And then we sent photos with all the area that was clean.
And all the area is like, if you can see the photos that we sent,
okay so uh and yes they sent that and it was because of the garbage
and uh but that's why we cleaned the whole area yeah we threw away all the garbage and even though
it's not in front of my property but either way i cleaned that and if you and uh you can see and
then we sent the photos and with the whole area clean and also in the whole area my two properties
are the are like an example of that whole area and they're the best uh the best properties there
that you that are the best visibly they look better the ones that look better questions from
the board. No, Chair. No, Mr. Chairman. Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
do not see any further hands Mr. Chair
Planning Commission
planning the property is indicated
for residential use on a comprehensive plan
given the surrounding similar land uses
we recommend that the request of tenants be granted
interpreter you said
the request be granted
it one one so mi 2022 004 682 530 west cambria i vote yes thomas holloman my vote is yes
james snell my vote is yes
ishmael shaheed my vote is yes he has his votes thank you
thank you guys
interpreter thank you for your work
it's a pleasure anything else i can do for you chair
okay number four
MI 2023
now you can be dismissed i'm sorry chair
MI 2023
001 704
come on
okay let me start over
MI 2023
03-001-704-2029-South 20th Street.
Henry Clinton is the attorney.
Letter of support from West Passion Neighbors Association.
He's coming back in as a panelist.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
Henry Clinton.
Mr. Clinton, how are you, sir?
Could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Henry Clinton, H-E-N-R-Y.
Clinton, C-L-I-N-T-O-N. Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth? I do. Could you identify your client, the relationship to this
property? Sure. My client is to my right, to your left, Joseph Virali. He's the principal of the
owner of the property, Vista Holdings, V-I-S-T-A Holdings, LLC. And he's going to sit with me
throughout the presentation, Mr. Chairman. That's great. And our vice chair just has a few questions
for you good afternoon counselor do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to
its accuracy i do are documents and exhibits that is needed to proceed with this case five days in
advance of this hearing i have thank you please proceed and share
Mr. Chairman, can you see that first page?
We can, sir.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
Again, Henry Clinton for Joseph Verralli.
He's the sole member of Vista Holdings, LLC.
He's to my right, to your left.
This concerns 2029 South 20th Street.
This is my table of contents, which contains exhibits A1 to A11, which I ask to be admitted into evidence.
This is a refusal.
So this is a CMX2 zoning district on both sides of the street on 20th Street, just a little bit north of Snyder Avenue.
But you'll see from the photographs that this commercial corridor is really now a residential corridor, except for one business that remains.
So what we're asking is to convert the CMX2 garage, which historically was used as an auto body shop once it was a hand car wash.
as an auto body shop. Once it was a hand car wash, and recently when my client purchased it,
he was using it for storage for his restaurant business. We're asking that this property be
used as three one-bedroom apartments. We do have an RCO letter of support,
and their support is noteworthy because they're indicating that the multifamily parcel
is going to provide much-needed housing to a neighborhood that has seen increased housing
costs over the last few years. That's why the three one-bedrooms is a good fit for the neighborhood
rather than having two family dwellings. We saw a need for single-bedroom occupancy.
Here are photographs. This is 20th Street. To my right is south. To my left, where the cursor is,
north. This is the property right here. It's 100% lot of occupation right now. It has a roll-top
door on the front with a curb cut. To the south is a newly erected 12-unit apartment building,
and then two doors over is a duplex. Across the street is a duplex, and across the street
on both sides of Mercy Street is also a duplex, and I'll show you that in photographs as I move
through the presentation.
So the only remaining commercial establishment on the block
is this auto body place to the north closer to McKean Street.
Here's that existing auto body shop.
And here's our property here where my cursor is,
the 12-unit apartment building to the right of our property.
Here's a dead-on look at our property with the zoning notice.
Again, just some more photographs from perspective for the board.
This is a duplex across the street on Mercy Street.
You can see two meters, two doors, and this is the duplex on the other side of Mercy Street, the south side.
And this is the curb cut.
Our project is going to eliminate the curb cut, so we're going to restore one or potentially two parking spots to the street
because we're not going to have any garage with this proposal.
our plans are pretty straightforward there's no basement as this was a garage it's a slab
on grade situation first floor one bedroom one bath one kitchen second floor repeat third floor
repeat we have a rear stairwell which provides a secondary means of egress and ingress for
all of the occupants and the stairwell is actually usable by every occupant so every
occupant will have access to the rooftop deck to get some additional light and air. We don't have
any issues, Mr. Chairman and members of the board, with open space or rear yard or height. It's
simply a use issue. And as you know, in the CMX2 district, you're supposed to have commercial on
the first floor and you're welcome to get two units above if the square footage permits it.
In this instance, we're basically swapping out the commercial on the first floor
and maintaining two units above.
The refusals talk about the square footage of the lot.
We've opted for three one bedrooms.
We could have put two two bedrooms in here,
but that would have equaled four bedrooms
and it would have been an overuse of the property
that my client thought.
So we're sticking with the three one bedrooms.
The remaining documents for the standard dockage
you would see in a presentation like this.
We were not able to get a tax certification per se because of some instance with revenue,
but we're able to show the board that there are no real estate taxes owed whatsoever on this property.
That is in full compliance.
And here's the zoning map again to show the board.
This was a commercial corridor apparently at one time, CMX2.
But as you can see from the aerial photographs and even the ground floor photographs,
It's mainly residential, save for one commercial auto body shop on the block.
This is the deed indicating ownership.
Our notice letter sent to everyone.
We mailed out over 200 pieces of mail for the RCO meeting.
And the final documents, I just want to show the board to support what I said about the property to the right of our property at 2031.
We're 2029.
2031 was just approved several years ago. They just actually finished construction for 12 dwelling
units. And then to the north of our property at 2023, there's a duplex. And then the properties
across the street on Mercy Street are duplexes. That's pretty much self-evident. So just in
conclusion, we're not really changing the nature of the block or the neighborhood. We're in harmony
We're in harmony with the code.
with the code. We're certainly in harmony with the neighborhood group. They want residential
We're certainly in harmony with the neighborhood group.
They want residential.
They want single bedroom to bring more people to the neighborhood.
We're not impacting anyone's latent error.
We're opening up the rear of the property.
We're 100% lot coverage right now.
We're going to have an ample rear yard.
And we're not basically impacting any development of any other property on the block.
So that is the presentation, Mr. Chairman.
If my client could adopt my testimony, I'll certainly entertain any questions from the board or the virtual audience.
Why don't we let your client adopt your testimony?
Mr. Rally, you're right here.
Can you spell your name for the court reporter?
V as in Victor, A-R-A-L-L-I.
First name Joseph.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
proceed counsel mr brown you sat here while i presented your project to the board
correct yes and if you had the opportunity to testify would you adopt my testimony as
your own and it's true and correct yes questions from the board no chair
no mr chairman no no chair questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
i do not see any further hand that's mr chair hi planning commission this is ron bednar city
planning property is currently indicated for commercial mixed juice on the city plan or
adopted comprehensive plan recommended a change to single family residential at this location
The applicant's hardship is not supported with evidence of neat physical circumstances or condition of the property that would prevent it from being used in conforming with the code.
Therefore, we recommend the request of variance not to be read.
Thank you.
NI 2023-001-704-2029 South 20th Street, I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
ishmael shaheed my vote is yes thank you mr chairman thank you council is there anyone
in the virtual audience who who's 3 30 case has not been called
you're not seeing any hands mr chair okay um thanks everyone appreciate everybody's work today
Great job, Chair.
We're all good.
Everybody go and watch the Phillies.
I think they're on, right?