ZBA Hearing - April 14, 2021

in fact, send that notice out. So with that, if I could have my client adopt my testimony, Matthew Shafson.

uh is your client having difficulty getting on

hello she's muted oh i'm sorry about that um he should be on however if he's not available then

i would have to stipulate as an officer for court yeah why don't we do that in the interest of time

um as an officer of court we'll stipulate that your client would have adopted your testimony

any questions from the board no no excuse me chair this is Sharon Solita Ms. Amazon the fence

that you referenced was that included in the plan that Ellen I reviewed yes it was okay thank you

anyone else like to testify in this case please raise your hand here we have a call-in user

their number is not showing

caller you can unmute yourself and speak now

hi hi tiffany green uh concerns to the point breathe i'm sorry i'm calling on uh landline

um at this point um i'm sorry you just identify yourself again i'm sorry uh tiffany green

Are you swearing or affirmed to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

Yes.

Thank you.

Please proceed.

At the meeting, we were opposed to this project because of the fact that parking is very limited in our area in South Philly.

South Capitol Street is a very typical South Philadelphia, a tight, small street in between two main streets, 21st and 20th.

And it was also brought to the attention of the applicant that people are parking on the curb, you know, to avoid being hit when a car comes, drives down the street.

And one of the other reasons is that we and Point Breeze had a no-garage bill

It was put in by Councilwoman Ann Verna back in 2012 or 2011, I'm not quite sure

To try to avoid this type of excessive garages or separate parking spaces for individuals

I just want to say that we agree that it states here

that there's no real hardship for this applicant.

It's a single-family home.

They have to grab off-street parking like everyone else.

And according to the code 14803, it says surface parking spaces are prohibited in a required rare yard

where the proposed surface parking space encroaches into the required rare yard,

which they also indicated at the meeting that they're taking up part of their backyard to create this surface parking.

I mean, this is unnecessary.

And then when they come through the block, when they turn in, it's very hard for them to turn into the surface parking area.

And then they've got to back out into a very tight street where people already park on the curb.

I mean, this just is not doable.

And so we think this is a self-created hardship because when they purchased the house, they knew the area.

They looked at the area and realized this was a tight – the parking –

what they're asking for is right it's actually the interest is on south capital street not on

dickerson street hi tiffany it's carol tenary yeah when you say we who who which rco is that

Who, who, which RCO is that that you're referring to?

that you're referring to oh i'm

Oh, I'm with concerns to the point, Breeze.

Okay, thanks.

Okay, no problem.

So, and also, you know, it says accessory parking for any single family use in an attached building shall be prohibited unless it can be accessed from a shared driveway, alley, or rare street on which no street parking is permitted on the side of the rare street directly abutting the lot.

Whereas the proposed lot is not assessed from a shared driveway, alley, or rear street.

And then it also goes in that they're required an 8 foot by 16 foot.

They're proposing 8 foot by 15.5 feet.

So, I mean, it should not be any special treatment.

I mean, it's whoever can grab off-street parking.

And that's why we oppose the project, you know.

We have support from Point Breeze Community Development Coalition.

a letter of support we were not that we were not uh we have not and we're in the process we were

not we they might have support but we were not giving access to we don't have access to the um

to the voting to see exactly who voted and whether they were nearby neighbors or they're not nearby

neighbors we don't we don't know that at this particular point and besides that all all rcos

are equal uh coordinated rco all they does is start set up the date time and location

their rco letter is no important no more important than what our position is in terms of the uh

parking and the vice chair was just pointing out that there is a conflicting uh there's a proviso

excuse me there is support from another uh rco in the same area that's all she was pointing out

we're not suggesting one has more i can appreciate right i can appreciate i can appreciate that but

But when we requested the voting link, we were not given the voting link to see who actually voted and who did not vote and who was a nearby neighbor.

So I don't I can't verify that.

I don't know that that vote count is accurate or I don't know whether it is true or not.

I would suggest that you contact them so this doesn't happen in the future.

It's about whether or not is there a hardship here for parking.

uh councilman johnson just passed a numerous uh uh just a bill last week where people are asking

for two-hour parking in the area because of overcrowded parking slow down a little would

you not agree that since there is no parking on that side of capitol street by putting a

off-street parking space behind this house or alongside of it you're you're actually freeing

up another part on street parking space it's one less car on parking on the street when he backs

out when they back out the air the street is very tight when they back out they run the risk of

damaging somebody else's car or back trying to back out on a small capital is a very small

or cantrell street or dudley street they're very small i am i'm the board i believe is familiar

with that i i certainly am familiar with the narrowness of those streets and we can't we

should not start something on the road other people are going to come behind your decision

and want to use the same uh reason or same excuse every case we handle we listen to we have a we

we don't it's not a blanket approval every case is looked at for on its own merits and we make a

decision based on the merits of each case but thank you is there anyone else who would like

to testify in this case?

Chairman, Chair, we have a Matthew Shapson.

Good afternoon, sir.

Please identify yourself with the record.

Spell your last name.

Provide us with your address.

I believe that's my client, Matt.

If you could just unmute yourself using the button

in the lower left-hand corner.

And while he's doing that,

I would just like to point out that the turning radius was reviewed by streets department.

We do have that in our plan and we would be taking one car off the street.

Parking is not allowed on this side anyhow.

In addition, this is not a garage.

It's one accessory parking.

Excuse me.

This is Sharon Saleta.

Again, not to belabor this, but Ms. Amazon, I'm looking at the plans and it might just

be that they're unclear.

You said that there was a gate shown on the plans that were submitted to L&I.

Is that correct?

Yes.

are you able to pull that up to show where it's referenced um let me see it's on the building set

um if you could give me one moment i can see if i can pull that up

Thank you.

so these are the plans that we did submit okay and can you show me where the gate is referenced

so on the building set you just scroll down so you can see it

and again i apologize if it's there i just so along this dotted line with the x's that's where

the fence would be located okay yes so the entry to the parking space there will be a fence in front

of that so we're actually going to be removing part of the fence for that well excuse me yes

there will be so we wanted to include the fence based off of the request of the community to

ensure that cars wouldn't be parking along the curve and they would have to be enclosed. Okay,

thank you. Okay, anyone else to testify? Chair, we have a Pietra Gamble. Ms. Gamble,

you can unmute yourself and speak. Ms. Gamble, please identify yourself, spell your first and

last name and provide us with your address. Hi, this is Pietra Gamble. I am a member of the

Point Breeze Community Development Coalition, the coordinating

RCO for this project. Please spell your first and last name.

First name is P as in Peter, I, E, T as in Tom, R, A,

last name is Gamble, G as in game, A, M as in man, B as in boy,

L, E. You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

Yes, I do. Thank you, ma'am. Please proceed. As I stated,

we are the coordinating RCO for this project, and we do approve this project

with the following provisals we added for an addition we asked for an addition of a fisheye

mirror for parking safety lighting under added under the bays security camels on the perimeter

and for them to install the gate so the car doesn't protrude um and i also wanted to add that

um when we count our votes we only accept the votes from the neighbors that are within a two

block radius we do not accept votes further out from that our votes are closely monitored and we

we don't take anything outside of that thank you thank you for your testimony you're welcome anyone

else there are no other hands at this time chair thank you planning commission i run bednar city

planning this property is indicated for single family residential use on the city plan the

applicant has not sufficiently demonstrated unnecessary hardship regarding the code

requirements there's no unique physical conditions to this site that would uh not be that was not

created by the applicant themselves the application is not compliant with the functional nor enacted

spatial parking standards of the code before we recommend the request for variance not be granted

thank you uh i don't think the uh miss uh miss amazon the the provisors that miss gamble spoke

to i don't think any of them are enforceable i think you did say though the fence is set back

six inches and that was one of their their provisors yes i did so we would have to adhere

to all the requests that they have within the provisors and it is six inches that'll work

okay thank you uh mi 2020 excuse me mi 2021-000-559-2026 dickinson street my vote is yes

my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes

calendar number 0576-2121 east allegheny avenue

The attorney's Brett Feldman.

There's a letter of support

from the Howardgate Civic

letter of non-opposition

with Councilman Squilla.

Thank you.

Chair, Brett Feldman is being promoted to a

panelist.

Mr. Feldman, can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name?

Yes, Mr. Chair, members of the board, good afternoon. Brett Feldman, 1835 Market Street,

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19103. I represent the applicant and property owner, 2121 Partnership,

LLC. Thank you. Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

I do. Do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?

I do as well. And have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance

And have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal or referral, photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing?

refusal?

And have you met with the RCO? And do you have a letter?

We do. I don't believe in our original package. We had our tax cert, but I have that now.

But otherwise, we send all those materials five days in advance.

Thank you. You may proceed.

Sure. If I may share my screen.

Sure.

One second here.

Try to do this again.

just give me one second here uh while i'm while i'm getting the exhibits up um

again uh brett feldman 1835 market street i represent the property owner 2121 partnership

of LLC, and its principal, Rami Hesedim, if I ask that he also be unmuted, and our project

architect, Janice Woodcock, I ask also that she be unmuted as well.

is that up yet now yeah okay try this again

Try this one more time.

Okay, where is it here?

can we just be can we just be moved to the next case i apologize just going to ask you okay i'm

sorry we got a technical word i can't just just go ahead it's okay next next case is calendar

are we moving we are moving to the next case yeah let's come back okay calendar number

1513

3009

North Front Street. The owner is Grace

Velez.

Ms. Velez has been promoted

to panelists.

Hi, Ms. Velez.

Ms. Velez, you need to unmute yourself.

Hi, can you put your name and address on the record, please, and spell your last name?

Name and address and spell your last name.

Okay, my last name is spelled V as in Victor, E-L, like Larry, E-Z as in zebra, and the address is 3009 North Front Street.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

Yes.

Have you emailed your exhibit packet with the required documents, including proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal or referral, photos and or plans five days in advance of this hearing?

And have you met with the RCO? And do you have a letter?

Yes.

Thank you. You may proceed.

Thank you. Hello.

Let me see here how to share my screen.

Let's see here how to, okay, share my screen.

Thank you.

Okay, so I have here the notice of refusal.

Here is a copy of-

We didn't see your screen.

Oh, no, okay, hold on a second.

Let's see here.