Well, why, if you live in Philly,
why are you renting in Philly?
So that's something that's really important to them
because they don't want to be a nuisance to their neighbors.
This is their Airbnb listing, you know, one of the units.
So as you can see, they had at that point, I think, I don't remember when we printed this out,
but like they have a rating of 4.94% on 350 reviews.
And then, you know, just a snapshot of some of their reviews.
And then it's not uncommon for properties in the Philadelphia area to, in this part of Philadelphia, to have short-term accommodations, and we wanted to show that as well.
And then, again, they're an R-in-1 property, which allows multifamily use, which allows for four units as of right.
I believe this property has a history of as high as five to six.
We're not asking for that many units.
We're asking for two-unit visitor accommodations.
And then photographs of the property, as you can see, it's well-maintained outside.
They do have off-street parking in the rear as well, which is helpful, you know, for their visitors and the neighborhood.
Here's our hearing notice poster from, you know, both, you know, the front and back of their property.
And then this is South 10th Street to the right of the property, to the left of the property, South Alder Street, which they, the rear of their property, to the right of the property, and to the left of the property.
And then photographs, they, you know, again, they want to make a positive impact in their community.
They don't want to be a nuisance.
But you'll see from how they keep a close eye on their property, but also how they keep the property in nice standing, it's important to them to have good visitors here.
and then just our floor plans um very simply uh you have one unit on on the first floor
and then you have uh another unit um on the uh second floor and and upper floors as well
and then RCO meeting notice we met with the community on July 11th at 7 p.m. 123 addresses
were notified at this meeting listed those addresses proof of mailing to those addresses
our application for appeal that we filed on rich and Tony's behalf
their deed to the property showing that it's in their personal names
and then the certificate of tax clearance.
I'm going to unshare my screen.
I want to ask that Rich virtually raise his hand.
They have been allowed to speak.
Rich, could you state your name, please,
and spell for the court's stenographer?
Rich Artieri, R-I-C-H-A-U-T-I-E-R-I.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Yeah, Rich, you heard everything I had to state today about your zoning matter.
And everything I stated, was that true and correct?
With one exception.
I actually live next door to the property.
Our properties are adjoined, and we share an open backyard.
are okay and then um every do you adopt um my testimony as your own yes all right thank you
questions from the board no mr chairman
no chair no chair questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson not at this time
Mr. Chair. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Let me ask Mr. Chair, I have a Sherry Coltoff with their hand raised. I have allowed them to speak
at this time. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Sure. My name is Sherry, S-H-A-R-I Coltoff, C-O-L-T-O-F-F. Right. Do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes. Are you a neighbor?
Yes, I live on South Alder Street, right across the street, and I am in support of this. They have been nothing short of wonderful, if there's ever been an issue.
Thank you so much for calling in. We appreciate that. Thank you.
Anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Kristen Phillips with their hand raised. I have allowed them to speak.
I could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer.
Hi. Yes, this is Kristen Phillips, C-H-R-I-S-T-I-N. Phillips is P-H-I-L-L-I-P-S.
You swear if I'm to tell the truth, told the truth, nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
I am. I live directly across the street on 10th Street and have done since 20... Sorry?
Receive your testimony.
Yep, and I've lived here since 2016, and I know Tony and Rich, and I'm well, I've been well aware of their Airbnb business, and I've been quite pleased with it.
Everyone has been, there's no nuisance to the street or the neighborhood, in my opinion, and I support their business.
Thank you so much for taking the time to call in. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Mr. Chair, Jean O'Karma, with her hands raised.
I have allowed them to speak at this time.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court sonographer?
Hello?
Jean O'Karma, please unmute.
Hi, can you hear me?
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court sonographer?
Yes, absolutely. My name is Jeannie O'Karma. It's J-E-A-N-N-E. Last name O'Karma, O-apostrophe K-A-R-M-A.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
Yes, I am. I live on Cater Street, which is just perpendicular to Alder Street. So I face the back of the property.
Are you in favor of the project?
100% wholly in favor
of this project.
project. Thank you so much for taking the time to call.
Thank you so much for taking the time to call.
You are welcome. Thank you. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
There are no more hands, Mr. Chair. Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, Sarah Bond, Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing residential multifamily housing,
The appellant has not shown that the property cannot possibly be used in strict conformity with the zoning code and that a variance is therefore necessary to enable viable economic use of the property.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the Zoning Board deny the variance.
I vote yes for temporary variance for a two-unit visitor accommodation. Expires 10-12-27.
Thomas Holliman, my vote is yes with the proviso.
James Snell, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Counselor.
Thank you.
Have a great night and go Phils.
Thank you.
Number 12, MI 2023-003-155, 7401 Andrews Avenue, David Orfanides is the attorney.
Letter of support for the 10th Ward Democratic RCO.
And letter of support from Councilmember Phillips.
They'll be rejoining as a panelist, sir.
Good afternoon.
Hi, Mr. Orphanides, just for the record, spell your name for the court sonographer.
Certainly.
David, D-A-V-I-D, last name Orphanides, O-R-P-H-A-N-I-D-E-S.
Right.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do, sir.
Could you identify your client in relationship to this property?
Certainly. My client is TD Holdings NY, LLC, and they are the owner of the subject property.
All right. And our vice chair has just a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
I've emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed and required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing.
uh not everything except for the tax clearance which uh i forwarded i think uh either on monday
or yesterday thank you council please proceed and share your screen thank you
so confirming you can see my screen
yeah okay all right so um the property we're here for this afternoon is uh 7401 andrews avenue
It's located on the northeast corner of Andrews Avenue and 74th Avenue.
I have a photograph of the property on the screen right now.
As indicated, it's at the corner of those two streets.
You can see with the aerial images that I've included at tab three, you can see down here, the property is at the corner of 74th and Andrews, and it's right off of West Cheltenham Avenue.
As I'm sure you're familiar, West Cheltenham Avenue, you can see here from the photographs that some of the photographs of it, I have a tab five as a commercial corridor.
And you can see that also in the aerial that I've included.
This property is located in largely residential area off of West Cheltenham, just off West Cheltenham Avenue.
um there i've included the zoning archives for the properties located on the opposite corners
um they have a history of two units being approved and utilized for two units
um the property uh across the street on the northwest corner is um 1951 74th avenue and i
have the zoning archives there at tab nine of my exhibit book and that was approved as retail on
the ground floor and one residential unit above the other corner on the southwest corner which
I'm circling right now caddy corner from our property was which is 1950 74th Avenue is approved
and you can see from you'll see from the photographs is commercial grocery store on the
ground for one unit above the property directly across the street from us across 74th Avenue from
us 1948 74th Avenue was granted a variance by the zoning board for what we're applying for today
which is a two two family dwelling and I'm pulling up here you can see our property
which is a two-family dwelling. And I'm pulling up here. You can see our property here on the
northeast corner and then 1948, 74th Avenue here. And you can see back in December of 2022
with the decision issued in January of 23 that it was approved by L&I with the zoning permit
subsequent being issued for the two-family use. This property is presently zoned RSE5, as you can
see from the maps that I was showing you earlier, all yellow. However, historically, and as I think
confirmed when we were at the community group meeting, this property has historically been
used for two units. Like the properties on the other side of Andrews Avenue at 1951 and 1950,
50 74th Avenue. The property was commercial with residential above starting way back in,
we believe in the thirties. I'm showing you what we have at tab eight, which are the Kohl's
directories, which you can, which shows for properties, the phone numbers and who the person
associated or the business associated with those phone numbers are at a particular address. And you
can see in 1932, there was just a beauty shop. My guess is that it was probably a beauty shop on
ground floor and residential above but they did not have a phone um and then but then by and that
include continued through the 30s by the time we get to the 50s you can see that it's a residential
above and commercial well commercial below presumably commercial below with residential
above um and then that continued thereafter there are no zoning archives for the property
on atlas for the subject property but it's our position that this is a pre-existing non-conforming
use that existed when my client, he can adopt my statements, my client from TD Holdings NY LLC,
that when he purchased the property, it was two residential dwelling units, just as it is today.
There are separate water, gas, and electric meters. There's three, actually three meters,
one for the common area, and then one for each of the residential units, which I can show you
with the exterior photographs.
And here's a picture of the subject property, again, at the corner.
Across the street, 1951, 74th Avenue,
you can see the commercial operation on the ground floor
with the residential above.
That's on the northwest corner of 74th Avenue and Andrews.
Down here at the bottom, you can see on the southwest corner,
74th and Andrews and 1950 74th Avenue again commercial on the ground floor residential
above two units and then here are the photographs of 1948 74th Avenue right here in the front
and then here at the top of this page 13 of tab five you can see very similar to our property
residential looking at the upper two floors I do not believe it has a similar what's interesting
thing is, is that our property has a front door, which you can see even here. Well, you can't see
in there. So let me just go here. You can see a front door here on page two at tab five to the
left. And through this front door, you access through a door to the right, the unit on the
ground floor, and then after a flight of stairs, and I'll show you in a second, the unit on the
second floor. But interestingly, on 74th Avenue, there's this entrance, which is very clearly not
just a garage door entrance but a principal entrance so my guess is that that was probably
the entrance for the commercial unit for the beauty salon and then the front entrance was to
the dwelling unit that was located above and again my client purchased it as two units i
put interior photographs at tab six both units are vacant my client is looking to get the zoning
approval prior to having somebody move in you can see this is how it existed
And then the stairs that go up to the second floor unit.
And you can see, you know, very spacious, two bedrooms.
We have floor plans at tab seven.
The first sheet on tab seven is the ground floor unit.
And then you can see the floor plan for the second floor unit.
The, I wanted to just show you real quickly.
In addition, utilities, you can see two water heaters, we have the two gas, and then for the exterior, I think at the back of the property, you can see here there are three electric meters.
This is page 16 of our tab five.
From the letter that we received, we did meet with the 10th Democratic Ward, which is the coordinating RCO designated by the Planning Commission.
From the letter that we received, we did meet with the 10th.
And we met with them on September 14th of 23.
There was a vote 13 to 0 in favor.
As you can see, it has always been zoned as a two-family dwelling.
and that's as far back as and there were people there who lived in the media vicinity of the
property live on the block said that it had been a two-family dwelling and we had the full support
you can see here the meeting summary form there were 15 people in attendance 13 supported zero
opposed zero non-opposed as a result on october 10th uh the councilman councilman anthony philps
issued a letter also supporting the proposed development
uh i've included tab 12 uh or tab 10 a copy of our zoning permit application which again um indicates
that the existing use was is two the proposed use is two that we're documenting the existing
or pre-existing non-conforming use our appeal in the project information form our attack tab 12
tab 13 is the uh the hearing notice for today's hearing printed on orange filled out with the