Other questions from the board?
Other questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions from the or comments from the virtual audience?
Planning Commission.
Sorry, Chair.
It was a delay when I clicked on.
Okay, sure.
All right.
We have Philip, last name ending with G.
All right.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
My name is Philip Gritzmacher, P-H-I-L-I-P-G-R-U-T-Z-M-A-C-H-E-R.
I am the secretary and zoning chair for the Lawn Crest Community Association.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do. I'm just here to reiterate the information that we put into our letter and our RCO meeting minutes that I forwarded to the board already.
We feel that the use of a paint shop and body shop next door to an already approved daycare is incompatible and that we would oppose it for that reason.
Also, there have been issues with vehicles being left outside of the shop, off hours and also traffic.
Both Unruh Street and Hasbrook Avenue are one way in that area, and there's been several cases when tow trucks and other vehicles are going wrong way on those streets.
I would also have to add that the off-site parking that Mr. Ward points to, that's not a piece of this property that is seeking the variance, and actually that property is owned RSA-3, so a parking lot is not permitted use there either.
Thank you for your time and your input. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
i see no hands chair any commission this is ron bednar city planning while this property is
currently split zone for both industrial and residential on the city plan given the physical
site conditions and its documented existing use we recommend that the aggressive variance be permitted
MI 2021 003192 6610 Hasbrook Avenue. I vote yes to the refusal for personal vehicle repair
maintenance with a proviso no-vehicle paint shop.
Carol?
Thomas? Carol Tenere, my vote is yes with proviso. Sorry about that. That's fine.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with proviso. Thank you, counsel.
snell james snell yes with proviso thank you thank you mr chair have a good evening thanks
you too number two mi 2021 005020
Number two, MI 2021-005-020, 1714 Washington Avenue.
Number B, Joseph Consul is the attorney.
Support from the East Point Breeze neighbors.
Mr. Consul is coming in as a panelist.
Mr. Consul is here.
Mr. Consul, you've already been sworn to state your name.
and identify your client in relationship to the property. Joseph Consul, and my client is Mia
Mitchell, representative of the owner and tenants of the property. Okay. Our vice chair has a few
questions. Hi, Mr. Consul. 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,
a copy of the 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 to all. Okay, great. You
may proceed, and the screen's up. All right. Hey, everyone. Joe Consul here again, 1714 Washington
Avenue. My client owns the building and is also, well, and is here today seeking to lease the lower
western half of the building as a sit-down restaurant with takeout capabilities and
that is what our refusal is for so we have two refusals here sit-down restaurant prohibited in
i2 this is a light to medium industrial zone district and also takeout restaurant prohibited
in in i2 um so this property as you can see is between an auto zone and a family dollar
there is a martial arts studio um up up above it uh um this area is uh has a uh distinctive
thai influence and the restaurant that the folks are seeking to open here is going to be a thai
restaurant, as I said, in the lower piece of the property here. Some of my photos actually
show the space a little better. Let me pull them up.
The outside of the space that we'd be occupying. Shopping across the street.
It's all our documents. So I think importantly,
the back of the property has two loading docks for each of the two lower units as well as
space for commercial dumpsters that was important to the RCO this is kind of the back alley behind
the auto zone behind our property and behind the family dollar and again there's there's the front
um we met with uh the east point break east point breeze neighbors association june 15th
uh we got their vote in support um they believed as we believe that uh medium industrial use uh on
this piece of washington avenue washington avenue between 17th and 18th doesn't really make sense
And that the neighbors behind the property and those kind of the neighborhood surrounding it wanted to see this property be something that actually engages the community and a restaurant run by a well-known person in this community, they believed would be a good choice here.
So we think that the proposed use is incongruent with what the neighborhood wants to see here and also sort of speaks to how Washington Avenue generally is is trending, at least at this piece of Washington Avenue, where there's increased walkability and and that sort of thing.
So I have your testimony adopted, please.
I would. Mia Mitchell, could you raise your hand?
hi could you state your name and spell for the court reporter please
my name is mia mitchell spell it for the court reporter mia mia m-i-a last name mitchell
m-i-t-c-h-e-l-l right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but
the truth yes sir okay proceed mr council good evening miss mitchell did you hear my testimony
just now regarding 1714 washington avenue yes i did do you uh agree with what i said and do you
adopt it as your own yes i do i adopt all right is there anything you'd like to add regarding uh
this particular space not at the time okay questions from the board no mr chairman no mr
Okay. Questions from the board? No, Mr. Chairman. No, Mr. Chairman. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
your chair.
I see no handshare. Planning Commission? I run Bednar City Planning. While this property is currently indicated for industrial use on the city plan,
our proposed district plan remapping for this site recommended ICMX, which permits sit-down restaurants by right.
therefore we recommend the request for advance be granted. Thank you. MI 2021-005-020-1714
Washington Avenue, numbered B. I vote yes. Carol Tenere, my vote is yes. Thomas Holloman,
my vote is yes. James Snell, my vote is yes. Thank you, counsel. Thank you. Have a good evening.
Number seven, MI 2021, 005019, 1750 South 60 Street. Brandon Savron is the attorney, letter of non-opposition from the third ward executive RCO. Applicant also provided eight form letters of support from the neighbors.
Mr. Savron is coming back in as a panelist.
Good evening, Mr. Chair.
Good evening, I should say.
Yes, good evening.
Could you identify your, oh, wait a minute, I'm sorry.
State your name, spell for the court reporter.
Brandon Saverin, so that's B-R-A-N-D-O-N, S as in Sam, A, V as in Victor, R-A-N.
Right.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you identify your client in relationship to the property?
So my client is the property owner, Two Diamond Estates, LLC.
The LLC's principal, Shonda Slocum, is here tonight to adopt my testimony.
Right.
And our vice chair has a few questions.
Hi, Mr. Savron.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal 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 to all those questions, Madam Vice Chair. Okay, great. You may
proceed and begin by sharing your screen. Thank you. Mr. Chair, I do apologize. I sort of cut
out while I was being promoted, so I don't know. I thought you said something about our letter of
non-opposition. Is there anything else that I missed there? It says letter of non-opposition
from the third ward executive RCO. And the applicant also provided eight form letters
of support from neighbors. Okay. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. So, and that's all
correct. This is the refusal. Shonda applied to rehabilitate an existing structure that has been
vacant for over a decade. And in doing so, as I'll explain, she would like to
make the structure into a duplex, a two-dwelling home. So I'm going to show you some exhibits.
These images are either directly from our exhibit packet, or if not, they are sort of blow-ups of
images that have counterparts in the exhibit packet. So this is the aerial parcel map
from atlas.phila.gov, just to give you a sense of where we are. We're on 60th Street off of
Cobbs Creek Parkway in Southwest Philadelphia. As you can see here on the left-hand side,
our indication is that the property has been vacant since at least 2009. Now, Shonda's LLC
bought the property in March of 2020, but it sat in a very poor state for over a decade,
we believe, before that. You can see a violation issued related to the vacant status of the
property by L&I in 2009. You can see another one issued in 2012, and then you can see that
a vacant structure license was pulled on the property in 2014. As you mentioned, Mr. Chairman,
we have a letter of non-opposition from the Third Ward, who served as the coordinating RCO for this
matter. Shonda and I both attended this virtual meeting. I have no problem with the characterization
as non-opposition, but I have to say I think the sentiments of the attendees was unanimously
supportive. I'll say as an officer of the court, we answered some questions and folks were very
happy to see this property rehabilitated and wished Shonda well in her mission to do that.
I have some photos of the property from a few months prior to Shonda's purchase of it. These are from August 2019. This on the screen right now is the rear of the building at that time. You can see the severely deteriorated condition of the rear exterior.
I have some photos of the property from a few months prior.
rear. This is 60th Street in the front. So from that front 60th Street, here is the front of the
subject property at that time. Another view of the front. This is the rear alley. To go back up to
that rear photo for one second, we are not proposing any living space whatsoever, bedrooms or
otherwise, no living space in the basement. This is a basement level garage that is above ground
in the rear and is served by that rear alley. It will be either used for storage, either of a car
or other goods. So just to flip through a couple other items on our exhibit packet here,
I showed you the RCO's decision letter. Here's our certificate of mailing. Mr. Chairman,
you mentioned the eight letters of support that Shonda gathered from walking the community.
Those are shown here. I'm going to show you the planned floor plans for the building in one
moment. And beyond that, I just wanted to point out, and I did this in a very lawyerly fashion,
whereas a map probably would have been more useful, but what I do have in here at the end
of the exhibit packet is zoning permits on seven properties on this block. Those properties are
1726, 1730, 1732, 1740 South 60th Street, and then on the other side of the street where the
properties carry different address names, 5961 Windsor Street, 5961 Belmar Street, and 5969
Springfield Avenue. Those are all buildings that carry active zoning permits, to the best of my
knowledge, according to the zoning archive, for two or three unit residential use. So the two unit
use that we're applying for before you today is very in context with this block. And the hardship
here essentially is that these are fairly large homes. These properties are typically 1,400 square
feet or thereabout. That's also, I think, approximately our lot size. As you very well
may know, the minimum lot area in the RSA 5 district is either 960 or 800 square feet,
depending on your surrounding conditions. So this lot is significantly larger than the zoning
district's minimum. The building is essentially a shell. I mean, it is a severe state of disrepair
inside. So, Brandon, what you're saying is there's approximately 12 properties in the area that are
already two to three units? I counted seven, Mr. Chair, on this block. I didn't look further than
that. Okay. All right. And I guess that would add up to over 12 units. And, you know, basically the
hardship here in a nutshell is because of the size of the property and the poor condition,
And Shonda explored, but cannot obtain financing to rehabilitate this property as a single family home.
So we're really going for the minimum number of units that would allow a lending institution to get behind this.
And that's two. I think you have your test. Why don't you have your testimony at that?
Sure. OK. And I do have floor plans if you want me to walk through them and I'll pause there for now.
So if she's out there, Shonda, could you please raise your hand?
Yes. Hi, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter? Shonda Slocum, S-H-O-N-D-A-S-L-O-C-U-M.
Right. Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes. Proceed, Brandon. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Shonda, are you authorized to speak for the
owning LLC of this property? Yes. Okay. And were you able to hear the full extent of my testimony
in this zoning case today?
Yes, I have.
And to the best of your knowledge,
was my testimony true and accurate?
And therefore, would you be willing to adopt it
as if it were your own testimony?
Yes, absolutely.
Okay, thank you very much, Sean.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
I play any commission.
This is Ron Bednar, city planning. The property is indicated for residential use on the city plan.
Our adopted district plan recommends no change to the existing residential single family.
Our adopted district plan recommends no change to the existing residential single-family zoning dislocation.
The applicant's hardship is not supported with evidence of unique physical circumstances or condition of the property that would prevent it from being used and conforming with the code.
There's no past history of being used for multifamily, therefore we recommend the request for variance not be granted.
Thank you.
MI 2021-005-019-1750-South 60th Street, I vote yes.
Carol Tenera, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Jane Snell, my vote is yes.
Thank you, Brandon.
Thank you very much.
Is there anyone in the virtual audience whose case has not been called from the 330 list?
I see no hands, Chair.
I want to thank everybody for working so late.
Sorry it went this late.
We don't usually do this, but we probably got punished because we had so much free time this morning.
So we had to make up for it tonight.
So thank you all.
You did a lot of nice work today, and I really appreciate what everybody's doing.
Great job, Mr. Chairman.
Great job, John.