Good morning, Chair Bergman.
David Fecto with the City Planning Commission.
Mr. Chairman and board members, in 2019, the zoning map was amended at this location from commercial mixed use 2 to industrial commercial mixed use in accord with recommendations from the comprehensive plan.
The applicant has shown that the proposed vehicle maintenance and repair will not cause detrimental impacts to the neighborhood beyond what normally might be expected.
So the City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the special acceptance.
Thank you. MI 2021-002-828-651620 Upland Street.
I vote yes with proviso. Interior storage of vehicles and parts.
James Snell, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Thank you, Mr. Quinn.
Thank you, Chair Bergman.
Thank you, all members of the ZBA.
Is there anyone in the virtual audience whose 930 case has not been called?
Here, I see no heads at this time.
Thanks, everyone.
See everyone at 2 p.m.
Thank you.
good afternoon my name is bill bergman and i will be chairing this afternoon
2 p.m zba hearing with me is our vice chair ismail shaheed he should be right on here
our board member james snell present mr chairman and our alternative board member
LeBaron Leonard Palmer
from Development Services.
President, Mr. Chair.
And also here is
Hillary Emerson, our attorney,
and our executive director,
Tanya Sunket.
Here's our virtual format.
Be advised, the proceedings are being recorded.
The video will be available
by contacting Tanya Sunket
at Philadelphia.
Okay, thank you.
For the benefit of our
court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before
testifying. If you're participating by phone and 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 answer box on the screen is not for
comments or testimony. All comments should be directed to our executive director, Tanya Sumpkin.
Let's look at the continuations we have this afternoon. Number one, MI 2022, 007-295-5737
Elmwood Avenue. This case is continued. And number eight,
8. MI 2023-000-471-2829-59-North 23rd Street. This case is continued. Are there any comments
relative to two cases I've just continued? Good afternoon, Chair. This is Yvette Benton. I'll be
your co-hosts for this afternoon. I see no hands at this time. Thank you. Are there any other
requests for continuances? Chair, we have Brittany Gardner. Ms. Gardner, please unmute yourself and
wait for the chair. Ms. Gardner, could you state your name and spell it please for the court
reporter. Yes, good afternoon, Mr. Chairman. Brittany Gardner, B-R-I-T-T-A-N-Y-G-A-R-N-E-R.
I am counsel for... Hold on, hold on one minute, hold on. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes. Okay, and your case is MI 2022-007-293-2200
East Cumberland Street, am I correct? 2200 East Cumberland, that's correct. Okay, proceed.
Yes, this is the Attorney of Record. I am requesting a continuance for today in order to meet with the community.
Yes, this is the attorney of record. I am requesting a continuance for today in order to
Okay, thank you. So, number 10, MI2022-007-293-2200, East Cumberland Street, as cases continue. Thank you for calling in.
Thank you.
Are there any other requests for continuances?
Chair, we have Paige Fetchon.
Ms. Fetchon, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter?
Hi, yeah, my name is Paige Fetchon, P-A-I-G-E-F-E-T-C-H-E-N.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
What case, what location?
The same case that you all just discussed, 2200 East Cumberland.
And I just want to contest that as well.
Okay, fine.
So you'll be notified of the next hearing, okay?
Okay, excellent.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Are there any other requests for continuances?
Chair, we have Vito Canuso.
Mr. Canuso, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Vito Canuso, good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
Good afternoon, counsel. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Vito, V-I-T-O, Canuso, C-A-N-U-S-O, attorney for applicant on property 2524 North 15th Street.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Okay. Your request continues?
no you're uh mr chairman i'm requesting my client is in traffic and is traveling
and is is not available right now can i be placed at the end of the list
well well council just so you know we do not have exhibits for this case
i sent them over uh okay um hillary did we do we could we check again for exhibits for this case
um yeah we will we will check again um mr canuso i will add you to the end of the list so we can
check yeah mr canuso where did where did you send the exhibit do you remember where you sent them
As per the instructions, I sent them to three locations, rcozba at phila.gov, s-u-l-e-t-a-z-b-a at gmail.com, pcpc.zoning at phila.gov, those three locations, those three email addresses.
Okay, we will check.
That's it. We'll hear this case last. Thank you, Mr. Canusa.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Okay. Are there, right, here we go.
So we're going to go to our add-on list.
Number one, MI 2022-001-768-1625 North AT Street.
I vote yes for hearing and reconsideration,
request for reconsideration. I vote yes. James Snell, my vote is yes to a rehearing and
reconsideration. Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes for rehearing and reconsideration. Thank you.
Number two, MI 2022-003-722-3500 Ainsley Street. The vote on this matter has been moved to Wednesday,
June 14th, 2023 at 2 p.m. Number three, MI 2022-007-288-4223, Poulton Avenue. The vote on
this matter has been moved to Wednesday, June 14th, 2023. We're going to go to our main list,
Number two, MI-2022-007-294-1833 South 18th Street.
Olok Sokoloff is the attorney.
Letter of Opposition from East Point Breeze Neighbors.
Applicant also has provided seven form letters of support from neighbors on the 1800 block of South 18th Street.
Chair, Mr. Sokoloff is coming back in as a panelist now.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, sir. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Good afternoon, Chair. Members of the Board, Oleg Sokolov, O-L-E-G-S-O-K-O-L-O-V,
from Rabinovich Sokolov Law Group, on behalf of the applicant, Gabrielle Dicci.
All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do, Chair.
our vice chair has a few questions thank you good afternoon council do you agree to waive
Our Vice Chair has a few questions.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Counsel. Do you agree?
the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy good afternoon um have you emailed in
all the required documents that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of
this hearing i have sir sir thank you please proceed share your screen thank you very much
green button on the bottom yeah i'm sorry i just the permissions were turned off just one moment
All right. I believe that's working. Is everyone able to see that?
Fine. Yep.
Thank you.
Mr. Chair, members of the Board, we are here seeking a variance to use this property for the purposes of visitor accommodation.
This property is located on the 1800 block of South 18th Street. If I may I will take you through
our exhibit packet. As read by Mr. Shahid, here is our refusal as the proposed use is not allowed
in the RM1 District. Just some pictures of the property. You can see that it's a single family
dwelling. This is looking south and this is looking north. I'd just like to draw the board's
attention to the fact that this neighborhood does have some mixed uses in the area, especially here
on 18th between McClellan and Sigal Street. And, you know, every corner property is a CMX2, so
the neighborhood is peppered with commercial uses as well as RM1 residential uses.
I'll quickly take you through the interior of the property. You can see that this property is immaculately maintained.
I'd also just like to mention that this neighborhood in and of itself does not have many hotels or other types of residences that people from out of town could stay in.
And when the applicant herself comes on the line, I'll have her speak quickly to her experience in managing properties
and why she's particularly adept at being able to manage a visitor accommodation so as to have no issues with it.
I believe this property was originally purchased for Ms. Dietschy's personal use, but as a
result of some work situations has been, or we are seeking this variance to use it for
visitor accommodation.
Our project information form. Our application for appeal.
As the Chair stated, we met with the community on Wednesday, May 17th.
our proof of mailing.
Pardon me. Here's our letter of opposition from the East Point Breeze Neighbors Association.
As you'll see, there were only four people voting and all four did in fact oppose, but
we felt that it wasn't enough of a representation of the neighborhood to really accurately gauge
how the neighborhood feels about our request.
Photos of the zoning posters in the property.
I apologize, I'm having a bit of an issue scaling it.
And then, as the Chair mentioned, we did submit, along with this exhibit packet, seven letters
of support from neighbors in and around the property that weren't able to attend the meeting.
from neighbors in and around the property that weren't able to attend the meeting I do apologize
I do apologize.
for the format that they're in I understand they're not the cleanest copies but there are
seven here and then here's I'll go through this exhibit packet and then I'd also like to add a few
more letters that were generated of support that were generated since the time that this packet
has been submitted so here's the deed showing Ms. Dietschy is on this property since March of 2018.
and our tax clearance.
Lastly, Ms. Dietschy recently has been able to obtain
a few additional letters of support,
which I just want to confirm that,
is everybody able to see that?
Okay, thank you, Chair.
And that's one, two, this is, you know,
almost a direct neighbor at 1826 South 18th.
This is just around the corner.
This is, once again, on the same block.
This is right around the corner at Sigel Street.
So with the Board and the Chair's permission, I would like to supplement our exhibit packet
with these additional letters of support.
With that, I would just like to ask Ms. Dietschy to raise her hand so she could adopt my testimony
and quickly share her experience in property management.
Ms. Dietschie, please unmute yourself and wait for the chairman.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Hello?
Ms. Dietschie?
chair she's unmuted but i'm not getting any response
okay um counsel you're an officer of the court we will gladly take your testimony
thank you if i may just add miss dici herself is employed in in facilities management and
commercial property management so she has a unique skill set that make her very adept at managing
any kind of commercial property or property that's used for commercial purposes such as
visitor accommodation. Questions from the board? No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience? Mr. Chair, this is Hillary. Just a quick note,
Mr. Sokolov, if there are letters that you showed the board today that were not in the
exhibit packet that was submitted, please submit them to the board ASAP so they can be included
in the record. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you, Ms. Emerson. I'll do so right at the
conclusion of this meeting. Chair, we have France Pierre with his hands up. Mr. Pierre,
please mute yourself and wait for the chair. Sir, could you state your name, please, and
spelled for the court reporter. Good afternoon. Yes, that's France Pierre, Councilmember Johnson's
office. The spelling is F-R-A-N-T-Z, last name Pierre, that's P-I-E-R-R-E.
Where are firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do. Proceed, sir.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And good afternoon, fellow board members. At this time, due to the opposition of East Point Breeze, Council Member Johnson does join RCO in their opposition to the appeal. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Chair, I see no other hands at this time.
Planning Commission?
Good afternoon, Chair Bergman. David Effecto with the City Planning Commission.
the comprehensive plan recommends a change in the zoning at this location from residential
multifamily to residential single family. There is no unique physical condition or circumstance
of this property to prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code. The City