Thank you.
Chair, we have 17 attendees and we can start as you wish.
Thank you.
Good morning.
My name is Bill Bergman and I will be chairing this morning CBA hearings.
With me is Carol Tenere, our Vice Chair.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Ishmael Shaheed, our Board Secretary.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
And James Snell, our Board Member.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also here is our Board Attorney, Hillary Emerson, and our ZBA Hearing Supervisor, Lakeisha Dandy.
Before we start, here is our virtual format.
Be advised if proceedings are being recorded. By participating, you acknowledge agreement to be recorded. A video will be available by contacting tanyasunkett at phila.gov.
For the benefit of our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you are participating in my phone, if you wish to testify, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548. Leave your email and the address
of the property in question. And finally, the question and answer box on the screen
is not for comments or testimony. Any comments should be referred for our Executive Director,
Tanya Sunken. So let's look at our continuances for this morning's list. Number one, MI 2021
002-020-2601 Huntington Street. That case is continued. Number seven,
Mi 2021-005-117-534 South 4th Street. That case is continued. And number eight, Mi 2021-004-659-2126
East Lehigh Avenue. That case is also continued. Those three cases are continued. Are there any
comments relative to those three continuances? Good morning, Chair. This is Fatina L. I see no
hands. Thank you. Are there any other requests for continuances? Chair, we have David Orfanides.
please. Sure. Morning, Mr. Orphanides. Good morning, Mr. Chairman. How are you?
Hi, could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Certainly. My name is David Orphanides, O-R-P-H-A-N-I-D-E-S. Do you swear,
Fern, to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Proceed, sir.
I am here this morning on case MI 2021-003189, 813 South 17th Street.
It was an application to legalize a roll-up gate that was installed, unfortunately, well, installed by my client's contractors, despite them relying on the contractors to take care of all permitting without permitting.
And I'm working with L&I to try to resolve this issue and have a buy-right permit issued, the buy-right height fence and gate.
And we've just kind of been working through some of the details of the property, and I'd request a continuance.
So MI 2021-003-189-813 South 17th Street, that case is continued.
Chair, we have Strawberry Mansion, community, concerns.
Okay, thank you.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman. My name is Bonita Cummings, and I was calling in reference to 23.
Could you please spell your name for the court reporter, please?
It's Bonita, as in B, B as in boy, O-N-I-T-A.
Right. And do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Right, and do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but...
And this case is 3424 North 22nd Street?
No, this case is 2351 North 31st Street.
2351 North 31st Street. Hold on. Okay.
Right. We were expecting some updated drawings from the attorney, which the RCO has not received.
So I don't know. So so so here's what we're going to do. I'm going to call that case.
We're going to hear the case. We won't vote on that case until that's done.
Thank you. OK, thank you for calling in. I appreciate it.
Any other requests for continuances?
Yes, Chair.
We have Liam Sullivan.
Yeah, so this is in regards to case MI 2021-003189.
What's the location, sir?
That is 813 South 17th Street.
Number 10.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Yes, sir. Liam Sullivan, L-I-A-M, Sullivan, S-U-L-L-I-V-A-N.
Okay. Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Okay. You said exhibits in of opposition?
I have.
Okay. Let me see here. So this case has been continued?
It has. And I just heard that. And I understood that there was only three continuances that would be granted.
I think we we don't have a set rule. And what we're trying to do with this one is I understand that the attorney is working with L&I.
So I'm going to give it another case that was continued.
OK. And is that is that something that it should is there a time limit on this only?
I think what we'll make sure is that you know when that case is re-put back in, okay?
All right.
And thank you, by the way, for calling in.
Are there any other requests for continuances?
I see no other hints here.
So I have several cases with no exhibits.
Number two, MI 2021-005-034-169 West Spencer Avenue. Tameka Pearson is the owner applicant. I have no exhibits for this case.
I see no hands, Chair.
Okay, so MI 2021-005-034-169 West Spencer Avenue, this case is continued, marked must be tried.
Number six, MI 2021-004-975-5840 Willows Avenue, Olivia Manuel is the owner.
We have no exhibits.
I see no hands, Chair.
So MI 2021-004-975-5840 Willows Avenue.
That case is continued.
Mark must be tried.
Number 11.
MI 2021-003-788-5951-Kemble.
um property care business is the listed owner um we have letters of opposition
from councilwoman bass but we have no exhibits this is the fourth listing
i see no hands chair mi 2021 003 788 5951 temble avenue this case is dismissed
Dismissed.
Dismissed.
Dismissed.
Thank you.
Number 12.
MI 2021-005-118, 426-28 Centner Street.
Leo Mulvihill is the attorney. No exhibits, second listing. Ryan McSherry is our attorney
filling in on this case. I see no hands, Chair. Okay. MI 2021, 005-118-426-28 Centner Street.
005-118-426-28 Centner Street. This case is marked must be tried. It's continued.
And number 13, MI 2021-005-193-2068 East Somerset Street. Pedro Nunez is the owner.
This is marked must be heard. No exhibits.
I see no handshare. MI 2021-005-193-2068 East Somerset Street. I vote to dismiss this case.
Carol Tenere, dismiss. James Stout, dismiss.
it smells like he dismissed okay and and finally we have a withdrawal number 14
mi 2021 005 417 1400 30 to 38 north howard street this case has been withdrawn
okay we're going to go to our regular list to start
number two mr mr share um this is hillary can we give me one second here um can we just call up
number four there is no exhibits okay there was no exhibits but we may have had a request for
continuance it was a little unclear okay thank you so mi 2021 005 130 3424 north
22nd Street, attorney may be Roderick Foxworth, and the Swamp Poodle RCO.
I see no hands, Chair.
Wait a minute, we have Charles Richardson.
Good morning, Mr. Richardson.
Good morning, Mr. Chair and board.
can you state your name for us please and spell for the court reporter yes charles richardson
r-i-c-h-a-r-d-s-o-n office of councilwoman bass room 503 city hall do you swear a firm to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do proceed sir uh saw emails from uh
both parties yesterday from swamp poodle requesting a continuance but she was requesting that it must
be heard and saw something come from Mr. Foxworth confirming that he agreed with a continuance
but not with must be heard.
So that's up to the board to make that decision.
But I wanted to make sure that that was conveyed.
Yeah, we thank you so much.
We have that.
Is Mr. Foxworth on anywhere?
I searched for his name and he's no one with that last name.
Anyone from Swampoodle?
Let me check you.
i see no hands okay so mi 2021 005 130 this case is continued and will be marked must be tried
all right so number two number three start our list mi 2022 003 265 40 87
to one half Lancaster Avenue, Henry Clinton is the attorney. We're waiting on an RCO letter.
We have a letter of support from State Representative Eamon Brown, and we also have
a petition assigned by approximately 114 people in non-opposition to this project.
Mr. Chairman, I'm here for the applicant. I understand that a representative from the RCO
is on the call. Okay, thank you. Mr. Clinton, could you state your name for the record and
spell for the court reporter? Sure, Henry Clinton, Clinton, C-L-I-N-T-O-N. Right. Do you swear or
affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? I do. Could you identify
your client, the relationship to this property? Sure. My client is Akia, A-K-I-A Phillips,
P-H-I-L-L-I-P-S. She is the owner and the applicant on this project, and she is on the call.
Okay. Our vice chair has a few questions. Good morning, Mr. Clinton. Do you agree to
waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? I do. Have you emailed the
exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal, or referral? Photos under
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, all of the above except the letter. I understand the RCO will give a verbal
consent during this call. Okay, great. You may proceed and begin sharing your screen.
Okay, great. You may proceed and begin sharing your screen.
Thank you, Mr. Henry.
Is that visible enough, Mr. Chairman?
It is.
All right. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, members of the board,
Henry Clinton for the applicant, Akia Phillips,
whose name is here on my presentation package,
and I submit this package to the board containing exhibits
AA through A10
and ask they be admitted into evidence.
I'll walk through each one as needed.
Here in a statement, here's the key document.
For any zoning hearing, this is a refusal,
but it's really a referral.
So we're asking, this is a special exception case,
not a variance case.
The zoning district is CMX2.
And the ground floor is obviously commercial.
And my client wants to use the ground floor
as a venue location. A venue location for baby and bridal showers, birthday parties, conferences
in the neighborhood, meeting rooms, and any type of organization that may want to use the facilities
on an ongoing basis. It's a ground floor, as you'll see from the photographs, can accommodate
approximately 50 individuals. And I'll get to that photograph and the interior layout
in a bit. This is our first letter of support from an elected official.
House of Representative Eamon Brown writes a very glowing letter and a letter of support
on behalf of my client, Ms. Phillips. And as the chairman mentioned at the outset,
this is rather a staggering number of signatures and support. And he is correct.
There's about 115 signatures from all over the neighborhood.
Obviously, I'm not going to go through each signature, but the number that the chairman mentioned is correct.
This is a photograph of Lancaster Avenue.
The property is right in this area.
You can see it's a commercial district and getting stronger as West Philadelphia continues to thrive in this situation.
This is actually the entrance to the door right here.
It's an odd address.
it's 4087 and a half. This is the front of the building. The venue will be known as plush events
venue. Some photographs of the interior is already in good shape. It's been drywall,
new flooring, new lighting. The plans are pretty straightforward. You can accommodate approximately
50 people or so. There's a main entrance in the front. We'll have tables set up on the inside or
as needed. Some events may not want tables. They may want rows of chairs for presentations. There's
also an ADA, handicap accessible bathroom. There's a large rear yard, and there's also a large alley.
The trash will be kept in the rear yard, be taken out through the alley, and then commercial trash
pickup at the end of the block. There's two apartments above, but that's really not an issue
before the board today. It's simply whether or not my client can use the first floor as a special
assembly in this CMX zoning district. Here's a larger blow up of the floor plan. Again,
showing the floors, the handicapped bathroom, the accessibility from the front entrance.
We were not able to actually get the tax certification, but this is the printout from
the real estate tax office department of revenue. My client actually has a credit of over $1,000
And despite that, for whatever reason, we can't formally give you the tax certification, but this is proof that the taxes are paid, and in fact, they're overpaid.
The remaining documents are appeal, all the other pro forma documents you would typically see in a ZVA presentation, including the zoning map showing the CMX2 designation.
So I'm just going to submit to the board that this application does not alter the essential character of the neighborhood, has no impact on light and air of any adjacent properties, is not detrimental to the public welfare, is in conformance and in harmony with the code, and certainly in harmony with the neighborhood, with the state representative, and with the 115 neighbors who support the project.
We did meet with People's Emergency Community Center back in July.
It was a very good and productive meeting, and I believe there's a representative of that organization.