You're live recording.
Tanya, backup is still there.
Okay. I just moved them out to attendee. If they can identify themselves to me, then they can come back in. But thank you. And I believe we got enough people to get started, Madam Chair.
Okay. Good morning, everyone. My name is Carol Tenere, and I'm the Vice Chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustment. This morning, I will be the Acting Chair of the hearings.
I'll be participating in today's hearing along with Board Secretary Confessor Plaza and Board
Members Thomas Holliman and James Snell. Board Administrator Tanya Sankit and Yvette Benton are
also here. Attorney Sharon Saleta is also in attendance. For those of you who haven't yet
participated in one of our virtual hearings, I'll go through some of the basics of what you can
expect. First, we will be administering oaths to individual participants prior to their testimony.
Second, we'd like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded and that participating
you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded. This is available to the public on the web and
otherwise. Third, for anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise
your hand by hitting star nine, then star six to unmute yourself. That is star nine
to raise your hand and hit star nine, then star six to unmute yourself. To enter an appearance
statement, call Google 267-270-5548 and leave your email address and address of the property
at issue. The number again is 267-270-5548. And fourth, the question and answer box is not for
testimony. Any comments are to be directed to the administrator. That would be either
Ms. Sunkett or Ms. Benton. Are there any continuances? Or am I reading out the continuances
first um you can read out the continuances first okay i will read out continuances for 9 30
calendar number 1525-1037 folkrod street that is continued calendar number 1555-1903
west erie avenue that also is continued calendar number 1859 5204 over brook avenue is continued
calendar number 3261 5120 marion street is continued and calendar number 1859 5204
over brook avenue is also continued are there any other requests for continuances
and if are there any objections to the continuances that i read out um if we could
just add that um number 10 is continued attorney moving party same with number 14
okay calendar number i have that written down calendar number 1860-2414 north 53rd street
continued attorney moving well attorney moving party and number calendar number 1859-5204
overbrook avenue attorney moving party is there any requests yes oh i was about to say we have
Allison Weiss with her hand up. Okay.
Ms. Weiss, you've been unmuted. You can speak now. Yes, thank you. Ms. Weiss, can you put your name,
Ms. Weiss, can you put your name on the record and your address and spell your last name, please?
on the record and your address and spell your last name please
certainly allison weiss w-e-i-s-s solo germantown civic association 4908 wayne avenue
one nine one four four i just wanted to say do you swear wait one second please do you swear
we're affirmed to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes okay go ahead
I just wanted to put on the record that we were not notified of the request for the continuance for 5120 Marion Street.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Are there any requests for continuances?
Madam Vice Chair, we have Zen Jin with his hand up.
Mr. Jin, you've been unmuted.
You can speak now.
Yes, good morning.
Good morning, Mr. Jin.
Name and address, please.
You know the drill.
Yes, Zin Jin, Z-H-E-N-J-I-N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard,
Suite 1838 Philadelphia, PA 19103.
Do you swear for him to tell the whole truth
and nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
I wanted to just follow up on the 5120 Marion Street
continuance request.
We were given the letter from the lead RCO relatively late. My client is looking into some changes, and that is why we're making a request for continuance on that case.
Okay. Thank you.
I know the WISES organization may not have gotten the notice on time for the continuance because everything came last minute.
Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that.
Excuse me. This is Sharon Saleta. Mr. Jin, given that you are considering changes, should this be an attorney moving party continuance?
I believe we will be able to. We already started the changes, so I don't think a moving party is necessary in this case.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you.
Okay. Again, are there any requests for continuances?
Please raise your hand.
Madam Vice Chair, we have Charles Richardson with his hand up.
Mr. Richardson, you can unmute yourself and speak now.
Good morning.
Hi, Mr. Richardson.
Good morning.
Put your name and address on the record, please.
Charles Richardson.
Certainly.
Charles Richardson from the Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass from 312 City Hall.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Calling about the calendar number 3246-5137 North Hutchinson Street, I noticed that there
are no exhibits and it's the first listing. Would this be able to be continued at this
point?
That is number 15.
Thank you, Mr. Richardson.
and I was actually going to suggest
that that be called next.
Okay, we'll call that first
in just probably a second.
Any other requests?
There are no other hands at this time, Madam Vice Chair.
Okay, thank you.
calendar number 3246-5137 North Hutchinson Street.
I think the owner is Clarence Dupree. There are no exhibits for this case in its first listing.
This case is continued.
i'm going to start with number two on our delay list calendar number 3126 1233 north front street
leo mulvihill is the attorney my vote is yes with commercial space as permitted in cmx3
as shown on the ground floor plan stamped today.
Yes, with proviso.
Yes, with proviso.
Is Jim here?
No, Madam Chair, it's just the three of you.
Yes, with proviso.
We got you, Tom.
We got you. Thank you, Tom.
Okay, coin number one and four together.
Calendar number 1853-1524, North 4th Street.
1853 1524 North 4th Street and calendar number calendars number 1522 North 4th Street and
calendar number 1524 North 4th Street. Did I just read that? Yes.
Is Leo Mulvihill here?
good morning he's been promoted to a panelist
good morning members of the board one moment okay maybe okay as soon as i see your face
there we go hi leo can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name
Yes. Good morning, members of the board. Leo Mulvihill, M-U-L-V-I-H-I-L-L. Address is 2424 East York Street, Suite 111, Philadelphia, 19125.
Thank you. Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
I do. There we go.
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with the required documents consisting of proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal, referral, photos, and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
Yes to all of those.
Thank you. You may proceed.
Good morning, Chairman and members of the Board.
I'm putting everything on my screen at the moment.
I'm on my backup computer today so things run a little bit more slowly but I'll do my best to
speed this along. We're here today for, there we go, boom, for the two properties 1522, 1524,
North 4th Street. This is right by Germantown Pizza where the Germantown and 4th Street kind
of intersect. I was here some time ago for a project right there on the corner of Oxford and
fourth for multifamily. Mr. Rushdie Muhammad is here. Mr. Muhammad is a member of the Arab
community. It belongs to the mosque. It's right around the corner and is a part owner in the
cousin's store that's basically right up the street. He's been in the area for 20 plus years
easily. So we're here today taking two properties, both of which he has owned for quite some time,
one of which is an existing house that's multifamily. It's fallen into a little bit
district here the other is the adjacent lot and what we're seeking to do is rather rather
straightforward um multi-family on each lot so the complete demolition of the existing structure
um and then building a new three-family dwelling on that and then on the current vacant lot
building a new three-family dwelling while this lot is zoned rsa5 as the board will see as we go
through the packet there's precedent for multi-family all over the neighborhood uh the
new project that was approved directly up the block. The old Gretz Brewing, which is being
redeveloped at this point, which is a block away, and pre-existing multifamily, all in the
immediate area, whether approved or not, it exists. And we'll go through all that as we go along.
So just for purpose of the record, I have refusals, appeals, and project information form page one,
area zoning maps at 17. Deeds at 18. Tax clearance at 28. Zoning notifications are at page 33.
I have an RCO report from South Kensington Community Partners. As this board knows,
South Kensington is committed to keeping RSA 5 zoned properties to be constructed as RSA 5.
So overall, their vote was against the overall project. We can get into the details of that as
well. Zoning history of the properties at page 45, the property's been multifamily for a very
long time, at least the existing structure at 1522. The vacant lot at 1524 was, I believe,
as well, also used to be multifamily. Beginning at page 62 and going to page 125, I have letters
of support from members of the Arab community in the neighborhood, specifically the mosque
that is around the corner literally a block away. My client has spoken with the owner of Germantown
Pizza which is directly across the street with respect to allowing for tenants to park in that
lot at night and that's really it. Photos are 126 and plans of the property at the end are 155.
I'll go first the refusal. So the refusal for each of these is essentially identical. So one
It's an RSA 5 district. We're asking for multifamily three units.
There's an open area request proposing 14% versus 25%.
The lots go street to street.
And then we have a refusal for the fence as well because the lot goes street to street.
We're asking for a standard fence height rather than the smaller fence height.
The zoning code requires that if you're fronting a street, as you all know,
the fence can only be four feet tall.
That simply doesn't cut it to have the privacy security necessary for a backyard.
I'll move ahead now past the duplicate to the area zoning.
I'll move ahead now past the duplicate to the area zoning map, which is a page 17 of my packet to the top members of the board will see the screenshot of the city of Philadelphia Atlas website, indicating that everything around here is RSA five, with the exception of one CMX one property at the end of the block to the south.
And as you go northbound, you have the IRMX property.
My recollection is that's the Gretz Brewing that's going to be developed in the condominiums.
Directly north of this, on Germantown, is that development I was speaking of where we had, I represented the property owner.
And we salvaged the building on the corner of Oxford and Germantown and then constructed a number of new two-family dwellings.
At the bottom of the page, this is just the overhead shot from Atlas.
I'll zoom in on that for everybody.
This triangular parcel here, right at the tip, this is Germantown Pizza.
This is the area that I'm indicating with my cursor, where the owner of Germantown Pizza has indicated that he would allow tenants of my client's property to park,
simply because they've known each other for quite some time.
Large lot across the street for parking for the private use of, I'm sorry, the group that's right here is failing me at this moment.
But there is a large parking lot that's attended to commercial use here.
This is Degret's building structure, and this is Leithgow Street, which kind of comes up, and dog legs around the Redner.
There's all a mix of single-family and two- and three-family dwellings on Leithgow.
Because these lots all go street to street, I mentioned we get that refusal because we want to put a six-foot fence there.
But all along Leithgow, all along Lawrence Street, all along Orkney Street, there are multifamily dwellings that I've taken photos of as well.
So here's our, oh, zooming out at page 18 is our deed.
My client has owned it for quite some time.
Just going through all that quickly.
Was not able to get the tax clearance to work.
So I have this instead showing that taxes are paid up at this point up through 2021 with respect to 22.
I'm a 24. I believe that's completely paid off at this point or is now because I have proof of payment now being shown at page 33.
As referenced, the last hearing, there was a little bit of mix up with respect to the initial zoning meeting with South Kennington.
It was happened during my surgery recovery. I dropped the ball, but I did get notifications out to everybody by hand as to this hearing and postings were all done in accordance with the zoning code requirements.
requirements. In addition, my understanding is South Kensington does their own independent
flyering. And I spoke yesterday with Sloan folks from the councilwoman's office. So
everybody's aware of the meeting that's happening today, especially.
Page 35. This is the updated letter that was sent. I believe it's the updated letter.
No, wait, that's the old letter. This might be the new one.
Oh, there we go. Page 40. We have the updated letter from South Kensington Community Partners.
essentially the neighbors don't want multifamily that's the extent of their opposition more or less
as you all know south cannington's committed to keeping single family single family
it's our position here members of the board that unless we have the ability to continue the
multifamily use on these parcels number one the project isn't viable number two because there's
already existing multifamily all in the area including the new construction directly to the
north this isn't unprecedented three we have issues with parking resolved by an agreement with