Thank you.
Thank you.
ready to go chair
thank you good morning everyone my name is frank de chico 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. Board Administrator, Fatina L., and our Board Attorney, Ms. Rebecca Cole, are also in
attendance, as is our Zoning Board Administrator, Ms. Tanya Sunkett. For those of you who haven't
yet participated in one of our virtual hearings, I'll go through some of the basics of what you
can expect. First, we will be administering oaths to individual participants prior to their
testimony. Second, we'd like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded and that
by participating you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded and that the recording will be
made available to the public on the web or otherwise. Third, for anyone participating by
phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to
unmute yourself. I'll repeat, for anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify,
you must raise your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute yourself.
Finally, to enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548 and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue.
I will repeat, for anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify, for anyone to enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548 and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue.
i'd also like to remind everyone please do not attempt to testify in the chat any comments and
or concerns should be directed to fatina l our board administrator with that i will begin with
the 9 30 add-on list uh mi number one mi 2020 dash zero zero two five eight three three nine
2959 Lancaster Avenue, my vote is no.
Carol Tenere, my vote is no.
Professor Plaza, my vote is no.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is no.
Jim's muted.
Okay, we'll move on to number two.
MI 2021-002-276-1630, Cecil B. Moore Avenue. MI 2021-002277, 1632, Cecil B. Moore Avenue.
One, seven, three, five, Cecil B. Moore Avenue.
My vote is yes to all five.
Carol Tenere, my vote is yes to all five.
Confessor Plaza, yes to all.
James Snell, yes to all.
Thomas Holloman, yes to all.
Number three.
I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman.
This is Alan Ockamson of Ockamson, PC.
No, no.
I don't know.
Can somebody mute him?
we're not ready for people yet um chair we do have um a proviso that you have on your list
sharing provided for you with that right yeah yep that's what i forgot i'm sorry i was
scribbling it on the back hold on let me get it up my mistake
i'm working off of two devices here
all right as it relates to the five cases on cecil b more avenue that i just read into the record
my vote is yes with
approved new use is group living
um i think i have this wrong i'm going to need somebody to i'm sorry um i got it here i have
approved living with previously approved uses to remain thank you chair thank you so if the
board can just re-vote with the with that proviso okay carolton airy my vote is yes with proviso
confessor plaza yes with proviso james snell yes with proviso
tom okay
all right um allegheny avenue mi 2021-001558 1415 west allegheny avenue there was a letter of
support from tayoga united and councilwoman bass also in support my vote is yes carol
Tenere. My vote is yes. Confessor Plaza. Yes. James Snell. My vote is yes.
Thank you. Sorry about the confusion. We will now go to our regular 930 list.
The following cases have been requested to be continued.
Number six, MI 2021-002-010, 2528 Lloyd Street.
This is a request for continuance, must be heard.
Number eight on our list, MI 2021-002-016, 4271 North Bodine Street.
My vote is yes to continuance, must be heard.
At this time, is there anyone else requesting a continuance or withdrawal, please raise
your hand.
Chair, we have Charles Richardson, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair, Mr.
Good morning, Mr. Richardson. Please identify yourself and I'll swear you in.
Good morning, Mr. Chair. Charles Richardson from the Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass, room 312 City Hall.
Do you want to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you. Please proceed.
Requesting a continuance for 1528 West Erie Avenue, which has the meeting ID MI2020000752.
uh requesting on behalf of the rco 13th ward uh did speak with the attorney this morning uh harry
cook and uh he hopefully he's on the line right now but he agreed to the continuum so they would
be able to meet and go over the revised plans that they have mr cook available
mr cook please identify yourself i'll swear you in thank you mr chairman harry cook anastasia law
You're a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do, sir.
You concur with that request for the continuance?
Thank you.
Thank you.
And Mr. Cook's name is spelled C-O-O-K.
MI 2020-0007521528 West Erie Avenue is continued.
Any other requests for continuances or withdrawals?
Chair, we have Scott Shoutsman.
Chair, we have Scott Schatzman.
Please unmute yourself and please wait for the chair.
Good morning, sir. Please spell your full name and I'll swear you in.
Scott G. Schatzman.
S-C-H-A-T-Z-M-A-N.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Thank you. Please proceed.
uh well i live at 25 24 lloyd street and all my neighbors i got like half a dozen people here
we're we're i'm sorry i'm sorry chair sir are you here to request a continuance yes i am we already
read that into the record it will be continued okay well any more information be sent to the
neighbors? Yes. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else can requesting a continuance or
withdrawal? I see no more handshake. Okay. Thank you. First case on our list. MI 2021. That's
zero zero two zero one seven one five one three cyber seybert street uh olga sokolov is the
attorney of record beach community service sent a letter of opposition friends of the 47th ward rco
and map community development corporation rco sent a letter of support as the community land trust
good morning chair members of the board good morning sir please spell your full name sure
oleg sokolov on behalf of the applicant crete llc oleg o-l-e-g sokolov s-o-k-o-l-o-v 1700
market street suite 105 philadelphia pa 19103 you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth? I do. Thank you. Ms. Tenere has some questions for you. Yes ma'am. Hello,
okay I'm unmuted. Do you agree to wait the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes ma'am. Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance,
refusal referral, photos and or plans of this property five days in advance of this hearing
and have you met with the RCO and do you have a letter? Yes ma'am. Okay you may proceed and good
Good morning, everyone. Thank you for your time. If I may share screen, so go ahead and take you through our exhibit packet, please.
applicant herein is seeking variants to use the property as a two-family dwelling in an rsa5
district we intend or would like to build a three-story structure with two dwelling units
The first being located on the first floor and the basement, and the second unit being located on the second and third floors.
The unit A on the first floor and basement will consist of 1,084 square feet of living space in three bedrooms.
Let me just quickly take you through. Here's the deed.
tax clearance for the owner crete llc
here's a photo of the subject lot i just like to direct the board's attention that this is an
infill project this is located between not just two but a number of multifamily units that
you can see here from the multiple electrical meters on the outside. I'll also go through
the addresses that are on the block that consist of multifamily units. Here's a little bit of a
zoomed out photo of the lot and some further photos. This is facing out. You'll see that
there's a large vacancy, a large vacant lot across the street from the unit or from the property,
excuse me zoning maps some aerial shots you'll see once again the the large vacant lot located
across the street and nearly the entirety of that side of the block is filled in with multi-family
units. I just, for the record, I'd like to go through 1511 and 1515 Sabert, as I stated, both
adjacent to the subject property are multifamily designated, as well as 1511 and 1515 Sabert,
Subject property are multi-family designated as well as 1509, 1503, 1517, and 1521 Sabert are all multi-family designations.
Here's the front and rear elevations.
a rendering i'd like to just direct the board's attention that you know the property is congruent
with the other properties on on the block similar design similar shape
further elevation photos
is everyone able to see that if i if i zoom it or zoom out that much
a little bit larger would be helpful okay let me
i think i can go a little bit more and still get it in the screen
Okay, here are the floor plans. As you will see, we're seeking to have a three bedroom unit on the first floor and the cellar and then the same on the second and third floors.
The second floor and third floor unit B will consist of 1236 square feet so it'll be just a little bit larger than the first unit.
Our project information form.
Our appeal application.
our certificates of mailing
pardon me
our zoning notice poster
this is the letter from um beach which was the coordinating rco in our initial meeting
the one um comment that i would like to make about this while not included in the exhibit
packet i believe it was shared with the board the notes of the meeting summary and the one thing
that I would just like to direct the board's attention to is that there was one vote in
opposition from the coordinating RCO. There was only one vote that could vote, given their
proximity to the property. We then further met with additional community organizations,
all three of which have supported the project, that being the Community Land Trust,
friends of the 47th ward and the map cdc rco here's a letter of support from friends of 47th ward
and map cdc and an additional letter of support from community land trust
are there any questions i could answer for the board
do you need your client to adopt your testimony
yes please client's name mr kogan are you on the line here
sir you're muted so you need to unmute yourself
yes i am mr kogan excuse me spell your name sir and i'll swear
sir d-a-n-i-e-l-k-o-g-a-n you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth i do thank you mr shakalov uh mr kogan were you on the line for my testimony today
yes i was and do you adopt that testimony as your own yes i do is there anything in addition that
you'd like to add for the board's consideration uh nothing at this time no okay and and if if i
may mr kogan you do um have additional properties in this neighborhood and are going to be developing
have additional properties in this neighborhood and are going to be developing other properties
in this in this vicinity as well correct yes thank you uh any questions from the board
no mr chairman no no mr chair anyone else would like to testify in this case if so please raise
your hand chair we have a calling user phone number ending at six eight nine four please unmute
Reach yourself and wait for the chair.
Golden user, please identify him or herself.
Spell your name.
Louise, L-O-U-I-S-E, Bundy, B-U-N-D-Y.
We're leading a friend of 474.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Ms. Bundy, please proceed.
I just would like to know, I mean, I would like for y'all to know that I think that this should be in our neighborhood, okay?
Because they have went through what they had to go through.
Now we have checked them out and we know that they're trying to do the right thing, okay?
We want them to be one of our neighbors because we believe that they will be good neighbors, okay?
I'm for them, okay?
Okay, thank you.
Thank you very much.
anyone else
we know the handshare thank you planning commission
good morning david fecto f-e-c-t-e-a-u with the city planning commission you swear affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes sir i do thank you please proceed thank you
sir. Mr. Chairman, members of the board, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the
existing single-family zoning. This is a 910-square-foot lot. Although there is nothing
unique about the lot that would require two units to be built, the majority of the block has been
converted through variances to multiple-unit homes. We recommend that the board grant the requested
variance my 2021-002 017 1513 cyber street cyber street my vote is yes
frank did you just vote that
i didn't i think i was muted yeah i think you were
um my vote was yes okay carol tenere my vote is yes
sir plaza my vote is yes james snell my vote is yes thomas holliman my vote is yes
okay we gotta go to case number three mi 2021-002087 1715 mckean street
matt monroe is the attorney of record um i don't have an rco letter but we'll ask that question
uh mr monroe when you get on please spell your full name and i'll swear you in
hey good morning chairman de chico members of the board
matt monroe monroe law 2030 uh pemberton street uh 19146
where we're firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do thank you ms tenere has some questions for you
Hi, good morning, Matt. Do you agree to ways of reading the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal, referral, photos, and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing?
And have you met with the RCO and do you have a letter?
Yes, although just for some clarification, there was a snafu when we originally sent the package in.
And it got kicked back because it was too large, but we did send the package in.
Okay, great.
You may proceed.
Good morning, Chairman DiCicco, members of the board.
This is simply an application for overnight boarding of dogs in an existing dog daycare park.
They have three locations around the city, and they're very experienced with this.
This is 1715 and 1715 R McKean Street.
It's the same building.
The 1715 McKean is on the refusal and should the board approve this, we'll just ask for proviso, just a state that it also includes 1715 R, because apparently both properties have been used as or treated as a single property by L&I, but just for any administrative clarification, that is what we're going to ask for.
Again, we're seeking the proposed use for overnight boarding of animals to expand within the same location in this I-2 industrial zone building and district.
Again, we're seeking the proposed use for overnight boarding of animals.
We've attached a copy of the lease.
My client is a commercial lessor or lessee, rather.
A copy of the refusal.
It's actually a referral for a special exception, application for appeal, the RCO letters and notices with certified mailing.
um uh and uh the notice posters um we have a copy of the poster within the package and here's
uh copies of the photographs uh which didn't make it into the package
um and uh we have a support letter from the rco um there's not plans but we do have a um uh zoning
uh contact sheet and the um uh and we've got the uh registration of zero taxes owed on the
on the property as the final exhibit. So here, this is a, as I was saying, I think this is a
relatively simple and straightforward application. This is an I2 industrial building and Bark Park
isn't going to be having any material impact by changing from, or by adding as an additional
service legalized overnight boarding. Here, they have an existing permit for animal services as
a dog daycare under L&I permit number 520396. And this is not a use that would add any additional
traffic as the drop off and pickup location of the dogs usually occurs in the morning and evening
drop off. So there's not going to be any additional changes in traffic or anything like that for
overnight boarding. And I can show you some of the property context photos. So you can see here's
the zoning context photo. It's right here on McKean. You can see right in the middle of this
I2 industrial district. And there's a dead end that runs off of McKean down to this area for
these industrial buildings, many of which are vacant. So they're not going to be impacting
their neighbors. The property sits on the corner of South Colorado. Like I said, yeah, it ends on
a dead end street. And the dogs are going to be contained within the building overnight and run
by Bark Park LLC, which is, you know, an experienced dog care provider throughout the city and the
occupancy of dogs for overnight boardings within the existing building. It's already permitted
and overnight it's going to have less impact on the already very little impact that the dog day
care has during the day. All waste is disposed of until containers according to the city code
And, you know, they take dogs for walks in the day, but, again, there's no real material impact on the neighborhood around.
Understanding that, you know, some of the board may have questions about this, happy to respond.
But just to note that, again, we do have a unanimous support letter from the East Point Breeze neighbors,
and the boat included near neighbors who showed up in support of the project as well.
So with that, I believe my client, Mr. Guido, is on the line, but we can respond to questions or anything like that.
Let's get your client to adopt your testimony. I'm going to ask for questions.
Okay. Mr. Guido, can you please raise your virtual hand?
Yep. Hello. My name is James Guido.
James, please spell your last name.
G-I-T-T-O.
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes i do thank you mr monroe all right james um did you hear the factual statements that i made
yes and were they accurate yes do you adopt them as your testimony i do okay thank you
any questions from the board no mr chairman no mr chair anyone else like to testify in this case
please raise your hand chair we have donald sabatini please unmute yourself and please wait
for the chair morning mr sabatina please spell your full name and i'll swear you in
donald last name is s-a-b-a-t-i-n-i you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes please proceed i have a number of issues with this application uh
I attended virtually the community meeting, and council has glossed over the fact that he has the wrong address on his application from the beginning.
There's two separate tax parcels involved here, 1715 McKean and 1715-R, standing for rear McKean.
and 1715R, standing for Rear McKean.
He's applied.
He's applied for 1715 McKean, but he wants to run the business at 1715R, Rear McKean.
There is a material difference.
1715 McKean fronts on McKean Street.
It doesn't really have many neighbors except for mainly 1715 Rear.
1715 rear juts back into the residential neighborhood near the backs of the 1900 block of South 17th and 1900 block of South 4th Weir.
Also, I believe the notice requirements depend on the distance from the proposed project for what neighbors have to be noticed by mail.
So that would be different.
You can't start with one tax parcel and then be granted your zoning variance on a different tax parcel.
Furthermore, on the orange notice, I drove by and into that courtyard on Friday, September 3rd at 5 p.m., Wednesday, September 8th at 5 p.m., Friday, September 17th at 6.15 p.m., and Friday, September 24th at 6.30 p.m.
and i saw no orange notice posted anywhere on either 1715 or 1715 r and i believe he hasn't
supplied a photo earlier of the notice so that the if the request should be not denied for that
reason besides let me pardon the interruption two questions one is we're aware of uh the addresses
and we were going to if this gets approved we would include 1715 r the rare as part of the
approval uh where do you live in relationship to this property my property is at uh bancroft
and moore streets objection based on uh standing
unnoted i would point out that the note the notice is given to the community have said 1715
mckean not 1715 rear mckean so i don't see how that's probably noticed in any part of the
process to notify about one address when you're actually want permission to use a different
address. Furthermore, as far as the damage to the neighborhood, they're talking about boarding
60 dogs overnight, which I assume would be missing their owners. And it's reasonable from
inference that they may be barking in the middle of this residential area between 900 blocks of
17th and Bouvier. And it's also the waste that I understand they would pick up the waste, but
those $60 would be worked on the public streets. Thank you. Chairman DiCicco, may I respond just
to a couple of questions? Number one, we alerted the, we learned of the separate tax parcel after
the appeal was filed, and we did bring this up at the RCO meeting. As far as we've been able to
determine, both properties have been treated as the same by L&I, even though there are two different
tax OPA numbers. It's one building, one property that just happens to be split into with two OPA
numbers. This is not something we glossed over. It's something we raised at the community meeting.
And secondly, I checked the notice lists for both property 1715 and 1715R. They are both the same.
And so any neighbor that would have received notices under 1715-R is the same neighbor that would have received notice under 1715-McKean.
Thank you. Anyone else to testify in this case? Please raise your hand.
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Good morning, David Fecto, City Planning Commission, Chair DiCicco, and members of the board.
The comprehensive plan recommends this property for residential industrial mixed use.
The property appears to have enough space to accommodate the proposed animal boarding.
The proposed use is unlikely to have more of an impact than an animal boarding service would be expected to have.
We recommend that the board support the requested special exception.
Hi, Chair. This is Tanya, the zoning board administrator.
If I could just respectfully mention that this discussion has been amongst Sharon Saleta, myself, as well as Ellen and I, and that was why we came up with the remedy of putting the proviso on.
So Mr. Monroe has done his due diligence to make sure that it was reported.
We just came up with this remedy as opposed to him going back to the table to get another refusal.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
MI 2021-002-087-1715 McKean Street.
My vote is yes with proviso.
My vote is yes with proviso. The property includes 1715 Rear McKean Street.
The property includes 1715.
Carl Tenere, my vote is yes with proviso.
Professor Plaza, my vote is yes with proviso.
James Snell, yes with proviso.
Thomas Holloman, yes with proviso.
Thank you, Chairman Michiko, and thank you, Ms. Sunkett, for the clarification.
Thank you.
Number four on our list, MI 2021-002064, 1737 North 23rd Street.
Vern Anastasio is the attorney of record.
As of right now, my notes indicate we have not yet received a letter from St. Elizabeth's RCO.
Good morning, Mr. Anastasio.
Please identify yourself, spell your name, and I'll swear you in.
Thank you.
Vern Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O, Anastasio Law, 1315 Walnut, Suite 1006, Philadelphia, 19107.
You swear if I'm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do, sir.
Thank you.
Ms. Canary has some questions for you.
Good morning.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal, referral, photos and or plans to the property five days in advance of this meeting?
And have you met with your CEO? And do you have a letter?
Most of that is yes. There are two outstanding items.
First, we do not I have not secured a tax cert, although my client says she did pay all the taxes.
The OPA is still showing a balance of six hundred dollars.
And we did meet with the RCO. We do not have a letter as of yet. I did speak to Mary Jones from
Esquire from President Clark's office. I did inform her that I had hoped that we would be
able to just proceed and we would need, I guess, a resumption hearing so that the RCO letter could
ultimately be read into the record. And I would have to show proof of tax clearance anyway.
Okay, you may proceed.
If that's amenable to you guys.
Yeah, let's proceed in that direction.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I'm going to share my screen.
There it is.
I think you all should be able to see that application 1737 north 23rd street is
for a three-family dwelling in an existing structure my client purchased this property
in during the pandemic November of 2020 these plans do show a basement unit we are no longer
interested in that we're going to stick to the three-family dwelling one on each floor it's a
very large property. Again, she just purchased it in November. It had separate utilities. It is
in an area that is in desperate need of some density. And I'll show you in a moment
what I'm talking about. Our property is right here. There's a vacant lot next to it,
next door, it's boarded up. It was a legal rooming house before that. Two doors down is a legal five
family dwelling. And as you can see, there's lots of vacancy, vacant lots around the property.
My client would be an owner-occupant in the property. It's currently being renovated.
Here's proof of posting.
There's the deed.
Proof of mailing to 133 households.
Here is the application that went out again we met on the 29th of September, so I think they need just about a week or so to get the letter out to you.
and with that you know this particular block this particular row of properties
uh it's a very large property uh to have it used as a single family residence to get it back up to
where it needs to be it is in major disrepair
for a single family home would be impracticable given this market in this particular census track
But to have ample apartments, one per floor, first, second, and third.
first, second, and third that offer two bedrooms, a nice open space living, and a full kitchen.
We believe people can meet at the right price point, and as I said, my client will be occupying
one of the units with her husband. As a result, because of the unique condition of this property,
the surrounding area and the vacancies we do believe granting of the three family dwelling
makes good sense practical sense here and as such we would respectfully request the continuance
I also want to add for the record that the property history if you check it you'll see that
it was in fact multi-family dwelling going back to the 50s and 60s at one point it just had been
abandoned. My client was able to purchase it in November of 2020 in that condition.
And with that, I'm going to ask my client, Bernadette Charlton, to raise her virtual hand,
please. Bernadette. She's on there, Mr. Chairman. I spoke to her this morning.
She's available, but her hand is not raised.
i wonder if she knows how she also has two devices so i unmuted the allowed her to talk
on the first device okay bernadette are you there
yes yes yes yes yes ma'am you have you need to shut one of your devices down
mr anasazi on the interest of time you being an officer of the court will stipulate that
your client would have adopted your testimony any questions from the board no mr chairman
no no mr chair what else would like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
I see no other hands, Chair.
Thank you. Planning Commission?
Good morning. David Vecto, City Planning Commission, Mr. Chairman, members of the Board.
The Comprehensive Plan recommends this property for residential single-family use.
However, 11 properties on this block are documented multifamily homes.
These approvals appear to stretch back to the 1950s.
We recommend that the Board approve the requested use variance.
Thank you.
Thank you.
MI 2021-002064, 1737 North 23rd Street.
This hearing will be resumed.
Tanya, I need a date and time.
Chair, for clarification, are we only going to ask for the letter to be read?
Whatever date you wish then, Chair.
Vern, do you have an idea when you can get that letter?
They tell me by next week, so maybe in three weeks or 30 days.
Give it like two weeks, three weeks out, Tanya.
Yes, Chair, that's perfect.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Ms. Sunkett.
That will be October, what's today, 12th, today's 6th, 13th, 2027.
October 27th at 9.30 a.m.
That work?
Thank you, sir.
sounds perfect chair okay this hearing will be resumed on october the 27th at 9 30 a.m
at which time the board will consider any feedback uh from the rco i'm sorry chair this is tanya
the zoning administrator if we could just specifically state for a letter to be read
into the record. So noted. Thank you. All right. Number five on our list, MI 2021-002082,
2318 East Albert Street. Ian Gallo is the attorney of record. Old Richmond Civic Association sent a
letter of support. And Councilman Mark Squilla sent a letter of non-opposition.
good morning everyone morning please identify yourself spell your full name and i'll swear
you in sure it's ian gallo g-a-l-l-o i'm the attorney uh for mr king you swear for him to
tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do i think ms canary has some questions
for you good morning do you agree to wave the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
Good morning. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
accuracy.
I do, ma'am.
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal or referral, photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing?
And have you met with the RCO? And do you have a letter?
I do. And I have.
Okay, thank you. You may proceed.
Thank you. I will bring up my screen.
So what I'm sharing right now is the documents that were submitted,
the notice of the refusal here's a here's an aerial photo in the orange you can see
the property its closest intersection is east albert and memphis here are the dimensions
by code and also as existing the deed which was the property was purchased by mr king
solely in 2016 september
moving on here are the comments from lni here is the proposed it's the two-story
framed edition to be legalized it's in this matter
the application for appeal the the bulk mailing to all all necessary property owners
in the area who submitted additionally containing the notice to the neighbors of the virtual hearing
with the RCL. Again, with the notice of refusal, these are all the properties that were notified
by and through the mailing. The project information detail form. Here's the letter from the RCL
and support, which took place on July 8th, 2021. Here's the tax clearance for Mr. King.
The zoning notice of today's hearing. On September 7th, the posting of said notice
on the front and here's a little bit of a closer uh view you can actually see mr king in the in
in the photo and then additionally i have some photos of the property and i will go into a little
bit more detail of it this is just a this was the before the before and the before before before
four pieces in the rear, four, and now the after, the sidon, and the pavers that were
done. So again, thank you everyone, and just by way of detail. So the subject property
is owned by Mr. Kenneth L. King. It's presently occupied by his daughter. The lot is the
width is 13. It's undersized for a RS5, where the minimum lot width is 16 feet. Additionally,
the lot's total square footage is undersized, as it's only 604.5 square feet, when the
The RS-5 minimum lot area is 1,440 square feet.
Mr. King's daughter is residing in the property.
Particularly, he was seeking to replace the windows in the siding initially.
However, after commencing to prepare for that work, he realized that more dire work was necessary.
in light of such and so as to make the structure safe especially in so far as his daughter was
residing in the property he employed an architect to handle the design and construction
work on the property noticing that the structure was in disrepair specifically beneath the original
deck the structure was rotting as you can see from some of those photos there was a hole in
the siding where the foundation met the siding. Mr. Gallo pardon the interruption but
we're only seeing the one slide that shows looks like
We're only seeing the one slide that shows, looks like pavers and maybe the back.
I'm sorry.
This is in congruence with the neighborhood and the area.
So, again, de minimis in nature, this is still owner-occupied.
It doesn't change anything in terms of the real layout, just seeking to legalize the addition.
And if there's any questions, Mr. King is also available.
If you'd like to get your client on to adopt your testimony.
Mr. King, I believe if you can please raise your hand.
Mr. King, you can unmute yourself and please wait for the chair.
Mr. King, please spell your first and last name and I'll swear you win.
Kenneth, K-E-N-N-E-T-H, last name King, K-I-N-G.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Mr. Gallo?
Great.
Mr. King, you heard the testimony that I presented before the board, correct?
Yeah, I agree with everything that Mr. Gallo stated.
And board, I would submit that he adopted that testimony.
He would adopt your testimony.
Thank you.
Any questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chair.
Anyone else would like to testify in this case?
If so, please raise your hand.
I see no other hands, Chair.
Thank you.
Planning Commission?
Good morning.
David Fecto, City Planning Commission, Chair DiCicco, and members of the board.
The comprehensive plan recommends this property for residential single-family use.
The proposed addition has reduced the open space beyond what the code allows.
This addition appears to have been constructed without benefit of permits.
We recommend that the board deny the requested variances.
MI 2021-002082, 2318 East Albert Street. I don't like rewarding people for trying to get around the system, but in this case, I'll make an exception.
my vote is yes my vote is no my name is carol tenere first applause on my vote is yes
They insisted that the refusal be revised on a technicality before they would set that meeting.
Ms. Sunkit was kind enough to allow me to do that.
We submitted that to the RCO requesting the meeting, and we were just under the assumption that they hadn't gotten around to it yet.
But we fully expected to have a community.
We have yet that we didn't do a mailing.
We didn't do anything like that.
So if I could state, Chair, that we do not do resumptions or hearing holds without a meeting taking place at all.
So if I could respectfully state, if we can do a continuance, I can work offline with Mr. Anastasio to come up with a good date after the meeting is held.
Thank you.
I think that's good advice, Mr. Anastasio.
I think so, too.
All right.
Yeah, I appreciate it.
I see Ms. Jones out there.
miss jones you have you want to weigh in on this any objection to us continuing this case
please identify yourself yes um mary jones council president daryl clark's office
city hall room 494 we're affirmed to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do i assume you've been hearing what was being discussed and miss uh sunkett made a
recommendation that this hearing this case be continued uh yes i did hear and no no objection
to a continuance thank you mi20 thank you tanya mi 2021-002-020-2601 west huntington street is
continued. Thank you. Case number five, MI 2021-002-083-6330 Rising Sun Avenue. Douglas Stern
is the attorney of record. Longcrest Community Association sent a letter of opposition.
Is Mr. Stern out?
He's coming back in as a panel.
Mr. Stern, good morning.
Please spell your full name and I'll swear you in.
Good morning.
Douglas Stern, Esquire, on behalf of the applicant.
My address is 1420 Walnut Street, Suite 1218, Philadelphia, PA, 19102, and the applicant next to me.
Spelling of your last name is S-T-E-R-N.
Is that correct?
Correct.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Ms. Canary has some questions for you.
Good morning.
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 and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing? And have you met with the RCO? And do you have a letter?
Yes, to all statements.
Thank you. You may proceed.
Yes. Good morning. I represent Prince GB, who owns the Blues LLC.
the property zone for cmx1 we're applying for basically assembly hall for entertainment
purposes it's less than 50 people so it doesn't need a special assembly occupation
permit but we're asking because he's going to have parties for 25 people or less
on the property and uh i basically have the exhibit package here which shows the poster the
refusal the notice letters of rco just a rough floor plan tax clearance the appeal forms activity
license and he's leasing the property from the owner um and then i had pictures just
so there's the zoning pictures on front of the property there's only six pages of pictures
there's the front the blues um the pictures here just looking up and down the block of the 6300
block of uh rising sun um it's basically commercial on both sides of the block even and odd
and then these are some pictures it's not a big place um the front door area so let's just call
it the front front room with the pool table the back room the main room that's where they would
The back room, the main room, that's where they would entertain people.
entertain people
All right.
We could sit around and have parties.
And other entertainment, the bathroom, there's a little back room for business.
And that's always proposing in this area here.
We do have opposition from the community for some reason.
And in order to get the rest of the zoning permits, we need a use variance for this.
And we don't think it's going to be an issue.
I have my client here and he just works and he's running this sort of part time and they're just going to have entertainment parties and other social gatherings, I guess, in the evenings.
That's really it. It's pretty simple application. I'm not sure if anybody has any questions or any other issues.
Mr. Stern, do you have your client available to adopt your testimony?
Tony? Yes, I do. He's right next to me on the Zoom, and I can have him raise his right hand.
He'll need to raise his hand, but ask him to spell his full name.
Prince, G.B. is P-R-I-N-C-E. Last name is G.B. is G-B-E-E.
You swear if I'm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Stern.
yes good morning you're the authorized agent and owner of the blues llc yes and everything the
facts i just recited everything was true and accurate yes and you would adopt that testimony
as your own if you were called to testify under oath today yes okay thank you questions from the
board no mr chairman no mr chair no anyone else would like to testify in this case if so please
raise your hand. Chair, we have Hillary Emerson. Thank you. Ms. Emerson, please identify yourself
and I'll swear you in. Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Hillary Emerson, on behalf
of Councilwoman Sherelle Parker, E-M-E-R-S-O-N. Where we're from to tell the truth, the whole
truth, nothing but the truth. I do. Thank you. Please proceed. Yes. The Councilwoman, as well as
the community are opposed to the proposed use at this property. The applicant in his presentation
today and at the community meeting indicated he's proposing an event space for parties, but it seems
more like a club-like space. In the floor plans, we see, and even in the pictures, we see a pool
table. There's a VIP area. There's space for the DJ. And on the lease, it indicates that the use
is a music lounge. The other concerns that our office and the community had were that the
proposed hours of operation were on the weekends between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m., which doesn't really
sound like an event venue to us. So more concerning late night activities that tend to
cause problems with the neighbors. There is already a bar on the next block, which is normally
pretty quiet but did have a shooting this past summer at the community meeting the note some
neighbors noted that they had some noise concerns because there are homes directly behind rising sun
avenue well i would object to some of her testimony is hearsay about what the neighbors said i mean
i understand her direct knowledge ms emerson does represent the councilwoman and she attends all
those meetings so the councilwoman represents a big district and i think she has standing
okay the other thing i i wanted to mention that there are some outstanding um lni violations
particularly fire code violations at this place and uh there were um violations issued for you
know the place getting outfitted and um set up and it wasn't clear if there had been events or not
held but uh the place was already kind of in in progress um so l and i did have to cease this
property already um but you know for these reasons the councilwoman um and the the community are
opposed to the granting of the variance in this case thank you thank you could i just
a response about the violations that i've been in contact with l and i and they pulled me
because i followed zoning to put everything on hold yes please that's what i'm saying i
I contacted F and I about it because they told me they're putting everything on hold
because I need to either get zoning approved or we have to address them after this hearing.
I'm going to catch 22, as they say, with that.
Understood.
Okay, thank you.
Anyone else to testify in this case?
I see no hands, Chair.
Thank you. Planning Commission. Good morning. David Fecto, City Planning Commission. Mr. Chairman,
Thank you.
Planning Commission?
Good morning.
David Fecto, City Planning.
members of the board, the comprehensive plan recommends this property for commercial mixed
use. Although this is a commercial corridor, we have heard strong opposition from the neighborhood.
We do not believe that the applicant has shown sufficient hardship to justify granting the
variants. We recommend that the board deny the requested use variants. Thank you very much.
MI 2021, that's 002083-6330, Rising Sun Avenue.
My vote is no.
Harold Tenere, my vote is no.
Confessor Plaza, my vote is no.
James Snell, my vote is no.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is no.
Thank you.
Number 10 on our list, MI 2021-002162.
8-1-1-0, Frankfort Avenue.
Jared Klein is the attorney of record.
My notes indicate we have not yet received a letter from the Holmesburg Civic Association.
Mr. Klein, please spell your full name and I'll swear you in.
Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the board.
Jared Klein, K-L-E-I-N, from Blank, Rome, 130 North 18th Street, 19103.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Ms. Tenere has a few questions for you.
Good morning. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance, refusal 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?
Yes, to all of the above. And I heard the chairman's comment as I was joining as a panelist.
We do have a letter from the RCO that's in my packet. I'll share that in just a moment.
OK, great. You may proceed. Thank you very much. I'm going to share my screen.
Can everybody see that? Yes. Excellent.
So I'm here for 8110 Frankfurt Avenue, which is proposed to be the new home of the Grand Army of the Republic Civil War Museum.
It is the oldest museum of its type and the last museum of its type in the Philadelphia area, and they're relocating from their parent home, which is also in a residential property.
We received a referral for a special exception as our property is zoned RSA 3, and the use of a library and cultural exhibit would require a special exception in that zoning category.
Just to orient the board, this is the property that we're talking about here located right on
Frankfurt Avenue. We're adjacent to an educational use here, and there are plenty of commercial uses
along the Frankfurt Avenue corridor, as I'm sure the board is well aware. We have a very deep but
narrow property that is zoned, as you can see, for RSA3 use. In the surrounding area, immediately
across the street. We have CMX two and a half and CMX two and a half also continues down
Frankfurt Avenue from us. It's a picture of the property that will house the museum
and some photos of the posting of the notice out front on the fence. These are just some views of
the area immediately surrounding. This is looking up and down Frankfurt Avenue. This is the subject
property here. And just to share a little bit about the museum, this is some summary information
about what's there. As I said, it is the oldest museum of its type in Philadelphia. It has a
research library along with educational exhibits and archives. We don't have a floor plan for the
space, but it's going to be set up very similarly. These are photos of their existing location,
which as I mentioned is also in a residential home. So they have an entryway and they've used
the rooms inside the house to house their collection of exhibits and a small meeting
space for historical lectures and an archive room that is open to the public by appointment
for historical research purposes. And then they also have a collection of various archaeological
exhibits that have been uncovered over the years. We did meet with the Holmesburg Civic Association.
It was a well-attended meeting that was very positively received. Their letter of non-opposition
is up on the screen in front of you, and we don't believe that this special exception use
will have any negative impact on the surrounding area, given that there's commercial uses
surrounding it, and this museum is designed to be a relatively low-volume museum,
hosting very small gatherings, if there's any gatherings at all. I've got my client,
Uh, I've got my client, Joseph Perry, uh, on the zoom today, Joe, if you could raise your virtual hand, I would appreciate it.
Joseph Perry, on the Zoom today. Joe, if you could...
Okay. Can you hear me?
Yes. Please spell your full name.
Uh, Joseph J O S E P H, uh, Perry P R R Y.
You swear to our friend to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
thank you mr klein thank you mr chair uh joseph did you have a chance to listen to my presentation
this morning yes and do you adopt my testimony as true correct and your own as if you testified
yourself yes thank you you any questions from the board no mr chairman no and mr chair now
what else would like to testify in this case please raise your hand
i see no hands chair thank you planning commission good morning david fecto city
planning commission mr chairman members of the board the comprehensive plan recommends this
property for residential single family use we do not believe the proposed museum would have an
impact beyond what a museum at this location would be expected to have we recommend that the
board support the requested special exception. Thank you. MI 2021-002162. 8110
Frankfurt Avenue, my vote is yes. Carrollton, my vote is yes. Professor Plaza, my vote is yes.
James Bell, my vote is yes. Thomas Holliman, my vote is yes. Thank you all. Case number 11, MI 2021-002.
018, 922 Kimball Street.
Vernon Anastasio is the attorney of record.
Bella Vista Neighbors Association sent a letter of opposition, as did
Councilman Mark Squilla.
is mr anastasio with us he's coming back in as a panelist thank you
mr anastasio when you get on please identify yourself you're still under oath
and Ms. Tenneri will ask you a few questions.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman.
Vern Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O, Anastasio Law, 1315 Walnut, Suite 1006, Philadelphia, 19107.
Carol?
Carol, you're muted.
Mr. Anastasi, you agree to waive the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed an exhibit?
Oh, sorry, Carol.
No, go ahead.
Thank you.
I was muted.
Have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral, folders and plans five days prior to this hearing?
I have.
Have you met with RCO and have a letter?
Thank you.
Please proceed.
Carol, sorry again.
Thank you. Mr. Chairman, members of the board, this is 922 Kimball Street, a property that was built over 150 years ago. And that's the reason why we have the dimensional variance open area required is 25%.
What exists is 61 square feet.
That's a pre-existing non-conforming use dating back to when the property was built in the early 20th century.
So that's a unique condition that my client came to, and there's very little that can be done about that.
The rear yard depth refusal is a little misleading.
uh because the fact of the matter is there is a back patio it does exist and i'm going to explain
to you why this is a little this is a unique situation here that we're dealing with
my clients purchased this property 10 years ago when they did uh the in the back of their
property was this sunroom now i want to explain to you that my clients purchased this property
from a family who not only owned 922, but also owned the existing, the adjacent property next
door. So 40 years ago or so, they built these sunrooms on the back of both of these properties.
they built these sunrooms on the back of both of these properties.
They did so, my client now learns, without pulling any permits.
So this is 40 years ago, they built these sunrooms.
And hold on for one minute.
So this is the existing condition, not only on this property,
but on the adjacent property in question.
My client decided to remove the glass and put up walls instead, and then he learned that none of the work had been previously approved, so he stopped work, and now we're going through the process of getting this enclosure legalized.
So with that, I also want to show you.
We met. Oh, here's the backyard, by the way. So there is open space.
Problem is, is that the previous owner put up these posts and then built those sunrooms on top again 40 years ago.
So this is not something that my client did. So there is backyard space.
it's just that it's covered and therefore that refusal is triggered again it's an existing
condition there's proof of of notice and there's also a proof of mailing 144 pieces
here's the flyer that went out to to everyone and I must at this point I'd like to for the record
object to the letter from the Bella Vista Neighbors Association for several reasons.
And we'll get into that in a minute.
Allarge that, Vern. I have a hard time reading it.
Sorry. We met with them on August 10th.
So what we did was we went to before the Bella Vista Neighbors Association.
And let me get down to, this is the result of those in attendance, overwhelming support
for the variance, nine in support, two members oppose.
And I'm going to tell you why I object to the letter and I object to this opinion in
a minute.
We then, because, you know, that's not a very large sample, we then went to every home on Kimball Street and some on League.
Overwhelming support for the replacing the pre-existing glass sunroom at the third floor with a sheet rock room.
Everyone on this list is an immediately impacted neighbor, including Josephine Coppertino, God bless her, who's been on that block for almost 100 years.
Before you go any further, Vern, just for the purpose of the board, when Vern mentioned League Street, League Street is the street behind Kimball.
So the rear of League Street would face the rear of Kimball Street.
That's right.
Thank you.
So I object to the Bella Vista Neighbors Association letter of opposition, because obviously the code says the community takes a vote and then a letter is sent based on the community vote.
So if they were doing that, if they're actually following the code and that requirement, they would have at least sent a letter of non-opposition.
There was nine folks who voted to support, two who voted against.
It not only runs counter to the community vote, but I object to it on speculation in the letter as to neighbors' motives for voting for it and hearsay.
And there's also irrelevant information to bolster an opposition that has no rational basis.
It's based on five people who sit on the board, none of whom live within 500 feet of this property, let alone 300.
The two votes, by the way, the letter also fails to point out that the two immediate impact neighbors votes who opposed it.
The letter fails to be forthright in letting you know that those two property owners who voted against this variance live nowhere near Bella Vista.
They are owners of properties that are currently vacant, and they are used as rentals. So the two opposing votes even lack standing.
And also, in addition to these, which is, we then have emails sent to Bella Vista Neighbors Association from folks who could not make the meeting, 922 Kimball, 925 Kimball.
I'm sorry, that's 912, Kimball, is another one. So I have to object to the letter of opposition.
I'm sorry, that's 912 Kimball.
I understand that the council office just relies on the RCO sort of being forthright.
So when, of course, you get a letter of opposition, the automatic reply is to also send one.
but the fact of the matter is no one opposes this who lives anywhere near this property
these young people this young family bought this home 10 years ago and they should not have to
suffer for the sins of someone who put on a sunroom 40 years ago if not a little bit more 45 years ago
and with that i'm going to ask my client ty calvarici to raise his hand
In closing, by the way, while we tie in, given the preexisting nonconforming use of the first
refusal, based also on the fact that the rear yard depth has also an open space, also a
pre-existing non-conforming use. However, it is covered, but not zero square footage. Based on
the overwhelming support of the immediate neighbors who don't believe that my client
should have to suffer for the sins of a previous owner, we respectfully request the granting of
this variance. Has Mr. Calvarese logged in? Yes, I'm here if you can hear me. Yes. Hi, sir. Please
spell your full name and i'll swear you in yes ty ty calvaresi c-a-l-v-a-r-e-s-i do you swear
or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do thank you mr anastasio
thank you mr chairman uh ty did you hear my presentation to the board this morning
i did yes and is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge
yes and would you adopt it as your own testimony i do yes thank you any questions any questions
from the board no mr chairman no no like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
here we have eugene um please unmute yourself and please wait for the chair
yes good morning good morning please identify yourself spell your full name
eugene desyatnik d-e-s-y-a-t-n-i-k you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do and you're representing yourself in this matter
i'm a beloved neighbors association president please proceed thank you and thank you verne
for bringing this case forward.
I agree it is a very unique case
and a fortunate situation that has developed.
I just wanted to bring out some unusual aspects of this case,
some of the additional information
that wasn't clear from the letter.
There was a neighbor, the immediate neighbor.
While it's true on paper,
the majority of the neighbors are in support.
You know, the limited visibility from the street
with this rear addition to most of the neighbors on the block
who supported this project differs from the impact on what has been a disproportionate impact
on the of this unpermitted overbuild on the immediately adjacent neighbor at 925 League
Street that neighbors you know right behind them and so well we've you know we they've contacted
I don't know if they're here today they said they planned to be but based on the photographs they
shared and the information they shared the uh overbuild is um of that rear addition which
replaced the sunroom with an actual structure um is um which is now being sought to be legalized
uh has has a number of potential issues with it that um has a run runoff of the uh you know the
posts directly on the concrete block wall but uh but beyond that you know which the wall appears to
be uh you know straddling the property line the the the upstairs uh the segment floor appears to
be uh again without a survey it's hard to tell but um what we do know is they're they're they're
getting rainwater runoff coming onto their patio now because of the um uh you know this being built
out all the way to the property line or possibly slightly beyond the property line whatever the
case may be um and the um so beyond that storm water there's just um uh there's also windows
There's also windows present on the structure, even though the structure is built out all the way to the property line, which could be a possible building code.
present on the structure even though the structure is built out all the way to the property
But, I mean, basically, we did not want to lose sight of the fact of that one disproportionate impact of that one near neighbor that was right adjacent to them.
We appreciate that the owner is trying to address the water penetration issues and retain contractors and to try to do the right thing.
It is a very difficult case, but given the way that this was done, we just encourage the board to consider these additional factors and the impact of that one neighbor, you know, in this kind of, in their unique perspective when making your decision.
Thank you. I know it's a bit difficult.
Thank you, Eugene.
Mr. Chairman, I just wanted a couple of counterpoints on that, if you don't mind.
yeah again there was a structure that would have caused some stormwater runoff for 40 40 some odd
years already secondly actually removing the glass and putting walls increases the privacy
of the property behind it because before folks you know with a with a glass structure you can
look right into the rear yard that rear property by the way is vacant it's based on the information
that we have. And there may in fact be structural issues and building code issues that need to be
handled. I've advised my client of that with regard to the windows. And he's fully ready,
willing, and able to engage an engineer to ensure that the building code will be compliant.
But first, we have to legalize something that, again, he didn't create that build out. The build
has been there since the 80s. And we also have some folks who live on Leak Street to support
this as well. So that's all I have to say about this. I think the big concern has to do with the
building code, and I get that. And they will be addressed, but we can't get there until we get
through this hearing. Thank you. Anyone else to testify in this case? Please raise your hand.
Chair, we have Jacob Kelberman. Please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Sir, please spell your full name and I'll swear you in.
Hi, my name is Jacob, J-C-O-B, Kelberman, K-E-L, B as in boy, E-R-M-A-N.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Your address, sir?
So I currently live at 119 South 44th Street in West Philadelphia.
I'm a former tenant of 925.
Objection to standing.
What's your standing?
My parents are the owners.
I just wanted to object to Mr. Anastasio's last statement that the property is currently vacant.
I wanted to invite my parents, the property owners, and the former tenants, Dave Darville and Silas Irvine, to testify.
Former tenants would have no standing.
They're out because there's a need for renovations on the property that has recently begun because of the rainwater.
I have some videos of the rainwater storm damage to share as well.
Mr. Chairman, none of this is, unfortunately, for this gentleman, for this witness, he lacks, he has zero standing, as do his parents, because none of them live there.
This is a rental income property.
That, by the way, my client is already working to address, again, any building code or water runoff issues. Water runoff issues that pre-existed for 45 years, because again, there was a structure there. It may have been all glass, but it was exactly the same dimension.
Thank you.
Mr. Kleberman, there is no standing in this. Anyone else to testify?
yes chair we have ty keller excuse me esther chernak please unmute yourself and wait for the
chair thank you very much good morning ma'am please spell your first and last name
first name is esther my first name is esther e-s-t-h-e-r my last name is chernak c-h-e-r-n-a-k
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
In your address, ma'am?
My current address is 908 Gypsy Hill Road at Amber, Pennsylvania, but I am the owner of 925 League Street.
You have no standing, ma'am.
I am the owner of 925 League Street, and the property was lived in by my son, and it is vacant because we're renovating it.
Mr. Chairman, this is somebody from the suburbs coming in trying to tell us how to do things.
The same. Next, any other witnesses?
Next, any other witnesses?
I see no hands, Chair.
Thank you. Planning Commission.
Good morning. David Fecto, City Planning Commission, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change in the existing residential single-family zoning.
This addition appears to have been built without benefit of permit and has reduced the rear yard beyond what would be allowed by the code.
we recommend that the board deny the requested variances.
Just not to be argumentative, but this is a pre-existing condition.
It wasn't created by the current owner.
That's correct.
Right.
But from Mr. Anastasio's presentation,
it appears that the applicant had started renovating the sunroom anyway.
And our thought is that since you started the renovations,
you could have just torn down the sunroom.
It doesn't seem like a hardship.
Okay, appreciate it.
All right, thank you.
MI 2021-002018, 922 Kimball Street, my vote is yes.
Harold Tenere, my vote is yes.
Professor Plaza, yes.
My vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Thank you all.
Thank you.
Any unfinished business on the 930 list?
If not, we will see everyone back here at two o'clock.
I'm sorry, Chair, this is Tanya Sunkit, the administrator.
Would it be okay to ask the audience?
I'm sorry, you were going to ask if anyone has not yet been recognized?
Yes, thank you.
That's my next statement.
You got it.
Thank you.
My mistake.
Anyone who feels they've not been recognized, please raise your hand.
I see no hands, Chair. Thank you.
Good afternoon. My name is Carol Tenere and I'm the Vice Chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
I'll be participating in today's hearing along with Board Secretary Confessor Plaza and Board
Members Thomas Holloman and James Snell. Board Administrator Tanya Sunkett and Fatina L.
are present and along with Board Attorney Sharon Saleta. Is that correct or is there another?
And Rebecca. Rebecca, what is, I'm looking for your last name.
Cole. Oh, it's right in front of me. Rebecca Cole is the board attorney today. For those of you who
haven't yet participated in one of our virtual hearings, I'll go through some of the basics of
what you can expect. First, we will be administering oaths to individual participants prior to their
testimony. Second, we'd like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded and that
There is a request that Sean Moore, the attorney, be the attorney moving party.
It's a request for a continuance.
And number 10 on your list board, calendar number 2537, 4520-40 Worth Street.
Justin Crick is the attorney, and he is requesting continuance.
number 14 on this list calendar number 2540 740 north 20th street gussie o'neill is the attorney
and she is requesting a continuance does anybody have any objections to those continuances
we have um madam chair we have carolyn steinberg ms steinberg please unmute yourself and please
wait for madam chair hi ms steinberg name and address for the record spell your last name
and I'll swear you in. Hi, my name is Carolyn Steinberg spelled S-T-E-I-N-B-E-R-G. My address
is 718 North 20th Street. Okay. Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but
the truth? I do. Okay. In which case are you referring to? 740 North 20th Street.
that case was continued okay um can i object to the continuance or is that not something
as like a neighborhood oh you can you can object to it and it'll be on the record as your objection
okay yeah um can i object to it they didn't notify the neighborhood that they were going to
file a continuance and not be appearing today okay well your objection is noted thank you
madam chair we do have the attorney of record with her hand up i can ask her to speak if you
wish oh that's great that's gussie o'neill yes correct yes good afternoon thank you can everyone
yes name and address i don't need your address but your last name and i'll swear you in sure
Augusta O'Neill, my last name is spelled O-N-E-I-L-L.
Do you swear to affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
I just wanted to respond to Ms. Steinberg's statement.
We did inform the RCO that there was a request for a continuance, and we also informed Mary Jones of the councilman's office.
So the appropriate parties were notified that we were going to be requesting this continuance.
Okay, great.
Thank you.
so this case is still sure are there any other requests for continuances
i see no hands madam chair okay so we'll begin with um the listings
under the two o'clock hearing first we'll start with an add-on the address is 3934
West Girard Avenue. Calendar number is MI-2021-002316. My vote is no.
Professor Plaza, my vote is no. James Snell, my vote is no. Thomas Holliman, my vote is no.
Moving on to number two, calendar number 2573-1418 West Allegheny Avenue.
The attorney is Lee Elsley.
There's no RCO letter from either Tioga United or Swampoodle.
I'm sorry, Madam Chair.
Are we doing?
Do you know what?
But I, you know, I skipped number one.
Yeah, but this is those cases are for the regular list.
Yeah, I only have one add on the 3934 West Girard.
OK, and then we would start with number one.
As we normally.
I understand here.
It's no problem.
Thank you, Tanya.
Strike what I said about case number two.
We'll start with number one, calendar number 2464-1128 North 41st Street.
The attorney is Joseph Consul.
And there is a letter of support from Viola Street Residents Association.
Mr. Consul, name and address for the record, and you'll get sworn in.
Mr. Consul, name and address for the record and you'll get sworn in.
Hi, Board. Joe Consul here, Consul Madison, LLP. That's 1 West 3rd Street, Suite 204, Media PA, 19063.
Hi, board.
Do you swear our firm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral?
photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing and have you met with the
RCO and do you have a letter uh yes to everything okay and and just remember the RCO did submit a
letter of support so you may proceed all right good afternoon board uh Joe Consul here again
um did my appeal packet show up on the screen yes it did all right great thank you um I'm here for
1128 North 41st Street. The property is owned by SFIG LLC, which is an LLC owned by Mr. Robert
Sherman. He's on the call. 1128 North 41st is a lot. There it is on the screen. One block off
Girard between 41st and 42nd Street. It's 1770 square feet. It's zoned residential multifamily
RM1. When it was purchased at the end of April in 2020, the developer's intent was to rehab the
property as it stood. However, in June, the city issued a demo permit and the building was torn
down without the developer being made aware that the deed hadn't been recorded yet or hadn't
hadn't shown up yet so he hadn't he didn't get any notice of it that being said i left the
developer in a position um to build from the ground up and um here we are with that financial
calculus in mind um originally we had requested seven units and that's what we had the refusal
for um we met with the viola street residents association back in july at that time they were
opposed to the idea of seven units but they encouraged us to come back uh for a second
meeting with a revised proposal. We went back on the 7th of September just a few weeks ago and
brought in front of them the proposal for six units. At that time, we got support from the RCO
and that is that. It's the letters in the packet. The layout would be two two-bedroom units,
two one-bedroom units on the second floor and two one-bedroom units on the third floor so a total
of six units two of which are two bedrooms two four of which are one bedroom uh trash will be
stored in the back which is accessible by all units and we'll have a private pickup um at least
two times a week as how the developer does business on his multi-families i've got robert
sherman on the call if i could have him raise his hand just to confirm what i've said
mr sherman can you put your name on the record and spell your last name and i'll swear you in
robert sherman r-o-b-e-r-t-s-h-e-r-m-a-n
do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth
I do. Okay, you may proceed, Joe. Good afternoon, Mr. Sherman. Did you hear my speech today about your property? Good afternoon, yes, I did. Do you agree with what I said? Yes, everything is accurate. Okay, great. The only thing I wanted you to comment on was the demolition and the financials, if you have just a brief comment on that, because I believe that's relevant to our extra unit request here.
yeah um we purchased the property i purchased the property and um unfortunately at the time
of when i purchased it the documentation was wasn't recorded properly uh wasn't recorded
fast enough and because of that i didn't receive any notification or have any time to really do
anything so now at this point we have to start from ground up um and hopefully everyone understands
where we're coming from all right um thank you i i rest on that then does the board have any
questions no no no planning commission uh madam chair and members of the board this is mason
Austin speaking for the planning commission hi name and can you spell your last name sure a-u-s-t-i-n
Sure. A-U-S-T-I-N.
Do you swear if I'm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
do you swear if I'm to tell the whole truth
Okay. What is your recommendation?
Sure. This property is designated for multifamily mixed use in the comprehensive plan and is zoned in accordance with that designation.
Four units are permitted by right and an additional two units can be earned through the mixed income housing bonus.
granting the variance for these two units in excess of what is permitted by right
for the same benefit to the applicant as could be earned through that bonus
without the applicant providing the public benefits necessary to earn it.
Because there are no particularities to the lot, that would constitute a hardship
or necessitate either of these variances.
Staff of the Planning Commission recommend that they be denied.
You're saying there's no hardship?
That's correct.
Madam Chair?
Yes, I know the audience.
Is there anyone in the virtual audience?
who would like to speak to this case i see no hands madam chair okay thank you calendar number
two four does the board have any questions no vice chair no calendar number two four six four
1128 North 41st Street. My vote is no.
Confessor Plaza. My vote is no.
James Snell. My vote is no.
Thomas Holloman. My vote is no.
Calendar number 2573, 1418 West Allegheny Avenue. The attorney is Lee Elsley.
We have no RCO letter. No RCO letter from either Tioga United or Swampoodle.
unless, Rebecca, you've received one that we're unaware of.
No, I have not.
Mr. Elsie, can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name, and I'll swear you in?
Lee Elsie, E-L-S-E-Y, Elsie Legal Services, address 1476 Mondock Road, Drescher, PA, 19025.
Thank you.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
I do not.
You don't?
I don't.
I want to make sure that we had a revision to the refusal.
I wanted to make sure we had the right one on file.
Is the right one on file, Rebecca?
Or Tom?
It should have a date of 9-27-2021.
Madam Chair, this is Tanya.
May I speak?
Oh, sure you may.
So, Mr. Elsie, was that refusal submitted in the package you recently sent?
Yes, it was.
So, thank you, Madam Chair.
If you decide to approve the variance or special exception, I would ask that it be per refusal with the new number that Mr. Elsie could provide to you.
And therefore, it would be in record that this is the amended refusal.
Thank you.
Is that a ZP number?
Mr. Elsie, do you have that amended refusal number?
Yes, thank you. The number is ZP 2021-005750.
And if I could also ask Mr. Elsie, was the amended refusal submitted with a letter from the ZBA
office the request um i'm sorry which letter from the zba office so may i interject there is
there is a notice of refusal with that number and the 9 27 2021 date on it in the updated
refusal sent this morning so we do have a copy of that okay great mr elsie did i swear you in
I did.
Sorry.
And have you emailed the exhibit packet with all of the required documents, proof of ownership,
tax compliance, refusal, referral, photos, and or plans of the property five days in
advance of this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
I have all of those things, including a letter from the RCO, except we do not have our tax
clearance.
Okay, so, Tanya, is this a hear and hold?
Okay, so Tanya, is this a hear and hold?
It's up to you, Chair, for them to proceed forward with the hearing and hold it until
the text information can be provided at a set date that you give, typically 30 days,
uh variances from the zoning board in 2009 sorry 2007 as a two duplexes they're smaller size than
our project on the other side is 1414 and 1416 west allegheny um 1414 has a zoning variance from
1990 for five units and 1416 is a zoning variance from 2008 for three units plus commercial and
across the street 1413 1411 and 1409 all received variances for four units in 2009
as well as the temple loft building which includes 46 units our zoning posters were posted
September 10th, according to the standards
of the zoning board.
And here is the deed.
Mr. McCray, you've heard everything I've said
about the units, their prior use
and their existing condition.
Are you able to confirm that?
Yeah, I'm able to confirm it.
Here is our proposed use of the building.
Great. That's what we want to say. So we have
three units in total. Unit one is the entirety of the first floor as well as the cellar.
It includes three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms.
unit two is located on the second floor includes two bathrooms sorry two bedrooms and one bathroom
and unit three is located on the third floor includes two bedrooms and one bathroom
as well our zoning plan this is the revised zoning plan with streets approval this has also been
re-examined by the lni examiner at this point shows an existing building with a change of use
And we were able to meet with Tioga United.
We had a meeting sent with due notice.
Meeting was held on September 30th.
Tioga United, representatives from Tioga United and Swampoodle were in attendance and
And we have two votes of support, no opposition, and also provide evidence of the mailing we
sent out on September 22nd as well as our certified bulk mailing receipt showing 109
addresses does the board have any questions so far no no chair no are there any other witnesses
in the virtual audience who would like to testify madam chair we have charles excuse me charles
Richardson. Okay, Mr. Richardson, your name on the record and spell your last name and I'll swear
you in. Charles Richardson, R-I-C-H-A-R-D-S-O-N, Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bath, room 312.
I'm already sworn in from this morning. Okay, I forgot. That was a long time ago. It sure was.
Madam Chair, we got the same letter that Mr. Elsie got. We got it actually yesterday
afternoon. I just had a quick question of him. It says all meeting attendees was seven. So
did anyone from the community show up other than the RCO committee?
No, we did not have anyone show up outside of
people from another meeting and the RCO committee.
Okay. All right. Councilwoman has no objection based upon the letter that we received from the RCO.
Okay. Even though no RCO members were present or neighborhood people were present?
No community members showed, but he has shown that he did mail to 109 individual properties, but no one responded.
109 individual individual properties but no one uh responded no one came out all right
okay and once again does the board have any questions no madam chair no no planning commission
thanks jim
apologies my computer's still reacting uh mason austin recommend on behalf of the planning
commission um the property is designated for multi-family mixed use in the comprehensive plan
but it is zoned for single family residential it is located less than a block away from a subway
station is adjacent to a major center of employment the proposal would be by right under the zoning
district that is recommended in the adopted district plan and therefore pcpc has no objection
to the granting of the service so and there's no one else in the audience who would like to testify
see no hands madam chair thank you calendar number two five seven three fourteen eighteen
west allegheny avenue my vote is yes as per amended application zp-2021-005750
professor plaza my vote is yes with proviso
my vote is yes with proviso thomas holloman my vote is yes with proviso
thank you mr elsie thank you madam chair and members of the lord
sure calendar number 2642 1937 east letterly street the attorney is joseph consul
there's no rco letter from east kensington neighbors association no rco letter
from new kensington cdc but we do have a letter from councilman scroll it in non-opposition
and he refers to the ecna letter in not in non-opposition so there apparently
was a letter in non-opposition uh name put your name and address on and you're already you're
already swung in yeah uh joe consul here again consul madison one west third street suite 204
media pa 19063 uh and we did we did get a letter one second you also agreed away the reading of
the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof
of ownership tax compliance refusal 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 yes yep to
everything. Okay, you may proceed. Thanks. Everyone, Joe Consul here. I've got the ECNA
letter up. I'm representing Synergy Real Estate Group, LLC, the property owner. I've got Mr.
Patel and Mr. Singh on the call representing the owner. The property is 1937 East Letterly Street.
uh some pictures of it it's a far away view the owner had zoned uh rsa5 it's two blocks off
kensington between jasper and emerald street they bought the property in february of 2021
uh the property had come with a set of plans that had been approved by um both uh ecna and this zba
in at the end of 2016 um unfortunately those plans lapsed or that approval lapsed pardon me
but we're here today representing representing the same plans to everyone they're exactly the
same as was approved in 2016 the the two refusals we got on this are um there we go it's a occupied
area and um we're at 75 percent or 87 percent and rear yard depth uh nine required we're providing
seven foot six inch rear yard um so really this is just a um a smaller rsa5 property that my
clients are trying to rehabilitate uh there is a small addition on the back uh that's violating
um those two those two issues that we need to get the variance for uh the layout is a basement with
just mechanicals a first floor living room and kitchen uh second floor two bedrooms and then
there's going to be a roof deck addition um for which we've got no refusals or or anything like
that on it um and here's the october 4th letter it obviously came um after we submitted our packet
but we had resubmitted the packet as soon as we got this letter so it should be in y'all's email
somewhere. If I could call the client Prashant Patel, raise his hand.
He raised his hand.
This is Prashant Patel.
Sir, can you spell your name and I'll swear you in?
Yes. First name is Prashant, P-R-A-S-H-A-N-T.
Last name is Patel, P-A-T-E-L.
Thank you. Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, ma'am.
okay mr consul good afternoon mr patel did you um hear um my uh zoning speech just now yes
do you uh agree with what i said and do you adopt it as your own yes sir okay thank you we we have
we have nothing further to add but takeaway is we had these approvals they lapsed and we're hopeful
just scanning through them
and we can get them
reissued tonight.
Does the board have any questions?
No, Madam Chair.
Is there anyone in the virtual audience
with questions or who would like to testify?
I see no hands, Madam Chair.
Thank you.
Planning Commission?
Madam Chair and members of the board,
this is Mason Austin representing the Planning Commission.
The lot is designated for single family residential in the conference plan and is zoned for that use.
While the lot is undersized, the existing home conforms to the surrounding standards as would a smaller addition that has five feet less depth.
However, given neighborhood support and previous approval by this board, the staff of the planning commission has no objection to the requested variance.
Thank you.
Calendar number 2642, 1937 East Letterly Street.
My vote is yes.
Professor Plaza, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Jane Snow, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Snow.
Calendar number 2461-1943 Snyder Avenue,
The attorney is Shawn Whalen, Esquire.
Good afternoon, Madam Chair.
Hi, how are you?
Can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name?
Sure. Sean Whalen, W-H-A-L-E-N, 6 Coulter Avenue, Suite 1000, Ardmore, PA, 19003.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and I'll think about the truth?
Do you also agree to wait the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
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? Yes to all. Okay great you may proceed. All right thank you.
Okay hopefully right now you're seeing a Google map I'm here representing the owner
of 1943 Schneider Avenue. That's right here. Easier to see on this screen. As you can see,
it's CMX2, RM1, all throughout with CMX2, commercial at all of the corners. We are proposing
a new four-story building. The lot is vacant currently and has been a long-standing vacant
lot in the neighborhood. It is approximately 3,800 square feet and we are proposing a new
four-story building with first floor commercial. Here's the letter from West Passy Young Neighbors
Association and actually we had a resounding approval of 16 to 0, 16 in support with zero
opposition um the primary focus here of the community was the and obviously if they're on
they can speak for themselves as well but was the inclusion of commercial in this project
the board may recall there's been a number of matters before this board in the last few years
on this block not necessarily this block but on this avenue and everything is going residential
only or seeking residential only use the we in fact are having approximately 2 000 square feet
of commercial on the first floor which is by right but that is the primary focus of the
That is the primary focus of the community in keeping commercial on this corridor and getting a viable commercial use.
community in keeping commercial on this corridor and
So essentially everything we're doing stems from that.
We are seeking 16 dwelling units on floors 2, 3, and 4.
That's 16 total dwelling units spread across floors 2, 3, and 4.
There is one unit, one of the 16 units is on the first floor.
that's the ADA accessible unit. For obvious reasons, that's beneficial to have on the first
floor. And like I said, we have 2,000 square feet of commercial on the first floor. So we have four
refusals, which are up on the screen right now. We have added density. The density here is to
offset the first floor commercial because there's an obvious financial reason, which is why everyone
is coming to this board for residential use only is because that's what's economically viable and
the commercial is not. However, we are committed to using and keeping viable commercial at this
location as has actually been demanded by this board in the past. The second refusal we have
is that 38 feet is permitted, whereas 45 feet is requested. The additional foot height there
is simply because, as we've presented to this board numerous times before, viable commercial
modern tenants demand a higher floor plan for their first floor commercial uses, and the
traditional 10-foot use of the past is simply obsolete from a commercial standpoint.
um secondly we have uh lastly rather we have the third and fourth refusals which are related
uh that we are using we are seeking to use 100 of the occupied area instead of
80 as is allowed and that means that we are taking away the nine foot minimum rear yard requirement
the basis for this is this does not affect light and air because as you can see from these site
photos these are the two i'll zoom in to make this more visible for you here are the two
walls right next to us we are adjacent to two side walls so we're not affecting our 100 lot
coverage will not affect or impact any other property other than our own and again the basis
of us using the entire lot is for the benefit of a viable commercial tenant coming to this location
in essence if we provided the nine foot required rear yard setback that would be along this wall
and you would have the property is 70 feet wide so you would have nine feet by 70 feet is 630
square feet so essentially that 630 square feet would take a 2,000 square foot commercial space
down to approximately 1,350 square feet, which really is not large enough for a viable commercial
use going forward. So that's why we believe we meet the criteria. And we are too small to utilize
the green roof housing bonus here for the extra density. That's why we're not utilizing it or
for taking advantage of it. And we are also not capable of any other bonuses for this
project. So with that, I would call Ms. Agata Reister from Landmark Architects.
And is she going to adopt your testimony? Yes, she would. Okay. I'm not sure if I'm being heard.
we can hear you put your name on the record please spell your last name yes and i'll swear
you in um agatha reister with landmark architectural design um a-g-a-t-a-r-e-i-s-t-e-r
do you swear for him to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do okay sean it's all
yours she's all yours thank you madam chair uh yes miss reister you're the project architect
for this property, correct? That is correct. And did you hear all of the testimony that I just
presented? Yes. And do you believe it to be true and correct to the best of your knowledge and
information? I do. And would you adopt it as your own? I would. And simply, would you agree that we
meet all the criteria for a variance under the Philadelphia Zoning Code as you understand it?
Yes. Yes, I do. Thank you very much. Madam Chair, does the board have any questions for Ms. Reister?
Does the board have any questions? Yes. What is the trash plan?
The trash is actually located, I'm not sure if, who has control, if I could see the ground floor plan, sheet A1.2, the trash room is located right next to the bicycle room and access from both stair towers.
The trash is actually located. I'm not sure if who has control.
Thank you, I see it.
You're welcome.
Yes. So, and I neglected to bring that up, but all trash will be stored inside and removed. We'll have commercial trash removal, which will pick it up only, and it will only be outside during the time from which it's exited from the building and put into the trash trucks.
Thank you.
All right.
Does anyone else have any questions? And are there any other witnesses, Mr. Whelan?
Yes, I would just call Ori Fybush to adopt my testimony on behalf of the owner.
Mr. Fybush, can you put your name on the record and spell your last name and I'll swear you in?
Sure, absolutely.
Ori Fybush, 1936 Washington Avenue.
My last name is spelled F's in Frank, E-I-B-U-S-H.
Thank you.
Do you swear for him to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
I don't.
You may proceed.
Thank you, Mr. Fivebush.
You're here on behalf of the owner today?
I am, yes.
And have you heard all of the testimony presented so far in this matter?
I have.
And do you believe it to be true and correct to the best of your knowledge and information?
I do, yes.
And would you adopt it as your own?
I would.
Thank you.
And do you have anything further that you believe is necessary for the board's understanding of this matter?
Just subjectively, I had an opportunity to present this project to the community, to the ward leader and to other stakeholders and your neighbors.
It was a well attended meeting and everyone was really quite excited.
The chairwoman may remember that the property immediately to the north of this went before her about two years ago and same density, same height.
But the real consideration was that when this corner eventually came before the zoning board, that it should, in fact, have commercial.
And we've certainly maintained that promise for many years before.
I'm also just very excited for the design that GADA had put forward for this project.
I think it really elevates the corner and the corridor here and will do a lot to really invigorate a commercial corridor that has struggled for many, many years here.
and really just have a lot of hope and excitement for this piece here.
All right, thank you.
Madam Chair, does the board have any questions for Mr. Feibusch?
I don't think they do, but it sounds like an exciting project.
Planning Commission?
Madam Chair and members of the board,
the Blot is making awesome speaking on behalf of the Planning Commission.
Blot is designated for single-family residential in the comprehensive plan,
but is known for commercial mixed use.
Under the recommendation of the district plan, only three units would be permitted by right,
but even under the current zoning, only seven units are permitted.
Three additional units for a total of 10 could be earned through the participation of a mixed
income housing bonus program available in the zoning code.
The requested height could also be earned under that program.
However, the proposal is for dramatically more units than is permitted under this bonus
program, but does not provide the associated public benefits that would normally be required
to earn these units or the extra height.
there's no hardship that would necessitate any of the extra units height or occupied area and
therefore the staff of the planning commission recommend against the granting of the requested
variances okay and i just want to put on the record that the rco west passion neighbors
association submitted a letter of support for this project yes and i'm sorry to interrupt i know this
is out of out of order uh madam chair um yes there was a 16-0 letter of support but i would just
correct the planning commission uh bill number two one zero four seven four dash a as amended on the
floor in june actually prohibits the use of the affordable housing bonus in this instance
because we do not meet the required uh by right use of 10 units or more can i can i correct that
i'm sorry mason you can unmute yourself
that that's not accurate it does ban it from paying in lieu it does not ban it from me
from using it if you include the units on site just as a point
uh thank you madam chair i rest and i will answer happily answer any questions the board may have
i don't think the board has any questions unless i'm wrong does the board have questions no madam
Thank you. Calendar number 2461, 1943 Snyder Avenue. My vote is yes.
1943 Snyder Avenue, my vote is yes.
Professor Plaza, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Good luck with this.
Calendar number 2099-2000, Spruce Street.
The attorney is Adam Laver.
and the RCO has submitted a letter of non-opposition
and the RCO is the Center City Residents Association.
Mr. Laver, you're there.
Can you put your name and address on the record?
Spell your last name and I'll swear you in.
Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the board.
Adam Laver, LAVSA Victor ER of Blank Rome, 1 Logan Square
on behalf of SWC 2000 Spruce Street Associates, LP, and City Living Philly.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
I do, Madam Chair.
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance,
refusal, 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 and we already know that that the center
city residents association approves of this yeah affirmative to all and a letter on file
madam chair members of the board up on the screen uh before you is an aerial photograph
i thought it would be helpful to place the property in context and i'm using the hand in the
icon in the lower left hand corner to try to take you to the property which is just south of
rittenhouse square it is the brownstone of the southwest corner of 20th and spruce streets
i'll go through a couple photographs again just for context here is the property it's a large
property this is not the most current photo this is an aerial shown when the ownership was fully
restoring the outside of the property in a beautiful immaculate way. And here is a site
plan for context, not directly relevant because we're not proposing any changes to height, bulk,
or area, but I thought it would be helpful for the board to see that the property runs from
Spruce at the north along 20th Street through to Cyprus at the south. With me today is Jason
Nussbaum and Tom Hallinan, the owners and managers of this property, and a presence in the neighborhood
for many years. The property is located here in purple, CMX1 zoning. You can see that. The property
is a 6,000 square foot mansion. It's adjacent to RM1. And I should note, being located along the
20th street corridor it is a transitional area from many commercial uses to the residential feeling
along spruce street here are some photographs that show the beautiful exterior renovations
the scaffolding has come off and this mansion has been returned to its glory
the property itself has long been registered for seven dwelling units and at one time a
professional office too there is one refusal before the board which is a request to change
the use registration to visitor accommodations the application before the board is to register
the property to fill a need in the community for high-end hotel residents experience.
No additional density is proposed and the visitor accommodations would fall within the
existing layout of the seven units that I mentioned. Here are some historical photos
that show the property over time. Why do I bring this up? You have a historical property,
a property that hails from another time there are not many residences left like this the ownership
has worked very hard to preserve this historical treasure and located where it is at the corner of
20th street where you have a mix of restaurants and other commercial uses but also right next to
some solid residential, we were looking to fill a need for a
gap between these uses. And this is actually a response to what
And this is actually a response to what we've heard from the community.
we've heard from the community.
Many people who live in condominiums and other local nonprofits in the area are looking for places for artists and others to come for extended periods of time.
Also, family members when there is not room.
Here are some renderings that show the updates that you've seen.
The proposal is to fully restore and adapt the old grand structure to a modern seven-unit boutique visitor accommodations, to cater to someone who could afford the Four Seasons, if you will, but wants a Rickenhouse Square boutique experience, whether it's due to COVID and not wanting to be around a density of people.
But obviously, we all hope and pray that COVID is not with us in the form that we've known forever.
It could also be the corporate traveler who's looking to stay in a in a small boutique experience like this, or similar to what was seen some years ago, not many blocks away at a boutique hotel behind the Barclay.
There were reports that Oprah Winfrey wanted that type of low scale experience.
So City Living itself has been headquartered in the neighborhood since 1990, 31 years. Jason and Tom's management offices are down the street. I'm less than a block away from the subject property.
And City Living, in this instance, is looking to partner with Archway Brand, which is a high-end boutique visitor accommodation, for 24-7 virtual concierge.
Here you can see the interior of the property and the amazing spaces within.
And as I mentioned, Archway Hotel Residence is a known entity.
I'll go back just a moment.
The proposed entrance to the boutique experience is along 20th Street to respect the residence along Spruce Street.
I believe that Karen Polino, an immediate next-door neighbor, may be present, and I know that Jason and Tom are grateful to her for the ongoing discussions with her about how best to restore this property and make it a gem for the neighborhood.
We acknowledge 20th Street is more suited for the main entrance.
The hotel residents will have indoor trash storage, commercial trash pickup, and City Living Philly has daily touch points with the property due to their close management.
We have worked closely with the Center City Residents Association, which offers its non-opposition.
And there are numerous letters of support from neighbors who are thrilled about the addition of the property.
Here's one from Allison Herman, who notes that she's the owner of the property at 2001 Delancey Place, directly south of the property.
And I quote, I am so pleased with the amazing renovation that you have nearly completed at the subject property.
She goes on to note, quote, I totally support the variance that you are seeking, end quote.
Here, a nearby neighbor, the business Charlie Dove, writes of the need for short-term furnished rentals for out-of-town visiting guests who don't want to stay in a hotel.
And the Koresh Dance Academy, when, quote, when we have performances at Koresh Dance Company, frequently we have out-of-town guest performers, etc.
20th and Spruce will provide a much needed solution for us, and I'm sure for many others
in the neighborhood. And Salvatore DeAngelo, who lives across the street at 1923 Spruce
Street, writes in support of the variants. I would like to note that the proposal fits
into the surrounding neighborhood as evidenced by the non-opposition of the coordinating
RCO. The variance would represent the minimum variance to afford relief and the least modification
possible of the regulations at issue. The grant of variance relief will not substantially increase
congestion in the public streets, increase danger of fire, or otherwise endanger the public health
safety or general welfare. There is no change in the proposed density. The unit count remains the
same. This will not adversely affect transportation or unduly burden, water sewer, school park, or
other public facilities. There are no environmental issues. Mr. Nussbaum is available and prepared to
raise his virtual hand to adopt and affirm Madam Chair. Mr. Nussbaum, can you put your name on the
record and spell your last name and I'll swear you in? Jason Nussbaum, N-U-S-B-A-U-M, 1824 Spruce Street.
n-u-s-b-a-u-m 1824 spruce street philadelphia 19103 do you swear if i'm to tell the whole
truth and nothing but the truth i do thank you and mr nussbaum have you been present
to clearly hear the entire testimony that i've offered to that yes and would you adopt and
affirmatize your own yes thank you thank you is the board of any questions no madam chair no
is there anyone in the virtual audience with any questions
i see no hands madam chair thank you planning commission
madam chair members of the board mason austin representing the planning commission
The law is designated for commercial mixed use in the comprehensive plan and was remapped.
Hold on a second.
Yes, sorry.
Long list today.
The law is designated for commercial mixed use in the comprehensive plan and was remapped
to match that recommendation in 2019.
However, given the location, the existing conditions, and the support of neighbors,
staff of the planning commission have no objection to the granting of the variance.
Thank you.
Calendar number 2099, 2000 Spruce Street.
My vote is yes.
Confessor Plaza, yes.
James Fell, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board.
Have a good afternoon.
Thank you.
You as well.
Calendar number...
Thank you.
Hello, this is the reporter. I'm not hearing anything.
I believe we lost the chair, correct? Vice chair, correct, Tanya?
I'm sorry.
I think so.
Secretary Pausa, could you go forward? Thank you, Kylie.
Sure. One second.
All right.
So, all right.
Give me one second.
This is calendar number MI 2021-002-574-2223, Frankfurt Avenue.
Attorney is Jared Kling.
good afternoon members of the board good afternoon sir do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do and i'm still under oath from this morning session
right that's correct can you please identify yourself for the record absolutely jared klein
k-l-e-i-n from blank road 130 north 18th street uh on behalf of the owner and q and do you agree
to waive the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? Yes, I do. And have you emailed
an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance,
copy of the refusal or referral photos and plans five days prior to this hearing? Yes, I have.
And have you met with the RCO and have a letter? Yes. Thank you. Please proceed. Thank you. I'm
sorry secretary plaza this is tanya the board administrator um can i just confirm that mr snell
is here and available for this hearing okay yes i'm here thank you mr holliman can i confirm that
you're here and available for this hearing yes madam thank you you may proceed mr klein
thank you miss duncan can everybody see my screen uh yes fantastic so uh i am here for
2223 Frankfurt on behalf of Brewery Arse, which is a craft brewery that has a location
in the West Paschalk area and is looking to expand with a second location.
And we've received a special exception referral because as I'm sure the board is aware,
in this area of the city, the overlay prohibits use of the property as a sit-down restaurant.
So while it would ordinarily be a buy rate use in a CMX2, because of the overlay, we're going through the special exception process.
To quickly orient the board, this is the property here located on Frankfurt Avenue.
To quickly orient the board, this is the property here located on Franklin.
Zoning map also to show we're in the midst of a commercial corridor.
Everything around us is zoned CMX2.
And this is a photo of the property.
It was last used as a record store, but is now a vacant storefront.
And these are some views on Frankfurt Avenue looking up and down the block.
mix of use types on this section of Frankfort Avenue, as I'm sure the board is aware.
Here are photos of posting in the window of the property.
And here is a basic floor plan showing what we're intending to do within the space.
I'll note on here the hours of operation are going to be Tuesday and Wednesday, 4 to 9,
Thursday, Friday, 4 to 10, and Saturday, Saturday, 12 to 11, and Sunday, 12 to 8.
This is a layout of the space. We do plan to have some outdoor seating in this sort of cut out open space area to the side of the property and some additional outdoor seating at the front of the property, assuming that the streets department approves of the necessary applications.
applications. Trash is going to be stored in this area here, and we'll be having commercial trash
pickup regularly as part of our business operation. And this will be an enclosed trash area. As you
can see, it's next to the seating area, so there'll be a wooden wall here, you know, to prevent
people from seeing too much of the trashy area while they're enjoying the space.
um we met uh with both of the business improvement district and fishtown neighbors association
fna's letter of support uh is on the screen in front of you now as you can see um they were
receptive and supportive of our use and the limit on our hours of operation along with the exterior
your trash and we also received a letter of support from the fish town Kensington area business
improvement district we had a separate meeting with them and their letter of support is also
included there I would like my client Sean Arsenault if he's available to raise his virtual hand
please okay Sean if you're there please put your name on the ad your name on the record and spell
your full name please he's coming back in as a panelist um that's the only way i could allow him
to speak no problem thank you for tina hi uh my name is sean arsenal uh s-d-a-n uh last name a-r-s-e-n-a-u-l-t
Thank you. Sean, you saw a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth for nothing but the truth?
Thank you. Please proceed.
Thank you. Sean, I just have one question for you. Did you have a chance to hear my presentation
and do you adopt what I said as true, correct in your own testimony?
I do, Jerry.
Thank you very much. I don't have anything further, members of the board, but if you have
any questions, we'd be happy to answer.
Okay. Does the board have any questions?
okay is there anyone else here that would like to speak in this matter
i see no hands thank you planning commission
sorry yes thank you uh chair um the lot is uh this is mason austin uh representing the
planning commission the lot is designated for commercial mixed use in the comprehensive plan
in a zone for that purpose because the proposed restaurant is unlikely to have an impact greater
than what one would normally expect from that use staff of the planning commission recommend
that the special exception be granted thank you uh let the record reflect that the fish town
neighbors of association are in support councilman squilla has a letter of mana position
Okay, calendar number MI2021-002574, 2223, Frankfort Avenue, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Okay, good luck.
Thank you all.
Calendar number MI-2021-002532-3232, Henry Avenue.
Jerry, that's still you, right?
Okay, you still under oath.
Please identify yourself for the record.
Yes, Mr. Plaza, this is still me, but I went out and had to come back in.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you. Please identify yourself for the record. You still on the road?
please identify yourself for the record.
You still on the road?
Absolutely.
Absolutely. Once again, Jared Klein, K-L-E-I-N, from Blank Rome, 130 North 18th Street, Philadelphia, 19103.
Thank you. And you agree to waive the reading of its refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
And have you emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership,
proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral, photos and plans five days prior to this hearing?
Yes, I have.
And have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
Thank you.
And just for the record, we have a letter in support from the RAH Civic Association.
Please proceed, Mr. Stein.
Thank you, Mr. Plaza.
I've shared my screen again.
I hope everybody can see it.
Sure. Just very briefly, as Jared said, it's primarily a senior housing campus right now, currently 85 units of senior housing, an independent life center and a dialysis center.
And the additional development is going to include more affordable senior housing and some market rate, which will be affordable to the neighborhood.
So we think it's going to create a really vibrant campus mixing seniors and people of other ages, other incomes.
so we're really excited to we think it'll be a great improvement to the quality of life for
people living there and and the neighborhood so we're excited for this uh next phase of the
development and it'll remove what's been a long-standing blight in the neighborhood will
finally allow us to complete this project thank you john uh members of the board i don't have
anything else but we're happy to answer any questions the board may have okay does the
board have any questions? No, Mr. Chair. Okay. Is there anyone that would like to speak in this
matter? I see no hands, Chair. Thank you. Calendar number. I'm sorry. Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is
Mason Austin representing the Planning Commission. While the lot is zoned for single-family residential
is designated for residential mixed use in the comprehensive plan, because the proposal would
likely be by right under the recommended zoning designation, but because it would address
a critical need for the city and neighborhood, PCPC staff has no objection to the granting
of the recourse of variance.
Thank you.
Okay, calendar number MI 2021-002532-3232 Henry Avenue, my vote is yes.
Regan Snell, my vote is yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Thank you all.
coming back in as a panelist. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Mr. O'Brien. Can you please
identify yourself for the record? Yes, William O'Brien, O-B-R-I-E-N,
Maniunk Law Office, M-A-N-A-Y-U-N-K, 4322 Main Street, Philadelphia, 19127.
thank you uh harry you're back or you want me to continue you are muted
i could not get back on no matter how hard i tried so you can continue i'll take the next one
okay uh mr brian you uh do you swear to affirm to tell the truth the whole truth from nothing
but the truth yes i do and have you uh emailed an exhibit packet with the required documents
proof of ownership, proof of tax compliance, copy of the refusal or referral,
orders and plans five days prior to this hearing?
Yes, to each of the both.
And have you emailed an exhibit packet with the – I'm sorry.
Have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Please proceed.
Thank you.
Can you swear me in?
Or I guess you did swear me in.
I'm sorry.
Yes, I did.
To my right is Raymond Pierce, who, together with his wife, Teresa,
is the owner of the property, 4477 Fleming Street. If I may share my screen.
Yes, you may.
Page two of the packet is the refusal. There are three items.
The third one, the side yard on parcel C, is an existing nonconforming condition of the 19th century structure between it and the adjacent property.
The proposed new buildings, two new single families, produce the other two refusals.
The first refusal is for rear yard depth, and the other is for attached homes.
Let's take a look at page 8 of the package, which is part of
Eight of the package, which is part of the atlas, this is the subject property, and as you can see, it is surrounded by RSA 5 properties.
To the north, on the same side of the street, there are eight properties that are RSA 5.
across the street there are nine that are RSA 5 and they're further down the block on both sides
are 30 properties they're all RSA 5 which allow attached homes and are in fact attached homes so
the fact that this proposal is for attached homes is not out of character with the immediate block
the other proposal the other refusal is for rear yard
Let me briefly bring up the zoning plan.
I'm going to bring up the proviso zoning plan, which I'll get to in a second.
As the plan shows, the distance from the back wall of the structure to the rear property line is over 92 feet.
So there's plenty of space between the rear property line and the structure.
However, strict application of the zoning code does not count areas designated for parking as rear yard.
So we have taken steps to reduce the degree of the variance needed.
The easement, the turning easement here depicted across all three parcels was reduced from 24 feet to 20 feet, which enlarges the rear yard.
The other item I'll bring right up, the Civic met on July 8th and produced a letter in support.
I do have received and the board has received an amended letter of support, which I will offer. But the meeting on July 8th, there were 61 persons who attended, there were no persons in objection.
One of the important elements of their support is the owners, Mr. Pearson and his wife, agreed to maintain the height of a retaining wall, which is part of an existing garage.
We go to the structure. So here's the 19th century, late 19th century structure. And it's the refusal of side yard is existing in this location.
And across the back of the property are garages, and the height of those garages have become walls that make the backyards of the three properties on Dexter Street that back up to this property, gives them quite a nice private courtyard effect.
And as indicated in the civics letter, they have asked the board to include as a proviso that 44-42 Dexter would retain a height of six feet on that garage wall.
44-40 Dexter would receive, would maintain a height of 62 inches, and 44-38 would maintain a height of 48 inches so that they have privacy from, they continue to enjoy the privacy that they have now in their backyard.
which goes to the effect of a rear yard requirement in that these rear yards are
topographically are distant from each other and visually distant from each other.
I can move to the section on page nine through page 13 are the prior approvals issued by
the streets department, the water department, the planning commission, including
the erosion sediment control plan has been approved for this project.
Steep slope analysis has been done and approved. Finally, the existing conditions is on page 14.
The lots are all by right. In other words, the width and area are fully conforming.
It's only the attached structures, which, as I said, is consistent with much of the block
and the rear yard, which introduce the refusals. The proposal is to construct
two new attached homes. And at the rear of the existing and proposed building next to it,
two new attached homes, and at the rear of
they will also be attached at the first floor level. There's a small structure. And because
they're three in a row, that's considered attached. But the two new homes will share a driveway.
That driveway then opens up into the rear where a parking is provided to all three parcels.
Here is the driveway, opens up in the rear, providing two cars for each of the homes,
the existing home and the two proposed homes. Also in the meeting is Chris Karakoff, the principal
of Studio C Architecture, I'd ask Chris to raise his hand and be recognized.
Okay. Can you hear me? Yes, Chris, can you please identify yourself for the records by
your first and last name? Yes, my name is Chris Karakoff, C-H-R-I-S, last name C-A-R-I-C-K-H-O-F-F.
You still affirm the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you. Please proceed.
Chris, you served as project architect for this development?
That's correct.
Could you walk the board through the floor plans and the elevation plans and describe this project?
Tell me what page you'd like.
uh why don't we start at the uh ground floor of parcel a and b uh let's see i'm not sure which
page that is on your booklet okay this is existing structure this is the existing structure yeah
so um this is the ground floor of the um the two new attached buildings um we're just looking at
one of them. This is a media room, entertainment area, and entrance off of the Fleming Street
is on the left side of the screen. This is kind of a half depth because of the slope of the
existing site. So you go upstairs, and maybe you can jump to the next slide, and land in a large
living area, open living area, which has a living room, dining room, kitchen. Toward the rear,
which is where the parking is, we have a storage area where trash and other lawn equipment type
of thing can be stored. Above that, you see a mudroom. The main entrance for the owner would
come through there. There's a half bath and pantry. Above that, we have three bedrooms
and two baths. And then lastly, on the top floor, we have a master suite and an office.
Finally, there's also a roof deck up above, which is set back, I think, just over 14 feet
from the street, per the discussions with the residents and the preference. It aligns with the
pilot house, the railing. So we're set back, I think it's just about 14 feet. So it'd be towards
the rear of the building. Elevation-wise, we're staying consistent with the block with the proposed
brick facade the uh connection element uh you know is is a uh is a hardy panel uh and then on the rear
we have just siding you see the carriage doors uh for the garage uh or garage storage i should call
them um and um the the arches are kind of tie into some of the buildings across the streets and the
attached on to across the street and the overall height is 37 feet but the height because of the
slope change this the height of the structure at the rear is 28 feet is that correct that's correct
does the board have any questions for mr karakoff uh does the board have any questions no
Okay. Is there anyone else here that would like to speak in this matter?
I see no hands, Chair.
Madam Chairwoman, or Madam Chair, Mr. Chairman, if I could ask Mr. Pierce to be sworn in.
Please.
Can you swear our firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
thank you uh mr pierce uh did you hear my testimony i did uh and
Mr. Pierce, did you hear my testimony? I did. And is it truthful and correct? Yes. And do you adopt it as your own? I do. And is the relief you're requesting from the zoning board the least modification possible to achieve this project? Yes.
I have nothing further, however. I do want to point out that there is a proviso plan. It's depicted on page 17 of the materials. There were three or four items. The parapet wall was reduced to two feet to be compliant, more sympathetic with the streetscape.
The turning easement area was reduced from 24 to 20 feet, and the front setback of the roof deck was set back 14 feet.
Okay, so how many provisos through?
And then there's the proviso from the Civic's letter.
The Civic requested that the board adopt as a proviso its letter, which incorporates the items in the proviso plan,
And also mentions the height of the rear wall of the existing garage that will remain to benefit the homes on Dexter Street.
So, Mr. O'Brien, what we're going to do is we're going to hold this to next week, and we'll vote it next week, okay?
That way we could go over the provisos.
I don't have them in front of me.
And so the record is closed, okay?
Planning Commission?
Planning Commission?
It looks like he's frozen.
Ron, are you back up?
Or David?
There we go.
Hey, everyone.
Good afternoon.
David Fecto, City Planning Commission.
It was on this this morning, so I wouldn't need to be sworn in again.
So the lot is designated for single family residential in the comprehensive plan in a zone for that use.
Due to the peculiarities of this site and due to the agreement reached with Central Roxborough,
staff of the planning commission has no objection to granting the variances requested through the revised plans.
Okay, thank you.
Board has any questions?
No, Mr. Chair.
So for calendar number MI 2021-002465, 4477 Fleming Street, the record is closed.
We will vote this on next week hearing, okay?
Pending the, you know, we'll get everything squared away with the proviso, okay?
Thank you, Mr. Plaza.
Thank you, Mr. Brian.
Yes, you may.
Have a good one.
calendar number 2537 is continued and on to number 11 yes calendar number 2641
506-10 emily street the attorney is joseph consul
mr consul is coming back in as a panel okay
hi Mr. Consul can you put your name on the record and spell your last name I'll swear you in
no I don't have to because you've been here all day hi how's it going Joe Consul Consul Madison
LLP one west third street suite 204 media Pennsylvania 19063 do you agree to waive
the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy yes I do have you emailed the exhibit
packet with required documents proof of ownership tax compliance refusal 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 yes to everything thank you you may proceed good afternoon board for my third and
final time joseph consul here on 506 through 510 emily street uh lisa boucher marquis is on this
call. This is the property owner, along with Mark Wallace, if needed, the architect from
Core Design Architecture. This is a single family property. Here we go. RSA 5 on Emily Street,
two blocks south of Snyder between 5th and 6th Street. We're seeking to legalize the one car
garage that faces Emily Street. The property had a garage when Lisa purchased it in 2020.
We met with the 7th Street Community Civic Association and the attendees at that meeting confirmed that, where is their letter, confirmed that the garage had been there for as long as they can remember, which according to the RCO chair, Bruce Baldwin, is a very long time.
We met with the 7th Street Community Civic Association.
because of that there was no opposition to the request to legalize this garage as they stated
in their rco letter we had the architects involved because we needed to submit a turning radius study
we got the required streets department approvals and the architecture plans confirm
that there's no issues regarding turning radius or room in the garage for a vehicle
So with that, I'll ask my client, Lisa, to raise her hand.
Lisa, are you out there?
I was just messaging with her.
hi i'm here hey lisa can you put can you put your name on the record and spell your last name and
i'll swear you in lisa boucher b-o-u-c-h-e-r do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and
nothing but the truth i do thank you okay mr consul good afternoon miss boucher did you hear
my testimony right now regarding the property yes do you adopt it as your own yes do you have
anything to add um no i think you hit everything okay thanks i'm nothing further does the board
have any questions no madam chair no is there anyone in the virtual audience with questions
i see no hands madam chair okay uh councilman scuola has sent in a letter in non-opposition
the rco uh is also non-opposition calendar number two six four one five zero six dash ten emily
street my vote is yes confessor plaza my vote is yes now my vote is yes thomas halliman my vote is yes
hopefully contribute to the revitalization of Woodland Avenue. As you can see from this is just
the rest of the tax stuff. Indeed, as you can see from the zoning map, it's an intermediate lot zone
CMX2. It allows for multifamily again on the second and third floors and all we're looking for
is to utilize the ground floor for residential.
It is also near RSA 5 and also as an intermediate lot,
it's a little bit more difficult on these thinner lots
to provide meaningful commercial uses.
As you can see, the main hardship that we have,
aside from the fact that the owner since 2018
has tried to obtain a commercial use,
is that the way that the building is currently built out,
there's steps up to even get to the first floor
and then there's a small window. Obviously, this was great when there was room for business and
professional and office space. But since then, in order to provide any real commercial use,
we would have to really demolish the entire first floor, reconfigure the entire front,
potentially demolish and rework the basement so that there could be some reasonable storage.
And instead, the community and the neighbors were really just supportive of having
residential. They believed that it would be a benefit to the neighborhood at an additional
affordable unit, and they did not want us to be creating a lot of demolition. The prior owner of
this property had promised some things from a construction perspective that were not done,
so they were really excited to actually have the building go into use and keep most of the
existing structure. Obviously, once permitted, we'll be cleaning it up a bit, but as you can see,
it would require a significant amount of work and heavy demolition to make this usable for a
commercial space. As you can see, the adjacent structures have a different facade where it
actually makes it a little bit obviously easier for commercial use. We don't have that over here.
And again, most of these are at the ground floor. We have to go up several steps to even get into
the space. Another view and an angle, see how we're sort of dissimilar from all the other commercial
uses in sort of the way that the building is built out. Again, I have the zoning permit where
we did try to get use for business and professional services. It's remained vacant ever since,
despite efforts. On July 22nd, we met with the Southwest District Services RCO. And as you can
see in front of us, this is a letter of support from both the 52nd Republican Ward who attended
the meeting. Cedar Park neighbor was there, but they were not an effective RCO, but it was five
in support from the Southwest District Services in the 51st Republican Ward, and there was 10
people at the meeting. Again, an additional letter, basically based on the outcome of the meeting,
they're in support of the application as proposed for three dwelling units in existing structure
from the president of Southwest Philadelphia District Services. We also did touch base with
the one of the adjacent near neighbors a few blocks away but also someone who had been working
on trying to help encourage additional businesses and support in Woodland Avenue and they provided
a letter of support for our application as well. I am happy to also share the floor plans
just so that the board can see what we are going to be proposing for the ground floor
so as you can see after walking up be a bedroom in the front bathroom closet space kitchen and
living space and a bedroom in the back so two bedrooms one bathroom just a small you know
ground floor unit we're not utilizing the basement again we'd have to do a significant
dig down to do that and the goal was really just to rehab this first floor in order to provide for
an additional unit I believe my client and the owner Jason Houma is on the line if I could bring
him up to adopt my testimony then happy to take any questions that the board may have thank you
Mr. Homa you please unmute yourself and please wait for the chair
Mr. Homa can you hear me? Yes can you hear me? Yes I can can you put your name and address on
the record and spell your last name please? My name is Jason Homa last name is H-O-M-A
do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes i do okay rachel jason have you heard my testimony today in front of the board
yes do you believe it to be true and accurate to the best of your knowledge and do you adopt it as
do you believe it to be true and accurate to the best of your knowledge and do you adopt it as your
your own yes
own yes i do thank you i also would just mention that obviously this is the least modification of
the code possible in order for the variance given it's a commercial mixed-use district
it will not be any more impactful in the surrounding area and we do believe that
we've satisfied the requirements for a variance in this case does the board have any questions
no madam chair no no plan is there anyone in the virtual audience who would like to testify
i see no hands madam chair okay planning commission thank you madam chair members of
the board the lot is designated for commercial mixed use in the comprehensive plan and is
zoned in accordance with that recommendation given the existing conditions of the property
previous efforts to obtain an office tenant and the support of the RCO staff of the planning
commission has no objection to the granting of the requested variance thank you calendar
number 2534 5514 woodland avenue my vote is yes confessor plaza my vote is yes jane snell my vote
is yes thomas holliman my vote is yes okay and stepping out of order i'm going back to number 11
I neglected to get the Planning Commission.
So calendar number 2641-506-10,
Emily Street, Planning Commission.
Sure, no problem.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
This may sound also representing the Planning Commission.
The lot is designated for single-family residential
in the comprehensive plan and is zoned for that use.
The proposed shortcut would cause,
uh would sorry endanger the um one of the very few mature trees on the block and would cause the
removal of two on-street public parking spaces because there's nothing particular to the lot
that constitutes a hardship preventing use and compliance with the zoning code planning commission
staff recommends against the granting of the proposed variance okay um calendar number two
2641-506-10. Emily Street, my vote is yes.
Confessor Plaza, yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Sorry about that. I was muted. James Snell, my vote is yes.
Thank you, guys. Calendar number 2182-6351-55.
Lancaster Avenue. Rachel Pritzker, you're the attorney.
Hi, Rachel, please put your name and address on the record, spell your last name, and then I'll
ask you a couple of questions. Sure. Rachel, R-A-C-H-A-E-L, Pritzker, P-R-I-T-Z-K-E-R,
1635 Market Street, Suite 1600, Philadelphia, PA, 19103.
you're also you're already under oath do you also 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 and or plans of the property five days
in advance of this hearing and have you met with the rco and do you have a letter yes we have a
letter of support from the Overbrook Farms RCO. I see that here. Okay, you may proceed.
So this is 6351-55 Lancaster Avenue. I'm just going to go up to the refusal.
I know the chairwoman is very familiar with this neighborhood, so it's probably familiar with
this building. This is a long-standing existing multifamily building in the Overbrook Farms
historic area of the city. This property is zone RSD3 despite being a multifamily building since
1927. The refusal is a bit misleading although it is accurate. Essentially what we are looking
to do for this project is just redesign the three bedroom units to provide one bedroom units
Um, the community and my client is trying to move away from having, uh, students and younger
individuals, um, in this longstanding building and wanted to provide for smaller, more updated
modern units, uh, with smaller bedroom sizes.
So, uh, the total unit count will be 33 units.
The refusals are based on the RSD three zoning classification.
Um, however, again, this is a longstanding multifamily building.
As you can see, multifamily is prohibited in RSD-3, but it's been granted many, many times for variances.
granted many, many times for variances. And additionally, it's been a longstanding
And additionally, it's been a long time.
multifamily building since 1927. The property is on a 13,000 square foot lot. And basically,
again, all the variances are related to this RSD3 use. The building was constructed in 1924 and has
remained continuous use since then. It's on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places and part
of the Overbook Farms historic district. Essentially what we're looking to do is the original layout has
nine very large apartment units each in excess of a thousand square feet. These units are really have
been not only difficult to rent out but typically are getting a type of tenant that is not ideal
given sort of the goals of the owner and the community to try to have you know less students
less transient individuals. And while we're not discriminated against those type of applications,
we want to provide units that really lead towards more of a longstanding, less transient
tenant. There's a long history of this building being granted variances by the board for different
variations to subdivide the units in different ways. And we're just basically asking, these are
the last eight units that are basically three bedroom apartments. We're looking to subdivide
them internally to provide 16 one-bedroom units. So actually, although increasing the amount of
units in the building, lowering the amount of people that are actually going to be in the
building, and creating smaller units around 500 square feet as opposed to over 1,000 square feet
with three bedrooms. Do you have a picture of the building, and does the building have a theme?
This is the building. It's the Lancaster Apartments. As you can see, it's a beautiful
historic building um we do have our architect scott woodruff here um to go through the proposed plans
and kind of walk through uh what our intention is um but yeah this is a picture of the building
um i can pull it up as well on the zoning maps um and some time do you have any questions
no madam chair okay just want to go through again this is the property as you can see this whole
block is rsb3 but long-standing multi-family aerial photo of the building one of the reasons
we can't provide the 33 parking spaces is as you can see there's two cut curb cuts on lancaster
avenue however the building takes up most of the square footage and we'd have to demo portions of
it or some of it to provide underground parking the building has never had uh parking for these
units so um it kind of goes with uh what's in in character and again this is preserved on the
the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places,
so no demolition of this building would be permitted.
Okay, does the rest of the board have any questions?
Is there any, I'm sorry.
It's okay, lastly, just we had a meeting with the RCO,
the Overbrook Farms Club on June 14th,
and we have a letter of support from them,
as you can see evidenced in our packet.
Again, they were very supportive of our proposal
and are happy that we're going to be continuing to update the building
and continue to have it serve the community for years to come
and essentially was really appreciative of decreasing the overall occupancy
by making the units smaller in size.
I do have Scott Woodruff here if the board is interested in me going through the floor plans.
I'm not. I would just like to know if there's anyone in the virtual audience who would like to speak.
And if there's anyone here from the Overbrook Farms Club.
I see no hands, Madam Chair.
Is the board prepared to vote?
Yes, Madam Chair.
Thank you.
Planning Commissioner?
Could I just, if...
Have your client adopt?
Yeah, or just as a member of the, an officer of the court,
Thank you. I'm sorry, Madam Chair, this is Tanya, the Board's Administrator. If I could just have the gentleman state who he is on the record, I would appreciate that.
Sure, no problem. I apologize, Tanya. This is Mason Austin, representing the Planning Commission.
Thank you kindly.
Calendar number 2182-6351-55, Lancaster Avenue. My vote is yes.
Professor Plaza, yes.
James Snell yes Thomas Holloman yes thank you thank you um does the board and the court
reporter want to take a 10-minute break yes madam chair that would be very much appreciated
thank you chair okay great so we will return at 4 40.
sound good yes chair sounds great thank you thank you
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
is everyone here
we're here hi
yes madam chair confessor i think that was jim yep i'm here
jim is here okay oh jim snell okay
okie doke good afternoon my name is carol tenary and i'm the vice chair of the zoning
board of adjustment i'll be participating in today's hearing along with board secretary
confessor plaza and board members thomas holliman and james snell board administrator fatina l
is also here, and Board Attorney Rebecca Cole is in attendance. For those of you who haven't
yet participated in one of our virtual hearings, I'll go through some of the basics of what
you can expect. But first, I want to acknowledge that Board Administrator Tanya Sunkit is also
present. First, we will be administering oaths to individual participants prior to their testimony.
Second, we'd like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded
and that by participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded.
This is available to the public and on the web.
Third, for anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify,
you must raise your hand by hitting star nine, then star six to unmute yourself.
To enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548
and leave your email address and address of the property at issue.
Again, if you wish to testify, you must raise your hand by hitting star nine, then star six to unmute yourself and to enter an appearance statement, call 267-720-5548 and leave your email address and address of the property at issue.
finally the question and answer box is not for testimony any comments or be or to be directed
to miss tanya sunkett and miss patina l are there any requests for continuances today
on the 3 30 list
i see no hands madam chair
Okay. We have no continuances also that would be listed. So I guess we start with number one.
Calendar number 0131, 120 North 53rd Street. The attorney is Bart Levy.
Madam Chair, hi, this is Tanya Sunkett.
Did I do it again?
Well, we do have a notation that there was a request for a continuance from the council person's office.
Is that for number one?
Number one?
No, it's the second listing.
I'm sorry.
Did you see the notation under number one?
I do see it now.
Thank you.
So if it's your call, if we can see if the attorney is available.
Is Mr. Levy in the audience?
This is also the second listing with no exhibits.
Yeah, I think we should dismiss this one, Madam Chair.
I don't see Mr. Levy in the audience, Madam Chair.
okay calendar number 0131 120 north 53rd street this case is dismissed
120 North 53rd Street.
This case is dismissed.
Professor Plaza, dismissed.
James Snell, dismissed.
Thomas Holloman, dismissed.
Thank you.
Calendar number 1414, 1222 East Columbia Avenue.
this is another continuance requested by the architect there are no exhibits and this is a second listing
uh madam chair yes if we if you don't mind could we move forward to the next case
I will research this and determine if the architect is the applicant and can request the continuance.
Okay. We have the same situation. Number three, calendar number 2091, 2116 East Stella Street.
There are no exhibits and this is a second listing. Is there anyone here on this case?
can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name please
on this on the chat not on the chat are you the applicant oh set soros is the applicant correct
yes ma'am okay has she been promoted
yes okay ma'am can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name
my my first name is o-t-h-e-t my last name is s-a-u-r-i-s your address 2114 east
stella street philadelphia pennsylvania 19134 thank you do you swear for me to tell the whole
truth and nothing but the truth yes you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax
compliance refusal 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 yes i'm sorry i'm sorry man of chair it's a
no um we have a record i'm sorry secretary plaza you can continue no no go right ahead
is saying here that we have no exhibit this is the second listening that's what i'm saying too
and i thought perhaps there maybe it had been submitted because she explained why she haven't
submitted the uh the exhibit all this time she had this is a dismissal yeah this is a dismissal
and being in conformance with what we've done in the past.
Calendar number 2091-2116 East Stella Street.
This case is dismissed.
Professor Clauser, dismissed.
James Snell, dismissed.
Thomas Holloman, dismissed.
Calendar number 0118-2361 East Allegheny Avenue.
The attorney is Zen Jin.
Mr. Jin is coming back in as a panelist. Thank you.
Hi, Mr. Jin. Can you put your name and address on the records by your last name?
Yes. And I'll throw you in, or have you already been sworn in?
No, first case today. Okay, great. Thank you.
Zhen Jin, Z-H-E-N-J-I-N, 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 1838, Philadelphia PA 19103, here on behalf of the applicant.
Thank you. Do you swear I'm firm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal, referral, photos, and or plans of the property, five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
Yes, to all questions.
Okay, and I see in front of me that the Port Richmond on Patrol and Civic RCO ProPAC has submitted a letter of support, and Councilman Squilla has submitted a letter in non-opposition. You may proceed.
has submitted a letter in non-opposition. You may proceed.
Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to share with the board the information relating to this case.
If the board could just give me one second to put that up on the screen.
So what I have submitted to the board includes refusal, the letter from the RCO in support,
photos, plans, and related documentation. I'm going to go first to the refusal, which is simply
based on that this is a CMX1, but it is bordering RSA5 properties, and therefore the proposed two
family dwelling is not permitted because of the RSA5 neighboring properties. CMX1 otherwise could
be a commercial and one unit. Why we're asking for a duplex in this situation is better shown
with the photos because of the current and pre-existing conditions of the property.
This is a pre-existing non-conforming property because at one point it was a doctor's office
with a residence above. At some point, the doctor converted the property to completely residential
before my client acquired it, there are actually three doors on the property, although two are
leading primarily into the actual residences and one leads into the basement. This might have been
because it was at one point a commercial style office use. So the building is already separated
into separate units. It is actually more difficult at this point to reconvert back
than it is to simply use the building as the two separate units, which were already in existence.
When we met with the community and ProPAC, the neighbors and the community organization remember the doctor and remembers the property.
And that is why there was no objection to the proposed duplex, because the property essentially has been set up that way for a long time.
Oh, these pictures are a little blurry. I'm sorry for the inclusion of those.
I'm going to go ahead and jump to the plans.
So in the proposed plan, we're not using the basement for anything other than storage.
Basically, the property set up at one point, the basement was like an office space, but
it's not no living space is being used in there.
The first floor, one of the entrants leads into the unit, first floor front, I mean,
I'm sorry, first floor, first unit.
and then the second door which leads directly to stairs up to the second floor unit they each have
their own entryway at the front and then the basement is actually shareable by the two units
so extra storage trash and other things can actually be accessed directly into the basement
until pickup day so the property actually in a sense works out for the multifamily that exists
there. It's a thousand square foot plus lot. It is a pretty decent square footage unit for each
one. And again, because of the pre-existing conditions that was non-conforming, it's very
hard to put this property back to a single family property. And based on the support from ProPAC,
we would ask the board's favorable review of this request for duplex use. I'll be happy to
that direct to any exhibit the board would like to see again
or answer any additional questions.
Does the board have any questions?
No, Madam Chair.
Is there anyone in the virtual audience with questions?
I see no hands, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Planning Commission.
This is Ryan Bednar, City Planning, that's R-O-N,
last name Bednar, B-E-D-E-N-A-R. Do you swear or firm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the
truth? Yes. Thank you. You may proceed. While this property is currently indicated for commercial in
the city plan, given the surrounding mix of single and multifamily uses and location less than a
block from major transit corridor, we recommend that the request for the answer be granted.
Thank you. Madam Chair, before you vote, if I could just see if my client is available
to answer the questions. I don't actually see him on the audience list, so I'm not sure he's here,
but if he doesn't raise his hand, of course, I would ask the board to stipulate as an officer
the court, but I would like to give him a chance. His name is Florian. Florian, are you here? Can you
raise your hand virtually if you are?
I don't see anyone by their last name and no one has their hand raised as of yet.
Thank you.
If the board would allow me to stipulate that my client would accept my testimony as his
Yes, we do accept that.
Thank you.
Calendar number 0118 2361 East Allegheny Avenue.
my vote is yes professor plaza my vote is yes name snell my vote is yes
thomas halliman my vote is yes thank you have a good evening thank you you too calendar number
0130 3743 aspen street nicholas combs is handling this per se and there is a letter
from the Mantua Civic Association of Support.
Sir, can you unmute yourself, put your name and address on the record,
and spell your last name?
Yes, it's Nicholas Combs, C-O-O-M-B-S, 3743 Aspen Street.
Do you swear a firm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
And have you emailed the exhibit packet with the required documents consisting of proof of ownership, tax compliance, refusal, referral, photos and or plans five days in advance of this hearing?
And have you met with the RCO? And do you have a letter?
Yes, I have.
Okay. You may proceed.
Good afternoon, Vice Chair and members of the Board.
I'm here today. I have a presentation in compliance with the ZBA documents that I receive.
Would you allow me to share my screen?
Absolutely. We love screens.
Okay. All right.
And bear with me. I'm the owner, and so this is new for me. It's my first time.
Are you able to see my screen?
So again, my name is Nicholas Coombs.
My address is 3743 Aspen Street.
And I have included a table of contents
with what the ZBA had required me to submit.
My exhibit A is the application submitted to LNI.
Exhibit B is the copy of refusal.
Exhibit C, the application for appeal to the ZBA.
Okay. Exhibit D is the project information form. Exhibit E is the copy of the deed. Exhibit G is certificate of tax compliance. And then I have the revised provisional plans, form and floor plans. And exhibits J and K is photos of the property, the exterior and the interior of the property, and then documentations of my RCO meeting.
so um in exhibit okay may i continue sure i know you're showing the zoning permit can you get to
the um the plans of the property oh sure i i was just i'm i'm sorry so uh let me get to that
and um i had so here it is so the revised uh plans uh the architect drew up um it's right here
my proposed changes would be in the basement I want to add two bedrooms and a bathroom
so that's the proposed changes in the basement on the first floor the only thing that I'm adding
is a kitchen there's no proposed changes on the second floor and again the architect drawing of
the window well with the details are there and this is the exterior view of the property with
the additional window well. And this is the exterior photos of the property with the front
and side view of the property and the street view of the property and with the zoning notice
posting in the window. Again, this is just an area plan of the property. It's across from a
mini market, a convenience store. And in the interior of the property, this is a picture of
the first floor where I would like to add a kitchen and on the in the basement where I would
like to add the two bedrooms and a bath. And this is upstairs. This is a picture of the upstairs.
And this is the documentation of the RCO meeting. We met in April 21st in 2021. And the community
overwhelmingly agreed to support my petition for the variance. The vote was
22 support, 2 oppose, and 1 abstain. So basically again I'm asking that you grant
So basically, again, I'm asking that you grant a variance.
Sir, can you go back to the picture of the bedrooms in the basement?
Oh, I do.
Oh, okay.
Where are the windows?
The windows are right here.
Where the window wells are.
Let me ask you.
Yes, let me ask you.
have you gotten street approval to put the window wells in because they're in the sidewalk
oh well there's one window there's one existing window well uh i thought uh with the architect
the drawing i thought i had to get your uh approval first so there is an existing window
well there so it would be for the second bedroom that an additional window well would be needed if
it would be considered a true bedroom, but there is an existing window well there.
I can go back to a picture of the side of an actual picture right here.
This is the window well that's right there.
An additional window well would be placed here if I were to get a second bedroom.
Is that the only light in the basement?
This is, there's the basement.
Am I showing the exterior of the property with the existing window well?
There's nothing currently in the basement.
The basement is unfinished.
I was answering the gentleman's question of getting street approval.
And again, like I said, I'm doing this on my own.
So the architect said in order to get a second bedroom, I would have to have a second window well to be considered a true bedroom.
But you also need street approval.
um and and so i i guess i didn't know if it's a conditional approval i i didn't know
that i needed to get the street approval before i got your approval to have a variance
how did people living there get out of there if there's a fire
oh through those window wells through the window wells
there's no direct egress oh um there is a direct egress it would be from uh it would be from the
the back of the property yes there is yes oh i'm sorry i apologize i apologize this this would be
the first floor this is the door this is the door to the first floor can you can you go to the floor
plans okay um i would go back and okay so this okay i'm sorry so this is the front this would
be the first floor apartment this is the entrance to the first floor apartment so there is an
entrance right here and then there's also an exit to the back where there's a deck
now what about the basement so the basement you would enter the basement from right here
where the kitchen would be located so there's no direct egress
so oh so the the the window well window would be the the egress so it's uh i guess um basically
it's like having a home and you would walk down in the basement and it's open. And I just wanted
to, in order to put an additional bedroom, based on what the architect said, that I can have one
bedroom because there is an egress window there, a window well, which is a full-size window well.
But in order to have another one, I would have to have an additional window well.
we don't really like bedrooms in the basement because it presents a safety
issue does anybody else on the board have questions
no no tom do you have any others no planning commission this is ron bednar city planning
property is indicated for residential on the city plan our adopted district plan recommends no change
the existing uh residential zoning at this location the applicant's hardship is not supported
with evidence of unique physical circumstances or conditions of the property that would
prevent it from being used in conformance in conformance with the code therefore we recommend
a request for variance not be granted thank you is there anyone in the virtual audience with
questions or testimony i see no hands madam chair thank you may i ask a question am i um
I may love to ask the question. Okay, so the architect also said, because it's a corner property.
yeah i may love to ask a question okay so uh so uh the arch
I don't know how to say this nicely, but I'm not interested in what the architect had to say.
He's an architect, and we go by the zoning code.
Calendar number 0130-3743 Aspen Street. My vote is no.
Professor Plaza, my vote is no.
James Snell, my vote is no.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is no.
Calendar number 2039-5070, Whitaker Avenue.
This is the Greenfield Group Properties.
There are no exhibits.
It's the third listing.
The last continuance was a must-be-heard.
And calendar number 20395070 Whittaker Avenue is dismissed.
Professor Plaza, dismissed.
James Snell, dismissed.
Thomas Holloman, dismissed.
That completes our day.
Madam Chair, I do have two matters, if we could.
Okay, sure.
If we can go back to the first listing on the 330 list, the architect, I'm sorry, it's the second listing.
The architect, Anthony Palomar, is the primary applicant of record.
Therefore, he is allowed to ask for the continuance.
Okay, so...
Is he available to speak up, Ms. Tanya?
No, he already submitted his request.
okay there was uh no exhibit two times oh the first time i believe right yes second listing
because he requested the continuance through miss aletta okay so calendar number 1414
1222 east columbia avenue this case is continued and it must be heard
thank you madam chair and the one other matter if i could speak about um the case that is number
three for 2116 east stella street yes after after a review it is determined that the applicant
did submit exhibits however under a different name but the exhibits was submitted
um as well as um the fact that it appears as though they were utilizing someone other than
certified to transcribe or translate rather the hearing for them, I would request if we could
respectfully rescind the vote and continue the matter since they did handle all business as
they should have. Sure. Calendar number 2091-2116 East Stella Street. My first vote
dismissed is now being changed to continued thank you madam chair that's all i have sure
that concludes our business for tuesday uh today's not tuesday for wednesday
yes it was mr snow you did a great job thank you all okay everybody have a good night everyone
bye-bye have a great night good night bye-bye thanks so much to everyone
have a good night everyone you as well
you can't hear me because i now you can i can hear you i was just getting rid of hold on
This is so crazy what happened today.
I was just removing the attendees so that they couldn't hear us.
So I'm going to resend you your Zoom again.
And an email, right?
I'm going to send it in an email.
And there's an upper part that says join, like with this link.
And then there's a bottom part that sometimes makes you type in the password and everything.
click on the upper one that says join with this link and see if that helps.
click on the upper one that says join with this link and see if that helps okay because you know
the way i normally get it i just add it to the calendar yeah all right let me see
all right and i'm going to make sure your email is correct in this too um let me find you
and I can't get on here
I don't see your name anymore
oh god I guess they got rid of me
no no okay
I will need you
can you tell me your email address
this is crazy haroldtenery at gmail.com no dots or anything just.com yeah i'm looking
oh so sharon sends me i wonder if this is hers i think it's yeah it's for her
for her own zoom meeting and i always get at the bottom of it as i scroll down it says zoom meeting
in a box i hit it and i get right in i just wish i had one saved oh yeah zoom panelist for the zba
yes that's what i'm gonna screenshot to you how do i go i just so i just sent another one to you
that should come from the zoom account i sent it to carolteneri at gmail.com
and i'm sending it to you okay the one that sharon sends me
so you can see where it says add to camp
all right so bizarre it's one day my daughter's not here and i knew i was going to have some kind
of a crazy situation you got in so i can't do it on this ipad because i'll disconnect you
no you'll be okay but um so the one that
if i disconnect you you're gonna have oh wait okay so i'll be okay but do you see in the one that um
let's see weekly i just got two from you at 5 11 probably duplicates hi carol tenere you're
invited to a Zoom webinar. Okay. So what to do is see if you can do the usual add it to your calendar
and then click here to join. Okay. Now it's allowing me to add the two. Done. Done.
okay so now what do i do so now i go to my calendar how crazy is this
and i'm going to hit this open
join you will have to leave this meeting yeah so leave leave and join so hang up as
the one I put you in as? Hold on. So, yes. Oh, hold on. Oh, why is my finger crossed?
All right. Hold up. Oh, I can't hear you. Okay. So, this is what we got to do. You got to hang up,
like get off with me and then click on the link that you just added to your calendar and we'll
see if that gets you in so just swipe do you know on this ipad get off of this totally i'm so used
to can you see this yes button well do you know what let's see i'm trying to see i could remove
you should i remove you no okay see i get so scared of this stuff it's terrible and you think
I've got it together.
You do have it together.
If I remove you, though, then you can click on what you just got and get back in.
We have to test that because that's what you're going to have to do next week.
But I don't use my phone at all.
I mean, I'm not going to use my phone at all.
I'm going to come right here to my iPad.
And you have your email on your iPad, right?
I have everything on my iPad.
And I go right to my date and look to see what's there.
So I just swipe up now. Yep.
yep ah where are you
Ah, where are you?
okay i now i now i go to my date no wait you i got to remove you out out of this okay
oh no so what do i do i'm going to remove you don't worry about it and then you just come back
in all right here we go
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.