You're swearing a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you. Please proceed, David.
shane you you're your office prepared the drawings that were submitted to lni with this application
Shane, your office prepared the drawings that were submitted to L&I with this.
and that were presented to the francisville neighborhood development corporation on the
21st of september correct yes and you were at the meeting before the francisville neighborhood
development corporation on the 21st of september correct yes okay and did you hear the statements
that i made to the board uh just now regarding this matter yes okay and true and correct to the
best of your knowledge? Yes, that's all correct. And would you adopt them as your own? Yes. Thank
you. Then Mark Jones, who's the owner, Mark can just quickly jump on. Mark, if you could raise
your hand. You can unmute yourself. Yes, Mark Jones. Is that Jones? Yes, Jones, J-O-N-E-S. Thank
Thank you. Your address? 1491 Sumneytown Pike, Lansdale, PA. Thank you. Swear and affirm to tell
the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Yes, sir. Thank you. David, please. And
Mark, what is your involvement with Nastina Mark LLC, the owner of the subject property, 1600 Ridge
Avenue? I'm 50% owner of the company with my wife, previously owned 50% with my deceased, now deceased
spot um i purchased those props well we formed the corporate as a legacy really for my family
and we purchased 816 818 and 1600. okay and um you were at the community group meeting with the
francisville neighborhood development corporation on the 21st of september correct yes i was okay
and did you hear the statements that i made to the board this afternoon regarding this matter
yes sir okay were they true and correct to the best of your knowledge yes sir would you adopt
them as your own yes sir thank you thank you any questions from the board
no uh anyone else wish to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
no hand thank you planning commission so this property is indicated for
mixed use commercial mixed use in the comprehensive plan we feel that this
application is in context with the surrounding location development is is in scale and with
adjacent buildings and close to a major transit station accordingly we have no we have no objection
to the grounding of variance thank you ron mi-2020-001235
1600 ridge avenue my vote is yes my vote is yes my vote is yes okay thank you um thank you
then it concludes the 3 30 i mean the two o'clock session excuse me
we're going to take a 20 minute we'll come back at five after five
and we'll then begin the 3 30 session okay thank you five o'clock all right let's see tom's here
carol's here i'm here karen's here tanya everybody's on charise is on and i believe
we're still uh we're still live
i'm sorry we just returned we just went back to recording again
okay we're live now yes we are so thank you
so we're always live chair we just back to the recording
just wanted to make sure that's all okay thank you
all right good afternoon everyone my name is frank de chico i'm the chair of
the zoning board of adjustment i'll be participating at today's
hearing along with Vice Chair Ms. Carol Tenere, Board Secretary, I'm not sure, I think
confessor had to leave, Board Member James Snell, no he's not here either, and Board
Member Thomas Holloman. Let me do that again. I'll be participating in today's hearing along
with our Vice Chair Ms. Carol Tenere and our Board Member Mr. Thomas Holloman. Board
Administrator Tanya Sunkit and Board Attorney Sharon Saleta are also in attendance. For
those of you who have not yet participated in our virtual hearings, I'll go through some of the
basics of what you can expect. First, we will be administering oaths to individual participants
prior to their testimony. Second, for the benefit of anyone participating by phone,
we ask that attorneys and witnesses identify themselves prior to speaking or testifying.
Third, we'd like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded and that by
we'd like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded and that by participating
participating.
you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded fourth for anyone participating by phone
if you wish to testify you must raise your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute
yourself i will repeat that for anyone participating by phone if you wish to testify you must raise
your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute yourself. Finally, to
enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548 and leave your
email address and the address of the property at issue. Again, I will repeat,
to enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548 and leave your email address
and the address of the property at issue. With that, we can begin. But before Vice Chair
Carol Tenere calls the first case, we'd like to ask if anyone is requesting a continuance
or withdrawal of an appeal listed to be heard in this afternoon's hearing. If so, please raise your
hand and identify yourself and the case in which you are asking for a continuance or withdrawal
here we have charles richardson from the council person's office good afternoon mr richardson
charles richardson from the office of councilwoman cindy bass
and do you swear to firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do please proceed uh i'm going to be asking for a continuous for appeal number 39093
uh 2964 north 23rd street um they have not met with the rco as yet i know that they had
reached out to the rco on the 16th to see if they could get a uh meeting before uh this date
but there there have been no communication since that point uh i think that they need to
the two sides need to need to come together and make this meeting happen and uh you know hopefully
if i don't know if you want to want to do anything differently with regard to you know
and hold or whatever but we you know they need they do need to need to meet with the rco as far
as i'm concerned i'm just here yes let's see if you have anybody interested yes the attorney of
record sean ward sean ward you can speak to this continuance uh thank you tanya good afternoon
mr chairman uh mr you're still on the earth from earlier thank you thank you uh sean ward on behalf
for the applicant felix al monte a-l-m-o-n-t-e for the property 2964 north 23rd uh mr chairman
this matter is a november 19 application and appeal um it's been 334 days since the appeal
was filed and rco notification was made uh we did in fact have a meeting scheduled for march 18th
But obviously, COVID had canceled that, and the RCO informed me that all their meetings were canceled for the foreseeable future.
When I was notified by the zoning board that the matter was relisted for September 29th, I reached out to the RCO by email requesting that a meeting be scheduled prior to this hearing, and I've received no contact back from them.
I would also point out that this is a code enforcement matter.
The L&I has issued a notice of intent to cease.
What you have here is a grocery store.
The applicant was able to get a food prep serve license for prep and serve of hot and cold takeout foods.
Upon an inspection by L&I, it was determined that he didn't have a zoning permit.
for that use and despite that fact the the food prep and serve license was
issued to him so mr. Ward I'm gonna interrupt and make life easier we're
going to hear and hold but we won't hold forever and we'll go through that at the
end of your presentation okay thank you thank you all right mr. Richardson
there's been obviously many efforts made but we'll hear and hold we'll wait we'll
put a time on the time in which the RCO needs to respond. Yes sir, that's work that works.
Thank you. Anyone else
requested continuance or withdrawal please raise your hand
requested continuance or withdrawal, please raise your hand.
no hands are up at this time however i have a continuance requested
for the attorney of record mr sean ward for number seven on your list today
hegerman hegerman street yes okay uh mi-2020-000059-5627-41 hegerman street is continued
thank you you can proceed chair thank you calendar number three nine nine one seven
1917 north 4th street
the attorney is isaac slepner i think there's a companion case this number two
calendar number 39916 mi 2020 000046 uh good afternoon 1909 north fourth
yes 1909 north fourth mr slepner can you put your name and address on the record please
Absolutely.
Isaac Slepner, S-L-E-P-N-E-R, with Mattione Limited, 100 North Independence Mall, West,
Suite 5A Northwest, Philadelphia, PA, 19106.
Thank you.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
And do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed an exhibit packet with proof of ownership, proof of tax clearance, refusal,
referral, photos, and plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing, and
have you met with the RCO and had a letter?
Yes, we have.
Yes, we did, and yes, we do.
Okay, you may proceed.
Thank you.
I guess just to clarify, did you call 1917 North Forth first and then 1909?
Yes, I did.
In any event, as I mentioned, I'm Isaac Slepner with Mattione here on 1917 North Forth, also
in 1909 North Forth.
With me somewhere in the virtual crowd is Simon Shane, who is the principal, a principal
member of Real Builders, LLC, and also a principal member of 515 to 519 Hoffman Street, Inc.,
that being the owner of 1909 North Forth, and Real Builders LLC being the owner of 1917 North Forth.
I guess I'll take you through the materials regarding 1917 North Forth first.
The two properties are essentially identical.
They have different owners.
Mr. Shane is a principal of both of the owning entities.
But I'll walk you through my materials.
uh i oh i have to hit screen share don't i bear with me here let's try this oh there we go
okay there we go can everybody see um this pdf in front of them
okay um so with regards to 1917 north 4th uh our exhibit one is our notice of refusal which was
issued on January 30th of 2020, and there is one refusal, and that's for use.
Exhibit 2 is our time-stamped application for appeal, which we filed on February 13th of 2020.
Exhibit 3 is our floor plan, site plan, and elevations, and I'll turn that so that everyone
can see that a little bit better. So, and I'll even enlarge it so that everybody has a good view.
The proposed project in 1917 North 4th is a duplex, a two-family.
Apartment one would be ground level and basement, with a one bedroom, the bedroom being on the
ground level. That unit would have access to the rear yard space, and the second unit would be,
I believe it's a two-bedroom, and Simon, if you're out there, I'll ask my client to testify regarding the physical dimensions.
I may have enlarged that a little too big.
The second apartment in that would be the second and third floor with access to the roof deck,
And that actually is a two-bedroom unit proposed.
and that actually is a two-bedroom unit proposed.
This is our floor plan with elevations and the site plan.
There's 1917.
1917 is ours.
That's the shaded one.
On one side is an existing brick house, on the other side is an empty lot.
And you'll see photos of the site itself.
Exhibit 4, in fact, are our photos.
Exhibit 4 begins with Exhibit 4A, which are photographs of the site itself.
And I will, again, turn everything so that they can be viewed properly.
All right.
So 1917 North 4th, if you can see this black pickup truck sitting there and that fence,
that fenced yard area is actually 1917 North 4th.
1919 North Forth is the Red Brick House, 1915 North Forth is the next lot over with the green growth and the wooden part of that wooden fence.
Here's a little bit more of a close-up of 1917 North Forth.
It's that metal chain link fence area. That's 1917 North Forth.
It's currently being used by the occupants of 1919 with permission of the owner, but that is the actual site.
Exhibit 4B are other photographs, I guess, to give a feel for the immediate neighborhood.
This is what's directly across the street from 1917 North Forth.
That's, I believe, 1913.
I'm sorry.
That's either 1918 or 1916 North Forth.
And then right there, that new construction is also a multifamily.
I believe that's a duplex.
directly across the street from 1917, North Forth.
This is, you can see 1917, 1915,
1913, 1911, and 1909, North Forth.
It's a half block of mostly vacant lots there.
There's some new construction you can see on the block behind.
This is 1912.
That's directly across the street from 1911, 13, 15, and 17.
That's 1912, and 1910 is another multifamily.
Exhibit 4C are our photos of the orange zoning posters that were taken no sooner than 21 days ago.
There's the first photo, and that's up on the chain link fence that is, in fact, 1917 North 4th.
Here's one that's on its side here.
That's another shot of the orange poster, and those are our orange poster views.
Exhibit 5 is our project information form, which was filled out and submitted, I believe, in February.
Yes, on February 6th of 2020.
Exhibit 6 is an affidavit of service that all mailings went out to all of the addresses
that the Planning Commission sent to us on August 20th informing all of the neighbors of the RCO
meeting. And this is a copy of our letter. This is a copy of our notice of refusal. And Exhibit B
to that was the several addresses, I would say probably about 100 addresses that were mailed
with this notice. It goes on for quite a few pages. Exhibit 7 is the letter from
NARA Square Community Alliance to the board. The letters dated August 28th of 2020,
meaning summary, and we had three in support, zero against, and the RCO, as you may note,
took a position of supporting this project. Exhibit 8 is the deed to the property recorded
on April 24th of 2018, transferring the property to Real Builders, LLC, and D, realty transfer
tax, realty transfer tax.
Exhibit 9 is the tax clearance for Real Builders, LLC that was pulled on September 17th of 2020.
And does the board have any questions?
So early in your earlier part of your presentation, you showed the lower unit of apartment had access to the rear yard.
Was that a staircase leading out there?
My client can answer that.
I'm going to scroll back up to it.