151 properties were notified as a list of the properties that were sent said noticed
and our certificate of mailing as well as the deed showing that my client Margarita Theodorakas
owns the property and if I could have Margarita raise her hand our certificate of tax clearance
so that she can adopt my testimony that would be great
you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair hi please uh spell your full name and i'll swear
you in? My name is Margarita Theodorakis, M-A-R-G-A-R-I-T-A-T-H-E-O-D-O-R-A-K-O-S. Do you swear or
affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes, sir. Thank you, ma'am. Miss
Amazon? Thank you. Margarita, did you hear my presentation today? Yes, ma'am. Is it true and
correct? Yes. And would you adopt it as your own testimony? Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you. Any
questions from the board? No. Anyone else would like to testify in this case, please raise your
hand. Chair, we have Diane Settles. Ms. Settles, you can unmute and wait for the chair. Thank you.
ms settles please spell your full name and i'll swear you in my name is diane d-i-a-n-e
last name is settles s as in sam e-t-t-l-e-s do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do i just have one question um with regard to when the
notices go out, if it could be included when I'm sorry, when the attorney sends out the
letters to the affected community, if it could be included on there when the actual ZBA meeting
was. And the reason why I bring up this question is because I've been on several
And the reason why I bring up this question is because I've been on several other cases where they didn't post the zoning notice.
And so if the people don't see the zoning notice, that's an eye catcher for them.
They see the zoning notice and it has that on it. But a lot of attorneys I see are saying referencing to the zoning notice.
But if the zoning notice isn't posted, when it should be posted or where it can be posted without it being an intrusion of somebody's privacy on the property.
So that's my question. Is it any way that it can be done or is it just the option of the attorneys?
They're required to post. Did you not see a posting?
um what had happened was that um mrs amazon said that the posting was on the front porch
i went by that day and there was no um posting on eye level where anybody passer by could see it
um she was so the owner was kind enough to go and put the posting on or at least they showed that
posting down below because as you see on that first picture that she showed you
You would have to walk up about eight steps, go on somebody's property, and then that's
trespassing.
And that's putting the person in danger.
So to alleviate all of that, that's why I raised the question.
It's not just for Ms. Amazon, but it's for all attorneys.
Is it anything that-
There are requirements, and if they do not follow those requirements, people like yourself
should call in and say you've not been properly notified.
Chairman, if I may, we did post the property to Ms. Settle's point.
She wanted it moved, so that was a bit more visible, which we did the day of.
Yes, she did.
She did do that.
But what I was saying, as I said to her, the way that it was, it would have been an invasion
or could be looked at as trespassing.
I'm just looking to ward off that for anybody else that may encounter that.
That's all I'm asking.
Understood.
Thank you.
Thank you for your testimony.
anyone else there are no other heads at this time chair thank you planning commission
hi good afternoon keith davis planning commission
this property is indicated for single family residential in the comp plan the property is
long-standing documented use as a multi-family residential and we feel that the applicant has
demonstrated sufficient hardship accordingly the planning commission recommends the board
approved today thank you mi 2021-002-915-5210 king sessing avenue my vote is yes professor plaza
my vote is yes james snell my vote is yes thomas holland my vote is yes the two o'clock list uh
is there any outstanding business on the two o'clock list does anyone feel as they've not
been recognized please raise your hand there are no hands at this time chair okay let's see
yvette are you ready to go um unless without objection we can go right into the 3 30 list
unless anyone needs a break if so just let us know i'm ready to go chair but it's at your
discretion i'm okay all right so i'll read the introduction and then we'll get into it
uh good afternoon everyone my name is frank de chico i'm the chair of the zoning board of
adjustment i'll be participating in today's hearing along with our board secretary mr
confessor plaza present uh our board member mr thomas holloman present and board member
Mr. James Snell. Present. Thank you. Board Administrator Yvonne Benton, Yvette Benton,
excuse me, and our board attorney, Ms. Rebecca Cole, are also in attendance, as is our zoning
board administrator, Ms. Tanya Sunkett. For those of you who haven't yet participated in one of our
virtual hearings, I'll go through some of the basics of what you can expect. First, we will
be administering oaths to individual participants prior to their testimony second we'd like to
advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded and that by participating you acknowledge
your agreement to be recorded and also that the recording will be made available to the public
by contacting Ms. Tanya Sunkit at tanya.sunkit at phila.gov
pardon me for anyone participating by phone if you wish to testify
you must raise your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute
you must raise your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute yourself. I'll repeat.
For anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise your hand by hitting star
nine and then star six to unmute yourself. Finally, to enter an appearance statement,
call Google number 267-270-5548 and leave your email address and the address of the property
at issue. I will repeat, to enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548 and leave
your email address and the address of the property at issue. And I would like to remind everyone,
please do not attempt to testify in the chat. Any comments or concerns should be directed to
our board administrator, Ms. Yvette Benton. Having said that, I will now read off a list of requests
for continuance is on the 330 list. Case number two, MI 2021-003128, 1827 West Cuyahoga Street.
numbers seven and eight on our list MI 2021-003-132 8622 Germantown Avenue and MI 2021-003-131
8624 Germantown Avenue. If anyone disagrees with the request for those continuances
please raise your hand at this time if you object to the cases i just ran in
to be continued please raise your hand
i see no hands at this time chair thank you i will now ask if anyone would like to request
a continuance or withdrawal on the 330 list to raise your hand now please
if you're requesting a continuance or withdrawal
I see no hands at this time chair. Thank you.
3.30 list the first case MI 2020-000214 1825 East Pacific Street. Sean Ward is the attorney of
record my notes indicate the hearing was continued as a request of turning moving party at the last
listing. Mr. Ward did not request a re-listing. So if Mr. Ward if you're out there maybe you can
clear that up for us. Councilman Swillis sent a letter of opposition.
Chair, hi this is Tanya the administrator. I'm almost certain that he's not here but what
happened was this was relisted because we were unaware that it should have been attorney moving
party so if you can continue it as a continuous that would be gracious and we would put it as
an attorney moving party until he notifies us okay thank you sharon did somewhat explain that
this morning so i'll redo it mi 2020 that's 000214 1825 east pacific street attorney moving party
Tanya? Yes, Chair, thank you. Thank you. Okay, we'll now go to case number three. MI 2021-0031272413, looks like rear 15, or I'm sorry, should be 2413-15 Tulip Street.
old richmond civic sent a letter of non-opposition as did councilman mark squilla
there's emails in opposition from the neighbor mr jeffrey reen r-e-n-y-e renee
that's either mr knockamson or miss amazon
mr knockamson is coming back in now as a panelist chair thank you good afternoon
Mr. Nockmson, please identify yourself with a record and I'll remind you you're still under oath.
Alan Nockmson, A-L-A-N, last name Nockmson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N, 123 South Broad Street, Suite 1600, Philadelphia, PA, 19109.
Thank you. Mr. Plaza has a few questions for you.
Mr. Nockmson, have you agreed to wake the reading of its refusal and stipulate to attack your feet?
And have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral photos and plans five days prior to this year?
Yes, we have.
And have you met with the RCO and have the letter?
And have you mowed the RCO and have the letter?
Yes, we have a letter of non-opposition from the coordinating RCO.
Yes, we have a letter of non-opposition from the court.
Please proceed.
Yes. May I share my screen?
Thank you.
All right, so we're here regarding 2413R-15 Tulip Street.
This is actually a hodgepodge of properties.
It's 2409R, 2411R, and 2413R-15.
We're combining these three properties into one, and we're proposing to have a four-unit building in the old Kensington part of Philadelphia.
As you can see, this is very unique architecture.
My client hired Bright Common, which you'll see is like one of the preeminent local architecture firms and has been recognized time and time again by AIA on a local level and on a national level for their unique architecture.
My client actually lives at 2413 Tulip Street, so not very close by, and he wanted to put a project together that was very unique and interesting, but in a creative way, but also affordable, because what he's seen, he's been very involved in this community, is that there's been a push for many single-family homes in this part of the neighborhood that's pushed people out and not allowed people in.
So he's looking to put a four unit here on this 2000 square foot lot to create a diversity of housing for people in the neighborhood and for people to move into the neighborhood.
So we'll go through the materials. We have our notice of refusal. We'll go and talk a little bit about Bright Common and their accolades.
We have our letter of non-opposition from Old Richmond Civic Association. I think I said Old Kensington by accident. I meant Old Richmond Civic Association.
are letters of support from nearby neighbors so my client lives like adjacent to this property at
2413 tulip obviously he lives there so obviously he's for this project but there are other nearby
neighbors 2415 tulip street which is which is also impacted by this project is in support of
this project and we have other neighbors within the vicinity of the project who are also in support
of it maps of the area photographs of the property as well as the surrounding area plans and drawings
our applications for appeal, proof of mailing of our RCO meeting notice.
Mr. Notkinson, I apologize.
I had a minute.
Hold on.
Hold on.
Hold on one minute, please.
Mr. Notkinson, I apologize.
I got a call in from Sharon.
So I'm going to put you on hold for just one minute, please.
Thank you.
do you have a letter uh from the uh old richmond civic and if so is it in support or opposition
non-opposition old richmond is in the non-opposition okay because i'm getting some
conflicting calls here and uh all right i apologize again i had to cut away uh i left
off shortly after you began your presentation so if you could yeah so just we're just going
through our table of contents like you know you know the rco meeting notice the deed to the property
and certificate of tax clearance we'll have carlos mastiff and uh jeremy avalino of great common
obviously as witnesses uh to this project so the first thing is is there a notice of refusal again
we have three distinct locks 2409 r 2411 r and 2413 r-15 uh all rsa5 properties kind of a hodgepodge
It says Tulip Street, but it's really not.
And you'll see from our maps, it's really on East Boston Street, which is kind of like
on an island.
There's not many properties on our side of the street that are developed across the street
there are, but not on our side of the street.
And we only have two refusals.
Obviously, we have the refusal as it pertains to the use.
We're trying to put a four-unit building here on our RSA 5 property, and that's a refusal.
The second refusal is we created a side yard to create light and air and have this unique architecture.
But, you know, we think that, you know, this refusal, again, based on the circumstances, us trying to create a creative architecture, trying to create light in there is a de minimis under the circumstances.
is a de minimis under the circumstances. So again, Bright Common. Again, my client decided
So, again, bright comment.
to create something that was unique and interesting, something that's generational.
Again, he lives in the neighborhood. He's very involved in this community. He's actually a member
of one of the local CDCs, New Kensington CDC. So he's very involved in terms of architecture
and affordability, and he wanted to choose an architecture firm that is known for their
uniqueness. So if you look up Bright Common, they're not that cookie cutter. So there's
nothing unique about them. But if you can see their accolades, in 2021, they were recognized
by Architectural Record. 2020, on multiple occasions, they were recognized by AI Philadelphia,
by Greenville the United, 2019 by AIA Pennsylvania. They received a William Willard G. Bill Rouse,
the third awards for excellence, best of Philly. So things like that shows that they care about
their architecture and their uniqueness, and that was what brought Carlos to them.
Letter of non-opposition. Again, if you look at the letter of non-opposition, it stated, it says, while issues surrounding parking density were raised by the community members at the meeting, they felt that the proposed project may be in the best interest of the neighborhood.
the high demand in our area combined with low supply has pushed property prices and rents out
of reach of many existing residents orca's mission includes maintaining property values
in neighborhood stability and they felt that the proposal would contribute to that goal by
increasing the supply of housing then we you know reach out to the community again mr massive who's
the principal of the property owner lives at 2413 he would of course be in support of this project
but he also has um you know the owner next door to him 2415 tulip street he has you know again
many different people who have supported this project we have more than a half a dozen people
who were kind enough to uh to support this project in writing my understanding that there may be
members of the community who hopefully waited this long period of time we told them there was
a 330 listing but our understanding is that may be additional members of the community in support
this project who would state their you know support again you'll see where we are this is
tulip street mr massive his personal residence is right here he wants to build oops right here
so it's really important to him to have something that you know makes sense for the community uh as
a whole and that's responsible building 2415 which is right here which would be the one who's most
directly impacted actually there is a letter of support from that and there's other letters of
support not as direct but within the close proximity to the project that we have in our
packet of materials here's our uh you know a map of the area uh from a google perspective we're
right next to a commercial corridor east york street again from a city planning perspective
usually you want to increase density next to a commercial corridor to help support that
commercial corridor and that's what we're trying to do responsibly on this 2 000 square foot lot
combined square foot lot photos of the area as you can see right now is just vacant my client
purchased these three separate parcels i'm hoping to develop them to the right of the property
to the left of the property and then our plans and drawings again very unique architecture
interlocking three-story structures each of the struct each of the units have their own separate
entrance. So while it's a multifamily in name, in actuality, there's no vestibule. Each one will
have their separate unique entrance. So in essence, they're almost like four single-family homes.