ZBA Hearing - March 10, 2021

We do have utility rooms situated on each of the floors,

which would allow for trash storage

to put it out of the way in between trash pickup.

As I previously mentioned,

we will have commercial trash pickup

as part of this rental property.

And the third floor, as I mentioned,

is a mirror image of the bottom floor.

It's a little bit larger bedrooms

because of how the stairs work in.

but these are substantially sized units and my client hopes to do a higher end renovation to

provide some quality housing to the neighborhood that's severely been lacking in affordable rental

options. I did mention previously there are other multi-family properties on the block

and at exhibit 10 are just some of the references to the other properties that have multi-family.

2138, which is three doors down, is approved for a triplex use, three-family dwelling.

2143, North 21st Street, is approved for a two-family dwelling.

2151, North 21st Street, again, is a triplex.

And 2161 is currently approved for a three-family dwelling, triplex.

so we did we are tax compliant I have included a copy of the deed as part of the package and we

met with provided notice to all the RCOs we do a full letter of support and we would request that

the board allow grant the variance to allow the first floor to be used for a third rental unit

rather than the existing permitted use of a commercial doctor's office that really isn't

viable at this location or desired by the community.

Mr. McElhatton, listen to me.

I'm sorry.

Do you have your client?

Mr. Brown, can you, he's on his phone.

He's on a computer to view the images, but is on his phone to speak.

You can get him on just to adopt your testimony.

Yes.

Can you please hit star nine to raise your hand so that you can be brought in to speak?

Does this phone number end in 7731? That's correct. Okay.

That's correct.

Okay.

Mr. Brown, you can unmute yourself and speak.

Good morning, Mr. Brown. Please identify yourself with a wrecker and I'll swear you in.

Yes, how you doing? My name is Deshay Brown, D-A-S-H-A-Y, last name Brown, B-R-O-W-N.

You swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

yes thank you mr mckelhenny mr brown did you hear the statements that i put on the record this

morning yes and to the best of your knowledge were they true and accurate yes and would you

adopt those statements as your own statements absolutely i have no further questions

questions from the board no no no what else would like to testify in this case if so please raise

your hand here we have a tina marie russell miss russell you can unmute yourself and speak

good morning can you hear me yes please identify yourself with the record and i'll swear you in

tina marie russell north central philadelphia cdc

firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do please proceed okay so

we agree with this project we have the further you have the following provisos

okay so um we would like to we would like to make sure that um the the front of the

the uh building is consistent with the nature of our community as far as the outside appearance

that is something that is not enforceable by the board but please proceed okay then we would also

like to um again get a construction schedule for the residents and we would like to make sure

there's no basement dwelling and we would like to um ensure how do we ensure if that's possible

that there's indeed a doctor's office going to be in that location and that is not going to be

enforceable by us we can uh do the proviso uh prohibiting any living guests quarters in the

basement okay so and there's no way to put prohibiting um because i understand that he's

looking to put a doctor's office there correct no it's three apartments you're right three apartments

We're requesting three, yeah.

It was prior you

permitted for a doctor's office. There's no

desire for a doctor's office at this

location.

Okay, so then we would like to make,

sorry, do we have a schedule of the

And then we'd also like to see if

the applicant would be agreeable

to utilizing the

workforce from the community.

Laura, that's going to be

the appointment.

Say it again, sorry.

First floor will be an apartment.

It'll be three units.

No, I'm saying the workforce.

I'm saying he could use the-

Oh, workforce.

Again, that is something you need to work out

with the attorney and the developer.

Okay.

All right?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

There are no other hands at this time, Chair.

Thank you.

Planning Commission?

Thank you, Chair DeChico.

Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.

The comprehensive plan recommends no change

to the single family zoning on this site however the proposed uses are consistent with the prior

approved uses for two dwelling units in a separate professional office unit and so the city planning

commission recommends that the zoning board grant the variance. Thank you MI 2020-002745

2132 North 21st Street my vote is yes with the proviso no residential use of the basement.

yes with proviso

yes with proviso

yes with proviso

yes with proviso

calendar number

1317

3101

Cotman Avenue

the attorney is

Joe Consul

Mr. Consul you've been promoted

to panelists you can unmute and speak he's already been sworn in carol okay thank you

mr consul can you put your name and address on the record please yes it's joseph consul

that's c-o-n-s-o-l-e address 1 west 3rd street suite 204 media pennsylvania one nine zero six

three do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy

I do, yes.

Have you mailed the email packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal, referral, photos and or.

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

uh the everything but for the rco bit we had spoken earlier regarding the rco situation where

my client had met with them twice uh and um they uh had asked me to come back once i got involved

uh the client wanted to um put this part of the hearing on the record and earlier we agreed that

we could do that and hold a decision pending my meeting with the rco which will be next week

okay you may proceed uh i'm trying to figure out how to share my screen um

they want to do that on a windows computer i apologize i'm working on a colleague's computer

right now if you have yes i can help you thank you if you look at the bottom of your screen on

the zoom you'll see the share screen button the green one oh it's different than how it normally

is okay but but you should right you're working it now all right uh i'm all right thank you

okay uh this is 3103 cotman avenue uh philadelphia pa um the owner is mr chen

um he purchased this this property uh and at the time it was purchased uh it still uh on the

outside appeared to be a spine center what's sort of like confusing about this property is and if

you look through the zoning archives 3101 and 3103 the first what what here appears to be the

ground floor, but there's actually another ground floor around the side of 3101. But the floor that

you see here is one doctor's office that spans both of these two units, that 3101 and 3103.

And in the zoning archives, it's been approved. And in the past, in 2008, when this was applied

for and approved they they squeezed both uh applications onto one or both both addresses

onto one application and it got approved as such um see if i can bring that up

uh so going through the archive here there's just several examples uh here's one um where they

discuss both 3101 and 3103. So the setup of the properties is actually on the ground floor,

3101 and 3103 have a doctor's office. On the second floor, there is one unit at the top of

3101 and one unit at the top of 3103. And then around the side on the ground floor, there is

another unit on 3101. So when my clients applied this time to change the professional use from a

doctor's office to a real estate office, they got a refusal for both the commercial use on the first

floor, but also for both of the residential units. These units and the office have been

occupied since 2008. There's tenants in both of the units in 3101. It's just confusing. And

admittedly, I've been wrapping my head around how to present it because the doctor's office

occupies both properties um and it had been approved as as such prior to that and the more

that i say it out loud the more i realize it's probably where some of the rco confusion came in

as well uh and um yeah so that that's sort of the situation so um we have a doctor's office

that they want to use as a real estate office the floor plans of which are included here

And then 3101 has two of its own units, and that has had a continuous rental license, and is currently occupied as a two-unit building.

So it's sort of a weird one, but what they're seeking to do is use it as two units and a doctor's office, but that office spans two properties.

and they want to use it instead of a doctor's office

as a real estate office.

I'd like to call my client, Mr. Chen,

to speak about this a little bit more.

If you could raise your hand.

Mr. Chen, you can unmute yourself and speak.

Mr. Chen, please identify yourself with the record, first and last name.

Goufeng Chen.

Tell your full name, please.

G-A-L-F-E-N-G, and last name, C-H-E-N.

We're in front of the tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

Yes.

Please proceed.

Good morning, Mr. Chen. Have you heard my testimony so far?

Yes.

Could you explain to the board the setup of 3101 and how that relates to 3103 and the current use of each of those properties?

uh there is my doctor office there when i bought this property and then there is my um

unit tennis living there also yeah so that's what i was saying is you have uh two units

rented there you have two rental licenses for 3101 and one person for 3103 yeah so

3103 that rental license is not in question that that's you've had that's been in existence since

2008 um but because you tried to convert the the doctor's office to a real estate office

the refusal now calls into question um both the uh the use of the commercial space and the two

rental units is that correct yes yes okay uh i don't have much more to add except perhaps when

to meet with the RCO I could send a more thorough letter to the board explaining everything along

with what we're hopeful will be the RCO's approval on this or any question you want you want to ask

your client if he adopts your testimony yes uh Mr. Chen do you adopt my testimony as if it was your

own yes do you have anything else you'd like to add hey Joe can you show the picture around the

buildings everything is true um yeah i can you want me to show some of the pictures that you sent

yeah for the whole buildings oh so we have examples of other corner properties uh right

around that that have commercial spaces that are set up similar to ours but i don't think that's

necessarily. Thank you. Any questions from the board? No. No. No. It'll be a resumption,

but I'll ask, does anyone else like to testify?

There are no hands at this time, Chair. Planning Commission. Thank you, Chair DeChico. Ian

Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan recommends

no change to the existing single family at this location. However, the variance recognizes

a documented non-conforming use, and so the City Planning Commission has no opposition.

We recommend that the Board grant the variance.

Thank you. Tanya, do we have a date? April 28th at 9.30.

April 28th at 9.30. Okay. MI 2020-001-317-3101 Cotman Avenue. This hearing will be resumed on April the 28th at 9.30 a.m., at which time the board will consider any feedback related to the RCO's position.

Thank you, board.

Thank you.

Have a nice day.

Thank you.

You too.

Calendar number 2790-4515 East Thompson Street.

Mr. Robert Hunter or Kyrie Hunter available.

There are no heads at this time, Chair.

Okay, MI 2020 does 0027904515 East Thompson Street. My understanding, Sharon, there are no

exhibits, correct? No exhibits and it is the first listing. All right, well I'm gonna, I think we're

gonna move things along a little bit differently. So this case will be continued, must be heard.

okay we are on nine calendar number 1651 6130 west past yonk avenue

steve pollock is the attorney i think

mr pollock you've been promoted to panelist you can speak

Mr. Pollack, you've been promoted to panelists. You can speak.

I think I raised my hand.

I can hear you. Mr. Pollack, put your name and address on the record, and then I'll swear you in.