Civic Association. Sorry, this is scrolling really slowly. Let me just help myself here.
The community notification letters, aerial views of the property, zoning archives from your properties, photographs and plans.
Let me just get to my photographs here real quick. We'll scroll through.
Here we go. All right, so 3626 Helen Street is a large double wide 2,414 square foot parcel
with this existing two-story cinder block structure on it. Part of the application is to
legalize that second-story addition that was added prior to my client owning the property.
This parcel was previously used as garages, which is what most of this block is, which I'll talk
about later. Helen Street is a small dead-end street, accessed off of Venango between Jasper
an emerald in the Harrogate neighborhood um here's some photos of the block um so my client
purchased this in April 2020 in the condition that you see here and our proposal let's get to
the plans is to complete the renovation of that existing structure and to use the property as
three two-story single-family row house style units but they're all on one parcel so it's
considered multi-family. Each unit would be one bedroom and one full bath with the kitchen living
and living area on the first floor and the bedroom and the full bath located on the second floor.
The trash is going to be stored in a locked trash area on the property and taken out on trash day.
There's a very similar project to this already across the street at 3619 Helen.
So these three units that you see right here, our project will be very, very similar to that, not including this back unit.
And the zoning board approved this project back in 1999.
The only refusal we received is for multifamily dwelling because it is RSA 5.
But like I said, that's why we think that this is an interesting thing, because we are doing
these single-family style homes, not necessarily an apartment complex. And because this is a double
wide lot, where in theory you could build a couple of single-family homes, we're really probably at
a lower density with three one-bedrooms, as opposed to two, three, or four-bedroom units on this
property. Let me just switch to the aerial view of the block.
the aerial view of the block.
All right, so this block, in addition to kind of being closer in conformance with
the residential zoning than the prior garage block, this block is zoned, this entire block here
is zoned RSA 5 for single-family residential use. However, that is not primarily how this block is
used um it is mostly small um garages um there are 38 parcels on this block there's only four
single family homes that one multi-family current unit one vacant lot four backs of properties from
emerald street and 28 garages which are either standalone properties or garages for properties
on emerald and jasper street and we believe that converting these former garages on this property
to a residential use would not only be more in line with the current residential zoning,
but would also benefit this block greatly because it would get more eyes on the street,
people interacting with the block, and help prevent some of the problems which you can see
in some of the photos of dumping and there's some also some other illegal activity that tends to
happen when you have these back blocks that are neglected and don't have people interacting with
them. So we met with Harrogate Civic. Sorry, one second, technical issues here. We met with
Harrogate Civic, and I don't know if Sharon is on the board, is on this call, but she actually
has one of the properties that backs up to the spot as well, the president of Harrogate Civic.
So we had, I mean, it was Harrogate Civic. It was fairly well attended. There was 14 people there,
and they unanimously supported the project. They did ask for a couple provisos, which were
installing additional lighting security cameras, making sure the property is kept clean, exploring
green energy and other greening options. I'm not so sure these are enforceable, but my client does
all agree to them as these benefit him as well as the community and just aren't a big problem.
So at this point, I would like to ask Julio if Julio Lopez is on the call to raise his hand so
I can have him adopt my testimony I see no one with that name hold on chair he just raised his
hand okay thank you good morning sir please identify yourself spell your full name and I'll
swear you in uh Ullo Luis Lopez J-U-L-I-L-L-U-I-S-L-O-P-E-Z you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do thank you jennifer please proceed so julio did
you hear my test county here today and believe it to be truthful and accurate yes and do you adopt
it as your own yes thank you thank you questions from the board no no no anyone else would like
to testify in this case please raise your hand only on 36 26 helen street please raise your hand
Only if you wish to testify in this case.
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Thank you.
Planning Commission?
Good morning, Chair Chico, members of the Planning Commission, sorry, zoning board,
Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
Members of the board, in 2017, this area was remapped from RM1 to RSA5 in accord with
recommendations from the comprehensive plan.
however the proposed use and dimensions are consistent with what would be allowed under
RSA 5 including the unit density so the city planning commission has no objection to this
variance thank you very much MI 2021-000662 3626 Helen Street my vote is yes my vote is yes
my vote is yes
my vote is yes
thank you
before we have to go back to case number three
I think I failed to put a proviso in
so MI 2021-000667
1426-44 North 6th Street
my vote is yes with the proviso
revised plan
two pages approved today
my vote is yes with proviso
yes with proviso yes with proviso sorry about that
jim you're not coming through right um okay on to number 11 calendar number mi 2021-000720
5301 euclid street the attorney is bart levy
good morning again mr levy please identify yourself for the record i think i should
Good morning again, Mr. Levy. Please identify yourself for the record. I think I swore you went earlier, so you're still under oath.
Mr. Levy?
Yes, sir.
Please identify yourself for the record.
My name is Bart Levy. That's B-A-R-T-L-E-V-Y. I'm attorney for Elam Associates, LLC.
sir do you do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
yes have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance
a copy of the refusal or referral photos under plans of the property five days in
advance of this hearing and have you met with the rco and do you have a letter
hello yes uh we didn't hear your response yes my answer is we have met with them and we do have a
letter okay great you may proceed thanks all right so i'm i'm not i'm sure why i'm not getting any
video. Can you guys see me? Can I have, oh, start my video, okay. How's that? We see you now.
So, in other words, just to get right to it, 5301 Euclid Street, even though I don't have control of the exhibits at the moment.
Mr. Levy, pardon the interruption, are you able to share any of your exhibits?
I have a file now, and I can share all of them.
I just don't know how to load them up.
Well, Ms. Sunkit will walk you through it.
Do you have the actual documents open on your desktop computer?
And do you have a regular file that it's literally open with your documents visible?
If so, you can go to the bottom of the screen on your Zoom application and hit share.
once you hit share
then you're going to hit the documents
that you wish to share with us
so you say it's at the bottom of the screen
you should see a green button that says share
you're on a desktop computer right
okay it's coming up
share them um but your documents aren't open it's showing your files
did that come up
first document come up no we only see your files a list of your files
well i've got them all opened at the top of my screen
um do you see the deed now no we don't so when you want to share you had to click on the actual file
it says i'm screen sharing you are but you're not sharing the documents it's just your
file listing? Could I possibly ask my client who's an officer from the LLC to join us,
Mr. Elam, if you could raise his hand? Yes.
If I may address the board on this matter then, without the exhibits for the moment.
So 5301 Euclid was purchased by my client, which is Elam, in October of 2020.
When we found it, or when we purchased it, the property is essentially two separate units with two separate addresses, two separate kitchens, two separate sleeping quarters.
And for that reason, the property has never been lawfully rented out, has never been lawfully used as either a one-family unit or a two-family unit.
What we're asking for the board to consider is allowing us to operate this as a two-family dwelling.
Now, when we met with the RCO, their concerns surrounded the fact that the property had not been properly.
Their concerns surrounded the fact that the property had not been properly used, at least in their memory.
There were trash problems.
There were building appearance problems.
My client, once we can get the exhibits up, has undertaken to completely restore and remodel both units.
The idea of the place being unused right now is part of the point.
I'm sorry. Mr. Levy, may I interrupt for a moment?
Who would be sharing the screen with the presentation?
Mr. Rodney Elam.
Okay, so we're going to promote him, Yvette, to panelists so he can set up and share his screen.
Mr. Levy, if you could select the green share button and bring your file down, and then we'll allow him to share his screen.
I should stop sharing?
Correct.
Very well.
Sorry.
I believe he's in.
good morning good morning mr elam please identify yourself through the record spell your first and
last name rodney elam r-o-d-n-e-y last name is e-l-a-m you swear or firm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth i do thank you mr levy yes sir yes sir and mr elam if you
could share your uh screen some of the documents that would be helpful sure i guess i might have
the same problem that uh mr levy was having is this basically a legalization mr levy it is
essentially the property is not being has two separate homes in it or two separate home
structures but was never brought before this board for for lawful approval of that use for
that reason the property fell into disuse and and what that caused was a blight of of this property
and and just about everything else a true eyesore the neighbors concerns were whether we in our
project would include such safety things as cameras and really attention to the property
Well, I think, pardon the interruption, we do have some, we see, I guess, the front of the building in question here.
Which is ours, the one with the cone on it?
Actually, the one all the way to the right with the fence around the deck.
That's actually the picture of what it used to look like when we, that's what it looked like when we purchased it.
Can you share any other documents, exterior, interior?
Yes, I'm actually trying to pull that up now.
For whatever reason, okay, so I know I'm supposed to hit the share screen button, but it's just
bringing my right okay all right here we are okay so the exterior of the property as now we have
or a bunch of umbrellas that oh okay now we got it go ahead okay that's the exterior of the property
as it is now uh this is uh as of last week uh completely uh restuck out on the outside of the
property there's the interior which was completely uh it was just completely destroyed uh
upstairs basically uh is a three bedroom one and a half building uh one and a half bath unit
and the bottom uh would be a one bedroom unit
uh hvac system uh like i said completely uh remodeled would would be completely remodeled
with everything there's enough the view of the front of the property uh as mr levy was stating
that that's the rear of the property the place had a lot of problem with weeds uh debris on the
outside that's actually the side of the building with an egress and entrance to the basement unit
uh i'm sorry there's another picture of what it used to look like
um essentially like i said we would just like to get a zoning to make it a multi-family unit
um and to me improve uh what was definitely a blight to this uh entire uh neighborhood and
street okay thank you there is a letter of non-opposition from winfield residence
um questions from the board no no no no anyone else would like
no no no no anyone else would like to testify in this case please raise your hand only for
5301 euclid street here we have a miss brenda williams miss williams you can unmute yourself
and speak good morning miss williams please spell your full name and i'll swear you in
good morning miss williams good morning please spell your full name and i'll swear you in
brenda b-r-e-n-d-a williams w-i-l-l-i-a-m-s you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes please proceed uh my main concern as they did mention that it was
blight on that corner um i've lived on this block for 45 years and i've seen it good and i've seen
it very bad uh so the main concern that our neighbors have are the maintaining of the building
or of the property in itself it has constantly been allowed to grow weeds as high as I don't
know what and that's on both the property on the front and alongside um presently he did show some
pictures but I don't recognize that as of today um there's a hole on the side of the building
where the door is and i feel that that is a safety problem also there were um debris excuse
the interruption but apparently the renovations haven't been completed he's in the process of
renovating the building okay now where were you showing the door where that that wood on the
bottom on the ground is not there it's a hole there and then they have buckets of debris in
the back of the building which will not be picked up by the city because of it being uh bricks and
stuff so we just have a problem with the maintenance of the building and the safety
may i may i address that uh briefly the board which you see right there is there right now
that's this photo was taken this morning uh as there was a uh complaint about the hole
so we did have it covered um the debris uh that you mentioned with the buckets that's right now
this is as of this morning they're gone okay all right i haven't been out this morning all right
thank you and mr mr elam just uh try to do your best to maintain it while you're going through
construction we understand it's part of the construction you know leaves behind some debris
but do your best, please, to maintain it while you're doing the renovations.
Anyone else to testify in this case?
I see no other hands as of now, Chair.
Thank you. Planning Commission?
Thank you, Chair Chico. Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no zoning change for this area.
however the proposed use of two dwelling units is similar with the previous use as one dwelling