With that, I will read off the cases or case that has been requested to be continued, number
10 on our list. MI 2020-002-480-934 East Porter, H-O-R-T-T-E-R Street. It's a request for continuance.
Anyone object to that? Please raise your hand.
No hands at this time, Chair. Thank you. Is there anyone who would like to request a continuance
or withdrawal at this time, please raise your hand.
No hands at this time, Chair.
Can't catch a break.
Number one, Carol.
Calendar number 2455-1237 East Palmer Street.
The attorney is Jeffrey Young.
And we have a letter from Fishtown Neighbors Advisory Council.
A letter of support.
and also one from, I think, Council President Clark.
Mr. Young, you've been promoted to panelists.
Mr. Young, can you put your name and address on the record, please?
He still has him on mute.
Mr. Young?
Mr. Young?
Yes, I'm here.
Yes, I'm here.
Okay, name and address, please.
Okay, name and address, please.
Jeffrey Young.
Jeffrey Young, 3900 Ford Road, Suite B, Philadelphia PA, 19131.
Thank you.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Do you also agree to wave and stip?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal, referral,
photos and plans of the property, five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met
with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
Yes, we've emailed the exhibit packet.
We have a letter from the RCO, as you mentioned.
And we also have all the required documents, yes.
Okay, great.
You may proceed.
Thank you.
I'm going to proceed to share my screen.
Members of the board, in the interest of time, again, Jeffrey Young.
Thank you.
here representing the applicant uh interstate uh partners llc um here's a copy of the deed
uh with the property um tax clearance um the property is on rsa5 is a zoning map
um here is a copy of the refusal um we are refused for this application is for outdoor seating
um adjacent to uh an existing uh restaurant um we are refused uh because rsa5 lots do not allow
outdoor seating by right. And we are also refused for a nine feet privacy fence that we propose
to erect on the property. Here is a map of the property. As you can see, it is in between
Girard Avenue and East Thompson Street in the Fishtown neighborhood with multiple
restaurant uses in the area. Here is a copy of our proposed plans.
um we are asking uh to add approximately uh six uh tables um and um to the outdoor seating space
um on the lot um also to erect a structure uh which will hold um ada compliant uh restrooms
and storage and also a removal bar removal bar area
Again, here is just a zoning map for the property and also plans.
Here you see some elevations for the proposal.
Here's a projected rendering of the site. Again, to the left here will be the structure,
housing, the storage, and the restaurant facility with the fence.
Again, this is a different view of the lot.
Again, some elevations.
Some pictures of the property.
We are actually adjacent to the Fishtown Rec Center, who supports our request.
Again, pictures of the property.
Pictures of the street to get a sense of what the neighborhood looks like.
This is looking north on Palmer Street.
This is Moyer Street directly in front of the property.
um again looking uh west i'm shooting east on moyer street uh toward the property
again this is from gerard avenue view of the property uh looking north
uh these are our uh certificates of mailing
uh our uh letters and letter from the council president clark um and with that you know i'll
take any questions from the board. Mr. Dion, do you have your client? Yes, my client, Mr. Robert
Ritchie, is on the line. Get him on, swear him in, and ask him to adopt your testimony. Yes.
Mr. Ritchie, you've been unmuted. You can speak. Good evening, sir. Please identify yourself with
record my name is robert ritchie r-i-t-c-h-i-e um 2644 cedar street 19125 to tell the truth the
whole truth and nothing but the truth yes sir thank you mr young uh mr ritchie uh have you
heard my testimony i have is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge it is and do you
adopt my testimony as your own i do thank you thank you questions from the board no
Anyone else like to testify in this case? If so, please raise your hand.
Chair, we have a Venise Whitaker. Ms. Whitaker, you can unmute yourself and speak.
Good evening, Ms. Whitaker. Please identify yourself with a record, spell your name, and provide us with your address.
Good evening. Venise Whitaker, spelled like Denise with a V, V-E-N-I-S-E.
Whitaker, W-H-I-T-A-K-E-R, 1468 East Wilk Street. I live down the street from
1468 East Wilts Street. I live down the street from this proposal.
Do you affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Thank you, ma'am. Please proceed.
So I am a local resident of Fishtown and a citizen planner.
This is the second time that Interstate has come before the ZVA asking for this variance.
It is a wonderful local establishment. Parents, families enjoy to go there after the wreck, playing there after ZBA, after a local zoning meeting. That's the place that everyone goes there to decrease from.
um it's they have a small setback outdoor dining area that's always packed
so this variance will definitely help them to expand outdoor and then let's be honest with
this pandemic it is impacting our small businesses interstate closed october 2020
they have not been able to open their indoor dining at all they were doing just takeout so
they have suffered. Their staff has suffered as we're seeing citywide. This outdoor variance will
give them the opportunity to reopen and stay in Fishtown. We really need this and we need the ZBA
to support this vote. Thank you very much. Thank you for your testimony. I thought this was familiar.
Was this rejected in the past? Yes, Mr. Chair. Really? Yes. There was a former neighbor who
oppose this project um that neighbor has since sold his property um and moved to florida thank
god okay i hope he's enjoying the sun all right planning commission
i'm sorry yeah i'm sorry please forgive me for interrupting but we do have um at least seven
hands up who wish to testify regarding this it's your call chair i would ask if anyone whose hand
is up is in opposition we'll listen to uh your your testimony if you're in support uh we'll have
your names and we will uh we appreciate your waiting uh all this time to be heard but in
the interest of time we have several more cases to get through so again if you're in opposition
keep your hand raised if you're not please uh put your hand down
that drastically decreased it yes we have one hand left uh it's a john scott mr scott
you can unmute yourself and speak good evening mr scott identify yourself for the record name and
address he might have been in support because it looks like he lowered his hand okay very good
But again, for everyone out there in the listening world, we thank you for your patience.
We're going to move on with this case.
Planning Commission.
Ariel DiLiberto here.
A-R-I-E-L.
D as in dog.
I-L-I-B-E-R-T-O.
You swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Please proceed.
This property is recommended for single-family use in the Comprehensive Plan.
The adjacent parcel for which this is an accessory use has a history of commercial use.
Therefore, we do not oppose the granting of the variance.
Thank you.
And if I voted against this in the past, I sincerely apologize.
But in any event, MI 2020-002455, 1237 East Palmer Street.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
Good luck.
Thank you, Member of the Board.
You have good luck to you.
Calendar number 1260, 2152 North 21st Street.
Alicia Clark is the property owner.
She's going to handle this per se.
Clark, you've been promoted to panelists.
You can speak now.
And Sheryl, there's also a letter of non-opposition.
um miss clark uh can you put your name and address on the record please alicia clark last name is
spelled c-l-a-r-k okay and your address 2152 north 21st street philadelphia pennsylvania 19121
thank you do you swear or firm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do do you no strike that um have you emailed an exhibit packet with proof of ownership
tax compliance a refusal or referral photos and plans of the property five days in advance of
this hearing and have you met with the rco and do you have a letter yes i sent all that information
in okay great you may proceed okay um basically what i'm trying to do is turn a single family
Okay. Basically, what I'm trying to do is turn a single family dwelling into a multifamily dwelling. I'm going to put three two-bedroom apartments in 2152 North 21st Street.
Do you have any exhibits you can share with us?
I do. Let me just pull them up really quickly. Should I go through the list of the exhibits of everything I said?
the pictures would be great or plans and pictures would be helpful okay no problem um let's see
this property currently zone rsa 5 what what is the classification on this
um i'm not sure it's it's zoned single family i'm not sure what technically
Okay. Okay. Let me share my screen. Hold on one second.
Okay. Now here are the floor plans. Are you able to see those and make them a little bigger?
yes we are okay um so it's basically three apartments both of them are two-bedroom
apartments with one bathroom
i have a photograph uh a photograph of the property is the first is that a first floor
apartment or is that a basement apartment um it's first floor apartment there's no basement
apartment so it's a three-story um photograph of the property by any chance i have a photograph
of the front. I don't have a photograph of the inside. So I can show you that.
Here's a picture of the front of the property. I don't know if you can see that.
How deep that property is. Does the second floor, second and third floor go back
to the full length of the first floor? Yes. The property next door didn't go all the way back,
but these extend all the way back. I wish I could get a side view picture, but I couldn't find one
and I didn't have one in my phone when I sent the documents over to you guys.
questions questions questions questions from the board no no
anyone else would like to testify in this case please raise your hand
no hands at this time chair thank you planning commission
Good evening. Ariel DiLiberto here with the Planning Commission.
This property is in a single-family residential district and no change is proposed to the zoning.
The proposed variance is not necessary to enable the viable economic use of the property.
And there's no evidence of unique physical circumstances that would support a claim of
hardship. We recommend that the Board deny the variance. Thank you. MI 2020-001.
uh let me ask we have a letter of non-opposition is that correct from the 32nd ward that's correct
i'm going to ask again is there anyone who wishes to testify in this case
chair tina marie russell just raised her hand i had a feeling somebody would okay please
miss russell please identify yourself with the record hi tina marie russell north central
philadelphia cdc and rco for this area you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth. I do. Please proceed. Okay, so we're opposed to this one. I don't remember
getting notified for this, but more importantly, this particular applicant has several applications
in for the same type of usage. The area is, first of all, let me go back. Our mission as a CDC is to
try to restore and maintain the homeownership of North Philadelphia, especially the area
that we're in.
So with that being said, this is a hardship against our mission, and it's also a hardship
against the community who's already saturated with multi-unit families, units.
The applicant has, neither one of her properties are being taken care of correctly as of now.
both of them have sided with at least five different L&I violations.
We appreciate that, but you just speak to this property only.
Right. So this particular property has five different L&I open cases as well.
Right, so in this, so this particular property has five different L&I open.
So we are more concerned about the usage of how it's going to impact the current over seven different family owners.
The departments that are here now, the units that are here now, they're used illegally.
I went through the city licensed rental applications to see if anyone was correct, but they're not.
And so the question we have for the applicant, because we did not have a chance to meet with her, is whether or not these properties are currently being used, because I'm really confused as they're being used or not, because it's one of the applications said that she's trying to make a two unit, it's already existing two units that she wants to make it to add on a third unit.
so again we don't we're not really clear so what we're asking to do is for her to come back and
meet with the community um so we can get clarity on as what's happening here with this particular
unit or we just feel like you're actually a denial of it because we actually have enough
over you're gonna it's over hardship to our seniors who are already in these property on
these panels already living here who pay their bills and harmonies exactly okay thank you thank
you miss russell anyone else who wishes to testify there are no other hands at this time chair
get the planning commission uh mi 2020-001260 2152 north 21st street my vote is no
my vote is no my vote is no my vote is no
thank you next case calendar number 0 4 4 5 25 38 south 15th street