Vern, Anastasio.
There are no hands.
Okay. Thank you, everyone.
See everyone at 2 p.m.
Good afternoon, everyone.
My name is Bill Bergman and I will be chairing this afternoon's EBA hearing.
With me is our Vice Chair, Ismail Shahid.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, Thomas Holloman.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
We also have LeBaron Leonard Palmer from the Division of Development Services, serving as an alternate board member.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
And also present is Hillary Emerson, our attorney, and Tanya Sunken, our executive director.
Here's our virtual format.
Proceedings are being recorded.
With your participation, you agree to be recorded.
The video will be available by contacting Tanya Sunken at phil.gov.
For our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you're participating by phone, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548.
Leave your email and address of the property in question.
And finally, the question box on the screen is now for comments or testimony.
All comments should be directed to our executive director, Tanya Sunkit.
Kanye sunk it. Let's look at our schedule for this afternoon. Number one, MI 2024-001-085-3012
Let's look at our schedule for this afternoon.
Number one.
York Street. That case is a continued attorney moving party. Number two, MI 2024-001-087-3110
West York Street. That case is continued attorney moving party. Number eight, MI 2024 001086 3014
West York Street. That case is continued attorney moving party. Number nine, MI 2024 001084 3010
West York Street. That case is continued attorney moving party. And number 12.
MI 2024 001034 4828 D Street. Hillary, should I bring Mr. Consul on or is he aware of it?
No, that's fine, Mr. Chair. He and I have been conversing over email.
Thank you. So MI 2024-001-034-4828 D Street, that case is continued. And number 13, MI 2023-006-919-2301 North 29th Street. Hillary, have we been in touch with Mr. Malloy?
We've received a request for continuance attorney moving party from Darwin Bouvier, who is handling this case.
Okay. All right. So MI 2023-006-919-2301 North 29th Street at Case's Continued Attorney Moving Party. Are there any other requests for continuance?
Good afternoon, Chair. This is Nadia, and I'll be your co-host today. We have one hand up, Brett Feldman, and they haven't allowed to speak.
Mr. Feldman, could you state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair. Members of the Board of Brett Feldman, B-R-E-T-T, Feldman, F-E-L-D-M-A-N, 1835 Mark.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Are you here for case number 7, 2628 South Street?
Yeah, there's two related cases. One is the use structures and change a lot lines, and then the other is the accessory signs to that application.
Okay. Yeah. So that's number. Let's see here. Let me get this again here. Number seven and number 10. Are that correct?
I believe so.
Okay. Yeah. So where do we stand with this?
Sure. Sure. So this is applications where we requested amended zoning plans. Those plans are actually being reviewed by L&I in the process of being reviewed by L&I.
So that's kind of continuance reason number one is that you need to get a new refusal back for the board to hear those.
And then number two, on a parallel track, though, we were working very closely with SASNA, the impacted RCOs, and then a near neighbor group on these plan changes.
So when we hopefully with this grant of dual continuances, we can come back to the board and, you know, have support from the community and the immediate neighbor.
So I would ask for one more continuance on this, but I think we're almost there.
Thank you very much. So number seven, MI 2023-005-769-2628 South Street.
Cases continued. Mark must be heard. And number 10, MI 2024-004-624-2628 South Street.
That case is continued. Mark must be heard. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman, Jim Snell is on the call.
Thank you, Jim.
Okay, what else do I have?
Number four.
MI 2023-004-105-1708-West Tioga Street, Parcel A.
Listed applicant is Ombre Architects.
No exhibits.
This is the third listing.
And, Mr. Chair, for the record, 1708 Tioga LP is the listed owner.
We do not have an attorney of record.
Do you have any hands up?
I see no hands.
So this is the third listing.
So MI 2023-004-105, 1708 West Tioga Street, number Parcel A, I vote to dismiss.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is to dismiss.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is to dismiss.
James Thelma.
James Snell, my vote is to dismiss.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is to dismiss.
Okay, thank you.
We're going to go to our adalons.
So MI 2023-004-440-2117 North 7th Street.
I vote no to reconsideration and rehearing.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is no to reconsideration and rehearing.
James Snell, my vote is no to reconsideration and rehearing.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is no to reconsideration and rehearing.
Thank you. So the next one is MI 2022-005-442-321-0-Vare Avenue.
Voting on this will be myself, Ishmael, and LeBaron Palmer.
I vote yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
LeBaron Leonard Palmer, my vote is yes.
And number three, MI 2023-006-932-1240 Harrison Street.
Voting on this will be myself, Ishmael, and James Snell.
I vote no.
James Snell, my vote is no.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is no.
Thank you.
We're going to go to our regular list, and we're going to start with number six.
MI 2024-001-388-1633 Rumford Road.
Philomena St. Jean is the owner applicant.
Filomena is coming in as a panelist.
Thank you.
Filomena?
Can you share her hand?
yes chair they're on as a panel hi hi could you i could you state your name please and spell for
the stenographer yes um philomena st gene p h i l o m e n a st gene s t j e a n right do you
swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. So this
application is for use as a multifamily household living in an existing structure. The proposed use
multifamily household living is prohibited in the RSA3 zoning district. Number one, could you put
your video on? And then our vice chair has a few questions. Yes. Thank you. Thank you very much.
hi hi good afternoon hi have you emailed in all the work have you have you been able to email in
all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to proceed with this case five days in
advance thank you please proceed and share your screen okay um oh you you mean to put your put
your documents up on the computer okay should be that screen share screen button yes i just i okay
yeah there you go you're coming up yep coming up now
okay what i'm trying to do i'm trying to renovate and convert uh both uh the basement
with the two-call garages into a living space.
Could you start showing us some of the photos?
Which ones do you want?
I'm sorry.
Let's see the property first, so it makes it a little bit easier.
Oh, my computer is really slow today.
I don't know what's going on.
i'm not sure why it's not opening i'm so sorry so let me let me say this do you have pictures
of the garage and the basement yes i do actually um i'll just get that right now
I'm sure it has to be in photos.
why don't we do this why don't i take a couple other cases and then maybe in like 25 minutes
a half hour i'll bring you back on and you can see if you can get them open okay okay you know
i don't know why it's not opening actually okay all right so why don't we do this here yep i'm
sorry to interrupt um maybe if she exit out of the share screen pull up the documents and then
reshare her screen, we'll be able to see. Okay. Why don't we do that? Okay. So what should I do?
Stop sharing your screen, then pull up the documents, and then share it again. Okay. Got it. Okay. Got it.
and then share again i think she said right yes she said share again
Okay. Well, you know what? I'm sorry. I think I'm going to have to.
I'll call you back in about a half hour. Okay.
Okay. That sounds good. Thank you.
Maybe you can figure out where we stand. Okay. Thank you very much, ma'am.
Yes. Thank you.
So let's go to number three.
MI 2024-000811.
626 South Front Street.
Adam Laver is the attorney.
There's a letter of support from the Queen Village Neighbors Association and a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Squilla.
Chair, we have a Marianne Garber with their hand raised.
I will allow them to speak.
Good afternoon. Can everyone hear me?
I can. Are you an attorney?
I am, yes.
I'm an attorney with Buchanan Ingersoll, and I'm here in place of Adam Laver, who was unable
to attend the-
Okay, okay.
All right, and you're ready to go forward, am I correct?
Can everybody still hear me?
We can.
Could you state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Certainly.
Marianne, M-A-R-Y-A-N-N-E, Garber, G-A-R-B as in boy, E-R.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client in relationship to the property?
I represent Carl and Margaret Massara, and they are the owners of 626 South Front Street.
And our vice chair has just a few questions.
Certainly.
Good afternoon, Counsel. Do you agree to read the refusal or stipulate towards accuracy?
I'm sorry, can you repeat that?
Do you agree to read the refusal or stipulate towards accuracy?
Yes, I will stipulate to the accuracy of the notice of refusal.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, we have. Exhibits 1 through 13.
Thank you, counsel. Please proceed and share your screen.
Okay. I just need to figure out how to share my screen. Here we go. Share.
All right.
Can everybody see my screen?
Yeah. We see it now. Yes.
Okay. Wonderful. So my name is Marianne Garber.
I represent Mr. and Mrs. Massara. Mr. Massara is a longtime Philadelphia resident and a beloved
member of the Philadelphia community. Not only is he the owner of the property in question,
but he's also the architect for the project that he's proposing. And he's, in fact, quite an
and he's in fact quite an accomplished architect. He's done extensive number of projects throughout
accomplished architect. He's done extensive.
the city, including numerous historic renovations. And this particular project at 626 Front Street
is near and dear to his heart because he is wanting to renovate this property to use as
his primary residence and to relocate there. They're looking to relocate there because his
daughter lives in the neighborhood, and so that's why they purchased this property in July of 2023.
The Massaras are looking to work with the existing structure that's there, which historically had
been used as a single-family residence. There was some shortish period of time prior to their
ownership where it was used for commercial purposes, but he's looking to renovate the
project or renovate the building rather and restore it to the single family use that it
was originally built for. So they're just looking to make exterior and interior improvements to the
existing building. They are not changing the footprint. They are not adding square footage.
They're not adding any kind of addition. It's truly just interior and exterior
renovations. So we're looking here at what is exhibit seven in the packet, and these are the
plans that were reviewed by L&I. And so if you can see my cursor here, there are historic photos
from the early 1900s and then 1950, 1960 era, or era rather, and this is where you can see the
historic residential use with sort of this two-story or three-story structure here and then
a one-story structure adjacent with a rooftop deck and a small enclosed area here. When the