Thank you.
okay chair we have 21 attendees and you can start as you wish thank you good morning everyone my
name is Bill Bergman and I will be chairing this morning ZBA hearings. With me is our vice chair
Ismail Shahid. Present Mr. Chairman. Our board member Thomas Holloman. Present Mr. Chairman.
And our board member James Snow. Present Mr. Chairman. Also present is Hillary Emerson our
attorney and also our executive director Tanya Sumter. Here's our virtual format. Be advised
the proceedings are being recorded, a video will be available by contacting tonyasunkett
at phila.gov. For the benefit of our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses
to identify themselves before they testify. If you're participating by phone and you wish to
testify, 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 the address for the property in question. And finally,
the question answer box on the screen is not for comments or testimony. Any comments should be
directed to our Executive Director, Tanya Sumkin. Let's look at our continuations for today.
Okay. Number two, MI 2022-007-286-1716-18 Addison Avenue. This case has been continued by the
board pending the resolution of a related appeal for the same property. And also number five,
MI 2022-003-757-2024-28, North 22nd Street, this case is continued. Is there anyone has any
comments about the two cases that have been continued.
Good morning, Chair. This is Doreen Blakey, and I will be your co-host this morning.
Thank you.
You're welcome. I have Darwin Uves. His hand was up.
Just went down, and now I have a Steve Masters with his hand up.
I will allow him to speak.
Okay, so hold on a minute. Let me bring that. I know what the case is. Let me bring it up.
yes have have darwin and steve both come in okay
they're they're both in okay
good morning mr masters could you state your name please and spell for the court reporter
Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the board. My name is Steve Masters, S-T-E-V-E, M-A-S-T-E-R-S. I represent two RCOs in opposition to Mr. Bovee's.
Just for the record, the case is MI 2021-004-548-4306-208 Parkside-Ap.
And do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, Mr. Masters?
Mr. Beauvais, could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Gladly. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
My name is Darwin Beauvais, that's B-E-A-U-V as in Victory, A-I-S as in Sam, representing the applicant.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Mr. Beauvais, I understand you're requesting a continuance?
Yeah, this...
Would you please state why?
Yes, this started out as a, I was approached by counsel to enter into negotiations for a settlement.
enter into negotiations for a settlement. And as recent as yesterday, we sat down and we talked
and as
and our negotiations, and I forwarded the two significant emails for the board to look at,
whereas they requested that we enter into negotiations to talk about settlement. I said,
all right, let me check with my client. My client agreed, but I also said that we wanted to have a
global settlement. Just by giving the board a little background, this is not the first time
this community group has been upset and wanted to protest one of my client's projects. So there's
been growing animosity between the parties. There have been past ill will, and I said,
okay, let's try to address everything. They approached us for settlement. I said,
okay, that's fine. Let's do that. Let's continue this for at least a week or however for the next
day, and we can resolve everything. In the evening, yesterday evening, I get an email
from council saying, oh, you misunderstood. That's not what we meant. And, and I believe
the board got a email from council saying, oh, we still want to move forward, even though we
want to talk settlement. That's confusing, Mr. Chairman. So how is it that you want to discuss
settlement? Even they gave the board their, what they believe the offer is never spoke to me or
my client about this until late last night with an addendum that even came in at 11 p.m.
And now they're saying, oh, we want to move forward.
I'm completely lost here.
Good morning, Mr. Masters.
Could you respond?
So a number of weeks ago, my clients did ask me to approach Darwin and explore a settlement.
You know, we had a conversation at an event that we were both attending in Center City.
We then exchanged some emails.
We tried to schedule a negotiation session for last week.
That wasn't possible or over the weekend because of scheduling.
We had hoped to schedule it yesterday.
And Mr. Beauvais did participate in a Zoom meeting with our clients, but his client wasn't there.
And there was some communication challenges between my paralegal and me.
So Mr. Bovee was not aware that when we asked him to join a Zoom, we were hoping to negotiate with him.
He did go and talk to his client and get authority to do that.
But at that point, when I then went to my clients, they instructed me that they would prefer to move forward today and to, they do have a compromise proposal that we've shared with Mr. Bovee that we want to share with the board in the interest of coming up with a solution that could be to benefit both the community and the applicant here.
But we don't, my clients don't see a good reason to postpone this a couple weeks where basically we have a proposal of, you know, a lesser number of units that the community would find acceptable in this project.
And we wanted to present that as part of our testimony today.
So we feel that, especially because this board has indicated that you want to have written arguments, you know, after the conclusion of all testimonies, so we're not going to have a vote at the conclusion of our hearing today.
We think that would be the most constructive use of the board's time and of moving this process forward.
So my clients, while they had, you know, been seeking conversations and negotiations for quite some time, at this point, since it's at the last minute, they believe that the best way to do this would be to present our suggestion for, you know, smaller amount of units, and the board can consider that in its deliberations.
Thank you.
Go ahead, Darwin.
That is, that is so manipulative, right?
Because it actually, he created a situation where he wants to negotiate right now and settle this.
and settle this. Mr. Masters, do you want to respond to what he just said?
I understand. Mr. Masters.
I mean, Darwin and I are friends. As a friend, I would say to him that that was an uncalled for
attack on me. But no, we look at the history of this. If we go back and look at the transcripts
on this case, back to 2021, there were different times where the community reached out and wanted
to have conversations. When they hired me quite a long time ago, we reached out and wanted to
have conversations with Mr. Bovee and his client, and the client wasn't interested.
Okay, okay. So for both parties, MI 2021-004-548-4306-2808 Parkside Avenue,
we were going to continue this case um uh lakisha can we get this in in a couple weeks
lakisha um i'm not sure about a couple of weeks but i can schedule uh all right so you'll be you'll
you'll be in touch with both them and and get this back in as as soon as you can but give it a few
weeks to see if they can't work out an arrangement yes chair and and thank both of you for your
comments i appreciate it but the case is continued thank you all right thank you thank you is there
any other case any other requests for continuance i see no hands chair okay so i'm i have a few cases
here that case number four, MI 2022-004-471-4836 North Fair Hill Street. I have no exhibit,
second listing. The listed applicant is Victoria Alexander.
Excuse me, Mr. Chair, this is Hillary. The applicant in this case is DeVetta Fleming. The property owner is Victoria Alexander.
Okay, great. Thank you. DeVetta Fleming, please.
DeVetta Fleming, if you're in the audience, could you raise your hand, please?
she's not in the audience okay thank you this is the second listing that no one's appeared
mi2022-004-471-4836 north fair hill street i vote to dismiss
thomas holliman i vote to dismiss james snell i vote to dismiss
Ishmael Shaheed, I vote to dismiss
Number 10
MI 2022
003-784-9481
Woodbridge Road
Samia Sampson
No exhibits, second listing
Ms. Sampson, if you're in the audience
Raise your hand
she's not in the audience either this is the second listen that no one has
appeared mi2022-003-784-9481 woodbridge road i vote to dismiss
thomas holloman my vote is to dismiss james snell my vote is to dismiss
My vote is to dismiss and number 13 MI 2022 003 779 122 West Susquehanna Avenue no exhibits second
listing I see no hands too okay so this is the second list and no one's appeared MI 2022 003
779-122
West S. Quahana Avenue
I vote to dismiss
Thomas Holloman
I vote to dismiss
James Snell
my vote is to dismiss
Ishmael Shahid
my vote is to dismiss
thank you
and number 7
I believe there's a request for withdrawal
MI 2022
3907 to 11
Northridge Street
Victor Colon
is Mr. Colon in the audience
wait a minute
Doreen, unmute your mic.
Do we see Mr. Colon?
He's not in the audience, Chair.
Okay, all right, thank you.
So MI 2022-003-782-3907-211 North 3 Street.
This case is continued.
owner must appear next meeting. Okay, we're going to start our list and we're going to go to number
12. MI 2022-003-765-5027 Rising Sun Avenue. Cedric Allen is the owner applicant.
The application for a multifamily household living, three dwelling units on the same lot
with all other uses as previously approved. The proposed multiple family household living is
prohibited in the RSA 5 zoning district. There is a letter of support from the 42nd Ward
Executive Committee, Democratic Executive Committee, and a letter of non-opposition
from Councilperson Lozada. Mr. Allen. Mr. Allen has been promoted, Chair. Good morning, Mr. Allen.
Allen, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Cedric Allen, C-E-D-R-I-C-A-L-L-E-N.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Our vice chair has a few questions for you, sir.
Good morning, Mr. Allen.
Have you emailed all the required documents to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Thank you.
please proceed and share your screen share my screen yes how do i do that
you have all your documents on the computer yes on the green on the bottom of your computer
there's a green light that says share documents or share screen
you're coming up
what would y'all like to see the documents or pictures so i we have the documents let me see
the photos let me see what the property looks like okay and can you make that full screen please sir
full screen
next to the x button is the two um arrows just basically saying oh yep to your right
nope down on your documents
right here yep them two thank you okay
all right go back go go back to the three meters
first of all tell us what you want to do just trying to i bought this property um
it was when i bought it they said it was a triplex then come to find out it wasn't zoned
properly so i just want to zone it as a triplex which what it is three units
all right those three meters are the three units yes sir you don't have a fourth meter for the
common area no okay all right continue
how long do you believe this was a triplex
i'm sorry how long do you believe this was a triplex
how long have i believed it was a triplex yeah from the moment i started uh walking it when i
started looking at it to buy it with the realtor it was listed as a triplex okay is there other
multiple family units on the block yes the whole block same same thing okay
and you went to the executive committee of the 42nd ward and they approved before they gave you a
and you went to the executive committee of the 42nd Ward in April
letter of support yes sir and the council person is also in favor am i right non-opposition yes sir
okay questions from the board no mr chairman no chair no chair questions or comments from the
virtual audience. I see no hands, Chair. Planning Commission. Morning, this is Ron Bednar, City
Planning, first name Ron, R-O-N, last name Bednar, B-E-D-E-N-A-R. Do you swear or affirm to tell the
truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, sir? I do. Proceed. While a comprehensive plan
recommends no change to existing residential single family zoning at this occasion, the proposed use
is consistent with the documented previous uses of this property. Therefore, the City Planning
Commission recommends the zoning board grant the variance. Thank you. MI 2022-003-765-5027
Rising Sun Avenue, I vote yes. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes. James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed my vote is yes. Mr. Allen you have your votes. Thank you very much. Okay
we're going to go to number one on our list. MI 2022 003 769 10206 Busselton Avenue.
Alexander Barth is the attorney. There's a letter of support from Somerset Civic Association.
And also letters of non-opposition from adjacent neighbors at 10204 and 10208 Busselton Avenue.