ZBA Hearing - September 17, 2020

the zoning board of adjustment are you ready to start okay i'm sorry you have to go live

yeah let's go live yeah sorry we're live but i wanted to ask sharon a question sure sure um i

wanted to because we didn't officially put it on record about spring garden and i just wanted in

case anybody shows up that that was continued that's so october 6th isn't it no it's not a date

Sharon, you around?

No, it's just continued cheer.

We don't have a date yet

because their community is working it out.

For some reason, I thought we had October 6th,

but okay, no problem.

Who do we have on today?

I'm sorry.

Please forgive me.

I'm still not woke yet.

Not Spring Garden.

We're talking about the one

that was scheduled for today.

Carpenter Street.

Oh, okay.

1 ,600 Carpenter?

Yes.

Thank you, Chair.

Okay.

Thank you. Okay. No need to apologize. I'm sitting in my yard. I don't know if you heard

my original statement. I'm out in my backyard. My wife threw me out because she's on a Zoom call.

I get thrown out for a lot of reasons. I understand. All right.

Anyway, I'm outside. I apologize if there's a glare. It's the best I can do.

So again, this morning, my name is Frank DiCicco. 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.

Additionally, Board Administrator Tanya Sunkit and Board Attorney Sharon Saleta are also in attendance.

And again, I know that most people know the rest of it, at least the attorneys do, so I'm going to not bore everyone with the entire opening statement.

uh sharon uh we're gonna do uh west susquehanna first i i believe yes actually if you could um

announce the 1600 carpenter calendar number 37198 was continued so if anyone is here for that

they'll know and then i guess it it's continued to to a date uncertain right yes a date to be

determine whatever um and let's see um yeah maybe susquehanna first um so if if they're going to

request that it be held for another week you can get that out of the way then

uh so that's calendar number three six seven two nine five two one dash five three one west

Susquehanna Avenue. That's right. And 2209 -15 Fairhill Street. Calendar number. Mr. Clinton,

are you available? Mr. Clinton, you've been promoted to panelists. You can unmute yourself

and speak. Thank you. Good morning, Mr. Clinton. Can you put your name and address on the record,

please? Sure. Henry Clinton, 1313 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia PA, 19146. And do you swear

or affirm to tell the truth and nothing about the truth? I do. Do you also agree to wait the reading

of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? I do. Okay. I wanted to give you some background.

We heard this case on September 2nd, and the vote was going to be held pending whether or not

uh councilwoman canona sanchez uh received any negativity concerning the project at least that

was my understanding so i believe sloan folks may be on the call and he may have some comments as

to whether or not the councilwoman receive anything that may be uh negative toward the project

folks if you're on

no he's not right according to the notes henry that uh sharon sent to me earlier um

i believe the councilwoman is requesting again that another week i'll give them another week

uh to uh i guess interact with with the rco or whomever uh were you aware of that

i was aware of that right yes i was going to say that mr clinton is actually the one who

informed me of that oh okay all right and and you're in agreement with that henry

uh i think in deference to the councilwoman and the board um i think we have few alternatives

okay uh appreciate that um tanya do we list we ask if anyone i'm sorry

Tanya, do we list this?

I'm sorry, Frank.

I didn't mean to interrupt.

No, no, go ahead.

Could we ask if anyone else is here to speak on this?

If anyone wants to speak on this case, please raise your hand.

No hands.

Thank you.

Mr. Chair, this is Henry Clinton again.

Can I just speak?

Sure, sure.

Yeah, the information that I got was received via text from Mr. Falks from Sloan, and I did pass that on.

And I was just wondering, perhaps that request may have been a lukewarm request, but I wish Mr. Falks was on the line so we could hear it from him directly.

because as you know sometimes uh council persons decide to sit sit some hearings out and lay it in

the board's hands and perhaps this is one of those instances but i'm not able to address that if mr

folks is not on the on the call and can i say that i checked my email just now to be sure that um to

see if i've received anything from mr folks and i haven't which is unusual he does um he does

provide us with notice of any position that they are taking so so if he's requesting another week

he has not informed us of it right so guess what i'm saying is i don't want to uh fall on my own

sword by suggesting that mr folks wants an extension when it hasn't formally been requested

so perhaps that's an indication that more time is not needed but i don't want to speak for mr

folks why don't we do this henry if it's okay with you uh we have another case uh we'll do

here the other case you stay on standby and we'll try to reach folks and see if they can come to

some uh conclusion on what the councilwoman's position is all right i appreciate that that's

all right then we'll decide whether we want to continue or vote on it all right i appreciate

that. All right. Thank you. So hang in there. We'll get back to you.

Calendar number 38991, 1836 Wilder Street. The attorney is Rachel Pritzker.

Good morning.

Good morning, Ms. Pritzker. Can you put your name and address on the record, please?

Yes. Rachel Pritzker, R -A -C -H -A -E -L -P -R -I -T -Z -K -E -R, Pritzker Law Group, 1635 Market Street, Suite 1600, Philadelphia, PA, 19103.

Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth and nothing but the truth?

Yes.

And do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?

Yes.

You may proceed.

So we're here just to discuss the engineer's report. Last we had discussed this matter,

this is where there was a third story built where there should have been a setback. And

we kind of come to the conclusion that we should look at the engineer's report to determine if

the building is even sound, if it's structurally sound. So we do have the engineer's report. I

believe we might even have the engineer on the call as well to speak to it. I did send a copy

of the report but i can share it and go through it um excuse me for interrupting uh if you have

any of the exhibits or photographs as it relates to that third floor edition it might be helpful

for me and the rest of the board to refresh our memories i think i remember pretty much

most of it but it would be helpful so we know what we're talking about here yep thank you

This is the refusal, again, just for the setback.

Let me pull up the photos.

This was the structure we were talking about, where it was built flush instead of setback,

and it's quite a construction site at the moment.

this is the is there interior photos you want to see uh chairman um for me i don't know about

the rest of the board for me it's it's this photo and i think there's a roof deck or something

behind that that third floor addition i think i had some questions about what that drain spout

represents on the front of the building yeah i know exactly what you're talking

Yeah. I know exactly what you're talking about.

I'm just trying to find it. It's right here.

Yeah. That was one of the issues. Does it service anything?

It doesn't, it should be removed.

I believe we have, we've Kurt is here as well.

who's the head of construction for my clients who I think had mentioned that it was put in

incorrectly and it will be removed once we're able to move forward. But we're kind of at a

standstill right now. This was a situation, and correct me again if I'm wrong, I believe that

you couldn't get an inspection until we voted on this application, I think. Correct. So there's a

bunch of violations on the property related to the fact that they were it was built outside of

the plans and so we can't really move forward with remedying those violations without a determination

from the board as to whether we can keep it as is and just move forward um or if we are you know

which is what we're looking to do so that's why we got the engineer's report to show that it was

structurally sound we also um the engineer and kurt also went into the neighboring properties

because there was some concern that they had expressed during the meeting any of the issues

that they had brought up in the meeting or actually have already been addressed so there was no pipe

sticking out there was no interior issues and we did make time to go in those properties to make

sure that there was no issue the engineers report actually specifically shows that the structure is

in good shape and that if we were to try and demo some of it that we could potentially cause

bigger issues um so uh again i'm just thinking out loud so if if we're the board were to approve

this uh you're still not home completely because then the city comes in and they do their inspection

correct right so the next steps would be to submit um the plans to l and i and work with

the inspectors to get all the violations removed so that would be the next steps and they again

to your point have to approve that it's once it's you know we we get the path to move forward that

each step it's done correctly so we can get the certificate of occupancy and that the property

can be sold if we don't if we vote in in the if we deny it it's likely to sit there in this

condition for a long time correct unless unless l and i puts a cease and this well they say i have

a cease and this is unless they require it to be demolished but they won't know that until they

have an opportunity to go in correct but even if they were to give us i mean there's a stop work

order but there's not um there is not a make safe violation on it so if they were to put a make safe

violation on it you still have an opportunity to remedy that so it's not that you would have to

necessarily demo but again without the zoning allowing us to move forward with it as is

it kind of again puts us in a standstill

our resident architect Mr. Holloman do you have any questions

yes the spout that you see on the front I believe they anticipate on setting it back

and drain in the front that's why the spout was there I think you're right

so therefore they knew that they were supposed to set it back yeah I'm sure

and again my clients are we're the ones helping to finance a project they were

not doing the construction and so now they're kind of stepping in to remedy

this but you're probably absolutely right

all right uh any other questions from the board not a one not one else anyone else wish to testify

in this matter if so please raise your hand tanya do you see kurt on the line

yes do you mind making it so that thank you yes i'll allow him to talk kurt you can unmute

yourself and cheer if there's no hands up thank you hello can you hear me yes yes sir please give

us your full name and address spell your name kurt k -u -r -t wilhelm w -i -l -h -e -l -m schweidop s -c -h -w -i -e -d -o -p

we're a firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth

yes sir i do today and every day of my life all right thank you sounds good

Kurt, could you just share with the board just the experience you had with the the engineer,

the experience you had with the the engineer um you know the discussion with the neighbors and

you know, the discussion with the neighbors?

uh sort of the the goal moving forward just so that we can reiterate as you were kind of the

boots on the ground uh during this rachel kurt is with the lending institution or the so kurt

works works with ashmore partners he's the head of construction uh we'll be stepping in to help

fix this as we move forward. Thank you. How are you doing, Mr. DiCicco? I appreciate your time

and going through all this with us. So I've been boots on the ground three times through the

property. I've walked through 31 years experience as a professional builder. I currently own a

construction company, a plumbing, heating, and air conditioning business. And I'm also the vice

president of construction for ashmore partners and that's my role here today uh i've walked

through the property i've i've looked at the quality of the work the actual framing of the

structure inside appears to be good i uh there was a request to have the engineer walk through

which i accompanied him to walk through the property to gain access and um obviously we