we can go live okay we are live thank you
Thank you.
Okay, Chair, we have 28 attendees. You can start when you're ready.
Thank you.
Pardon me. Good morning, everyone. My name is Frankie Chico. I'm the Chair of the Zoning Board
of adjustment. I'll be participating in today's hearing along with our Vice Chair Ms. Carol
Tenere, Board Secretary Confessor Plaza and Board Members Mr. Thomas Holloman and Mr. James Snell.
Board Administrator Lakeisha Dandy and our Board Attorney Ms. Sharon Saleta are also in attendance.
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 that the recording will be made available to the public on the web or otherwise.
Third, 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. I'll repeat that. 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. Pardon me. Finally, to enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548
and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue.
I'll 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 questions should be directed to Ms. Lakeisha Dandy,
our board administrator.
Having said that, I will begin the process of reading off cases on the add-on list for 930 this morning.
MI 2020-003-389-446-52 North 2nd Street.
This case was held on September the 1st.
Ms. Denary, I believe you have a statement. You read the transcript and reviewed the, excuse me, my allergies are working on today.
I don't think I vote on this case on 12th Street.
All right. So, MI 2020-003389, 446-52 North 12th Street. My vote is yes with the proviso. A maximum of five units. A maximum of five units.
Confessor Plaza, yes with proviso. James Snell, yes with proviso.
Thomas Holloman, yes with proviso.
so thank you carol you'll handle number two i will not be voting on this one calendar number
one nine seven two nine one three west dakota street my vote is no confessor plaza my vote is
no james snell my vote is now thomas holloman my vote is no thank you m number three on our list
MI-2021, that's 001760, 2316 North 10th Street.
My vote is yes.
Carol Tenere, my vote is yes.
I reviewed the record and I viewed the video.
Professor Plaza, my vote is still yes.
Professor Plaza, my vote is still yes.
James Snell, I viewed the video, and my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is no.
Number four on our list, MI 2021-002619, 1300 Bigler Street.
My vote is yes, with the proviso, maximum two residential units, no commercial space.
Carol Tenere, my vote is yes with Proviso.
I don't vote on this.
Tom does.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Now we'll go to our regular list at 930.
Number two on our list, MI 2021-001897.
1313 South 23rd Street is continued number three on our list MI 2021-001578 1420 Point Breeze Avenue is continued number seven on our list MI 2021-001959 2349 North 20th Street
is continued. And number 12 on the 930 list, MI 2021-000457. 7226 Oakley Street is withdrawn.
If anyone objects to the withdrawal or the continuances that have been requested,
please raise your hand at this time. Only if you object to the continuance or the withdrawal
that have just been read into the record.
No hands, Chair.
Thank you.
I will now ask if anyone would like to request a continuance or withdrawal
for the 930 list, please raise your hand.
Only if you would like to ask for a continuance or withdrawal on the 930 list,
please raise your hand at this time.
no hands chair no hands i'm sorry we have a norman
norman you can unmute yourself mr wooten yes good morning good morning please spell your full name
and i'll swear you in uh norman n-o-r-m-a-n wooten w-o-o-t-e-n do you swear for him to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do thank you sir please proceed
Okay, I'm here about the property at 1221 West Lehigh, 1223 West Lehigh.
I didn't hear it.
Say that again?
I didn't hear you announce anything about 1221.
We didn't get to that case yet.
We're asking now if anyone is requesting a continuous.
We'll get to that shortly.
And my humblest apologies.
Thank you.
anyone requesting a continuance or withdrawal for the 930 list please raise your hand
no more hands chair okay with that we will go to case number one
mi 2021-001-896 1221 west lehigh avenue mr clinton i believe is the attorney of record
please identify yourself sir and i'll swear you in
and he's coming in now as a panelist
morning mr chairman henry clinton for the applicant concerning 1221-1223
west lehigh avenue 1313 south 33rd street queen memorial building foot off upa 19146
you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do thank you mr plaza has some questions for you
Mr. Clinton, do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal referral, photos, and or 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, all to the above, but the RCO has not sent a letter, and I believe Mr. Wooten, who just
called in, is a representative of the RCO, and he will weigh in on that, I believe.
Okay, great. You may proceed.
I'm going to share my screen, if I may.
can you see that is that large enough we don't see anything yet just you just me that's not good
how about now no still looking at you boss
you might have to hit your uh share screen button again yeah i think you're right all right let me go
back in we can see on documents now about you have a screen if you can enlarge that a little
bit that would be helpful the only thing is this is for my later later presentation let me get out
this and put the lehigh avenue one up so i think i have to go back into zoom
but yeah that was for h h yeah so my my mistake there
i want to stop share i'll start from the beginning
all right can i just let the next person go and then i'll fix this because i had the the uh i'm
going to present later on and that that's h street that's the one that's coming up so let me just
regroup and i'll i'll come back we'll go to case number four and mr wooten if you're listening just
hang in there uh we'll be back to your case thank you mr chairman thank you we'll go to case number
four mi 2021-000463 1553 north marston m-a-r-s-t-o-n street there's a letter of non-opposition
from the brewery town sharswood rco mr anastasio is the attorney of record
Mr. Anastasio, can you hear us?
He's coming in now as a panelist.
Good morning, Madam Chair.
Good morning, Mr. Anastasio. Please spell your full name. I'll swear you in.
Vern Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O, 1315 Walnut, Suite 1006, Philadelphia, 19107.
Mr. Chairman, I have three cases this morning and my volume was off when you called the case.
Which address is this again?
at 1553 North Marston. Thank you. You swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
nothing but the truth? I do. Thank you. Mrs. Tenere has some questions for you. Yep. 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, refusal, or referral, photos, and or plans of the
property five days in advance of this hearing? And have you met with your RCO? And do you have
a letter? Yes, I do. Okay, thank you. You may proceed. Thank you. I'm asking the administrator
if they could also promote Ian Toner, who is the architect on the project.
And while they do that, I want to share with you the letter from the RCO dated September 9th.
It's a letter of non-opposition to the proposed development at 1553 Marston Street.
We initially asked for an eight-family dwelling, and we had some refusals with respect to open air, a minimum rear yard depth, and maximum height.
The highest point was just under 54 feet.
After a couple different meetings with the RCO, we've actually brought our project down.
show you the new plans to 40
the new plans, to 40 feet in height, because they wanted our height to be sort of within
the fabric of the rest of the community.
We do have an increase in number of units, but they're larger and they're a better product,
which is exactly what the RCO was looking for.
The units range anywhere from the smallest being 465 feet or so, and then the larger
ones being in excess of 700 square feet.
Property is currently zoned RSA 5, however, this has never been a single family residence
as the plans can demonstrate.
Here's some photos of the interior.
Here's the block, which is in transition,
I think is a good description of the block as it stands.
As you can see, there's lots of vacancies in and around it.
And this will be a quality product that allows for folks to use it for residential purposes again, hopefully breathe new life into the into the block.
With that, here's our flyer that was sent.
And we also have, as I said, the RCO support letter, non-opposition letter.
The parcel itself is just too large of a parcel to be a single-family dwelling.
There's never been a single-family home on that block.
Multifamily household living is more conducive to that block as it currently sits, and the
community organization agrees.
And with that, I'd like to have Mr. Toner raise his hand so he could speak perhaps a
little bit more about the actual units themselves. Mr. Toner, please spell your full name and I'll
swear you in. Ian Toner, I-A-N-T-O-N-E-R, from Toner Architects, 1901 South 9th, room 425,
Philadelphia, 19148. Where are we going to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Please proceed.
So our original, the existing building covers just about 100% of the lot, so we are proposing
to reduce the size of the building just slightly in the rear to be able to have windows into
these units.
There's an alley that runs behind the building and then down the side.
You can see those property lines shown here.
So there will be, you know, egress from the rear units and also the ability to have a lot of windows back there.
Have studios. We have one bedroom, two bedrooms in here, and that accounts for the varying size.
It's 10 total units. We lowered the building, but we had a larger rear yard in the previous version.
So when we lowered it, we are now doing a smaller rear yard.
And because of that efficiency of being on fewer floors, that's how we were able to get from originally eight units to now 10 units.
We do have trash storage in the building right by the front door.
No roof decks anymore, so we won't be a nuisance to the neighbors.
And I think that, I mean, that sums up generally what we're doing.
We're going to restore the facade on the front.
and just add one story to the existing structure we've uh by the way i uh thank you ian uh i'd
like to call adam mckay who's the owner you could raise his hand mr adam you can unmute yourself
good morning everyone good morning sir please spell your full name and i'll swear you in
Sure. Full name is Adam McKay, spelled A-D-A-M. Last name spelled A-C-C-A-Y. Address 2130 East Firth Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19125.
We're a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Thank you, Mr. Anastasio.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Adam, did you hear my presentation and Ian's presentation to the board this morning?
And is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
yes all right and would you adopt it as your own testimony yes thank you mr chairman that's all we
have thank you willing for questions any questions from the board no mr chairman
Okay, anyone else would like to testify in this case?
okay uh anyone else would like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
If so, please raise your hand.
There are no hands at this time, Chair.
Thank you. Planning Commission?
Good morning. David Fecto, F-E-C-T-E-A-U, with the City Planning Commission.
You swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir, I do.
Thank you. Please proceed.
Thank you, sir. Mr. Chairman, members of the board, in 2014, the zoning map was amended from residential multifamily to residential single family at this location in accord with recommendations from the comprehensive plan and with support from the community.
At 2,750 square feet, there is nothing unique about this lot that will prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code.
The applicant could subdivide this property into two lots and build one single family home on each without variances.
Accordingly, we recommend that the board deny the requested variances.
Thank you.
MI 2021, that's 000463, 1553 North Marston Street.
My vote is yes.
Carol Tenere, my vote is yes.
Professor Plaza, my vote is yes.