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Okay, let's look at our schedule for today.
Number one, MI 2026-003-255.
MI 2026-003-255-1511 West Cuyahoga Street at Cases Continued until 1-20-27 at 2 p.m.
Are there any other requests for continuance?
Good afternoon, Chair.
This is Doreen, and I will be your co-host this afternoon.
There are no hands.
We're going to go to our add-on list.
mi-2025-007-183-2483 to 37 east finango street
the board is reopening this record
opening this record in this matter so that the appellant the applicant can obtain an amended
refusal once the amended refusal is obtained we will have a hearing on 2-2-27 at 9 30 a.m
we're going to go to our first case here oh mr chairman just we're going to clarify on the
record that is a resumptive hearing oh okay resumptive hearing thank you very much all right um
number two mi 2026 002 448 621 tree street
alex goldberg is the attorney we'll call so we have a spanish interpreter
on way to like get the interpreter on tell him what i need from mr goldberg okay spanish
interpreter has been promoted thank you hello your honor good morning uh well you've already
been sworn in just for the record state your name yes my name is leonel gillen leonel spelled l-e-o-n-e-l
gillen spelled g-u-i-l-l-e-n all right so um we believe we're in a situation that
uh we need you as a backup just in case we have a problem with with interpreting all right
understood goldberg could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
sure my name is alex goldberg a-l-e-x-g-o-l-d-b-e-r-g you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth i do could you identify your client a relationship to this
property sure my clients are joaquin salazar espinoza and consuelo martinez sanchez and
joaquin is sitting to my left okay and our vice chair has just a few questions good afternoon
have you submitted your documents and exhibits 14 days in advance of this hearing i have do you
the veto of your refusals and stipulate to the accuracy i do all right thank you you can share
your screen and proceed with your case okay um so this is a unique property on what i would say is
a unique street um mostly tree street serves as a rear street for properties that front on moya
mensing but there are several properties some commercial some residential some vacant along
tree street this property is currently a storage garage storage building for my client's grocery
store he's got a small grocery on 2312 south 7th street that he went through the variance process
for several years ago and obtained a variance for so what you're seeing on the screen is a rendering
what's you'll see photos of what it looks like now it's essentially just the garage portion and
we're proposing a two-story addition with two residential dwelling units above the existing
storage garage legalizing that storage use which was previously only permitted for a garage garage
and and obviously the the two residential dwelling above we have a notice of refusal
with four refusals the first one being multiple principal uses this property is zoned rsa5 but i
would note there are other mixed use properties on this block including 22 15 south 7th and
2217 south 7th those are mixed use and multi-family properties the second refusal is the storage use
the third refusal is the multi-family use and then we have a rear yard depth refusal
which is an expansion of an existing non-conformity currently the building occupies the full lot and
the proposed addition you know matches the massing of what's already there i'd note that
you'll see in the plans that full lot size uh conditions are not out of character here
we met with the coordinating rco they supported us unanimously it was a positive meeting they
acknowledged that this street could use some investment and that you know the the units that
he's proposing which you'll see are spacious and and affordable and my client has a lot of positive
relationships on this block most importantly because he lives there but he also owns eight
uh importantly because he lives there but he also owns eight of the 13 properties on on the 600 block
of the 13 properties on on.
of tree street so he knows his neighbors he's spoken to them they're supportive of this he got
a petition of some of those neighbors as well as neighbors on seventh jackson and moya mensing
and he also separately met with the seventh street um community civic association which is
is an associated RCO which also supports this project. As I mentioned before, nearby comparable
coverage is not out of character. It's including the two-story structure that's directly next door
to us at 617 Tree Street and the properties in front of us along Moy-Mensing. An aerial view
of the property you can see the same here's a zoning map we're sort of right at the corner of
this tree street which runs from the cmx 2.5 down the street onto west boyam dancing ave
here's the front of the property so that garage door is essentially
going to be sort of scooted over and there's going to be a an access door on the right side
of the property here that you'll see here's a zoning poster to the right of the property so you
can see you know we are um on a mixed block in terms of height of three and two and one story
structures including a vacant lot that's next door to us and as i said these properties you
see on the left side of the screen are mostly garages for properties that face the other
direction on west moya mensing and then this is um sort of looking the other way this is the full
lot coverage property i referenced and then this property on the corner which is 615 west moya
mensing is also a two unit structure right here plans and drawings so this is the site plan
here is a rendering um that shows you know a brick facade added on top of the existing cinder block
garage lintels you know very sort of standard south philadelphia look to it not trying to do
anything exotic looking there the height of the building structure in total is 38 feet
obviously well within or within the the the rsa5 height regulations and then here are the floor
plans so you can see that on the right side of the screen is the storage room for the garage
as i mentioned he has a grocery there so that's where he stores his materials
it's just an open floor plan and then upstairs through the the staircase here
you have two residential dwelling units they are both two bedroom one bath units they both
have ventilated trash closets off of the kitchen you can see you know sizable kitchens living
spaces both with lots of natural light facing towards tree street and then bedrooms facing
the rear of the property and one thing i mentioned that i should correct myself is um you know what
i stated earlier was that the proposed addition was covering the entirety of the lot um on top
of the existing garage but there's actually sort of a carve out here in the rear which allows for
additional natural light you know in those back bedrooms he's going to self-manage the property
as he lives uh close by at 627 tree street he also owns 637 tree street 635 633 623 and 625.
most of the block agreed eight of the 13th yeah uh some he rents to friends or tenants
i think he has some family members living in some of them uh we met with the coordinating rco
application for appeal, deed to the property, and certificate of tax compliance. So, with that,
I'd like to ask my client to adopt my testimony. Okay. Sir, could you please state and spell your
name for the stenographer? My name is Joaquin. It's J-O-A-Q-I-N. The last name is Salazar, S-L-A-C-A-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
¿Jura decir la verdad, toda la verdad y nada más que la verdad?
Joaquín, ¿escuchaste mi testimonio hoy?
Joaquín, ¿escuchaste mi testimonio hoy?
¿Era verdad y correcto?
¿Era correcto y cierto?
¿Y lo adopta como su propio?
testimonio yes thank you questions from the board thank you counsel uh thank you interpreter
questions from the board uh not a question but more of a comment I noticed like just
questions from the board not a question but more of a comment I noticed like
just the way you have the ventilated trash closets laid out give them
differently on each floor and in one of the versions like typically you wouldn't
want to have the ventilated trash in the same room as the hot water heater
because it's already heated it surely creates a smell and I think there's some
ways that you could reconfigure it but yeah I would agree there's there's a lot
of space there so I think that that's reasonable I want to stay it on the
record just because i think the first closet is actually really great so other people you know
when they showed it like i think it's a great best practice for a ventilated track
all right so we'll match this one on the we'll match one the other other questions
questions from our attorney uh yes i just want to make sure on the uses um because the um
refusal doesn't necessarily separate them out i just want to make sure for um the equipment
and material storage yards and buildings non-accessories uh storage that's on the first
floor correct only right only and then two family household living would be on the second and third
floor only that's correct okay thank you um mr chairman um i have that language if you want
to do a proviso on the location um when it comes if you guys want to question too about location
that's what i just did i just clarified all and i have the language i'm going to do you want to
trash stores and i'll cook okay thank you point all right questions or comments from the virtual
audience there are no hands planning commission good afternoon liz fuselay liz last name fuselay
f-u-s-e-l-i-e-r planner with the philadelphia city planning commission you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth please proceed comprehensive plan recommends no
change to the rsa5 residential single-family zoning at this location there are unique zoning
circumstances of this property with no detrimental effect to the neighborhood the planning commission
recommends the board grant the requested variance for a two-family residential structure multiple
uses rear yard depth and non-accessory storage thank you mi2026 zero zero two four four eight
621 uh tree street i vote yes um with proviso interior trash storage and and equipment and
material storage yards and buildings with the parentheses non-desk accessory storage on first
floor only and two-family household living on second and third floor only michael johns my vote
is yes with provisals. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with provisals. Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes
with provisals. Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with provisals. Taya Nguyen, my vote is yes with provisals.
Layla Beebe, my vote is yes with provisals. Who are you taking the next one? I think he is. Pardon
the interruption. Pardon the interruption, Chair. Could we please have the interpreter read the vote
and the provisos for the appellant?
Interpreter.
So, the vote was yes.
The first part would be
interior trash storage for a proviso
and then I'll give you the second one
after you do that.
Perfect.
Muy bien, entonces,
los resultados de la votación
para la primera,
lo cual es
el almacenaje interno para basura,
el voto es sí
con condiciones
y para la segunda parte
lo cual es
un área de almacenaje
para materiales y equipo
y para en el primer piso nada más se pasa la votación
y para el segundo y tercer piso se pasa la votación para la construcción de una área de vivienda para dos familias
Okay, thank you both. We appreciate it. Yeah. So number 3, and I interpreter. Thank you very much. We've got a lot of good work out of you today. I appreciate it. Thank you very much.
MI 20260029461844, North Van Pelt Street. Alan Nockamson is the attorney.
Mr. Nockamson, I have a letter of non opposition from Council Member Young that we received not too long ago. All right. Great.
received not too long all right great mr knock comes in could you please state and spell your
okay mr knockamson could you please state and spell your name
name alan knockamson a-l-a-n last name knockamson n-o-c-h-u-m-s-o-r do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do could you identify your client a relationship
to the property yeah my client's ran pelt properties llc and in in the virtual audience
is its member colby kennedy and our vice chair has a few questions good afternoon have you
submitted your documents and exhibits 14 days in advance of this hearing yes we have and do
you wait to know your refusals and stipulate to their accuracy i do all right thank you
you can share your screen and proceed with your kids i was having computer problems so i asked
mr goldberg just to help me along so he will all right so you can see here this is uh our property
is the lighter three-story structure with the window boxes in the front um we have been here
before for other matters on this block where the board has similarly granted similar variances
uh we're seeking a three-family dwelling household living next page we have 12 exhibits we'll share
those exhibits with you and again at the conclusion of our presentation uh we would ask that um colby
virtually raise his hand to be sworn in we also have justin coleman the architects representative
if any of the board members have architectural related questions mr coleman can also answer
those questions. Thank you. Next. So the refusal is threefold. We're an RSA 5 property, rather large
in-law area of 1,238 square feet. We have refusal first because we're an RSA 5 property,
multifamily living. We have a refusal for law coverage where 75% is required, where we're
proposing 93%. Again, not out of character to what the board has similarly approved. This is a block
THAT IS TRYING TO BE FILLED IN WITH MULTIFAMILY LIVING THAT IS, AGAIN, COMMON TO THAT BLOCK,
BOTH NEWER CONSTRUCTION AND OLDER CONSTRUCTION, AND WE HAVE MANY EXAMPLES OF THAT.
AND THEN IN TERMS OF THE REAR YARD SETBACK, WE'RE PROPOSING FIVE FEET WHILE NINE FEET IS REQUIRED.
AGAIN, NOT OUT OF CHARACTER TO WHAT THIS BOARD HAS PREVIOUSLY APPROVED.
WE HAVE A LETTER OF NON-OPPOSITION, AND THIS IS THE SECOND TIME A PROJECT OF THIS SORT HAS
has been on this block where strawberry mansion community concern has given us that non-opposition.
They acknowledged too that this is a block where there is a lot of multifamily use and
they do have some provisos which start on page to bottom page two of that letter.
We have no issues with the three family household living only.
That's what we're seeking.
We do say that there, we do have an issue in terms of living in the basement.