the attorney is sarah alderfer
miss alderfer you've been promoted to panelists
sarah can you put your name and address on the record please
when you can hear me
Ms. Adlerfer?
She has the next case too.
Do you want to move on to number five?
he's here he's there i see you okay oh there she is um okay 2538 south 15 street sarah
please put your name and address on the record door s-a-r-a-h-a-l-d-e-r-f-e-r 1500 jfk
boulevard suite 800 philadelphia do you swear for him to tell the whole truth and nothing but the
truth? I do. Do you agree to waive and stip? I do. And have you emailed the exhibit packet with all
the required documents? I have. To us, you may proceed. And you have met with the RCO? Yes,
we have met with the RCO and we have a letter of opposition. I understand that it's late in the
evening, so I'll try to be as brief as possible, but there is opposition in this case, so I will
have to go through a typical presentation um at this point in time i um my client um is in florida
and he's older might be having some technical issues so i request that he raise his hand um at
this point in time um so that we can have him on participate as well and then while he's doing that
i'll get started um so let me just share my screen okay so i'm here today um for 2538 south 15th
street um the owner of this property is uh joseph lucino um it's an existing two-family property
located on 15th street in south philadelphia between chunk and porter um the property has
been in Joe's family since 1934. It was converted to a two-family in 1958. At that time, his father
worked for L&I, and then his grandparents lived in the bottom unit, and his aunt and uncle lived
in the upper unit. And the property has stayed in the Messino family and has been passed down,
and joe took title to the property in 2009 um so we're here to legalize this existing
two-family use because despite the fact that this two-family use has been occurring on the property
since 1958 um there are no there's not a zoning archive or zoning permit to support this use
so we're here to legalize the use in the building um
so we're here to legalize the use in the building um there's been some complex history with this
property um there there were some issues with the prior uh property manager and and we've hired a
new property manager to help address community concerns and bring the property into compliance
and deal with any residential issues of the property moving so this is what the property
looks like from the outside it is it's an rsa5 property which generates a use refusal
as to family use is not permitted in rsa5 looking the looking at the city records for
the property although there's not records for um with l and i of this being a two-family there
there are other city agencies that are aware that this is a two-family use
mr massino has been paying for two-family trash pickup for several years in addition
the opa has it listed as a two-family and those records are exhibit eight on page 41 of the pdf
um summarizing moving forward really quickly i can show you the zoning map for the area this
is a single family area um but it's it's our belief that the fact that the two family use
has been existing since 1958 um it's indication that it wouldn't be a harm to the area um
Here are photos of the inside of the property. It's set up with separate water heaters, as well as separate forced air heaters, and there's also separate electrical accounts as well with PICO, and here you can see the separate metering.
So we're simply here to, again, legalize this two-family use. We met with the RCO, Broad Street West, who was in opposition. The substance of the opposition was based on the history of the property and the issues that the neighbors had with the management.
we're working diligently to correct that issue but as i'm sure the board is aware without a zoning
permit we're not able to obtain a rental license for the property and so that limits our abilities
and remedies in terms of dealing with tenants so with that said if joe is on i would like him to
speak. Mr. Messino are you on? Mr. Messino you can unmute yourself and speak now. Can you hear me?
yes yes uh we can hear you um by yourself for the record joseph massino jr
431 fernshire drive palm harbor florida you swear and affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth do mr massino have you heard my statements yes i have are they true
and correct yes they are do you adopt them as your own yes is there anything else you would
like to add at this time oh that's my grandparents made it 58 in the apartment upstairs for my uncle
and it's been like that ever since
that's about as far as i can tell you when they did it i was in eighth grade
Okay. Sarah, Ms. Albafer, you mentioned something about the paying for the refuge
fees. How long has they been paying? They implemented it.
I believe Mr. Messino said that ever since Department of Sanitation implemented separate
fees for separate units Mr. Messino has been paying. Mr. Messino, do you have a year for
approximation of how many years you've been paying separate garbage for two units at that property?
Yes. How many years?
Separate trash from the day the city put it in about three, four, maybe three, four,
five years ago whenever it was implemented. Okay. All right. Thank you. Any questions?
thank you any uh questions from the board no anyone else would like to testify in this case
from the board no anyone
please raise your hand no hands at this time chair thank you planning commission
uh ariel de liberto here sorry i can't turn my video on um no worries we can hear you
thanks i'm 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
viable economic use of property we don't uh we recommend that the board deny the variance
thank you mi 2020-000-445-2538 south 15th street my vote is no my vote is no my vote is no
My vote is no.
Calendar number 2459, 3445 Division Street.
Sarah, don't move.
Name and address for the record, please.
Sarah Aldefer, S-A-R-A-H-A-L-D-E-R-F-E-R, 1500 JFK Boulevard, Suite 800, Philadelphia.
Thank you.
Do you agree to waive the reading and strike that?
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
And do you also agree to waive and step?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with all the required documents?
I have.
Okay, you may proceed.
Thank you.
I'm here today on behalf of the owner-applicant, Nubo Group,
who owns the property at 3445 Division Street, which is in East Falls on Division Street.
I'm going to, I think I'm sharing my screen so you can see my exhibit packet. I'm going to take
you to um an aerial of the property okay so here this here is the property located on division
street this is the aerial image of the property which is exhibit eight on page 26 um so division
Street is a narrow street with properties on the north side that most of the properties run
street to street from sunny Psy Avenue to Division. And then on the south side, there's a row of homes
and then a commercial industrial building. And then the street dead ends down here.
um could you enlarge could you make that a little bit larger sure
is is that better yes thank you let's okay so the subject property is an existing one-story
garage which is being used for non-accessory parking that the lot is presently 30 49 feet
8.5 inches wide by 35 and 6 inches deep it is the only lot on this side of division street
that faces Division Street and isn't a lot that goes through to Sunnydale Avenue.
The lot is presently zoned RSA 5, and our original proposal was to subdivide into three
and then erect single-family homes thereon.
So, I'm going to go to our original zoning site plan, which is Exhibit 3, page 12.
I'm going to zoom out for you guys.
So, this was our original proposal.
that we came in with, and this proposal generated four refusals.
There was a refusal for the rear yard of zero, proposed zero feet, where seven feet is required,
um the location of the pilot house not being set back from the rear building line
the location of the pilot house not being set back from the rear building.
for accessory parking access from the front as it's not a rear street
and then for the overall lot size on the original lot size of this property was 1811 square feet
and divided into three lots would have proposed lot size of 604 square feet we met with east
falls community council multiple times on this project um they and in was and in response to
their comments we made several changes to the plan so i'm going to show the revised plan here
um the revised plan is to is a is a reduction on a number of fronts we reduce the proposed number
of homes from three homes to two homes and we also made a variety of other changes which i
think are best described looking at um beginning with the elevations so east falls community
council stated that they wanted to have some increased eyes on the street on the first floor
so we included a habitable space on the first floor to provide eyes on the street we brought
down the overall height of the structure from what was already a by right 38 feet down to
33 feet 6 inches um we also relocated the pilot houses so that they would be within the required
setback and instead of doing a full pilot house we've we've done like a half pilot house so that
the pilot house would not extend beyond the parapet wall um so with the with the um changes
in the plan we have reduced the number of refusals from the original four refusals down to two
refusals the only two refusals remaining on this remaining on this application would be for the
front access accessory parking um and and for the lot size but again that refusal the second refusal
that's remaining would be reduced our original proposed lot size was 604 square feet and our new
proposed lot size is 905.25 square feet where um 1440 square feet would be required um
with regard to the refusals that are remaining um there is um let's i'll begin with the parking
there is no legal parking on division street i'll show um photographs of the property and
division street um you can which begin at exhibit 10 uh page 32 and you can see the existing garage
here and then exhibit 11 which are the surrounding properties you can see that
um division street is quite narrow and on the portion of division street across from us
there's not legal parking so many of the neighbors actually uh park on the sidewalk there
um so we wanted this app to include parking in this application in order to provide
um a benefit to the area and help alleviate the number of cars in the street in addition
to the parking on issues in the area um all the other lots on the same side of division street
as our property are through lots to sunnyside avenue um most of the rear yards of those
properties are currently being used as accessory parking that cars will come in on division street
and then turn left into um the rear yard the rear of sunnyside and park there um so we want to
continue the parking on that side of the street um in terms of the other refusal for the lot size
um we're only proposing one additional um unit or lot than would be by right
um and this is to deal with the overall odd shape of the lot um
go i can go up to the zoning plan to give you a better idea which is it which is exhibit
for page 18, which is the revised site plan. So you can see here that the lot is much shallower
than it is deep. Hold on.
Hold on, I'm having some technical issues though, you know, at least I'm not a cat.
All right, I think what we could do, let me ask this question, as a result of the changes
that have been made the number of units the height the pilot house is the community the
community was still opposed to this pro this developed this project yeah that's correct
east falls community council is still in opposition to despite all of these changes um the
um at the latest meeting which on january 20th um there was kind of divergent views from the
neighbors. There was a group of neighbors that said that they wanted it to remain as its current
garage use, which is an existing non-conforming one-story garage. And then there was another
group of neighbors that really wanted to see a two-story development here. And then in East
falls community council's letter um which is exhibit two um they they actually proposed um
this a set reproposed this issue of like if we could set the third floor back um to provide
more um light and air to the street below and we looked into that but because of the
shallowness of the lot where it's only 35 feet deep and with a seven foot rear co-compliant rear
yard our building is only 28 feet deep and so there's really no way that we could have a usable
third floor while doing this um proposed um second floor setback that they wanted um we looked into
it we examined it with our architect in fact um the original three unit project was completely
redesigned from the beginning in order to get to the two-unit project. And so we did consider a
number of options, but we weren't able to accommodate what they wanted. They provided
what I'm showing on the screen now as an example. And this is the example they provided. These are
located at three blocks away from the property at 3465 Penn Street. But these lots are 75 feet deep,
which is over twice the depth of our lot and so we can't really accommodate this design
on our lot in addition these um these this proposal would create a roof deck on the second
floor which would in which would add another variance to our application so then it would
create a new variance beyond what we were already asking for what we were trying to do was reduce
our overall bearings is um they also expressed its concerns regarding shadowing um and for that
i just like to note that the entire mass of the building is below by right our we are our rear
yard at the at the present time in the revised plan is co-compliant we're coming in a below by
right height and with and any by right building built here would have more mass than what we're
proposing and um it by extension more shadowing and additionally on our side of the street we're
on like a northwest side and so the shadowing created would largely not fall on um on on homes
but on the parking that surrounds um so if you so going to the so going to the aerials which on page
26. i think you've explained it pretty well uh maybe what we can do do you have your client
i i i do uh mr bauman can you raise your hand
and be unmuted and unmute yourself
is he on the phone
i don't see anyone with that last name okay why don't we do this uh we'll step as an officer
of the court, Sarah, will stipulate that your client would have adopted your testimony.
Yeah, I also have the developer of the project here in the room with me. He has been participating
in the meetings, and he'd be willing to adopt my testimony as well, but he's not the official
owner of the property, even though he's been involved with development.
Any questions from the board? No. Anyone else would like to testify in this case? If so,
anyone else would like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
please raise your hand.
here i have someone named hillary langer miss langer you can unmute yourself and speak
thank you ma'am please identify yourself with the record spell your full name
and provide us with your address can you hear me okay yes good who's speaking i'm hillary langer
Oh, please identify yourself. Spell your full name, please.
Hilary Langer, H-I-L-A-R-Y, L-A-N-G-E-R.
I'm the chair of the East Falls Zoning Committee, and I live at 3567 Indian Queen Lane, around the corner.
Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
Is there a way I can share my secondary screen, please?
he's been promoted to panelists when he comes back in he should be able to share his screen
Mr. Langer
can I ask what are you sharing
you can unmute yourself and speak