Good afternoon.
Hi, could you please state your name as spelled for the court stenographer?
My name is Thomas, T-H-O-M-A-S, Leist, L-E-I-S-T.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Our vice chair has just a few questions for you, sir.
Good afternoon, sir. Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case?
stop these in advance of this hearing i have and i have updated the tax form today thank you sir
please proceed you've already shared your screen um
and you see my screen we see the screen and we see your uh your notice of refusal okay you see
the notice of refusal just quickly okay so this is the notice of refusal this is uh an application
for an extension of an existing parking space at an rac uh semi-attached building on fleming street
this um i will show you pictures over here this is the existence in 2008 i hope the bill
I will show you pictures over here. This is the existence in 2008. I owned the building since
late in 2021, where the parking next to the house is present in 2016-2021.
At this point in time, we propose to extend the parking space along the house to pull it
backwards so that a modern car can actually be parked there off the street. As you see from the
picture view from Fleming Street. There is no parking on the left side, on the valley side of
the street, so there is no parking affected on the street in any shape or form. You see the curb cut
in place. I have submitted street departments approval of the curb cuts that has been in
existence. You see the disturbance which will be about 260 feet, the extension of the parking space
along the building. Here you see a distant picture with the grey wall, that's the property
in question. You see the new buildings next door that have reset parking garages across
Fleming Street. You also see on the other images the setback parking spaces that are in existence
in the other properties on this particular street. I'm showing you here the view, the concrete slab
that is present in a red circle with the extension that is suggested over here. In the process of
doing this, we will also clean up various remnants that are present from prior the subdivision
of the property.
The subdivision of the property occurred before I was the owner.
On the right hand side over here, you see in the circle the proposed area of the parking
space where the partial parking space is in existence.
The red arrows indicate off-street parking spaces that are currently in existence or are being built on Fleming Street in that particular area.
You also see on this the parking that is on the hillside of Fleming Street.
So no, there is not going to be any disturbance or reduction of parking spaces in the street.
This will also allow us to incorporate charging station for an electric car in this area so there
is no additional greenhouse or other issues that are emanating from this particular adjustment or
for the simple variance that I'm asking for. Also the building at this point in time has solar panels
on the roof. So part of the electricity proof will be from the solar panel. This is the project
information forms that has been submitted. This is the indenture showing that I'm the sole owner
of the building then here is the updated tax certificate with the original ones that expired
beforehand here is the approval of the local rcos that supports unanimously the application
for this simple variance
and then also the proof of the letters
that has been forwarded to the board
in this particular matter over here,
the summary form to the CBA
that indicates the support.
That was 18 to 0, that support?
Animus 18 people, did I say?
This was 35.
I'm not sure.
He mentioned it.
Yes, I mean, I will go back over here.
I apologize to scrolling too.
No, no, no, that's okay.
15 people were in attendance at this virtual meeting.
All right, thank you very much.
Here is the displays on the different dates,
the files that are in the originals.
The files indicate the dates that this was the picture was taken.
here are the certificate of mailing from the post office i apologize for the number of pages over
here but i didn't have the books that they looked for but they were all mailed
and so let me just get to the end of this so the applications that i have submitted and there is the
the additional form. Here is the original state as it is.
form here is the original state as it is at this point in time with the planning,
with the parking deck indicated next to the house. So the 4472 Fleming consists of an RSA5
property that is a house, that's the grey house that I showed you, plus an RSA3 strip of land
that was created when the two neighboring properties were divided off and the parking
space that is in existence and that we are proposed to extend is on the RSA 3 property.
This is the change that is proposed over here with the area of the extension of the deck so
that the cars can be set back with a set of stairs on the side over here.
And then finally over here is the street's approval of the curb cuts that has been existent.
I just don't know how long it has been existent because it predates the times that I owned the property.
This concludes my presentation.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
i do not see any answer mr chair any commission
good afternoon chair bergman and members of the board michael gall with the staff of the
philadelphia city planning commission m-i-c-h-a-e-l-g-a-l-l do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i so affirm please proceed thank you
the comprehensive plan recommends a change to the residential single family zoning at this location
from rsa 3 to rsa 5 to be clear this property is split between the existing rsa 3 district which
requires shared driveways and the rsa 5 district which is not which does not there is an existing
curb cut at this location and street parking is not permitted on this side of fleming street the
The appellant has demonstrated that the unique physical conditions of this property make conformance with the zoning code difficult and that a variance would not detrimentally impact neighboring properties.
The City Planning Commission therefore recommends that the board grant the proposed variance for accessory parking.
Thank you, Michael.
M-I-2024, 001-935-4472, Fleming Street, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Sonetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Kaya Nguyen, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
You have your vote, sir.
Thank you.
Number eight, MI 2024-001-985-3327-35B Street.
Richard Pressman is the attorney.
Letter of unanimous support with proviso from Impact and Seventh Ward RCOs.
letter of non-opposition from
Council Member Lozada's office.
They're present now as a panelist.
Mr. Pressman?
Yeah, I'm here. Can you see me, sir?
I can. Mr. Pressman, could you please
state your name and spell it for the court stenographer?
Richard Pressman.
Richard, R-I-C-H-A-R-D.
E. Pressman, P as in Peter, R-E-S-S-M-A-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do, sir.
Could you identify your client, a relationship to this property?
Yes, the current holder, the owner is 3327 B Street Ray Holdings, LLC, and the principal
is Mahira Tak, and he is in the virtual audience and will be willing to be promoted to testify
at the end.
And our vice chair has just a few questions for you. Absolutely.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
I do, sir.
Have you emailed them all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
We did submit them, and we supplemented with a recent tax clearance certificate within the five days.
Understood. Please proceed and share your screen.
how is the size of that? Is that good enough? We're fine. Okay, great. Good afternoon,
Mr. Chairman and members of the panel. As I said that I represent the current
holder of the real estate here and Mr. Ataka, the principal is here to testify as well.
Holder of the real estate here in Mr. Ataka, the principal is here to testify as well.
The current zoning on this parcel is RSA 5, which is residential single family attached.
This property was never residential, could never be residential, and will never be residential at this location.
We're requesting today a use variance for the property to be industrial use, which is consistent with its prior use.
If I may, Mr. Chairman, I'm going to show you a picture of the exterior of the building.
This is the building here, the red brick building.
And as you can see, it clearly was built back in 1930, excuse me, as a commercial property.
property. The building was purchased last year on July 24, 2023. We have attached as exhibit number
four the deed to this parcel. The application for zoning was made in January online by the architect
and it was denied because of the current zoning of RSA 5 and clearly industrial use is not permitted
in that zoning district. As a result, we did get our notice of refusal back by the L&I, and that was
dated January 30th, 2024. That's Exhibit 3. We timely filed an application for appeal back on
February 28th, and that's the number five in our package, and the project information form is
exhibit number six. The location of this property is in Kensington area on B Street,
mid-block between Cornwall and East Thayer Street, with the major cross streets of West
Moreland, and East Ontario. As you can see from this diagram here, the zoning, this is the subject
property. You can see RSA 5 all around it, and they're all single-family attached dwellings,
except for where this gray is, where it has been rezoned for commercial on the first floor. There's
a pizza shop there, and I'll get to that. You can also see on Rose Hill in the back is here. In here
is all I2, even around the corner, going on Westmoreland there is I2, and then down here on
the other side of Ontario, there's I2 as well, and across the street is RM1, which are all
single-family residences there that are attached. Looking at an Atlas photograph taken from 2023,
It shows you here, the industrial I-2 here, industrial I-2 here, and then here as well, and then surrounded by, in the other areas, the RSA-5.
The building description is a lot size of approximately 18,000 square feet, with 77 linear feet on B Street.
The building goes all the way through. Going back to here, as you can see, it goes all the way through to Rose Hill and to B Street, one continuous structure, two stories.
And as I said, it was built as a commercial structure in 1930 and has been that way ever since.
going to the actual photographs of the property this is the original one I showed you showing
the building on b street and this is the rear on rose hill and when the current owner bought the
property that existing detailing company was in the back and operating for many years and is still
a tenant there today the interior shots this is a shot looking from the front entrance way
of the existing structure out towards B Street, and this was used as a check cashing business
prior to the current owner's purchase of the property. This is adjacent to that space on B
Street is this semi-finished space commercial, which would be used for the proposed use of
sign making, which is what the current owner bought it for and would like to use it for.
Or this would be part of that industrial light industrial use.
Then here's the main area of the building behind that check caching window area.
And it goes all the way through.
And if I point out here in the back here is a ramp, which we'll get to.
That's Rose Hill Street.
And this is where the manufacturing of the signs is.
And when I say manufacturing, the use of the sign is really a printer.
printers. So it's all getting done by digital printing and then affixed to certain structures
So it's all getting done by digital printing and then.
and then delivered and installed on site at the location of the business. They don't do
any manufacturing. It's really assembling there. This is that ramp I was showing you that goes down
to Rose Hill, which is important because this is where all the deliveries of materials come in
and all the deliveries out of the finished product going out to the customer.
They get very few customers coming in on site because all the sales is done
and sizing on site at the customer locations.
And they go to places of convenience stores and others that have signage.
They also do not just signage, but they also print up leaflets
and other signs that go on the sides of buildings
that aren't just the big awnings that you see on the buildings outside.
Here is the second floor, which is going to be subject to a proviso.
It was built back many, a few decades ago, was used as a church.
That's what that elevated stage was originally used for.
More recently, unfortunately, it was used by a prior tenant as a lounge,
which created certain undesirable uses in the neighborhood, late nights and problems.
The current owner, when he came in and bought the property, asked that tenant to leave, even though they wanted to stay and continue to operate there.
It was not consistent with his values, so he asked him to leave, even though he was giving up the income.
So that's the inside.
The other important aspect of this property is side parking.
On the B Street side, going all the way through to Rose Hill in the back, is, I apologize, is parking.
So this is looking from B Street going to Rose Hill. And I think we can get up to eight to 10 cars there and would more than enough to accommodate the workers that would drive. Most of the workers use public transportation. They don't drive.
This is the sign where we took the picture going back to B Street and it's secured with a roll gate. So at night it's not left open and it's secure and all the parking for the uses and anyone that would come to visit would be able to pull in there.
and this was the last shot going all the way down to Rose Hill. Prior uses. This building,
this is what I was able to find on L&I's website. The earliest record I found was 1941,
which was a garage, and then there became sheet metal parts. If you see here,
back in the 50s, 46, I'm sorry, it was sheet metal, and it continued until at least 1956
as a sheet metal manufacturer. More recently, I apologize here, hold on.
in in 2016 the prior owner went and got a use permit and he was got it for both the restaurant
home appliance repair also an auto mechanic repair and then on the second floor they got
a permitted use of a banquet hall and food prep that has been abandoned my client is not looking