Ms. Tanya Sunker. I'm sorry. Chair, this is Sharon Saleta. Number six on your list I have
marked as having no exhibits. I heard from the attorney Corin Weiss today and we received the
exhibits today. We also have a letter of non-opposition from Councilman Squilla. If you
I could call Mr. Weiss so he can explain why the exhibits weren't timely submitted.
Thank you. Mr. Weiss, are you available?
Good afternoon, Mr. Weiss. Please spell your first and last name and I'll swear you in.
Warren Weiss. C-O-R-E-N-W-I-S-E.
And do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
the exhibits were provided previously I received a call that they were not
formatted properly we're not reading well so I did reformat them and submit
them today and I spoke to Ms. Saleta I do apologize to you and your panel as
well as Ms. Sunket and Ms. Saleta as I know that this is really challenging
stuff and everyone's taxed but it is some pretty simple in my opinion hopefully
of yours to a pretty simple dimensional issue with support of the neighbors and the RCL.
No worries.
Thank you.
Anyone, anyone, any hands are up?
I think you're already answered, but I'll ask again, continuance or withdrawal requests.
Are we going to hear this one, Chair?
And I believe it's, that'll be the first case we're going to hear, number six.
is that accurate
that's right yes okay i guess we can proceed
i'm going to promote him yep i'm sorry chair i'm going to promote him to panelists he's going
to come back in i'm sorry i didn't hear i didn't hear you
I'm sorry I didn't hear I didn't hear you he's being promoted yeah he'll be back now
Mr. Wise you are promoted so you can share your screen as necessary
calendar number 2203 1219 Latona Street Mr. Wise put your name and address on the record
please and spell your last name orin wise c-o-r-e-n-w-i-s-e
address address sorry 100 north 18th street suite 300 philadelphia pennsylvania 19103
okay do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing about the truth
i do and you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do
Have you, do I read that?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet
or have we already gone through that?
It was emailed.
We've gone through it.
We need to read that.
Okay, have you emailed an exhibit packet
with the required documents,
proof of ownership, tax compliance,
refusal referral, photos and or plans of the property
five days in advance of the hearing?
And have you met with the RCO
and do you have a letter?
I have emailed the exhibits
that are required we have met with the RCO and in that packet there is a letter of non-opposition
from Pass Young Square Civic Association. Thank you you may proceed. Okay and with me I believe
on the call are the architect Rick Miller and the applicant at least one of the applicants
Christopher Steven and Margaret Mecca. I believe I'm sharing my screen I hope you can see my exhibit
packet yes yes we see it okay thank you um so starting with the refusal so this is 1219 latona
street the refusal is if you're familiar with this provision 701 2b4 this is the this is the
third floor addition uh statute where um you can in in attached row home or in an attached row home
you can build a third story, but if you're abutting two row homes on either side that are only two
story, an eight-foot setback is required. The refusal is because the plans submitted do not
have an eight-foot setback for the proposed third story edition. And I'll just zoom. Well,
here's the, we met with the RCO. Here's the letter that the zoning board should have received from
passing square civic association uh that the the rco voted eight zero in non-opposition with the
roof deck and pilot house uh trellises at the rear and the front um being used as single family
household uh and they note the refusal as well here where abutting properties are two stories
and the code requires an eight foot setback in that scenario um this is the petition we had
signed. As I tell all my applicants, I'd rather five signatures from the adjacent nearly impacted
neighbors than 40 signatures or 400 signatures. We're at 1219, here's 1217. Other neighbors all
on the block of Latona, and let me show you that, that do not oppose the variance at 1219 Latona
Street for a third story with no setback. I asked when my client sent me this petition, I said,
where is 1221 they said oh they live in california here's the email uh margaret is my applicant she
emails me here's the email down here from miss bucks debbie bucks who is 1221 uh that says here
we agree for you to build your third floor without the setback we'd want to do the same
so uh let me know and hopefully this pandemic business is over soon um i'm sorry just same
email I printed twice by accident. Let me zoom through. So here's the plans. In fact, bear with
me. I want to just drop into the photos first. And let me show you that. While you're doing that,
full disclosure, if you noticed on the petition, there's a woman by the name of Amanda DiCicco.
she does happen to be my cousin so full disclosure
thank you sir and thank you to your cousin um i want to show you the subject property first
if i can find a good one
no i can't find a good one
no it's in here somewhere there it is okay this is 1219 latona street you can see uh two story
You can see a two-story abutting.
We can't see her, no exhibits yet.
We can't see your no exhibits yet.
What's that?
I'm not, I'm not.
We can't see your exhibits.
You are screen sharing.
Let me try again.
Anything?
yes we see yes okay got it now there we go so this is 1219 latona um the applicants uh margaret
and christopher have lived here uh margaret's on the house for about 10 years long-standing
members of the community um before the pandemic they were actually you know looking for a little
more space and actually were looking in the neighborhood they love this location as as many
of us do uh it's it's a great area and they wanted to stay in the neighborhood but we're outgrowing
their home looked around actually couldn't find anything then the pandemic hit and uh bad went
to worse and now they're working from home and really need extra space so they started talking
about building up and when we when they got into this process and dealt with the architect they
realized that there's this issue with the abutting properties and requiring eight foot setback
and I'm sure Mr. Chair and the members of the zoning board have heard this before this rule
regarding the eight foot setback for abutting properties creates kind of the haves and the
have not scenario because if you don't abut a two-story property you can build up three stories
no problem and you don't have to maintain that cordis line no setback this is the this is if
the picture showed their property they would be two doors over to the right so this property
is three doors to the west of 1219 this is uh 1227 i think and what's also interesting about
this property is this property is not set on the property line and there is already a setback
and the setback we'll see on the plans i think it's uh four or five feet so the facade of this
property is set back from the property line and we see that three and four doors down where
this house the gray one on the left is is built on the property line and the next one is actually
set back from the property line so this distance this difference between the facades of these
properties is that setback that is carried down this block on Latona so we do see down and this
is like I said this is to the west so to the west we have three-story properties then we have three
story properties three doors down which is set back um and now looking to the east we again have
the have-nots in the middle two stories and then when we get down to the corner
three stories so this if if my clients were this one they could build up uh without any variance as
by right. And then, I'm sorry. So there's their house, 1219, next door, next door. And there's
these larger properties down to the east. And this is to the east looking south. This is to the east
north, three large properties is to the east south, the south, southeast corner, larger tall
properties and then this is it doesn't come out that good but i was trying to show the setback if
you look further down here you can see the properties down here then reclaim the uh setback
on latona street and looking to the west you can see this is that setback that these properties are
all set back that that amount of space i saw that picture already so um well i'm here i'll just
show you the tax clearance which if you're going i've been trying to get the tax experiences from
the revenue department and when we use that website to request the tax clearance all we
get now is technical difficulties so i wanted to print out this page it says 1219 latona street
is zero past due and I hope that's and here's Margaret Mecca um so they are compliant but
the actual cert we were not permitted here's the deed to uh Miss Mecca 1219 Latona Street
dated 2000 2010 so if I pull it back up to the plans I think we got a pretty good understanding
of that you can summarize okay um yeah let me i'll just they want to put up a third story they
don't want to step back eight feet um and there is
And I can surely have whoever's on the line, I think it's Christopher Steven or Margaret Mecca, I can ask them to adopt my testimony for the record if that's necessary.
Here's what's proposed, just to give you the idea.
so they're going to add this trellis it's just this does project out into into what's the
sidewalk but it's actually within their property line like we said here's a third story addition
that's proposed large windows uh you know uh facade materials um keeping in character with
the neighborhood and there's a small cornice line to be preserved but you can see uh here it's it's
minimal it's not eight feet but the deck itself is actually set back because they're they're uh
and the neighborhood was thrilled about the fact they're adding so much green on the on the block
because there's going to be some planters here and the deck itself is set back but it's this
it's this living space that they're so uh so interested in gaining because um you know they're
building the third story they want to make sure essentially the difference between the the eight
foot setback and no setback is is it is a room um because the stairs have to stay where they are
and if they have to set it back they lose all this front area but uh the layout is going to
be an additional room uh two additional two rooms up in the third story and if my client's been
recognized i would just ask them to put their name on the record and and uh confirm that my
my statements have been accurate and they adopt them as their own
oh anybody on
do you know if they um on the telephone
uh i believe they should be on the zoom uh raise your hand
mr christopher and margaret
no worries if they're not able to get on uh we'll stipulate
oh there he is steven mr christopher can you hear us am i getting it backwards again
steven christopher i'm sorry i do this i do this to that every time his name is steven christopher
please identify yourself for the record spell your last name uh this is steven christopher with
the ph and christopher last name ch-r-i-s-t-o-p-h-e-r and i have my wife here with me
I'm Margaret Mecca. First name, M-A-R-G-A-R-E-T. Last name, M-E-C-C-A.
Steven, did you hear my statement?
Yes, we heard your statement and everything is accurate and we would like to adopt it as our own.
Thank you. Questions from the board.
i'm sorry chair well sorry the question um was for them was not answered they were answering
corin's question okay swearing them in we could just make sure that's on the record gotcha miss
miss mecca mr christopher do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but
the truth we do yes all right we're all legal now okay yeah questions from the board no
no no no no one else would like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
no hands at this time chair thank you planning commission
good afternoon my name is ariel de liberto that's a-r-i-e-l d as in dog i l-i b as in boy
E-R-T-O
And I'm here with the City Planning Commission
Thank you, Swear or Affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Please proceed
This parcel zoning requires a third floor addition to be set back eight feet from the front facade
Because the adjacent properties are two-story homes
The applicant has not demonstrated hardship to justify granting the variance
Therefore, we oppose the granting of the variance
Thank you
MI 2020-002203 1219 Latona Street. My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
So listen, when you get that deck built, if you look east, slightly to the left of the chimney stack on Jackson School, I'll be on my deck and just wave to me, all right?
it's on the record it's on the record take care thank you very much may i be excused
thank you very much may i be excused so are we going to seven and eight now
i don't know we we didn't have it we did we get the exhibits uh sharon
yes you're going to um the two oak lane okay because early oak lane ones we're okay to go
yeah no we have very good okay count calendar number one eight three five eleven hundred oak lane
and wait a second strike that eleven hundred dash eleven twelve oak lane calendar number one eight
three five and there's another oak lane calendar number oh seven three seven eleven twenty two
oak lane are they all to be heard together sharon they are these were actually continued so they
could be considered together oh okay great um bill car is the attorney and paul bonnie
is representing i believe the rco okay thanks
bill should be available he can unmute himself and say his name for the record
okay good afternoon mr chair members of the board can you put your name and address on the record
please yes i can you'll be sworn in after okay william kerr k-e-r-r um high schwartz is my firm
name 40 east airy street in norristown pa do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing
about the truth? I do. And do you agree to waive and stip? I do. Have you emailed the exhibit
packets with the required documents, including proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal,
referral, photos, plans of this property five days in advance of the hearing? And have you met
with the RCO? And do you have a letter? Yes, to all of that. Now, this is the third hearing in
this in this matter the first was february 12th the second was november 4th of this year prior to