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