr. Singh sell the
building and I guess I've heard from Ms. Saleta that that may not be a proviso that's enforceable
but otherwise I believe they were in support of the project as their letter reflects. Happy to
take any questions. Thank you counsel. Is the chairman available or? You can continue Secretary
Thank you.
Does the board have any questions?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you.
Anyone else would like to speak in this matter?
I see no other hands.
Thank you.
Planning Commission.
Good afternoon, Chairman Plaza and members of the board.
This is Greg Weldon, Planning Commission staff. This property is zoned residential single-family
in the comprehensive plan. While there is no unique condition of the lot that would
present hardship, a two-unit property at this location would not alter the essential character
of the block that has multiple two- and three-unit buildings. Accordingly, we recommend
that the requested variants be granted. Thank you. Calendar number MI 2021-003709 2049 West
Oxford Street. My vote is yes. Thomas Holloman. James Snell, my vote is yes. Thomas Holloman,
My vote is yes.
Thank you.
Number seven, right, Sharon?
Calendar number MI 2021-001682, 4520 through 40 Wirth Street.
That is correct, confessor.
I didn't unmute myself quickly enough, sorry.
No problem.
Thank you.
Mr. Mulvihill is coming back in as a panel.
Thank you.
Here we go.
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon, Mr. Mulvihill.
Can you please identify yourself?
And you're still on the roof, okay?
Leo Mulvihill, Ed as in Michael, UL, V as in Victor, I-H-I-L-L, address 315 Green Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19123.
Mr. Mulvihill, you agree to waive the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
And have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, approval of ownership, approval of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral, photos and planes five days prior to this hearing?
copy of the refusal over for photos and planes five days prior to this hearing i have and have
you met with the rco and have a letter yes thank you please proceed certainly well good afternoon
members of the board my client is unfortunately unable to be here today because he has his kids
in disney world um he tried to said he was going to try to call in but i don't think that's going
to work out so well from where he is in any case i'm here today on behalf of carrie tattoo
The principal of that is Troy Souders, S-O-U-D as in Delta, E-R-S, for this application for a tattoo studio in the Globe Dye Works building, 4520 to 44th Street.
You're seeing the table of contents for my presentation packet.
We have the refusal, appeal, and project information form at page 1.
Area zoning maps at 8.
Letter of authorization from the landlord at 9.
Lease at 10.
Commercial activity license at 24.
Tax clearance at 25.
My zoning notification letter and proof of mailing at 26.
RCO letter at 29.
Photos of property at 30.
And floor plans for the property at 63.
three. So members of the board, this is a small one person by appointment only tattoo studio
that's going to be run by the principal of the company, Troy Souders. Mr. Souders has had an
extensive career in Philadelphia as a tattoo artist. He has a younger son that has some health
issues. So earlier this year, he decided to branch out and open his own studio so he could make his
own hours and take care of his family as necessary. While he has done some interior work in the
building with the permission of the landlord he's only been doing art and drawing in there since
there has been no tattooing occurring we were waiting until this hearing date to do so
we received the refusal only because we're located within 500 feet of the nearest residential
property i understand this may have been amended at this point it may no longer be a refusal
irrespective at page eight of my presentation packet we can see the overhead view of the
parcel in question oh one moment please we're located in this little blue square here that's
actually the entire building uh that runs uh from tourist dale through to worth it doesn't
yes sorry to interrupt do you have any uh anything you could share with us
is it not is the page not sharing pardon me sharing right now no no don't try that again
my apology i thought that was already sharing previously all right can everyone see that now
yes okay so for purposes of the presentation again that was my cover page with all the necessary
materials here's the refusal dated 326-21
now at page 8 of my presentation packet the area zoning map showing that this is a mixed
use area. The building itself is indicated in this light pink color in between Torres Stale
and Worth Street. The entrance is on Worth. There is a parking lot that's attendant to the property
so that tenants and or visitors of the tenants are able to park off street in that parking lot
itself. And here's the overhead shot so you're able to see a little bit more about what's going
on with that property. Page nine, this is the letter of approval from the landlord allowing
my client to seek this variance. This is the beginning of the lease. It's rather long,
so I'm just going to skip through that, but it is a duly signed lease. My client is currently
occupying the property. This is my client's commercial activity license. That's page 24.
25 is my tax clearance for my client 27 this is our community meeting notice and at 29 is a proof
of mailing showing that 79 pieces of mail went out to affected neighbors we have a letter dated
december 1 2021 from frankfurt n as in nancy a c indicating that they have no issues with the
above applicant and are granting our request for an approval beginning at page 31 i have
photographs of the property including the postings. This is looking down Worth Street and we'll
rotate quickly towards the building where you can see my signs posted. Down the opposite end
of the street and directly across the street are residential twin homes for the most part with some
rows as well. This is the second posting because the case had been continued so I just duplicated
the shots. And there again, you can see them posted on the property. At page 55, this is the
interior prior to any sort of renovations being done. It's essentially a blank box. There are two
entrances to get in, one from the main entrance and one from a side hallway. So egress is not
going to be any issue whatsoever. So you can see there off to the right at page 56 is one door.
there in the middle of this photo, page 57 is the second door. This is the property as it looks
This is the property as it looks right now. As I stated earlier, my client's not doing any tattooing at the moment, was waiting this zoning approval to do so, but was doing some artwork in this space.
right now. As I stated earlier, my client's not doing any tattooing.
There's only one table and one person. My client will be working at any given time.
Another shot of the interior.
And while my client had no formal floor plans done up, he did do his best to approximate the measurements of the interior of the property.
this was the blank box showing all the interior measurements this is the labeled area showing
lighting work area waiting area the drawing table bookshelves and sink all as indicated
and seen in the drawings pardon me in the photographs that i showed to this board
that's the last page i'm happy to take any questions that the board may have at this time
Is your client there?
No, he was unable to make it today due to a pre-scheduled family vacation.
We'll take your testimony.
Thank you, Chair.
Four questions from the board.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Sloan folks.
sloan state your name and spell it for the court reporter please
good afternoon chairman bergman zba board my name is sloan folks s-l-o-a-n-e f as in fire or l-k-s
office of councilwoman maria quinones sanchez room 508 city hall you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth sir i do thank you
sheet um after uh meeting with the coordinating rco frankfurt neighborhood advisory committee
and receiving a letter uh supporting the variance request the councilman supports this various request
thank you thank you any other comments from the virtual audience
chair we have a someone with their hand up if you're not speaking to this case please lower
your hand otherwise i'll allow you to speak to this case only there are no other hands chair
thank you planning commission
good afternoon chairman bergman this is greg waldman planning commission staff
While this refusal was issued correctly at the time of the permit's original application,
due to the code changes enacted later in the spring, it would only require a special exception
if it were applied for today.
As a consequence, and because there is no evidence that the proposed business would
have a greater impact than what one would normally expect from this use,
Planning Commission staff recommends that the board grant the variance.
Thank you.
MI 2021, 001682, 4520 Worth Street, I vote yes.
Professor Plaza, yes.
James Snell, yes.
Thomas Howellman, yes.
Thank you, members of the board. Have a nice afternoon.
am i am i 2020 001229 542 west rockland street leo mulvihill is the attorney
letter of opposition only support two stories
He's coming back in as a panelist.
Good, good, okay.
And good afternoon again, Chairman, members of the board.
How are you?
Leo, you've already been sworn, and we have your information, so proceed.
Certainly. One moment as I pull up this presentation packet, members of the board.
Mr. Mulvihill, you agree to waive the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copies of refusal, or referral photos and plans five days prior to this hearing?
I had everything except for the tax compliance. I do have proof of payment sent by my client over this weekend, though.
Okay, and have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
We do, and we have revised plans, which comport with the requested two stories that the RCO had asked for with this matter.
that the RCO had asked for with this matter. Thank you. Please proceed.
Thank you. Please proceed.
Certainly. So let's make sure that my screen actually shares this time.
All right, members of the board, I believe you're now seeing my presentation packet for 542 West
Rockland Street. My client is Campos Enterprises LLC, owner of that is Billy Teixeira, who may or
may not be on the line today. He may have been able to make it, but I understand he does work
for himself and may be out on the site right now. This is an application for a commercial
office in the ground floor with two Wall Street parking spaces and now one residential unit above.
For purposes of my packet, I have refusal appeal and project information form at page 1, area zoning map at page 8, deed at 9, commercial activity license at 13. Tax clearance I have as a separate proof of payment via the Affinity Pay website for Philadelphia. Zoning notification letter and proof of mailing I have at 14. RCO letter at 17. Photos of the property at 18. Revised zoning plan at 31.
So moving to the zoning refusal, members of the board, we originally received several refusals for this parcel of the RSA 5 district. One, we weren't allowed to have professional office. Two, two, family living was prohibited. Three, setback, and four, rear yard depth.
Initially, we had proposed to have a small office on the ground floor with two off-street parking spaces, which were to be used for my client's business, first business vehicles.
There was to be two residential units above, but we've reduced that at the request of the RCO to only one residential unit, taking the height from three stories down to two.
As the members of the board can see, we're in the middle of this yellow RSA 5 district, although looking at the overhead map, one sees that along Rockland Street, it is a mix of commercial, industrial, and single-family use.
Our block has several single-family homes as well as some garages.
There's an industrial use across the street, a car lot, caddy corner, another car lot directly across the street from us as well.
So it's really a mixed-use area. There's precedent for other sorts of commercial use.
Page 9, this is my client's deed for the property.
Page 14, this is my client's commercial activity license.
page 15 this was the letter that went out July 12 2021 to members of the community
this is my proof of mailing at page 16 59 pieces of mail went out and were delivered
at 18 this is our letter of opposition with the provisor that if we had a two-story dwelling
they would agree to that and then these are the photos of the property as it exists right now
beginning at page 18 19 20 we can see the two-story residential buildings on either side
there's an industrial building behind us which is that large wall
this is looking down rockland street you can see those two car lots that i discussed earlier when
we looked at the overhead shots and the zoning site this is that industrial use across the street
directly across rockland and you can see the other residential homes proceeding down the
other side of Rockland Street. So members of the board, as I stated, our front elevation,
we dropped it down from three stories to two. So we're actually going to be matching the
cornice line of the direct adjacent home, which is to the left. Just showing again for the record
at page 28 of my packet. We're going to be matching the height of this building with the
beige siding. Looking to the floor plan, and I'll zoom in on that, there's going to be no excavation
for the basement. It's just going to be slab on grade for this garage. There's going to be two
interior parking spaces, an office for my client's business, trash and refuse. It's going to be stored
in the rear yard, and there is an egress corridor along the side, so the trash can be removed.
The residential units are entered from Rockland Street by going up this set of stairs,
and in the second story what we have is a proposed two-bedroom unit with one bath
living dining and kitchen off to one side and those bedrooms off to the other side
there is a roof deck proposed for outdoor space for that residential unit that is set back with
requirements by the zoning code I have also included with my original email a copy of the
revised zoning plan and a proviso sheet to be entertained for use by this board should this
board be willing to grant my client's request for a variant. Mr. Melvihild, this is Sharon.
It is one page. The revised plans are one page. Is that correct? Yes. Thank you.
Yes. Thank you.
And that's the request that we have today to be granted the variance of the small commercial office for my client's own business on the ground story and one two bedroom residential unit above.
And that's the request that we have.
We've complied with requests of the RCO by taking the height of the building from three stories and two units down to two stories with only one unit.
With that, I would ask the board grant my clients request for a variance.
I'm happy to take any questions.
Mr. Melville, is your client here?
Billy, are you on the line right now?
I believe my client may not be on the line at this point, Chair.
We will accept.
Your officer of the court will accept your testimony.
Members of the board.
No, I'm okay.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Members from the virtual audience?
Comments?
chair we have charles richardson
mr richardson please state your name state your name and spell your last name for the court reporter
sir good afternoon again mr chair charles richardson from the office of councilwoman
cindy bass that's r-i-c-h-a-r-d-s-o-n room 312 city hall i do i remember i swore i swore you in
months before today sir yes proceed okay uh as the uh originally the coordinating rco was going
to be opposed unless they they uh had adjusted their plans to be two stories instead of three
as they have done that the councilwoman has no opposition to granting the variance at this point
thank you sir and members of the board just because i didn't introduce it previously i'm
now showing on the screen email i received monday december 6th 11 35 i am showing the aci payments
receipt in the amount of $167.98 for this property, which was the amount that was outstanding for
property taxes due. Any other comments from the audience? Planning Commission?
Good afternoon. My name is Greg Waldman, Planning Commission staff. This property is indicated for
single-family residential in the comprehensive plan. However, given the applicant's willingness
to work with the community and context and given the context within the surrounding block
the city planning commission recommends that the board support the variances thank you mi 2020
dash zero zero one two two nine five forty two west rockland street i vote yes excuse me
sure that is revised revised revised plan i'm sorry yep okay confessor plaza my vote is yes with uh
revised plans one page approved today James Snell my vote is yes with proviso
Thomas Holloman my vote is yes with proviso thank you members of the board thank you
where we are. MI 2021 001903 5728 Thomas Avenue. There was a community meeting coordinated by the
RCO resulting in a non-opposition for this reducing the unit count from eight to six
assuming the documentation is provided.
Mr. Nockamson?
Chair, we have now received the letter in support.
If you've already been swore,
confessor, would you ask the appropriate questions?
Yes, Mr. Nockamson,
can you identify yourself for the record?
Yes, good afternoon again.
Allen Nockmson, A-L-A-N, Nockmson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N, address 123, South Broad Street, Suite 1600, Philadelphia, PA, 19109.
Thank you. You agree to wait the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
And have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance,
a copy of the refusal or referral photos and plans five days prior to this, Aaron?
And have you met with RCO and have a letter?
Yes, we have actually a letter of support in our packet.
Thank you. Please proceed.
A letter of support from the coordinating RCO,
as well as my understanding is that there was an email sent to Ms. Saleta earlier today
from Andrew Goodman from the District Council Member's Office,
also indicating that if coordinating the RCO was in favor of this project, their office would be in non-opposition as well.
was in favor of this project their office would be in non-opposition as well may i share my screen
yes thank you all right so i'm here to present 5728 thomas avenue this is a property that's
located in southwest philadelphia it's a rather large lot it's over 5 000 square feet in our
presentation materials uh we will show you the notice of refusal the letter of support from the
51st ward democratic executive committee i did not include the email uh from mr goodman but um you
know i would miss a letter could affirm that that did occur that their that her office that uh the
district council member's office is also in non-opposition i can confirm that and if the
board members check the latest revisions that I sent them.
I quote Mr. Goodman's email.
Thank you.
We have, we'll show you maps of the area,
photographs of the properties around the area,
plans and drawings.
We did update our floor plans.
If this board should grant this zoning appeal,
we would ask that they grant it with their proviso
maximum six units.
We have our meeting notice that showing proof
that we met with the coordinating RCO in the community.
We actually met with them last night.
Our application for appeal we have in our packet
is Exhibit 7.
Our deed to property is Exhibit 8.
And our Certificate of Tax Clearance
showing that the property owner is in good standing
as Exhibit 9.
With me, I also have Ghazi Ida7
who will dot my testimony
and is able to answer any questions the board may have.
First, our notice of refusal.
This is an RSA 3 property. Originally, we were looking to put eight units with three off-street parking spaces, including one car accessible space of the three.
After several meetings with the community, we agreed to have a maximum of six units.
So the first refusal is the amount of household living.
This is an RSA 3 district, so multifamily household living is technically prohibited.
The second refusal is the surface parking space is generally prohibited in the rear yard. Again, we are providing parking. Not all of the residences on this block have parking, so that's something that we're providing that many of the other properties in that neighborhood do not have.
The next refusal is the amount of parking spaces. Eight and three is proposed. Again, because we're reducing the amount of units, the amount of parking spaces required is also being reduced to six.
And then finally, about the accessibility parking or the accessible parking space, we are providing accessible parking space. We're just not providing one for a van. We're only providing one for a car.
Our letter of support, again, we met with the community on several occasions as late as last night. After having negotiations with the community, we do now not only have them not opposed, but actually in support.
The executive board of the 51st Democratic Ward actually voted in support of the project unanimously, and then the community unanimously voted in non-opposition.
maps of the area uh we're between 57th and 58th on thomas thomas is between brew mall
and ashland again this is a very significant lot over 5300 square feet photographs of property
vacant lot properties uh to the right of our property if you look at the architecture
you see like the the roof lines and things like that you'll see from our rendering we try to
interrupt mr knockinson is the board can't the board see anything up on his screen or is it just
me i can see i can see okay maybe how about this i'm going to stop sharing no no go ahead continue
oh no i was just going to reshare maybe your screen will refresh then
yep i can see now thank you all right you're welcome uh again if you look at the roof lines
and just the architecture and you'll compare it to the rendering we have we really try to
mimic uh the architecture in the neighborhood uh properties to the left on thomas then it's not
uncommon again to have a multi-family on this block we just gave one example 5732 thomas avenue
and then if you look at our rendering again we really did try to mimic through the roof lines
and such with a modern twist uh you know red brick facade um you know we have a wide aisle
for parking to the rear again to, oops, sorry.
again uh to oops sorry let me just reduce this a little bit
yeah to you know to provide parking uh for residences uh in the property and then just
our site plan as you can see just going through here we have a drive aisle we have three parking
spaces responsible garbage uh removal we are storing trash outside in the rear there's no
basement living at all in this property uh there's a diversity of housing one of the things that we
did by reducing the unit count is and you'll see from here uh we made we kept the same amount of
floors which is as of right the height is 38 feet uh we made two of the units that are in green
bi-level units, three bedrooms, three baths, to encourage families to remain in the neighborhood
and, you know, to provide those three bedrooms. Then there are two two-bedrooms and two one-bedrooms.
So to provide for people who want to either downsize or move into the neighborhood,
where the ones and the twos, and people who want to move up in terms of, you know, bedroom count
because they're having families, or they don't want to take, you know, care of a single-family house.
uh here our meeting notice again we met last night at 6 p.m uh we'd send notices 78 addresses
these are the addresses that we sent it to proof of mailing for those addresses our application
for appeal to the zoning board of adjustment along with the notice of refusal and our project
information form our deed to the property and showing that we're good with our taxes we just
made our, you know, our, all of our tax payments, including this current upcoming year, uh, just
now. So with that being said, I'm going to unshare my screen. Um, Ghazi Ada-Seven, the
owner's representative is in the audience. So Mr. Alvis Ada-Seven, if you can virtually
raise your hands. Mr. Ada-Seven, please unmute yourself and wait for the show. Good afternoon,
please state your name and spell it for the court reporter sir uh yes my name is gazi g-a-z-i
last name is r7-a-t-a-s-e-v-e-n do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
but the truth yes i do mr chain proceed uh mr r7 you heard everything i stated today
yeah i have heard and is it true and correct yes and do you adopt it as your own testimony
yes I do thank you thank you questions from the board no mr. chairman no mr.
chairman questions from their virtual audience
chair we have greg mckinley okay
yes my name is greg mckinley g-r-e-g-m-c-k-i-n-l-e-y
you swear to tell the truth do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes proceed sir i was at the meeting last night i objected to the project
he just uh testified that it was a unanimous vote from the audience last night
also the property of 5732 is not a multi-family dwelling it is a youth home
As a youth detention home or a pre-adjudicated youth property.
I object to the size of the property in terms of the multiple dwelling.
It was a single-family home originally, and it's just adding too many more people living in the property, converting a single-family three-floor building to a six-family unit of four stories.
Also, there were some other issues about trash that weren't exactly explained and
there's an artistic rendering that shows the yard, but the same yard is now three parking spaces.
along with the not accurate detail about the trash,
three sparking spaces and trash in the back.
Leaves no rear yard.
Leaves no rear yard.
There's also a mention by the architect.
There's also a mention by the architect of trash potentially being stored in the front.
Dumpster pickups and dumpster in the front.
We don't want dumpsters on the front, on the sidewalk.
We don't want dumpsters in parking spaces.
So I don't think this project is fully been vetted by the community.
They had one meeting, I think was virtually virtual, and this was the first public meeting, and it wasn't even adjacent to the project.
And I would have to say that's due to no outreach to find a location near the project, probably by the RCO, using the location they've used previously.
obviously. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. McKinley. Yeah, Mr. Chair, I just would like to respond. I was at that meeting, so I know the question was asked of the audience. I heard from my own ears. I actually spoke to Mr. Harrell within the hour because his letter just got to us. He stated that he was going to try to be on the virtual hearing, so I don't know if Mr. Harrell is in the virtual audience,
But I heard with my two ears that Mr. McKinley, while he had many objections during the meeting when the vote was taken, he stated he had no opposition.
So I apologize, you know, but I did hear that in terms of the amount of meetings and where the meetings were taken.
This was the second full certified RCO meeting.
They were both in person.
the reason why we reduced the amount of units to six was because during the first
in-person meeting that was asked of us and we were appearing merely at the second meeting to
just show our plans uh in terms of the whether we have parking spaces um that's in our site plan
that's what our refusal is based on and that's what we're providing so we are providing parking
um i do you know concede to mr mckinley that the rendering is not completely accurate in terms of
showing the outdoor space but our site plan requires us to have three parking spaces the
rendering was more so just focusing on the the building structure and what it would look like
in terms of materials but the site plan does call for three parking spaces and that's what we're
required to build and that's what the refusal is based upon uh in terms of garbage pickup we stated
during the meeting we stated here that the garbage would be located in the rear uh we can have a
proviso to that in that respect to make sure that it's clear that garbage should be stored at the
rear of the property um i don't know what else but like i mean basically we did meet with the
community on two separate occasions in person. And, you know, that's the vote that was taken
by the coordinating RCO. Thank you, Mr. Nox. Any other, any other issues relative to the virtual
audience? Chair, we have Nico Pruitt. Please unmute yourself and wait for the chat.
Hi, my name is Niko, N as in Nancy, I-C-H-O, last name Pruitt, P-R-U-E-T-T.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
I wanted to know what square footage is of the units that are being built.
uh yes um mr chair may i answer that question uh yeah so the one bedrooms are 675 square feet
the two bedrooms are 950 square feet one of the two bet one of the three bedrooms is uh 1350
square feet the other one is 1900 square feet the other three bedroom is 1900 square feet
okay thank you okay any other questions from the audience
i see no hands chair planning commission good afternoon chairman uh burryman and members of
the board my name is greg walden planning commission staff this property is indicated
for single family residential in the comprehensive plan and the rest of the block was remapped to
residential single family in 2019 given however given the size of the law and reduced number of
units uh in this proposal the city planning commission uh recommends that the board grant
the variances with the proviso that no more than six units are provided thank you mi 2021 001903
5728 thomas avenue i vote yes with proviso confessor plaza yes
I vote yes with Proviso.
Confessor Plaza, yes with Proviso.
James Snell, yes with Proviso.
Thomas Holloman, yes with Proviso.
Thank you.
Thank you, everyone.
Recess to 3.30.
Thank you, Chair.
We're recording.
Okay. Good afternoon. My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this afternoon's meetings.
With me is Confessor Plaza, our Secretary of the Board.
Present.
Thomas Holliman, a board member.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
James Snell, one of our board members.
Present.
Also, our board administrator, Tanya Sunkit, our board attorney, Sharon Saleta.
before we begin here's our virtual format first be advised this proceeding is being recorded by
participating you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded the video of the hearing will
be available if you contact tanya sunkett at phila.gov second for the benefit of our cart
stenographer we ask attorneys and witnesses to id id themselves prior to speaking or testifying
Third, if you participate by phone, if you wish to testify, raise your hand by hitting star nine, then star six to unmute.
To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548 and leave your email address and the address of the property in question.
And lastly, the question and answer box that you see on the screen is not for testimony.
Should you have any comments, please direct them to our Board Administrator, Tanya Sump.
Here are continuances for the afternoon.
I have number seven on our list.
MI 2020-000175-5965 Chester Avenue.
Does anybody in the audience have concerns about that continuance?
I see no hands, Chair.
Are there any other continuance or withdrawals for this afternoon?
No, Chair. I see no hands.
Okay. Okay. Here we're going to start.
MI 2021, 002921, 1305 South 5th Street.
Councilman Squill sends a letter of non-opposition, and the RCO sends a letter of non-opposition.
Henry Clinton is the attorney.
Mr. Clinton is coming in and is a panelist.
Mr. Clinton, could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Morning, Mr. Chairman, Henry Clinton here for the applicant.
Spell your last name for the court reporter, sir.
C-L-I-N-T-O-N.
Do you affirm or swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Proceed, sir.
I'm sorry.
Confessor, could you ask a few questions, please?
Mr. Klan, you agree to waive the reading of its refusal and stipulate to attackers?
Have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral of photos and plans five days prior to this hearing?
Yes, I have.
Have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
Yes, I do.
Thank you. Please proceed.
Thank you, Mr. Plaget. Mr. Chairman, can you see my presentation?
Yes, I can.
Good afternoon, everyone.
Henry Clinton for the applicant, David Trinh, T-R-I-N-H, who is also on the call.
These are my package of exhibits, AA through A-10, which I'll ask to be admitted into evidence as we proceed.
And I'll walk through these.
Appearance statement, refusal.
Refusal is concerning a rear parking space in this property at 4th and Earp Street.
We have a letter of support from the RCO.
which the Chair has, as well as a petition of support from about 15 near neighbors.
from about 15 near neighbors uh here's the property here just to give the board an idea
Here's the property here.
of what's going on this is uh fifth street and this is erp street uh the property mr clinton
i can't it's not moving we're we're still here it is we're good okay sorry about that so this
is an aerial photograph of the property at 1305 south fifth street this is fifth street here this
is Earp Street. The request is that a parking space be permitted in the rear of the property
here. As you can see from the aerial photograph, there's no parking on this side of the street,
which would be the south side of Earp Street. So to have a curb cut here in a parking space
is not affecting anyone's parking on that block. In fact, we're taking a spot off the street.
There are also other rear parking spaces on Earp Street. You can see a car here. There's also a
couple spaces further on the east side. Again, just another perspective. This is the side you
are of my client's property. He doesn't want to park here. He wants to proceed on Earp Street
and park in the rear of this open space here. Again, just more perspective photographs to show
you Earp Street and the fact that there are other garages, even on the side where there's
cars parked, but on our side, where my client wants to put a parking spot in the rear of his
property, there is no parking whatsoever. This is a perspective looking on Earp Street.
Here's my client's property. This is looking west. Again, parking on the north side, no parking on
the south side. So we'll have no impact on parking in the neighborhood. This is just a side on 5th
Street. We do have streets approval for the curb cut and the turning radius. This is a plan showing
the turning radius off of Herb Street, come out Fifth Street, take a right on the Herb, and here's
where the parking space would be in the rear. So it's kind of a short presentation. There's not
much of an issue before the board. These are the tax certifications and all the pro forma documents
that are required when I appear before the board.
So in summary, this parking space
will not really alter the essential character
of the neighborhood.
It's not detrimental to the public welfare.
It doesn't impair the air or light
or visibility of any surrounding property.
There's no parking on that side of the street.
It's in harmony with the code
and it's in harmony with the wishes
of the local community group.
And with that, I would rest
and ask if the board or the chairman has any questions and I can also have my client adopt
my testimony. Have your client adopt your testimony. Mr. Trent, can you raise your hand virtually?
Mr. Trent, you're able to speak. Please unmute yourself.
uh yes i'm here mr trent state your name and spell it for the court reporter please
it's uh david trend it's spelled as d-a-v-i-d last name is trend t-r-i-n-h
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do proceed okay through mr trent have you heard my testimony today before the board
If you had the opportunity to testify, would you adopt my testimony as your own and as true and correct?
Correct. Yes.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission?
and this is uh ron bednar that's r-o-n first name last name bednar b-e-d-n-a-r you swear
or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do okay proceed this
property is indicated for residential use on the city plan given the surrounding context
we recommend the request of variance be granted. MI 2021-002-921-1305 South 5th Street. I vote yes.
Professor Plaza, my vote is yes. James Snell, my vote is yes. Thomas Harloman, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Okay. MI 2020, 001579, 201 West Johnson Street. RCO has a letter of support. Counsel Bass has a letter in opposition to the plan. William Kerr.
William Kerr.
Mr. Kerr is coming back in as a panelist.
All right.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
How are you, sir?
Could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Yes, it's William Kerr, K-E-R-R.
And I'm an attorney with High Schwartz representing the property owner,
philadelphia preservation group right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do so again could you ask a few questions please excuse me sure
sir you agree to wait the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do
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
yes we've submitted our exhibit packet have you met with the rco and have a letter uh yes we have
thank you please proceed okay good afternoon again william kerr on behalf of philadelphia
preservation group uh property 201 west johnson i have actually three um potential witnesses on
today. So I just wanted to alert to that. The first is Mr. Rick Sudol. You should see him on
the list. He is a principal with Philadelphia Preservation Group. It's an affiliate of Nolan
Properties. I also have Sarah Ann Logan. She is our architect. And then Mr. Josiah Diggs, who is
with our project engineer. So I may be calling him periodically. So I'd like to share my screen
at this point so let me uh sure yep
actually i'm not sure i did there right let me try that one more time
okay are you seeing my uh my screen now we do okay
This is the cover sheet of what you should have, the exhibit packet, and these are all the documents we've submitted, including refusals, our appeal application, the information form, and our deed.
I'm going to skip right to the photos and get into the plans so that we can just get right to the gist of this, so bear with me for a second here.
technology is not my strength so okay so here we go um the initial set of photos are um
the posting photos and as i'm going through this i'm going to give you a little bit background
this is actually um phase three of a project that commenced back in 2006 um it's a large property
which contains two historic structures one known as the presser building the other known as the
Nugent Building. These were historic structures that had fallen into significant disrepair as of
2006. And my clients, Nolan Properties and Philadelphia Preservation Group, acquired the
property and has since renovated and restored both the Presser Building and the Nugent Building
into apartment buildings, senior apartment buildings, and they're also affordable senior
apartment buildings that were constructed and renovated under the federal low-income housing
tax credit program. The presser building and I'm sorry I'm getting these emails I'm not sure if
you're seeing this. So the presser building essentially is this white building or if you're
seeing my cursor this off-white building here to the right. The Nugent building is the building off
to the left. This is the Nugent building. This is a more close-up of the presser building.
This photograph in the middle here is the area that were proposed to develop, essentially this area back in here.
What you're seeing here is the driveways and some of the parking that was installed as part of the first two phases.
Excuse me. So this is a photograph from the corner of Johnson and Cherokee.
that's the presser building Nugent in the distant that's the presser building looking back towards
Cherokee that's on Johnson Street that's the Nugent building looking from the presser building
and that's the presser building looking from the Nugent building and in this area
here where you see this temporary retention pond these trees and some of this
Here, where you see this temporary retention pond, these trees, and some of this grass area, this is where we're proposing what we're here for today, which is phase three.
script
Again, some additional site photos.
That's from the street, getting closer up of the Nugent building.
This is our zoning map.
This is Johnson Street, so the property is right here.
Nugent building approximately there, Presser building approximately there.
You see that we're split zone RM3 and RSA1.
uh this is a an aerial photo um so this is the project this is what i wanted to get to um this
is uh a view from basically across the street we've essentially removed the structures that exist on
this is mccallum street so there are residences here on mccallum but we've removed those so you
can see the the full scope of the project uh again presser to the right nugent to the left
this building here to the center is what we're proposing uh as phase three of this project this
will be um a market rate apartment building and while these were affordable this will be a market
rate um apartment we have committed with the community to um lease a number of the buildings
a number of the apartments to seniors uh in this in this phase three but but it will be uh
um a market rate building
so what i want to do is just go back over a little bit history we actually came um
Nugent was completed in about, Earth City Presser was completed in about 2011, Nugent was completed
in about 2014. In 2014, we came to the zoning board and received approval for this phase three
building. At that point, it was actually split into two. This was going to be another affordable
housing piece on the right, and the balance was going to be market rate units. In the interim,
After 2014, we discovered that PHFA, which is the Administrating Agency for the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program, was not in support of having three affordable projects on the same property.
However, this property, or excuse me, this plant did go to the zoning board and highlighted in yellow here, you can see July, I think it says 18th, 2014, this was approved by the zoning board.
It was not constructed, however, because we ran into the difficulty with PHFA.
So last year in 2020, we came in with a slightly revised version of this plan, which basically took those two pieces, merged them and proposed to construct the building as a single building with 178 units.
The unit count actually that was approved back in 2014 was 186.
In the two buildings, we then downsized that to 178 units as part of our initial submission in 2020.
We then met with the RTO, encountered some concerns with certain things, the number of units.
And based on the concerns that were expressed, we revised the plan.
And so I would close the revised plan, but also the plan proviso form, which indicates some of the changes.
One of the things that was flagged was there were some steep slopes that were pointed out by the planning commission.
So we added those. We indicated the reduction in square footage from the earlier plan we submitted in 2020.
Again, we reduced the unit counts to 176 from 186, which is the current plan.
Again, 176.
You did the recalculation of the parking.
Reconfigured the wings a little bit, which you'll see in a minute.
Reconfigured the parking.
And then we added some internal landscape trees.
So those are the changes from the initial plan submitted to L&I as compared to the plan that we're showing you here today.
And this is the new plan.
Each of those areas that are highlighted on the plan proviso sheet are circled in red.
This is the additional landscape area. These are the redesigned wings instead of being, you know, a full connection.
It's basically just a hallway connection with some openings between the two.
But this is our current plan. Again, this is last dated September 22nd of 2021.
And what we're proposing here, again, is 165 units.
It's a five-story building.
there is a some of the parking is underground in this area of the building also
Some of the parking is underground in this area of the building.
We're also proposing to add this parking.
There's some additional parking that will be provided to the rear.
The parking count remains the same as what was approved back in 2014, which was 171 parking spaces.
So we still have 171 parking spaces.
But again, we've reduced the unit count now down to 165 total apartment units.
excuse me mr care this is sharon um if the board were to approve this is it
one page that needs to be stamped this would be the page that needs to be stamped correct
thank you okay thank you uh this is the plan part of our plan which basically shows those steep
float barriers which were which were flagged by the planning commission and basically those are
in the in the pinkish color and those surround that retention basin you saw in one of the earlier
photos and then some of the areas surrounding this is the parking area the parking so these
are all essentially man-made um slope areas in that constitute the steep slope so we don't
believe that there's any any issue with those so what i'd like to do now is i'd like to call our
architect sarah ann logan sarah if you could raise your hand and have her admitted as a participant
Ms. Logan you've been unmuted. Thank you. Could you state your name and spell it for the court
reporter please? Yes my name is Sarah Ann Logan S-A-R-A-N-N space L-O-G-A-N. Do you swear a firm
to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth? I do. Proceed Sarah. Good afternoon
miss logan um are you the architect on this project i am and who are you employed by uh vbc
studio and how long have you been an architect 17 years okay i would ask the uh the the board
to recognize miss logan as a an expert in architecture that's fine okay could you proceed
sarah i have the uh the controls on your your plan set if you could just proceed and talk to
And explain to the board what we're doing here with this new building.
Yep, I can do that.
Specifically here, I think we jumped into the elevation, so I can talk about elevations and what we're doing.
And then I think it goes into overall perspectives, I believe, is the next part of the set.
So what you're seeing here is a blow up on the bottom left of the entry sequence of the building.
What we were trying to do is really make a bridge between the presser and the Nugent buildings and try to make a five story rather kind of long or wide building break that break up that mass a bit.
So at the entry, you'll see that there's a prominent entry that has the roof parapet increased.
All of the materials are very high quality.
It fit in with the neighborhood.
It's mostly brick building.
And then that top floor is treated as a mansard roof.
So it's recessed a bit to try to step back from the front facade.
And then the two small facades on the elevations E and F are the wings that come out into the front
of the building. Next slide please. This is the wings again, but in front you're essentially
seeing the wings from the side. And then the top elevation is the rear, rear facade. So brick runs
all the way around and then on the rear facade it's a mixture of vertical hardy panel siding
still with that mansard roof.
And it's a combination of sliding doors
with exterior kind of steel trim Juliet balconies
and recessed larger accessible balconies as well.
Next slide, please.
And Sarah, before you go on,
could you confirm that the exterior parenting
and approach that you've taken
has been vetted both by the Civic Design Review Committee
and by the Historical Commission, is that correct?
Correct. That is correct.
And you did make significant changes based on input from both of those entities, correct?
Yes. We had quite a few meetings with both boards, and I believe that we had up to four exterior revisions, and they were pleased with the results.
Okay. Next slide.
And this is the floor plan of the building. As Mr. Kerr mentioned, the building is, as proposed, 165 units.
Um, the building is mostly one bedroom units, um, and, and about 32 bedroom units.
Um, the, they vary in size from the smallest one bedroom unit.
um the they vary in size from the smallest one bedroom unit is right behind the stairs actually
I think that one's about 600 square feet all of the rest of the one bedrooms are about 720 square
feet um and uh the two bedrooms are just under 1100 square feet so very much um the going market size
for for um non kind of city or non-infill units they're they're quite nice sized units which is
makes them applicable for senior housing rentals as well. Next slide, please. And this, we originally
had as part through conversation with the neighbors, we took those out and we made those
the small one bedrooms in style. It said, as you see on the previous plan, I don't think that's
incorporated into this package. So there is no unit at 390 square feet. And then the only difference
between this plan and the next plan um is showing for the units with the balconies those square
footages get a little bit smaller because you have the included balcony space um so it's two
options for those um next slide please and then this goes to the two bedroom options and it has
the two bedroom option with the balcony and then also with the um kind of smaller juliet balcony
next slide please i think that is it
okay thank you sarah um i don't have any further questions for uh for ms logan at this point
does the board have any other witnesses um well let me just just finish up and then we'll uh
um i just want to have my client um adopt my my statements here today later on okay sure yep
All right. So there has been a significant, a number of significant efforts that were made to get this latest phase of this project through.
We had meetings with, again, both the Historical Commission, with the Civic Design Review Committee, the Planning Commission, and also with the RCO, the West Mountain Area Naval.
So I've included in here our packet of the latest to notice letters for those RCO meetings.
And as a result of those meetings, we did obtain a letter of support from Westbound Area Neighbors.
Now, I believe that was sent directly to the chair.
Mr. Chair, have you seen that letter?
The letter of support from Westbound Area Neighbors?
So we do have that. And let me just scroll down and we'll get to the letters from the Civic Design Review and the Historical Commission.
okay that's the last letter okay this is the civic design review letter this is dated September 15th
and you can hear here in the highlighted yellow um the civic design review committee completed
the required review um at 201 West Johnson Street they had a number of comments which we intend to
comply with. And let me just, I'm not sure why that's happening.
But the last page indicates the specific design review process was completed. And then we have
a tab 12, our, excuse me, our letter from the Historic Commission just indicating that in
November they reviewed the application and that they voted to approve the application
with the revisions, including a lighter brick color.
So that's the extent, I think, of my formal presentation.
I would like to have Mr. Rick Sudol.
Rick, could you raise your hand so we can have you admitted to the program here?
Mr. Sudol, please unmute yourself.
I am unmuted. This is Rick Sudol.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Sure. It's Richard Sudol, S-U-D-A-L-L.
I am the managing director of the Fiddle for Preservation Group.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Good afternoon, Mr. Sudol.
Have you been on this Zoom for the entire presentation here this afternoon?
Yes, I have.
And you've heard all my statements?
Yes, I have.
And do they all accurately describe the history of the project and the current proposal that we have before the zoning board?
Yes, you're very accurate, Mr. Kerr.
Okay, and do you adopt my statements as your own testimony?
Okay, thank you. I don't have anything further for Mr. Sudol.
Okay, thank you. I don't have anything further for Mr. Sudol.
And at this point, I think, I guess the only thing I'd like to do is just recall Ms. Logan for a minute.
I'm unmuted.
Just state your name. You've already been sworn.
Aaron Logan. Okay, so just a couple of additional follow-up questions.
You're familiar with this neighborhood, correct? I am. And in your professional opinion as an
architect, is this building appropriate in size and scale for this neighborhood? Yes, it is.
Will this building have any negative impacts on the property or on the neighborhood?
I do not believe it. Well, we are set back sufficiently from the West Johnson, from West Johnson Street, and therefore will minimize the impact to the neighborhood.
And was there a specific, there was an intent to sort of minimize the view of this building from the street, correct?
That is correct.
And that included limiting the height so that the height was was not or was below the height of both the presser and the Nugent building.
Is that correct? That is correct. OK.
And do you the variances that we've requested, are those the minimum variances that are necessary for us to to construct this this building?
Yes, it is. And I do want to point out also that the building as proposed is smaller than what was previously proposed.
So I do believe that is in line.
And it's smaller than what was proposed, both with the initial plan that we submitted on this application in 2020, correct?
Correct.
And it's also smaller than the plan, which was approved back in 2014 by the zoning board, correct?
That is correct.
That's all that I have for Ms. Logan.
Thank you.
so I don't have any further I don't have any further witnesses again we do have the
our representative of our engineering firm if the board has any questions for the engineers and
and all three of our our attendees here are available for any questions the board may have
questions from the board no Mr. Chairman no
mr car how many how many community meetings did you have
we had at least four okay okay some of those were by zoom and some were in person i think we
i think we had two in person and two or three that were by zoom okay questions from the virtual
audience here we have charles richardson mr mr richardson i i believe we sworn you already once
today so just state your name yes sir uh charles richardson from the office of councilwoman cindy
bass room 312 city hall proceed sir okay uh nearly seven years ago this project phase three was
originally conceived as a uh primarily senior housing project which at the time the community
supported uh it uh would nicely fit in with the senior buildings that are currently on the site
but since that time uh their funding has changed and the project also changed from senior housing
to market rate multifamily under 65 units is a lot and would have a different effect on the
community concerning density and traffic, as the density of a senior property is definitely
different than that of a market rate multifamily building. Westbound Area Neighbors RCO committee,
although most live an average of over half a mile away or more, voted to support the proposal,
although the majority of the community opposes the project overwhelmingly.
Two of the three meetings that the community participated in, they were overwhelmingly
against the proposal one of which i i attend the third was poorly attended and had a seven seven
attendees of near neighbors and produced a very slim vote of a margin vote of one vote uh to
approve as uh they had previously mentioned the project also had a cdr meeting uh that had a
number of those commenting expressing opposition to the project although it didn't have anything
much to do with the the cdr process but they you know they still were overwhelmingly opposed
uh our office has received a very large number of calls and emails against this project
none in fact have been in favor uh so the councilwoman is going to stand with the community in
So the councilwoman is going to stand with the community in opposition to granting this variance.
opposition
If I can respond to that.
You can.
Mr. Chair, this is all a complete surprise to us.
We've been working with the councilwoman's office throughout this process.
The meetings that were held with the community, again, at least five or at least four, I think there were five.
initially there was opposition but we had subsequent meetings which were all advertised
and we sent notices to everyone uh to the same list for each meeting at every meeting the uh
the crowds uh grew smaller and the opposition that existed initially just melted away so
So it's our position that the vote and the decision by West Mount Airy Neighbors reflects the feeling of the neighborhood.
And anything that's outside of the record here today with regard to the history of the community effort, I think that's hearsay and shouldn't be admitted.
It's great. I mean, Mr. Richardson comes on and talks about opposition, but there's no other evidence of that.
We don't see any letters. We don't see any, you know, maybe there are some folks in the audience that are going to oppose.
But, again, we haven't heard any negative responses to this project since the last RCO meeting a month or so ago when everyone in attendance was in support.
Virtually everyone was in support.
Mr. Chair, may I answer that?
You most certainly can.
Seven individuals is not the same amount as the people that have been opposed to this project.
And in fact, at that point, even the vote was four to three.
It's only seven individuals.
And that is definitely not reflective of the number of calls and also the number of people that were actually in these meetings, including the Zoom meeting.
So, you know, it can be massaged in a way to make it seem as though that there is community support.
But, in fact, when I spoke with the RCO, they knew that we were going to be coming against them because of the fact that they voted against the community, the wishes of the community.
But we're going to leave it in your hands at this point, Mr. Chair, to make that decision.
But again, just know that the opposition is a lot heavier in that area than it's being reflected.
Mr. Richardson, can I ask you a few questions?
Have you been contacted by Mr. Sudol over the past week or so to discuss this project?
Yes, I have.
But the problem is that our office...
Let me finish as to why I did not contact him back.
Our office's policy is not to speak with developers prior to the hearings.
Your office is what? Say that again. Policy is not to contact or talk to developers prior to the hearings.
OK, that's that's an interesting policy because it's contrary to the policy of every other council office I've ever worked with in my 25 years doing that.
Well, again, this is a different council person, sir. OK, well, we would obviously we disagree with the councilwoman.
We believe the councilman has not been forthcoming in providing us with any of this information.
There's no evidence of any community opposition.
There are no letters in opposition that I'm aware of that are part of the record.
So we would, again, we object to Mr. Richardson's statements and ask the board to strike them as not being supported by any evidence.
They're essentially hearsay at this point because there's nothing to support his assertions that there's significant community opposition.
I have not seen any.
AND I THINK MY CLIENT WOULD TESTIFY LIKEWISE.
EXCUSE ME, COUNSELOR?
ANY OTHER COMMENTS FROM THE VIRTUAL AUDIENCE?
CHAIR, WE HAVE NICO PREWITT.
PLEASE STATE YOUR NAME AND SPELL IT, PLEASE.
Hi, my name is Nico and it's a Nancy, I-C-H-O, last name Pruitt, P-R-U-E-T-T.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed.
I just wanted to know, I didn't hear clearly the size of the units for each of the multi-units.
What's the square footage on those?
um there are three different sizes this is sarah ann logan architect um the smallest unit
The smallest unit is 535 square feet, but keep in mind that there are two of those per floor plate. That one is just kind of utilizing extra square footage. The average side, the rest of the one-bedroom units, which is the lion's fare of them, are 720 square feet. And then the two-bedroom units, which there are 30 in the building, are just under 1,100 square feet.
is 535 square feet but keep in mind that there
Okay, thank you.
Any other questions or comments from the audience?
Chair, we have Carolyn Ray. Okay.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court reporter?
He's coming back in as a panelist chair because our version of Zoom is a little dated. Okay.
My name is Carolyn Ray. Last name is R-A-H-E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
yes proceed i live around the corner from the property at vernon house co-op apartments at
64 45 green street and i attended most of the community meetings including the final one
at which there were seven members of the neighborhood and i agree with mr richardson
that the vote at the end of the presentation by the attendees was not overwhelmingly in
support at all. There were at least three votes in opposition. And we've written letters
to both the ZBA and to Mr. Kerr's office and to Westmount area neighbors expressing our
concern about the effect that having a property of this size in this location
would impact negatively pedestrian safety, automobile traffic on Johnson Street and on
the neighboring streets. And it's our feeling still that it's not a beneficial addition to
our neighborhood. I don't know what else to say, but we have written letters and I don't believe
Mr. Kerr is remembering that he was, he received at least one of them.
Okay. Can I respond, Mr. Chair? You can.
Ms. Ray, you're a tenant at Vernon House, correct?
Ms. Ray?
She's coming back in as a panel. Okay.
I don't know if you were able to hear me.
Hi, Ms. Ray, just state your name again for the court.
You're not dispel or anything.
And council has a question for you.
Carolyn Ray.
Very good.
Thank you.
And Ms. Ray, you're a tenant at Vernon House, correct?
I am a cooperative owner of the building.
We're not exactly tenants.
we're we're a co-op apartment which in a limited equity cooperative building and I'm the I'm the
president of the board of directors of the people who run the place okay so but you're an occupant
at a multi-family building that's right around the corner correct yes okay and this is multi-family
multi-story building correct four four floors 48 units okay okay that's all that I that's all I
And I will acknowledge that you were in attendance at the meetings, and we do appreciate your attendance.
I do acknowledge that you were in opposition, but there was, by the time of the last meeting, you agree that the opposition had pretty much faded away.
There was just a few folks in opposition, correct?
I don't think that their participation at a meeting indicated their lack of opposition.
Not everybody had connections to Zoom.
the notices didn't always reach people very you know close in time this meeting we only found out
about two days ago um you know we don't always get enough notice for people to to attend well
did you receive all the letters that we sent to you with regard to the the four or five rco meetings
that we had yes okay so you received all those and do you agree that those those letters included
an indication that this hearing was being held today. There was some doubt about or some
uncertainty about the date of this meeting. Because I think it changed and we were to be
told at the last meeting, but I don't believe that information was available at the time of
the last meeting. Okay, I think if you look at your, if you look at your letter, you'll see that
the date was on that on that letter. Okay, that's all I have for Ms. Ray. Thank you.
Anyone else from the virtual audience?
Anyone else from the virtual audience?
Thank you.
I see no handshare.
Planning Commissioner.
This is Ron Bednar, City Planning.
The property is currently split zoned on the city plan.
Proposed use is consistent with the comprehensive plan and the civic design review committee recommendation for residential multifamily use of this location.
Therefore, we recommend the request of variance to be granted.
what was that Mr. I missed your recommendation we recommend do you want me to repeat it at the
whole no just just the end I just missed the ending yes I said therefore we recommend it
of course the variance be granted I still didn't hear that you recommend the appearance be granted
is that what you said that's correct okay thank you I apologize my for some reason my volume is
is low today um mr chair could i just make a brief closing sure all right uh obviously this uh
opposition by the councilwoman's office was completely unexpected we've um reached out to
the council councilwoman's office numerous times over the last couple weeks trying to make sure
we had done everything to satisfy the councilwoman as far as um the the responses of the community
we received absolutely no information back so this is this is the first time in my 25 years
this has ever happened um i will state also that the councilwoman supported this project back in
2014 we have a letter that i would have put in the record today confirming that but because we
didn't know that um that that she was taking this position i did don't have the benefit of that
this plan is essentially again the third version or the third phase of this development and it's
a supplement to what was approved by the zoning board back in 2014. So our position is that
because this is the third phase of a development originally approved back in 2006 where my client
has spent significant funds to improve both the buildings and the property, consistent with the
plans approved as far back as 2009, I believe, was the first approval, that we actually have
a vested right to build this building based on that history. Again, I was not planning to get
into all of that testimony on the vested rights in the entire history. If the board is inclined
to deny this this um application based on the councilwoman's last minute opposition i would
ask that the board um give us the opportunity essentially to have this this case then reheard
and i'll come in and i'll put in all the evidence that i need to put in on the history of this
application dating back to uh 2006-2007 time frame so i just would ask for that opportunity
again if the board decides that that they're going to deny it based on the uh the opposition
by the councilman's office mr kerr what we're going to do is we're going to take this to our
executive session next week and we will let you know our decision okay right in a public setting
okay all right and if your solicitor could just reach out and let me know when that decision would
be will be so that i can be on i would appreciate that okay thank you thank you sir thank you
everybody just announced that the record is otherwise closed yes right it is closed thank you
okay all right number three mi 2021 003027 2121 dickinson street
point breeze cdc supports with requested proviso which is unenforceable
brian neely
okay chair i have no record of having received the exhibits for this case we've received we
sent the exhibits this is john taylor i apologize i'm counsel for john do me a favor
share your name spell your name for the court reporter my name is john taylor uh t-a-y-l-o-r
okay i'm the you swear go ahead you swear referring to tell me all right do you swear
or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do okay
uh we're actually we're requesting a continuance we sent a continuance request back
We're actually requesting continuance.
We sent a continuance request back on December 5th, I believe, because we have some tax clearance
issues.
We did get support from the community group who received that letter today.
um we did send exhibits um earlier um i think earlier than the five days um
okay your your continence is granted thank you
number four mi 2021 0 0 2 9 2 0 32 45 north 27th street
brandy tally tally no exhibits this is the first listing
i see no hands chair okay we will continue that sorry chair she her hand just went up
okay thank you you're welcome
brandy could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter
yes brandy talley b-r-a-n-d-i-t-a-l-l-e-y
okay um a couple questions mr chairman for for uh brandy sure let me let me swear first do you
swear for to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes go ahead jim sorry
beth that uh do you agree to waive the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
i'm sorry say that again do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy yes yes okay uh have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents
proof of ownership proof of tax compliance and copy of the refusal or referral photos and plans
five days prior to the hearing yes okay excuse me this is Sharon I have no record of having
received those exhibits was I copied on the submission yes so um it was one that was I
I sent it I cc two people um it was one that came back and said that it was the wrong email
I mean not the wrong email the email wasn't um valid I did it three or four times it still kept
coming back the same thing it was the s-u-l-e-t-a-z-b-a at what did you send it I'm sorry
give me a second at phila.gov um it's not phila.gov it's gmail.com okay because that's what it says in
your instructions let me um chair I have to see if the I haven't reviewed these exhibits at all
if if Ms. Sunkett are you on could we check to see if you have them so that I can review them
um yes could um the staff check for those exhibits and apologetically Ms. Saletta it has been a few
times where that um email address was used we can check to make sure if we received it it was our
error and if chair can go forward
with another case that would be great
we're going to move to another case and we'll come
back to you Ms. Talley okay
002919
North 22nd Street
no exhibits
Ms. Silva
and also Montanaro
she's coming back in as a
panelists here okay hi please state your name and spell your last name for the court reporter
yes my name is nicole montero m-o-n-t-e-i-r-o okay do you swear to or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth yes okay jim okay uh do you agree to waive the reading of
the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? Yes. Okay. 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 planes five days prior to this hearing? Well, I did mail them, but not five
days prior. I was gathering the documents and realized I had the email in draft. There was a
lot of delay with the RCO. So I was preoccupied and finally had the RCO meeting last Thursday
and realized I hadn't actually sent the email. So I just sent it today. And as far as the tax
clearance, when I went to get the tax clearance, it said we weren't in compliance. And I looked and
get the tax clearance, it said we weren't in compliance. And I looked and it was for the 2022
taxes. So I did go ahead and pay them, although it's a little bit early. But I couldn't get that.
I have the receipt of payment, but I don't have that. Excuse me, this is Sharon, the not payment,
not being in compliance because of the 2022 taxes that that is not a problem but i still don't have
a record of having received um your submission your exhibits can can you tell me if i was copied
on that um i'll tell you it was let me go to my sins it was to um rco zba at phila and then s-u
l-e-t-a-z-b-a at gmail.com yes i for some reason don't have that miss aletta she didn't send these
timely so you probably wouldn't have gotten it okay thank you this was when did you say you sent
this miss um it was today it was yeah so this is where it had to be continued okay so we're going
to continue your case and you'll be notified one one when to come back okay um but every i don't
have to do the rco process again right like it's just no you don't this is tanya i'm sorry no you
don't, please reach out to our office for any questions, and we'll discuss it offline, okay?
All right, thank you. So the RCO ZBA, you can email us there, we'll have a discussion.
Okay. Thank you. MI 2021-002925, 552 East Loudoun Street, letter of support from the RCO.
Joseph Consol is the attorney.
hey everyone hi mr consul for the court reporter state your name and spell it please
joseph j-o-s-e-p-h consul c-o-n-s-o-l-e that's one west third street suite 204
media pennsylvania 19063 do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth? I do. Thank you. Jim, could you ask a few questions? Sure. Joe, do you agree to wave the
reading and refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? Yes, sir. All right. Have you emailed an exhibit
packet with the required documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy of the
refusal or referral, and photos and planes five days prior to this hearing? Yes. All right. And
And finally, have you met with the RCO and do you have a letter?
Okay, great.
You may continue.
Good afternoon, board.
Joe Consul here.
I'm here on, did my packet come up?
Pardon me?
I'm here on 552 East Loudoun Street.
My client, the owner of 218 Capital LLC, Mohamed Lamy is here.
this resident uh this property is my client's childhood home his family lived here from 1991
to 2008 and in 2008 the property was sold to his sister it was converted into a triplex
um and uh in 2021 um mohammed purchased the property from his sister uh she had moved away
and the property occupied, it was occupied, was purchased by my client. The property had fallen
into a bit of disrepair at that time. So the units that had emptied, he left empty. There's
one occupied unit at the property at this time, and we're seeking to use the property as a triplex.
His plan is to update the property and make it nice keeping the existing floor plan
which we just have a draft of that included in our packet. As you can see, we've got the
picometers already set up and there's a photo there of some of the interior.
This is kind of an interesting property and we think that there's a few good reasons why
this variant should be granted. First, the existing conditions are 10 plus years old.
The interior photos confirm both that it's set up as a three unit, and there's four picometers, one for the common area.
The ground floor unit is completely above grade, as you can see in the photo on the side and in the back,
and there already exists a separate room for the mechanicals, which is separate.
And there already exists a separate room for the mechanicals, which is separated from that unit by a thick concrete wall.
Second, it's a 2,916-square-foot property that currently has parking for four cars.
The owner, additionally, has plenty of space to implement the trash plan that was requested by the RCO, which is just some kind of locking mechanism to include outside to store the trash cans in.
when it's not trash day. So it's a very large lot. It's almost 3,000 square feet. That parking
is already there and already in use. In addition to that, there's at least two examples of other
triplexes. We're in green here. You can see how large our lot is, but both 4768 and 4779
whitaker avenue are approved triplexes um and have the same or smaller footprint um as does our
property uh and our property additionally um you know touches the street on two sides and an alley
an alley in the back and i could give you it's kind of an example it's just a really large lot
We met with the RCO on October 10th. We got their letter of support. They've had a few, I forget what the provisos were, let me pull it up.
They asked us to, yeah, the trash plan, an aesthetic overhaul, which he'll have to do. We're here just seeking the use permit before he moves forward with any of the other permits that he needs.
um and we believe it's it's it's a good it's a good candidate for for approval here
um i'd like to call my client now if i could so you could offer any testimony
could you raise your hand mr lami
thank you uh muhammad lami spelled m-o-h-a-m-m-a-d last name l-a-m-i
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Hello, Mr. Lamy. Did you hear my testimony just now regarding your property?
I did.
Is there anything you'd like to add to my testimony?
I think you covered it. Thank you.
Okay. Do you adopt it as your own?
Okay. Thank you.
In closing, regarding this property, we believe it is appropriate for the granting of this variance. It's a huge lot. There is an occupied tenant on the second floor. It's actually a family with two young children.
they came to the RCO meeting and spoke about Muhammad as being a high quality landlord and
that they enjoy the space. And so we believe converting it back to a single family, having
to vacate the tenant and things like that would be both financially impossible for Muhammad as
well as very inconvenient for what appears to be a good living situation for a family.
And with that, we'll rest.
questions from the board no mr chairman no questions from the um uh the the uh virtual
audience chair we have sloan folks okay good afternoon again uh chairman bergman zba board
Sloan-Folks, Office of Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez,
Room 508, City Hall.
The applicant having met with the coordinating RCO
and having received a letter of support
for their various requests,
the Councilwoman's Office supports the various requests
with the enforceable provisos requested by the RCO.
Thank you.
any other questions
i see no other handshare excuse me mr can we check what are what are what are the enforceable
i was trying to scan for that real quick uh let's see um
exterior fence to be altered to ensure the proper legal material and standard height.
So this fence in the front, there was some concern, which I believe that I echo that the fence is inappropriate for use in this property,
both that it's too high and i believe the material is not going to work for a front yard fence
i believe the material is not going to work for a front yard fence so they wanted that uh added
so they wanted that uh
as a proviso let me see what else um residential uh fire escape drop down ladders they wanted us
to have uh ladders for you know people to aggress out the windows we know that that's not necessarily
required by code we're happy to comply with with having some sort of exit strategy and then trash
stored in a gate or a fenced-in area my client is going to build something that has a storage
and a locking capability to be able to keep trash hidden outside prior to trash day as I said it's
and you can see it's a huge lot so he's got plenty of room to do that. Karen what's enforceable?
i think you can add one saying um fire escape ladders on i'm sorry you've taken down the
letters at second i apologize that's okay bam i'm back thank you um fire escape ladders
on windows of first and second floor apartments um trashed stored in a
gated or fenced area out of sight of public i don't think you can do anything about the fence
that's really an enforcement issue if it's not in compliance then mr console you recognize that it
would have to meet code requirements correct yes yeah um i'll i'll make sure that he he handles
that as part of this okay excuse me uh muhammad lamy here just want to interject the fence has
been taken care of we replace the fence with one that is compliant great thank you any other
comments from the virtual audience i see no other hands chair planning commission
uh ron bednar city planning this property is indicated for residential use on the city plan
or adopted district plan recommends no change to the existing um residential zoning at this
location the applicant's hardship is not supported with evidence of unique physical circumstances or
condition of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformity with the code
therefore we recommend the request of variance not be granted. MJ 2021 002925 552 East Loudoun Street
I vote yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir.
How do we stand with Talley?
I have, I spoke with Ms. Sunkett.
The staff wasn't able to find the submitted exhibits either, except for a meeting summary, I believe, from the RCO.
Could we call Ms. Talley back up?
Sure, we can. Ms. Talley, come back up, please.
Talley, can you forward the email with the attached exhibits to me now?
Give me one second.
And that's SalettaZBA at Gmail.
Yes, exactly. Thank you.
S-U-L-E-T-A-Z-B-A at Gmail.
Thank you.
hello yes yes so i um submitted the rco i didn't think that i didn't know that i had to submit
everything to everything i thought because i'm used to going to regular court so i thought i
got the paperwork in hand i didn't know i had to submit everything on this one um to the zone i
just thought i had to submit the meeting yes i'm afraid it will have to be continued so we're gonna
to continue your case we'll be in touch and let you know when it is okay thank you all right i
think that's that's it for our list today i think so yeah that's all i have if we could just make
the announcement please to make sure we haven't missed anyone okay yes
is there anyone else that had a case here today that we didn't hear from
i think i think we're good
i see no hands here okay yes
I see no hands here okay yes it looks good chair I just like to make sure because we
get a lot not a problem thank you very kindly all right thank you everybody
okay Bill thanks Bill thank you thank you so much for all the trouble you went through
today I appreciate it thank you all right thanks Bill take care have a good night all
Good night.
Good night, Jay.