so the City Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant the dimensional variance.
Thank you.
MI 2021-005303, 802 North Banbury Street, I vote yes.
Harold Tenere, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
ishmael shaheed my vote is yes
congratulations to you and and good luck in may
mi 2021-003-757-897 north 45th street
mr knockamson
rco letter in support
Chair, Mr. Nockleson is coming back in as a panelist now.
Mr. Nockleson, state your name and spell for the court reporter, please.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the board.
Allen, A-L-A-N, last name Occamson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N, 123 South Broad Street, Suite 1600, Philadelphia
PA, 19109.
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client in a relationship to the property?
Yes, my client or clients are IRA Development, LLC, and MCOS Enterprises, LLC, the joint owners of the property.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Hi, Mr. Notkinson. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Based on my notes, I see that you've sent in all the required documents timely. Is that correct?
I have sent all the documents to the ZBA. Okay, you may proceed and share your screen.
All right, thank you very much. Thank you.
I assume everyone can see my screen here. I'm just going to go in full screen mode.
all right all right so i'm here to present 897 north 45th street it's a property located in west
philadelphia in my presentation packet you'll see the notice of refusal letter of support from the
people's emergency center community development corporation i also spoke earlier today with
Andrew Goodman, the district council member, zoning aid. I don't know if Mr. Goodman's on,
but he indicated to me that their office was also in non-opposition to this project,
so I will make that representation as an officer of the court if Mr. Goodman's not here today
at this moment. We have maps of the area, photographs of the property, plans and drawings,
proof that we had a community meeting by way of a meeting notice, and proof of mailing of that
notice to the affected properties. Our deed to the property showing that IRA Development
LLC and MCOS Enterprises LLC are the owners of the property. And our certificate of tax
clearance. Online today, I have the corporate representative of the owner, Ifeann I-Chu
Mr. Koo Eze, Mr. Eze will be adopting my testimony.
All right, so this is a CMX2 property.
All right. So this is a CMX2 property. All we're looking to do is make it a single family structure. And you'll see from the drawings, excuse me, the photographs of the previous structure that's there. All we're trying to do is right now is a vacant lot is to build the structure where a single family home was there.
All we're looking at
If you look at the surrounding area, left and right of us, they're single-family structures, even though they're CMX2.
The reason why we're asking for CMX2 is an undue hardship.
This lot is only approximately 600 square feet.
We cannot meet the code requirements of CMX2 based on the size of our lot.
Our only refusal is for the use, and there are no dimensional variances.
excuse me counselor can you show some pictures oh yes yes so i have uh the the letter of support
uh from the uh coordinating rco uh it was unanimously supported by the community and
again as i indicated mr goodman stated to me that the district council member uh is in uh
non-opposition just maps of the area again i'll just you know go over to the photographs of the
property. So this is what the property looks like now. It's a vacant lot. We're in between
two, three-story structures. This is the property to the right of the property. This is the right
of the property on North 45th to the left of the property on North 45th. And then this is from
Google Maps. So in October of 2014, when there was a building structure there, it was a three-story
single-family structure. And then, you know, this property is owned by an entity that
is owned by Kumas Homes, one of the larger single-family home builders in the Philadelphia
area. So, they're known for building quality product, to emulate, you know, the traditional
brick facade, and to have high-end finishes, such as what I'm showing as examples.
and then just our plans and drawings like i said you know we're going to have you know a three-story
structure roof deck uh single family living uh this is you know you walk through uh an open
floor plan you have a living room in the kitchen you have a lower level uh portion of the property
you go up flight of steps uh you have one bedroom uh with a bathroom and then really a second
bedroom uh with a bathroom which is the master plus a roof deck up top again no dimensional
variances here merely just trying to do a single family home that was what was there previously
before the building was torn down that's what's still left and to the right of us on north 45th
street and then just you know proof of our notice that we sent to the community we met on february
24th 2022 at 5 p.m there are 133 addresses that were notified of our community meeting
these are listed by the addresses
this is our proof of mailing to those addresses our application to for appeal to the zba
along with our project information form and notice of refusal
our deed to the property, showing that IRA Development and MKOS Enterprises LLC are the
owners of the property, and our Certificate of Tax Clearance, showing that my client owes
no funds to the city of Philadelphia with respect to this property.
With that being said, I would ask that Mr. Eze virtually raise his hand so he could doubt
my testimony and then we would take any questions that the board may have regarding this project
could you state your name and spell for the court reporter please
do you hear me now yes could you state your name is spelled for the court reporter
Yes, it's Ifani Chukwueze, spelled I-F-E-A-N-Y-I-C-H-U-K-W-U, last name E-Z-E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, sir.
Mr. Eze, you heard everything I stated today.
And is it true and correct?
Correct.
and do you adopt it as your own testimony i do thank you questions from the board no mr chairman
questions or comments from the virtual audience
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, members of the board gave effect to a city planning commission.
The applicant has shown that the inclusion of a commercial first floor would not be feasible given the property's location, lot size, and character of the block.
So the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the use of variance.
Thank you.
MI 2021-003-757-897-North 45th Street.
I vote yes.
Carol Tannery, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holliman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Is there anyone in the audience that their case from the 2 o'clock listings was not called?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
We're going to go right into the 3.30 list.
My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this EBA hearing.
With me is Carol Tenere, our vice chair.
Present.
Ismail Shahid, our board secretary.
Present, Mr. Chair.
Thomas Holliman, our board member.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
James Snell, our board member.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Executive Director Tanya Sunkett is here, along with our attorney, Rebecca Cole.
Before we begin, here's our virtual format.
Be advised the proceedings are being recorded.
By participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded.
A video will be available by contacting our Executive Director, TanyaSunkett at phil.gov.
For the benefit of our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you are participating by phone, if you wish to testify, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548.
Leave your email and the address of the property in question.
Fourth, please note the question and answer box on the screen is not for testimony or comments.
Any comments have to be directed to our executive director, Tanya Sunkett.
Let me now look at continuances on the 330 list.
Number two, MI 2021-004-758.
And number five, MI 2021-004-659-1216 East Lehigh Avenue. Anyone in the audience
has questions or comments about these two continuances?
Chair, oh, the hand just went down. There's no hands, Chair.
Okay, thank you. Both cases are continued.
I'm sorry, Chair, could you repeat what numbers were continued?
Number two, MI 2021-004-758-136 West Sharpnack Street.
And number five, MI 2021-004-559-2126 East Lehigh Avenue.
Thank you kindly, Chair.
Number one, MI 2021-004-660-1233 East Luzerne Street.
We do not have any exhibits at this point, and it's the first listing.
Juan Gomez.
I see no hands, Chair.
That case is continued.
Must be tried.
MI 2021-004-661-1438 North 17th Street. RCO letter of non-opposition with proviso,
no roof deck, Mr. Richard DeMarco. Mr. DeMarco is coming back in as a panelist.
hello good afternoon just spell your name or state your name for the court reporter
richard demarco d-m-a-r-c-o could you identify your client and the relationship to the property
yes my client is uh ling gang otherwise known as michelle quang who is the owner okay our
vice chair has a few questions. Hi, Mr. DeMarco. Do you agree to wait the reading of the refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy? Yes. Based on our notes, it does appear that you've submitted all
the required documents timely. Is that correct? Yes. Okay, you may proceed and please share your
is that correct yes okay you may proceed and please share your screen thank you thank you
screen.
so the refusal uh so we're here for two this is a permitted use members of the board and
mr chairman um we're proposing a multi-family dwelling in the rm1 um we did have a rco meeting
coordinated by mary jones the councilman's office there was non-opposition
We're dealing with two dimensional variances, and I can explain as to why there's a clear hardship posed by those requirements.
One of them is a side yard requirement of 12 feet, which I had to check on that twice because I thought it was a mistake, but it is not.
It's because we do have a side alley, a side yard, the side yard requirement is triggered and it's 12 feet in the RM1.
But the problem there, Mr. Chairman and members of the board, is the property is only 23 feet wide.
So if you were to apply a 12-foot wide side yard, you would be unable to construct a structure that would be livable.
because you would need, you'd have 11 feet for your house. The other refusal is for required
parking, which is caused by an overlay. Because as most of us all know, in the RM1 classification,
a front-loaded curb cut is prohibited. So it causes a conflict in the code. We have no rear
access. The rear yard, the rear of the property is along other properties. We're landlocked,
So we cannot provide rear access parking.
So to provide that parking would cause a refusal and would be prohibited anyway.
And also, there is no room on the property.
I'll show you the plans in a moment to provide a parking space.
This is the floor plan.
We have no basement bedrooms.
There is a split level unit in the rear, but it has walkout access at the first floor into the side yard.
This is the side alleyway that we are proposing.
We are required to have access and egress for tenants from the rear yard in the event of an emergency.
That's what the three-foot side yard is for.
I'll show you the floor plan and the elevation.
I'll blow it up a little bit so you can see it a little better.
This is the three-foot alleyway, which generated that 12-foot refusal.
As you can see, if we complied with a 12-foot, we'd basically have half a house.
Again, there's no room for the parking.
This is the old property that's since been demolished.
It was a nuisance property, as you can tell.
It was deteriorating, but you can see here, there already was about a three-foot side yard for this property.
We're just maintaining that, what was the existing condition prior.
other photos let me collapse this you see there was some issues with this property it was
very poor condition my client inherited it demolished it i'll show you current conditions
and that's current conditions so let me ask michelle uh huang to uh show her hand raise
her hand virtually and i'll ask her to um adopt my statements
Why, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Good afternoon. My name is Michelle Huang, M-I-C-H-E-L-L-E, last name H-U-A-N-G.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed.
Michelle, did you hear my statements and facts, factual statements, and are they true and accurate, and can you adopt them as your testimony in this matter?
And is it correct that there is no room to be able to provide dedicated parking on this property that's only 23 feet wide?
And is it correct that if you were to comply with a side yard of 12 feet, you would be unable to construct the structure on the property? It would only be 11 feet wide. Is that right?