ZBA Hearing - August 13, 2025

tell you the condition and notices when they when they reach the party so i apologize if they were

ripped up in any way um but our information's on there so someone can always contact us too

even if if they miss the community meeting and especially before the zba um none of the issues

he mentioned are zoning related issues um the party wall that there's utility meters on the

party wall that's not allowed but we'll work through with the next door neighbor to responsibly

coordinate their repositioning of those utility meters so they would be allowed um he was

mentioning about like like trucks and things like that those that's not commercial nature that's

industrial nature and there's the north 8th street side there is some i2 use that's why we

have the mixed zoning um i think it's more appropriate to have that residential use

with the cmx too which is a majority of our lot um and then the thing with the poison ivy as well

like obviously we're going to be responsible um as well thank you is there anyone else in the

Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?

virtual audience chair I see no

Chair, I see no hands at this time.

Planning Commission.

Good afternoon, Chair.

Michael Gall with the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.

The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing split I-2 medium industrial

and CMX-2 commercial mixed-use zoning at this location.

The proposed multifamily residential use at this scale is consistent with similar uses

in the immediate vicinity.

Therefore, the City Planning Commission recommends the board grant the requested variances for multifamily residential use, lack of commercial ground floor use, minimum lot area, parking, and off-street loading, but recommends the board deny the requested variance for lack of bicycle parking.

All right. Thank you.

Alan, I'm going to hold this until next Wednesday.

We'll vote at 2 p.m.

All right.

We'll take it to the executive session and just go over a couple issues, okay?

All right. Thank you.

All right. Thank you.

Hold on one minute.

So now we're going to go back to our regular list and we're going to go to number three, and it's Mr. Nockamson.

So, MI-2025-001-867-1615 West Tioga Street.

Alan Nockamson is the attorney.

There's a letter of support from Allegheny West Civic Association, and the applicant provided zoning history documents.

Mr. Nockamson, could you just state your name for the record?

Yes, Alan Nockamson.

Could you identify your client and relationship to the property?

Yes.

My client is the property owner, W. Tioga Holdings, LLC.

And in the virtual audience is one of his representatives, Brian Wise.

And our genetic ram has a few questions for you.

Good afternoon again.

Have you submitted your documents five days in advance of this hearing?

Yes.

And thank you.

And do you weigh the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?

I do.

Okay.

Thank you.

You can share your screen and proceed with your case.

All right.

Thank you.

all right so we're here to present 1615 west tioga street corner is at the corner of tioga

and smedley uh you'll see in the packet of materials we have 12 exhibits we notified 86

neighbors or properties of the community meeting which took place on june 17th and we received a

letter of non-opposition from the community group. So the first things we'll review is the notice of

refusal. This is an RSA 5 property and you'll see later in the packet the planning commission is

recommended as part of the 2035 plan to make this as an RM1 property. The lot size is 2,557 square

feet and if this was an RM1 property this would be allowed as a right. What you'll also see during

the presentation, after I show you the letter of support, it's actually a letter of support,

not non-opposition, but a letter of support is they were overwhelmingly in support of this project.

My client focuses on affordable housing. He's been in front of this board before, Brian Wise.

So not only is he a developer, he's also a general contractor. He can answer any questions you have

that's related to that. But they embrace the fact that he does embrace affordable

housing as part of his projects and then you can see the vote count and i believe that mr richardson

was also present during the community meeting so if he's online he will you know reaffirm like what

they stated and hopefully we'll have their non-opposition to this project so this property

has a long history of multi-family use as you can see here it goes as far back as 1965 so it's not

out of character to have multifamily use, even though this is an RSA 5 property. Again, the North

District Plan recommends that this become an RM1 property, which would allow this use as a matter

of rights. Aerial views of the property. It's a vacant lot currently. There's many vacant lots

next door. It's also not out of character to have multifamily here. There's a seven unit,

according to the city records at 1605-07 West Tioga Street.

1601-03 was approved as a 13 unit.

And 1610 West Tioga Street is also multifamily as well.

And then maps of the area.

Again, it's a quintessential corner property.

You would expect it to have multi-units in here,

especially given its size of almost 2,600 square feet.

This is the property from West Tioga Street.

It's been vacant, you know, as far back as Google Street View goes, 2008.

It's almost a generation.

This is the property from Smedley Street.

This is the property from Smedley Street, and then this is as far back as it goes on Google Street View on Smedley Street since 2012 as a vacant lot.

And then this is...

Because we face two public streets, obviously we put a notice poster on each public street for today's hearing.

This is West Tioga Street to the right of the property, to the left of the property.

Smedley Street to the right of the property, to the left of the property.

Our plans and drawings, and this project was drawn up by Mass Architecture Studio, so Master Pascua should be in the virtual audience.

He can answer any architecturally related questions.

This is, I believe, two and a half feet out of the ground and six and a half feet in the ground in the lower level.

this is looking at it from Smedley Street and this is looking at it elevation wise from Tioga

Street so the floor plans are pretty basic you have unit number one you come into the front door

you make a left this is a bi-level unit in the lower level which is this again it's a corner

property there's a storage area and just an open area what we've seen is a lot of people

working from home. And so it's not intended to be a bedroom down there. It's just meant to be a

separate living area, like maybe an office, maybe a secondary living area, like a living room of

some sort. And so that's unit number one. Unit number two is the rear unit over here. And it's

a similar type of floor plan. We have a first floor and then a lower level. We would agree to

a couple provisos commercial trash pickup and trash stored outside because we can leverage the

fact there's a rear yard accessible to everyone instead of the first two units we go to um up to

up a flight of steps to units uh you know to a common hallway where you make a left or a right

and those are also one bedroom apartments all on one level and then you just go to up another flight

to the third floor and again it's the same thing they're one bedroom apartments

we met with the community again june 17th we sent out notice to 86 addresses proof of mailing to

those addresses list of addresses our application for appeal that we followed on w tioga holdings

behalf one of the notice of refusal in the project information form the deed to the property showing

that they own the property and then finally uh the tax clearance certificate showing that this

entity owes no money as this

property. I would ask

that Mr. Wise virtually raise his hand

and be sworn in.

He's coming back in as a panelist now,

Chair. Thank you.

Mr. Wise, please accept the invite

to be promoted to panelists.

he should be popping in shortly chair sure thank you

good afternoon everyone hi mr wise how are you sir could you please state your name and spell

for the stenographer?

Brian Wise, B-R-I-A-N-W-I-S-E.

Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,

the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

Yes, I do.

Counsel?

Yes, Mr. Wise, you heard everything

I had to state about your zoning matter.

Yes.

Is it true and correct?

Correct.

And do you adopt this as your own testimony?

I do.

Thank you.

Questions from the board.

So so can you go back over your your your basement depth below grade and the use of the basement?

Yeah, I can enlarge your screen.

I think this is. Oops, not going.

I'm trying to get to let me unshare for a second get back into sharing let me just

all right let's try to get to the previous page

are there trash rooms in each of the units uh yes there are there's ventilated trash closets

uh so you can see here it the whole basement's nine feet right it says it here and then it talks

about above grade it's two and a half feet right here so you're you're over six feet below grade

So you're, you're over six feet below grade. I'd recommend raising that up as much as possible. And it looks like you'd still be able to be under the 38 feet, which would be, which would work.

I'd recommend raising that up.

um but other than that the fact that the basement is not being used for a bedroom

um and you do have looks to be pretty adequate maybe living space on the on the first floor

um that's not such a a bad thing yeah let me try to get to the floor plans but yeah i i think my

client purposefully selected these floor plans in a way that made sense try to have any of the heavy

duty living on the first floor of these units and then have low dent lower density living and

storage down there on in the lower levels all right and you have direct access to the backyard

from the first floor from a uh living is that a living area is that a rear this is a the one the

one unit owner

in the

unit on the first floor in the lower level

has exclusive access to that

rear yard but it will be

compartmentalized to be able to store the trash

for everyone

Alan do you have the floor plan that shows

the separation in the trash area

in the rear yard area for the first floor

tenant yeah I thought I did

maybe it's on a different let me

see where it is I saw it

when I was prepping I don't know

let's see oh here it is right here

So the first floor center has their own rear yard access for their trash, and then the other tenants have their separate area for rear charge rear trash inside.

So it's not on the street. So they bring it out before trash day.

They have access from that because it's a corner corner building. Yes. Yeah, they have access from that that door right there. Thank you.

Other questions from the board.

Questions or comments from our attorney Hillary Emerson.

Not at this time, Mr. Chair. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?

Chair, we have Daniel Trubman with his hand up. I'll allow him to speak.

Daniel Trubman, please unmute yourself.

i'm not sure why the button hit sir could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer

i didn't mean to raise my hand i'm sorry my bad okay thank you any other questions or comments

from the virtual audience chair we have charles richardson he has been unmuted and allowed to

speak good afternoon mr richardson good afternoon mr chair please just state your name and spell

for the stenographer please certainly charles richardson r-i-c-h-a-r-d-s-o-n office of

councilwoman cindy bassford 508 city hall you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth

and nothing but the truth i do please proceed uh the councilman has no opposition to granting

the variance thank you for taking the time to calls we appreciate it anyone else in the virtual

audience i see no hands here planning commission good afternoon chair members of the board michael

gall with the philadelphia city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends

no change to the residential single family attached zoning at this location there are a

number of multi multi-family dwelling units on the block and the appellant has demonstrated that

there are unlikely to be many detrimental impacts on the immediate community what beyond what might

be expected therefore the city planning commission recommends the board grant the requested variance

for multifamily use.

MI 2025-001-867-1615

with Tioga Street.

I vote yes with proviso.

Commercial trash pickup,

trash stored inside.

Thank you.

Michael Jones,

my vote is yes with proviso.

Cheryl Gaston,

my vote is yes with proviso.

Tanetta Graham,

my vote is yes with proviso.