Good morning everyone. My name is Bill Bergman and I will be chairing the meeting of this
Philadelphia zoning board of adjustment. With me is our board vice chair Tanetta Graham.
President, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Secretary, Sheila L. Gaston.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, Michael Johns.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, Taya Nguyen.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
And our Board Member, Ryan McAdams.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also here is our Board Attorney, Hillary Emerson, our Zoning Board Director, Ane Haggerty, and our Board Administrator, Lakeisha Dandy.
Recording of this hearing will be posted on the ZBA website.
By participating, you consent to be recorded.
This is an in-person meeting with remote capabilities, whether remote or in person.
If you're called to speak, you must state and spell your name and then wait to be sworn in.
Once you've been sworn in, please state your name each time before beginning your testimony.
Any person may enter their appearance to become an interested party in a case.
There are three ways to enter your appearance.
Identify the case property address on your Zoom webinar registration.
see a staff member or you can call the zba appearance line by the close of business tomorrow
call 267-270-5548 leave a message that includes your email address and the address of the property
of the appeal case following guidance is for remote attendees first when directed you must
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attendees refrain from talking eating or drinking during the hearings verbal and physical aggression
will not be tolerated restrooms are across on the elevators a water fountain is just outside the
room to the right once speaking on the record you must speak directly into the microphone
in order to be heard by all attendees and the court reporter in the event of emergency please
follow the directions given over the public address system or by the staff the main exit
is through the double doors at the rear of the room the nearest stairwell is to the left outside
the doors in case of an evacuation and rally point is love park directly across art street
please remain here so we can account for you so let's look at our schedule for today
number four mi 2025 004 106 53 30 north penn street that case is continued to 6 17 26 at 9 30 a.m
number five mi 2025 004 109 1930 spark street that case is continued to 16 6 17 26 number six
MI 2025-004-110, 2736 North Dover Street.
That case is continued to 6-17-26 at 9.30 a.m.
Number 8.
MI 2025-004-115, 1141 West Somerset Street.
That case is continued, attorney moving party.
And number 16, MI 2025-007-195-6134 Rear to 46 Wayne Avenue.
That case is continued until 6-17-26 at 9.30 a.m.
Any other requests for continuances?
let me see here good morning mr chair this is jason hannah will be a close for this session
i have a hand up from janelle alford i will allow them to speak yeah okay
hello good morning do you do uh good morning hi your name it's spelled for the sonographer please
No problem. My first name is Janelle, J-E-N-E-L-L, last name.
No problem. My first name is Janelle, J-E-N-E-L-L, last name Alford, A-L-F-O-R-D.
I just have one. Hold on, hold on one minute.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Absolutely. Yes. Could you tell me the case you're interested in?
The case that I'm interested in, it's at the street location 613 West Cortland Street in Philadelphia, PA, 191-401413.
There is a calendar number that is a reference to that, MI-2025-04116.
Yeah, well, tell me about the case.
oh well um just starting from the beginning or no no i mean are you okay is are you uh against
the project are you uh one of the owners no well at the moment i um was a tenant or um okay so
here's the thing this case will be coming up this morning that case will not be continued
so you'll have an opportunity to come on later and testify okay do you know when that will be
i just i would say um maybe an hour so around 11 o'clock ish so maybe a little bit before okay
thank you
is there any other requests for continuance yes sir i have a handle from susan ponson i've allowed
them to speak uh yes suzanne could you please state your name and spell it for the sonographer
suzanne s-u-z-a-n-n-e ponsen p-o-n-s-e-n i'm president of the uh rco west central germantown
neighbors hold on a minute do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth? Yes, I do. What's the location? 6134 R-46 Wayne Avenue. Yeah, that case has been
continued. I understand. Okay. My question is, are we as neighbors able to see all the documents
that are involved in this case? And where would that be available? All right. Ms. Ponson,
um yes we need to direct that request to um zba to the zba executive director um zba executive
director at phila.gov if you would like to see documents related to the case this is an appeal
against lni so we will not be taking public testimony i understand i do understand okay
thank you very much is there anyone else in the audience
mr chair craig meladosian has their hand raised i have allowed them to speak
good morning craig c-r-a-i-g last name meladosian m-e-l-i-d-o-s-i-a-n do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do chair bergman what case craig
6901 Buist Avenue MI 2025 004 188 all right so we have no exhibits for that case I'm going
to get to that shortly thank you we'll be continuing the case okay is there anyone else
in the audience no further hands Mr. Chair okay so number 14 MI 2025 004 188 6901 Buist Avenue
We have no exhibits. This is the first listing. Darlene Treat is the attorney. Also,
Supplinder and Rahanjit Singh are the listed owners. First listing.
I do not see any hands raised for that matter, Mr. Chair.
So MI-2025-004-188-6901 Buist Avenue, this case is continued to 6-17-26 at 9.30 a.m.
Number 15, MI-2025-006-001-6327 Lambert Street.
Shellen Thomas is the listed owner.
It's a pro se.
This is the first listing, no exhibits.
no hands raised either for that medicine so mi 2025 006 001 6327 north lambert street
this case is continued to 6 17 26 and i have a few requests for withdrawal
26. And I have a few requests for withdrawal here. MI 2024-005-636-812 McKean Street. This case has been withdrawn.
And number 11, MI 2025-004-124, 1920 Shelmar Avenue, K-Ming XO is the listed owner.
We have a request for withdrawal, but we do not have any proper mechanism yet.
Are they in the audience?
it's a chair i do not see them in the audience this morning okay hillary we want to continue
this okay so uh we mi 2025 004124 1920 shellmar avenue this is continued to 6 17 21 mark must
be heard okay we're going to go to our add-on cases
MI 2024-006-699-2021, Stanton Avenue, I vote yes per amended refusal, dated August 12th, 2025.
Michael Johns, I certify that I watched the video recording of the December 16th, 2025 resumption hearing for this matter, and my vote is yes.
With proviso, Mr. Johns.
With proviso.
Thank you.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Taya Nguyen, my vote is yes, with proviso.
is that it okay number two mi 2024 001 941 53 15 to 17 chancellor street i vote no michael johns
my vote is now cheryl gaston my vote is no sonata graham my vote is no ryan mcadams my vote is no
Hi, I win. My vote is no. Number three, MI 2024-006-946-5773, Kimball Avenue. I vote no.
Michael Johns. My vote is no. Cheryl Gaston. My vote is no.
Tana Graham. My vote is no. Brian McAdams. My vote is no.
Hi, I win. My vote is no. Number four, MI 2025, 00436, 1216 South 2nd Street, I vote no.
Michael Johns, my vote is no. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is no. Ryan McAdams, my vote is no.
I win. My vote is no. We're going to go to our regular list. Number one, MI 2024-005-624-2068 East Ann Street. Elliot Perez Barrios is the owner. This is a pro se.
And Mr. Chair, we also have a Spanish interpreter present if the applicant needs assistance.
Okay. Thank you.
We can just go ahead and square them in.
I see they have their hand raised, the Spanish interpreter.
The interpreter, please state your name.
Spanish interpreter will be back in shortly.
Good morning, Your Honor. Good morning, everybody.
Good morning. Could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer?
Yes, Your Honor. My name is Leonel, spelled as in L-E-O-N-E-L. Last name is Gillen, spelled as in G-U-I-L-L-E-N.
Do you swear or affirm that you will interpret accurately, completely, and impartially from English to Spanish and from Spanish to English to the best of your ability?
I swear.
All right, could you please call for us Elliot Perez Berrios?
Está el señor Elliot Perez Berrios.
Sí, buen día, aquí estamos.
Yes, good morning, here I am.
All right, could you please have him state his name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, Your Honor. Muy bien, ¿me puede decir su nombre y deletrearlo para el stenógrafo, por favor?
Yes, my name is Elliot, E-L-L-I-O-T, Elliot.
What's your name?
Pérez, P-E-R-E-Z, Pérez.
Pérez. P-E-R-E-Z. Pérez.
Gracias. Yes, my name is Elliot Pérez. Elliot spelled as an E-L-L-I-O-T. Pérez spelled as in P, as in Peter, E-R-E-Z.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth?
Levanta la mano derecha, por favor.
Pura decir la verdad y toda la verdad, nada más que la verdad.
The whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Toda la verdad y nada más que la verdad, ¿sí?
Toda la verdad.
Yes, I swear, the whole truth.
Okay, this application is for use as a two-family household living in an existing attached structure.
Sí, correcto, así es.
That is correct.
whereas the proposed use a two-family household living is prohibited in the rs5 zoning district
sin embargo esta propuesta establece que el uso de un hogar para dos familias está prohibido en
el en la zonificación en el rs5 de la ley de personificación
There's a letter of support from the Somerset Neighbors for Better Living.
Hay una carta de apoyo de parte de los vecinos de Somerset de Better Living.
And there's a letter of non-opposition from Council Member School.
Y también hay una carta de no oposición de los miembros del Consejo.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Nuestro vice, nuestro vice encargado tiene unas cuantas preguntas.
Sí, está bien, sí.
Yes, very well.
Good morning.
Have they submitted their documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Buenos días.
¿Ya ingresaron los documentos y exhibiciones cinco días previos a esta reunión?
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Puede comenzar con su caso.
So turn the computer on.
there should be a green button at the bottom
there it goes, very good, thank you
very good, thank you
I want to have him start telling us what it is he wants to do
ok, if you like, can you start telling us what it is he wants to do?
Yes, my name is Eliott Perez and I am the owner of the property 2068 East Entry, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19134.
The property was bought on December 5th of 2012.
Yes, hello, my name is Elliot Pérez. I am the owner of the property at 2068 East Entry in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19134. The property was purchased on December 5th, 2012.
Okay, so first thing, could you make your exhibits a little bigger so we could see them?
You can make your exhibition a little bigger,
make the exhibits bigger.
For that you can see.
Your Honor, can I instruct them on the little loop?
Sure, why do you do that?
In the lower part, there will be a loop with a more and a less symbol.
Va a haber una lupita con un símbolo más y uno menos.
Abajo, abajo, abajo, abajo, abajo, abajo, abajo.
Ahí, ese mero. Sí. Delete, click.
Hola. Ok. Ahora sí lo ven.
Can you read it here?
Ahora sí.
That's better.
Está mejor.
Gracias.
Veamos los documentos primero.
the next document okay vemos ahí la parte de la transferencia de impuestos que de la propiedad
sigamos a la siguiente oh my god duplication
move it move the documents up
your honor if you want to can instruct on how to do it um
with the just point
if you want to do a pretty good job
make them bigger so why don't you tell her how to move the top
ok, muy bien
en la parte derecha
donde estaba la lupa
ve a donde dice
ajá, ok
ahora arriba, arriba, arriba
va a haber las flechitas
una que es para arriba y otra para abajo
con eso puede cambiar la página
eso que estamos haciendo
ajá, eso
ahí está
y puede también es no puede ver ahora que ni si no
ya porque es la parte enfrente de la casa correcto
y esa es correcta y la pregunta este lugar actualmente es un duplex y si
yes and he wants to legalize it y quiere legalizarlo si así es
y es cuando compró esto fue el 5 de diciembre del 2012 december 5
2012 era un duplex en ese entonces si está dando recita vacía así cuando la compres y ya
Yes, it was a duplex. It was like that. Yes.
All right. All right. Move it up. Move the documents up.
Muy bien. Muevelo para arriba. El documento, muevelo para arriba.
I show us some photos.
Okay. Muéstranos fotografías.
We have all those documents you have there.
Esos documentos ya los tenemos. Queremos ver fotos.
Está bien. Very well.
Tell her what is that.
Okay. ¿Qué es eso?
that is the second floor the room from from the front okay
keep going that's the second floor kitchen okay
that's the bathroom
all right move the documents move the document
no puede ver
nos puede mostrar fotografías del primer piso esa es la sala y del primer piso
that is the living room from the first floor
keep going
that's the second floor
that's the second floor
no, that's the first floor
move it down
move it down
keep going
siga, siga
continúe
ok continue
could you make it a little bigger
that we can do it?
that's from the meeting
This is mailing.
We have it.
That's mailing.
That's mailing.
We have it.
That's mailing.
That's mailing.
That's mailing.
That's mailing.
That's mailing.
That's a vote.
We have it.
We have it.
Bam, you need to let the property owner explain what the documents are.
ok si necesita que el dueño de la propiedad tiene que explicar los documentos
si necesita que el dueño de la propiedad tiene que explicar los documentos
está bien está bien pero aquí está certificado que yo pagué todos los
taxes y no debo nada de taxes en la propiedad
this is the certificate that i paid all the taxes and i don't owe any taxes on the property
ok muy bien
este la casa aquí como tú puedes ver te puedo enseñar este los planos
these are these are the the planification documents for the house
can you enlarge that just a little bit can you do it a little bit more big please
Por favor, esos.
¿Hay dos habitaciones en el segundo piso?
Sí, dos habitaciones, sí.
Sí, hay dos habitaciones, sí.
¿Puedo ver el primer piso, por favor?
just move it up solo mueble un poquito sobre el plano del primer piso
no sé por qué no
solo mueve el documento es lo que estoy haciendo pero no sé qué está pasando
porque lo estoy ayudando con una apuntadora me entiende
son que son helping to computer ahora si lo ve no no no tiene aunque ahora está perfecto
en este first floor y ese es el primer piso correcto
y si tú quieres te doy un cojito por él
Can you ask him what's in the basement?
Okay, ¿qué hay en el sótano?
En el sótano ahí hay
lo que tengo son dos espacios
para storage en el sótano ahí.
In this basement,
there are just two spaces for storage.
Y por uso,
pero también tú ves ahí, también le tengo un toilet
por necesidad o cositas así.
And I have, just in case I have a toilet there.
Questions from the board.
Preguntas de la junta.
do both units have access to the basement
ambos unidades tienen acceso al sótano no solamente los del primer piso no just the first floor
that looks like on your first floor unit there's um you're going through a bedroom to go to another
bedroom which is illegal and you don't have any access to the backyard si te parece de que en el
primer piso tiene que pasar por una habitación para entrar a la siguiente habitación lo cual
es ilegal y parece que no tienen acceso a el patio tercero si tiene así así de una fuerza access de
a door where is the door to the backyard donde está la puerta para el
entonces el acceso al patio es a través de la segunda habitación
No, it's that the first floor is only a quarter, it's not two.
The second floor has two quarters, the first floor is only one.
Okay, no, on the second floor there are two bedrooms, on the first floor there's only one bedroom.
He's saying that there are two quarters, it's only one quarter, tell them.
The first floor is only one quarter, it's not two.
Yes, exactly. So on the first floor there's just one room.
that's not what the plan
the plan shows two bedrooms
ahí el plan dice que son dos habitaciones
no, es que esto aquí en las habitaciones
no sé por qué Johnny lo puso así
eso no es el país
I don't know why it's like that
but it's only one bedroom
lo estoy viendo lo que me dicen en el plano
pero no sé por qué aquí
I'm seeing it
yes, on the plans, yes
but in reality it's just one bedroom
okay so you said there's a second bedroom on the second floor but that's also not shown on the
plan so where is the second bedroom okay and dijo que en el segundo piso tenía hay otra habitación
pero no se ven los planos también donde donde está ubicado en la parte en el segundo piso al
frente aquí estoy viendo el cuarto del frente y después estoy viendo lo que es la cocina el
yes on the second floor you have one bedroom right here in the front then another bedroom
right here in the back and then you see you have the kitchen and the living room in the center
and then you see you have the kitchen and the living room in the center and then so you said
and then so you said so what's
so what's been the status of this property since 2012 i know you said when you purchased it
it was two family already okay cuál es el estatus cuál ha sido el estatus de esta propiedad
o sea usted dijo que cuando se lo compró en 2012 ya era ya estaba establecido así sí sí sí ya ya
la casa estaba así instante ya cuando yo la compré ya yes the house was like this when i bought it
Understood, but what's been going on with the house since 2012?
Like, were you living in it? Has it been vacant?
Like, what was happening in the structure?
Okay, pero ¿qué ha pasado? O sea, ¿qué ha sucedido con esa casa desde que la compró?
O sea, ¿usted ha estado viviendo ahí? ¿O ha estado vacante?
Sí, sí, sí. Yo vivo en el primer piso ahí y arriba tengo orientado.
Sí, pero yo vivo ahí en el primer piso.
Yes, I live on the first floor and upstairs it's rented.
And has that been continuous since 2012?
No, no, no, porque en el 2012 la casa ya estaba dividida, pero no estaba completamente terminada para vivir.
No, porque, ok, so in 2012 the house was divided, but it wasn't completed, it wasn't completed yet.
Can you explain what that means?
¿Puede explicarme a qué se refiere con eso?
when i bought it i thought there was a single a single use home uh because i was looking for
as a single-use home just so I could live there, but when I bought it, I noticed that it was
already divided, and I had no other choice but to buy it like that because that's what my money
could buy. Okay, and so in 2023, it does look like you went through some work to try to upgrade the
property because you explain like what work you completed in 2023 si entonces en 2023 parece que
hizo algunas mejorías en la casa hizo algunos trabajos para mejorar la casa nos podría
explicar qué trabajos hizo sí sí pues ya que estaba así policismo este ya tiene el framing
yo me encargué de la insulación y la caballería y ponerle girar y también llevarle a todas las
terminaciones y eso son framing and the insulation part and the cable in and also a install son
sheet rock y tenía los permisos para hacer ese trabajo no porque en ese momento yo no
tiene el conocimiento de eso pero este como te digo como la compras y la deja así pero
no no because i did not have any knowledge of that and when i bought it it was like that and
and i continued working on it but i didn't have any knowledge of that and because you know i come
from a place in puerto rico that they don't do that uh over there they're they're not they don't
do that over there but here it's completely different okay okay hillary what i want to do
with this is i'm going to make this a resumptive here and bring them back the plans are inappropriate
let them do the plans the right way and things like that and we'll handle that so would you
please tell them i'm going to continue this and he has to get the plans right it can't be this is
what I meant not plants have got to be corrected so we can at least make a appropriate decision could
you please tell them for that yes sir muy bien lo que voy a hacer con este caso es que vamos a dar
una continuidad de lo que van a hacer vamos a volver a esto pero me tiene que traer los planos
corregidos para que podamos hacer una tomar una decisión apropiada sí sí está bien siempre bien
Yes, and I want to apologize because I didn't know that the plans were like this, and you
And, you know, the measurements, when they were doing it, I don't know, maybe John misunderstood me, but.
know the measurements when they were doing it i don't know maybe he misunderstood me
Listen, he doesn't have to apologize. We're going to continue to February 24th, 26 at 9.30 a.m. and just come back with the appropriate documents and things of that nature, ¿OK?
Sí, mire, no tiene por qué disculparse.
That's 2.24.26 at 9.30 a.m.
Mira, no tiene por qué disculparse, entonces vamos a darle continuidad a esto y nos vamos a volver a reunir el febrero 24 del 2026 a las 9 y 30 de la mañana. Vamos a regresar ese día y va a tener los documentos apropiados y corregidos.
Solamente el plano.
MI-2025-004-111, 8424 Navaha Street, Maureen Molloy is the owner applicant.
We're coming back in as a panelist, Mr. Chair.
good morning good morning good morning good morning could you please state your name and
spell for the stenographer sure my name is maureen malloy m-a-u-r-e-e-n last name malloy m-a-l-l-o-y
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
So this application is for the erection of an addition, porch enclosure, to an existing detached structure, no change to existing single-family household living.
Nonconforming structures may be expanded or extended, provided the expanded or extended area complies with all provisions of 14-701,
Whereas the minimum required front setback at the proposed addition is 25 feet in the RSD3 zoning district.
For detached structure and RSD3 residentially zoned immediate lot, the minimum required yard width is 10 feet.
For each side yard with a cumulative width of 25 feet for both side yards, whereas the total resulting cumulative width of the side yard is 12 feet, 9 inches with the proposed addition.
There is a letter of support from the Chestnut Hill Community Association, and there's also a letter of support from Chestnut Hill Conservancy.
Our vice chair has just a few questions for you, okay?
okay i have a um i have a deck if you wanted to look at it as well but um please well why don't
you answer her questions first okay of course sure good morning have you submitted your documents and
exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes and the chair read the uh refusal do you
stipulate to its accuracy yes okay all right thank you you can proceed with your case
okay so you we will show our slide deck yep can can you see our screen we we can it says we
propose converting and assisting okay reading boards to a four season room so there's already
a porch there and you will now want to make it a four season room that is correct um so I am
the owner of 8424 Navajo Street along with my husband um today to request a variance
to remain enclosed the screened in porch HVAC electric and windows where there are screens
okay this this view that you see here is the the proposed project it's not the way that it is now
obviously these are windows here um but it's essentially where you see windows there are
currently screens there and you'll see that on the next um sure why don't you move through the
documents okay uh this um yep we have that yeah so we were we submitted a um please please go back
no i just wanted to so we submitted from chestnut hill community association right
right so right so we had we were denied our um
we are considering a non-conforming structure as you mentioned
okay so when you maureen when you talk to the side we can't hear you so just if you can speak
straight ahead we're losing you when you go to the side i'm so sorry okay no you don't have to
i'm so sorry okay no you don't have to be sorry that's fine okay okay all right so we were denied
be sorry that's fine okay okay all right
um the permit because we're a non-conforming structure as you said so we are we are proposing
um um um a a um a four seasons room that you're going to enclose that right right and um realize
that we don't meet the setback but what this is why we need a variance to do that okay yep so all
why don't you show us your photos there show us some okay okay so um this page here there are the
five pictures that are on here three of them are of the home as it is existing now and you'll see
the screens there there's a front view a back view and a side view and then the other the two that
are over to the right and the site map they are the proposed structure so um it is a as mentioned
and existing screened in porch the roof is in place the the floor is in place we are essentially
not changing the footprint of that structure at all we're merely swapping out um
windows and and a track and all that nice stuff for um for the screens that are currently in place
did the architect draw this up for you yes he is he is on the call as well too
right why don't you show us his plans okay so that's um
this is another view um of one of his plans and um and then we have the next page here this is
this is a side view back view and then a front view
okay what else do you have here um
and that's the the overall site map of the property where there's no
if you look over to the right and um you see the the dashed line that is the area in
question and and all we're talking about doing is is not changing the size of that um area but
merely enclosing it as opposed to um screening so it's going to be the same size it was but it's
going to be screened in no it's going to be the same size that it was but it'll be um enclosed
in glass it's currently currently screened in all right do you have anything else to show us
um i think that's um i think that's it all right questions from the board
any questions uh just nicely done thank you
questions more attorney um just a clarification ms malloy um so i noticed on the letters from the
rco they indicated that there were changes to the plans or clarifications to the plans
but i wasn't clear what was revised and if there are revised plans that you're requesting the board
to stamp we do need a proviso form outlining those changes okay um go to the next one hang
on one second the um so um if you look at oh wait no go to the side this is the next one the one
that has all three of them okay you can see it here on the um and i know that i'm the one that's
supposed to speak, but if this, like I said, my architect is on the, our architect is on the call.
Is your architect on the line?
Is your architect on the line?
Yes, he is.
What's his name?
Neil Young.
Why don't we bring him?
No relation to the singer.
We're coming back in shortly as a panelist, Mr. Kay.
hi everybody this is neil can you hear me hi mr young could you please state your name
is bell for the stenographer neil young n-e-i-l-y-o-u-n-g do you swear or firm to tell the
truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do did you hear our attorney's question i did
could you please answer it sure the the only change that the um the historic commission had
requested was a detail of the capitals that are part of the proposed edition and it didn't it
didn't impact the size or um or area of the proposed um plan in any way it was it was a
minor detail basically a trim detail that they had asked us to revise so was it so so was something
did they just want clarification on what it would be,
did they just want clarification on what it would be or was there a change made on no they just
or was there a change made on-
Correct. No.
wanted clarification on on detailing of the of the of the capital um parliament base okay um and did
that result any changes to the plans that were submitted to l and i with this it did not okay
all right then i i don't think we need revised plans thank you so much for the clarification
right questions comments from the virtual audience
do not see any hands mr chair any commission
thank you chair and good morning david vecto f-e-c-t-e-a-u with the city planning committee
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes sir i do
please proceed sir thank you sir chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no
change to the rsd3 residential single family detached zoning at this location the appellant
requests three dimensional variances the variance for front setback reflects a current condition of
the structure and the appellant has shown that enclosing the existing porch will not injure the
use of adjacent properties the city planning commission recommends that the board grant
to be proposed dimensional variances. Thank you. MI 2025-004-111, 8424 Navajo Street, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes. Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes.
Tyo Nguyen, my vote is yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.
All right. Thank you. Number three, MI 2025, 000400, 1113 Mount Vernon Street. Joseph Consul is the attorney.
Mr. Consul, could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer?
JOSEPH last name is consul that's c-o-n-s-o-l-e do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth I do Mr. Consul we understand this will be hold will be held
for a corrected or amended refusal and a proof of tax compliance yes um could you identify your
client in relationship to the property yeah uh my client is aj168 llc it's uh represented by mr
albert zhang and uh you should be on the call or getting on the call he's having some trouble
connecting but he's figuring it out and our vice chair has a few questions good morning have you
submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes and do you waive the
reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy yes okay you can proceed with your case
okay good morning board mr chairman my name is joseph consul and as mentioned i represent
the owner of 1113 mount vernon street uh with me on the call is albert zhang the representative of
the owner. We are here on an empty lot on Mount Vernon Street seeking a use variance to permit
a three-unit multifamily building on this vacant lot. This application involves one use refusal
only, which is multifamily household living in an RSA 5 district. No dimensional variances are
required our original ask uh and i'll discuss our discussions with the rco was for um six units
and pardon me it's the wrong one however we since have made uh adjustments to that
and are now asking for three did my exhibits for 11 13 come up yes okay great um
still learning how to do this in person so there it is originally with six dwelling units uh now
we've we've we're asking for three and we will amend the refusal uh accordingly
so uh there is our uh letter of support from the 14th community organization rco
with three provisos no limited lodging no household living in the basement and a maximum
of three dwelling units and they spoke about our interactions with them and uh there was their vote
support
our proof of mailing and i'll go through the details of the property in a second
We posted the photos twice here. The first posting was on December 17th.
we posted the photos twice
Bye-bye.
We received notice on December 31st. There's the deed that those postings have been taken down.
So we reposted on January. I believe it was Sunday.
this this past sunday we already have streets streets approval uh the curb cut is is existing
and so that won't change with our updated um refusal the uh lot is 2282 square feet
uh as it sits today obviously contributes nothing to the block we believe this proposal would uh
close a long-standing gap in the streetscape with a building that fits
uh both the scale and density of mount vernon street
um show you some of the plans
the external or the the top down plan of all the units um each of the units would have access to
entrances in both the front and the rear the uh rear entrance uh is to the left of the unit one
and they have access to the hallway, which would give you both access to the basement
and then access to units two and three above.
All three of the units are two bedrooms, two bathrooms.
The building itself would be, that's the same one,
approximately 35 feet in height,
which is consistent with the surrounding attack structures.
as per the request or uh the desires of the rco it will contain a red brick facade which
matches the character of mount vernon street as mentioned we have two means of egress for
uh each each of the units uh the means of egress by way of the um walk out to the back would give
each unit access to the trash storage room in the back, which is consistent with the other
properties on the block. Trash would then be taken to Lemon Street, which is where all the
cars park along the back of the properties that front Mount Vernon Street. This application is a
The product of a meaningful community engagement we first went to the neighbors in June of 2,025 with a 6 unit proposal that did not go over great.
They had submitted see if I have that as part of my yeah that they submitted this in June, noting that they did not reach an agreement on the application.
They graciously permitted myself and my team to return, and in November, we returned with a plan that cut the density in half from six units to three, and that resulted in the formal letter of support that you have before you.
In addition to the RCO support, we have a non-opposition from the next door neighbor.
excuse me this is the reporter i my audio has cut out is the audio working yes
Okay, I I could not hear Mr. console at all.
It just dropped off a few seconds ago. Okay, I'm hearing you now.
I'm repeating that attorney Mattione, who represents the property next door, which is a 5 unit building submitted an email this morning saying he does his client, the owner of the building will not oppose our our project.
So in addition to the RCO support, we have support from the next-door neighbor.
And finally, there's two other properties on the block that have in the past been approved for multifamily use.
1119 is a licensed three-unit property, and 1121 at one point was a licensed six-unit building.
So we believe because of all the large structures on this block that while I would say the majority of them now are single family homes, there's evidence in the past of there having been multifamily use.
evidence in the past of there having been multi-family use. There is multi-family use currently
and coupled with the fact that we had a very productive back and forth with the RCO and it
was not, there was no one in the room that said they wanted this to definitely be a single family
home because of the way the neighborhood's going. They thought that having access for folks to be
able to move in that would not be a multi-million dollar home on such a large lot was beneficial.
So with that, I'll call my client, Albert, to raise his virtual hand.
So one issue, I don't think we got, I saw the cars. Could you just show the drawings a little
bit more? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Owlzing has been promoted to panelists. Sir, could you please
state your name and spell for the stenographer sir hi can you hear me yeah could you please state
your name and spell for the stenographer it's albert zhang a-l-b-e-r-t last name zh-e-n-g
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, the whole truth.
Please proceed, counsel.
Good morning, Albert. Did you hear my testimony just now?
Yes, yes, I heard it, all of it, yes.
About your lot on Mount Vernon?
Do you adopt what I said as your own?
Is there anything you'd like to add for the board?
I don't think you mentioned it's a street-to-street property.
Yeah, it's a fairly, you know, big lot, like you said.
but yeah that that's all i have to say yeah all right um nothing further pending public comment
as i know questions from the board there is one yeah is your client okay with the proviso for um
no limited lodging do you agree for no uh any kind of airbnb at all
none none so you agree with that proviso yes
so and then can you zoom out so we can see the entire plan all the plans with the parking
uh i i understand and was was clear with the architect that that likely wouldn't work for
three uh i'm just anticipating your concern michael but yes okay i mean you you you got it i mean you
the three cars and there's no way to get out of that wall i i i get it one of the cars barely fit
which it's it's why it was wide enough and approved for two um for some reason on the
revised plans i believe that was due to the i i don't even know why he stuck a third car in there
but there you go i have a question about the streets plan so has streets reviewed this and
the curb cut at the rear on Lemon Street, is it existing? It's an existing curb cut. The streets
have reviewed it. I don't believe we need to send them revised plans because nothing's changing
from that perspective. We're not occupying more of the footprint or anything of that nature.
And then what's the security gate that is proposed at the rear? Can you speak to that,
albert are you proposing a security gate yes uh i would add like it's yeah the security gate
well you have one i'm just asking like could you explain what it like what kind of gate
okay one it looks hard to work for parking and two it's different than all the other ones that
are on lemon street currently so on the plan is that how it should be uh how the gate is like
zigzag is that how it's supposed to be i mean a gate could be zigzag it depends what gate you get
i mean i mean it's gonna be like a uh like those metal gates where it comes up and down
like the garage door yeah yeah exactly
i think my only concern with lemon street is it's a very narrow street mount vernon's also
very narrow street and there's um as a house right across the street on like uh lemon street now and
it looks tight like even on the google map images it looks like there's a lot of people that are
you know illegally parking on the sidewalk right there so it just there's no other houses on the
interior of the block that seem to have parking at the rear most of the houses that have parking
at the rear are closer to the edges of the block so i was a little concerned about navigating cars
in and out and being able to i mean i have a family friend that lives on 11 23 and i go there
you know quite often um so it's pretty much the same thing i you know parking is pretty
parking is pretty pretty easy because people be you know parking on the pavement on the left side
pretty easy because people will be you know parking on the paper
so it's it's pretty easy to get in actually it's not that bad and then what's your plan for the
basement if you have the trash dump at the rear all the units have access to the basement you're
showing it right now as a big open space but it's just more storage um that's about it for the
we have a proviso for no living and i don't believe he has any intent yeah it is i was just
less i was less worried about the pro i mean i saw the proviso but more like what what is going on i
think to have three units in a single family block there's no backyard i think to figure out a way to
have storage that is segmented by unit would just be wiser as a suggestion meaning making storage
available that was clearly delineated for each unit in the basement albert yep something you
would consider yeah and now the questions questions from our attorney or comments um
excuse me um yeah i spoke with mr consul previously and i believe the intent is to
amend the refusal so um we will you know hold the hold the case today pending receipt of that and
proof of tax compliance. Okay. Is there anyone here from the RCO? I see no news at this time,
Chair. Anyone here from the neighborhood? I see no news at this time. Sorry. I have someone in
the audience right here. Good morning. Good morning. Could you pull that mic close to you
see if it's on i think i see the light yeah okay hi could you please state your name and spell
for the stenographer yes my name is diane monroe um d-i-a-n-e m-o-n-r-o-e you swear or affirm to
tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes um could you give us your
your viewpoint on this project and could you try to keep it to two minutes okay no i'm serious we
try to i will i will um i am a member of the rco yep i started it years years ago but i'm no longer
in chair because i'm as my son said you're too old and you're too old to even be coming down here
but i don't think i'll talk to him but you know you had to pass the baton to younger people
which is great and but what is happening is here I do live on that block for close to 50 years
and when they first proposed this six units our block is you losing the characteristics as being
a single family neighborhood not only the the block ahead of us which is the 1200 block
But the block, you know, beyond us is 1,000 blocks.
We're losing that characteristic.
And we do have duplexes.
The neighbors, we were outvoted, you know, as you can see the count.
We were outvoted, even the RCO board, you know, we split.
And they do understand that I was coming down to have my objections, you know, documented.
Don't take this being a fraction between us now.
With this six units originally proposed,
but the majority of the people wanted,
but we still had fudge people that came in
that had never been to a meeting and they just showed up.
We would like to see a duplex, two apartments,
versus a triplex mainly because of the density will be increased and the trash
and parking we do have permit parking on our block so that's the the long-term
residents that's our position we do not have a problem with two apartments and
no apartment in the basement because it's a potential that they can do that
when you have nothing there and also we have noticed that the the owner he has
not been maintaining it it's we have been maintaining that property cutting
the grass for years and then when the snow came he didn't even bother to even
and clean the pavement.
the pavement, we've been doing it.
We've been doing it.
So we did.
So we did start calling 311.
So we're looking at his behavior.
So we understand that there's a potential
we're gonna have a problem.
And another issue that we wanted,
we wanted them to, for a part of the provisos,
to be with the CBA, but my understanding,
they refuse to do a CBA with the RCA.
i'm not too clear on that because the last meeting i went there was nothing in writing
that david was still coordinating with them we would like to see in those apartments a storage
closet that can hold a 30 gallon trash can as well as a recycled trash can because even though
they're saying they have access to the backyard we know the behavior that the behavior is they
take their little shop right bags and they bring it and sit it up up front and so we would like to
see a proviso that requires them to put a storage closet in each of those apartments and um but we
will like to have two apartments that's what we are we are willing to compromise with because we
do have duplexes on the block even though he did say there's a triplex that used to be a ghost
triplex until later on even though that they no longer have anyone living there three and the
condo as he was talking about the 11 11 they are condos so they they are individually owners
and they had been there that building has always been a multi-family until maybe in the late 90s
that's when they did a condos but they're single family a condo so hopefully I wrapped it up with
our position with we prefer to see a duplex and those trash to storage for the trash okay okay
thank you thank you so much for coming down I think you've testified before on the yes yes I
heard you several times on zoom I've never seen you thank you yeah may I say this now I haven't
been here since the pandemic that's right that's right and it's amazing now i can see i could go
back to the neighbors and say it is legit because they're thinking because we were thinking you
think it was phony before like you're on zoom and we're thinking you're talking but we don't know
that you guys are really hearing us.
I would tell you, I remember your name
and I remember you testifying several times.
So thank you very much for coming.
And thank you for allowing me to.
Anyone else in the audience?
Joe, do you want to respond?
Just very briefly, regarding just two things.
One, we would have gladly engaged with the CBA.
That didn't come up.
I'm happy to continue that conversation.
And two, you had mentioned that there was, you said, fudged people.
You guys checked every single one of the IDs of everyone that came in.
That was done rigorously.
So I just wanted to rebut those two points.
Planning Commission, planning take a position now?
Certainly, Chair.
And thank you.
And good morning, David Vecto with the City Planning Commission.
Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA 5,
residential single-family zoning at this location.
the city rezoned this neighborhood in 2017 in accord with recommendations in the comprehensive
plan well there are some multi-family properties with two to three units on this block base six
units is out of character and is not the least minimum needed to afford the appellant relief
two units are more in character with the surrounding density the city planning
commission recommends that the board grant the requested use variants but for a maximum of two
dwelling units thank you hillary what do we do we'll wait till this is done and then we'll
list it have it listed
sorry um so so we will we will hold the vote pending receipt of the amended refusal and
proof of tax compliance the record is otherwise closed all right thank you and thank you for
coming down we do appreciate it all right thank you it wasn't in vain
my client will support whenever the board decides and joe you have a couple of cases right i i do
yeah that was so here we're uh number nine mi 2025 004 116 613 west cortland street
just for the record state your name uh attorney joseph
just for the record state your name attorney joseph consul um you've already been sworn
can you identify your client the relationship to the property yeah first could you tell me
do my plans come up for for courtland no not yet no all right i i can rejoin i'm sorry okay uh my
client is matthew rogerson he is the owner of the property so there's a letter of support from
Nuevo Esperanza Housing and Economic Development, RCO. An applicant also provided four signatures
from their neighbors. Our vice chair has a few questions. Mr. Consul. Good morning. Have you
submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing? Yes, vice chair. And do
you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? I do. Okay, you can begin. All
right. Matthew Rogerson is on the call with me. He's owned the property since the early aughts.
I'm Joseph Consul as representative. We're here on 613 West Cortland Street seeking to reactivate the two-family household living use that had been previously approved.
Let's see if I can find that. So here's evidence of that. From 2007 until 2012, he had a buy right to unit use on that property. He let that lapse by only renting, by getting a single family rental license, which you'll see in the record, I believe in 2014.
and just not realizing that that would cause the issue having to run this through the zoning board
again. So as I'll show you in a second, the interior of the property has not changed. I mean,
he's made it a little bit nicer, but there's been nothing to add units or anything like that. It's
always been a two unit and he's trying to correct a mistake that he inadvertently made.
So, it's RSA 5, and, okay, let's see. I showed you the proof of prior licensure.
Here's our proof of mailing.
Tax compliance. I'll go through the plans in a second. Here's some photos.
Front of house, back of house, and showing the two meters.
There's the meters, the 1st, 4 unit. There is no living in the basement.
2nd, 4 unit.
Joe, he went to the CBA in 2020 and then withdrew?
What happened there?
He can testify to that.
I wasn't his attorney at the time.
What he told me was the the pandemic just kind of spot spun out his efforts to do everything he needed to do, and he just let it lapse.
Okay. And again, he can testify to that.
But we've received no opposition from anyone for any any reason regarding this property.
so those are the the plans uh okay that's just the hot water tank there's uh our letter of
non-opposition from esperanza there's the near neighbors uh support letter
I already showed you that.
Do I have the plans?
Let's see.
One second.
So those should be the plans.
I'll submit on those.
so there you are existing uh building scroll down
second page
showing the uh steps in and out
done by toner architect so here's the layout
again i'm still getting used to doing this in person
The basement utilities and storage and the layout of the two units.
I believe that should be it for my presentation.
Again, he's hoping to revitalize the two-unit rental license for a property that was never
materially down zoned i'll call you want to bring him on yes uh matthew could you raise your virtual
hand it should be coming back in with the panel shortly mr chair
sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
My name is Matthew Rogerson, M-A-T-T-H-E-W, last name Rogerson, R-O-G-E-R-S-O-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Counsel?
Good morning, Matthew.
Did you hear my presentation just now regarding your property?
I did, yes.
Do you agree with what I said and do you adopt it as your own?
Would you just speak for 10 seconds about what happened in 2020?
I began this process in 2020, like right at the beginning of the pandemic.
And I paid the architect and toner to do this stuff and it just started getting expensive.
I started running out of money and I, uh, just decided to, to, to put it on hold for
a little bit until I was able to, uh, to figure out the next steps.
So that was, that was, uh, what happened in 2020.
Nothing further questions from the board.
questions from our attorney not at this time mr chair questions or comments from
rcos or uh neighbors in the virtual audience are here i have a hand up from a janelle alford
i will promote them right now sure but i'm thinking it's the day time that it puts
thank you i'll be back in shortly sure thank you
hello hi good morning i think we spoke earlier today am i correct yes hello that's where you
in am i correct yes that is uh um could you um tell us in um about two minutes or so what your
position is on this project um my name okay so i'm opposing this appeal i am currently a tenant or
was a tenant at the 613 west courtland um street property i uh did sign a lease for this property
october 13th um and move in with this property this isn't against matthew at all because he i
believe partners with auto property management in order for me to be a tenant under the lease of the
apartment or property but with being said um moving forward on top of the property um
one there is a problem with a roach infestation into the place of property there is um also a
line of places where codes and violations have been breached and and i'm not so sure if this
also lines with the rental insurances but there was also a breach of implied warranty of ability
And also, I'm not so sure if I was able to upload photos, but even the photos that were provided to show proof of this property are invalid, considering maybe I can say in November is when I was notified by Otter Property Management about some zoning appeal between my unit and the basement unit,
which had to be which I still don't understand to this day the hallway where I kept storage at had
to be ripped apart to have stairs placed there because there was some kind of zoning issues and
even to this day if I was to open the door and show you what that looked like it would almost
look like a horror story I'm just stating literal facts and I do not believe that this property
should even be within habitable reasons for anybody to live there um i can say for for myself
that i've been experiencing this and very very bad communication as to why this property is even
on any kind of listing website for people to yes my time is up but okay all right um
mr council you have any questions uh my client i think would like to respond to that okay so
I want to want to do this first one. Let's see if there's anyone else.
Okay. All right. Is there anyone else in the audience who'd like to speak on this?
go ahead I'm sorry you know hands raised all right thank you Mr. Council Matthew would you
Go ahead.
I'm sorry, Jason.
just briefly address what Ms. Alford said yes sure yeah she reached out or we communicated
she she when she moved in she said that she she sent a picture that she saw two roaches when she
moved in, she contacted the property management company, Otter Property Management, who manages
this place for me. A pest control maintenance was set up, and apparently it wasn't to her liking as
far as how quickly it happened. I have been billed for this. I have made several payments, so I am,
you know, under the impression that the pest control maintenance has been, you know, at least
initiated i believe the contract was for like six six springs excuse me six treatments to spray for
for roaches in in her apartment and i think we're a few months into that um and as far as uh
yeah she said oh her i'm sorry she and i uh spoken uh it was november 10th i had so i had a violation
in order to get this door put into the basement.
My initial plan was, again,
I have not changed any layout of this property in 20 years.
It's always been a duplex.
I put a door going to the basement for storage.
The basement is empty.
It's not a unit.
Janelle can attest to that.
There's nobody down there.
There's not even anything down there.
So whenever I had some work done to the property,
the uh the the basement became a separate entrance now i when i i i i had to obtain a zoning i'm
sorry a building permit from the city to put this door in so when the inspector came out to check
the door he said he needs to see steps leading to the first floor apartment so my contractor
reattached steps going to her apartment which like she said it was her closet when she moved in
um they were initially the steps going to the basement originally right um those steps were
removed and it was sealed off to go to the basement and the basement access was now from
that front of the part of the property from the street the city said they wanted to see steps or
i'm sorry not the city the uh l and i wanted to see the steps reattached going to her apartment
which is what happened and and and was explained to her as what happened okay thank you planning
commission thank you chairman and good morning david fecto with the city planning commission
chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa5 residential
single-family zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 2019 in accord with
recommendations in the comprehensive plan at some point in its history an owner converted this
property to two dwelling units the city planning commission recommends the board grant a proposed
legalization of the second dwelling unit um mi-2025-004-116-613 west courtland street
i vote yes with proviso certificate of occupancy to be obtained for building
michael johns my vote is yes with proviso cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso
tenetta graham my vote is yes with proviso brian mcadams my vote is yes with proviso iowen my vote
is yes with proviso. Thank you, sir. Mr. Consul, we have one more, I think, here for you. That's
correct. So MI 2025 004184, 1720 60 A Street. Mr. Consul, just for the record, state your name.
Attorney Joseph Consul. Could you identify your client, the relationship to the property?
yeah my client is uh shabrara samson um and she was she emailed me um she she's not on the call
but um she works for the philadelphia prisons department i believe and is in mandatory firearm
training today and she had a break until 10 30 um and so i was going to try to get her to go first
on my call but I didn't start until like 10 to 40 so it didn't even matter um so the point is I'm
here to adopt her testimony and she's she's uh an employee of our vice chair has a few questions for
you good morning again have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of
this hearing yes and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy I do
all right you can begin all right um just one minute um you have some notes here
yes so when i see your red notes i yeah and i had spoken
when i see your red notes i yes and i had spoken on one second um and i had spoken with mr consul
about this um so we we did receive um proof both from him and from zba staff that efforts have been
made to reach out to the rco um on multiple occasions to schedule the meeting um the rco
did not schedule a meeting um and the proper letter to the near neighbors and posting was done
so the board can hear this today um the board can also make a decision on this case today if it
wishes it has been more than 45 days um which is the required uh period in which the rco needs to
have a meeting okay thank you hillary um why don't you start uh and just a preliminary um to the
extent that that's detrimental, you know, we're fine with the board, you know, asking us to try
more, you know, prior. But the point is, we don't want that to hurt our case here. But we did try
as hard as we could to get in front of the RCO. I'm here on 1720 68th Avenue. The owner and my
client is Shabrara Sampson. We are here seeking a permit to permit a two-family household living
within an existing semi-detached structure. I'll just give you kind of the lay of the land.
All four corners here, as you can see, are large properties compared to the properties that are
next to it and that is because in the past they have been either multi-families or uh or homes
with commercial units uh this is ours you can see the single family homes behind it
this is directly across the street again you can see the single family homes behind it and i'll
give you the unit count and that sort of thing in a minute but just to give you uh to level set for
what these corners look like that is directly across that's caddy corner across the street
um again big property with lots of little ones behind it and then um the fourth corner was
torn down but at one point that was a six unit building uh so we're here seeking a two-family
dwelling in a cmx1 district because uh it abuts an rsa5 district we are required to seek approval
for a multi-family home but it is cmx1 uh the zoning history on this property uh is critical
is far back as we could see in 1969 a variance was granted allowing a beauty shop to operate
on the first floor with a unit above at one point it was also a food store with a one unit above
the building's shell layout and scale were designed for multi-family or multi-use occupancy
not a single family dwelling and we believe based on the size of the property a simple two-family
residential home is less intensive less intrusive than other properties on the surrounding corners
and other things that have been granted in this neighborhood there's a proof of mailing
photos
and as you'll see this is a property that is in need of love
and uh my client is prepared to take it on as i mentioned she's a long term city employee
and i wish she was on the call because she's really great at talking about her property
Scan through interior photos ownership she got the property in 2024
you'll see your tax clearance go to the architecturals
So this is, should be viewable.
should be viewable
architectural plans showing the layout of the units
go down to the next one
it's first floor first floor plan do i have it
the second floor plan i believe we didn't need a plan for the second floor because that's remaining
uh as billed as a single family and i don't so the commercial place remains vacant the commercial
place is vacant and in a state of disrepair and that's the one that she wishes to convert into
a unit per the architecturals included here and this the second floor is a functioning
uh one family home can you zoom out so that the whole plan is visible thank you yeah
1715 uh 68th one of the corners uh has an active rental license for three units 1714
uh received uh zba approved two family variants in 2019 um and 6802 north bouvier the third corner
uh had a rental license for uh four sorry i said six means four dwelling units um issued in 2004
although it appears to be a vacant lot at this time uh without my client here i'll as an officer
of the court adopt my own testimony and to the extent that's appropriate so just so i understand
it so this vacant space is baked i'm going to call it the first floor right where the commercial was
yep and then the floor above that is the new apartment right is that what you're saying
there's an existing one family above uh let me go back to the next side photo
so there's a one family on the second and third floor here and she's seeking to use the what was
a beauty shop and a food store is what the license said so but we don't we don't have
drawings for that joe we don't have drawings for the existing single family home that's been
approved as a single family home since the 1960s yeah but is it currently occupied uh i'm it doesn't
look like it it doesn't look like it is so she will have to get a co for both units correct
the architect i believe told her that he didn't need to submit plans for that he also didn't put
it's a title block on his plans but um is there an image that shows the stairwell to the second
floor i'm just trying to understand the unit separation uh let's see if any of my photos
do that and to the extent uh you know some kind of resumption that that's that sort of main level
floor plan the second floor i guess the main level it read it's reading as a separate apartment
It's really, but there's no access to this actual second floor.
You know what I mean?
You've got the basement level, which is that great, and you've got the plan to the right, which is a, appears like a three-bedroom apartment, but there's no access to, there's no stairway to take you up to the second floor.
There's also discrepancy between the number of doors that are shown on the actual building and the doors shown in the plan.
Right.
It could be that one of them was turned into a window, but it's confusing.
Yeah, so I mean obviously the access point for the the this new unit would be this door on the side here.
So would it have to have access to the unit above?
I think it's just the plans right like the way the plans are showing how you enter shows that there's a stairwell to the second floor.
that's visible in photos yeah there's a stairwell to nowhere yeah where where are we seeing that on
at the bottom so look so look here right here floor here right here see this is the stairway
up from the pavement right it goes no this is the door that literally is out to above nowhere right
it's above it's like up it's like 10 feet above grade but there's a doorway that goes
like nowhere there's no stairs to get there and then this whole thing shows up as a three-bedroom
apartment with no way to get to the second floor this makes absolutely no sense the plans make
so we we need better we need better plans and that's that's that's totally that's totally fine
um and i'm fine with returning with with more accurate plans but i think just a secondary
question is it looks like only the commercial space that's turning into the first floor
apartment's gonna have access to the yard is that correct i believe that's correct yeah okay and so
then what's the plan for trash storage okay well we'll come back and for both yeah we'll come back
okay well we'll come back and for both of you yeah we'll come back and address that
address that does anybody else have a
does anybody else have any other questions that joe can come back with
so question but a comment again i have this problem with these bedrooms that
where you have to wander through the living room to get to a bathroom okay you know so all right so
all right so i'm going to make this a resumptive hearing 3 17 26 at 9 30 a.m st patrick's day
great 3 17. all right let me just make that note and then i'll get out of your hair
thank you board all right thank you number 10 mi 2025 004 118 902 south 47 street
pasquale calavita is the attorney
there was a meeting held with cedar park
there was an email sent that they would not object to the project
we're coming back in the span which will mr chair okay
good morning good morning counsel could you please state your name and spell before the
stenographer pasquale colavita pasquale colavita attorney referring to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth i do but you identify your client the relationship with the property
The client is GMT Properties, but the individual that will testify is Carlos Giraldo, G-I-R-A-L-D-O, and I'm pretty certain that he's on. I've been in community.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you, Mr. Calabito.
Good morning. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
I have.
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Thank you. You can begin your case.
Every time I do this, I feel like I'm getting married again.
Okay. So if Mr. Geraldo can be brought on.
As soon as you need him, we'll bring him on. Okay.
Okay. Okay. Great.
So, again, attorney for GMT2 Properties, owners of 902 South 47th Street.
And as you had indicated, you received the email.
Unfortunately, I did not receive the same email from Cedar Park neighbors.
We did have a meeting with them.
And today what I will be doing is presenting the deed to notice the refusal, the application for appeal, project information form, the architectural plans, which are not really truly relevant as this is a change of use.
Notice to the neighbors with the proof of mailing, a copy of the zoning archives, which will reflect its present use as a fraternity house and previous use as a four-unit property.
Also, Exhibit 8 will show five different properties within feet of the property that have from four to nine units.
It's also photographs that we've posted the property, photographs of the property itself, as well as the neighborhood photographs.
We have a certificate of tax clearance.
And as you had indicated, there was an email that I received, but I did not receive anything else other than that one email that there was no opposition from them.
So, as indicated on March 4th of 2024, GMT Properties purchased the property.
This is an RSA 3 district for which they are attempting to obtain a variance from an existing fraternity house of 10 units to reduce it to a long-term four-unit property.
The application was filed. We believe that this is the minimum and the least amount of modification. There will be no change in height, width, or length of the property. It actually will have a decrease in congestion. And again, the adjacent properties will not be injured by this variance.
and here's the project information form and copy of the floor plans which were again previously
provided to you notice to the neighbors was done on two separate occasions one i had
unfortunately listed bella vista uh with your documents pardon me why don't you put your
document something. Oh, shoot. I'm sorry. I was referring to all of them.
Oh, shoot. I'm sorry. I was referring to all of them.
You said you were nervous because it was like getting married.
So I noticed in your face you did get a little nervous there.
So, again, here's the table of contents with everything that I just read off.
Copy of the deed. Copy of the refusal. Copy of the appeal.
the PIF form, the set of plans, again, based on the – and I was up to Exhibit 6, which is our notice to the neighbors.
Initially, just to – not that it's that overly important, but I had initially listed, instead of Cedar Park, I had Bella Vista neighbors,
but then I reissued it, and it actually says Cedar Park.
A copy of the zoning archive, which indicates that the present use is that of 10 rooming units.
What I want to do is also show you that prior to that is that the property prior to the zoning units was always a four family dwelling.
And just to show you that, again, at Exhibit 8A through E, the property right next door is four units and has the requisite rental license.
The rental license for six units is two doors down at 906, and then five units at 916, and then we have a larger one of nine units at 90103.
So, in essence, that would look like there's two properties, four plus five, we'll call it.
And here's a copy of, or not a copy, these photographs showing that the property was posted.
And this is boarded up, and I'll give you the reason why, because it is presently vacant.
we were hoping to move this along and there were individuals that were using the porch as a place
to sleep. No one was inside, but just to make it safer for the neighborhood, they decided to board
up the uh the front and this is a cop photograph of the uh the neighborhood itself
so it's just south of uh baltimore avenue and a copy of the tax clearance certificate
And as previously indicated, this is the email that I received. CPN zoning at CPN. Cedar Park neighbors will not object to the project.
And the argument is, and also once I put Mr. Rado on, he's also he is not only just the owner, he's also a real estate broker plus owns a construction company.
And his additional argument is that he purchased the property for $365,000.
The cost to convert it back to a single-family residence would cost him, in estimation, $424,350.
Presently in the property, and I can show you, go through some of the photographs if you want,
or I can just let you know that, again, there's 63 pages.
They've all been submitted.
There are four water heaters, hot water tanks in here.
there are, you know, it's still the uses that of a fraternity house. And again, the one item that
Mr. Geraldo indicated to me was that the last property that is similar in size and in the area
sold for $500,000. So coming in at $790,000 to bring this up to a livable single-family resident
is not consistent. One, it's not necessarily consistent with the neighborhood. And additionally,
it's significantly a hardship because it's, in essence, not a saleable property. And with that,
i would uh pasquale both sides are multi-families yes and what are they again
uh i'll get back to it give me a second um show you
Show you. So 901, which is across the street is nine units. Let me get back to the one that you were indicating. 902 is 904. I'm sorry, is four units, which is right next door. And 908 is five.
I feel like I'm missing something in here somewhere.
So we're 902.
So the two properties next to, I would say, south of it are 4 and 6.
All right.
Questions from the board.
Do you have a set of plans so we can see how they're going to be laid out?
Or no?
I mean, they were there for obviously informational purposes only because they were not necessarily required for.
And here they are. And if I'll increase the size and Mr.
Geraldo can probably do a better job of letting you know where the again, there's no changes.
It's just going to be interior walls are going to be changed in the light.
um and it looks like there's but again he's better at explaining what whether it's why don't you bring
him one okay what's his name carlos g-i-r-a-l-d-o okay i'll be coming back in as a pan of a short
Thank you.
I can increase this so that way you can.
Do you know generally the distribution of units to floor?
Because right now you're showing the first floor looking like it's going to be.
And that's why I prefer to have him on.
So I believe it's going to be one.
one i thought that my recollection was there was one per floor for the first
and second floor but there could be a rear uh set of floors that is his part you know do we see his
hand he's been promoted already okay thank you good morning sir could you please state your
name is belford's tonographer yes good morning my name is carlos giraldo c-a-r-l-o-s-g-i-r-a-l-d-o
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do counsel mr giraldo i'm going to for the panel i'm going to start with uh did you hear
my testimony this morning i did okay uh was it truthful it is would you adopt it as your own
i do okay there's a question from uh the board regarding what the layout is going to be for
the four units in terms because you have what a three-story property correct it's a three-story
with a with an attic so um if i make to the board the property um was used a as a fraternity house
for many years before being a four unit but it remained mostly as a four unit um so there is a
set of stairs that were built on the back of the property to comply i guess with 1970s uh code
where they had to be like an escape um can i interrupt you for a second yeah this the question
it's very very simple what they what they basically want to know is simply how is the layout
um of the property where how many how many units per floor what what does the first floor how many
units are on the first floor how many units are on the second floor and uh on the third floor
so if you can if you can inform them of that i think that'll sat that'll satisfy the question
okay so fast forward um so first floor one unit basement storage uh second floor a second unit
third floor two units one in the front and one in the back uh one main access through the front and
there's a common stairway all the way up uh the attic will be used as uh the h-back room and uh
that's about it well the studio apartment on the third floor that has the rear stairwell access
how does the tenant access that stairwell through the main stairwell the rear is totally
an emergency exit for all floors okay so looking at your third floor plan here how do i get from
Okay, so looking at your third floor plan here, how do I get from this stair to that studio apartment without walking through the other room or the other unit?
this stair.
Can we, correct me if I'm wrong, Carlos, I'm looking at two sets of stairs, one on the left side of, this is the second floor plan, sorry, let me get to the third.
And he said that that is only for emergency purposes.
Correct.
So here it is.
How do you get to the studio apartment?
So, Pasquale, move your cursor to right there.
Go a little slower, please, to the main center.
So to the left a little.
Where it says 308, you see the little dotted line, 308?
So right there, that is the common hallway.
So to the left is the rear unit, and to the right will be the access to the front unit, Tia.
Got it.
so this is not showing that because i thought your darker lines was new construction
so this is actually showing existing conditions correct yes
all the questions
questions from our attorney
um one comment um mr colavita i don't think we got a copy of the email from cedar park
indicating their support so if you could um provide that to the board for our records that
would be appreciated. Okay. I was under the, I didn't send one to you because I was waiting
for the actual letter, but before I even informed that this was an additional exhibit, I thought
that I heard that you did receive it. No, no, we haven't received anything. Okay. Do you want me
to upload it or just forward it upload would be great thank you so much not a problem my other
question is is there because this is an rsa3 is there any um off street accessory parking
at the location no okay all right so that was a missed refusal on the refusal so i just wanted
to note that for the record if the board does approve this that that refusal is incorporated
it into its decision so thank you why shouldn't your comments from the audience
the chair i do not see any hands raised planning commission
thank you chairman and good morning david vecto with the city planning commission
chairman of board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa3 residential
potential single-family zoning at this location this property has a documented history of
multi-family use dating to at least the 1950s and the 1942 works progress administration land
use maps show that the properties on this block face have been used as multi-family dwellings
since at least 1942. the city planning commission recommends the board grant the proposed use
variance for four dwelling units mi 2025 004 118 902 south 47th street i vote yes john's my vote is
sharp gaston my vote is yes it's netto graham my vote is yes ryan mcadams my vote is yes
thank you council thank you very much have a great day number 13 20 25 004 187 1747 west ontario
street vernon anastasio is the attorney there's no rco letter that we have as of yet
this looks like a legalization
if i can as a panelist not yet okay
morning mr chair members of the board morning council could you please state your name it's
spell for the stenographer? Sure. Vern Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O. On behalf of DIN.
Do you swear to tell the truth? The whole truth is nothing but the truth.
I do. Could you identify your client? Yep. It's DIN Enterprises, LLC, and I'll be
bringing on Mr. Hung Dinh to testify. Our vice chair has a few questions, sir.
Thank you. Good morning. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of
this hearing yes and do you waive the reading of the visual and stipulate to its accuracy
i do okay thank you give me a seat thank you
1747 west ontario it's a corner property historically has always had two units and
And this is what we're trying to do is legalize a duplex to family dwelling.
Page 36 of the exhibit binder that I sent over clearly shows that there are three electric meters, one of them being the public right-of-way common area.
the public right of way, common area. So way back from the 1950s, there's lots of history of there
being some sort of commercial on the first floor, candy store, beauty parlor, and the second floor
being a one-family dwelling. At some point, that first floor was converted to a living space,
not by my client, but he purchased the property and would like to legalize the two-family dwelling.
I'll show you some photos. I do have some interior sketches as well.
My client also understands that because with the variance for the two-family dwelling,
he will be in fact subject to the international building code analysis for the for a brand new
duplex so it has already two mailboxes it has two entrances actually three entrances but two
formal entrances one on the side here that goes into the living room kitchen area of the first
floor and here through the porch this door brings brings you all the way to
the second floor. That's the property. I'm going to zoom in on these handmade
sketches by the client.
The top sketch is just, I guess we would call it an elementary site plan.
Ontario Street here is the frontage where the front porch is.
18th Street is on the side.
This is the main entrance to the first floor unit, the 18th Street.
Here you have a large great room.
To the left, you have a bedroom and a bath.
To the right, you have a bedroom.
And then, of course, the front porch going that way.
The second floor is entered from the front porch, the Ontario street side.
And it mirrors very much the same with a living space, kitchen, a room in the rear and a room in the front.
As you can see, both clients, both tenants have access to the rear yard so they can store their trash there as well.
and the property is currently vacant as far as properties around it this is a corner property
there are three other corners one corner is vacant lot uh the other corner is commercial
mixed use and the third corner is multi-family uh three three units i believe
there are also several other vacant lots on the block my client did meet with the rco
I did request some sort of disposition, but I have not heard back from Allegheny West or the other two as well.
I also copied Mr. Charles Richardson on my request for the RCO position.
With that, if Mr. Hung Din is still on, I would like him to be recognized so he could adopt my testimony.
Thank you.
Mr. Din.
the chair and council i do not see that individual in the virtual audience this morning
could he could he be on the phone or you would have seen that as well
would have seen that as well sir okay um you're an officer the court will
ship your testimony um thank you questions from the board yes i have a few questions one um is
the first floor unit the only unit that has access to the basement yes and the basement is going to
be used for storage only mechanicals and storage that's correct and then um in terms of for the
just for the floor plans i know they were sketches but it looks like there's two
main doors to the side of the property good question i had this showed one
no there's one right here yeah there's two this is kind of off the bedroom obviously it's not a
it's not considered a main entrance to the apartment it's just a sort of a rear egress
in the event of an issue and then what's the plan for trash storage uh every they both have access
uh every they both have access to the backyard and then how do they both have access to the
just to the backyard.
backyard because from the side view it looks like that's a solid stone wall well my client has uh
told me that he's going to be putting in a door there so that the second floor tenant could come
down the stairs around to the side and put uh the trash here okay i mean i just like two things one
obviously it's a very long way to travel to take out trash so i do think that that is unlikely
especially given that the trash would mostly get picked up from the front porch street that's the
legal address of the property is going to be on on facing ontario street so they pick on they do
pick up on both i did ask about both okay they do yeah i did ask my client that as well um you know
the second floor unit is large enough for a trash closet so i don't know if that could be if you'd
like it to be a proviso but there's no reason why you can't put a trash closet on that second floor
I think the only other comment I had was really just about layout.
I think to have two units, typically these are going to go towards families.
And to have all the bathrooms only have a shower does limit the ability for a family to be able to functionally exist.
I think one of the bathrooms should at least have a tub.
That's it.
He did buy it this way.
But do we know that?
Thank you.
You don't want to put a baby in a shower.
Babies don't like taking showers.
so that's all okay and my question on this second floor what are these rooms i mean it's just one
big space here their bedrooms are there bedrooms i don't it is a bedroom back here
and a bedroom in the front very much like the the first floor okay and then the living space
where the kitchen is and all of that that's where these bathroom right this is a little broken up
because there's a bathroom in the center here uh there's actually two bathrooms but yeah this is uh
this would be the kitchen and the living area okay thank you he wants to basically make it
reflective of of the lower unit other questions thank you questions from our attorney hillary
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair, I have a hand up from Antoinette Fullard.
I can promote her, promote them right now.
They'll be coming back in as a panel shortly.
Thank you.
Good morning.
good morning afternoon fuller he's on mute and wait to be sworn in
hello hi good morning could you hi sorry
sure that's fine could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes antoine uh a-n-t-o-i-n-e-n-e fullard f-u-l-l-a-r-d do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do if possible could you turn your video on
um yes
internet are you a neighbor no so i was trying to join i'm actually calling in from councilwoman
uh councilman's bass's office yeah um i will be taking over from for charles so i i saw that um
um i can't think of the gentleman's name i'm sorry mr anastasio yes so he mentioned
Mr. Anastasio had mentioned that he was still waiting to hear back from Charles regarding the RCO's position.
So I just want to just wanted to hop in just to share that I will get on top of that.
I will be on top of that and connect with Mr. Anastasio regarding that now that I am in this position.
OK, good, good. And welcome. Welcome into your new position, your new job. OK.
Thank you so much. And I tend to think we'll be hearing from you a lot.
yes thank you all right thank you all right sure anyone else in the audience
mr chair i do not see any further hands leaning commission thank you chairman and good morning
david effecto with the city planning commission chairman and board members the comprehensive
plan recommends no change to the rsa5 residential single-family zoning at this location the city
the city rezoned this neighborhood in 2016 and a council requested map change this property has a
rezoned this neighborhood in 2016 and a council requested map
documented history of single-family use with a business dating to the 1950s at some point in
its history an owner appears to have converted the commercial space to a residential unit without
the benefit of permits the city planning commission recommends of the board grant their proposed use
variance to legalize a second dwelling unit m i twenty twenty five zero zero four one eight seven
seventeen forty seven west ontario street i vote yes with proviso certificate of occupancy to be
obtained johns my vote is yes with proviso cheryl gaston my booty chefs with proviso
tennetta graham my vote is yes with proviso ryan mcadams my vote is yes with proviso
My vote is yes with proviso.
Is anyone in the audience have their 930 cases not been called?
I do not see any hands, Mr. Chair.
All right.
Thanks, everyone.
See everybody at 2 p.m.
Thanks, Ron.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this meeting
of the Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment. With me is our board vice chair, Tanetta Graham.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our board secretary, Cheryl Algaston.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Board member, Michael Johns.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Board member, Taya Nguyen.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our board member, Ryan McAdams.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also, here's our board attorney, Hillary Emerson, our zoning board director, Ian Haggerty, and our board administrator, Lakeisha Dandy.
Recording of this hearing will be posted on the ZBA website.
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any person may enter an appearance to become an interested party there are three ways
you can identify the property address on your zoom webinar you can see a staff member or you
can call the zba appearance line by the close of business tomorrow call 267-270-5548
or you can call the zb here to appearance line a message that includes your email address and
address of the property of the appealed case the following guideline is for remote attendees when
directed you must raise your virtual hand in order to be recognized to speak if you're called to
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If you are participating by phone, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
For our in-person attendees, refrain from talking, eating, drinking during the hearings.
Verbal and physical aggression will not be tolerated.
Restrooms are across from the elevator.
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When speaking on the record, you must speak directly into the microphone in order to be heard by all attendees and the court reporter.
in the event of an emergency please follow the directions given over the public address system
or by staff the main exit is through the double doors at the rear of the room the nearest stairwell
to the left outside the doors in case of an evacuation the rally point is at love park
directly across heart street please remain there so we can account for you so let's look at our
schedule for this afternoon number eight mi 2025 004835 338 to 56 east algan a allegheny avenue
this case is continued to 4 15 26 at 2 p.m are there any other requests for continuances
good afternoon chair this is doreen and i'll be i will be your co-host today and i see no hands
thank you uh we have do have two cases we have do not have exhibits mi2025 001 574 1101 to 11 11
west allegheny avenue jay and june holdings llc are the listed owners no exhibits second listing
there are no hands chair so this is the second listing we do know that a lawyer recently
withdrew from the case so mi2025 001 574 1101
So, MI-2025-001-574-1101-211 West Allegheny Avenue.
I vote to dismiss.
Michael Johns, my vote is to dismiss.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is to dismiss.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is to dismiss.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is to dismiss.
I win, my vote is to dismiss.
I have a second case here.
MI-2025-001-575-4026 Palmetto Street.
Carlos Fernandez and Rachel Perlata-Mato are the listed owners.
This is the second listing.
We have no exhibits.
The attorney has recently withdrawn her appearance.
There are no hands, Chair.
So MI2025-001-575-4026 Palmetto Street, I vote to dismiss.
Michael Johns, my vote is to dismiss.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is to dismiss. Tanetta Graham, my vote is to dismiss.
Maya McAdams, my vote is to dismiss.
I win my vote is to this move.
I'll be right back.
Here's our add-on cases number one MI 2024-007-588-4361-63 North 9th Street.
The vote in this matter has been postponed pending a receipt of amended refusal that
That includes all the uses discussed at the hearing.
Number two, MI 2025-003-964-3137 Robbins Street, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tana Graham, my vote is yes.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes.
No, she said it.
Iowyn, my vote is yes.
I had checked on that.
Number three, MI 2025-003-967-5112 Willows Avenue.
I vote yes to reconsideration and rehearing.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes to reconsideration and rehearing.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes to reconsideration and rehearing.
To Netta Graham, my vote is yes to reconsideration and rehearing.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes to reconsideration and rehearing.
Number four, MI 2025-002-787-2230 West Ontario Street, I vote no to reconsideration and rehearing.
Michael Johns, my vote is no to reconsideration and rehearing.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no to reconsideration and rehearing.
Tenetta Graham, my vote is no to reconsideration and rehearing.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is no to reconsideration and rehearing.
And number five is a re-vote from this morning.
So MI 2024, 001-941, 531517 Chancellor Street.
I vote no with proviso per amended refusal dated January 5th, 2025.
I'm sorry, December 5th, 2025.
Michael Johnson, my vote is no, with proviso.
Cheryl Ganson, my vote is no, with proviso.
Tannetta Graham, my vote is no, with proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is no, with proviso.
Ty Owen, my vote is no, with proviso.
We're going to go to our regular list today, and I usually try to jump around when the attorneys are here,
but I'm going to have to take the list as it works out today.
so you'll your case will be called in um due time so number one pardon the interruption
chair pardon the interruption this is the integrity executive director i just wanted to
um allow the spanish interpreter that we had retained for sure um i believe it was 4026
palmetto street um just uh to let them know that they're dismissed from the meeting since that case
was dismissed thank you very much interpreter you can uh be dismissed thank you interpreter
all right so number one mi2025 001 573 2505 east venango street eric carroll is the attorney
eric carroll is the attorney
do we see mr carroll in the audience yes chair he's been promoted excuse me thank you
good afternoon mr chairman and board i get a council could you please state your name and
spell for the stenographer my name is eric eric carroll c-a-r-r-o-l-l and i am here on behalf of
the applicant moniquetta coats who should also be joining uh who is the contractor for the owner
James Mayberry. Okay. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the
truth? I do. Our vice chair has a few questions. Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents
and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing? Yes, we have. Okay. And do you waive
the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? No, actually, there is an issue with
the refusal the plans that were submitted call for ground floor commercial
and one residential unit on the second floor it's a two-story building the
refusal one of the refusal states I'm sorry the refusal states proposed use to
family household living not permitted in this residential district we're only
applying for one family residential again on the second floor commercial on
first floor okay thank you you can proceed with your case okay thank you thank you uh so the
property that brings us here today is 2505 east venango street that is in the port regimen section
of the city um we're not proposing to alter the building in any way this is a two-story building
uh with 23 foot frontage uh on a roughly 1600 square foot lot it's been used as ground floor
commercial with residential on the second floor uh for decades i will uh so all we're really
doing is you put your documents up that's what i'm yeah okay so this is 2505 east venango as
you can see uh the ground floor uh looks to be commercial the second floor has been long
residential for a long time the ground floor property was occupied by a business called jay
and our tool we think that was there for decades uh my my client and the owner of the property
just want to renovate the building and as i said we're seeking to legalize a long-standing use um
this property to the left is if you're looking at the property to the left is
commercial to the right is a vacant lot if you go north and west from this property up towards
our mingo avenue it's all commercial uh so this this property sits right on the edge
of a commercial area uh and a residential area and while our property here is zoned rsa5
um it really like i said it is bordering that that commercial property
um excuse me mr carroll um yes this is hillary board council um i just i just had a clarification
questions on the refusal so it says it's for vacant commercial space is there a particular
commercial use approved because with this property being zoned rsa5 you would have for
any commercial use you would have to come back to the board for another variance the
board cannot grant a variance for vacant commercial space no we understand that we're okay with that
the owner uh just wants to get the zoning in place uh on on the on the um commercial versus
residential but any use for the ground floor commercial we don't have a tenant line or the
owner doesn't have a tenant lined up but once that's done the tenant will have to understand
that they'll have to come back for some sort of a use variance okay all right good thank you just
make sure that we're all on the same page on that thank you yes no we understand yes
she says so this here's the deed this property is owned by james mayberry my client monica
coats is his contractor um the plans have been submitted um as you can see uh the ground floor
um just 69 feet long um will be all commercial uh pretty basic we're just you know delivering
a vanilla shell for the commercial and then the tenant will have to do what
For the commercial and then the tenant will have to do what they want with it. Second floor, this is the residential unit. So we'll have a living space, two bedrooms, and one bathroom. And as I discussed, there's only one residential unit, not two.
they want with it second floor this is the
My client had posted the notices of this hearing on the front of the property.
uh tax clearance certificate was submitted oh that's not and my client's uh contract with the
owner was not submitted in advance but if that's necessary we can certainly produce that um so
we're just asking the boards um for a variance allowing a ground floor commercial
with a one unit residential on the second floor
and we did my client did have an rco uh meeting scheduled with the port richmond neighbors uh that
was she appeared but it was not able to move forward if necessary she can testify to what
occurred there we understand why don't you bring your client on okay good afternoon
uh your video is still off miss codes
okay i'm trying to get it on right now
as you're doing that why don't you state your name and spell for the stenographer
moniqueta coats m-o-n-i-q-u-e-t-a do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
told truth nothing but the truth i do please proceed counsel thank you um miss coates you are
a general contractor correct yes and the owner of 2505 east venango street james mayberry uh hired
you to uh renovate this property is that correct yes okay were you present on this zoom during my
presentation to the board yes okay did you listen to all the all the uh facts i testified to yes uh
Were they truthful and accurate to your, to your knowledge? Yes. If you were to testify here today, would you adopt my testimony as your own? Yes, I would. Okay.
Questions from the board.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson.
um just i i do have uh if the board is inclined to grant i do have a proviso um prepared to that
addresses what is actually being requested in this case since the refusal is incorrect when i
booed i'll i'll say yes sure thank you very much questions or comments from the audience or the
virtual audience no hands in the virtual audience planning commission
amy boy with the planning commission amyboid you swear affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do please proceed the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the
residential single family attached zoning at this location there is no evidence that the mixed use
was construction with constructed with the benefit of permits and there are no unique physical
conditions or circumstances of this property that would prevent it from being used in conformance
with the zoning code therefore the planning commission recommends the board to deny their
requested variances for multiple principal uses and commercial use mi 2025 001 573 2505 east
venango street i vote yes with proviso sure approved use is vacant commercial space on the first floor
use registration required prior to occupancy and single family household living above
michael johnson my vote is yes with proviso
cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso tenetta graham my vote is yes with proviso ryan mcadams my
vote is yes with proviso iowen my vote is yes with proviso thank you counsel thank you mr thank you
on board okay number four mi 2025 003 848 502 to 04 south juniper street david orphanetes is the
attorney
david orphanage is coming back in as a panelist
and i'm going to give them to you
that's it my name is good afternoon mr chairman
um council could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer certainly
um counsel could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer certainly my name is
david orphanetes last name is spelled o-r-p-h-a-n-i-d-e-s right do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do counsel um is the owner of the
the other property present um let's see let's find out uh donna or john de stefano present
you could raise your hand they're online yes they are they're in the audience and I will promote
uh one of them you don't have to promote them right do you want them on now and get them on
the record Hillary uh it might not be a bad idea I mean the board can ask them what questions they
need to ask them I think the board has more questions of them than I do but I'd be happy to
to to to have them state their their position regarding this matter why don't we bring them on
sure at least one of them sure
Donna Stefano has been promoted
donna yes hi hi good afternoon good afternoon to you could you please state your name and
spell for the sonographer it's donna de stefano d-o-n-n-a d-e-s-t-e-f-a-n-o right do you swear
or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do um just for the record
could you state your address 1330 lombard street philadelphia pa 19147 all right so
just for the record our attorney has just a few questions how's that sure um good afternoon mrs
mrs stefano um thank you for taking the time to to come on um we just wanted to be clear since
this is a case that involves um a lot line adjustment that involves two properties with
different owners that one um you were aware of of the proceedings today what is being requested
um by your neighbor in terms i am aware of the response yes go ahead okay i was informed by um
mr orphanetes that there was a correction needed to the deeds these properties were one property at
on one deed at one time and when the deeds were separated they were inaccurately recorded
I had some things back and forth with this owner in the past and I do have some concerns but I do
I would look forward to them building provided they take care of the property that's adjacent
to them which is my property uh i have had several issues in the past and would like to make sure
that those will be addressed and things would be taken into consideration i was informed that the
property lines would need to be changed and i don't know if and i am a real estate broker
there was no agreement of sale that was done to to transfer those property lines or agree to
change those property lines for any fear or anything like that. So I'm not looking to pay
a fee for them. They've made the suggestion for the changes. I don't know the numbers. I don't
know how that will end up, but I would like to see something happen. I was disappointed that
the building was knocked down in the garage. I don't know where they stand at this point with
moving forward okay all right that that is helpful and i think the the the main concern
here was that the the property lines would be adjusted as you said there was they were one
property they were divided and then they it is the board's understanding that the the way that
they were laid out in the the deeds was was incorrect and that would require um a correction
um right and i was i was also informed that i would not be absorbing any of these costs
there are also other costs that have that have been absorbed by me in the past uh for this
building for this lot next door and also recently as per requested by jay ernst the owner the current
owner and haven't been reimbursed for so i i don't know how that will proceed but i was given
assurances that i would be reimbursed for moving drains and i had lines that were removed without
me even knowing or uh telling me they were going to be removed giving me time to remove them so i
would like to have notification when things get done all right that that is that is certainly
all right that that is that is certainly understandable um and you know obviously any
understandable and, you know, obviously any arrangements.
arrangements that you know you make with you and the neighbor not not subject to the board's purview
but we do wanted to correct and i don't have a problem with them moving forward okay all right
well that is that is the the biggest question that we has we wanted to make sure it was clear
yes so we do thank you for for coming on um i don't know if there's anything else you'd like
to say now or if you have any comments at public comment you could no i just wanted that to be on
record that i would hope to be reimbursed and would i'm not going to continue to do work without
being reimbursed for it for what they need understood understood thank you very much for
your time mr orphanetes have i sworn you in yet um i i believe so do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do would you identify your client in relationship
to the property sure my name my client's name is uh james ernst he goes by jay ernst and also uh
now he is going by jay de chico but on the deed it's uh james ernst and he is here today our vice
chair has a few questions for you good afternoon have you submitted uh your documents and exhibits
five days in advance of this hearing i submitted everything except for the tax clearance which we
submitted i believe yesterday okay all right and do you waive the reading of the refusal and
stipulate to its accuracy i waive the reading and stipulate to its accuracy yes all right thank you
share your screen and begin your case of non-opposition from washington square west and
also the council member esquilla okay hopefully you can all see my screen
um again my name is david orphanetes and i'm representing um jay ernst um who you've heard
referenced by the neighbor uh the owner of one of the owners of 1330 lombard street
um in this photograph this is the current condition of the property the vacant lot
with the bricks and the paving is my client's property there is an alley here to the left that
runs off of Juniper Street. This is Juniper Street in the foreground. Miss DiStefano and
her husband John owned the property to the right with the green trim around the windows,
which was 1330 Lombard Street. Historically, there was a garage located closest to 1330
and then a three-story building located to the south of that, all having the address
of 502 to 04 south juniper street um the the matter of the issue that the board's council
and mr stefano spoke about um at the beginning of this proceeding was that back in 2009
1330 was purchased by lombard capital llc and at that time the property legal description
And I'll use an aerial image here.
The legal description included, let me zoom in a little bit, extended from Lombard Street all the way to the alley that I showed in that initial picture.
The full width of 1330, the building that presently stands here, all the way to the alley.
What happened is in 2009, Lombard Capital LLC purchased the property and then subsequently sold off the back, the garage and the three-story building to the rear to Ronald Hyman.
Now, in that deed, there was included a legal description for the property that it was 41 feet from the southwest corner of Lombard,
and then it was 34 feet on the frontage of South Juniper, and then went 18 feet deep.
Now, after that time, the same Lombard Capital LLC sold the property, the front property, or what everybody thought was the front property, to the DeStefanos.
Now that original deed, and that was June 13th of 2008, so he sells off, or Lombard Capital LLC sells off the back portion with the legal description for the garage and the house at the back, and then subsequently sells 1330 Lombard.
Now, that deed did not have a legal description with it, but subsequently the DeStefano's recorded a legal description with the deed from themselves to themselves that extended from Lombard Street to the alley, the original legal description, which is the legal description that was in the deed for Lombard Capital LLC when they purchased it.
My client purchases the property, as you can see in the deed here, on October 18th, 2016,
and then sometime thereafter starts the process of getting approvals from the City of Philadelphia
to demolish the structures that are located on them because they are imminently dangerous,
they were designated as such by L&I, and to thereafter construct a single-family dwelling
with with a garage in the same location of where the garage was previously.
with a garage in the same location of where the garage was previously.
My client went to the Philadelphia Historical Commission because the property is both located
in its historic district and individually designated, and he secured the approval of
the Historic Commission to demolish the building and to thereafter construct the structure that
is going to be built today.
And I can show you here are the plans that were approved by the historic commission.
Those are the same plans and same renderings that we are presenting to you today and that my client subsequently submitted a zoning permit application to construct this property.
The problem was when they submitted the zoning permit application, the physical dimensions of this vacant lot from the back of 1330 to the alley doesn't match up with the deed that was transferred from Lombard Capital LLC for 502 to 504 South Juniper Street.
This area from the back of the building to the alley is actually smaller.
So the zoning drawings that were originally submitted to L&I resulted in an RFI where the examiner rightly said, your zoning drawings, the size of the building, the footprint of the building doesn't match your deed.
Well, that started us on a whole journey with the survey district, the second survey district,
to come up with the survey plan that we eventually submitted to L&I, which you see here, in which
the Zephanous had seen, which essentially calls for the relocation of lot lines for what's known
as 1330, and everybody has acted, that's being 1330, which is the building located at the south
west corner of Lombard and South Juniper, and drawing the property line between that 1330
and 5020504 at the rear of the building that you see right here in the picture.
Then I'll have to zoom back out right here. So part of this application is, and the reason why
the board wanted to hear from the DeStefanos is to relocate the lot line for both properties here.
right now the lot line is at 502 504 is actually bigger the legal description and the lot line is
three feet nine inches under the building of 1330 so we want to correct that and the building that's
to be built is from the back of the building to the alley which is shown on the survey plan
so the application other than relocating the lot lines to put the common property line at the rear
of the building at the corner of southwest corner of lombard and south juniper is to construct a
single-family dwelling, as I mentioned. It's four stories tall. It has a garage that is in the same
location of the curb cut. Because the frontage, the wide part, is across Juniper Street, and as
mentioned, the depth of the property is only 18 feet deep. The existing garage went to full depth
of the lot, and the existing three-story structure extended to full depth, the full 18 feet, for most
of its footprint. So we simply wanted to, my client has applied to build a building that
similarly runs from the front, from Juniper Street all the way to the back, now occupying
100% of the lot. And that has generated the refusal that we are here for today, which is
simply that with a lot that's less than 45 feet, that it needs to have a seven-foot rear yard
depth, and obviously we have none. Again, the existing building that you can see here from
the Sanborn maps, if I can pull those up here, if I zoom in, shows here is the building that used
to exist. This is in 1916. There was before there was a garage, and you can see the building
extending the full depth. It's a little harder to see in the Sanborn map from 1946, but you can
And here you see here in 1951, where after the garage was constructed, again, that the existing buildings,
oh, let me go up here.
Sorry, I have to go slowly.
Here you see.
And here you see both the garage and the building extending the full depth of the lot, the full 18 feet.
That's the width of both 1330, and then the depth of 502 to 504.
uh we did as mentioned we appeared before the washington square west civic association
that uh we received a unanimous letter of non-opposition and you can see that letter
here at tab a one and you can see the vote was 10 to zero to zero to not oppose and then we based
upon that letter from washington square west civic association we received a letter of non-opposition
from Councilman Squillis' office.
from Councilman Squillis' office.
Real quickly, the property was posted.
Real quickly, the property was posted in conformance
with the requirements of the zoning code.
You can see those pictures here.
They even withstood all the wins we've had
over the last couple of weeks.
And there was the proper 14303 notice
that was sent out to the list of addresses
that we secured from the Planning Commission's link
regarding the Washington Square West
Civic Association meeting on July 22nd, 2025,
and our original Zoning Board hearing of October 29th, 2025.
The posting was done with the posting,
the photos that I showed you,
the posting of the property were for today's hearing.
They weren't from the prior posting for the prior hearing.
Tab G has our tax clearance.
And again, you can see my client has legally changed his name
from James Ernst to James to Chico.
And we have that clearance here.
Real basically, here's the color renderings again
that were provided to historic commission that we're presenting to you again today um it was
thoroughly reviewed by the historic commission it was approved it wasn't the original design
but this is a design that was ultimately arrived at through the various meetings with the
architectural community committee and the full commission you can see here a section of the
property it's pretty obviously it's not very deep um every square foot is important but you can see
how it's been designed we don't have a pilot house on top we have an open staircase leading to the
roof deck to lower the visual appearance of it because we have gone the full 38 feet to squeeze
in the full store for the four stories but you can see here from across the street there's no
visibility of the roof deck that's also located on top of the proposed structure and we also have
the floor plans you can see here very very you know very very very limited in the amount of
square footage as i've mentioned so in terms of the the refusal for rear depth there's not a lot
of lot area to work with here it's a very small lot and we're using all of that but we're not
impacting any of the surrounding properties the depth of the building goes or the property goes
up to against the side of another building and then we have we don't have any windows in that
side facing east we don't have any windows in the rear of 1330 facing south and there are no windows
in the building across the alley to the south of us facing north so we won't impact the air and
light any more than was previously impacted with the structure that we're looking to uh construct
at this property um with that I would have my client adopt my statements James Ernst could
be promoted to a panelist hello mr ernes could you please state your name and spell for the
stenographer hello hi sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
James DiCicco, J-A-M-E-S-D-I-C-I-C-C-O.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Counsel?
And James, I'm sorry that I keep calling you James Ernst, but that is still what's reflected on the deed, and I know that legally you've changed your name.
It's all right. It's been 40 years. I can handle it.
All right. So, James, thank you for coming today.
Did you hear that you presently, you own this property, 502.504 South Juniper Street, correct?
And did you hear the statements that I made to the board today?
Yes, I did.
And are they true and correct to the best of your knowledge?
And would you adopt them as your own?
Yes, absolutely.
Thank you very much.
Question from the board.
Do you know what the height of the buildings to either side of the new structure will be?
I'm sorry can you say that again the heights of the buildings to either side to the roof
uh I don't know the heights of those structures now but we again we are we are proposing a
dimension link client building at 38 feet tall that's um that has been reviewed and approved
by the historic Commission okay I mean you can see that 1330 is is you know is pretty getting
pretty close i mean obviously we've constructed an additional story four stories so we're going
to be taller than the buildings to either side um so you can see that here
and 1330 does have these um extended uh uh chimneys as well that reach the same height as
our building yeah i mean that that'll all be done as far as it whether the status of the chimneys
at 1330 that'll be all handled presented to the building codes okay yeah all the questions from
the board questions or comments from the virtual audience or the current audience
questions or comments from the virtual audience or the current audience
no hands oh chair there's a hand just went up sure and that hand is oh that was donna
de stefano well that she already testified am i correct we're going to bring her back on
all right bring her back one sure
Donna, you have been promoted.
Donna?
Ms. Stefano?
Donna, can you unmute yourself, please?
donna unmute yourself sorry about that i thought i was unmuted my apologies do me do me a favor
you've already been sworn but just for the record state your name donna de stefano okay and you have
additional information i just that wall that you mentioned james is a parapet wall with nothing
behind it it's just the the peak that was part of the historical and that we talked about that
door and the three feet whatever it is it was the stairway um i do appreciate david saying that he
would follow the you know the zoning as far as the lni i'm sorry not zoning the lni regarding the
height and any kind of um chimney because i stated before i don't know if there's any chimney there
or not but i would be looking forward to seeing what happens with the new building going up so as
long as everything is followed i have no problem thank you thank you very much um anyone else in
the audience there are no more hands here planning commission amy boyd with the planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning to the current r1 residential multifamily
the condition of the 18 foot depth of parcel b at 502 to 04 juniper street is existing and presents
a unique physical condition that would prevent the property from complying with the rear yard
setback requirement the planning commission recommends that the board grant the requested
variance for rear yard depth thank you mi 2025 003 848 502 204 south juniper street i vote yes
michael johns my vote is yes
cheryl gaston my vote is yes tennetta graham my vote is yes ryan mcadams my vote is yes iowen my
vote is yes thank you counsel thank you very much all right number five mi 2025 004 752 1551
north franklin street william o'brien is the attorney there's a letter of opposition from apm
So, Brian, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer can't can't hear you? Can't can't hear you. Is the mic on the mic on?
there we go okay uh good uh good afternoon mr chairman members of the board william o'brien
w-i-l-l-i-a-m o'brien o-b-r-i-e-n from the maniunk law office do you swear or affirm to tell the
truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do could you identify your client a relationship
to this property my client is gentian cadrew gentian is in the virtual audience and our vice
chair has a few questions good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in
advance of this hearing yes the exhibits are presented and then yesterday i supplemented with
one additional page okay thank you and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to
is accuracy. I do. Okay, thank you. You can share your screen and proceed please.
I'm looking for the
link to share my screen and I don't see it.
Should be at the bottom of the page.
Oh, I don't know if you're on, but that's crazy.
You have to be in the middle of your skin.
No, no.
Okay, just raise my hand, okay.
Okay, thank you.
You're coming up now.
Okay, so here's the refusal or the property is at the corner of I think it's Oxford and Franklin streets.
um the building was built and the co was issued in 2020. uh a zoning permit as noted on the
refusal was issued uh in 2017 when the property was zoned cmx2 uh so a four-story building was
erected pursuant to that uh with first and the the permit as it says uh first floor had to be
commercial and limited to those uses in table 148022 that did not require parking.
So to that end the two apartments that consumed the second and third floor were rented
and the first floor space was rented I think in late 21 early 22 to an office use.
They rented for a little over a year went into a month-to-month lease
Mr. Kadru terminated the lease. He had some complaints from the residential
tenants about the noise that that commercial tenant generated and then
began looking for a new tenant. Last year he found a nail salon that wanted to
come in and then he found out when he made an application that the zoning had
changed. We did have an RCO meeting. There were eight persons that attended.
One was in support, three had no opinion, and four were opposed. Mr. Kadru
stipulated to this RCO that he chose personal services because he thought it would serve the
community, serve the neighborhood, hair salon, nail salon, barbershop, and stipulated that uses
such as a tattoo parlor or a piercing salon would be excluded. He's not going to go anywhere near
there. They're destination uses. He just wants a use that will help serve this neighborhood
personal services. Let me show you the building.
Okay, so that's the four story building the top three floors are two apartments, and then the first floor commercial space.
This is just a different angle. That's Franklin Street in the foreground.
The rear of the building.
That's Oxford Street. And you can see in the background, there is another commercial use,
first floor commercial use in the next block. So this commercial use is not foreign to the
immediate neighborhood. The interior space of this commercial unit, this is the first floor
bear with me while I try to get the right size okay so this is the first floor looking towards
Franklin Street with the entrance there in the right corner same floor looking at the entrance
which you're to your left to the back of that first floor bathroom on the first floor this
This is the ground floor, looking with Franklin Street to your back, and this is looking towards
Franklin Street.
This is the zoning permit that was issued in 2017, if I can get it to come over.
this is page 14 of the package and the following page 15 is the certificate of occupancy
And the following page, 15, is the Certificate of Occupancy that was issued in 2020.
that was issued in
If I can ask my client to raise his hand.
When you went to the RCL, what was the reason?
As they mentioned in their letter, they thought it would be more appropriate to be used for a nonprofit educational purpose.
My client's not able to do that.
Okay, why don't you bring your client one?
Thank you.
Mr. Kadru, would you raise your hand?
He's been promoted.
Mr. Quadru, can you unmute, please?
Gentian Quadru, can you unmute yourself, please?
She's not hearing anything, he says.
okay um you're an officer of the court and um we'll take your testimony right i spoke to gentian
on the way here um and he asked excuse me he's i'm sorry he's unmuted now okay sir could you
please state your name and spell for this photographer gentian
he's probably having technical difficulties
i can let's go i don't have my phone but i can get my phone and call him
if that would be what would that now you're an officer of the court we will take your testimony
okay and i just want to reiterate that i spoke to uh mr codru on the way here and he asked me
make it clear that he absolutely wants to nothing to do whether you want to adopt as a provisor or
not but nothing to do with the tattoo salons yeah i got it wait a minute here he is now now
mr cadrew yes can you hear me yes sir could you please state your name as bill for the stenographer
gentian cadrio g-e-n-t-i-a-n last name k-a-d-r-i-o you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth yes counsel mr cadrio were you in the virtual audience during my
presentation yes and did you hear my testimony yes is it truthful yes and do you adopt it as your own
yes thank you questions from the board
yes yes I guess my question is personal services meaning what you say what you won't have there
what are we talking about here and do you have any specific clients who are planning
there was a nail salon that wanted to lease it last year and when Mr. Kadri went to get
a permit for it that's when he found out that it changed that tenant is gone
they had to find another space they couldn't wait for this process to end so whether it's a nail
salon a hair salon a barber it's going to be something that will serve this community it
won't be a destination personal service like tattoos or piercings and how can we limit the
types of there's no agreement in place like with the community or anything i mean we can't say
what personal services may be i mean you'd have to get some kind of permissions to have it i'm sure
but i mean how are you planning to well there's a record of this of this commitment that my clients
made that it will not be anything to do with tattoos or piercings it's going to be a personal
service such as hair salon barber nail salon that will serve this immediate neighborhood
Okay, I think because the so unless so if we don't have a sorry, if we don't have a specific use like it's going to be nail salon hair salon yet, then we can't provide that the specific use.
However, body art services is a separate subcategory under personal services.
So we could provide though no body art services.
got you right okay thank you thank you other anybody else yeah i have a question just because
i can see that there was some opposition in the neighborhood and was wondering if you could
elaborate about what happened at the rco meeting and any feedback that you guys received from the
community i i reading their letter um perhaps i didn't make it clear um i tried to explain that
the hardship is that this building is really very very new and was designed according to the current
code five years ago and as you can see at the end of their second paragraph the owner is now
As you can see at the end of their second paragraph, the owner is now requesting to revert the zoning back to CMX 2. Of course, we're not trying to do that. And I think there may have been some people in the audience at the RCO meeting that was concerned that we were trying to change what they had worked hard on in changing the zoning district. And we're not trying to do that. But, you know, we're kind of stuck with a non-conforming building and want to have it occupied.
requesting to revert the zoning back
And I think my second question is just curious as to why limit it to personal services instead of consider any other retail use.
Well, I guess that was his frame of, I should elaborate, the application was made by my client.
And when he made the application, he had a tenant that was personal services.
Well, I mean, he's here.
so i guess the question now would be like why limit the commercial space use to personal services
that's the application that's the refusal um if he can't find a tenant then i may be back here
yeah okay but he feels confident that you can find a tenant yeah all right understood
anything else from our attorney hillary emerson um i just wanted to note that i think there may
be refusal missing for multiple principal uses now that the zoning's been changed from cmx2 to rsa5
so if the board does grant that would be incorporated into the variance duplex use
no no the no the fact that it was cmx before so it had both commercial and residential but now
it's rsa5 which only allows one principal use per lot and it's multiple principal uses proposed so
just wanted to note that for the record questions or comments from the audience for the or the virtual audience there are no hands in a virtual audience planning commission and people with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends
no change in zoning to the existing rsa 5 residential single family in 2017 this property was remapped from cmx to commercial mixed use in accordance with the comprehensive plan
the property received a zoning permit by right under the cmx2 zoning in 2017 for two family
and vacant commercial this presents a unique physical condition or circumstance of the
property that would prevent the ground floor from being used for residential and personal
services are allowed by right under the cmx2 zoning the city planning commission recommends
of the board grant their requested variance for personal services
so mi 2025 004 752 1551 north franklin street i vote yes and could our council give us
a proviso sure provides a no body art service thank you michael johnson my vote is yes with proviso
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
Teneda Graham, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
Iowyn, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, counsel.
Number six, MI 2025, 004-805-1515 East Pass Shunk Avenue.
Alan Nockamson is the attorney.
Nockelson, number one, we haven't seen you in a new year.
Happy New Year to you.
Happy New Year.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Alan Nockelson, A-L-A-N, last name Nockelson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
Yes, my client is Jordan Griska, the owner of the property.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Thank you.
Good afternoon.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have.
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Okay, and share your screen and proceed with your case.
All right, thank you.
And there's a letter of non-opposition from Passong Square Civic Association, also non-opposition from Council Member Squillett.
And there's other signatures from the block.
Hi, so we're here to present 1515 East Passiunk Avenue.
This is a property, a two-story property at the corner of Greenwich and East Passiunk.
We have 12 exhibits in our packet, and to my left is Mr. Griska, the owner of the property.
First exhibits and those are refusal.
So it's strange, you know, you're on East Pasadena Avenue and you have an RSA 5 property, and that's why we're here today.
There's a long history of single family above and commercial on the ground floor.
of single family above and commercial on the ground floor we're seeking a variance to allow
We're seeking...
for cmx 2.5 zoning here which is in line with the character of the neighborhood we have two
refusals first for the cmx two and a half zoning which is not allowed in the rsa 5 district as well
as no more than one principal use is allowed in the rsa 5 zoning district so as the chairman
stated we have a letter of non-opposition from the passing on square civic association both the
community and the actual uh committee itself voted unanimously in support of this project
or non-opposition this project with that i also have a letter of non-opposition uh from the
district council member and then we have a petition a pretty extensive petition by mr griska
of nearby occupants of properties,
along with letters of support as well.
I'm just trying to get through this.
Decent amount. Still going.
All right. Again, the property history here.
In 2011, there was a temporary variance granted for professional office use on the ground
floor with single-family above.
In 2000, it was a thrift store with single-family above.
And in 1957, it was a radio repair service store with single-family above.
Maps of the area.
Again, here we are in the corner of Greenwich and Passionk.
you can see here we are lined with cmx two and a half properties other than this block for some
reason which is definitely out of character to east passing out gavin
photographs of the property
there is one accessory parking spot in the garage which is legal this is the front of the property
since 2009 uh this is the post the proof of posting passing on to the right of the property
until after the property greenwich to the right of the property until after the property interior
photos this property looks like it hasn't been updated since the 70s
then our plans are drawing drawings pretty simple here this is from east pass yonk you have the
commercial unit you have the garage that you saw from east pass yonk there's a secondary
door that goes up to a flight of steps where you have an open floor plan well you have two
bedrooms an open floor plan living room kitchen bathroom and then in the basement level is the
commercial storage uh commercial storage rco meeting notice we met on october 14th at 7 pm
we notified 148 addresses of the community meeting these are lists this is proof of mailing
our application for appeal to the zba our deeds of property showing that mr griska is the owner
of the property and then finally our tax clearance certificate which i'm trying to get to
is here. Well, it shows there's a balance. It's because of 2026 taxes, which are not due until
March 31st. I will stop sharing my screen, and I would ask that Mr. Griska be sworn in.
Sure. Why don't you pull it closer to you a little bit? Yep. Yeah. Could you please state
your name and spell for the stenographer? My name is Jordan Griska, J-O-R-D-A-N-G-R-I-S-K-A.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
do counsel yes uh jordan you heard everything i had to state today about your zoning matter
yes is it true and correct yes and do you adopt as your own testimony thank you questions from the
board questions from our attorney not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the
audience the virtual audience no hands chair planning commission amy board with the planning
commission the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from rsa5
residential single family to cmx 2.5 commercial mixed use this block is surrounded by a commercial
quarter and there is another commercial mixed use on the corner of this property the proposed use
would be allowed under the recommended zoning the planning commission recommends that the board
grant their quest advance for multiple principal uses and cmx commercial uses thank you mi 2025
004805 1515 east pashuk avenue i vote yes michael johns my vote is yes cheryl gaston my vote is yes
tanetta graham my vote is yes i am mcadams my vote is yes i am in my vote is yes thank you thank you
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
Alan, yeah, you're here.
And then you're going to step out a little bit.
Thank you.
So number seven, MI2025, 004808, 814 South 13th Street.
Alan Nockamson is the attorney.
we have a letter of strong unanimous opposition from hawthorne um several different comments here
um just for the record could you state your name because you've already been sworn
alan knockamson and can you identify your client the relationship to the property yeah my client
is 16x7 llc and to my left is jackie zang its member and our vice chair has just a few questions
thank you good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of
this hearing yes we have and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy i do okay thank you you can share your screen and proceed with your case thank you
so these visitor accommodation cases are tough sometimes because you have people who you know
don't want like temporary visitors in nearby in residential neighborhoods um but again my
philosophy and zoning variance law in philadelphia is this if you walk by the property built to use
as proposed does this stick out like a sore thumb or is this something that fits more so with the
fabric of the neighborhood so are there other visitor accommodation there of airbnbs there are
so it's not out of character here and i do believe because the uniqueness of this property which my
client purchased a few years ago uh leads it to be like for visitor accommodation use
uh so we'll review first the 12 exhibits um you know that we have here and i have my client here
um we're going to go a little bit out of order because we want to direct each point that the
community made i will say this while the community the people in the community who attended the
community meeting were against this product this this use of visitor accommodations we did actually
petition in the neighborhood and the property owner to left and right of us are actually in
support of this project so again we're in we're actually and by the way this the zoning
classification cmx1 so it's not like we're dealing with an rsa5 property here this is a mixed use
commercial property which is littered with different type of multifamily structures at
least from a zoning classification so you have to really take that into account when you're
deciding whether to have visitor accommodations because again we're not taking a single family
zoning classification and going and transforming it into visitor accommodations so the um the
letter was you know pretty harsh um you know you know they're not just unanimously opposed
with strong prejudice that's the first i've seen so um but you know and again i live in the
neighborhood just like you know the people here so i would be upset if if things weren't done the
right way and and nothing's perfect whether it's long-term or short-term anytime you're renting a
property it could be bad listen i've had situations where there was a renter living next to me long
term and i had to deal with that renter for one year and it was a bad renter and i told the
property owner to you know that this is a bad renter but i had to suffer a year you know if
Are there situations where, you know, you may have a bad renter short term?
But like, again, do you have a bad renter for one day or do you have a bad renter for
one year?
You got to balance that off.
So first one was, you know, the first comment was about the illegal short term rental
operation.
My client got a limited lodging license.
She didn't understand that that's, you can't get that, right?
It's a term of art.
You can get a limited lodging license if that is your primary residence and you want to
the renter room she didn't understand that she came to my firm it's not like she has a violation
against the property she you know she must have read something somewhere where that was not allowed
and then she decided to proactively not ask for forgiveness ask for permission to like do this
so it's not like she's reacting to a violation notice she could have went under the radar screen
still and she chose not to uh the density right so when she purchased this property
it was four bedrooms she added a fifth bedroom there um and you know so you know and and there
was some there was some living down even in the basement level and we said to her listen you can't
put the people in the basement right so she immediately got rid of that after the community
meeting i said listen you know if if you're going to have a true hardship here you had four bedrooms
here like that's out of character to have four bedrooms in any row home in philadelphia like
you're going to need to revert that fifth bedroom back to a fourth to to a living room right so
to to a living room right so that's what she's prepared to do for purposes of today but she's
that's what she's prepared to do for purpose
not renting out the lower level like they were saying continuing she stopped doing that and she
discontinued any airbnb use you know upon our advice um as soon as we were hired
uh let's see poor let's say he's blocking customer service properties mismanagement she had
So, two doors down had an issue with someone who couldn't figure out how to open the door.
You know, it's unfortunate.
You know, my client has now updated, like, their materials to provide good instructions on how to, like, you know, use the Airbnb.
So, it's not mismanaged.
They have a professional manager who's behind us who manages, you know, who's managing her property now.
Trash.
Again, it's Airbnb.
be like you know it's you go in the day they take they clean up they take the trash with them it's
probably less trash than if you had a single family home so um but you know that's that's
that's their model now or will be now in terms of fire safety and egress whether it's being used
long-term or short-term accommodations it's the same type of egress parking again a lot of times
when you have people from out of town you know you know who go on vacation they don't have a car
They're like flying in from the airport. They come in. They don't have a car. They're using Uber and Lyft. I think it's more likely someone who uses this property is going to not have a car than someone who uses this property with four bedrooms and who will likely have one, if not two cars.
And then the character. They're saying it's being used as a hostel. I don't believe that's the case. I think they're using it as an Airbnb. So that's up to the board to decide.
So, my client, in response, if I can get to it, did feedback, right?
So, originally she had trash cans out in the front, which is not appropriate.
She moved them out to the back, right?
You know, and showing that in two different ways.
There was an issue about, you know, there was no number on the wall of the facade of the building structure.
she put a number in there so there wouldn't be any mischaracterization or misunderstanding of which
was their property and you know again putting even notices about smoking about no neighbor
disturbances and for help here's a direct phone number and then she also put you know she she you
know she's you know has a property manager bestow bespoke stay right and they put a noise monitoring
So if it goes above a certain level, they are then informed of that.
And just like these landlords get raided as a good landlord or a bad landlord, unlike long-term accommodations, there's a system in place with all these websites where tenants get raided as well.
And, you know, again, with that unfortunate incident, it was more someone was confused.
I don't know how to get into my property.
They weren't a bad tenant.
It was just they just were just, you know, somewhat disruptive.
And then it just shows the example of, like, the noise monitoring system.
And then she even went out of her way to, like, clean the street itself.
She felt so bad.
She was like, I feel so bad if I cause any harm here.
she actually cleaned a decent portion of the neighborhood like herself like she
hired people to do that she felt horrible about it and like you know she
like she wanted to purchase this property if she knew she had to go through this
variance process where there's a shot she won't get it because at four bedrooms
you know again I like it would there would the hardship would she would have
to revert she would have to change the structure of this in the inside of this
property but anyway these are just pictures of her cleaning up and then during what the first
snowstorm she actually shoveled it as well out of her own pocket she just felt really really really
bad and that was what was it previously just and then she created a brochure right to give
instructions about like what the house is about what the neighborhood's about like who to contact
making sure there was complete communication, direct communication with them.
And then she did have a petition, and you can see here's 812 South 13th Street,
a lot of the close crosswalk streets of Christian Street, 13th Street.
I think she has Catherine. She has a little bit of Webster.
Then she has the letter as well is 816, which is the other side of her property.
and a couple other properties on 13th Street.
We try to stay within the affected area.
And then it's not out of character to have Airbnbs.
And then it's not out of character to have Airbnbs.
You can see we're not that far from Broadway.
You can see we're not that far from Broad Street.
It gives an alternative of like, you know, having living in a neighborhood, something a little bit different, rather than going to the Doubletree or somewhere else.
And by the way, what we see a lot of times with Airbnbs is overflow during the holidays.
You know, these are smaller places, 2,000 square feet or less.
You know, you don't have a place to have your grandma or your mom or your sibling, and it's another place that for overflow for the families that live in that neighborhood.
And then you can see the mixed zoning here. We're on the line of CMX1. There's a ton of RM1.
So, again, this is not from a zoning classification like a straight single-family neighborhood. Are there single-family structures? Of course there are.
and then photographs of the property proof of posting south 13th street to the right
and to left interior photos and they keep it very clean
and just so you understand this was as is when they purchased it the only thing they did
was put this little wall here
for an extra bedroom.
They want to take this out
because they want a living area created.
Here's a kitchen and a living area created.
This is just for storage.
And then there's bedrooms.
And they do rent these by the room,
just so you understand.
So I asked Jackie,
what's the occupancy level typically?
She's like, at any time,
probably like around at most 60%.
But it's just for people
who just want a place to stay
a bedroom, and then they have a common area. And I think it's a better way to, like, open this up so they have a living area as well.
And then this is our meeting notice.
Just to be clear, at one point you said she was using the basement to put people to?
I want to ask her. Sure.
Yeah, I'll ask her that. Okay.
And then we would agree to a proviso, obviously no lower-level living.
Proof of mailing, our applications for appeal, our deeds showing 16X7, LLCs, the owner of the property, and then our tax clearance certificate showing an amount due, but obviously it's not yet.
So, Jackie, I would just ask that you be sworn in and I have a few questions for you.
Sure, but just to be clear, but this is three different units.
It would be four.
For Airbnb?
Well, it's five, but we are agreeing to four.
It's right now configured as five.
All right.
All right.
State your name and spell for the stenographer.
Jackie Zong, J-A-C-K-I-E-Z-H-A-N-G.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Counsel?
All right.
So Jackie you heard everything I had to state today about your zoning matter is that correct? Yes
Um, and do you adopt as your own testimony? Yes. So the chairman had a question
About the the basement level at one point were you having individuals down there?
So the basement when I purchased it there was a full size window as egress and it's up to the code
we had the contractor measured it at that point i thought that we could people put people in the
basement and we had about five reservations with people in the basement and after that we stopped
currently it's used as storage gotcha and then we had a discussion about that front portion of
the property on the first floor that's that was the only thing that you converted into that you
converted and you converted that into a bedroom yes that's correct and then if the board feels
so inclined to grant this variance request you would agree to disband that bedroom area and
we put it back as a living room that's correct okay all right all right so mr chair i know it's
always difficult um i do think that there haven't i think she's been a responsible operator other
in a couple of hiccups i would ask that the board grant a temporary variance of two years to give
her an opportunity to prove herself and come back here again okay um so we'll questions from the
board yes so for the work that was done on the first floor did you pull a permit when you put
up that wall i did not did not and did anyone advise you like because i'm assuming at this
point you eventually had a manager involved.
Right. It was a non-load bearing wall. I didn't realize that we have to pull a permit
because there hasn't been any plumbing or electricity change, but we agreed to restore
but we agreed to put a you know restore it back to how it was for the egress window or the
it back to how it was.
the full-size window that you that's at the rear of the property i'm assuming to the
to the backyard that's correct to the backyard and it was like halfway tucked in so it's a walkout
yeah it's like a walkout window um i know that's my first my second question is what why did you
decide to do rent by the room instead of rent the whole property as it is on Airbnb? Because I
really care about the property and the neighborhood. If we rent by the room, it is two person per group
at one time. That way would prevent the party very, very effectively. You can never have a party in
there with some travelers coming in the city. And 60% of our travelers are foreigners. They don't
have a car they use public transportation we are only one block away from the broadway street
subway station so they don't even you know have a car coming in and we verify everybody's id
before letting them in the property so by room it's even though it's more work for us
comparing to one house however it really eliminates the parties eliminate the noise and
everything so we want to keep everything clean and easy okay and then um actually i think that's
i think that's my last question okay um can we see this floor plan
oh i didn't know another question was what's the average length of stay of most of the tenants
that are staying we have 2.5 to three days so most of the time during the weekdays it's empty
yeah and you're currently it's listed on the is it on airbnb specifically or is it
being advertised because we got allen they suggested us to take every listing down so
we're not listed anymore it's not listening but when it was listed you had listed on airbnb
or was it on any other websites it was on airbnb uh i think it was also on booking.com
look at that yeah and obviously these are not to scale this is just illustrative only yeah
this is my question so yeah what what are we talking about here um the first floor
it looks like is what a bedroom are these
it looks like these are more like single room residences than there are
um, what we traditionally see as an Airbnb. Um, usually they're like small apartments.
This is not what we're talking about here. Yeah. So let me just say the only thing that she's
changed when she purchased the property was to put this, and correct me if I'm wrong,
maybe this low wall, these walls right here. It's actually just the street wall. The other wall was
the partitioning wall to the basement yeah so that bathroom here that full-size bathroom was
already in there yeah that's correct and each of these bathrooms were in each of the bedrooms
were already in there so she bought it that way that's what i'm saying it's very difficult to
envision and she had proof of the so what is the what is the zoning for this cmx1 and it's right
No. I mean, was there some other kind of zoning applications or variances that were granted?
Because this is not like a single family dwelling.
This is like single room residences where you have somebody who has their bedroom and a little bathroom.
And other than that, there's nothing.
Well, except this was a living room at one point.
but I 100% agree with you. I haven't looked at the LNI file for some time in this, so I mean,
I can go on the Atlas really quickly. All I can tell, and yes, this was built like single room
residences. I 100% agree. And then what you're saying is that instead of having one, two, three,
four, five of these single room residences, now you're going to have four? That's right.
and that you want to operate them as an airbnb that's right okay so what's going to be changed
what's going to be removed where are we putting what how are we cutting this down to four of what
is still um from what i'm seeing on here single room residences not airbnb yeah i don't know why
things going on these people these people have to go out to eat these people have to go out
i mean if there's there's no kitchen there's no living room well there is a kitchen just a little
this there's no kitchen there's no living room well there is a kitchen just a little kitchen
kitchen well there is
well there is a kitchen and and that's why i suggest kitchen right here back here right here
the kitchen's here and that's for use of anybody who's in there again that's right like with single
room residences that's what you have you have like you know um no uh other amenities there's no real
living room well well that's what would happen here this wall would come down and then you would
recreate a living room it's not it's not dissimilar to a visitor accommodation where
you go to a hotel and there's an open area to sit and there is not dissimilar to a hotel where
you may have um like a little kitchenette area so i think i think it was a mistake to put this wall
here because then people don't have a place to stay um you know just generally as they don't
want to be in their bedroom but the bedrooms are rather large we took pictures we showed pictures
you say this is not to scale so well i know i know but that's why we took to show the pictures
of the different rooms like you can see this is one of the bedrooms that's a rather large bedroom
you know these are all the bedrooms and then the kitchen i do believe we have a picture of that as
well here's the kitchen so um so it's done well and like i said we didn't even add like i think
it's strange too that there's a bathroom here um you know it's not something you would expect
like in a row home in philadelphia like but i guess the question i have was was that bathroom
there when you purchased it was already yeah that's why i asked her i said so you were telling
me the only thing you put up was a wall because i thought the bathroom would be something that
be added like bathrooms so in every room yeah yeah i i noticed we have several people in the
back here ready to come up here and testify anybody else have a question i do have one more question
though um how are each of the bedrooms secured uh currently we have the like the uh keypad control
locks and the code will be sent to the guest once they send off uh send over their id and travel
And did you change the doors? So is it exterior solid core doors on each of the individual bedrooms? If we get the permit granted, we'll have to do that. Okay.
Could you ask your client to step back? There's going to a couple, a couple of people come up and testify. Any questions from our attorney?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions from the witnesses here. If anybody wants to come on and testify, come on.
hello okay so why don't we why don't we do this we're going to take the people that are
in the audience here first so why don't you come up first ma'am
now i see you have a lot of things with you we do have a policy
two minutes you get to your point and but we are open to letters so if you have a letter you can
drop it but your actual testimony should be two minutes and get to the point on what you think of
this project okay and and and if you would to state your name dupont last name spelled d-u
capital p-o-n-t do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
I do. Are you a neighbor? I am. I reside at 905 South 13th Street. Okay. I'm approximately one half block from this residence. And I've lived at my home since 1991. So I'm very familiar with the area and with this house, you know, the history of this house. Number one, let me, I'm going to read what I have here. There were a lot of things stated during the prior testimony that kind of contradict what
we've heard in the past. And also, you know, they contradict the meeting that was held with Hawthorne
Empowerment Coalition. So my house, as I said, is just about a half a block away. I am definitely
opposed to this property operating as a short-term lodging. I've lived directly next to an Airbnb
and encountered the issues that arise with that mounds of trash that were being disposed of in
in the yard that were then after complaint, they decided to store them in the basement that we then ended up with infestations of insects and rodents in the property flies coming over next door.
After we brought this issue, you know, to the owner's attention.
um later on things where they they actually did cease doing that but we went through a year of
constant parties there is no way for an owner to regulate what's going on when they're not there
There is no way for an owner to regulate what's going on when they're not there. So there was drinking, there was drugs, there were constant parties that spilled down onto the block. There was ongoing, frequent police activity calls to law enforcement as a result of how the property was being operated.
so there was drinking
I expect no less from this property. Our neighborhood is already impacted by the number of rentals causing serious parking issues. My block does not have restricted parking. However, some of the blocks surrounding or adjacent to me do.
Okay, which means that the folks on my block, we get permits because we can't park because the most of the folks who rent in the on the other blocks, either due to registration issues being out of state don't obtain them. So we really have a serious parking issue in our area.
With this property, they're proposing it's gone from six to five, and now today I hear they're talking about four.
We don't know what that's really going to look like.
Units in this facility online when they advertised or when they spoke to us before, I think they said they could have as many as four folks on the first floor, two in each of the rooms upstairs.
There could be anywhere from 12 to 15 people, potential people staying in this property.
there could be six or more cars that that that come to the area from this property because they
can't they can't control that folks are not going to come with the vehicle um what an investor
accomplishes by renting a property like this within the short-term lodging is that it allows
them to maximize their investment they can make the most they want out of this property without
having to go through or adhere to some of the laws and regulations that would apply if this
were regular rental parking being one of those those concerns um there's no need to supply
parking because it's a short-term lodging facility um so i strongly oppose this okay
i think we understand where you are okay and some of the issues that were discussed trash has been
a real real issue at this property the cleanup was only done after after the meeting with hawthorne
empowerment coalition it's been an ongoing issue at this property right um signage they mentioned
signage outside i don't know that signage is actually allowed um on a facility like this
outside um so you know some of the things that are being stated it's as if they're they're being
stated to respond to what happened at the meeting, but may or may not actually be taking place.
Okay. All right. Do you have any questions?
Do you want me to defer to respond?
Wait, wait, wait till everybody's.
Yeah, that's right.
Sir? Ma'am, thank you for coming in.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
sure uh jerry j-e-r-r-y last name kill kelly k-i-l-a-e-l-l-y right do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do i want to say the same thing to
you if you would yeah and and if you would try to concentrate on things that that yes this person
hasn't said so we're getting a yeah sure please proceed yes thank you i live about 170 feet away
FROM WHERE THIS RESIDENCE IS LOCATED, SO I HAVE SOME OBSERVATION I'LL SHARE WITH YOU.
I'M HERE FORMALLY TO OPPOSE THIS VARIANCE BEING GRANTED TO THEM.
THE FIRST THING I'LL TOUCH BASED ON IS THE APPLICANTS CLAIM.
OH, IS IT ON? OH, SORRY. I BAD. OKAY, MY BAD.
SO THE APPLICANTS CLAIM OF COMMUNITY SUPPORT FOR THIS PROJECT IS BASED ON A FLAWED SURVEY PROCESS.
THE RESIDENTS WERE ASKED TO SIGN A PETITION IN SUPPORT OF THE VARIANCE WITHOUT RECEIVING EITHER
written or oral explanation about what was going on in this property or what was being proposed for
it. And multiple residents who I have spoken to and myself actually met with the surveyor. And
during that course of that interview, when she came and asked us for her support to sign this
document, nothing was presented, nothing was described, other than a comment that, yeah,
we're going to operate like an Airbnb. So it was, in my opinion, highly unclear as to exactly what
was taking place with his property and for the people who signed as in support of this never
really understood what they were signing for so in my mind this whole survey that was conducted
here is essentially worthless when you don't tell people properly what you're doing
and going ahead and doing it uh in difference to to the community um in contrast i also went out
and did a survey and i have i have 39 signatures that were signed by our residents in the community
who are again opposed to it. I also prepared a draft statement of a handout that was presented
to those individuals who signed. We also had conversation in terms of explaining actually
We also had conversation in terms of explaining actually what we saw going on with the property, and after those things were done they went ahead and signed the petition.
what we saw going on with the property.
I think our petition really represents what the community thinks about this project and the people, the owner of this property in terms of his lack of her lack of care concern for this community.
so one last thing i want to hit on so we've been talking about the number of units that were
were proposed for this thing it was six then it went down to five so they cut it back somewhere
in between here where they they cut it because of the level of opposition here now we heard today
well we were cutting it back to four and you know quite frankly there's so many things that
have gone wrong with this from the owner's perspective in terms of how she operated and
didn't follow the rules and so many examples here and i still believe there's more but
But what I will focus on is that on bookings.com, we could go out there, we could see that there
were six units that were on there for sale, and we could see not only was it available
for two residents or two adults, but they also were accepting children to go into these
units as well.
So the whole picture of what they have been doing here has not been clearly represented
to you today in terms of what we were observing.
And the last one major comment I do want to touch base on, they've been renting out these
units are legally i'll call it illegally and if i'm my word choice is inappropriate you'll correct
me but at the beginning of april we could start to find reviews that were showing up on bookings.com
there are approximately 79 of these reviews that were completed and i believe during that time
period this is when they were offering without the appropriate zoning variance to do this so
if you think about that there's only 79 reviews that were completed and that means there's probably
more people who stayed there who didn't submit it so you know the whole estimation about the
number of people that were maybe staying in this property is underestimated so okay that's that's
why i'd share there from that standpoint lastly i live like i said 175 feet away i live on that
street it was an absolute pigsty every day of the week there's trash out front there it smelled it
It was just nasty.
It's like you can imagine the robes.
So my only other comment is that I go by there,
and only these activities took place after they realized that their variance was in jeopardy
because of the lack of effort on it.
Thank you very much for coming down.
We appreciate it.
Thank you.
All right, sir, do you want to testify?
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Peter Janusik, J-A-N-L-S-I-K.
I'm a neighborhood resident.
I'm going to oppose this project. I'm part of Hawthorne.
All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
You're going to be held to two minutes, and we would appreciate you only talking about things that are different than what we've just heard.
Yes, I'm not going to repeat what has just been said.
I totally support what the two last two speakers have said.
We had a meeting with this at Hawthorne, extremely lively, went on for a very long time.
This is a total quality of life issue right here.
this applicant gives us absolutely no assurances whatsoever that they're going to operate in a way
that's going to be a benefit to this community. Case after case after case of like all the crazy
things that have been mentioned already and it's like okay I've been caught now it's my bad but
I'll be better later. I just don't expect it I don't see it's going to happen and that's why
we oppose it thank you very much thank you very much for coming is there anyone in the virtual
audience yes chair um there is lauren krieger will be promoted how many how many hands do you
have that's just her lauren krieger thank you lauren she's coming in now okay
Hello, my name is Lauren Krieger, L-A-U-R-E-N-K-R-E-E-G-E-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Lauren, are you a neighbor?
Yes, I live at 814 South 13th Street, so two doors down.
Okay. So you heard, we'll give you two minutes, and if you would, try to say things that haven't already been said. Okay?
Yeah, absolutely. I don't need to reiterate all my firsthand experiences, because Jerry and Jocelyn did a really excellent job summarizing them.
So instead, I'm going to focus on my opposition, really just because of my lack of confidence about how this property is going to use their future operations.
And I'm concerned that this LLC and the two other LLCs that are associated with the same business address at 210 Locust Street, they operate several other poorly, in my opinion, poorly managed and poorly reviewed short-term rental properties in Philadelphia.
And it makes me confused about counsel's suggestion that there was a misunderstanding about the rules and regulation because this group owns several other.
there was a misunderstanding about the rules and regulation because this group owns several other
properties that are being used for the same thing um so my ask is that together the board
and ellen i can prevent future operations at this property despite the history of what is again to
the best of my understanding unpermitted and misowned operations from 16 7 llc for this
property um the property at 1617 south 16th street um and basically that i that this isn't
going to continue to disrupt the neighborhood because i live two doors down a lot of the
stories that jerry and jocelyn shared came from me from that community meeting where i spent 32
minutes on the phone with this business trying to help a locked out guest get in um in general it
negatively impacts my enjoyment of my residence and i think it affects the character of the
neighborhood i don't think i need to take too much more of the committee's time because in my
opinion this is a pretty clear-cut case thank you very much for taking the time alan um would you
want to respond yeah you would try to hold it to a few minutes yeah so mr chur again we present this
variance not because we have a violation against us we present this variance to try to do the right
thing my client did misunderstand what the rules were with regards to airbnbs um if you look at the
notice of refusal that is dated july of 2025 i think there was some indication about reviews
in april of 2025 i told my client to stop operating as soon as she hired us i said you
know you cannot operate now knowing that this is not the illegal way of doing that and she stopped
In terms of how many units, she had six. I was like, you can't do that. You're not going to get acceptance from the ZBA if you have lower level living. So that has to stop.
And after the community comments, we weren't presenting five when we heard the community speak. I reviewed the project myself. I stated, listen, you have to go. If it was four bedrooms in the past, when you purchased the property, you have to stay at four bedrooms. You can't do that otherwise, because that's now, you know, real hardship here by adding to that hardship in terms of trash.
I can't and some of the comments from the first speaker it sounds like she's living next to an
Airbnb those are experiences from a different operator a general operator not us and I don't
believe we stated during the community meeting that we're gonna fit four people in that first
bedroom on the first floor that I don't believe we stated but again it's not out of character
we're half a block off of broad street this is a cmx one property which had four bedrooms
you know and with five bathrooms and the hardship is to then spend those
spend a lot of money to basically convert this really into a single family home
we're in probably before us was being used as a single room residence thank you planning commission
amy boyd with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in
zoning at this location from the current cmx1 commercial mixed use the appellant has not
demonstrated that there are unique physical conditions or the circumstances that would
prevent the property from being used in conformance with the zoning code the planning commission
recommends that the board deny their requested variance for visitor accommodation
and my 20 25 0 0 4 8 0 8 8 14 south 13th street i vote no
michael johns my vote is no charles gaston my vote is no
tenetta graham my vote is no i am mcadams my vote is no i own my vote is no council thank you thank
you and i think you have one more here a couple of words in front okay um let's see here
number nine not not you're not nine you're not i i promise you we're going to get to you
number nine mi 2025 004 953 120 south street rachel pritzker is the attorney
letter of support from south street head house district affected rco and non-opposition from
council member squiller rachel pritzker is coming in as a panelist good afternoon and happy new year
the council could you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer yes it's rachel r-a-c-h-a-e-l
Pritzker. P-R-I-T-Z-K-E-R. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
nothing but the truth? Yes.
Could you identify your client, a relationship to the property?
So my client is Michaela Lulovich, and she is the tenant for this property.
And our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon.
Have you submitted your documents five days in advance of this hearing?
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
All right.
Thank you.
You can show your screen and begin your case.
Thank you.
Can you see my screen?
We can.
It's a little blurry, but this is 120 South Street.
We received a refusal and a referral for this project.
The property is owned CMX1, and we are proposing use for a tattoo shop, also known as personal
services body art services it generated a refusal and a referral given the fact that
there is multiple overlays and then certain exemptions for this regulated use so
we are that's sort of what was generated on the screen for supplemental use controls for
the center city district overlay and then also for uses allowed in the commercial districts
for CMX1.
This is our application.
Project information form.
Tax clearance.
This is a copy of the lease.
this is the zoning map for the property as mentioned it's on south street and it's zoned
cmx1 as you can see on the screen surrounding areas multifamily and cmx2 and cmx1 as well
So aerial photos of the property, zoning posters, kind of stop here so you can see this space, some of the interior photos.
So, as mentioned, we're proposing body art services, basically a tattoo shop, and we're generating a special exception and a variance for this matter.
It's a small property on South Street. It's 17 by 55, so it's like 935, I believe, square feet.
And we're looking to use the ground floor commercial space for body art services.
The hardship is not self-imposed.
It's multiple regulatory burdens and overlays that require a very limited use of commercial
uses for this space.
It's also sat vacant for a significant amount of time, despite being on South Street, which
is well known for various different small businesses, and also given the size of this
space, it doesn't lend itself to many other uses or would require a lot of modification
of the space to fit anything.
it's kind of too small for a restaurant and even a lot of the permitted uses given the overlay would
also require a special exception or a variance so either way i think would be in front of you all but
given sort of the low impact use of a tattoo shop this small space and it being ground floor
commercial we felt like this was the least modification of the code and also appropriate
it um on this part of south street so you can see from the interior photos it kind of goes straight
back this is the front of the building so this is the rear the visual and then if you look for
there's sort of this lofted area so again also making it quite challenging for a lot of different
commercial uses but with the low impact use like a tattoo shop you can put you know benches back
there and you don't need to sort of heavily modify the building or the commercial space especially
given she's the tenant and the current owner was looking for a while to rent this out i think some
of the layout of the space made it challenging for you know some of the other commercial uses
that that might have been viable in addition in just the general area there's a lot of similarly
situated businesses so there's a lounge that's also restricted from the overlays at 119 south
street there's a queen and rock shop which is a nail salon all which received variances
these are sort of similar establishments small businesses as well and so this use is not
inconsistent with some of these smaller personal service businesses in the area and again just
given that the tight small space of this limited sort of an attractive commercial use for
um limited sort of uh in attractive commercial use for for some other spots um we also don't
believe that this is out of whack or out of character with the comprehensive plan um just
given sort of uh the goal on page 92 to try to avoid unnecessary variances or inappropriate
restrictions this again triggered a special exception and a variance because of an overlay
and the restrictiveness of cmx1 so it makes it really difficult for any commercial business
to be viable in this spot without some of these, this process and going through the variance relief
that we're requesting. Just the view from across the street. And again, this is just the zoning
code sections that are mentioned, body art services here, and CMX1. And as you can see,
most things in CMX1 require a variance or a special exception, pretty limited
options even the ones that are have a y next to them have some other consideration that makes it
so you typically have to get a variance or they restrict size of the space we met with the queen
village neighbors association and the other south street head house which was the other affected rco
we sent out all the appropriate mailers
And as mentioned, the Queen Village Neighbors Association sent a letter of support for this application, in addition to a letter of non-opposition from Councilman Squilla's office.
The client, again, the tenant also went and spoke with near neighbors, which the community respected, just given just making sure that other folks nearby were comfortable with this use.
and these were also presented to the to the community group as well so we include them in our
packet thank you get the point
um just to give a sense of the floor plans um again this is a sort of very limited space
um the ground floor is just storage um a bathroom as you can see here then just mechanical space
and then the first floor zoom out for a second
um as you can well let me zoom a little bit as you can see um has um you know just some areas for
um tables and benches and the cards for the tattooing stations and then again that raised
area that's um lofted provides those spaces as well again this has a bathroom in the basement
and just, again, really sort of a narrow, short space
and really limited modification
from any kind of alteration perspective.
We don't believe that it would be more harmful
than any permitted uses,
but again, really limited permitted uses
given the overlays.
And so we would just request, you know,
the variance be granted.
I believe Michaela is in the audience if I can.
Mikaela?
Mikaela?
Mikaela will be coming in shortly.
Do we want to swear her in?
I think she's um yeah as soon as I is she there yeah she's here Michaela yep hi hi how are you
could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer Michaela Lulovich m-a-k-a-y-l-a-l-u-l-e-v-i-t-c-h
right do you swear or affirm the tell the truth told truth nothing but the truth yes counsel
Michaela have you heard my testimony today do you believe it to be true and accurate and do you
adopted as your own yes thank you questions from the board yes um question the uh one of the
provisos uh speaks about uh no use commercial use of the rear
speaks about no use commercial use of the rear patio did i see on this plan where this rear patio
is and do you agree with that proviso so i don't believe that the floor plans show the rear patio
but um michaela correct me if i'm wrong but i think we had agreed in the meeting with the rco
that the rear patio is not going to be used for commercial purposes no okay so we're fine with
that and then i guess my question always with um these kind of businesses um uh i always ask about
um hazardous waste disposal i mean with the needles and that kind of thing do you have
arrangements for that do you have any other facility that where you operate or is this
Your first business, is this another business that you are operating in this vein?
No, this is my first business, and I made an agreement with a sharps disposal company,
and it's like a mail-back program, so they send me a sharps container.
Once it's filled back, they send me the box and everything to send it in along with the shipping label,
and I just mail that back, and then they dispose of it properly.
Okay. And you said this is your first business operating in other tattoo parlors before?
I've been tattooing in the city for six years now, but this will be in other shops under other people.
This will be my first business as an owner of a shop.
Okay. Thank you.
I think my second question, you mentioned sharps, but you didn't talk about any potential medical waste
that might be generated in the shop and wondering how to manage that yeah so generally about trash
what's your plan for storage um storage we in the backyard there are um trash cans and
um they are kind of cleared out of any like space that is really used like we're not tattooing here
that stuff or anything so the sharps like the needles would go in the sharps containers and
And then the used like bedding and other equipment are in the trash cans that we use for only that material.
So then we put that just in the trash cans and dispose of it properly.
And then is the only bathroom the one in the basement?
Mm-hmm.
I think those are my only questions.
Any other questions?
Oh, no.
I did have one more question.
For the main entrance to the property, is it shared with another commercial business or with the residential properties in the condo building or the rental building?
Yeah, so it is shared.
There's an attendant upstairs.
Their entrance is like a little bit pushed back from mine, but it is shared.
And I have a quick question.
There was a proviso also for hours of operation to be from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.
And are you agreeable to that? Yes. Thank you. That's the next one too. Exterior sign. Exterior signage too. You're agreed to know the exterior signage. We don't have any signs on the, on the application. So. Yep. Okay. All right. Questions or comments from our attorney?
i think most of my questions were answered in terms of the provisos um i just want to note
for the record there was one other proviso requested about no signage in i mean no like
pictures in the window of work of completed work that had been done but that's not something i
believe would be enforceable there's also code provisions that limit how much of a window can
be covered anyway so i just want to note that for the record
so the the other one is no business on the patio am i correct uh we could say
um i think uh no commercial use of rear patio that's fine
okay questions or comments from the virtual audience
no hands oh dear chair there's a hand two hands
Two hands. Yes. Okay. Taryn Gillies is being promoted. Okay.
Hi. I just would like to speak. Hold on a moment. Could you state your name and spell it for the
sonographer? It's Taryn Gillis, T-A-R-Y-N-G-I-L-L-I-E-S. Do you swear a friend would tell the truth,
do you swear a friend would tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes are you a
the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes. Are you a neighbor?
neighbor yes i lived at i live at 6th and south street okay please proceed yeah i would just like
to give a comment in support of the opening of the studio i think it's really important that we
support especially women owned local businesses in the creative space and i think a studio like
this not only brings in traffic of people seeking the services but also
these studios tend to serve as like a small gallery space so I think that
brings like a lot of vibrant and creative culture to the area thank you
well thank you for taking the time to call another next hand please yes Sam
Thompson Sam could you please state your name as a stenographer
hello my name is Sam Thompson that's s-a-m-t-h-o-m-p-s-o-n you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth I do are you a neighbor um no I am an employee of the
South Street headhouse district okay go ahead please proceed yeah so I wanted to um say a
comment of support as well for um for michaela's business she had the pleasure of attending one of
our board meetings and meeting some of our business community the vice chair of our board
attended the queen village neighbors association rco meeting for this spoke very highly again i
want to echo that last comment from taryn about supporting like women-owned businesses in the
creative industry as well as a first-time business owner and really bringing vibrancy to the 100
block and the south street headhouse district board really feels that this would be a great
addition to our district thank you very much for taking um planning commission here we have one
more hand to go up sure and that is abby eddie will be allowed to talk abby you should be coming
in now. Sure.
Abby, you have been promoted. You're allowed to speak.
Let me see what she's doing.
I'm trying to promote her.
She's declining it.
okay thank you um anyone else there are no more hands planning commission amy boyd with the
planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location
from the current cmx1 commercial mixed use the appellant has demonstrated that the proposed
use will not cause detrimental impacts beyond what would reasonably be expected
the planning commission recommends that the board grant their requested special exception for body
services and my twenty twenty five zero zero four nine five three one twenty
South Street I vote yes wood proviso no pictures in window we're not going to do
that that one no wait there's already there's code provisions that right that
limit what you can write in your okay and then the only other thing is the
backyard it was the back it was no commercial use of rear patio no
commercial use on rear patio michael johns my vote is yes with proviso the the use can be
limited to first floor and basement as well yeah okay limited to first floor and basement
michael johns my vote is yes with proviso
he voted
Cheryl Gaston my vote is yes with provisos
Tanetta Graham
my vote is yes with proviso
Ryan McAdam
my vote is yes with provisos
my vote is yes with provisos
thank you Rachel you still there
yes I'm here
so for a point of information I have
Steve and then
uh alan and then right before you go on with your case we're going to take a five minute break okay
okay so you'll you'll you'll see me take a short break right before we start yours okay thanks
chairman you know steve you're not usually here late
You know, Steve, you're not usually here later in the afternoon. I mean, I don't know what happened here unless somebody said, like, you know, spread the wealth around. Staying a little later at night. I mean.
He's usually early in the morning.
Sir, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the board, Steve masters, S. T. E. V. E. M. A. S. T. E. R. S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
My client is sitting right here, Lauren Bachmeier.
She has two LLCs that are part of this project.
One is called Scallywags LLC, and that is the dog daycare business.
And the other one is LB Estates LLC, and that is the entity that owns the property that we're talking about today.
good um so uh hold on one minute our uh vice chair has just a few questions for you
sure and then we're gonna we'll get you moving all right good afternoon have you um submitted
your documents five and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes we have okay and this
is a referral so um this requires special exception so do you waive the read of the referral
and simply to its accuracy we do waive it it is accurate thank you see you have one additional
item in our exhibits which was the letter from the rco that we that we put in it's
now our exhibits are version 11. so uh we're here on scallywags and we were here in 2017
for the first time when scallywags first became a business and it operated for many years on
crescent street which is just a little off of main street and maniunk lauren bachmeyer is was the
original uh owner and and continues to own um scallywags and she is um her background is she's
a vet tech so she is incredibly knowledgeable about dogs and that's why she runs such a great
business she had an opportunity recently to purchase the property at 4324 main street to
to allow the to expand the dog daycare and also to to create other amenities that that that that location allows on Crescent Street.
She's been renting all these years.
So as as you said, we are here for a special exception, because the dog daycare use is only going to be during the day.
there's going to be no boarding no overnight uh caring for the dogs and that that is called an
animal services uh use which is for special exception um we have three oh actually i should
start to let me start to uh share my screen okay so
So, we dealt with the special exception, we have 40 petitions in support, all from very
close neighbors.
There was one neighbor who didn't sign the petition, but he was here earlier today, Mr.
O'Brien, whose law firm is literally next door, and he is an enthusiastic supporter
as well.
uh then we have really strong letters of support from the maniank development corporation and also
from the maniank uh neighborhood council um that was unanimous and the neighborhood council recalled
that they had enthusiastic support back in 2017 and it was unanimous both both times so
i don't know if we have a record here but uh but uh it's it's a really good turnout of support from
neighborhood so there are three levels to this property and here they're called floor one
floor two and floor three although keep in mind that floor two is the ground floor so floor one
is where the dogs are going to enjoy themselves during their their time and as at the dog daycare
there's both a large indoor area for the dogs and then there's an outdoor area too so it
dogs who like to be outside get to do that and dogs who are less likely to go outside they have
a spot too so no one is is uh disadvantaged um on the second floor which is the the retail space
we're going to continue the retail space right now currently it is a dog bakery um that that's
that serves a lot of dog treats uh and uh and so lauren will we'll talk a little bit about it but
it's but it'll basically be a themed retail establishment for uh for dog
but it it'll basically be a themed retail establishment for uh for dog related um themed
themed goods and then on the third floor is um an existing uh but vacant at the current time
uh dwelling unit or is not taken anymore okay it is occupied now um and that has been previously
approved so so the only thing that we're here for today is the special exception for the dog
daycare in the basement uh we have uh this is the these are the the uh dimensions for
for the various floors um and let me get to the photos so we first have um some photos from for
the current scallywags playroom area which is on crescent street um you'll see some of the happy
customers uh who are uh enjoying themselves at at uh at their um at their daycare uh
during the day and then this is our um this is the photo of the location where we are
moving to uh mr o'brien's law office is right next door here and um you see that
uh it's a dog bakery indicated by the photo okay so
this is some more views of the retail space in the new location another view for the retail space
continued retail space viewing uh we're about to go down to oh this is a um this balcony
is in the rear of the of the retail space floor this is now going to be the daycare
area the new daycare area um this is the indoor part of it
And then here's the outdoor area where the dogs are able to romp around.
Then this is the dwelling unit, the single family on the third floor.
We also have our zoning posters for tonight for this afternoon's hearing.
We posted both the zoning poster and the referral.
all we have a tax clearance and a deed showing that um lb estates llc is now the owner
and we have the um mailing that we i guess first we'll have the appeal
application for the special exception the the project information form and the letter that was
mailed to 78 um locations um in the in the 250 foot radius and proof of mailing
um oh i did want to just go over
on our application uh the daycare we maintain that the daycare will not cause any congestion
in the public streets or transportation systems beyond what would normally be expected
Scallywags has an operating track record that has been very consistent and there has been
no issues with the drop off and the pickups from all of the human owners of the animals.
They use a system where people will text in to whoever is on duty to be able to drop off
and pick up so that it's almost seamless.
It's very, very fast.
The hours are from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and now I'm going to turn to Ms. Bachmeier to adopt my testimony.
Would you please state your name and spell for the sonographer?
Lauren Bachmeier, L-A-U-R-E-N, B-O-C-K-M-E-Y-E-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Counsel?
um it's back meyer you heard um my testimony today um do you agree that it was true and
accurate and do you adopt it as your own yes yes is there anything else that you wanted to add to
the board not unless anyone has questions questions from the board i have a question
I have a question. My question is about just the noise level, like during the day with the dogs being outside. Has that come up in any kind of conversations or?
my question is about just the noise level like during the day with the dogs being outside
Yeah. So one thing I do want to say is, I know it's going to sound weird, but the dogs don't really bark at scallywags too much. Of course, there's an occasional bark here and there. They are dogs, but they're not in a stressful environment.
they're not in cages for the outside area i'm not just going to let them come in and out as
they please anyway we're going to have designated times outdoor times but where they're monitored
so that they're not being disruptive all day and doing whatever they want
there's no neighbor behind you either you got the water the water's there exactly right right
Bill O'Brien.
The only neighbor is Jill O'Brien, yeah.
So as a continuation of that, so then do we have any kind of soundproofing?
So particularly because of the dwelling unit.
Right.
Well, there's the retail spaces in between the daycare and the dwelling unit.
So there is a whole floor in between.
But your remark on that right now, there's no sound proofing down there and it does echo. So my plan is to put panels on the wall to muffle the sound, not only for people around, but our own ears as well.
Okay. And then I always ask about, is there ventilation and what have you for the dog care like space? And I guess I'm tying it to the disposal of like, you know, dog waste and what have you and how are we handling that?
and how are we handling ventilation to make sure that you know you don't accumulate smells and
things like that right I mean not not being smelly is very important to me too so currently
if a dog does have an accident inside we clean up right away we have a small metal trash can with a
lid where we put the waste and then the day the night before trash pickup I will bag it and tie
it and then put it out for the trash to be honest we accumulate only one bag of trash per week at
our current location now we don't have like tons and tons of waste but that's the way that i've
been handling it um i'm not gonna allow for you know urine or other to sit we clean up everything
right away um there is like a door um to go outside which could provide for ventilation and
then also just like the I guess that would be more like fans or some other kind of way yeah there's
no fans in the in the rec room right now but I do have fans and scalawags currently and I'll probably
just install them just for I like to use them to dry the area to make sure nobody's slipping
okay all right thank you for the rear sort of paved yard that you're using for the dogs
it looks like that backs onto an alleyway that has car access and so i guess my question is
is it completely fenced in there's no cars back there so because google maps says different
it's the canal it's a it's a it's a bike path but there is a double fence back there there's
access through the back and there's one gate and another gate before you would get into the
backyard um it's not completely privacy right now and that's one of the things that i want to do is
just make the fence full privacy so that people can't see in the dogs don't get riled up for no
reason that kind of thing so i will be like securing that more but there is a double gate
system to go out to the back canal anyway what's your what's your hours operation
8 a you said 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. to 7 p.m.
other questions questions from our attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr chair
questions or comments from the audience the virtual audience
no hands chair planning commission amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive plan
recommends no change in zoning at this location from the current cmx2 commercial mixed use
the appellant has demonstrated that the proposed use will not cause detrimental impact beyond what
would reasonably be expected the planning commission recommends the board grant the
requested special exception for animal services just for a point steve i would tell you your
photos even brought laughter up here it was the only time everybody saw the dogs running
just got the plays laugh so and my 2025 004 956 4324 main street i vote yes michael johnson my
Michael Johnson, my vote is yes. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes. It's another Graham. My vote is yes. My vote is yes.
What is yes?
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
It's another grant.
Thank you. Thank you so much. Congratulations. Thank you.
Okay, so we're going to, we'll do Alan, then we'll take a quick break.
m i 2025 004 963 4507 locust street t-b-397702
um mr knockamson you've already been sworn just state your name for the record alan knockamson
and i also see here there's a letter of support from spruce hill community association
would improvise a trash be stored on the side street of the property okay um our vice chair
has a few questions good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days
in advance of this hearing yes we have and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to
its accuracy yes i do okay thank you you can show your screen and proceed with your case all right
thank you so this is 4507 locust street um we're in the min so um we had we have requirements in
terms of affordable housing um where this is one portion of this project that's over 10 units
So ultimately, 20% of these units have to be deemed affordable.
We're allowed to build five residential units and one commercial unit.
We're mid-block on Locust Street.
We just want to build five residential.
We want to get rid of the commercial component.
That's our case.
That's the refusal.
So we're a CMX2 property.
We would like not to have the commercial unit.
We're not even asking for any more residential units.
There's five residential units, which is allowed by right.
We met with the community.
They were in support of it.
They want the trash stored on the street side of the property.
Like, we have trash stored outside in the rear.
We think that's appropriate.
You'll see that from the floor plans.
But, yes, there's support.
And we have support from the nearby neighbors.
Our next-door neighbor to the left of us on Locust is in support.
The properties in the intersecting street on 45th Street are all in support.
So anyone that touches us is in support.
We did some revised plans.
So we reversed the entry stair direction.
We changed the entry ramp on the side from a ramp to stairs.
And then we added an egress walkout in the rear
So that the lower level unit in the rear not only has access through like a common front door, but they have a separate egress through steps that lead up to the ground level.
And here, those are the three changes.
Reverse the direction of the steps, add the steps to that side area, and made egress steps as well in the rear.
Just showing that we do have a permit for 4 plus 1.
The reason why we didn't do 5 plus 1 was we basically just want to take that commercial space,
well, what should be a commercial space, and make it residential.
But we're allowed 5 residential, 1 commercial.
We want 5 residential.
Letters of support, we have 4509 next door.
However, he doesn't want a commercial component next to his residential component, mid-block.
22228 South 45th Street, a little late in the day, also support that's an intersecting street.
232 South 45th Street, also intersecting street that touches our property essentially, and 230 South 45th Street as well.
maps of the area again strange where cmx2 property everything on this block is residential
so i mean it's more about walnut street here than locust but you know it is what it is um so this is
the front of the property now this is what the properties look like forever uh this is orange
notice poster this is the locust street to the right to the left that's we got from google street
view um gnome architects who's also in the virtual audience matt from gnome architects
they provided nice contextual photographs of showing this block that you would not expect to
have any commercial component here and then our plans and drawings again doing some of the same
doing some of the same stuff that we do maps of the area kind of where we are contextually
stuff that we do, maps of the area, kind of where we are.
from an aerial view and a site map view and then just aerial views as well and then same similar
photos we took their photos just kind of showed the residential nature of this block
and then kind of put the site plan that we have in our revised proviso form as well
and then just our floor plans pretty straightforward this is the first floor
you come in through locust street this is unit number one it's a bi-level
instead of doing unit number one you have this walkway common area entryway you have unit number
two which is first floor lower level and then again there's lower level use instead of you
know, those two units, you go onto the second floor, kind of similar type of thing. These are
all two bedrooms, two baths. Yeah, they're all two bedrooms, two baths. You have a unit here,
you have a unit here, and then the third unit, which doesn't take the full length of the third
floor, is also a two bedroom, two bath. That's right here. And then, you know, again, we tried
to make it pretty we have a mansard roof here nice brick work just information i know the board
knows about the minimum uh the min overlay uh but you know 40 uh 20 of the units have to be
affordable at 40 ami and so those numbers and that's a 50-year deed restriction as well and
we don't get to choose the units we work with planning commission after this is all said and
done to like they choose it and they tell us which ones they are um and then this this is all
the paperwork we filed with regards to this and then we met with the community as a well attended
meeting i think they understood what was there most of the neighbors that touched us were there
as well they don't want commercial on the ground floor proof of mailing or application for appeal
with the notice of refusal and the project information form,
the deeds of property showing Penn Locust LLC is the owner.
And then finally, the tax clearance certificate.
No taxes are technically due.
So with that being said, I just had a curiosity.
Can you show how that looks with the other buildings around it?
Well, the other buildings are more portion in nature.
So, but, you know, we wanted to have a good amount of space
for those unit owners like even like it we couldn't even do five plus one it would just be
way too tight i mean our units um for the five units on this cmx2 property are ranging anywhere
from 644 square feet to as large as 1037 so um and that's not having the porch there if we would
have done the porch there um it would have been a lot lesser um i think it's a good project i i
think people while want you know this is more of a porch type of neighborhood they appreciate the
design that was there um we didn't try to squeeze a center city design or south philly design into
west philly so um this property by the way i don't think i brought that up is owned by penn locust
llc um and in the virtual audience audience should be manesh shah okay so if he could just
virtually raise his hands. Okay.
You're being promoted now.
Thank you. You're welcome.
Hello, this is Tanesh Patel and I'm T-A-N-E-S-H, last name is Patel, P-A-T-E-L, I'm a member
of the Penn Locust LLC.
All right, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
the truth?
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Can you hear me? Can you hear me?
Hello?
Yeah. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I don't think he hears me.
can you hear me i i hear you but i don't think you hear us
Can you hear me?
I hear you, but I don't think you'll hear us.
mr patel
uh i don't i don't think his his headphones are working now yeah
i mean we also have we can you know as an officer cord hello hi mr patel i don't think your earphones
are working alan at this point you're an officer of the court we will take your testimony unless
you have someone else uh the only person i have and would be to answer any technical questions
uh you may have is matt from gnome architects why don't you bring it when you bring him on
what's his name uh matt uh from boletti gotcha
matthew has been promoted
hello hi matt could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yeah my name is matthew from luti uh m-a-t-t-a-t-w-f-r-o-m-b-o-l-u-t-i
great do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes council one of you just see if you can you know he'll adopt your testimony
Well, Matt, in terms of the architectural representations that I made, is everything true and correct?
And you adopted as your own testimony?
All right. And then, obviously, he's here if there's any questions from an architectural standpoint.
Questions from the board.
Yes, I have a few questions.
One, just talking about the basement level, bi-level units, and I wanted to know what's the depth of the units below grade?
so um matt i'll bring up the drawings yeah the um the there's actually a grade change from the
front of the building to the back of the building so at the front of the building
uh the basement units are four feet below grades or you know what i mean um and then at the back
of the building is actually even with grade but i thought but i was like wait we're up there
not long enough and that's why we added the egress steps in the rear for safety purposes
and so i know because like it looks like there's like a little bit of a sort of paved
rear yard do all of the units have access to sort of the both the courtyard and the rear
of the property there um there is a i'm sorry i was going to say there isn't it
i mean um you've been talking a lot um there is a um no i'll say no the the backyard is really
only for the access of the back unit but there is a breezeway a passageway um that you can get from
the front of the building to the back okay so if there's trash or anything like that you can put
that in the backyard and be off of the street and then i'm assuming the top unit the third floor
unit is the only one that has access to the roof deck that's correct okay um and then my second
question is about trash storage because i do see that you've got the washer dryer mechanicals all
in one combined closet but is there any sort of universal trash yeah my understanding matt correct
me if i'm wrong i thought you put in the drawings here that this would be common trash trash storage
in the rear saw that but then i read that as only belonging to the back yeah that's why i didn't
understand either um yeah sorry that would be common trash storage in the back there and the
units can get through the front door and kind of walk through the breezeway to get into the uh the
back area that's why we also added steps to make it more convenient for people than a ramp especially
this time of year when there's snow and things like that and then the unit facing locust street
their only access is that door facing locust street right that's correct so i think just my
comment was sort of for that one unit that's facing locust it seems unlikely that they're
going to like come out the front door turn the corner come all the way up the steps down the
breezeway all the way to the rear of the property to store their trash so i think at the very least
having something provision for that bi-level unit at the front understanding that all the other
units they're using the shared courtyard are going to have access to the rear matt is there
a place in the kitchen that area maybe to put a some type of ventilated trash storage closet
it looks like here there's a pantry closet of some sort maybe cut that in half a little bit
and put that as a trash a smaller trash room we could use that we could use that area places here
we could use that we could use that area places here that it could go but i just i think just
that it could go, but I just, I think.
realistically knowing human behavior nobody's walking the length of the building to the part
of the building they never access and then my other question is really about mail so like
where is the mailbox going and then what sort of the plan for like deliveries like
based on the address being on locus street so without speaking to the owner about this what
i would think is the mailboxes would go in the front of the building and then in terms of delivery
you have this common wall area looks like you could potentially fit something that you know for
more so deliveries of bigger boxes of such or at the very least leave it over here so it doesn't
get stolen on this no it's possible i just know that like based on all that has stuff to do with
like opa what's listed as legal address so just things to think about i think from a convenient
standpoint for the mailman person um i would put it in the front certainly that's what they would
definitely want other questions
questions from our attorney hillary emerson
uh no questions mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
no hands planning commission oh chair wait another a hand just went up oh boy and it's
stella ninnis who her name is stella ninnis okay she's coming in now thank you
hello everyone um hi how are you could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
My name is Richard Ninnis, R-I-C-H-A-R-D, Ninnis, N-I-N-N-E-S-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Mr. Ninnis, what we're going to have to do is we're going to give you two minutes to talk about what you think of this project, whether you like it or you dislike it or where you are with it, okay?
And by the way, are you a neighbor?
Right.
I live behind the property on Melville Street and I feel like we've been left out of the
conversation. I am completely against this project. Also, I fear that there's not one project but two
projects. The property owner also owns a building on 45th Street and what is going to happen is I
I think it's going to be an apartment complex, and I think it's a huge mistake, and I also think that the property line is going to be adjusted into an alley that was taken over by neighbors over decades, and I don't understand the shared courtyard.
I feel that that's going to be the other apartment building that's going to extend back from 45th Street.
And the projects are not being discussed in tandem because by only talking about one, the issue of the apartment complex that's looming is going to be ignored until it's too late.
Well, thank you for giving your opinion.
We appreciate you taking the time.
Is there anyone else in the audience?
Yeah, I mean, can I just respond? Hold on a minute. Do we see anyone else? I don't see any more hands, Chair. Mr. Nockmson, would you want to respond to this? Yeah, and I alluded to the fact that because we're 10 plus units, we're part of the min overlay. So what happens with this overlay is that it doesn't have to be the same address. As long as they're affiliated entities, it's considered one project.
So we're allowed, what's over there, and Matt was the architect as well, he can kind of go into that, but that's a buy-write project.
And so what happened here was we didn't think it was appropriate to have commercial unit mid-block, and that's why we went the variance route here.
We're allowed five residential plus one commercial.
We're asking to get rid of that commercial unit to put less density here.
In terms of whether the gentleman here was notified at the community meeting, all we do is send out notice. So if he's within the 250 square foot radius and, you know, he's on the address list, we send the notice out.
Okay. Is there anyone else in the audience?
No, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from the current CMX 2 commercial mixed use to RSA 5 residential single family. The first four.
commercial mixed use to rsa 5 residential single family the first four residential would be in
character with the neighborhood and the recommended zoning the planning commission
recommends the board grant their requested variance for ground floor use
um okay um mi 2025 004 963 4507 locust street tb 397702 i vote yes
revised plans one page no no there's no revised plans this is a change of use application only
should we put it no I just I mean I know that there was but there's no whereby this is a change
of use only okay okay all right yeah we can't revise so I voted yes Michael Jones my vote is
yes Cheryl Gaston my vote is yes Tana Graham my vote is yes Ryan McAdams my vote is yes
thank you okay thank you uh we're going to take a five minute break and then we're going to come
back and we'll um we'll do um rachel and manny
so we're back mi 2025 005049 for leverington avenue rachel pritzker is the attorney
rachel is rejoining as a panelist okay i'm here rachel just for the record state your name
because you've already been sworn yeah rachel pritzker r-a-c-h-a-e-l-p-r-i-t-z-k-e-r
Rachel, could you identify your client in a relationship to the property?
Yes, my client is Watermill Lofts Acquisition LLC, Matt Grossman and Stephen Kramer, and they are the owners of the property.
So what we have here now, we have a unanimous opposition from Maniac Neighborhood Council, a letter of opposition from the Office of Sustainability, and the applicant has provided a letter of support from the adjacent neighbors of 2 Leverington Avenue.
correct yeah our our vice chair has just a few questions for you okay good afternoon have you
submitted your documents and uh exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes and do you waive the
reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy yes okay thank you you can share your
screen and proceed with your case thank you just for efficiency um if we could promote um scott
woodruff and matt uh kears that would be helpful have them come on and then we'll swear them in
when we're ready okay
so if they can raise their hand and we'll swear them in okay so in front of you is for leverington
Avenue. This is a property that zoned I-2, and the only refusal that we have in front of the board
is a use refusal to add an additional four units to an already existing 20-unit building,
two units of which that are already existing are already on the first floor. There is a vacant
commercial space or slash industrial space that's 3 000 square feet that has been vacant since 2022
and given the i2 zoning doesn't allow for residential although there's already two
residential units on the first floor this would just be adding four residential units on that
same first floor with the additional with those two units that are there for a total of 24 units
in an existing structure there's no other variances that we are requesting we are not
requesting variances for any alterations of the building exterior we're not requesting any
variations from any floodplains or waterfront setbacks we are just asking for relief to be
able to provide additional residential units in a building that is completely residential units
Our application, project information form, tax clearance, the deed, zoning map.
Zoning map. So, as mentioned, the property is zoned I-2, surrounded by CMX-2, RSA-5, and other I-2.
So as mentioned, the proper
This is the property here. Aerial view of the property.
this is a exterior view of the property what you see in front of you is the ground floor
the first floor of the building this property has a lot size of 12 735 square feet and the
building is 23 052 square feet according to the city's office of property assessment
it's a long-standing historic building that was constructed in the 1800s and is on the city's
Philadelphia register of historical places and again is zoned i2 industrial
just so you can see the first floor of the property I'm going to go into the the history
a little bit but this is all that sort of we're discussing here the remaining floors are already
residential multifamily and again there are two units already on the the ground floor but just
it helps to see um the visual the most recent zoning permit for this property dates back um to
april 30th of 2012 uh where this board um where the property was owned g2 at that time um and
this property approved a variance for 20 family uh dwelling units in the same building with an
existing animal hospital that is what took up the 3 000 um square feet and then for you know
reciprocal gross access and parking easements there's 123 parking spaces there's a sort of
uniqueness given the condo building behind it and the limited amount of access as you can see this
sort of side alleyway but given its location um on leverington and with the canal and main street
it's sort of a very unique location. Additionally, 2 Leverington was approved for 60 units
with retail on partial first floor. And then back in 2000, there was also variances for additional
residential units adjacent to this site. I'll also go through a couple of the other
buildings as well. The current owners purchased this property in 2018 and have struggled since
2022, between 2022 and 2024, to be able to find any commercial or industrial business that would
be willing to rent out the vacant ground floor space. As you can see, there's limited visibility
from a windows perspective it's on the city's historic register so tampering with the windows
extending the windows raising the structure altering the exterior all would be um probably
refused truthfully and you'd need some real significant ground floor renovation to be able
to provide a commercial a viable commercial use as as you can see from the obvious nature
of this property. As a result of these efforts, which I'll share the sort of evidence of those,
the owners have not been able to successfully find any viable commercial or industrial tenant
to take up that vacant 3,000 square feet of this building and as such have sought relief from the
zoning board of adjustment to add four more units to the ground floor, which is in character with
what's already on the ground floor and what's in the entire building, which we believe is a
minimum modification of the code possible to ask for relief. And instead of trying to provide some
additional alterations, given the location and the historic nature of the building, to do the
minimum possible to make this a viable use. There are some just additional visual images. This is
the the front uh well the side of it facing the canal um as you can see it's sort of very limited
as far as that front floor space there's really no access on on this side to have a commercial
use so it's really just your commercial visibility would be on this ground floor you know here or i
guess at the rear of the building that you can't see so very difficult and again it's zoned i2 so
very limited uses. This is the rear of the building where the parking is located, as you
can see, and obviously there are units, two units in the back of the property. You're not going to
put commercial on the back of this property or industrial for obvious reasons. I just wanted
I just wanted to show the interior vacant space so that the board can see it.
to show the interior vacant space so that the board can see.
Again, it used to be four years ago or whatever it was, an animal hospital for cats.
They left given they were acquired by a private equity company that bought out a number of practices and relocated them.
So it wasn't due to any issues with the building, it was just due to purchase of the entity, and the building has stayed vacant at 3,000 square feet since that time.
Some of what you see remains is from that animal hospital use.
These are just the zoning posters that we posted on all sides of the property.
Again, this is that frontage, that ground floor that we're talking about.
as i mentioned these were the this is a permit that was approved prior under the
g2 back in 2012 permitting again the existing animal hospital and for the 20 units
the other permits there was 24 units at a point on lot one and there was a subdivision
that that happened so that was a part of this um to subdivide off uh two leverington and four
leverington prior to that the most recent permit besides that is from the 1980s 1988 there was
storage of motor vehicles um at this location cars that were being repaired or waiting to be repaired
obviously given the renovations in 2014 as per the 2012 variants for residential you'd have to
remove everybody out of the building to provide an industrial use and that's not feasible or
realistic just so the board can see again the property zoned i2 despite it being entirely
residential except for 3 000 vacant square feet obviously multi-family is not allowed it's why it
sought and gotten variances to this day we could do caretaker quarters on the ground floor so you
can do a living use there. It's not that it doesn't allow any living use there, but caretaker
quarters doesn't make sense in this day and age, but there is a residential use permitted. It's
just caretaker quarters. Sort of everything else would require a variance. And a lot of these uses,
such as utilities and services, safety services, wireless service facility is not viable. Even
things like office space is not viable given there's limited visibility. As you've seen
from the outside, it would be difficult for deliveries and things of that nature for an
office perspective. And although the community group had discussed wanting a restaurant there,
it's just not a viable use for real commercial when you have main street and other commercial
corridors where you you can you know have real signage and and visibility and again given the
historic nature of this building it really limits any sort of exterior alterations um to the this
1800 uh you know 150 year old property um as mentioned we met with the rco i'm going
discuss the rco concerns first before i go through the hardship in in a little bit more detail just
given the um the importance of this project we met with the rco um one of the first things
that they had mentioned was concerns about flooding as mentioned from the beginning of
this presentation we're not asking for any variances related to uh waterfront setback or
floodplain controls we're just asking for a use variance to allow for additional residential
but in consideration of you know their concerns we actually reached out to lni they had wanted
us to reach out to the office of sustainability but we had reached out to lni which is the
office that handles the review of these applications and also who you meet with
from a building code perspective for additional flooding approvals, which we will have to go
through and which we will comply with. I just want to bring the board's attention. We did reach out
specifically back in November to the plans examiner at L&I just to say, hey, could we meet
with you to talk about any of the flooding? The RCO brought up some flooding concerns. We know we
didn't trigger anything, but we'd like to meet with you just to make sure we're not missing
anything um and we and we provided these this information and basically um the rco or sorry
the plans examiner supervisor mentioned that you know the zoning review looks at
you know the zoning review looks at the proposed use and if it's allowed it doesn't cover the
the proposed use and if it's allowed it doesn't cover the flood
floodplain but you will have to go through with the building code requirement um elevation and
flood resistance standards which we'll go through it's just premature at this time
but that what we provided satisfies the zoning stage acknowledgement but doesn't confirm
compliance because that's at the building code stage which we plan to go through so they also
said that since what our project is which it does uh it exceeds uh fifty thousand dollars we will
go through a flood protection scoping meeting which will be required before we can get a building
permit application but we have to get zoning approval in order to even go through those steps
which we're able and willing to do um and so we went back to the rco and said listen we don't
need to have another meeting with the city they're telling us that it's premature at this point but
we're more than willing to and plan to go through you know all the city requirements um that we
have to at that time. In addition, we engaged with a civil engineer to review, have them review
any of these concerns and to just provide mitigating considerations and to make sure
that they reviewed the project. So I'd like us to, if we could promote Matt Kears from
bowler engineering um just so he can share um from his letter and then um i'll obviously go through
the the hardship argument matt yes all right could you please state your name and spell for
the stenographer yep matthew kearse m-a-t-t-h-e-w-k-e-a-r-s-e do you swear or affirm to tell
truth told truth and nothing but the truth i do counsel um i just uh want to give matt uh
share have him share his background um unless the board is comfortable acknowledging
matt as a an expert he has a bachelor's uh civil engineering from penn state he has a professional
license as a professional engineer um so if you'd like him to go through his cv or professional
resume he he can um just would like i mean i i would stipulate that he's a professional engineer
okay thank you matt if you can just um go through your letter but also if you can
share a little bit um about your experience specifically around these these types of
concerns um but but as you know your review of the project first yes absolutely thank you
Hey, Rachel. Matt Kearse, the branch manager of the Philadelphia Boulder Office. I've been
practicing over 10 years and mostly focused in Philadelphia, very familiar with the floodplain
regulations in Philadelphia, and have done a handful of projects in Manioc regarding the
floodplain. And in reviewing this project and this application, it's a very unique application
in the sense of it's an existing building, there's existing residential there. We're not proposing
to modify or restructure the building, move the building, or replace the building. So I kind of
looked at what do the existing conditions consist of today. And what I found is a portion of the
site sits within the 100-year floodplain, which equates to a 1% chance of flooding,
while another portion of the property sits within the 500-year floodplain, which
equates to a 0.2% chance of flooding, while the entire property is outside of the floodway.
And the flood elevation for the 100-year storm event is at elevation 45.
And the lowest residential piece of the property is, or where we're proposing the residential, is at elevation 44.2.
So just slightly under where the flood elevation is, that's where the commercial tenants sit today.
As Rachel noted, it's a vacant space.
our client has had troubles filling the vacant space, not a very suitable space for anything
other than the residential. And the residential is in character with not just this property,
but the surrounding properties. And I know the RCO raised concerns over the flood elevations
and the mitigation. And as part of our next steps is developing a floodplain application
through L&I to review their own building permit. We will have to comply with all the floodplain
regulations. We will have to raise the floor. We will put flood proofing mitigation measures in
there. And our client is also connected with a flood proofing expert to really hone in on what
is the best application or best products for this location in this building in particular.
So with all that, I'm confident and comfortable with the use. It's in line with what's there
today and what's surrounding. There's already two existing residential units there. And I do not
believe adding these two residential units in conjunction with complying with all of
L&I's floodplain regulations, that it will have any detriment to the community or the
surrounding uses.
I just, thank you, Matt. I just also want to mention just in the RCO letter, they mentioned the Project 3900 Main Street, which was in front of this board, I guess a little while back, this board granted a variance for height. You handled that, the civil engineering for that project, correct, Matt?
I just thank you.
I just also want to mention just in the.
That's correct.
okay and obviously we're not asking for any setbacks from the waterfront setback or
or height that's correct yes this is an existing building not proposing any additions or or moving
the building any shape or form 3900 main street application was for a newly constructed building
and in the rco letter they mention um putting you know it being 18 inches above bfe we will be doing
that correct per the building code correct we'll have to comply with their regulations and that is
one of them okay thank you um the only other last thing i wanted to bring to the board's attention
related to the rco was that there were 16 people in attendance at the rco meeting yet they only
counted the vote of eight people all of which were from the maniunk members so i guess from the
the board of the RCO. As mentioned prior, we do have a letter of support. The only directly
adjacent neighbor is the condos directly behind the structure, and we have a letter of support
from them as well. There really are no other, that's on your screen, there really are no other
directly adjacent neighbors, just given the location of this project. Directly adjacent
neighbors further down Leverington, that's 60 units, and they got an administrative permit to
remove commercial. There is other large mixed use, commercial mixed use, residential multifamily
behind the property and across the canal and then 3900 Main Street. Again, that's a brand
new construction. So a lot of the considerations brought up for that project are irrelevant here
given this is not new construction. I just want to talk a little bit about the hardship
and then can take a breath for a minute. As mentioned, I'm just going to go back to the
photos of the property if I can. As mentioned, we assert that literal enforcement of the code
and denial of the variance would result in an unnecessary hardship. There are unique
physical circumstances or conditions such as irregularity, narrowness, shallowness of the size
of the lot, and other physical conditions that make it so that the provisions of the zoning code
cannot be complied with. As mentioned, the property is over 150 years old, according to
the City of Philadelphia records. It was constructed in 1877 as an industrial mill-style building.
It's listed on the city's register, which again makes the alterations to the exterior of the
property significantly restricted and requires preservation of the property under specific
standards, terms, and conditions. The formerly G2, currently I2 property has not provided any
industrial or significantly viable commercial uses since at least 1988, in which, again,
it was used to store vehicles. Since the early 2000s, it was converted to multifamily residential
And also given the historic context on uneven windows and small size and scale, its location abutting the Manion Canal, and given it's only 3,000 square feet, it's really limiting from an industrial commercial perspective.
Again, some of the uses that would be permitted like transit station, utilities and services, wireless facility, building supplies and equipment, commercial vehicle repair are all not applicable and not viable for this space.
In addition to those considerations, because the site is zoned I-2, despite it being mostly residential, if not all residential at this point besides vacant space, the city's provision for Section 146027, which is an exception to use tables for certain historic structures, doesn't apply to this property because unfortunately it's still zoned I-2.
It only avails itself for CMX1, CMX2, and CMX2.5, which would have allowed this by right, had this been zoned more closely to what it's received variances for since 2012, it might have been zoned CMX2 or CMX2.5, which would have allowed...
It might have been zoned CMX 2 or CMX 2.5, which would have allowed a CMX 3 use given its historic designation, which would have been by right, again, for just an additional four units directly adjacent to the current two units that are there.
But given the base zoning of I-2, it prohibits the building from benefiting from this exception.
Again, just lastly, the building owners for the last since 2022 through 2024, we have in here listing agreements for two different brokerages where they went and engaged two different real estate brokers to list and market the property to obtain a commercial or industrial tenant for the remaining ground floor space.
again at 3,000 square feet. Despite those efforts, there were zero successful opportunities
to use the remaining space in strict conformity with the code. The vacant ground floor space,
when occupied, brought in $6,200 a month or $75,000 a year to support the operation and
maintenance of this property. And so the last couple of years, without the additional revenue
from a viable use of the ground floor, the building continues to diminish in value and
It cannot cover the financial obligations of the loan and operating expenses for the
property.
Again, it has two residential units at the ground floor, and so we're just looking for
authorization to add additional units, which will help limit the diminishing value of this
property.
Lastly, I just want to go through, again, as Matt mentioned, and I've mentioned a few
times that there's a lot of directly adjacent buildings that have similar or same uses and we
also included letters i won't go through them into in depth from those brokerages both delphi
property group and also mpn who spent significant time trying to market these properties made good
faith efforts and were both unable to secure a tenant for the ground floor space
this is just acknowledgement that it's on the city's historic register and then this I just
wanted to go through some of the adjacent properties given that this will not if the
board approves this variance it will not alter the essential character of the neighborhood or
the district in which the property is located or significantly or permanently impair the
appropriate use or development of adjacent properties as they're already developed
specifically 1602 canton street is a four to five story building zoned i2 it is 36 units we're asking
for a total of 24 and a parking garage with no commercial space and received an administrative
permit number 988708 i previously required commercial but it was admin had used received
an administrative permit to remove the commercial to leverington again directly adjacent on sort of
The other side is zoned RSA 5, but it consists of 60 dwelling units and no commercial space as of Zoning Permit 401-228.
Across the canal is Apex Manium condo buildings.
That's what you see in front of you.
That's 4601 Flat Rock Road.
This development approved for 160 residential units under Zoning Permit 438-481.
And so the presence of these sort of sizable residential communities, again, just a map of where our property is and some of those adjacent ones, would make it so that it's not out of character for the neighborhood.
And none of these, even ones like this that have a way visibly more viable commercial opportunity here in our new construction, where ours is historic from 1877, are not permitted or not required and have received relief to not have a ground floor commercial or do not have ground floor commercial.
Last, I know I keep saying lastly, but I forgot how much detail is in here. I just want to mention that under the Pennsylvania regulatory takings doctrine, a regulatory taking may occur when a government regulation like a zoning ordinance or strict application thereof deprives a property of substantially all economic use or value.
The I-2 zoning of this property is such that no permitted use yields any reasonable return,
and the denial of the relief request would block every economic benefit option.
And so, as such, our last option has been to come in front of this board to ask for
that relief, just again, just a use variance for those four units.
We also believe that this proposal aligns closely with the Philadelphia 2035 comprehensive plan,
particularly with recommendations outlining zoning to enhance the plan on page 83 and
suggest converting i2 zoning in this area to at least irmx in order to encourage a mix of
residential and if viable commercial located adjacent to targeted sections of the property
again this property is still zoned i2 so it limits any viable uses again for that 3 000 square feet
any viable uses again for that 3 000 square feet um if we could bring on scott woodruff to just go
through the um plans architectural plans um and then happy to bring my clients on and i'll pause
rachel how much longer do you think you're gonna i'm done as once but i mean your whole
presentation? Five minutes. Okay. Bring them on. Scott? Scott? Scott has been promoted. Thank you.
you're welcome scott could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
thank you hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer yes scott woodruff
s-c-o-t-t woodruff w-o-o-d-r-u-f-f do you swear or affirm to tell the truth told
truth nothing but the truth i do counsel god could you just go through the architectural
plans for the board sure no problem so on the uh plan left side that is main street
or leverington rather that corners to main street um kind of dead ends there uh main
street dead ends to leverington the main access of the property is within the property um which
access through the drive aisle on sidewalks as Rachel had sent before and there's double doors
at the right side currently you enter into a lobby space the two residential units that are existing
on the bottom right side of the plan the color portion is kind of the the part that's in scope
being four residential units so we're utilizing a new corridor that gets to all of these units
as well as connects to the second means of egress staircase that's at the bottom side of the plan
so each unit will have two means of egress um and is not required to exit uh through any of
these windows so all exits are kind of through enclosed two-hour stairs per code we're planning
on creating this corridor ramping up and raising the floor structure of these units as matt had
stated previously, all the units are kind of loft style, one bedroom units, all with kind of outside
windows that are facing here. And currently the ceiling heights of the first floor is right around
12 and a half feet. So we'll be raising them up, which will still allow for about a 10 foot floor
to floor um roughly for all of these units so they'll still feel fairly spacious um and obviously
with that loft kind of industrial uh type aesthetic since the buildings um as stated
you know under 150 years old uh but all buildings will be all all the units will be one bedroom one
bathroom thank you um if i could chairman just bring on my clients um matt grossman and stephen
Kramer you want both of them sworn in please okay
they have both been promoted thank you could you both state your name please
a spell for the stenographer
s-t-e-p-h-e-n-k-r-a-m-e-r do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do
matthew grossman m-a-t-t-h-e-w g-r-o-s-s-m-a-n
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth told you it's nothing but the truth
i do counsel yeah matt um i'll just ask you matt um have you heard my testimony do you believe it
to be true and accurate and do you adopt it as your own i do is there anything else you'd like
to add for the board um i think you've done a very very good job rachel in explaining it i mean i
just would reaffirm you know what you've said um you know it really is a very dire set of
circumstances at the asset level today we've taken really every exhaustive measure to try to really
We've taken really every exhaustive measure to try to release this space over the better part of two, two and a half years.
Effectively, every type of commercial industrial use in the marketplace, and we have not been successful.
We armed our brokers with the ability to offer concessions, free rent, build out costs.
and quite frankly we had very little to no substantive negotiations on the space
so you know really as a matter of the modest adaptive reuse that we're presenting here I
really think it is the best fit in character for the building and community and and and also just
you know going back to Rachel's point in regards to the flood we certainly have well noted the
concerns of the community we we will proactively address that through the permitting and building
phase and we will take every measure beyond that to ensure you know the safety and the well-being
of the residents for the apartments that we are going to build here steven anything on your end
Just quickly, I was going to say, as Rachel mentioned, our retail tenant was paying $6,200
monthly. These residential units will replace that income deficiency. And without having that
income, we were not able to pay our debt service and also maintain the building to the standard
that we hold it to. So that's imperative to us. That's all I have to add.
uh and just just to acknowledge again there you have two units already at the first floor level
and you've been able to deal with through hurricane ida mitigate any issues that you've had
with those current tenants and those are those units are occupied is that correct that's correct
yes okay chairman nothing further from me anybody adopt your testimony whether or did i or not yes
uh matthew adopted my question questions from the board these existing existing two
units on the first floor can you go back to the plan or which ones are they
Scott are we where are we showing the we don't we didn't have the document we didn't do the
existing conditions of those units as they're they're occupied at the moment it's that kind
of gray section in the bottom right hand corner of those so that gray area is that are the existing
two those are the existing two units correct and these are the additional four correct
three four okay who so then the question is it says you were permitted to have 20 units
so do you have 20 total or do you have 22 total at this there's 20 total units so we're asking
for four additional units there are two units of that 20 units two of them are on the first floor
The remaining 18 are in the additional floors.
So we're asking for a total of 24, but there's already 20 there.
The questions?
Yeah, I guess I'm having a little trouble here.
You have 20 other units.
Is the building fully occupied?
or yes the building is fully occupied except for 3 000 square feet which is the subject of this
appeal which is that vacant commercial space and you're saying that without these four units
you can't afford to have the rest of the building with the 20 units yeah you have 3 000 yeah 3 000
square feet of the whole front of this property is vacant because the commercial tenant the
animal hospital that was put in place back in 2012 left um given they were acquired by a
private equity company and left the building and so the okay the owners have tried to rent it out
for three years two and a half years and haven't been successful the 20 other units how many square
feet does the other 20 units occupy i mean the question is are they all occupied the other 20
units yeah so yeah how many square square feet are we talking about for the 20 units
20,000 square feet so 23,000 and change square foot
20 000 square feet so 23 000 and change square foot building the the other the the 20 existing
residential units comprise about 14 to 14 and a half thousand square feet rentable
okay right not including stairways and hallways and that kind of stuff correct
but your argument is that you can't afford to have the building unless you can have these
the argument is that 3 000 square feet the argument is that the building is zoned i2
industrial so it doesn't provide the ability to have any multi-family in general and so
they went out and tried to seek any commercial or industrial options for the space that's been
vacant since 2021, 22, and the market is not yielding any commercial use or industrial use
for the space. So in order to not have 3,000 square feet of empty, useless space in a building
like this residential additional residential in a building that already has residential
is the least modification needed to have a viable and economic use of the space
nobody would want to leave three thousand square feet of a building empty that was revenue
generating it would just you know what i mean there's no value to that but given the hardship
of the i2 zoning and the fact that this is historic and the location it just we can't
get another tenant in there if they could get a commercial industrial tenant we wouldn't be here
okay thank you does that make sense
no i'm sorry you you you're saying you've got how many square feet did you say you had
with the 20 other units you had are you asking what the rent role is though as well no no but
But you have, you said that the building as it is with the 20 units is fully occupied.
Correct.
And that the square footage that we're talking about is.
We have, we have 3,000 square feet that's vacant where the veterinary practice.
Yes, but the occupied part of it is how much?
You're asking the square footage of the 20 units?
Matthew, you have that figure.
again i think it's approximately 14 000 square feet okay so you're saying that
you can't you can't afford the debt service because of the not being able to use the 3 000
square feet when you have 14 000 square feet for which you are getting whatever um rent so whatever
you are getting for the other yeah but but what we have you know we obviously have the same level
of operational expense on the building we just we just have 75 000 of income that you know we've
lost which we've not been able to backfill and to be able to supplement correct and frankly even in
the residential use that we're proposing here we actually believe we'll come in in an income level
that will be below what we were earning from the from the retail but it's the best of the
worst options that we have in front of us given the fact that we've not been able to lease the space
over the last two and a half years
okay thank you questions or comments from our attorney
um i we this is a case where we may um want to get a corrected refusal i'm just a little concerned
that the way it's written it sounds like it's 24 new units but it's actually four units added
to the existing units for 24 total and it references lot one and lot two without the
addresses and that there are cross access and easements there so i'm just a little concerned
that the refusal is um i don't know what you know what the board's ultimate decision on this case is
but um i think the refusal is is not well written and could cause confusion in terms of what's
actually um being proposed so i think that's something that um we can we can consider depending
on where this how this moves forward we're hillary we're happy to ask the plans examiner to write it
in a more clear way that's if if the board would like that's fine with us okay thanks all right
if the board would like that's fine with us okay thanks all right questions or comments in the
question
virtual audience yes chair I have one hand and that hand is John Hunter okay
good evening mr hunter good afternoon or good evening uh yes um yes this is john hunter j-o-h-n-h-u-n-t-e-r
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do um you know mr hunter our new policy is you if you can try to get your comments in the two
minutes i do think we have letters right am i right hillary we have a letter from a couple
different organizations of relative to this but we want you to have your chance to say what you
think of this project if i might say before that i think the idea that um a coordinating rco can
give its full testimony in two minutes is ridiculous but i'll address that separately
And so I will do it as quickly as I can.
Well, thank you.
Well, you know, Mr. Hunter, just so you know, we didn't do this.
We had put this policy out for a while.
So it may be ridiculous to you, but I do think we have a pretty long letter from you, too.
Am I correct?
It's a one-page statement, yes.
Right. Thank you. Go ahead. Proceed.
Okay. Thank you.
But I also want to, not only from the letter, but to respond for the actual testimony presented today,
which is slightly different from what was presented at the RCO meeting.
And that specifically is the testimony of Matthew Kursk because it's a little confusing
because at the beginning of his testimony, he did mention 44 feet plus as the proposed level of the floor.
But at the same time, he also said that we will have to provide a floor level of the BFE plus 18 inches,
which is almost two feet higher than that which we point out in our letter and that wasn't made
clear at the public meeting but and also i don't think it's clear because if you look at the floor
plans and uh bear with me rachel if i could ask you to uh share your screen and show the floor plan
sure uh which the floor plans that scott did from design yeah give me one again sure um
So there are two issues. One is flooding, and one is the design and disposition of the four units.
On the flooding issue, Rachel cleverly sort of skirted around it, but we have evidence of what happened during Hurricane Ida in 2021.
At one of our meetings, the owners did mention that there was limited ingress into this floor level from Ida,
which indicates that the BFE is, if anything, a little lower than is probably reasonable.
Because although it's misnamed as a 100-year flood, to give the people the impression,
and it only happens in one year, we know that floods will increasingly occur
and will increasingly occur severely and a lot more frequently than once in 100 years.
So we're concerned about flooding, and we're concerned not only about flooding within the units,
which would be disastrous but as you can see the two egress stairs from this building when it was
designed back in 2012 by the previous owners not these owners we understand that that the two egress
stairs for the whole building discharge at the rear of the building which is almost down at the
canal level so and it's below the bfe once you get to the bottom of the ramp that you could see on
the photographs that rachel showed so that is something that we find quite concerning for just
the whole building but if if you look at the arrangement then of the four units
you will see that the two units at the top have windows along that north
elevation at the top of the screen beyond those windows literally is the
canal the canal laps against the side of the building and those windows are quite
large windows and those two units I would describe as as reasonable they're
attractive, they would be attractive units, forgetting the issue of the floor plan, of the
flooding, sorry. But if you look at the other two units on the bottom left-hand corner of the
plans, you'll see the one along the left-hand side, which is Leverington Avenue. And Leverington
Avenue is substantially higher than the rear of the property because the road is rising up to go
over the canal so the unit on the very left with those three windows those
With those three windows, those windows are high level windows at the sidewalk level, which you can see from the photograph that Rachel showed and described as very fixed proportion windows.
windows are high-level windows at the sidewalk
So that unit, which you can also see, has a very narrow living space that is probably not dimension, but seven, maybe eight feet wide with these very high windows.
And then it has an internal bedroom.
similarly the building the flat the apartment next to it on the bottom of the plan has two
windows that have been will have to be punched into the side wall of this 150 year old building
and it will look out onto a tunnel which allows cars to exit from the parking lot behind the
building so we would consider that those two units knowing the board's concern
about semi basements and basement units for living spaces are not acceptable as
units and those that was the core of our concern that some of the units are not
acceptable and some of the other units would still be susceptible for flooding
in a flood event not so much if they do have to raise the floor levels but for the egress out of
the building and I would just point out about something about these plans that just confirms
what we said about the presentation is you can see that Scott had drawn in after our first meeting
ramps in the sort of the blue hatch corridor areas on the right hand side there's a ramp there but
that ramp isn't long enough.
It would have to be 24 feet long to meet ADA requirements.
And then the other area,
where there are just at the bottom of the corridor
in the blue, there are just two steps,
which will not be adequate to make the over two feet
transition that would be necessary.
So that is why we had to listen to this testimony
and respond accordingly because it's different
from what was said at the public meeting.
Thank you very much.
Rachel, do you have any questions to John?
No, I just, I just, yeah, I guess I would just ask, John, are you a civil engineer?
Are you an expert?
I'm an architect with, registered architect with 40 years experience.
But are you a civil engineer?
I don't need to be a civil engineer.
I'm just, John, it's a yes or no.
It's just a yes or no.
I'm asking if you're a civil engineer.
No, I'm not a civil engineer.
Thank you.
just if i could just respond with one comment in regards to wait wait wait here's why i want you
to wait let's see if there's other people and then you can respond to all together okay do
we have anyone else with their hand up no there are no more hands hello no more hands no more
hands here okay thank you rachel you gotta have to respond to something else uh yeah i just want
be able to have our team respond to to john's comments the whole team rachel one at a time
uh just matt and scott okay just our experts let's go go ahead matt so just in regards to my
testimony i believe my testimony stated that the existing elevation is that 44.22 and we do plan
to raise it to be to meet the requirements of the city ordinance with the floodplain
And then in regards to the flood data, again, we're using the FEMA data that gives us the floodplain elevation, and that's the data we have. It's used industry standard on what we designed to.
Thank you. Scott?
yeah i mean i would just uh echo that a little bit in regards to some of the designs uh or the
ability to raise the floor additionally pass where where we need to we have abilities to
add additional ramps and stairs within the corridors um and at that phase we can tweak
a little bit of the corridors if we need to but we do have ways to do that um that'll be handled
with the building permit level and obviously as matt stated we'll be going through floodplain
management review with the cities to make sure that we do comply with all of those building codes
thank you planning commission
good evening nina solomonic with the planning commission could you spell your name for the
stenographer yes s-o-l-o-m-o-n-i-c do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing
but the truth yes go ahead the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location
from i2 medium industrial to rm1 residential multi-family this property was granted a
variance in 2012 for an animal hospital on the ground floor and 20 total units
total units the property is located in the special flood hazard area section 14704
the property is located in the special flood hazard area section
for the proposal to convert the commercial space on the ground floor into four dwelling units
would endanger public health safety and general welfare and increase flood danger and the
likeliness of loss of property this property has a history of flooding and the proposal relies on
the existing egress route that is entirely below the base flood elevation the zoning code requires
residential development in the floodplain to be elevated to the design flood elevation which is
18 inches above the base flood elevation the first floor elevation is 44.5 feet and the base flood
elevation is 45 feet unlike the prior commercial use residential development is expressive expressively
prohibited from relying on dry flood proofing and must instead meet elevation requirements designed
to protect life safety therefore the planning commission recommends that the board deny the
requested variance for four dwelling units and just respond chairman sure so she just mentioned
that the property should be remapped or rezoned rm1 which is residential multi-family one which
is in keeping with exactly what we have and the lot is over 12 000 square feet so a little confused
about this would be exactly in line what she's suggesting it or the planning commission is
suggesting it be remapped at in addition i don't know why it's getting lost but the 18 inches we
are suggesting we're going to be doing that at the but that's a building code requirement so
we also have to meet all the building program brands which would include that additional 18
inches from the bfe which was what matt has now said a few times so we will be meeting all of
those requirements and we wouldn't be able,
we can't move forward to doing any of that
without the prerequisite zoning approval.
Additionally, as mentioned,
if there's no viable use of this space at all,
it's considered a taking.
So if we have shown that two and a half years
of trying to get commercial here
and we're willing to comply with the building code
for any flood mitigation,
and then we're denied any viable use of this property,
that 3000 square feet becomes unusable
and becomes a taking so what we're trying to do with just this application again is and again
there is already two units on the ground floor is just have a viable use and we'll go through
every mitigation effort that we need to with approval through the city department of licenses
inspections and any other agencies that require to to meet those those requirements thank you so
um you know there's been a lot of uh issues raised here and um what i want to do is take this back
to an executive session that the board can really we could talk to each other about where we stand
with this we're going to do that on the 14th and we will vote at 2 p.m on the 14th next week
thank you all thank you chairman members thank you right
number 13 mi 2025-005-733-6709 nessington avenue and dennis george is the attorney
mr george
and the storage is promoted thank you
Mr. George yes I'm with you all right thank you Mr. George could you
please state your name and spell for the stenographer dennis george d-e-n-n-i-s g-e-o-r-g-e
all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do counsel could you identify your client in a relationship to this property
yes uh the cl the owner of the property is six jr realty inc and its affiliated entity pacifico
Hyundai. And I would say that the Southwest Philadelphia Consortium of RCOs issued a prior
letter of support, and our Vice Chair has a few questions for you. Yes, sir. Good evening. Have
you submitted your documents five days in advance of this hearing? Yes. And do you waive the written
of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? Yes. Okay, thank you. You can share your screen
and proceed with your case. Thank you. This is an application to, for a sign to replace an existing
If we could promote Nicholas George, he can submit the signed photograph.
Mr. Chairman and board members, we've appeared before the board in September of 2024 and presented the application at that time.
Mr. Chairman and board members.
Unfortunately, what occurred was in the oral application and testimony, it was for replacement size sign of approximately 30 feet.
However, the documentation showed a lesser sign and when the permit was issued, it came back as a lesser sign.
And now what we had to do was resubmit an entire application for the replacement sign.
Nick, could you show the sign itself which we're asking for?
This is the sign that exists on the left, which is the Pacifico Auto Group.
And the manufacturer of Hyundai has insisted that all Hyundai dealers now change their sign to reflect the sign that you see on the right.
What we're requesting is simply to replace the existing sign with the new Hyundai sign.
If the board would like, I can go through all of the documents, including the application, the refusal, the tax clearance form, the project information sheet, the neighbor notification.
We have all every document you have, we have.
Great.
Then that's in a nutshell, Mr. Chairman and members of the board, our presentation.
Let me ask you this.
Do you have someone that you want to adopt your testimony?
We do.
Thomas Flynn?
Why don't you bring him on?
He's coming in as a panelist.
Thank you.
Thomas Flynn, can you unmute yourself?
How about that?
Hi, Mr. Flynn.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Thomas Flynn, T-H-O-M-A-S-F-L-Y-N-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Counsel.
Thank you. Thomas, have you heard my testimony?
And is it true and correct to the best of your knowledge?
And do you adopt it as your own?
Thank you, Mr. Carroll.
Questions from the board?
Questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
No, Haynes.
Planning Commission.
Nina Solomonic with the Planning, sorry, Nina Solomonic with the Planning Commission.
Sorry, I was trying to turn my video on.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the existing I-2 medium industrial,
an appeal for a second sign of 161.14 square feet was granted at this location under zoning
permit 2024-003-06465 however this proposal is for a sign of 260.61 square feet where 100 square
feet is the maximum sign area allowed the proposal is not the least minimum the planning commission
It recommends the board deny the requested variance per sign area.
Thank you.
MI 2025-005-733-6709 Essington Avenue.
I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Sonetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes.
Ty Owen, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Is there anyone in the audience who the 2 o'clock case has not been called?
and there are no hands all right we're gonna we're gonna move right into the um
the 330 list how's that um good evening everyone my name is bill bergman and i will be chairing
this meeting of the philadelphia zoning board with me is our board vice chair tanetta graham
president mr chairman our board secretary cheryl l gaston president mr chairman our board member
michael johns mr chairman board member taya wynn present mr chairman and our board member ryan mcadams
Board member Taya Nguyen. Present, Mr. Chairman. And our board member, Ryan McAdams. Present, Mr. Chairman. Also present are our board attorney, Hillary Emerson, our zoning board director, Ian Haggerty, and our board administrator, Lakeisha Dandy.
recording of the hearing will be posted on the ZBA website by participating you
consent to be recorded this is an in-person meeting with remote
capabilities whether remote or in person if you're called to speak you must state
and spell your name and then wait to be sworn in once you've been sworn in
please state your name each time before beginning your testimony any person may
enter their appearance to become an interested party to a case there are
three ways you can identify the case property address in your zoom webinar
you can see a staff member or you can call the ZBA appearance line by the
close of business tomorrow call 267-270-5548 leave a message that
includes your email address and address of the property of the appeal case the
following guidance is for our remote attendees when directed you first one
directed you must raise your virtual hand in order to be recognized second if
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Third, the webinar q&a is for questions about the hearing. Do
not comment on cases in the q&a. And fourth, if you're
participating by phone, press star nine to raise your hand and
star six to unmute. So let's look at our schedule for this
afternoon.
number two mi 2025 004 129 428 larkspur larkspur street that case is continued until
6 17 26 at 3 30. number four mi 2025 004 139 3861 north 17th street that case is continued to 6 17
1626 at 330 number three case mi 2025 004 134 3813 Folsom Street we have no exhibits this is
the first listing heaven Thomas is the listed applicant heaven for all mankind LLC is the
listed owner is there anyone in the audience with that groups of the group
I see no hands.
So this is the first listing.
So MI 2025-004-134-3813 Falsam Street.
Cases continue to 6-17-26, and Mark must be heard.
so number one uh is mi 2025 004 126 2220 north 50 street bonita martinez is the equitable owner
this is a pro se we believe we do we have we do need some documents could mr martinez come on
Bernito Martinez has been promoted.
Hello.
hi could you please state your name and spell it for this stenographer uh benito martinez
it's b-e-n-i-t-o martinez m-a-r-t-i-n-e-z do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth and nothing but the truth yes i do so mr martinez did you post the location
uh i believe the sign that you were supposed to oh you mean with the orange sign yeah i did yes
i did put the orange sign up um do you have pictures of that uh let me see if i can find
that picture and let me ask you this did you send interior photos of the inside of the property uh
no no i didn't do that okay all right so and so the the orange poster because we did see an orange
poster and some photos but it didn't look like the poster from the zoning board it looked like
some other sort of orange poster no that's it that was the zoning board
poster I posted it myself okay all right can you pull it just pull up the photos
out if you can zoom in because the way that they came across from us it didn't
It didn't look like the zoning poster. Okay. I'm not very good at this,
look like the zoning poster
but where's the button for me to share my screen?
Mr. Martinez, this is Ian Haggerty, Executive Director. You should see a green,
big green button at the bottom of your screen in the middle that says share.
All right. You see that? Yes.
So you're going to want to open your document up first and then click that share button.
um okay i'm not gonna i'm not gonna be able to find that photo because um mr martinez listen to
me yeah so you're going to need that photo eventually shown that you posted it but the
thing is this when you have no interior photos we can't go forward so here's what we're going to do
we're going to continue the case but before when we continue the case before you come in the next
time we're going to arrange for you to work with the office here and they'll tell you exactly what
it is you need okay okay all right so we're gonna continue okay i know i need a clearer uh picture
of that sign or at least coming in and i need the interior photos well he's gonna have to post again
for the next yeah you will you will get for the you're gonna have to post again for the next
hearing right so yeah you can have a close-up a closer up photo so that we can see it is the
the zoning poster um because it did not look like the zoning poster even though it was orange
it didn't look like the zoning post so we're going to continue to 6 17 26 at 3 30 p.m
but i would want you to work with the staff that is june yeah yeah okay yeah well i mean the only
thing i have to say if the photo was sent and and it wasn't clear how come we weren't notified how
would i know that the photo is not clear well well let's take a step back the other thing i told you
is you can't go on if you don't have pictures to show us the inside of the property yeah and sir
there was an email sent after you filed your documents indicating what was missing um so
i don't know if that if you did not see that but there was a document there was an email asking
for additional documents from you that was sent and and and we did send additional documents i
mean was it all right i'll just have to go back to that i mean there's nothing i can say now that
it's okay all right thank you very much sir sorry for your your troubles thank you
is there anyone in the audience whose 330 case has not been called
i want to i want to thank everybody and i i want to thank um um my partner sitting up here next to
me because at one point i thought she was going to cough herself out the door here uh but she
made it through she tough through like she always does we had to even tell her well we think you
might want to drink some water and ryan quick and went got the water so so thank you thank you as
always cheryl and thank you to everybody else welcome have a good night take care