ZBA Hearing - January 28, 2026

Daniel DeMuro, D-A-N-I-E-L, D-I-M-U-R-O.

Right.

Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,

the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

I do.

Do you identify your client

and their relationship to the property?

Sure.

So I'm with the law firm of Gordon and Reese

and I'm counsel to the property owner, 28S2 LLC,

which is owned by Mr. Alexander Sweetwood.

okay our vice chair has just a few questions

good evening have you submitted your documents and exhibits uh five days in advance of this hearing

yes okay and do you stipulate to the uh way the reading of the refusal and stipulate to

its accuracy referral okay thank you you can show your screen and proceed with your case

sure we have our consultant here today i believe mr jason uh perini of milrose consultants

and i believe he will be handling the presentation before the board um uh he he cannot do that

oh he cannot you're an attorney or the owner am i correct or is this a yeah that's no business

that we need right we yeah so this is uh property is owned by llc it has to be represented by an

attorney at the hearing the attorney must make the presentation um you can call witnesses but

you need to give the presentation okay um well the the property owner is uh here so i'd like to call

mr alexander sweetwood as a witness you can call him as a witness yes but he he wouldn't be able

to testify because the property like he wouldn't be able to give the presentation because the

property is owned by an llc so they must be represented by an attorney okay can um i have a

uh I guess a two-minute break uh recess just to uh coordinate with my client

sure I appreciate that yeah well yeah sure all right thank you

can you let the other guy just put it off and then he testifies off what the guy puts up

did he ever

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr. DeMauro yes how are we doing doing well

I mean relative to making a presentation are we okay with that yes share my screen do you want to share your screen yes all right

Okay, so here's the notice of referral, and my client is seeking the roof deck for non-residential

use, which requires a special exception approval. My client has reached out to the required

RCO and they voted to approve the roof deck. I believe that was in the application that

was submitted. We have here as a witness, if necessary, the architect who designed the

plans, Ms. Elizabeth Heisek. Here's a little bit about the property. It's a home of Unique

Photo, which is a photograph company, and they sell cameras and provide other significant

experiences concerning the photo world. This property is seeking a rooftop deck. Here's

a drawing of the deck. Let's see if I can make it a little bigger.

that would be up here is where the requested deck is

we don't believe that it would be a detrimental impact to the neighborhood

the public notice did go out in accordance with 14-303-13

I believe that was in the application.

And we would respectfully request that the board approve this special exception.

we would respectfully request that the uh the board approve this special exception

um and i would like to uh have mr sweetwood um join as a panelist to adopt my testimony

they have been promoted to a little bit so we we can at least see the drawings

sure is that there you can move that up maybe i'll provide those drawings for you

okay i apologize for that we had a little miscommunication here all right sir please

state your name and spell for it sure alexander sweetwood s-w-e-e-t-w-o-o-d i'm the owner of the

actual property as well as unique photo do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth

is nothing but the truth yes counsel mr sweetwood have you been attendance on zoom and um i've heard

everything that i presented to the board i have and i appreciate this board's patience and daniel

i appreciate you jumping on that uh last minute and is it true and accurate to the best of your

knowledge yes of course and you adopt or affirm um the testimony and evidence that we presented

as you wrote and you're the owner of 28 s2 llc correct yep and you're authorized to act on its

behalf correct absolutely okay thank you um we respectfully request that the board approve the

special exception set forth in our application and we have mr this is just out of curiosity

why do you have two pilot houses just curious um so okay council no i i i was told so this is

wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute we got to go to council for this right or

he can call him as a witness he can have his client answer the question could you have your

client answer the question so we went up and back we went up and back in this and the fire code has

changed multiple times and we were told that the requirement is there's two pilot houses with a

minimum distance apart from each other okay thank you questions from the board yes could you clarify

like the the the need or the use for the rooftop sure we we we've been in old city since 2019 and

We really are big on community.

We have built a big photography community.

And I didn't realize the attorney

making the presentation,

but we have a nice video for you.

And this is just part of our experience

that we hope to expand.

There are some rooftops right nearby

that are at like bar scenes,

and we are not a bar.

We have people in the area that were,

our motto is create better pictures.

So our goal is that people can continue

to come to the space and enjoy it.

It's a beautiful view of the Ben Franklin Bridge

and of the area.

and i think it'd be a continuing event space to say that we only sell cameras or lenses is selling

a short uh as as our building in my vision is that we have multiple class facilities we run multiple

art galleries late at night and uh you know it's really would be a nice space everyone loves a

roof deck is actually what uh the old city uh you know commissioned the board uh which as you saw

gave you then a recommendation for it and they agree that you know it'd be a nice area to be

So you're saying it's just going to be open to the public or just like upon your invitation, guys can come up and maybe hold classes or workshops and stuff like that?

It's actually both.

Yeah, we run a lot of free classes and events out of there.

It wouldn't be like you could just walk up necessarily during the day, you know, without anybody.

But yeah.

Thank you.

The questions.

Is the business the entire building?

yeah so we purchased that building in 2017 i apologize for that pandemic that occurred after

we invested heavily but i've been in this area for about 20 years i love it and uh the vision was

that we have a space where people can really come and just you know kind of grow as photographers

artists young artists adults everybody so understood so all four floors are currently

unique photo this would just be i would love to play that video but yeah the first two floors are

are retail uh what you'd call retail like shopping you know if there's an event there's

manufacturers reps there and the second two floors consist of uh classrooms and flex gallery space

sometimes you run a local photographer could put up all their pictures on the fourth floor for

instance and have a little wine and cheese party at seven o'clock or something any any kind we

really uh care about the community anything that we would do would be positive and then is there a

plan of the new deck yeah i could pull up the exact architectuals we have the architect on

on by also but essentially we've been through every single particular board and essentially

the the final step of issuing the permits they told us that there is a requirement for a special

exception so that's actually why we're here um but we you know fire you name it we've we've

complied or worked to comply or will it is in compliance um i could pull up those exact plans

but they're made submitted sure and we great yes can we see the plane absolutely uh this is the

yes can we see the plane absolutely uh this is the rendering is the architect on can you

rendering is the is the

daniel can you have her pull up the plans sure i'm not making this presentation i apologize

i could drop you the pdf dan if you want um from uh beckitt johnson

yes isaac are you uh are you on if she could be added to the panel that'd be great

thank you okay and alex if you could send me the plans i'll uh yeah i apologize

beth johnson hi sec i'm the architect hi could you state your name again and spell it for there

who's the stenographer beth johnson p-e-t-h-j-o-h-n-s-o-n do you swear or affirm to tell

the truth the whole truth is nothing but the truth i do okay council

waiting for the uh it's in it's it's it's just sent here

forward i'm sorry i know you guys had a long day i apologize i thought we this would be different

flow that's just you know i shared the the set you sent me recently hope you're okay

thanks for waiting on that call for that time i know it was long

Dan, did you receive those?

I am now.

I'm going to synthesize.

I apologize for the delay we can get this done quickly someone else have the plans

more readily available that can share their screen

beth has them for sure i do have them if i'm able to share let me see

so tomorrow you'd have to unshare your screen and then miss johnson can share her screen

okay here it is that should give us why don't you start talking about it

So this, just the easiest view of it, is the kind of code compliance sheets that shows

the lower level where new stairs would be installed.

And then the rooftop deck is set back about 11 and a half feet with, as we said, the two

pilot houses.

And as Alex described, that is required due to the egress distances and separation between

them.

And just another fact to point out is that the occupancy would be 29 people, so it would never be a large, large group up there.

Thank you.

All right.

Other questions for the architect?

It looks like the safety railing is set back, so from the street you wouldn't be able to see people on the roof.

Correct.

yes yeah this is second street is on the left hand side here historical came down a few times

i'm sorry it's okay the elevator does not go all the way to the roof so the only way to access

this roof deck is to walk up the stairs through one of the two pilot houses we yes and we hope

to hope have an elevator there financially be able to do that in the future okay all right

i have no further questions other questions questions from our attorney hillary emerson

um not so much a question just a comment um you mentioned that you're having events here um so

technically that's that's not included within the uses necessarily unless they're considered

accessory to um all the uses that you have um it's possible that you may also need a

special exception for some sort of assembly and entertainment um i can't the i have a problem

the term event though i more used is what we use it internally it's really

the term event though i more used is what we use it internally it's really photo top

photography classes or photography walk like essentially seminars so i think we were approved

for that use okay all right i just wanted to make sure because that is a little bit different

use so thank you questions or comments from the virtual audience

i do not see any hands mr chair planning commission good evening liz fuselay on behalf

of the philadelphia city planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change

to the cmx3 commercial mixed use zoning at this location the appellant has shown that the proposed

non-residential roof deck will have no detrimental impacts beyond what might be expected

the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the proposed

special exception for a non-residential roof deck. MI 2025-005-863-28 South

2nd Street, I vote yes.

Michael Graham. Oh sorry about Michael Johns, my vote is yes. This that was on

but this wasn't on yeah cheryl gaston my booties yes tanetta graham my vote is yes ryan mcadams my

vote is yes i won my vote is yes thank you thank you very much thank you is there anyone in the

audience whose 330 case has not been called oh my goodness gracious to that from the two o'clock

cases or anyone else oh my god it's only 6.45 all right here we go good evening my name is bill

bergman i will be chairing this meeting in the philadelphia zoning board with me is our vice

chair tenetta graham president mr chairman board secretary cheryl l gaston president mr chairman

board member michael johns still here mr chairman board member tyah wind present mr chairman board

member ryan mcadams present mr chairman so here is our attorney hillary emerson our zoning board

director ian haggerty and our board administrator lakeisha dandy recording of this hearing will be

posted on the gba website by participating you consent to be recorded this is an in-person

meeting with remote capabilities whether remote or in person if you're called to speak

you must state and spell your name and then wait to be sworn in once you've

been sworn in please state your name each time before testifying any person

may enter their appearance there are three ways you can identify the case

property address on your zoom webinar you can see a staff member or you can

call the ZBA appearance line by the close of business tomorrow call 267-270-5548

leave a message that includes your email address and the address of the property

of the appeal case following guidance is for our remote attendees when directed you must raise your

virtual hand in order to be recognized to speak second if you're called to testify you'll be

prompted to join as a panelist please accept the request and turn on your camera third the webinar

q a is for questions about the hearing do not comment on cases in the q a and fourth if you're

participating by phone press star nine to raise your hand and star six to unmute let's look at our

schedule number one mi2025 002 467 5861 willows avenue um no exhibits to first listing and need

and kenneth breckenridge are the listed owner applicants such as a pro se um mr chair um the

applicants were previously on the zoom and were advised that the case would be continued because

of the lack of exhibits so they did leave the zoom so i just want to know that they were here

but they've been advised to give a date no we did not give them a date i don't believe at the time

but we'll put it on the record now right so um this case will be continued to 63 26 at 3 30 pm

and then number three mi 2025 004 618 341 church lane this case has been withdrawn

we're going with number two mi 2025 004 603 3941 aspen street