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