Thank you.
Okay, Chair, we have 23 attendees, and we can start as you wish.
Okay, thank you.
Good morning.
My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this morning's EBA hearings.
With me is Ismail Shahid, our board secretary.
here mr chair thank you thomas holliman our board member present mr chairman thank you
james snell our board member present mr chairman also here is our board attorney hillary emerson
and also our zba hearing supervisor lakeisha dandy before we begin here's our virtual format
Be advised that proceedings are being recorded.
By participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded.
A video will be available by contacting tonyasunkett at phillip.gov.
For the benefit of our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you're participating by phone, if you wish to testify, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548. Leave your email and the address
to the property in question. And finally, the question-answer box on the screen is not for
comments or testimony. All comments should be referred to our Executive Director, Tanya Sunkit.
So let's look at our continuances for this morning's hearing.
number four mi 2021 001 959 2349 north 20th street that case is continued
um number 11
mi 2022 003 289 303 brown street that case is continued
Number 12, MI-2021-003-544-5007 North Fish Street.
That case is continued.
Number 13, MI-2022-003-288-303 Brown Street.
Number C.
number 14 MI 2022 000 666 2452 West Toronto Street. That case is continued. Does anyone
have any comments relative to the cases I just listed for continuing?
Good morning, Chair. This is Yvette Benton. I see no hands at this time.
Thank you. Other requests for continuance?
Chair, we have Nicholas Foppiano. Mr. Foppiano, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Good morning. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Nicholas Foppiano, F-O-P-P-I-A-N-O.
do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes sir i represent the the property at a north 20th street i believe he said it was continued
but my my connection kind of blipped out let me see here
that's number four mr chair on the list we did continue it i did continue that case sir
okay thank you so much and thank you for granting that continuance last one i promise
All right.
Thank you.
All right.
Other requests for continuance?
Chair, we have Vern Anastasio.
Mr. Anastasio, you can unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Good morning, Mr. Anastasio. Good morning, Mr. Chairman.
Good morning, Mr. Anastasio.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman.
Could you state your name, please?
Could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter?
Yes, sir. Vern V, like Victor, E-R-N, Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do. Case number two, 7137 Wolland?
Yes, sir. I have been in contact with the RCO as recently as last evening.
I believe Craig sent over an email explaining that we would be working towards finally getting
together. I know this was Mark must be heard. I respectfully request one final continuance. Thank
you. All right. So MI 2022-000-485-7137 Woodland Avenue. That case is continued. Thank you, sir.
sure sorry this is hillary did you hear that the two brown street cases were also already
continued yes thank you okay all right great thank you go ahead mr chair all right good
thank you other requests for continuance
here i see no heads at this time okay so so let me go to case number eight mi 2022
202-003-279-2810
North 22nd Street. Ronald Coleman
is the elicit applicant.
Is there anyone in the audience by the way?
With the phone number ending in 3552.
Caller with the phone number ending in
3552. Please unmute yourself
and wait for the chair.
Hello?
Hi, good morning. Could you state
your name and spell for the court reporter?
Yes, Adrian Fernandez.
My last name is spelled F-E-R-N-A-N-D-E-Z.
Swampaddle Neighborhood Parts Association, RCO.
Right. Do you swear
or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth?
So, you know, I see your request for it
continuing, so I'm trying to see if I can get the property
owner on the phone okay so just hold on one minute okay all right thanks is there anyone
ronald coleman or beans ideal llc
chair i see no one by that name at this time
mi 2022 003 279 2810 north 22nd street that case is continued
you. Thank you for calling in, by the way. Any other requests for continuance?
Chair, I see no other hands at this time. So let me go to case number one, MI 2021-00-3347-639
South Conestoga Street. There are no exhibits for this. This is the third listing.
004-362-105-Bethlehem-Pike, request for reconsideration. I vote no to the reconsideration and rehearing.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is no to the reconsideration and the rehearing.
James Snell, no to reconsideration and rehearing.
Ishmael Shahid, no to reconsideration and rehearing.
Thank you. Number two on the add-on list, MI 2021-004-361-101 Bethlehem Pike. This is a request for reconsideration. I vote no to reconsideration and rehearing.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is no to reconsideration and rehearing.
James Snell, my vote is no to reconsideration and rehearing.
Ishmael Shahid, a vote is no to reconsideration and rehearing.
Accommodation is prohibited in the Zoning District RSA 5.
Chair, Ms. Murray is coming back in as a panelist now.
Thank you.
Good morning.
Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Good morning.
It's Erin Murray, E-R-I-N-M-U-R-R-A-Y.
Do you swear, Fern, to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
uh one of our board members thomas hallman has a few questions for you sure good morning madam
did you email all of the exhibits and documents as required such as proof of ownership tax clearance
copy of the refusal pictures of drawings of the property five days in advance to this hearing
did you meet with the rco and do you have a letter yes i did i submitted all of those things
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen. Okay, just a second.
Should be the green button on the bottom. Yeah, okay. Okay, so this is the presentation that
we did for our neighborhood from which we got approval. So I'll just kind of run through this.
um that's the picture of the property there 1511 east houston um this is just some necessary stuff
there's the refusal we're applying to legalize our airbnb um proof that we've notified our
neighbors okay so this slide shows kind of the layout of our property we purchased our property
in 2014 as a single lot at 1506 east susquehanna and on the opposite side end of the lot was just
a rundown garage and we always had intentions to turn that into um you know a workspace as well as
like a mother-in-law suite um but we realized when we went to develop it that it was not we
weren't able to do that by right so we had to subdivide the property which now you know creates
two properties and that's the reason why we are applying for this appeal um but this little
graphic down here with the pink and the blue people show you shows you the layout so where
the blue people are that's where we live and occupy on susquehanna and we access the garage
through the back as well as the front um and then the the rental or the two floors above that
and the picture is of that garage space so scrolling down here that's a picture of like
the original garage which we couldn't structurally keep and just build on top of so um and we came
to realize that we weren't allowed to build on that by right because adus are not allowed in our
zoning district or our our neighborhood um so we had to subdivide um and here's where i outlined
hardship number two because people are curious why won't we just rent it long term um but we'd
like to keep the flexibility of having this property that's you know just adjacent to ours
to use for family and friends we do have older family members who we think will be living there
in the coming years and we also do want to use it as an extra source of income um and have that
flexibility that i can you know work from home as an artist and caregiver as well as a parent
So that's our argument. This next slide is just showing that we aren't
So that's our argument. This next slide is just showing that we aren't, we, you know, we're deeply invested in this neighborhood. There's a lot of energy saving features that went into this home. It's incredibly well built. We care about the neighborhood and building quality.
and so we're not here just to suck money out of the neighborhood. We literally are the neighbor
to this house. This is a selection of our reviews. A huge percentage of our guests are visiting
family in the neighborhood, so a lot of people are very grateful to have the space, especially
post-pandemic, to visit their young family in the neighborhood. Next slide here is a testimonial
from an adjacent neighbor who we're very pleased being neighbors to this house.
And then finally, just an image of the rental and just things that we do to make sure that
this is not, there's no parties in this house. We have a two-day stay minimum. We only accept
people with a well-reviewed guest history. We're right there. We access the space underneath this
every day and are always on site. So as far as short-term rentals go, we're about as responsible
as you get so please let us know if you have questions and the other thing is your fishtown
neighbors association are in support of it correct thank you questions questions from the board no
mr chairman no mr chairman questions or comments from the virtual audience
chair i see no hands at this time thank you planning commission
Good morning, Chair Bergman. This is Ian Hegarty for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. Last name spelled H-E-G-A-R-T-Y.
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed.
Thank you. Good morning, Board members.
Comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA 5 single-family zoning at this location.
This building received a use registration permit as a single-family home in 2017.
The property has been listed on a popular short-term rental site since at least January 2020.
Short-term rental of non-primary residents was prohibited both before and after the recent code changes, but new licensing requirements have forced short-term rental hosts to apply to L&I for use registration permits.
That's why we're seeing a lot of these lately at the board, just for background.
um since there's nothing prohibiting the owner from using the property as a single family home
or as a separate dwelling unit we believe that the applicant has not shown sufficient evidence
of hardship um not being able to lease it for short-term use is not a hardship because it
already has a use registration as a single family home um the proposed visitor accommodation use for
the uh just for the record is a permanent change to the use regardless of who owns
this property or the adjacent property. And I don't think there's anything in the deed tying
the two properties together. So this would be a permanent change to this property to allow
visitor accommodations. So given all that, we recommend that the board deny this variance.
Thank you. MI 2022-003-272-1511 East Hauston Street. I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Thank you, Ms. Murray.
Thank you.
Okay, number, let's see here.
Number five.
MI 2022-003-273-2012-24 East Arizona Street.
Roger Perry is the attorney.
rco letter from east kensington association hold on one minute
from east kensington association
mr chair we're still waiting for a letter in this case okay okay mr perry i'm sorry uh good
morning, Roger Perry here. Morning, Mr. Perry. State your name and spell for the court reporter.
Roger Perry, R-O-G-E-R. Last name Perry, P as in Peter, E-R-R-Y. Right. Do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Mr. Holliman has a few
questions for you, sir. Thank you. Good morning, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading
of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, we do.
Did you email all of the exhibits and documents as required,
such as proof of ownership, tax clearance, copy of the refusal,
pictures of drawings of the property, five days in advance to this hearing,
Five days in advance to this hearing, and did you meet with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
and did you meet with the RCO, and do you have...
Yes, with the notation that the RCO is sending a confirming letter, but I do have their initial response as an exhibit today.
So yes, as to everything else.
okay share your screen sir uh thank you um i'm assuming i'm sharing what you see if i can
can you see that no no we don't see anything yet okay so let me hit the green button on the bottom
yep let me try that again
there you go okay thank you as indicated when we initially were interviewed they don't see
the final letter from the East Kensington Neighbors Association I assume it's somewhere
in the works John said that it was set but he did send me this and you can see that this is
the meeting summary form from East Kensington Neighbors Association. They supported the
application, 12 in favor, one opposed, and he said a confirming letter is to follow, so