and speak, Mr. Foulkes. Again, good afternoon, Councilor, I'm sorry, Chairman Chico. Mr. Foulkes,
that's a fun um you were sworn in earlier so you're still on the roof yes uh we'd also i
also councilman maria quiona sanchez would also like uh this uh request held for discussion we
do understand that uh it's been a two-year process for the owner uh we don't want to uh cause any
further undue uh challenges uh to the owner but we also understand we've also the rco uh according
RCO at the time. We haven't heard back from them. We'd just like for them to have an opportunity
to put their feelings on the record, either written or verbally, whatever the ZBA chooses
to hear. And this is Sharon Saleta again. Mr. Folks, we will be helpful for you. I would be
glad to send you the findings, transcript, and record from the appeal that was filed to the
Court of Common, please. Thank you, ma'am. I appreciate that.
Is there anyone else who wishes to testify? Please raise your hand.
No hands, Chair. So, Sharon, does the Planning Commission weigh in at this time?
I believe the Planning Commission recommendation is already part of the record, and unless we submitted plans somehow change that recommendation, it isn't necessary.
I believe the Planning Commission recommendation is already part of the record.
All right, so calendar number HA2020-000895-1550 Lardner Street is being held for two weeks
for a final review with plans for the board for the board to review the record and prepare
supplemental findings to adopt at the time of the vote
be part of the record thank you for your statement
okay uh that concludes the uh two o'clock list
it does
finish business at this time for the two o'clock list
are you guys still there yes all right uh we're going to conclude and uh take a break
10 minutes and we'll begin the 3 30 list okay great thank you
You can take your screen down and there you go. Thank you.
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Frank DiCicco. I'm the chair of the Zoning Board of
adjustment. I'll be participating in today's hearing along with Vice Chair Ms. Carol Tenere,
our Board Secretary, Confessor Plaza, and Board Members Thomas Holloman and James Snell.
Board Administrator Tanya Sunken and Board Attorney Sharon Saleta are also in attendance.
For those of you who have not yet participated in one of our virtual meetings,
I'll go through some of the basics of what you can expect. First, we'll begin this afternoon's
session by reading a list of cases to be continued. If you believe any announced cases
being continued in error, we will give you an opportunity to respond. After reading the
continuance list and receiving any feedback, we will take any additional continuance request.
Then, once we've confirmed which hearings are being continued, Vice Chair Ms. Carol Tenere will begin calling the remaining cases listed for this session.
When a case is called, we ask that attorneys representing applicants or other interested parties in the matter identify themselves for the record.
We will then hear the appellant's presentation, followed by any presentation by attorneys representing other parties.
interested parties and members of the public not represented by council will then be given an
opportunity to testify we will finally hear the recommendation of the planning commission
at the hearing's conclusion we will either vote the matter out immediately or hold it for
discussion in executive session any case held for discussion will be voted at the next scheduled
Wednesday morning session. Please note the following changes related to the
virtual format. First, we will be administering oaths to individual
participants prior to their testimony. Second, for the benefit of anyone
participating by phone, we ask that attorneys and witnesses identify
themselves prior to speaking or testifying.
third we'd like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded and that by
participating you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded fourth anyone participating by phone
if you wish to testify you must raise your hand by hitting star nine and then star six
to unmute yourself. I'll repeat, if you wish to testify, you must raise your hand by hitting
star nine and then star six to unmute yourself. Finally, to enter an appearance statement,
call Google pound 267-270-5548. Again, that number is pound 267-270-5548,
and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue.
With that being said, we can begin.
But before Ms. Tenere calls our first case, we'd like to announce that the following matters are being continued.
But before Ms. Tenere calls our first case, we'd like to...
Calendar number 37814, 2321 North Broad Street, and calendar number 39312, 919 Diamond Street.
I'll ask at this time if there's anyone who believes that we've either called a continuance out in error to please raise your hand.
No hands are up for the 3.30 matters.
I will now ask if there are any other requests for continuances or withdrawals, please raise your hand now.
um if we have verne anastasio mr anastasio good afternoon mr chairman
verne anastasio representing the owners of 2321 north broad calendar number m i
2-0-2-0-0-0-0-1-3
2321 North Broad Street. Okay, and you're asking for a continuance? I am, sir. We were scheduled to
have a third and final RCO meeting with the 37th Ward during the pandemic, so we were unable to
meet. I've spoken to both the president, I mean, I'm sorry, the leader, Ms. L. and
Denise, the secretary of the ward, and we are coordinating another meeting.
Thank you. Is there any objection from anyone regarding and continuing this case?
If so, please raise your hand.
No hands.
Thank you. Calendar number 37814. 2321 North Broad Street is being continued. With that,
we'll call that first case time that you mentioned.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
And that was calendar number?
Calendar number 38501.
Ms. Gleason, you can unmute yourself.
Good afternoon. Good afternoon, ma'am. I'm sorry, but I've sat through the whole thing and I didn't
realize that when you stated about who was being continued, I didn't realize that. But I'm not
sure why my case is being continued. Did you, I sent a response to your question on the question
and answer did you submit your exhibits five days prior to this hearing
oh that's the reason why yes that's the procedures oh man so you'll be continued
and a new date will be submitted to you via email oh thanks chair thank you thank you
Ms. Gleason. Thank you. Carol. Calendar number 39323, 1526 Tasker Street. The attorney is
once again, Zen Jin. Tasker Street getting a lot of action today. I know. So Zen.
Mr. Zen. Hi, how are you? Good. You can promote your screen as you wish.
Thank you.
Name and address for the record, please.
Zen Jin, Z-H-E-N-J-I-N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 1838, Philadelphia EPA 19103.
Here on behalf of the applicant, the owner is Bing Gan, B-I-N-G-A-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth and nothing but the truth?
And do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Okay you may proceed. Thank you. I'm sharing to the board my screen which contains the refusal
in this case. This is an application to add an addition to an existing corner property.
What this property is is that it is a corner shop with a garage attached to the rear
and the upper floor is currently much shorter. My client met with East Point Breeze neighbors
and they actually know and visited the site. So essentially the variance here is because the first
So essentially, the variance here is because the first floor is already 100% coverage, my client is proposing an addition above to extend the residential portion of this property, and by doing so, it triggers a variance because any non-conforming status of an existing property being extended above is a variance in and of itself.
the reason my client is asking for this addition is because they own the store on the first floor
and they live above as you can see the existing space above is very small and they have quite a
large family so the requested additional space the extension is to give them more living space
within their existing building so this is an owner occupied building being
extended for owner occupation so the neighborhood having known the space know
about the property and knowing that the proposal is to simply extended above
found that there's really no negative impact based on this proposal and they
were in support as a result the other building that's behind here behind her
building, they're separated by an alleyway, but the party wall that is facing the back of their
property has no windows. So their view, their light and air is not being impacted. We're not
increasing the user density, so there's no impact to parking or other factors that are normally
considered when use density is increased. In this case, there will be no density increase. The
The family already has, I believe, three kids living with the parents, and they just want an additional bedroom because the kids are getting older.
My client is also here with us, so any questions from the board, I'm sure they'll be happy to answer.
I'm going to zoom into the plan a little bit so we can better see the proposed addition.
Now, the addition itself, again, is going over the existing store here and garage.
Right now, the upper floor is, this is the first floor back, and this is basement store.
I'm sorry, I messed up here.
This is the basement storage.
So, the seller is just storage.
First floor is where the existing business is.
And then the proposed addition allows this portion, which is currently a roof, to be converted to a residential space, changing it essentially to an additional bedroom here and leaving the roof being a deck area.
so now they have outdoor space for the kids to be outside. The entire deck is
however set back from all directions that face the street in conformance with
code requirements to make sure also that the people on the street would not have
to see the deck or that the occupants of the deck would be too close to the
edge of the roof. I'm certainly happy to entertain any questions relating to this.
The variance, as the refusal indicates, is simply for the fact that the extension itself is not conforming to the code requirement for open space coverage.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Jin. Do you want to get your client on the record?
I believe Mr. Bingan should be with us. I noticed he asked a question earlier about being present.
Here, would you please raise his hand? If not, we'll move on.
You can take your screen down now.
Mr. Gan?
Hello.
Hello.
Hi, Mr. Gan, please spell your name, identify yourself for the record.
uh my name is being gone uh you spell it uh spell it b-i-n-g-a-n first name last name g-a-n
yes you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes thank you mr gun uh can you give your address for the uh record uh 1526 teska street
Philadelphia TA-19145. Mr. Gan, you heard my testimony to the
zoning board. Can you verify that it is true and correct and adopt it as your
own? Yes. Thank you. Okay, any questions from the board? No.
any questions from the board no no no anyone else who wish the wishes to
testify in this case please raise your hand no hands are up chair thank you
planning commission good afternoon board so we're gonna ask that we swear him in
first yeah peter would you please identify yourself for the record my name is peter bernard
p-e-t-e-r-d-a-r-n-a-r-d and i'm representing the planning commission this afternoon
do you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes thank you please proceed this property is indicated for residential use on the comprehensive
plan the property is currently occupied as mixed use and occupies the entire site
the proposal does not create new adverse impacts accordingly we have no objection to the granting
of the variance thank you calendar number 39323 1526 tasker street my vote is yes
my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes thank you
i'm shining off for a while carol okay calendar number 39326 1520 font fontaine street the
attorney wow is zen jim now you're in another block oh gosh so you've already been sworn in
for the rest of the month do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy? I do. And name and address for the record. Yes. Zenjen Z-H-E-N-J-I-N 1617 John F. Kennedy
Boulevard, Suite 1838, Philadelphia PA 19103. Here on behalf of the applicant, 2300 North Park LLC.
This, I'm going to go ahead and share the information with the board on this application.
this is a property that is located in a I'm sorry let me unclick that it's located in a
RM1 district this entire block has slightly subsized lots so the deeded lot size is 812
square feet my client is proposing a duplex so because of the overlay in the area a duplex
would normally require 850 square feet total lot size. We are short by about 38
square feet on the lot size itself for this particular request. In addition, we
are requesting some variances because some of the structures on the block are
two-story structures and we happen to be abutted on both sides by two-story
structures. A setback, a front setback if required on the third floor, would also substantially
further reduce the footprint of the third floor and therefore the ability of the building to be
used in the proposed manner. With regard to open area and rear yard depth, these blocks,
most of the constructions on these blocks have very short rear yards. My client's building
actually would be lined up to the building to the one side, although the existing building to
the south side of the property would be a little bit shorter. However, when we met with the community,
that was not particularly an issue because most of the block are in fact multifamily and are
rentals for student housing. The one thing the community required us to do is to work together
with them on regular trash pickups and also work with them on sanitation to make sure
that trash is contained and would not be left outside to gather once the building is occupied.
As a result, we do have non-opposition from the community. The proposal itself, as you can see,
the block has some mostly two-story structures but it's also facing three-story structures on
other parts. The building proposed will sit essentially in a rectangular shape whereas the
current existing building has a little bit of a different shape with a small extension in the back.
The proposal is to have the buildings used as the basement would be
I'm sorry, the basement level would be a living space and kitchen. The first floor would be a
two-bedroom unit, which is leaving the bedroom all at least on the first floor. The second and
third floor unit has a master suite with its own bathroom in the front of the third floor. A second
with its own bathroom in the front of the third floor, a secondary bedroom in the back,
and the second floor is living space, kitchen, and a bedroom in the back. The intent here is to have
a setup that can be used for any kind of occupant, whether it be student or family,
and the bi-level is particularly intended to have more of a family feel. That's why the design
actually calls for a master bedroom setup rather than all individual bedrooms, individual bathrooms
in the hallway as you see with many of the student housing. The design was well liked by the community
so we overall have obtained non-opposition from the community on this particular design.
I also want to point out that while there are some existing single-family houses
sprinkled throughout the area, a majority of the houses on this block are in fact
student housing and multifamily as well. I'll be happy to answer any questions
from the board regarding this application. Is there anyone who would
like to testify? Yes, my client is here, Mr. Michael Haddad from earlier. I think
it's under a different name on the screen though
Mike can you raise your hand
is he there
i'm not i spoke with him on the phone i believe he is
mike are you there or here he has been unmuted so he can now speak