Thank you.
Good morning, everyone. My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this meeting in the Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment. With me is our Board Vice Chair, Tanetta Graham.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you. Our Board Secretary, Cheryl L. Gaston.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Board Member Michael Johns.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Board Member Taya Nguyen.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
And our Board Member Ryan McAdams.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also here is Hillary Emerson, our Attorney, our Zoning Board Director, Ian Haggerty, and our Board Administrator, Lakeisha Dandy.
A recording of this hearing will be posted on the ZBA website by participating in your consent to be recorded.
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the left outside the doors in case of an evacuation the rally point is at love park directly across
to Art Street. Please remain here so that we can account for you. Let's look at our schedule for
this morning. Number 10, MI 2025, 004-565-2927 North 12th Street. Gary Peterson is the attorney.
We may have a continuance on this case. Mr. Peterson, Mr. Chair, this is this may be a pro se, Gary Peterson being the listed owner and applicant.
We did receive a request from a Michael Lambert for continuance, but we're not clear on what their involvement is with this matter.
And unfortunately, I don't see Mr. Peterson or Mr. Lambert in the virtual audience.
So MI2025, 004-565-2927, 12th Street.
This case will be continued to 6326 at 930.
Mark must be heard.
number four
mi 2025 004 426 2243 east venango street uh lm and r investments incorporated listed owner
applicant no exhibits this is the first listing
No exhibits. This is the first listing.
I see no hand to chair.
So MI 2025 004 426 2243 East Vananga Street.
This case is continued to 6326 at 930.
Mark must be heard.
and number 15
mi2025-005-651-2035 moore street um davis rasheen is the listed owner
lisa goodman is the listed applicant no exhibits this is the first listing
i see no handy chair say so in my 2025 005 651 2035 moore street cases continue to 6326
at 9 30 a.m mark must be heard
our add-on case mi 2025 002 914 226 harvey street this is a request for reconsideration
for reconsideration i vote yes to reconsideration and rehearing michael johns my vote is yes to
reconsideration and rehearing cheryl gas and my vote is yes to reconsideration and rehearing
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes to reconsideration and rehearing.
Tynetta Graham, yes to reconsideration and rehearing.
Tynetta Graham, I vote yes to reconsideration and rehearing.
Thank you.
Okay, we're going to go to our regular list.
Number one, MI-2025-001-868-271010 North 22nd Street.
Steve Masters is the attorney.
There's unanimous support from Allegheny West Civic.
A letter of support from Swamp Poodle Neighbors Association.
Mr. Masters.
He promoted as a panelist.
good morning mr chair members of the board steve masters from just laws s-t-e-v-e-m-a-s-t-e-r-s
you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do mr masters could you identify your client the relationship to the property
yes my client is 22nd street water ice which is owned by sheree jackson i believe miss jackson is
in the virtual audience. Okay, our Vice Chair has a few questions for you, sir.
Good morning. Good morning. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance
of this hearing? Yes, we have. And do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to their
accuracy? Yes, we do. Okay, thank you. You can proceed with your case. Sure. Members of the
board. This location has an extremely long history of commercial use on the first floor.
Looking at the zoning record, the zoning archive, it appears over 100 years before there was a
zoning code that there was commercial uses on this first floor. Most recently, the first floor
has been used for a water ice stand which is extremely popular amongst the neighbors
we our refusal is simply that um the the designation for zoning is rsa5 and it doesn't
recognize the over a century use of this first floor as a commercial use the um the petitions
that we have here uh we have 43 petitions um that were collected all of extremely close neighbors
um all enthusiastically in favor of legalizing this business and um as uh was mentioned we have
two rco um strong letters of support a unanimous support from allegheny west and from swamp poodle
uh our uh site photos uh this is the interior of the uh water ice stand this is the exterior
uh this is the context um to the left here is a commercial uh
business that that goes all the way to the corner uh and this is
business that that goes all the way to the corner uh and this is the the first floor as i said is
a is a is the commercial water ice the um the second floor of this building is a dwelling unit
that is um already legal and is not part of this application uh these are some additional photos
of the interior and storage areas. This is a small alley that is between the water ice
business and the commercial business next door. And a few more views of the water. This is that
commercial business that we were talking about. Here's our water ice stand in this area. And
And this is a it's a corner store, basically.
We also have our zoning posters that were posted for this hearing.
We can see today's date and time and the context.
This is the 2710 door that they're posted on.
um our tax clearance um is um in this chart um this is this is from the um OPA's website
showing that all taxes have been paid property taxes on this property
we uh have a deed um that uh conveyed the the um property to um sheree jackson um who then
operates the water ice stand under an llc and our we have our uh we have our submissions of the
application for appeal and the project information form and then our mailing
was sent to the near neighbors and the proof of mailing is on the last page
it was 122 individuals that received it. So at this time, I would rest our case and ask for
Ms. Jackson to be elevated to the panel. Ms. Cherie Jackson, please. Yes.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
sheree jackson excuse me s-h-e-r-e-e-j-a-c-k-s-o-n do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth yes counsel um good morning miss jackson um you heard the testimony
that i've just presented to the board do you agree that it was true and accurate and do you accept it
as your own. Yes. Is there anything else you wanted to add to the conversation today at the
hearing? Well, I'd like to say that we have been in business over 30 years on that corner, starting
at the corner and moving to the side. And we've been operating as a water ice business in that
area for many years with good standing in the community and invested in our community and
giving back to our community for our scholarships and things like that to students so i would like
to continue to you know remain there and do business thank you i have no further questions
all right questions from the board yes um question so is this a walk up like window
is that how you're yeah border rights and are there going to be any tables or chairs or anything
or are people going to just get the water ice and ice cream and go you know what they they get the
water ice and go but we would love to do i would love i always thought of tables and chairs the
only thing with that is the sidewalk is really small yeah and the area is really tight and it
wouldn't be good like for customers coming in and out and the tables and chairs appear i think of
obstruction okay well and you'd have to go through a whole process with the streets department for
that anyway yes um and then uh questions then what are we doing about the um trash
well we i have trash collection every um every week we pay for trash collections from the city
and we have a storage area in the back where we contain the trash with lids and everything like
that well i guess i'm more like the people people yeah who are walking up you know what what do you
have some kind of way to deal with trash from well normally we um we'll take the trash from
our customers we have but we've had trash outside before at the corner about maybe 20 feet from the
at the corner about maybe 20 feet from the store maybe less there is um a trash on the corner where
store, maybe less.
people can throw their trash but we really clean our pavement twice every day to keep the area
clean and the thing with trash we've had trash cans outside our business we find it to be a
nuisance of public nuisance because people will come they'll jump out their cars they'll throw
trash or we've had neighborhoods we have neighbors or people putting like dirty diapers crap things
that they don't want to put in their trash in our can it got flies it started bringing bees
it became to be more of a nuisance than a help so i'd rather um keep the area clean as we normally do
get the trash out there constantly and we do ask our customers not to throw any trash in front of
the door payment and if so if they have it they can hand it to us but normally they will take
their products and they'll walk away but we constantly cleaning out um inside our property
as well as to the end of the block to keep the area clean and now i guess my last question is um
it's a walk-up kind of business so is it mainly for people in the neighborhood i mean or do you
have traffic like people who like drive to yes and how do you handle that um because um well
normally they don't have a problem but across the street we do have um a parking lot that people use
but they normally don't use it usually they'll come up pull up in their cars they may sit for
a minute they may not they may just come out their cars and go i've had people travel um even from
jersey they say they come and get the water it's all over the city they travel far um they really
find they really like our um service they also like the way our water ice taste they say it's
better than Rita's so it's we haven't had a problem in the past for us people
coming up like with parking coming to the bin or it hasn't been a nuisance for
the neighbors or the neighborhood okay thank you thank you how does the tenant
upstairs access the apartment it's a door on the inside on the inside so they
have to go into the water ice shop no no it's so it's a separate door the
hallway it's a hallway okay and then what is the what do you do for trash management when the water
eighth season is happening um like far as how they get it removed like because we pay for trash all
year they collect it every year when we're not in season there's no trash out there okay and then
the tenants trash is it commingled with the businesses yes yes okay
no other questions questions from our attorney not at this time mr chair questions or comments
from the virtual audience or the current audience i see me no handy chair planning commission amy
boyd with the planning commission amy boid do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
and nothing but the truth i do please proceed the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning
at this location from the current RSA 5 residential single family to R1 residential multifamily.
The property has a history of commercial mixed use since at least 1978 as evidenced by a previous
zoning permit for retail and one-family dwelling. The property has had a business license for takeout
at this location since at least 2018. The Planning Commission recommends that the board grant their
requested variants for takeout restaurant and multiple principal uses thank you mi2025 001
868 2710 north 22nd street i vote yes with proviso per refusal dated 4725 michael johns
my vote is yes with proviso cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso my vote is yes with proviso
ryan mcadams my vote is yes with proviso by a win my vote is yes with proviso
next case mi2025-004-490-2028 locust street adam laver is the attorney excuse me mr
chair we now have two cases that require interpretation um so can we please hear
those matters next so that we don't lose our interpreter um it's number two and number nine
I'm sorry, Mr. Laver.
No worries.
Number two, MI20250027103207North6th Street.
Jose Matos is the owner applicant.
Interpreter, please.
This is the interpreter speaking. Are you able to hear me?
This is the interpreter speaking. Are you able to hear me?
Good morning. Could you spell your name, please, for then?
Good morning.
Yes, my name is Steven Aubain. Last name is spelled A-U-B-A-I-N. My interpreter ID is YM288.
Do you swear or affirm that you will interpret accurately, completely, and impartially from English to Spanish and from Spanish to English to the best of your ability?
Yes, I do.
could you please call for us jose matos jose matos si puede entrar en la línea por favor
si buenos días quieto en la línea buenos días
puede dar su nombre y teletrarlo por favor jose matos jose jota o s e matos mp m a t o s
Right. And then, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Jury afirma decir la verdad, toda la verdad, y nada más que la verdad.
Sí, jura.
Yes, I swear.
All right, there's a letter of support from APM.
Sí que hay una carta de apoyo de APM.
Our vice chair has just a few questions.
Y nuestro vice president tiene unas preguntas.
Good morning. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Usted ha sometido sus documentos y evidencias cinco días antes de la audiencia.