Mr. Foulkes, you're still muted. Okay, can we, are we clear now?
Good morning. I'm sorry, I'm in City Hall on my phone. Sloan Foulkes, Office of Councilwoman Maria
candidate sanchez room 508 city hall we're confirmed to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes i do sir good morning i am uh uh i'm uh on case number mi2020-002812830
east thayer street uh case number 14 um we don't have a record of the applicant meeting with the
RCO, therefore requesting a continuance until such time as they do.
Thank you. Is there anyone here regarding 830 East Thayer Street?
No hands at this time, Chair.
Okay, so MI 2020-002812. 830 East Thayer Street is continued.
thank you anyone else continuance or withdrawal the 9 30 list chair we have henry clinton
mr clinton you can unmute yourself and speak uh good morning mr chairman i may have missed this
i just want to confirm that 63 24 newtown has been continued we did send a letter in but i
okay continued at your request thank you very much i appreciate it thank you
anyone else continuance or withdrawal from the 9 30 list
there are no hands at this time chair okay uh carol i'll do the add-ons and then we'll get
into the regular list uh mi 2020 that's zero zero three two eight three two one zero zero
0-02 Ruffner Street. My vote is no. My vote is no. My vote is no. My vote is no. My vote is no.
Thank you. The next case is MI 2020-0003481957 North 24th Street. We announced that we would
hold this vote to the end of the last session. Excuse me, the last time this case was heard.
Is Mary Jones available?
She was not expected to come back. Okay. All right. Just want to make sure she's on the
record. Excuse me, Ms. Jones is here. She just raised her hand. Oh, sorry about that. Ms. Jones?
ms jones you can yes speak yes good morning please identify yourself and i'll swear you in
um mary jones council president daryl clark uh city hall room one excuse me 494
you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
I do please proceed um yes I just I was able to I spoke to a member of the community um
excuse me I'm sorry later on in the day oh sorry that's okay this is Sharon Saleta because this
was only going to be the planning commission recommendation and a vote if we are going to
hear further testimony, can we see if Mr. Dwyer is in attendance? Oh, okay. Okay, I understand.
Oh, well, he may be here. I don't know if he is.
And what we're waiting, let's get to the recommendation of the Planning Commission.
Thank you.
Ian you're muted just thank you Pauline good morning Territico members of the board Ian
Hegarty on behalf of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission that's I-A-N-H-E-G-A-R-T-Y
thank you you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
I do please proceed okay thank you the comprehensive plan recommends single family
use for this property. This is a block of primarily two-story single-family homes.
We recognize there's an adjacent non-conformity, but we don't see any
unique physical characteristics that would prevent this building from being used in
accordance with the base zoning, and so we would recommend that the Board deny the variance.
Thank you. This is Sharon again. If we are going to take additional testimony from Ms. Jones,
i think it's going to have to be rescheduled so that mr dwyer can be present um yes this is tanya
sunkett i did communicate with the applicant that he did not have to be present because it would
only be for a vote
ms jones uh we got a recommendation uh from the planning commission uh the board is probably uh
at least i'm inclined to honor that recommendation do you still need time or could we just vote this
and get it over? Our office will be in line with that recommendation, just based on further
information we received from the community. Okay, thank you very much. All right, so Sharon,
we can vote this, right? Yes. Okay, MI 2020-000348, 1957 North 24th Street, my vote is no.
Someone has an open mic and we're getting feedback.
My vote is no.
My vote is no.
My vote is no.
Thank you.
MI 2020-002412, 503 South 6th Street, and MI 2020-001, 961, 505 South 5th Street.
This is request for reconsideration. My vote is yes to reconsideration and rehearing.
This will vacate the original decision. My vote is yes to reconsideration and rehearing.
Yes to reconsideration and rehearing. Yes to reconsideration and rehearing.
Yes to reconsideration and rehearing.
Thank you. We now will go to the resumption hearing for MI 2020-002-476-2214-22 North
4th Street. The attorney's Adam Laver. And I believe this was a resumption hearing at
the request of Mr. Folks, who represents Councilwoman Sanchez.
So, maybe we go to Mr. Foulkes first.
We should probably confirm that Mr. Laver is present.
Mr. Foulkes?
Mr. Foulkes?
I'm available.
I'm waiting on Mr. Laver.
Good morning.
He's here.
Mr. Laver, you've been unmuted.
You can speak.
i promoted him to panelists he should come right in
adam laver of blank rome one logan square philadelphia pa 19103
you swear to firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do mr chairman thank you um we're waiting we have i don't think there was anything else to add
unless you have anything mr laver or any is there any further discussion with the rco or the
councilwoman's office we we've been in touch with sloan folks several times perhaps uh i did hear
the chairman suggest that he speak first i might wish to add a word after he does but
i think that's a good suggestion okay mr folks you're still under oath good morning again sloan
folks, Office of Councilman Sanchez from 508 City Hall. Our office requested that the hearing
be held for two weeks. We did receive two letters from the community, one with no decision
and one right before the meeting that said non-support. The non-support was based on
a very close vote in the community, and we had thought, Councilman's office had thought
that there was some more discussion between the community and the applicants that
that there was some more discussion between the community and the applicant that could be had that
might resolve any outstanding issues the applicant was very willing to meet with the community
and we've had several discussions with the applicant regarding that meeting
unfortunately that meeting didn't take place that meeting didn't take place not because
community didn't want to meet didn't want to meet but because there was pretty much after
After the coordinating RCOs had spoken with the attendees of the meeting, there was pretty much a resolve in non-opposition.
The non-opposition was based on two factors. Again, as we said, it was a very close spoke.
Non-opposition was based on two factors, density and parking.
um there was but to be fair there was opposition i mean there was support um based on home ownership
and the opportunity for home ownership in the community um again we had hoped that there could
be a resolution uh uh that uh that would have an outcome that would be beneficial to both the
applicants and the um community but unfortunately that didn't happen so that's like that's the
Councilman's statement. All right. Mr. Laver. Very briefly, Mr. Chairman. I think Mr. Polk said
it best. There's a variety of thoughts in the community on this project. However, there's a
very good working relationship in place with community leadership and neighbors, and there
are several positive attributes to transform this vacant lot, which is used unofficially
by others for car repair for uh owner occupied living uh which means the spoken spirit of the
code there is a full record and i sense that the board would like to move forward so um we we hope
that the board agrees that this is uh appropriate for variance relief if there are questions i can
starting to speak further. Thank you. Is there any questions from the board? No. No. No.
Anyone else would like to testify in this case? If so, please raise your hand.
There are no hands at this time, Chair. Thank you. Planning Commission?
Thank you, Chair DiCicco, Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
This property is indicated for single-family use on the comprehensive plan.
The application represents an overuse of the scale and the density by creating new undersized lots.
Accordingly, we would object to the granting of the variance at this location.
Okay. MI 2020-002476-2214-22 North 4th Street. My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Okay, Carol, I think we're ready for the
Ready to roll. Calendar number 2756, 1511 South 15th Street. The attorney is Vern Anastasio.
Letter of Opposition from the RCO.
Right. South Broad Street Neighborhood Association.
Mr. Anastasio, you've been promoted to panelists.
good morning sir can you put your name and address on the record and then i'll swear you in
yes good morning verne anastasio 1315 walnut suite 1006 philadelphia 19107
do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do do you also agree to wave and wave the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy? I do. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance,
refusal referral, photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing
and have you met with the RCO and do you have a letter? Yes to all that. Thank you. You may
proceed. Thank you. I'm going to share my screen. Thank you. Okay. Please confirm that you could
see it? We can. I can. Okay, great. Very good. This is a vacant lot on 1500 block of South 15th
Street. And the application initially was for a six-filling. This is an unusual case. This has
This is an unusual case. This has been going on since 2019.
It's been going on since 2019.
Brian, excuse me.
Brian, excuse me, you broke up. You said it was originally for, and then we didn't hear you.
You broke.
This project was originally for six-family dwelling, and this case has been going on since 2019.
We've been working in tandem with the East Point Breeze Civic Association, led at the time by Joe Iskowitz,
and we met with them several times. It was our intention to get compliant with all dimensional
variances based on the back and forth between the East Point Breeze folks.
And what we were basically explaining to them was what my client would like to do
instead of building a 5,700 square foot single family home from the ground up, and then having
to sell it for just under a million dollars, she'd like to be able to offer three 1,500 square feet
condominiums, each a couple bedrooms, so that folks can come into the housing market in this
growing area at an approach more approachable price point you know not everybody can afford
$750,000 single family home so we thought we were on the same page at the end of our
discussions and several meetings with the leadership of East Point Breeze however at some
point uh and before this hearing uh there was a switch which and the rco leadership
at some point and then we lost you i'm sorry about that i don't know why the internet's
acting up today uh at some point it was the south broad street uh rco that was selected
and east point breeze was no longer a part of that conversation so then we met with them and
of course we tried to explain to them that we had been in doing good faith negotiations with
east point breeze for quite some time we came up with the uh being 100 compliant on all dimensional
variances and but we'd still like to offer three nice sized condominiums instead of a three quarters
of a million dollar home. We hear a lot about gentrification and folks being priced out of the
community. And we thought this was a nice solution to that problem. Instead of a 5,600 square foot
single, we'd offer three 1,500 square feet of homes. So South Broad Street, however,
Robert decided that that wasn't good enough. So that's, this is where we are. You know, I.
Lost you again, Vernon.
It's just a matter of.
We lost you. We lost you again. You said something about South Broad Street, and then we lost you.
Okay. I have submitted the revised plans to Attorney Soleta with the proviso sheet.
So I just wanted to give you the history of this project.
This is the actual plot plan. Here's the elevation.
We've got three beautiful apartments.
excuse me counselor yeah can you can you enlarge the floor plans sure
we have uh the basement is just an office and a family room and a den we have the first floor unit
which would be a bedroom in the back a bedroom in the middle
and a very large living and dining area with full open space kitchen
got the same layout on the second floor and the identical layout on the third floor
and by by no means are these going to be cheap units these are brand new construction
10-year tax abatement they're going to be going for you know three hundred thousand dollars
uh so it's not like uh there's going to be a diminishment of value on the block
we just simply she would like to simply build a product that's more approachable
than than what she would be forced to build under the code
and we're 100 compliant with the dimension now we've got a 25 foot backyard
Each unit has plenty of space for trash.
each unit has plenty of space for trash
Here's the proof of posting.
We have our deed, our tax cert, of course the South Broad Street folks weighed in, and
of course here's our proof that we mailed 190 pieces of mail.
Now, so the total number of RCO meetings, we've actually had are four, three with the
East Point Breeze, where we got into the negotiated three-family dwelling, and then one with
the South Broad Street folks.
And with that, I'm going to ask my client, Michelle Huang, to raise her hand.
Ms. Wang, you can unmute yourself and speak.
Good morning, this is Michelle Huang, H-U-A-N-G, 8901 Dewey Street, D-E-W-E-E-S Street, Philadelphia,
PA-19152.
We're going to affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Michelle, did you hear what my presentation today before the board?
And was it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?