okay anyone in the virtual audience with questions
there are no hands at this time madam vice chair okay ian thank you ian hegarty for the philadelphia
city planning commission um this comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing
residential single family zoning here the proposed variance is minimal and does not conflict with the
purpose and spirit of the zoning code and so the city planning commission would recommend that the
the board grant the variance.
Thank you.
Calendar number is 3255, 1211 Peter Street.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
Calendar number 3262, 1270 South Newkirk Street.
The attorney is Henry Clinton.
Madam Vice Chair, I'm promoting Mr. Clinton to a panelist now.
Thank you.
Hi, Mr. Clinton. Can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name, please?
Sure. Good morning, Madam Chairman.
Henry Clinton, C-L-I-N-T-O-N, 1313 South 33rd Street, Queen Memorial Building, Philadelphia PA, 19146.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
I do have to interject this.
You actually look like a judge.
You look like you have robes on.
But I will continue.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with 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 all to the above okay thank you you
may proceed can I share my screen yes you may good morning madam chairman members of the board
this concerns 1270 South Newkirk Street on the line with me is David Heinz the owner of the
property. This property has been in his family since 1984. This is my exhibit package, table of
contents, exhibits AA through A10, appearance statement, refusal. This property is a two-story
property in the Graves Ferry section of South Philadelphia. It has an existing seven-foot rear
yard and basically my client put an addition on top of the rear shed that was on the first floor.
So now he has a two-story house with the same non-conforming seven-foot rear yard. So we've
not enlarged the footprint of the building, we've not enlarged the height of the building,
we're the open space. It's basically an addition on the second floor above a first floor shed.
we have a letter of support from the Grace Ferry Community Council which is in my exhibit package
we have photos this is the property on Newkirk Street it's a two-story property with a nice
cornish line at the top which Mr. Hines is going to maintain I took some interior photographs just
to show you that there's no mechanicals or electrical work that's been done on the property
simply all some structural work to safeguard the rear shed and then to build above it.
This is the picture of the rear of the yard. You can see that the rear of the property
is actually less deep than the house next door. There's an overhanging deck here at 1272
and this is looking north. This is the house next door. You can see down the block there are several
other homes that had that second floor addition on on above the rear shed because the homes are
relatively smaller than 15 by 40 or so and that second floor becomes really tight when you try to
put two bedrooms there this is a photograph of the second floor continuing with the siding all
continuing with the siding all the way up from the first floor.
up from the first war our plan
Our plans are pretty much straightforward. Nothing really on the first floor has changed.
Again, we just went up on the second floor and added additional structural bracing
because that rear shed was in bad shape. And the floor plan is a simple layout. All the
mechanicals are in the basement. First floor has a living room, a bathroom, a dining area,
and is a kitchen with a counter in between the kitchen dining room. Second floor will have two
bedrooms, walk-in closet, and a bath. That's pretty straightforward. The rest are the pro
form of documents, tax certifications, deeds, excuse me, deeds, singular, our application for
repeal, tax certification, all the requirements that one needs to present before this board.
So my client is available, as am I for any questions, but in summary, this project is
non-conforming to start with. It's a continuation of a non-conforming use. It's compatible with
other uses on the block as seen in the photographs. It's in harmony with the code and it's the local
community group supports this application. So with that, I will entertain any questions
and ask my client without my testimony.
Your client's name?
My client's name is David Heintz, H-E-I-N-T-Z.
Okay, Mr. Heintz, can you raise your hand?
Madam Vice Chair, I'm about to unmute Mr. Heintz.
Mr. Heintz, you can unmute yourself and speak.
Hello.
Hi, Mr. Hines. Can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name?
Sure. David Hines, H-E-I-N-T-Z, 1945 East Moy-Mencing Ave, Philadelphia PA, 19128.
Thank you. Do you swear for him to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Okay. Mr. Clinton?
Mr. Hines, were you on the call and did you hear my presentation of your project?
I did.
and if you had the opportunity to testify would you adopt my testimony as your own
and it's true and correct yes thank you mr heinz thank you madam thank you sure are there any other
people in the audience with questions madam vice chair we have a peter looks like maylino
mr maylino you can unmute yourself and speak hello i'm peter maialino of 1258 south newkirk
Okay. Do you swear for him to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Peter, are you there?
Mr. Maialino, you have to unmute yourself.
Okay. Could you hear me now?
Now. Yes, now we can.
And what is your address again?
So, my name is Peter Maialino, 1258 South Newkirk, Philadelphia, PA, 19146.
Okay, and can you spell your last name?
It's going to be M as a mom, A-I-O-L-I-N-O.
Okay, you may proceed.
I do have a question for both the owner and the representing attorney.
Why was construction pursued without the proper permitting to begin with?
because a stop work order was put on the the the property in question i'm sorry sir this is for
testimony um not for questions i didn't mean to interrupt madam chair that's quite all right
i i can answer that question if you want me to madam chair oh that would be good uh
so what happened is this property in the back was in need of repair and as my client started to
repair the building it became obvious that there was going to be a very dangerous situation in the
back if he didn't proceed to brace the first floor and then actually go up because there were issues
with the roof also at which point he realized that he has to start all over again and that's why
he had the discussions with L and I and then we pursued the zoning aspect which we're hearing
today so it was for safety okay does the board have any questions no no did I already ask planning
commission no you did not hi Ian hi Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia State Planning Commission
um the proposed variance again we feel is minimal and does not conflict with the purpose and spirit
of the zoning code so the planning commission recommends
You know what? We're not able to understand what you're saying.
I'm sorry. Is it clearer now? Yes, it is. Okay. Thank you. Sorry about that. Ian Hegarty for
the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. The proposed variances, dimensional variances are
minimal and do not conflict with the purpose and spirit of the zoning code so the city planning
commission would recommend that the board grant the variance thank you calendar number three two
six two twelve seventy south newkirk street my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes
thank you madam chairman thank you calendar number one seven six six fifteen forty eight
South 30th Street. The owner is Naib Cordero Constantini.
Is Mr. Constantini out there in the virtual world?
i'm about to unmute him now madam vice chair thank you mr constantine you can unmute yourself
and speak now i'm sorry you need to be promoted yes okay sorry okay thank you i'm calling him
the panelists now
Mr. Constantini, can you hear me?
Hello.
I'm sorry.
That's okay.
Can you put your name and address on the record, please, and spell your last name?
Yes, my name is Nayib Scordero-Constantini, spelled N-A-Y-I-P-S, Cordero is C-O-R-D-E-R-O, and Constantini, C-O-N-S-T-I-N-I-T-N-I.
Thank you. Do you swear for me to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with the proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal, referral, photos, and 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, that is correct.
Okay, you may proceed.
All right. Thank you, everyone, for hosting the meeting, and today I'm presenting my case.
It was a continuous for today. And my project is to open a coffee shop in my property and the actual dwelling home, right? And with the existing property that I have.
So I'm presenting a hardship in my property because I have everything in that property in order to conduct a business as another one in the area.
I'm living across the park, and in the corner of the property, we have bus stops, and I want to do something different that I have right now.
Previously, before I purchased the property, it was a corner shop, which I didn't own.
Excuse me, sir. Excuse me. Excuse me, sir. Do you have some pictures?
Yes, correct. Let me share the document.
Thank you, Tom.
I'm sorry.
Here it is.
Let me go back here.
I'm sorry to slow my internet.
I'm sorry about my internet.
It's not the best.
All right.
So here is the deed of my property, which shows that I'm
on the owner from the page one to the page four.
All right.
So all this is the deed.
The information related to my neighbors that shows that I sent the letters as well.
The refusal notification at the page 9.
Actually the property is a zoning as RCA5 and the proposal is to have a coffee shop
And the proposal is to have a coffee shop and the property.
Down here I can show you the notification of the continuing hearing.
It was continued because I didn't include my deed.
So now it's in the documentation.
Information about the property as well.
and here i have the letter of the rcos um the rcos uh approved uh my project is i have i mean
the support of the neighborhood
down here i can show you the map where it's located so here we have the the properties
located in the corner of Tasker and 30th Street in this area. So crossing the street we have a park
which is a linear park and as you see in other corners also has been rezoning as our mixed use.
The area has a very potential
place in order to open a coffee shop.
Actually, the property has been vandalized by graffitis.
People sometimes dump garbage.
And for me, it has been, for years, has been very difficult in order to keep clean and
safe the area.
So I think having a coffee shop and my property will be great in order to improve the area.
Here is the picture.
As you see here, it was before I purchased the house.
It was a corner store, apparently.
So as you see, graffiti is people just over there dumped garbage.
And for me, it would be great in order to keep continuing keeping clean and give another impression of the neighborhood to have a coffee shop open.
This is the plan.
Basically, it's the same as always has been.
The restroom has always been there, the entrance, the window.
So here, when you see the windows in the plan, basically it's under the gate, which is here.
You open this, you will see the door and the windows.
So here I have the plan of the coffee shop.
The idea is to offer something different in the community,
something like that will help the neighborhood to get improved.
I will install cameras, more lights in the corner.
Personally, I want to give another face to the neighborhood that actually is a little high in crime.
And then I think to have this kind of business will help to improve it.
So basically the concept is this.
The only that I want to do is change the appliances because inside is everything is ready to run.
Decor and painting.
So that's why I'm looking for to change, to have a variance of my zoning, the zoning on the property.
and you've met with um the grace ferry community council yes mr mr let me find here the information
yes and there's a lot it's a letter of support correct this is the letter of support the
majority of the neighborhood where the neighbors were agreeing with this and um it was uh in
December 2020. Thank you. Does the Board have any questions? No. No. Planning Commission,
oh wait one second, Tanya, hold up. Is there anyone in the virtual audience who has any questions?
There are no hands at this time, Madam Vice. Thank you, Ms. Benton. Ian, Planning Commission?
thank you carol ian hegarty for the philadelphia city planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing residential single family zoning at