audience chair i see no hands at this time planning commission thank you chair bergman
and members of the board david facto with the city planning commission the comprehensive plan
recommends no change to the residential single-family zoning at this location the proposed
elimination of the commercial units will bring the property closer into conformance with the
residential use recommended in the comprehensive plan um let's see however the applicant has not
shown that four units are the minimum needed to provide relief from the zoning code nor has the
options shown why the two ground floor spaces cannot be combined into one residential unit.
So the city planning commission recommends the board grant the conversion of commercial space
into residential with a condition of no more than three units total in the building.
Just thank you Mr. Fecto that wall that separates both as a load bearing wall and it would be a
considerable amount of work to take that wall down. We would then have to deal with
supporting the ceiling above it in addition.
Supporting the ceiling above it in addition,
but the spring garden folks actually liked about the unit,
the studio apartment is that 20th and Brandywine is not a low rent neighborhood.
It's very expensive and this would allow a studio like that would allow someone who may go to school across the river and university cities to still be able to
room in that neighborhood uh in center city west which would be a real welcome change to what's
available to folks right now so for those reasons we respectfully request that we keep that back
unit the way it is thank you thank you for your response so mi 2022 004 859 2001 brandy wine street
I vote yes. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes. Thank you all.
Thank you, counsel. Is there anyone in the virtual audience
whose 2 p.m. case was not called?
I see no hands, Chair. Okay, so we're going to take a five minute break, then we'll
come back in and we'll finish up, okay? Thank you, everyone.
Thank you, Chair.
Thanks, Chair.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Mr. Kelly, are you back?
I am chair.
Thank you.
Lakeisha, how do we look?
Mr. Kelly, are you here?
Yes, I am.
Thank you.
we're ready to go chair okay thank you start recording please
and we are recording okay thank you good afternoon my name is bill bergman
and i will be chairing this afternoon's 3 30 zba hearings with me is our vice chair ismail shaheed
president mr chairman our board member thomas holliman present mr chairman
And our other board, last board member is Mr. James Snell.
He's here.
He's here, everybody.
We also have our board attorney, Hillary Emerson, and our ZBA hearing supervisor, Lakeisha Dandy.
I am here, Mr. Chairman.
Sorry, I was trying to get the fun there.
That's fine.
be advised these recordings are these these proceedings are being recorded by participating
your knowledge agreement to be recorded the video will be available by contacting Tanya sunkett at
The video will be available by contacting TanyaSunkett at phil.gov.
For the benefit of our court stenographer, we ask attorneys, witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you're participating by phone, 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 of the property in question. And finally, the question and answer
box on the screen is not for comments or testimony. And any comments should be directed
to our executive director, Tanya Sumpton. Let's look at continuances for this afternoon's
3.30 hearings. Number three, MI 2022-004-947-2521, Grace Ferry Avenue. That case is continued.
Is there anyone who has any comments relative to that case?
I see no hands, Chair.
Are there any other requests for continuance?
I see no hands, Chair.
We also have one case that we do not have exhibits for, and that's number 8, MI 2022, 004-978-1630 North 20th Street.
Eric Johnson is the listed applicant.
This is the first listing with no exhibits.
I see no hands here.
Okay, so MI 2022-004-978-1637 North 20th Street.
That case is the first listing.
It is continued.
We're going to go to the regular list.
MI-2022-004-865-2609 East Allegheny Avenue, Sean Ward is the attorney, letter of support from ProPAC, Port Richmond, On Patrol, and Civic.
Chair, Mr. Ward is coming back in as a panelist now.
Thank you.
good afternoon mr chairman members of the board uh sean ward s-h-a-w-n-w-a-r-d
attorney for applicant owner right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes i do could you identify who that client is and their relationship to the
property. Yeah, I represent Joe Shira and his wife Arta, A-R-T-A, Shira, S-H-I-R-A, both owner and
applicants for the subject premises. Our vice chair has just a few questions. Of course.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his
accuracy? Yes, I do. Have you emailed all the documents into our offices five days in advance
to this hearing?
Yes, I did.
Thanks, Sean.
I'll see you then share your screen.
Very good.
All right.
For the record, just to confirm,
my screen is shared?
It is.
Excellent.
Mr. Chairman,
I submitted my typical exhibit packet.
I got to reduce this.
Hold on a second.
So I represent Joe Shira. He is the owner of the property at 2609 East Allegheny, the subject of today's hearing at MI 2022-004865.
5. The application that we submitted resulted in a notice of referral to the board. I don't
believe I need to educate or re-inform the board as to special exceptions, because obviously at
the 330 list, you heard quite a few of those. In any event, we submitted a permit for an Italian
coffee shop, cafe, restaurant in the same building with a previously approved two-family household
living above resulted in a special exception referral to the board, and that is why we're
here today. So that referral is A1. A2 is the ZBA application of appeal. A3, project information
form, A4 proof of ownership, A5 proof of tax clearance, A6 is a site map to give the board
A6 is a site map to give the board an idea of the location of the property.
an idea of the location of the property.
A7 are our photographs, including postings, subject property, aerial views, street views.
I have a supplemental exhibit of interior photographs of the first floor at the request of Hillary.
A8 is the RCO letter of support from ProPAC, Port Richmond, on patrol and Civic.
I don't know if Jennifer from Councilman's School's office submitted a letter.
However, if it was, I would ask that the councilman's letter be marked as a nine.
A10 is the relevant zoning history.
Briefly, the board, we were before the board June of last year, and that is where the board
granted the two family variance with the existing vacant commercial space.
A-11 is the zoning map. A-12 is the aerial photograph. So very quickly, we have the application of appeal.
we have the project information form which included the refusal copy of the deed my
clients purchased this property march 2nd of 2020 uh just before the covid pandemic shutdown
um additionally uh taxes are paid through 2022 the taxes for tax period 2023 are not due till
march uh however you know they may or may not have been paid but yeah we are we are current for
word purposes this is a site location map uh the property is located on east allegheny avenue
well didn't mean to do that uh geez i did it again all right uh
i apologize mr chair my fingers are too fast today uh it's it's located between alman street
and mercer street on east allegheny avenue just below the campbell square park we have a picture
we're posting on the front of the building. The subject premises is located in the center of the
picture depicted by the red awning with the display window and front entry. This is a Google Earth
picture of the block. I would point out that the Shearers also own 2603 East Allegheny,
which is located several doors down the block. They operate that as there is a hair salon on
the first floor with a two-family dwelling above. However, we are in basically dead center of the
block with the red awning, and we are looking at the first floor for use as this prepared food shop.
Here is an aerial angle view of the block. As you can see, it is a mixed-use block. It's zoned CMX1. Basically, all of the first floors are used for some sort of non-residential use with residential uses above.
This is Allegheny Avenue, I believe, looking eastbound back towards 95 on Richmond Street.
The next photo is Allegheny Avenue looking westbound towards Allegheny Avenue, I mean Kensington Avenue.
For the board's recollection, we were here back in June of 2021, where the board granted a variance for the two family living above.
At that time, we had indicated that the first floor was vacant commercial space.
Given the COVID pandemic restrictions and shutdown of the economy, Mr. Shira attempted to find
tenants for the first floor, but has been unsuccessful to date. At this time, he is
looking to occupy and use that premise on his own behalf. So we did meet with ProPAC on or about
January 4th. It was quite a well-attended meeting because of the dual house explosion,
uh presumably from a gas leak but that has not yet been determined but uh we were at that meeting
presumably from a gas leak, but that has not yet been determined.
we did make our presentation uh they did vote uh despite that there was more than 20 people at that
meeting mr chairman uh you know those in attendance for this matter voted 20 to nothing in support of
the variance i mean i'm sorry the uh special exception ken paul from uh propac inadvertently
you refer to that as a variance request. This is the zoning map. As you will see,
the property is located on a CMX1 two-block stretch going from Almond Street, Mercer Street
in the middle, and then Thompson Street to the far right. And then we have the aerial photograph,
as you can see. Campbell Square is right here. Nativity Church is up here at this
triangle that you can see in the photograph. But just to bring everything home,
Joe Shearer is the applicant owner of the property. He also operates
Tuscany Ristorante at 2418 Ron, which is just off the boulevard at Ron and the boulevard.
This property is CMX One Commercial. As previously stated, it's an existing vacant commercial first
floor with the two-family dwelling above. The aforementioned approval by the zoning board for
the two family with the existing vacant commercial. The business operation is an Italian coffee shop
cafe. They anticipate featuring fresh brewed coffee, espresso, latte, etc. Pre-prepared foods
from his Tuscany restaurant will be served there. There will be no open flame cooking. Everything
will be done by microwave convection oven to reheat the pre-prepared foods. We're hoping
to have occupancy of 50 you know give or take you know persons in the dining area
we will have commercial trash stored in sealed containers you know those toters with the wheels
there is ample room in the rear yard with access to an alley which we can take them out to mercer
street for commercial pickup which we anticipate would most likely be on a weekly basis at the
time I submitted my application, Joe had indicated Monday and Tuesday he would be closed. He did just
ask me yesterday if we could note to the board that he wants to open Tuesday as well. So instead
of Wednesday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., it would be Tuesday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Obviously, in the morning, it would be coffee, Danish lattes and cappuccinos and things of that
nature. And then as the day progresses, he would be serving additional foods. He does anticipate
at any given time, three to five, pardon me, three to five part-time employees. And we did
indicate to the RCO that neighborhood employees would be preferred because they can get to work
more easily than people who need to travel. Based upon that, I would ask that the board
consider this. Mr. Shira is currently operating the restaurant at Tuscany and is unavailable at
this hearing. However, I did review this exhibit packet with Mr. Shira, and as an officer of the
court, I can confirm that he would verify that my representation is made to the board, including
everything in my packet are true and correct well we will accept that mr ward questions from the
board no mr channel no mr chairman no mr chairman questions from the or comments from the virtual
audience i see no hands at this time commission please uh ron bednar city planning first name ron
r-o-n last name
you swear affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do proceed sir this property is indicated for commercial mixed use on
the city plan and we recommend a special exception be ready
thank you mi2022 004865 2609 east allegheny avenue i vote yes
thomas holloman my vote is yes james snell my vote is yes
yes yes my vote is yes thank you council
number two nmi 2022 004923
MI 2022 004923, 600 East Allegheny Avenue, Zen Jin is the attorney, letter of support
from IMPACT, and letter of non-opposition from Council Member Lozada.
Mr. Jin is coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
Thank you.