Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Quick things.
One, Mr. Orphanides, we didn't receive the letter from Councilman O'Neill's office, so if you could just forward that, that would be great.
And then I just also wanted to verify there is an updated or amended, one way or the other, refusal dated 10-10-23 for this case?
Yes, that's the one that I have that I utilize, yes.
there were some refused i had to fix it add some refusals and clarify some other ones with
frederick and he was very helpful with that he didn't he didn't buy my argument about the use
but he he took everything else into account okay no problem mr chair you can just note that it's
a refusal dated 10 10 23 because it wasn't officially amended thank you all right thank
Thank you. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman. Sarah Baum with the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing residential multifamily zoning.
The appellant has shown a hardship with the existing signage, but not for adding additional signage or replacing.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the Zoning Board grant the variance with proviso that proposed new signage is not approved.
Thank you. MI 2023-006-108-851-Red Lion Road. I vote yes. And Hillary, the proviso was not amended. Is that what you want to say?
No, just say per refusal dated 10-10-23.
Her refusal dated 10-10-23.
Thomas Holland, my vote is yes with proviso.
James Snell, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
That concludes my business may be excused.
Okay, yes.
Thank you.
MI 2023, 006085, 1318 North 23rd Street.
Joseph Consul is the attorney.
Ishmael Shahid is recusing himself from this hearing.
Good evening.
Good evening.
Mr. Consul, just to say your name, you've already been sworn.
Joseph Consul.
Could you identify your client and the relationship to the property?
My client is Chivetta Property Group. On the call is its principal, Michael Tomasetti. Chivetta is under agreement with the Philadelphia Housing Authority to develop this property.
Okay. Mr. Holloman, could you do the follow-up questions, please?
Good afternoon, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
Did you email all of the exhibits and documents as required five days in advance to this hearing?
Thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen.
All right.
All right.
Joe Consul here for Chivetta Property Group.
Chivetta Property Group is Philadelphia's number one affordable housing developer.
They are under contract with the Philadelphia Housing Authority to develop 1318 North 23rd Street under the Turn the Key program.
The property is zoned CMX2.
My clients are seeking to build a single-family home.
This is a corner property, and because they are not seeking commercial space and because they are seeking to put up a six-foot fence,
There are two refusals that are generated. The first is for the lack of commercial space in the first 30 feet of the first floor. And the second is because it's a corner property, there is a four foot height limit on the fence and my clients are proposing a six foot fence.
proof of mailing we uh went in front of the rco actually here's the meeting summary
we got their support um by a decent margin
right now it's a vacant lot with the tree growing through it
my clients are developing this property uh and i'll be back for the property across the street
in a few weeks, but here's what the lot looks like in the back.
Property next to it. There it is from
across the street where the corner property there, and there's a vacant
property next to it. Affidavit of service.
Here's our design plan by Modo Design Group.
By motor design group, the property is calling for a 3 bedroom, single family home, as I said, built on the corner.
The property is calling for a three-bed
And the rest of our documents are attached here, including the development agreement with the Philadelphia housing authority.
Won't belabor it. I will call like Thomas city to raise his hand and adopt my testimony.
Mr. Tomasetti has been allowed to speak
Sir, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer
Yes, sir, Michael Tomasetti, M-I-C-H-A-E-L
P-O-M-A-S-E-T-T-I
Right, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do
Please proceed, counsel
Good evening, Mr. Tomasetti
Did you hear my testimony just now about 1318?
or 27th yes i did do you adopt it as your own yes i do is there anything you'd like to add
nope thank you thank you questions from questions from the board no mr
no chair questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
just one quick clarification um mr consul the the fence is refused only for height it's not
refused for opacity as well the refusal wasn't clear so that's why i wanted to clarify
by um 50 opaque it okay yeah um yeah it does it does say 50 opaque as well um but i don't know
if that's just citing the code or the height i think yeah i think it was citing the code because
it didn't cite the height in on the review it just had to be more than four well that it didn't
meet the code and it wasn't i only saw the six feet on the plans i didn't see if i couldn't tell
if it was if there was an opacity issue as well i don't believe there's an opacity issue pardon me
but yeah yeah i don't think so okay that's fine thank you questions or comments from the virtual
audience i see no hands chair any commission
thank you chair bergman sarah bond with the philadelphia city planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends a zoning map change to residential single family at this
location. Therefore, the exclusion of ground floor commercial conforms to the planning
codes, excuse me, the planning commission's recommendation. The appellant has not supported
a hardship claim for complying with the requirements for the fence. The city planning
commission recommends that the zoning board grant the variance with the proviso that the plans for
the fence be brought into compliance.
MI 2023
006 085
1318 North 23rd Street,
I vote yes. Thomas
Holloman, my vote is yes.
Snell, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
I hate my vote is yes. Thank you, board.
Oh, excuse me. I was accused of doing that one.
That's okay. That's okay.
Thank you. We know you're back.
MI 2023
333-005-967-3337 West Clearfield Street.
Steve Masters is the attorney.
No RCO letter, but meeting was held by Councilman Jones's office on 113-24.
Mr. Chair, this is Hillary.
We do have a letter now in enthusiastic support from Councilman Jones, who hosted the RCO meeting.
Thank you.
Thank you.
and also the applicant has provided a petition and support signed by numerous neighbors.
Mr. Masters, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes, I'm thrilled to state my name and to be called on this case.
Steve Masters, S-T-E-V-M-A-S-T-E-R-S from the law firm of JustLaws.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Mr. Masters, could you identify your client, their relationship to this property?
My client is the RCO, Ridge Allegheny Hunting Park Civic Association.
They are creating a community center at this location, and they own it from a transfer of property from the City of Philadelphia via the Redevelopment Authority.
Our vice chair has just a few questions, sir.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Good afternoon. Yes, I agree.
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, and we added some supplemental documents earlier today that we recently received, including the RCO letter that's via the council office and some new, actually more petitions than we had before.
And all of that information was still turned in to us, correct?
And all of that information was still turned into us, correct?
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
All right. I don't know how many of the community folks are still with us in the Zoom room since it's been a while since the two-clock list was called.
We're here on a property that was conveyed by the city of Philadelphia to RAH Civic Association to create a community center in the neighborhood.
This is going to be the first community center and also some office space for the community group.
There's only one refusal, which is because this is an RSA 5 property.
the community center use is prohibited in that zoning district.
We have many, many petitions that were signed. The original number was 53. But when we had
the community meeting a few weeks ago that was led by Councilman Jones's office,
there were only two questions that were asked at the end of our presentation.
The first question was, can more of us sign the petitions? Do you have more petitions to sign? And the second question was, how do we log into the Zoom meeting to talk about why we really want this to happen?
So I've never been at a community meeting where that was the only concerns that were brought up. This is an extremely popular project, and the community just can't wait for this to happen.
So we're still cycling through all these petitions. And then we're going to get to the letter from Councilman Jones' office. It says, I'm pleased to support this application enthusiastically based on the community meetings. There was unanimous approval. 51 to 0 was the vote at the community meeting.
And we have Rose Cooper, who's going to be coming on to to adopt the testimony.
This is, like I said, it's one of the most popular zoning projects that I've ever been part of.
Here we have the the the elevation plans.
There are there is no more there are no renovations that are required for this.
But this is this is what the property, the plans for the property when it was constructed.
recently uh it was constructed uh for rah civic but because they didn't have the zoning it was
it was um constructed as a as a single family home it has never been occupied as a single
family home uh it's it's designed to be set up for for um for for use as a community center
this is rah civic's um recognition letter from the internal revenue service that they are a charity
It's one of the requirements for the community center designation and zoning is that it's operated by a recognized charitable organization.
Here's the front room facing out to Clearfield Street.
So this is the front door that we're looking at.
This is the main floor kitchen area.
This is the rear of the main floor.
This is the restrooms, and we're going to see the areas here for students who are going
to come and learn computer coding and engage in other educational activities.
This is the rear of the property.
They have an emergency action plan for fire code safety and to ensure the safety of young
people and seniors who are going to be using this facility.
We also have a PowerPoint that was presented to the community showing all of the activities
and programs that will be offered at the community center.
uh the zoning poster photos uh this is the front of the building uh with the zoning posters here
this is the deed from the redevelopment authority to reh civic
Our application for appeal, project information form, our letters that we mail to the community, and our proof of mailing.
At this time, I would like to call Rosalie Coe.
At this time, I would like to call Rosalie Cooper for her testimony.
Rosalie Cooper has been allowed to speak.
Ms. Cooper, could you state your name, please, and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, Rosalie L. Cooper, R-O-S-A-L-I-E, L. Cooper, C-O-O-P-E-R.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Please proceed, counsel.
Rose, you've heard my testimony today.
Do you agree with it and adopt it as your own?
Is there anything that you would want to share with the board at this point about the project?
I'm really happy with the project.
We never had a community center in the area.
The kids didn't have nowhere to go. And now we have a building and the kids will be able, I can do the after school program. I can do some reading with the kids on Saturday. I can have the seniors to come in to do things. I'm happy about it. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
We have no further evidence to put on.
Does she have to adopt your testimony, Steve?
she did okay maybe i didn't notice that okay thank you questions from the board
no mr chairman no chair no church questions or comments from our uh our attorney hillary emerson
on this side mr care questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands chair planning commission sorry chair uh ralph winder just put their hand up okay
Hi, sir, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Could you state one more time?
We're having a hard time hearing you.
I'm R-A-L-P-H-W-Y-N-E-E-R.
Did you get that?
No, chair, I'm afraid I did not.
It's very garbable.
Mr. Winder, you're breaking up.