Kenny, you can unmute yourself.
Yeah, I'm here.
hello yeah my name hello yeah i'm kenny zhang i'm the owner of the building
kenny please please spell your name for the stenographer
okay hokun h-a-o-k-u-n that's my first name kenny that's my english name my last name is
z-h-e-n-g do you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Okay, gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, I want to say something about that.
I have been the owner for this building six years, almost seven years.
I am a victim for this situation, for this building.
I have no idea to build an illegal building.
I was misled by the contractor the builder we have original contract and
later we change it again and again because he say he can build a better
building for me and then I count on him I didn't have any idea about like a this
is a violation I cannot get it in this way or not until the second season of
operation okay now i terminate the contract this is him i talked to l and i i wasn't mislead
i want to cooperate with l and i 100 100 absolutely i want to complete the building as
an as soon as possible i need the help from all the people around me okay that's a nightmare for
me okay i want to cooperate with l and i i want to get this job done as soon as possible i am not
the person to cause the problem i am the victim for this situation for the building now i really
want to have it complete even though it's beyond my budget it caused so much trouble to me i really
want to complete it so i can move in my office to the second floor i have been in business in
Chinatown for 26 years. Okay, I'm a nice guy in Chinatown. Even though I didn't have a good
relationship with PCDC, I don't know why they misunderstand me in this way. I never do anything
wrong to the community, whatever. That's not my idea to build an illegal building like this.
This is a nightmare for me.
I want to be connected, okay?
correct it okay complete this building as soon as possible please help me that's
Complete this building as soon as possible.
what I say thank you is there anyone else here which is to testify in this
case no hands are raised at this time mr. chairman and members of the board we do
not believe the applicant has sufficiently addressed the impacts
related to the proposed project accordingly we recommend the requested variants not be granted
thank you mr jen before i call a vote have mr jung just affirm my testimony
yes please uh mr jung are you there
kenny you have to unmute yourself to speak
Kenny, are you there?
I'm sorry.
Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now?
Yes, yes.
Hi, Kenny.
You heard my testimony to the zoning board.
Can you verify that my testimony is true and correct and adopted as your own testimony?
Thank you.
Before I call the vote, do you think there's any possibility that your client would be
willing to make some adjustments?
Yes, I think we would certainly work with any suggestions from the board, as well as
the community, to try to make this work.
I mean, here, the main concern here for him is major changes, again, will further delay
trying to get this building together.
I think we understand that. I think that's been made perfectly clear. But again, who caused the hardship? And if he's saying it's not him, and it was the contractor, it was the architect, he has legal recourse, as far as I'm concerned, if they went beyond the scope of what the project should have been, how it should have been built.
That's my opinion, all right?
I'm only one person.
And I don't think that we should be in a position
to making these kinds of decisions
because people we hired, you know,
did not follow through on the plans
as were originally presented.
Although I have a question in my own mind,
somebody knew what was going on here.
I find it very hard to believe
that additional floors and whatever is put in
and almost 3,000 more square feet.
And no one saw this during the time of construction.
I find that very difficult to believe.
So we can hold it or we'll take a vote,
whatever works for you, Mr. Jim.
Trying to be somewhat cooperative here.
I would ask the board to hold the vote on this
so I can go back with my client
and see if we can work out some additional changes
that would alleviate some of the concerns here.
Sharon and or Tanya, what's the procedure now?
Tanya, is there a date in approximately 30 days
on which Mr. Jen can come back and report on
whether he has either made progress
with the community organization
or has changes that he would like to present to the board?
um how about we do september 16th
thank you gives you ample time mr james thank you so this case is being held till september
the 16th and tanya will give you the date i mean the time of that hearing thank you thank you
thank you is that me with the approval of the board by the way i'm sorry yes sounds good yeah
That sounds good.
Yes, Senator Tickler-Telver.
Sounds good.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I'm sorry.
So, Mr. Jin, may I ask that you just turn your camera off until you come back for your next case, please?
Thank you.
Calendar number 39679-1307 East Moya-Mensing.
The attorney is Jared Klein.
Mr. Klein you've been promoted to panelists. You can unmute yourself and share your screen
as necessary. Mr. Klein can you put your name and address on the record please? Yes. Jared
Klein. It's K-L-E-I-N from Blank Rome. 130 North 18th Street. Do you agree to do you
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do. And I stipulate to the accuracy and waive reading of the review.
Yes, I do, and I stipulate to the accuracy and waive reading of the refusal.
And waive the reading. Thank you. You may proceed.
And waive the reading.
Thank you.
Thank you very much. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the board.
I'm going to share my screen.
Can everybody see that at this time?
So good afternoon, everybody. I am here representing Quinti USA.
I'm joined on the Zoom today by Ella Zhao, who's one of the principals.
1307 East Moyamensing is unfortunately another property with somewhat of a complicated history,
as in the case that we all just heard.
But I'll try and move through it as efficiently as I can in consideration of the board's time.
The property, as you can see on the aerial photo, is located here.
It is on the same block face as some other commercial businesses.
Cafe Valentino is here, and there's a pub and drinking establishment here, along with a dry cleaner and a garage on this 1300 block of East Moyamense.
The property itself in 1960 was granted a variance to be used as a triplex.
my client purchased the building in June of 2018 and at that time in June of 2018
she obtained the city certification statement that I've just shared on the screen
and as you'll see that city certification statement which is dated in March of 2018
indicates the property was legally registered for use as a three-family dwelling
unfortunately and completely unbeknownst to my client in March of 2018 the property was not
a legal three-family dwelling despite the city certification statement to the contrary
what had happened with this property is in 2015 or 16 the then owner had applied for a building
permit to fit out the property as a triplex and the Pennsport Neighbors Association had
appealed that building permit, and there was a LERB case that was then followed by a ZVA case,
which was then followed by a Court of Common Pleas and Commonwealth Court hearing.
All of that resulted in a determination that the 1960 variants had been legally abandoned
by the prior owner, and therefore the property had reverted back to its single-family RSA-5
base zoning designation. Unfortunately for my client, the seller of the property in June of
2018 shared none of this with her. So she had no idea of this legal history, and she purchased the
property as it was marketed as a three-family dwelling, and she obtained the city certification
statement, which she relied upon in her understanding that the property was a legal
three-family dwelling. Just so the board understands the administration and timing of
how the city certification came about, it became my understanding after filing this case and
conversation with the city law department that in March of 2018, the Commonwealth Court decision,
which had been decided in December of 2017, was pending appeal before the Pennsylvania
Supreme Court. And as a result of that appeal, the city didn't update the certification record
because the legal process to determine the abandonment issue had not been concluded.
So although the city was aware that there was a question about the legal use status of this
property, what they were putting out to the public prior to my client's purchase was that it was a
legal three-family growing. We now understand that that abandonment case has taken place,
and so what we're asking the board for is for a variance to allow the property to be continued
as multifamily use. One of the things I'll mention here, while the application that we
submitted requests use of the property as a triplex, we do understand after meeting with
Pennsport that they are in opposition due in large part, I think, to the history of the property and
the legal battles they went through with the prior owner. But one of the things we would like
to advise the board is we would like to reduce our ask from a triplex to a duplex. And if the
board is inclined to grant the variance, we would welcome a proviso that capped it at a maximum of
two units. That is, although my client believes that she is the victim of the seller's malfeasance,
we're trying to the extent we can to address some of the community concerns with the property.
We're trying to the extent we can to address some of the community concerns with the property and reducing the density count we thought was a good way to do that.
In terms of the property itself, I will pull up some photographs just to orient the board.
This is the property here fronting on Moyamensing Avenue.
And the interior of the property looks as you would expect a multifamily building to look.
There are multiple kitchens.
There are bedrooms.
The finishes are decent finishes.
This is a photograph of some of the surrounding area.
just to orient the board to the fact that this is not a purely residential block there is a beer
garden here there's a restaurant here and if you look at the zoning archives which I had attached
to the exhibits you'll see that there are a variety of other uses at 1301 East Moia Benzing
it was zoned for the maintenance and repair of consumer goods which was a dry cleaner
1245 South 3rd Street is the mixed is the the bar that I was just showing so the immediate
surrounding area while a lot of it is zoned RSA 5 there is a commercial presence directly across
the street and on the same block face which we think that context is important to an understanding
whether multi-family of this property is an appropriate use. And I'll put up here the floor
plans that were developed prior to our RCO meeting. Again, our idea is to reduce this to a duplex.
And so one of the units as shown on these plans would become a bi-level as opposed to having its
own floor. And with that, I would like my client to raise her hand so she can be sworn in and adopt
my testimony. Ella, can you raise your hand? You can unmute yourself and speak.
Oh, yes. Yes, that's her. My name is Ella Lei Zell.
Can you spell your name, ma'am?
L-E-I is my first name, last name Z-H-O-U, Zell.
Thank you. Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir. Thank you. Please, Mr. Klein.
Thank you. Ella, did you hear my presentation that I gave to the board?
And do you adopt my statements as true, correct, and your own?
Okay, thank you.
I expect the board and some neighbors may have questions, but I will turn the floor back to the chair at this point.
Thank you.
Two questions before we go to the other witnesses.
The offer of reducing from three to two, was that made known to the Pennsport Civic?
It was not.
That was a conversation that my client and I had in the immediate aftermath of the RCO.
And then with the COVID shutdown, we never convened it.
As of today, this is the first time that offer is being put on the table, correct?
That's correct, Mr. Chair.
And you said that if that were approved for two-family unit, second and third would be
a bi-level.
How many bedrooms would be in that bi-level unit?
I believe it would be three.
Anyone who wishes to testify in this matter, please raise your hand.
Richard DeMarco, you can unmute yourself and speak.
Thank you, Tanya. Can you all hear me?
Yes, Richard. So, you know, identify yourself for the record.
boss way in richard demarco um i'm here uh because i was the attorney that litigated the
earlier case for the penn sport civic association i do not represent them today