this location however the proposed use is consistent with documented previous uses on
this property in this building so the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the
variance thank you calendar number 1766 1548 south 30th street my vote is yes my vote is yes
my vote is yes thank you and good luck okay thank you so much for your help and
for your time have a great day sure you too calendar number three two five three two zero one three
Calendar number 3253-2013, St. Albans Street.
st albans
The owner is Jill Allspach.
She's being promoted to a panelist now, Madam Vice Chair.
Okay. Hi. Hi, Jill. Are you an attorney?
I am not. No.
Okay. Name and address for the record, please, and spell your last name.
Sure. My name is Jill Allspach, A-L-S-P-A-C-H. My address is 2013 St. Albans Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19146.
Sorry for mispronouncing your name twice.
Oh, you're okay. You're fine.
You swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance, refusal referral, plans of the property, along with photos, five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
I have, and I do.
Okay, thank you. You may proceed.
Absolutely. I'm going to go ahead and share my screen.
Thank you.
okay so hello everyone again my name is jill allspock i am the owner of 2013 saint albin
street um i purchased this home in 2016 have lived there ever since uh and an active member
of the community um what we're discussing here today is the uh i'm seeking an approval of a
variance for a roof deck setback and a little bit of background. I will share the plans and
also pictures. I hired a contractor in 2017 to build my roof deck for me. I was advised that
permits were acquired, let him run with the process, built the roof deck, and then was notified
August of 2020 that actually permits had not been acquired for my roof deck. So I immediately
worked with my prior contractor to start this process to make my deck legal. And so what I'm
seeking here is the variance of the setback for the roof deck in the rear of the home so that it
can continue as is, no further construction would be needed, and so that it can stay remaining
adjacent to and lining up with my neighbor's roof deck. You can see here in the pictures,
I'm 2013 St. Albans Street. They are 2011 St. Albans Street. And so right now, as it stands
today, it does line up. Bottom picture shows that as well. From the variance perspective,
you can see there's over a 12-foot variance in the front of the house. The front of the house
is climbers or is st albin street and this is the rear of the house on uh um climber street which is
uh it's almost like an alleyway um the city planning commission determined that st albin
street is the primary street and the opposing is the rear and as the um variant stands it refers
to setback in the primary frontage of the home which my roof deck does currently um comply with
I do have a letter of support from my adjacent neighbor, Alex and Sarah, they, you know, everyone likes how the roof deck lines up today. They're very supportive. When I met with the, with the South of South Neighborhood Association, there were 22 members of the community there of support and no one opposed my request for this variance.
Thank you. Is there anyone in the virtual audience with questions?
There are no hands at this time, Madam Vice Chair.
Thank you. Does the Board have any questions?
Mr. Hagerty?
Thank you, Vice Chair Tanari, Ian Hagerty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
comprehensive plan recommends no change to the single family zoning at this location however
again uh the proposed variance is minimal and doesn't conflict with the purpose and spirit of
the zoning code so we would recommend that the board approve the variance thank you calendar
number three two five three 2013 saint ombud street my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes
Thank you. Calendar number 3260, 2118 Pemberton Street, Zen Jin is the attorney.
Madam Vice Chair, I'm promoting him to panelists now. Thank you.
Good morning. Good morning. You're still under oath but name and address for the record please.
Zin Jin, Z-H-E-N-J-I-N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 1838, Philadelphia PA 19103, here on behalf of the applicant.
Zen Jin, Z-H-E-N-J-I-N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard.
Thank you. Do you agree to wave 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 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.
Thank you. You may proceed.
Thank you.
I'm going to go ahead and share with the board the information related to this case.
This is an application for a variance for a front setback of the second story,
above the second story for a addition that my client is proposing on his single family structure.
He is both the owner of the property and he plans to continue to reside in it once it's completed.
the main reason we are requesting this variance is because while in some areas with two-story and
three-story structures there are many houses already with setbacks he's on a block where
setbacks are not the norm and it is already inconsistent in the way the block is set up
when we met with the RCO, the neighboring properties, the neighbors more or less
explained to the board of the RCO that the block itself already has buildings that are
three-story and all the way set to the front, and also some that are set to the back. So it is not
something that they want to see further changed with variations of one being set back, another
one not being set back. So the overwhelming result is that the neighbors actually would
have preferred to just have it go straight up. Even though SOSNA as a board and as a
RCO generally would prefer to see either mansert or setbacks, they understood that it was the
neighbors request that this would be permitted to go ahead and stay as it is. Again, we have
a position of support from the community as a result. I'm going to go back to the photos just
one last time real quick. It shows that this is currently abutted on both sides by two-story
structures but further up and down the street we have a variation of setback and no setback plus
from the perspective what's across the street that being a apartment type development relating
to a church, the neighbors don't feel that a building built straight up would have any effect
on the view or produce a canyon effect, which is normally what is trying to be avoided. So as a
result, we would ask the board's favorable vote in allowing this particular house not to have
a setback on the third floor. And as a final point, these are relatively small lots,
and therefore a setback being forced onto the third floor would essentially eliminate a lot
of the benefit of having an addition being done. He has a growing family. He's trying to get some
more bedrooms into the house. And again, that is one of the hardships that he is looking at
if he is forced to do a setback. So again, I'm happy to answer any questions from the board
and showcase any other exhibit the board might be interested in seeing.
does the board have any questions no no and is there anyone in the audience
my client is here i'm sorry madam chairwoman my client is here to verify my testimony
if you would permit him to do so sure i would thank you
um paul can you raise your hand
i think he should be here um mr ben connelly yes that's correct
you've been unmuted you can speak now sir can you put your name and address on the record
and spell your last name? Yes. Can everyone hear me okay? Yes. Great. My name is Paul
Biancaniello, and my last name is spelled B-I-A-N-C-A-N-I-E-L-L-O. You swear for him to tell
the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Yes. Okay. Mr. Jin? Thank you. Paul, you heard my
presentation, I mean, you saw my presentation and heard my testimony that I made to the board.
Can you verify that they are true and correct and adopted as your own?
can you verify that they are true and correct and adopted as your own?
Yes, it is.
Yes, it is. Thank you. Planning Commission.
Thank you, Vice-Chair Tanari. Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the single-family zoning at this location.
However, in this case, we feel the applicant has failed to satisfy either of the hardship
criteria for dimensional variances. First, the dimensional requirements of the zoning code
clearly don't represent a financial burden for the applicant. And second, the proposed dimensions
are in conflict with the characteristics of the surrounding neighborhood, which is the standard
we have to use to judge this case. In fact, the zoning requirement that's being refused in this
case was specifically to and as a reaction to the type of building that's being proposed here. So
the zoning code is very specifically tailored to this situation and the proposed development goes
against that specific intent of the zoning code. And so the city planning commission would recommend
and that the Zoning Board denied its variance.
Thank you.
Calendar number 3260, 2118 Pemberton Street.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
Thank you.
Calendar number zero, strike that,
calendar number 3245, 2406 North 2nd Street.
The attorney is Sarah Alderfer.
Ms. Alderfer is being promoted to panelists.
Thank you, Ms. Benton.
Hi, Ms. Alderfer, there you are. Name and address for the record, please, and spell your last name.
Sure. Sarah, S-A-R-A-H, Alderfer, A-L-D-E-R-F-E-R, 1500 JFK Boulevard, Suite 800, Philadelphia.
you. Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth? I do. Do you
agree to wait the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? I do. 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, to the majority of those. We met with the RCO, but we have not received a letter.
so we would request to be allowed to present today and have the record held open to give the
RCO an opportunity to send in a letter. Okay, thank you. Is NARA Square Community Alliance here?
Madam Vice Chair, Mr. Folks has his hand up. Okay.
Mr. Folks, you've been unmuted, and you can speak now.
We'll do this backwards.
I'm sorry, Madam Chair.
Good morning.
Again, Sloan Folks, SLOAN, EFS of Fire, OLKS, Office of Councilwoman Maria Canuna Sanchez from 508 City Hall.
Given the fact that there was a meeting, the RCO has not yet provided a letter,
we would support the applicant's request that the meeting be held and it be left open or vote be held until such time as the RCL submits their letter.
Okay, great. Thank you.
Okay, Sarah.
Thank you.
Good morning, everyone.
I'm here on behalf of the owner of the property, 2406, North Second LLC.
The principal of the company is Roman Guzla.
I'm going to ask him to raise his hand so that he can speak at the end to any questions.
I believe also present on the Zoom is the architect, Logan Dry.
So I would ask that he raise his hand as well so that he can be added to the Zoom.
We're requesting variances to build a multi-family unit on the project.
We're requesting variances to build a multi-family unit on the property. The property is presently
a vacant lot and I'm showing pictures on the screen here. The lot runs is on the west side
of North 2nd street and runs street to street from North 2nd street in the front to Phillip
Street in the rear. Looking at some overhead photos to give the board a better idea.
the lot is this lot here is indicated by the blue marker and you can see here's a zoning map
of the property and while it is one lot that runs street to street the lot is split zoned with the
portion facing north second street zone cmx2 and the rear portion of the lot facing north phillips
street zoned rsa5 um however because of the location because of the size and location of
the zoning on the map the rsa5 zoning district controls this application um accordingly we were
issued a number of we were issued two refusals on this application um the refusals for um multi-family
being prohibited in the rsa 5 zoning district um and also for open area um we're proposing 19.8
open area where 25 open area is required we're seeking to build um a total of six units
laid out as three one-bedroom units and three two-bedroom units for a total of nine bedrooms.
I'm going to take you guys to the floor plans
to get an idea as to how the atmospheric exhibit nine to show the layout of the units.
Pardon, my computer is having a moment this morning.
So the one bedroom units are in what we're calling the front of the property or the North 2nd Street side of the property.
There is a bi-level unit, first floor basement in the front.
That's a one-bedroom. There is, and then there's a flat unit on the second floor and a flat unit
on the third floor. In addition, there are two-bedroom units in the rear.
By level again, first floor cellar and flat units on the second floor and third floor. We're also
providing for a trash mechanical storage room, and because of the number of units, there would be
a private pickup for the trash um looking at the surrounding area on north phillips street
the surrounding area although zoned rsa 5 is not single family is not was not developed a single
family if you look at exhibit six which is the photographs of the surrounding area on phillips
Street, you would notice that the majority of the lots facing Phillip Street are rear yards
of the properties on North 2nd Street on the east side of Phillip, which is our side of the street,
and then going to 6B on the west side of Phillip Street, there's a number of vacant lots, and then
this existing old industrial building, which is now, which I believe is used for storage,
And then looking, so this isn't really a single family zoning area, particularly on the Phillip Street side. And then if you look at the North 2nd Street side, which is Zone CMX2, you can see there's a number of existing homes.
And then a mix of, there's a firehouse on our side of the street, and then a mix of commercial and industrial uses, including some auto repair uses and garages on the block.
So it's not, even though the North 2nd Street side of the property is zoned CMX2, it's not really a robust commercial corridor that would support a commercial space.
And so we believe that a residential use makes sense here.
residential use makes sense here. In addition, there's a pending proposal at 2402 North 2nd,
In addition, there's a pending proposal.
which is two doors down from us for a residential use on the property. If this were zoned as CMX2,
which is actually the majority of the space on the lot, we would be allowed to build three
units by right for a total of nine bedrooms, which is the same number of bedrooms that we're seeking
in our layout, just in a different arrangement. And we would be required to provide a commercial
space. Our lot, looking at the zoning site plan, is 16 feet wide. And we would be required if this
were CMX2 to provide a commercial space. We believe that a commercial space would not be
viable here, especially because of the narrow nature of the lot and the lack of other commercial
in the area. As I said earlier, we met with the RCO on March 10th, 2021, but we have not received
a letter as to their position. At this time, I'd like to ask my client to unmute himself and so
I could ask him a few questions. Roman, are you there?