Thank you.
Number 11, MI 2023-001-366.
3428 Vaughn Street. Daniel Reisman is the attorney.
Letter of non-opposition from the
Holmesburg Civic Association contingent on the parking being
removed. Letter of non-opposition from Council Member
Driscoll.
Chair Daniel Reisman is coming back in as a panelist now.
Good afternoon.
Could you just state your name for the record?
Yes, it's Daniel Reisman, R-E-I-S-M-A-N.
Right. Could you identify your client relationship to this property?
Yes, my client is Saul Real Estate, LLC. Dr. Jatin Mavalia, a principal, is here.
Okay, and our vice chair has just a few questions for you, sir.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
can you see the screen we can okay thank you again my name is daniel reisman i represent
the applicant i've submitted to the zba 11 exhibits they're listed to the left here
they include photos floor plans the rendering that you see on the screen right now and as the chair
mentioned a letter of non-opposition from the RCO. I don't know if you mentioned this, Mr. Chair,
but Councilman Driscoll also sent in a letter. I did. I mentioned that too. Yes. Okay. So you
have that as well. We do that. Okay. Thank you. And just to turn to the initial presentation,
there was an amendment to the refusal that the board should have. And that was based on the
request that the RCO made to remove the parking that you mentioned. And because of that, that
generated an additional refusal. With the board's leave, Tanya Sunkit, we went back to LNI, we
submitted amended plans. Without the parking, a new refusal was generated, and I sent that refusal
to both Ms. Sunkit and to Hillary Emerson, the board's attorney.
The proposal is to remove the existing structure, which is being used as a dental practice, and in its place, to construct a new structure, which you see again in the rendering, which will also be used as a dental practice.
I'm going to show you a few aerial photos of the property.
So you'll see this is the entire property.
Here's the existing structure.
Here's the remaining portion of the property, you'll see the grass.
It's at the corner of Ron Street and Leon Street.
Here's another area of the property.
And here's the zoning plan, and you'll see it shows it as being RSA 3.
Now for some photos of the property.
So here you'll see the property, and it actually has a very interesting history.
It was originally constructed as a single-family residence, which you can see.
One of the refusals is for the dental practice, which is considered group medical, and that generated refusal.
However, the property has actually been used as a dental practice for about 50 years.
I've included in Exhibit 7 a permit, a 1967 zoning permit, and the first floor was initially used as dental.
And the first floor was initially used as dental.
The second floor was used as dental.
The second floor was used as a residence.
In 1981, the zoning board approved the use of the entire structure as dental, both the first floor and the second floor.
So the zoning board has already approved historically this property for dental.
But because the proposal is to demolish this existing structure and construct a new structure, that generates, sort of re-ups everything.
And we're back now to seek an approval for continuing use of this property as a dental practice.
Now, if you look, and these are just more photos of the property.
This is a good view. If you look at the property from, I have a photo from Leon Street, you'll see that this is the property, this is the edge of it, and this is actually the rear yard of the property.
This is the property line right here. The property, the existing structure actually breaches the rear yard requirement for this zoning district. It's a 20-foot rear yard requirement, and pretty much there's no rear yard at all.
So this is an existing nonconforming structure that we have right now. And as I'll show you, the new structure that's going to be constructed will actually comply in all senses and all requirements with all the dimensional requirements of the zoning code, which this current property does, the current structure does not.
Because of the age of the property, it's pretty much outlived its usefulness for a modern dental practice.
And I'm going to show you a couple of photos of the interior.
So you'll see there's the hallway.
And here's the waiting room.
So, you know, this has been a, as I said, it's been used for 50 years. It's been an important amenity. It's a neighborhood practice. It's served its purpose, but the practice is really, the buildings really become antiquated for a current medical, for a current dental practice, and that's the reason for the proposal for the construction of the new structure.
Now, in terms of the new structure, effectively what's going to happen is, as I mentioned, this is going to be demolished, and the new structure will be built on this portion right now, where we have the grass.
again all setbacks will be observed on all sides of the property originally where the structure is
we propose five parking spaces which complies with the code however the rco requested that we remove
the five parking spaces for two reasons one is they they prefer to have that area landscaped
over there and number two is their view is that and we agree that there's sufficient street side
parking in the neighborhood such that we don't need the on-site parking and I'm going to show
you a couple of photos that reflects that pretty well. All right so this is the this is the structure
right here. This is Leon Street, and you'll see pretty much this entire block, no parking,
same across the street. And then you'll see further down the road, again, parking on both
sides here, parking all along there. So between, you know, with the street side parking and the
RCO's desire to keep this area landscaped. We agreed, and we resubmitted the plan, as I mentioned,
and that generated the refusal for the parking.
Now, we submitted plans, and I'll show you the amended plans.
again that's the new structure and and this so this is where the parking would have been
under our original plan and you'll see it's now a landscaped area
and you'll see it's now a landscaped area.
All right, here's the amended plan. And what you'll see here is, it's a little hard to see,
but this shows 20-foot rear yard requirement from here to here. And what you'll see here is,
This is all now open area, which we don't have.
And as I mentioned, all of these areas observe all setbacks.
So and the rear yard will now be 47 feet instead of zero feet.
So in summary, this is a longstanding use that's been serving the community for over 50 years.
The building, the use was previously approved by the zoning board.
The building was originally constructed for a single family. It's outgrown its use for dental practice. We're going to be demolishing a non-conforming structure and in its place, construct a fully conforming structure.
And for those reasons, we have the support of the RCO. And at the RCO meeting, no one voted in opposition to the proposal, and we have the support of Councilman Driscoll.
And that's my presentation.
You want to bring your client on and adopt your testimony, please?
Yes. Jatin Mavaya, please raise your hand.
Jatin Mavaya, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Yeah, it's Jatin, J-A-T-I-N, last name Movalia, M-O-V-A-L-I-A.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed, counsel.
Dr. Movaya, did you hear my statements today regarding the property located at 3428 Ron Street?
And to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief, were my statements all true and correct?
and you adopt them as your own? Yes. Thank you. Questions from the board?
No, Chair. No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience? Chair, we have David DeLugos.
Please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Sir, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Sure. My name is David DeLugos, spelled D-A-V-I-D-D-L-U-G-O-S-Z.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
Yeah, I am representing the Holmesworth Civic Association, and yes, I am a neighbor as well.
Proceed, sir.
I just wanted to attest to Mr. Reisman's assertions about our meeting and the conversations and make sure that, you know, it's not, I guess, was a usual request.
to have off-street parking removed, so I wanted to make sure I was here to go with that.
The community and the Civic Executive Board felt that because the footprint of the building
was effectively tripling and we were losing a lot of impervious or impervious ground space,
it was important to keep some of that lawn landscaping there, so I just wanted to add that to the record.
Thank you. Thank you so much for taking the time to call in, and we appreciate your viewpoint. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Chair, I see no hands at this time.
Planning Commission.
Ron Bednar, City Planning. While this property is currently indicated for residential use on the city plan, we have no objection to the granting of the requested variance.
Thank you.
MI-2023-001-366-3428
Ron Street. I vote yes.
Excuse me, Mr. Chair. We have a proviso for this one.
Okay. I vote yes proviso
per amended refusal dated 7-18-23.
James Snell. My vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman and board members.
Thank you.
Is there anyone in the virtual audience whose 2 p.m. case has not been called?
Chair, I see no hands at the sign.
Let's take a five-minute break and be back, and we'll have our court stenographer get set,
The stenographer gets it, and then we'll be ready to go and move through the 3.30 list.
and then we'll be ready to go and move through the 3.30 list.
Five minutes.
Okay. Sounds good.
Okay, Chair.
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you.
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how are we doing
doing good chair all right mr kelly yes sir i'm here perfect we're ready to go whenever you are
Okay, let's start.
We recording, Fatina?
we recording for tina not yet can i check all board members first please
Not yet.
Can I take a look?
okay yeah i was here mr holliman
he's been struggling all afternoon on that phone i know i feel bad yeah i i think the three of us
we we don't have a long list here so i think the three will just we'll just handle it okay i'll
call Tom the late at home. We can start the recording as you wish. Can you hear me, Mr. Chairman?
We can hear you now, sir. Yes. Mr. Chairman, Fatina, do Fatina unmute me or does she unmute me?
No, Mr. Holliman, we never mute any board members. It's all on you by you
muting and unmuting yourself. So I'm doing it all myself. Okay, thank you.
Yes, Tom.
We're ready to go for Tina.
Yes, Nikki, are you available to start the recording?
I'm sorry, Chair, may I just speak?
This is Tanya.
Mr. Halliman, you must remain muted until asked to speak so we don't get an echo.
Fine, thank you.
I will.
Can you hear me now?
Yes, thank you very kindly.
Okay, I will do that.
Thank you. I'm sorry, Chair, we are currently recording, so you may start as you wish.
Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Bill Bergman. I will be chairing this ZBA afternoon
hearing. With me is our Vice Chair, Ismail Shahid. Present, Mr. Chairman. Our Board Member,
Thomas Holloman. Present, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. And James Snell, our Board Member.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you.
Also present is Hillary Emerson, our attorney, and our executive director, Tanya Sunken.
Here's our virtual format.
Be advised, the proceedings are being recorded.
A video will be available by contacting tanyasunken at phil.gov.
For the benefit of our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before they testify.
If you're participating by phone and you wish to testify, press star nine to raise your hand
and star six to unmute. To win an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548. Leave your email
and the address of the property in question. And finally, the question and answer box on the screen
is not for comments or testimony. All comments should be directed to our executive director,