have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to proceed with
this case five days in advance of this hearing yes thank you please proceed and share your screen
mr chair i just want to note for the record because the information came in later we did
receive a letter of support from the rco the 12th ward rco and council member bass has also
taken a position of non-opposition. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Please proceed, Kathleen.
So am I able to share a screen? We want you to share the screen right now. Okay. So
should be the green on the bottom. It says share screen. Yes. And I'll share now. Thank you. Thank
it's coming up that's good yep thank you all for your patience um this is um 5530 and excuse me
5530-5532 osceola street philadelphia pa19144 it's off of locust avenue in germantown east
germantown and it is um the a dead end street you can see if you can see my cursor here yeah
yeah um there are one two three four five six seven eight um street uh houses on this street
of similar size. These were built as separate units 100 plus years ago. I'm appealing to the
ZBA to allow me to redraw the lot lines. This is the lot line. And I'm appealing to have the lot
line drawn in accordance with the partition wall that's always been there for the purpose of selling
one of the semi-detached premises, this one here. And I do have a photo of it here.
I want to show us a photo of the front of it.
Okay. Let's see. Sorry, I'm a little clunky with finding my tabs all of a sudden.
where are they oh they're there this one okay um here is the photo of the front okay oh i see so
that's um the car indicates in the is the direction of locust avenue which connects to
osceola street you make a left off osceola street and you come up 5530 5532 are the first and second
on your right as you come up Osceola Street.
The sidewalks, separate entries,
they each have their own city service hookups,
water, sewer, electricity, gas,
and have functioned as separate homes
since their construction.
And as they said, we were approved by the local RCO
at a meeting a month ago.
anyway um we have other exhibits let's see can i just do that
so they're sweet we call them one and a half bedroom muse this is an aerial view i have a
few of these drawings i'll see how well they'll render if i if i um so right now they're there's
they're they're separate now right separate homes they are they always have been and what you're
to do is just get it straight with and right and here's the tricky bit um it's one lot with two
homes on it i understand and we have a tenant who would like to buy his side and lo and behold oh
my goodness we found out a year ago um it's been we've come a long way in a year um but we did find
that although, of course, set up to divide, we need to actually divide the lot in two.
we need to actually divide the lot into and the here we are today with doing so so so i i think
And here we are.
we understand it you've showed us the photos you went to the rco the rco has written a letter in
your favor yes right and also the council person is reacting to the rco and she is in your favor
correct okay so why don't we do this why don't i have questions from the board okay
questions from the board no chair no mr chairman questions or comments from our attorney hillary
emerson not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands planning commission it's uh run bednar city planning the property is indicated
for residential on the city plan given the site's history and its existing physical conditions we
recommend the request of variance be granted thank you so mi2023 003 523 5530 oscillate street
Building 108-3808
I vote yes
Thomas Holloman
My vote is yes
James Snell
My vote is yes
Ishmael Shahid
My vote is yes
You have your vote
Thank you so much
Thank you for your time
All of you and for your patience
That's fine, thank you
Number four
MI 2023-003-566-337
North Front Street.
James Quinlan is the attorney.
There's a letter of non-opposition
from Central Delaware Advocacy Group
and a letter of non-opposition
from Council Member Squilla
and two foreign letters of support
from near neighbors.
Mr. Quinlan.
Hi, Mr. Quinlan. How are you, sir?
Could you unmute?
Unmute.
Got it. So, good afternoon.
Hi, good afternoon. Could you please state your name and spell it for the court sonographer?
Sure. James J. Quinlan, Q-U-I-N-L-A-N.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client and relationship to this property?
My client, my name is Carl Geiger.
He is the owner of the property at 337 North Front Street.
And our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good afternoon, counsel.
Good afternoon, counsel.
Do you agree to wait to read another refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Thank you.
have you emailed in all the required documents and or exhibits uh that is needed to proceed
with this case five days in advance of this hearing i have thank you council please proceed
and share your screen thank you uh so this matter concerns um a a building uh located at um 337 north
Front Street. It front faces Front Street, and the rear of it faces Water Street. It's bound
by Cal Hill and Vine. Mr. Quillen, why don't you share your screen first? Sure.
Here you go.
uh is that can you see my screen we see your screen great so this property um as i'll bring
a picture up so to the left uh with the red door this is essentially this property it stands
four stories or four to five stories on front and on the back on water street is actually six
story is the way the property sinks down. So this unit has, this property has been owned by my
client since 2003. Since that time, it's been used with three residential apartments on front street
and in the rear, in the back, there's a commercial unit. My client, you know, the refusal here
relates to 14-602-1, which is a total dwelling space rejection. The unit on the first floor,
according to the footprint of the city, it only comes in at 660 feet, and the requirement is
according to the footprint of the city, it only comes in at 600.
1080. The second floor unit is about 775, and the third floor unit, which is a duplex or a
bi-level, is closer to 2,000 square feet. My client has used this property in this regard
since 2003 when bought, and we have three arguments in favor of our application. The
first is that when my client started, initially this property had two commercial units and two
residential, and in 2005 and 2006, as reflected in Exhibit A12, which is the L&I file, my client
applied to do some, you know, renovations to the property. And one of the renovations was to
convert the unit on the first floor into a commercial residential property, and also to
do some work on the third, the fifth floor deck at the top. And at that time, the permits were
reviewed by the city. There is signatures from a Richard Glazer and another gentleman
who reviewed the property, and ultimately, my client's zoning permits, not zoning, excuse me,
building permits were granted, and the work proceeded in that way. We did not become aware
until 2023 that despite the fact that there was L&I permits in the file to allow for the renovation,
there was a square footage issue with respect to the unit on the first floor.
We were not aware of it. We became aware of it, and hence, this process started.
it. So just to give a little bit of context, this is a pretty big building. The footprint is
generally 20 by 40. So really, the units on the first and second floor are closer to 800 square
feet. And again, the unit on the third floor would be closer to 1,600 square feet. So here's
apartment one. That's two pictures of apartment one. It's spacious, well done, well built. It
has had tenants for many years. Here's apartment two, and then apartment three is shown there.
Here are our zoning notices. We posted one on Water Street and one on Front Street.
So our arguments are, as I said, threefold. First, the property has been used in this regard
um as a as a residential at three residential properties since 2003 um the city you know
issued permits i strike that the property was used as three residential properties starting in 2005
when permits were issued to remodel the office on the first floor um so you know that work has been
done and there's been no issues since then um secondly we uh we we applicant contends that
under, you know, the RM1 zoning code for mixed use, this property is consistent with what is in
the area, which is, you know, some commercial use on the first floor and then smaller apartments on
the second, third, and fourth floor, which is this property, just for everyone's context, is right
down by the river. And it sort of looks down onto the river where near where the Ben Franklin
Bridges. Third, we went through the process where we talked to the RCO. The RCO not only didn't
object, but their letter is telling and references that there was no objections in the audience,
is compliant with the neighborhood standards, and they're not aware of any issues and was in
support of the application. And fourth, as you mentioned, we did provide next door neighbors
letters of support there. Those letters are particularly relevant because if you look at
this picture, the property with the blue door, so it's right next door, the people who would be most
directly impacted by the fact that this three residential unit building, which has existed since
2005, you know, would be most impacted, they're right next door. And those individuals wrote in
letter saying that they did not object to the application.
Mr. Quinlan, there's also a letter that we received from
the council member, Squilla. My client did not
provide that. It's a letter of non-opposition from council member, Squilla.
He's reacting to what the RCO sent him.
That's great. And we appreciate the councilman's position
on that. So that's essentially it.
Why don't you bring your client on and have your testimony adopted?
I'm going to have him raise his hand.
Mr. Geiger?
Yes, sir.
Is he with you?
Yes, he is.
Can we see him on the screen?
Can we see him on the screen or? Fine. Mr. Geiger, could you please state your name and spell it for the court stenographer?
My name is Carl Geiger, C-A-R-L, last name G-E-I-G-E-R.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir, I do.
Proceed, Mr. Quinlan.
Mr. Cogger, did you hear my presentation just now to the chairman and to the ZBA, the board for, did I just put forth?
Yes, sir.
And were the statements that I provided to the board accurate?
And if you were, you know, asked to, you know, give testimony, would you adopt what I presented to the board as your testimony here today?
Is that sufficient?
Thank you. Questions from the board?
No, Chair.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands.
Planning Commission.
Ron Bednar, City Planning.
The property is currently indicated only for residential use under city plan,
given the site's physical conditions and its use history.
we recommend the request of variance to be granted.
Thank you.
MI 2023-003-566-337 North Front Street.
I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Nell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes.
Thank you, Mr. Quinlan.
I conclude my business, may I be excused?
You certainly can.
Thank you.
So thank you, Mr. Geiger.
Number five, MI 2023-003-577-1007 East Hoarder Street.
The owner applicant is Chantal Samuels.
Letter of unanimous opposition from the 50th Ward RCO.
Ms. Samuels.
Ms. Samuels is coming back in as a panelist now.
Okay, I'm sorry.
Hi, Ms. Samuels.