We're ready to go, Tanya?
No, Chair.
We're waiting for all the attendees
to come into the virtual room.
Okay, cheer.
We are ready to go as you wish.
Good morning.
my name is Bill Bergman and I will be chairing this morning's EBA hearings. Board members with
me. Carol Tenere, Vice Chair. Present. Thomas Holliman, our board member. Present, Mr. Chairman.
James Snell, one of our board members. Present. Also with us is our Zoning Board Administrator,
Tanya Sunkit and our board attorney Sharon Saleta. Before we start, just some comments about our
virtual format. First, be advised this proceeding will be recorded. Anybody participating, you
acknowledge your agreement to be recorded. A video will be available by contacting board
Administrator, Tanya Sunkett, at phila.gov. Second, for the benefit of our court sonographer,
we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves prior to speaking or testify.
Third, if you are participating by phone and you wish to testify, raise your hand by pressing star
9, and then star 6 to unmute. To end an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548. Leave your email
address and the address of the property in question. The phone number again is 267-270-5548.
Fourth, please note the question answer box is not for testimony or comments. Any comments
should be directed to Tanya Sunkit, our Board Administrator.
So let's start and let's talk about continuances.
And I'll list the continuances that we have.
Number four, MI 2021-003084-2304 East Allegheny Avenue.
Number 9, MI 2021-003139, 2400 North Howard Street.
Number 10, MI 2021-001001, 2500 Wilmont Street.
Number 11, MI 2021-001108-2500-Wilman Street.
And number 14, MI 2021-003095-648-North Forty Street.
Does anybody in the virtual audience have any comments relative to the contingencies?
i see no hands at this time chair okay does anyone else have any continuances for today
chair we have a falaja for the beer with their hand up okay
mr or miss for the beer you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair
yes can you hear me yes could you state your name and spell your last name for us please
sure it's over falaji last name f-a-d-e-y-i-b-i do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole
truth and nothing but the truth i do i'm sorry chair this is tanya may we get the full spelling
Our first name, O-L-U-F-O-L-A-J-I.
And, sir, what case do you have you want to talk about?
This is 2242 North 26th Street, and also 2244 North 26th Street.
And also 2244 North 26th Street, that's MI-2021-003088 and MI-2022.
That's M-I.
I see it.
Yep, I have it.
I'd like to request a continuance, Chair.
For both cases.
Correct.
Excuse me.
This is Sharon Saleta.
First, can you explain what your relationship is to the property?
I believe it's owned by a corporation.
Is that correct?
I'm the owner of Fadi EBP.
properties by the corporation owns the property thank you
okay so
we we grant it but it must be tried the next yes and and just um so that you understand you will
have to be represented by an attorney when the hearing goes forward i understand
Okay, so that's MI 2021-003-088, 2242-North26, and MI 2021-003-087, 2244-North26.
Both will be continued.
Mark must be tried.
Any other questions?
Yes. We also have Sloan Folks with his hand up. York, Mr. Folks, you can unmute yourself and wait
for the chair. Good morning, Chairman Bergman and ZBA board. My name is Sloan Folks representing
the Office of Councilwoman Maria Keona Sanchez, room 508 City Hall. Spelling is S-L-O-A-N-E-F-S
in fire or L-K-S. You swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
I do, sir. Thank you. I am referencing, I believe it's case number seven on your docket, MI2021-003062, 230 West Wednesday Street. The RCO has submitted a letter to our office and I believe they sent it to, or they attempted to send it to the ZBA on December 8th, requesting a continuance, whereas the applicant had not met with the community.
what what what number do you think that is again i believe it's number seven but i mean
excuse me mr folks it's number five on the board thank you thank you ma'am thank you ma'am i
appreciate it okay so you you want to continue uh yeah on behalf of the rco the request of
continuous yes sir okay and we also received no one zero zero three zero six two we will continue
it is that it must be heard yes must be tried thank you
anyone else chair we have a john bolano with his hand up mr bolano you can unmute yourself
away for the chair. Hi, good morning, team, and good morning, Mr. Chairman Bergman. Yes, could you
spell your name for the court reporter? Yes, John Bolano, J-O-H-N, last name Bolano, B-O-L-A-N-O.
Yeah, wait a minute, do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the
truth. Yes, I do. Okay. And I'm, I'm talking on behalf of the
property 2304 East Allegheny Avenue.
You you you object to that being continued? Yes, please. I'm
requesting continuous because we already, sir, we already
continued that. Okay, okay. Awesome. Okay. Thank you so
much. Any other requests for continuances? I see no other hands at this time, Chair.
Okay, let's go to our add-on list. MI 2020-001579-201 West Johnson Street. We're continuing
in this case to open the record at the request of the appellate's attorney.
Tanya, do we have a date?
Yes, we can do February the 15th at 9.30.
And this is Sharon.
If I could just clarify for the record, at the end of the last hearing, which was last
week um bill kerr the applicant's attorney suggested that he might want to supplement
the record with additional information at the resumption hearing he will be able to do that and
the board will allow further community input
Thank you.
Thank you.
Number two, our vice chair will handle this.
I really wasn't here when this case was handled.
Calendar number MI-2021-003211 1439 West Benango Street.
My vote is to deny this.
james snell my vote is to deny
thank you we'll move to our regular list
mi 2021 003065 1213 elspeth street leo mulvihill is the attorney
Paschalong Civic Association, non-opposition. Councilman Swilla, non-opposition.
Chair, Mr. Mulvihill is coming back in as a panelist now.
Good morning. Could you state your name and spell it for our court reporter, sir?
Certainly. First name is Leo, L-E-O, last name Mulvihill, M as in Michael, U-L,
b as in victor i h i l l address we're affirmed to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing
but the truth i do okay sure so good morning chairman members of the board i'm here today
on behalf of alexander munce that's m as in mary u e n as in nancy t z as in zebra and kathleen
aurohan that's o u e r h a h n as in nancy for this application at 1213 ellsworth street
This is for the legalization of an existing fence and for the erection of a new fence.
We do have support from the community group here with one proviso that the fence in between my
client's property and their neighbor's property next door comply with the six-foot height limit
rather than an eight-foot proposed fence that we have as part of our application.
So here's the table of contents. I have the refusal appeal and project information form at page one.
Area zoning maps at 7.
This is this RSA 5 single family home.
Deed at 8.
Tax clearance at 15.
Zoning letter at 16 or RCO letter at 19.
Photos of the property at 21.
And the plan at 40.
I'll specifically just get to the area zoning map first just to give an idea as to what we're looking at.
So members of the board, this is my client's property indicated in blue.
It goes from street to street, Ellsworth to Peters.
Peters is a small dead-end street with limited parking. There currently exists a fence that
spans my client's property and the neighboring property, indicated here by my mouse cursor,
which is eight feet tall on Peters Street, and the community group is totally okay with that.
My clients wish to erect simply along the property line here another fence, which will be six feet,
which is allowed by right anyway. It's just an amendment to our original application.
really we're here to legalize this existing eight-foot fence.
What I'll do is I'll get to the photographs next.
One moment, I will actually get to the Patching on Square Civic Association.
And we can see here that this letter outlines precisely what we were talking about,
namely that we have a six-foot high fence between the property at 1215
and my client's property at 1213.
Here are pictures of the zoning signs posted on the Ellsworth side of the property, from
across the street, better view, closer up.
And this is a photograph from across the street showing this is all essentially single family
three-story residential properties on Ellsworth.
This is a photograph of the existing fence with the sign that I posted previously before
for the hearing. This is the existing fence. As you can see, my client's property is off the left.
1215 is off to the right. And this is all one continuous fence that has been there. It's
between the two properties. It's been there for as long as my clients have lived at the property.
They didn't know it wasn't legalized. That's why we're seeking to legalize it.
This is looking on Peter Street. We're going to do a 360 view.
as you can see the property is abutted on either sides by two-story single-family homes
Peter Street dead ends in this direction and then this is looking back eastwardly
this is just the site plan for the property which was prepared by Giovanni Bramos the
Supreme Architects we're just showing again existing eight foot some fence on the side
And while we initially put in a proposed wood fence to match that height of eight feet, we're asking for this to be awarded with a proviso to be only six feet tall, which is code compliant.
and while we initially put in a proposed wood fence to match that height of eight feet we're asking for
That's essentially our presentation at this point. I believe my client's on the line. Alex, are you on the line? If so, would you please unmute yourself?
Chair, we have someone with the phone number with the last three digits, 7384, with their hand raised.
Is that your client, Mr. Mulvihill?
Hey, baby.
The person with those last three digits, you're unmuted and wait for the chair.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
phone and caller could you please press star six to unmute yes um no i'm not his client i was
i wanted to speak about another no no ask it in the q a please go back to the other
callers to see if we can identify mr mobile his client mr mobile his client his hand is up and
He's unmuted. Mr. Mutes, please wait for the chair.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Yes. Alex, A-L-E-X, Muntz, M-U-E-N-T-Z.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Now, Alex, you've heard my testimony today with respect to your zoning application?
I have.
Okay. And what I've said is true and accurate to the best of your knowledge.
and belief, correct? Yes, it is. And this just involves legalization of an existing fence on
Peter Street that's currently about eight foot three, correct? That's correct. All right. And
along the property lines, we've agreed with the community group to erect a fence no greater than
six foot tall, which will be code compliant. Is that correct? That's correct. All right. Is there
anything else you'd like to add at this time? Not at this time. All right. Thank you. I have no
further questions for my client members of the board. I just ask that you can take your testimony
and that'd be that questions questions from the board no mr chairman no sir no mr chairman excuse
me this is sharon i have one question mr mulvihill if the board approves this do you have um a
suggestion for this specific language to be included in the proviso relating to the side fence
um i believe the the best language would be something along the lines of fence along property
line between 1213 and 1215, no taller than six feet per code. Thank you.
Questions from the virtual audience?
There we have Michael McElhenney. Mr. McElhenney, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
good morning good morning could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter
sure it's michael mclehenney m-i-c-h-a-e-l mclehenney is m-c capital i-l-h-i-n-n-e-y
right do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
And good morning.
I am an attorney with Orfinides & Toner.
I'm here.
I represent the neighboring property owner, Michael Ritsius, at 1215 Ellsworth Street.
I was here just to really confirm.
My client had an opposition to the 8-foot, 3-inch fence along the property lines between his property at 1215 Ellsworth and 1214 Peters Street.
We just want to make sure that the proviso was incorporated for a six-foot maximum height between the properties.
And we appreciate the neighbor for agreeing to that and documenting that on the record.
I do have a question or a comment about the proposed proviso language.
I'm not sure where the property line – so my client owns 1215 Ellsworth and 1214 Peters, which are the abutting properties.
I'm not sure if that fence will cross the property line just so the proviso says the full length of the fence between 1215 Ellsworth slash 1214 Peters and the applicant's property will be no greater than six feet high just for clarity and accuracy purposes.
And that's my only comment.